The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1918-09-06
10000 SLACKERS
Are ROUNDED UP
"Corrals" Besieged By Many
Pleaders For Re-
leases.

New York, Sept. 3.-Federal Of
flcials estimated shortly before mid
night that more than 10000 suspect
ed slackers had been arrested to-day
in New York and nearby cities in the
great roundup of draft evaders con-
Quoted by $4,000 soldiers, sailors,
police and Government agents. Most
of the prisoners, it was said, come
from other parts of the country.
According to Charles F. De Woody,
chief of the local bureau of investi-
cation of the Department of Justice,
who directed the drive, from 10000
to 10000 men had been taken to the
69th Regiment armory alone, while
police stations in Manhattan were lit
orally filed to overlooking. so that
prisoners to be placed under guard in
school yards.
In Brooklyn and Queens another
10000 had been rounded up, while
the Bronx contributed more than g.
200. About 5000 arrests had been
made in Jersey City; 1000 in Hobok-
en-, and 1900 in Passaic.
Changed Crusade Planned.
Indeed, so many. arrests had been
made that late tonight, after con-
ference with the police and military
authorities, Mr.. DeWoody announc-
ed that a change would be made in
the conduct of the crusade. Exam
liners, he said, would tomorrow make
a careful check of all men at police
stations, ito separate the sheep from
the goats" before the latter were TAX
en- to the armories. He added that
there are too many cases that ought
not to have been taken there"
Mr.. DeWoody said that after in
specting examiners records, he had
concluded the percentage of slackers
living in this city would be low and
that it would be found that most of
the guilty persons came here from
other cities to evade the draft. Ger
tain il was that the examiners kept
the telegraph wires busy far into the
night, querying places as far distant
as Detroit, Chicago and even Los An
geles for information regarding sus-
poets.
While many arrests were made in
the morning, at the noon hour and
the close of the business day great
percentage of them occurred tonight,
when the theater crowds on Broad
way came in for an almost microscop-
ic inspection. Cabarets and amuse-
ment places at Coney Island also were
raided.
600 Go to Army, Camp.
It was stated late tonight that
about 600 prisoners had been turned
over to the military authorities for
induction into the army. Less than
5 per cent of those taken in the
whole district, 1t was said, would be
found to be "willful slackers or de-
serters."
Tonight hundreds of mothers,
wives and sisters besieged the "cor-
rails" In many instances where
prisoners had simply left their regis
tration and classification cards at
home, the women obtained the pieces
of pasteboard which meant liberty for
the suspects. In other cases where
prisoners had wilfully evaded the
call of duty, all the women could do
was weep, and plead in vain for their
relatives release.
AS the task of housing, feeding
and guarding the suspects became
hourly more serious, Mr.. DeWoody
conferred here with Gov. Whitman
regarding the problem.
Women aided in the raids by driv-
ing many of the hundreds of automo-
biles used in transporting prisoners
from police stations to armories.