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Show ARMY SLAYING CHAR6EDENIED; Veterans Back Major Opie in His Account of Con- J duct in Argonne V.'ASHIN'GTON. Jon 6. Sweeping denial nf rhargeji that ho hail shot' two of his mnn whll his commind J part of tho Twenty-ninth division, was In the thick of the Artronne fighting, tras AlS.dc before n ennt' Invesrtigat-Ing Invesrtigat-Ing committer Thursday by Major H L, Cipic of Staunton. Vs . nnd nearly; .a dozen men servInK with him overseas. over-seas. n!r one voics was lifted npalnst Major tiple th.it of a shell shocked victim of war now n patient In a Vlr- glnln hospital for the insane 'Ihe witness Unnifl C. Smith declared, that while In a dugout with three comrades ani four German prisoners.! Major Ople fired. hot and killed soldier, then ordered the boilv removed re-moved without uttering a word. In rapid succession i i comrades montloned by Smith swore they saw1 no au-h klllinc:. that they vere nm In the dugout, on. I that they knew of no evidence to support h, charges. And then after half a dozen of Major Ople'a. men had testified 'hut they never heard of his shoot'ng a soldier, the major spoke In his own defense, declaring de-claring there was no truth In the accusation ac-cusation and that ho "never shot a man In his life Breaking down while witnesses were telling tho committer thai for his uer-, vices In the Argonne ending In a hos-1 pltal, wounded, he was awarded thej Distinguished Service Croas, the lo-glon lo-glon of Honor and the Croix de ; . rrc With two palms, Major Ople quickly recovered and calmly. but with emphasis asserted that he never fired a revolver while In tho army. shots PREVENT PANN Major Ople explained how he had attempted to gel his men In a lino after af-ter they had been dl moralized and I were running wildly. A tense sltua-j tlon found hint alone In the effort to I re-form the lines At the moment he was without side arms, vva.s wearing n j rain coat, the Insignia on which wa covered with mud and It was with difficulty dif-ficulty he could make the men halt. "I took a rifle and fired twice," he said, "knowing what T was doing One shot was fired in the air and one in' the ground Nobody was hit. After I fired the lines stopped, and I got them In pe putting men 1 recognised in! command. 1 sent runners to bring sjl the men up. There was not a dead I soldier on the line and the had been' no flrlnc ' "Lld you shoot a runner with a revolver, re-volver, as charged9" he was asked. "I never fired a pistol the whole llmo I was in the army." ho declared with emphasis. rh.ilrman Brandegeo wanted to Know If the mujor had any theory ar to !iow the reports about him had started. how RUMORS STARTED. "None, sir." ho said " It may be that one circumstance led to It. It happened hap-pened that Lieutenant Kloyd W Cun-I nlngham accidentally killed himself, with a rifle and 1 was the first to reach him I bent down, opined his blouse, and while there alone In that position some stragglers may have been around 1 sometimes think thlf scene may have started rumors of which I was the victim." Senator Watson, Democrat Georgia.1 whose charges In tho senate that American soldiers had been hanged without trial In Franco, took no part In the examination But. announcing that he was not prosecuting any case, I he presented a ll6t of witnesses to be I summoned to give Castltnony relating; to the ' ipie charges The hearing Is to be resumed Tue-s- j day. WI .s'l I UN M W I'X PLAINS. SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 0 Captain Rusaell P- Tyler, who wax In charge! of the prison camp at Hasscns, prance,' during the war, Thursday telegraphed! the adjutuni general of the army de-1 n.vin;,' statement- nrid before the senate sen-ate Investigating committee by Edwin Duner of Snn Franctsco. Captain Ty ler s telegram Kaid. I saw Kitzg.rald killed. It was purely an accident. Fitzgerald wu) Standing In the mess line. An unruly negro prisoner wu-s trying to take a rifle awav from a sergeant The riflo exploded Fitzgerald was accidentally accidental-ly killed hv the stray bullet. HELD ACCIDENTAL "Witnesses to the shooting were taken before i hoard of Inquiry whb h found Fitzgerald's death accidental. Toe inspector general's department of! the base made an independent lnve.stl-1 gation and sustained this verdict j 'i h re was no solitary confinement al the camp ThT were no lieutenants under no ut the camp and 1 never held that rank." 'I he telegram added that Dunir's testimony was grossly exaggerated I and that no instance had come to Ty-1 itr's attention where soldiers were convicted or hanged In France without with-out trial Amplifying his telegram In a verbal statement. Tyler declared ho was not acquainted with Ducer and did not remember him as a prisoner at the Bassens camp. H- continued VMS CLEAR RECORD. "Part of the time while in France I was a member of the general court martial of Base Section No 2 While on this court martial there was only one man convicted and sentenced to bs hanged He was a negro named I Jackson, who had been found guilty 'of murdering two white Boldlera whenj the; tried to take him prisoner as a j deserter and on a statutory char- I ! do not know whether tho death ten-Itsnos ten-Itsnos was carried out. 'My reaaon for wiring the adjutant uen. ral of the army, repudiating Dun-er's Dun-er's testimony la In order to correct the false Impression that he made of conditions at tho Bassens camp. "Having been In charge during the rime that the. alleged atrocities were supposed to have occurred, I deemed lit my duty to give my views as Dun- er's charges were a direct reflection 'against my mnnagement of the prl- son." |