“Paris, January 16th. Five Americans attached to the Foreign Legion, whose names were included in the list of casualties at Givenchy on June 17th, are now officially reported as having been killed in action. They were Russell Kelly of New York, Harman Edwin Hall of Chicago, John Earl Fike of Wooster, Ohio, and Kenneth Weeks and Henry Farnsworth both of Boston.”
In view of the discrepancy between these despatches, as well as the fact that seven months elapsed between the disappearance of Kelly and Fike and the publication of these so-called official notices, doubt was raised as to their authenticity, and the death of these two will not be conceded until the facts are disclosed upon which the conclusion of death is based. Besides, it is now known that the French War Office has not transferred the two names to the official list of dead.
The uncertainty of his death has been increased in the case of Russell Kelly, by information given by an English lady. She communicated with his family, and stated that in September of 1915 she received a letter from a relative in which he said he and two other English soldiers together with a French soldier, had been in hiding since the middle of the previous June, within the German lines, east of Souchez; and that French peasants had supplied them with clothing and food. It stated that the French soldier was an American named Kelly, and that he was badly wounded in the head. The letter had been surreptitiously passed through the lines.
The high character of the English lady, as well as many corroborating circumstances, have convinced the family of Russell Kelly of the truth of the statements; and there being no other American in the Foreign Legion named Kelly, they believe it refers to him, and that he is still alive.
An adjutant of the regiment sent word, in January, 1916, to Lyon, that he had seen Russell Kelly and two other prisoners in Belgium. He reported that Kelly had lost one of his legs and that he was careful not to disclose his American citizenship. The circumstances connected with this information show it to be consistent with the story of his being in hiding the previous September.
These rumors appear to be true but they cannot be satisfactorily verified.
It is known that the French prisoners in Belgium and northern France are not allowed to communicate in any way with the outside world, although prisoners in Germany are allowed to send and receive communications from relatives and friends.
It has been learned that these six Americans after receiving the warning of the opposition of Germany to Foreign Légionnaires who were not citizens of a country at war with Germany, discussed plans to be followed in the event of being taken prisoners.
They determined, if captured, to destroy all regimental marks on their uniforms, to throw away their army-books, and to assume fictitious names.
CHRONOLOGICAL MILITARY RECORD OF RUSSELL A. KELLY