The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-22
TRAP NAVY MEN
 IN CRAFT PLOT
One Sentenced to Three Year Term - 47 Are In-
 VOIved.

New York, Feb. 22-Forty-seven the others yeomen, are said to be in volved in the charges that money and influence were employed to obtain ''sole herths' in the 3d Naval District of New York for wealthy young men who desired to escape active military or naval service.
 The evidence against one medical examiner, whose case was brought to the attention Of Secretary of the Navy Daniels, was said to have been pro- vided by Joseph Whitehead, a young naval aviator whose parents live at the Hotel St. Regis; anu by Jack Pickford, brother of Mary Pickford, the motion picture actress.
 At least $50O,000, 1t Is said, was col lected by the forty-seven men from youths for whom they made out false medical certificates and obtained comfortable war" assignments far removed from the scene of conflict Secretary Daniels and Rear Admiral Nathaniel R. Usher, the eonmandant of the Third Naval District say they are determined to bring to light all of the facts in the case, no matter what persons in the navy they may af- feet.
 Orator elect Truman H. Newberry, who was a16 to Rear-Admiral Usher until recently, would not comment on
 the case, but was said to be equally eager to press to the limit the investi- gation that has been started. Many of the details of the scandal have been known to various persons in the navy for months. The. medical examiner involved is serving a three year sentence in prison after having been ourt-martialled.
 When MT. Whitehead was asked at the Hotel St. Regis this morning to make d statement for the newspapers he said:
 T am forbidden by the naval regu- lations to discuss for publication any naval matters"
 It was reported from another source however. that MT, Whitehead had as sisted the Federal agents to trap the medical examiner by inviting him to his room at the St. Regis and paying him $500 in marked bills. The medical examiner at first was ordered to be Gishonorably discharged from service. but the order was re- voked and he was sent to prison after his case and others of a similar nature
  guished lawyer who is associated with the office of the Judge Advocate Gen
 eral in Washington.
 This lawyer, Secretary Daniels says, has been working secretly in New ork for weeks, in cooperation with Major John F. Muir of the Naval In l te1ligence Service.
 ! Records of bank deposits said to have been made by the men involved, false medical certificates and vast amount of evidence showing that the | irregularities reached astonishing pro- portions are said to have been col i Iected by the investigator. The method employed was for the men slated for soft places to be ap- preached by a 'go-between" in the service of the dishonest navy men. A dinner would be arranged, or an auto
 would be paid over. ostensibly to de fray expenses, or in the shape of a loan, but really made as a bribe. One story told to the investigators
 was that of a wealthy young man who l e~cap ped service in the army because | of reflective vision" who was en- rolled in the Naval Reserve on a ! purchased medical certificate. This youth was told that he wouIn not need to do any service for Uncle Sam l at all, and that all that was necessary i was for him to wear his uniform 1 constantly and report once a day at l hea adduarters. He was told that he might continue his peace time occu- pations