Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-01-05
OP|E DENIES He
SHOT SOLDIERS
IN COLD BLOOD
ON BATTLEFIELD
Former Service Men Tell Of
Alleged CrueItieS on the
Part of Virginia Officer
While Overseas,
ONE WITNESS. @0RN
OUT B,$$XCITEMENT
\ Noo8eySid Black Cap
Four o $n the Bodies Of
Thy o<5oIdierS Dug Up in
Q SfrenCh Cemetery,

Gy luS hsbO'lutSu 'tHbb
W shington, Jan. 4.--Accuser
and accused faced each other to-
day before a senate committee in
vestlgating charges that American
soldiers had been hanged without
trial in France.
Near the close OF the session
Mai. II. l.. Opie Of Staunton, Va
commander of the Third battalion,
11Gth infantry overseas, went on
the stand to enter emphatic denial
Of charges by former service men
that he had shot down some of
his soldiers in cold blood on the
battlefield. He was asked, how
ever, to step aside until other wit
nesses testify against him, mean
while being given the right through
counsel to cross examine them.
saw OFFICER Fire.
Grayson II. Withrow OF Balt-
more, still in his early twenties,
testified that he saw the officer
seize a gun from q private and fire
at a man in his command. Shells
were falling, he said, and there was
tremendous excitement but With
row swore that from his retreat in
shell hole he saw the man fall
as the majors gun barked. But he
could not say whether Opie had
killed him, declaring that the lat
ter. standing out in the open. was
within arms reach of half n dozen
officers when the shot was fired.
As Withrow left the stand Will
liam F. Saint John, of Lynchburg,
Va, suffering from nervous trou-
bles resulting from service over
seas, accused the Nirginian OF
shooting down runner at the
front, because he failed to heed
after thrice being ordered to halt.
Four other men saw the killing,
he declared, but he refused to give
their names on the ground that he
had not been able to confer with
them and that it would not be just
to him if they should appear and
mot back up his charges One,
he said, had developed cold feet"
and was unwilling to come.
Gives Witnesses Names.
Reminded by Chairman Brarde-
gee that the names must De sub
mitted, Saint John complied, men-
tioning first the cousin OF one of
Major Opie's counsel. 1t was while
Saint John was being cross exam
ined by John A. Cutchins of Rich
mond. Va, Major Opie's counsel,
that he lost control of his shattered
nerves and shouted he was dealing
With bunch of fanatics who "are
trying to prove 1 am nutty." Mr..
Cutchins disclaimed such an inten-
tion.
Seeing that the young man was
| worn out by excitement, Senator
Watson, democrat. Georgia, whose
charges of Illegal execution are un-
! der investigation, declined to ques-
ton him Tomorrow Major Opie
will testify.
Starting out with the testimony
of Rufus p. Hubbard of New York,
who, as an enbalming assistant
with the American grave registra-
ton service, declared he found a
moose and black cap on the bodies
of three American soldiers dug up
| in the little French cemetery at
Bazoilles. the committee permitted
the inquiry to run its course. An
other witness, who assisted in a
legal execution, declared that a
body was buried. moose and black
cap intact, in the same cemetery
where Hubbard said three so
marked had been found.
Clears Up His Statement.
A farm boy from Georgia, who
frankly but pathetically announced
he could not read or write, cleared
up his statement concerning the
shooting of soldier because he
had sneaked away from his COM
mand to quench his thirst at a
spring. 1t developed that the COM
mand was trying to conceal its po-
sition from the enemy and that all
hands had been warned that the
first man attempting to walk out
in the open would be shot. The
soldier walked fifty yards beyond
the dead lipe, refused to halt when
ordered, and they shot him in his
tracks.
There was much testimony re-
| lating to executions at Is-Sur-Tille,
none of the witnesses being able
to say whether the victims had
been tried, beyond the claim OF
some to the contrary as the trap
was sprung. War department rec
ords containing the list of eleven
legal hangings, listed two at Is
Surf
Quite inadvertently member of
the committee brought out during
the examination of a former SOL
dier that since the war he had
served fourteen months in the
Georgia penitentiary for stealing
an automobile. I No attempt was
made, however, to discredit his tes-
timony. 1t related solely to exc
cutions, conducted publicly with
soldiers drawn up as witnesses. In
accordance with military regula-
tions.