The Washington times., 1921-07-06
'UPL|F TER
SOLD CARS
FOR GRAF 7
Malor of Mercy" Melted Mil
lion Francs in Private Sale
of A. R. C. Trucks.

NEW YORK, July 6.-How mil
lions of francs worth of Red Cross
equipment was lost, stolen, sold or
borrowed, is revealed in today's
New York American. This equip
ment included automobiles, type
writer's, cameras, steel and lumber.
Specific instances, taken from copies
of Red Cross reports hitherto sup
pressed by that organization, show:
REFUGEE SUPPLIES SOLD.
One million francs worth of
motorcycles, bicycles, touring cars
and trucks were sold by an alleged
bogus major acting as field agent
for the Red Cross in Italy in April,
1919.
Thousands OF tons OF steel frame
work. badly needed for shelter for
refusees in 1919, were sold to brok-
ers by the Red Cross. Thousands
of feet of lumber were stored in
remote places and forgotten and
then discovered by investigators.
Hundreds of new typewriters
were taken from Paris Red Cross
headquarters. Some were found
to. have been sold and others were
borrowed" hut never returned.
At least 100 expensive cameras
were borrowed" ny Red Cross
workers and never turned back in
1918 and 1919. No receipts were
required from borrowers.
According to a confession made by
an interpreter to the Paris police In
July, 1919, he had aided a major IN
disposing of Red Cross vehicles.
This major, whose name never had
hean AntArad tha nffrial cd TrnSs
personnel list but who was permit
ted to act as field agent in Italy for
two months, sold touring cars, motor
cycles trucks and bicycles to indi-
viduals.
When the bureau of salvage in
Paris learned of these sales, an in
vestigation was begun. 1t was dis
covered that the field agents name
did not appear on the personnel list
The alleged bogus major WINS said to
have fled to the United States when
further ssses. At that tirse only eight
large camtons remained In the Red
Cross garages I'm Italy.
RECEIVED 1000, 900 FRANCS.
The Interpreter swore that the
major had received . million francs
for the sales and never turned I'm the
Nut EsSu eTosA- duufN
he had been paid 1000 francs for two
weeks work as interpreter for the
major. He declared he knew the
transactions involving the vehicles
were questionable. The Red Cross.
as was it's custom dropped the in
vestigation-
The American has documentary
evidence showing where hundreds of
new typewriters were removed from
the Red Cross headquarters in Paris.
To enumerate each case would require
columns of space
One instance indicates how a man
stole a Red Cross workers identifica-
tion card and then used the card to
obtain typewriters. He would repre-
sent that he was a field man and
wanted to borrow typewriters. The
Red Cross system was so adjusted
that any worker could borrow a type
writer, being asked to give no re-
ceipt. The man in question was ar
rested by the provost marshal at
Brussels when taking a boat for
Dover, and later confessed. He was
not prosecuted by the Red Cross, but
was held by the army officials as a
deserter.
BIG LOSS IN CAMERAS.
that OF Red Cross typewriters. Only
in remote cases where a worker de-
sired to borrow" a camera was he
denied. Few of such borrowed"
cameras were returned to Red CROSS
headquarters In Paris. Following is
one OF the reports to the aide to the
for France, Major Fred
z. Smith:
"One of the first cases this de-
partment handled was that OF try
ing to recover cameras loaned to
various Red Cross personnel and
never turned back, and for which.
according to the information fur
nished by the chief Of the bureau of
Photography, William T. McCulley,
no receipts were taken-merely
note, which was later carded, as to
who received the machine.
Among these were twenty out
standing cases, some of them given
n. n