Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-13

LII SNSty Sd5S tfosL VI tfafS IitOftcy
was in small change indicating to
the police that it was the income
for not more than three days a.. the
outside, and possibly of only one
day and evening. Capt. Brown, the
police officer in charge of the down
town district. conversing with one of
these men, said to him, You proba-
bly,. make a lot mor money than I
do" The crippled panhandler,
dressed in the rags of poverty, mod.
estly admitted hat this probab bly,
was true.
Here as elsewhere many of these
men, since the war, have taken to
wearing old, frayed uniforms OF the
United States army, usually, how
ever. taking great care that insignia
of all sorts is removed. Not ever
the branch OF the supposed service
is shown. once in a while come
strapping, sble-bodied tramp dons a
uniform and, goes out to take d liv-
ing away from the world, trying
straightout begging on the plea that
he is a former member Of the A. Il.
+. who lost his job when he entered
the army, has been able to find
nothing else to do, and is reduced
to his present lowly state because of
these facts.
Few Real Veterans Begged
Some cities swarmed with these
parasites for months after the arm
istice was signed. An investigation
made by War Risk Insurance Blu
reau disclosed the fact that there
was scarcely a single real e~x-soidier
among this army of beggars. A
great many of them were arrested,
others fwere effectively warned. and
the practice has about been abol-
ished.
The crippled peddler of pencils
wearing a uniform makes a silent
appeal, as a rule, or If he "bally-
hoos" his wares. does not mention
any former fancied state as a soldier
of the United States. He is too
clever to get into that trouble. He
counts upon the association of the
old uniform and the missing leg in
the minds of passers-by without di-
rectly proclaiming that he left the
missing member in France or Cuba.
AS it happens, usually he is right.
The men OF this kind. when guess
toned by the local police. will con-
fess to having lost the leg because
of a railroad accident or some other
way not in any way associated with
war. I This is true Of nearly every
one bf them.
Merchants object strangely to
these men parking themselves on
the sidewalk in front of their places
of business, but often are helpless.
The same situation exists in regard
to pushcart vendors of fruit and
celery. and the sidewalk dispenser
OF flowers. The police tiled and
failed to force a negro to give up
selling flowers on a busy corner in
| Washington, at the very doors of
on of the big department stores.
The judge before whom this man
was hailed pointed out that he could
not under existing law find him
guilty OF anything forbidden. This
man still occupies the same public
space, and does a rushing business.
To return to the fake war vete-
rams, once in a while m OF them
talks himself into trouble. This
happened a few months ago when a
man wearing a Marine Corps uni
form invaded q restaurant, selling
bits of red, white and blue ribbon
for 25 cents each. He approached
everybody systematically. finally
hating for several minutes beside q
mar in civilian clothes who seem
ed deeply sympathetic. The pre-
tended veteran, to supply local color
and make his tale convincing. wore
on sleeve four gold stripes. in
dicating a service of two years over
seas, a couple of wound stripes on
the other sleeve. and enough cam
paign badges on the breast of his
blouse to include every military ex-
petition in which the United States
has taken part since the war of
1912.
Talked Himself Into Trouble
The sympathetic civilian seemed
particularly interested in the service
badges. The panhandler pointed out
to him ribbons supposedly repre-
senting service in France, service
| on the Mexican border. the Vera
1Cruz expedition. and several others.
running back more than a score of
years. He said he was one Of the
marines who landed at Vera Cruz
from a certain 'battleship. The civil
ian gave him a quarter, and .,ur-
riedly left the cafe. A few minutes
later he came back with a police
man and a warrant.
Unfortunately for the fake hero
the man to whom he had been pour
ing out all of this misinformation-
he had the campaign ribbons all
wrong-was a Marine Corps. major
- "a A.>r>AAl h,A h~~. 4.