ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE .

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Q. Are there documents on file which will cover that completely?A . Yes ; it
can be covered completely, but there is an accusation which I saw in the Con-
gressional Record which I would like to cover in my reply . I well remember
my first attitude on the question of those four death cases that came up fro m
France . Of course we had administered the office in expectation that eases o f
that character would reach the office . My attention was particularly attracte d
to them by the fact that the commanding general of the Expeditionary Force s
had addressed a letter to the Judge Advocate General upon the question o f
execution of the death penalty, and favored the execution of these four men .
The first review, of the cases was prepared, as I now recollect, by Maj . Rand ,
who was working in the section of military justice . Maj . Rand's place a t
the bar of New York City is an enviable one . He had participated in th e
trial of notable criminal cases and his assignment, when he reported to b e
commissioned, was naturally to this section of military justice . He foun d
no prejudicial error in the cases and stated that the findings and sentence s
were legal . I was dissatisfied with the review because of its brevity, feeling
certain that we would not have a proper record of official action unless th e
review of the case was exhaustive and furnished evidence to the reader tha t
the cases had been carefully considered . My recollection is that in the firs t
draft the unusual letter to which the commanding general of the Expeditionary
Forces had sent in was not incorporated . That was one thing that I asked
to have incorporated . Just how many times the report was rewritten I can
not say, but I remember to have taken the precaution of submitting the records
to Col . Wigmore, who was on duty in the office of the Provost Marshal Gen-
eral, and not at all in the office of the Judge Advocate General, for examination ,
because of the fact that he is the author of a standard work on evidence . I
received back a report from him that the records were sufficient to sustai n
the findings and sentence. I then took the record to the Chief of Staff an d
submitted them in person, expressing to him the doubt that was in my min d
as to the final action to be taken respecting clemency, but assuring him tha t
the best talent in my office pronounced them free from error. I said to hi m
on that occasion that it would be unfortunate to pass up to the President a
divided opinion on these cases if by conference we could reach agreement . I
referred to the fact that he had but recently returned from the theater o f
war and knew the conditions there, and might have some knowledge of thes e
four eases. We had a conference, in which he revealed himself of the opinio n
that the four men should be executed in accordance with the recommendation
of the commanding general of the American Expeditionary Forces . I said
to him, " If that is your final opinion I shall leave this report with you, t o
go to the President ." I did so and returned to my office . Almost immediatel y
after my return I called in Col. Clarke and asked him if it would not be wise
to search the records of The Adjutant General ' s Office and ascertain some fact s
outside of the record which might weigh in the final disposition of the cases .
I mentioned to him that I particularly desired to know the ages of these men ,
their earlier environment, and also to search the records of our own offic e
to see how similar cases had been handled in the theater of war . About thi s
time I walked into Gen . Ansell's office and talked about the cases to him an d
asked him if he would not make an examination of those records and give m e
his opinion . He made up his report and submitted it to me in the rough ,
that is, it was not reduced to the form that reports are when intended to b e
part of the records of the office, but was the kind of report that is given t o
the head of the office upon request.
Q . Gen . Ansell states, referring to the report which he made upon his retur n
from Europe, " This report never reached the Secretary of War ."A . That
statement, as I recollect, first came to my knowledge reading the Congressiona l
Record of recent date, and I think in a letter addressed by Gen. Ansel] to Mr .
Burnett . I came to the office and asked for the report, as I did not remembe r
to have seen it. It is true that upon his return Gen . Ansell came to my offic e
and submitted a document which contained a number of observations whic h
he had made, explaining that it was more or less a personal document whic h
he thought I would be interested in . I read it over and it is the one that ha s
been used a lot in public addresses, but he never brought in his official repor gt
and I did not see any official report until I instituted this search after noticin
the Congressional Record . I called upon the executive officer to get me th e
report . He brought a carbon copy . I asked him where was the original . He
said he did not find it on file . Later he came to me with the original an d
said it was on Gen . Ansell's desk. It was addressed to me, as I remember,