The Washington times., 1923-01-13
HONOR ribbons
FOR F|REN|EN
AND POLICE
Decorations for Knickerbocker
Disaster Heroes Donated
BY The Times.

A r1bbOn bar, to De recOgn1IlOH
of citation by the District Com
missioners, will in the near future
decorate the coat of every officer
and fireman OF the fire department
who served at the Knickerbocker
Theater disaster. !.
As an appreciation OF the work
done by policemen at the Knicker.
booker the police department VIII
be presented with a silver loving
cup.
Presentation of the ribbons, the
cup and the Individual valor medal
which goes to Private Robert Lee
Jones, Of the Eighth Police pre-
cinct, will be made in the near
future at exercises to be held IN
the auditorium of the Central High
School.
The fire department valor medal
will be presented to Fire Chlel
George S. Watson to be held IN
trust by him for presentation ~ e
later date to q member of<his de-
partment for exceptional bravery.
Donated BY the Times.
The washington Times, as repre-
sentative of the people Of Wash.
ington. is donating the ribbons,
cup and medals. The Times feels
that the extraordinary service per-
formed at the Knickerbocker is de.
serving Of special commentator
from the citizens.
The action of Chief Watson in
declining to accept The washington
Times hero medal, awarded TO MN
by q committee Of representative
citizens for his work at the knick.
erbocker, led The Times to decide
on the ribbon bar award.
Chief Watson. in his letter 70
Commissioner Rudolph refusing the
award. said that any RECOGNITION Lor
work at the KnickerbOc ana the
other two additional alarm tires tne
same night should 20 not TO him
individually, but to every nlemner
lof the department who served on
this night.
For this reason. The Times y
served on that night with the rib
bon bar.
In awarding the ribbons, The
Times is inaugurating an entirely
new custom. In the future. as Is
planned now. these ribbons win
only be awarded in cases where the
District Commissioners make off
cial commentators. The ribbons
viii not be lirnited TO the fire de-
partment, but will go to the police
department members in the future
whenever members of t1is depart
ment are commended by the Com
|nissioners.
Represent q Citation.
The ribbons will be worn on the
uniforms. They will be representa-
tive of citation by the Commits
Sfoners and representative of an APP
probation by the people OF Wash
ington for their Individual service
at the KnickerbOcker.
The police department cup viii
be presented to Major Daniel Sulli-
van, Superintendent of Police, by
the people of Washington, through
The Washington Times. At the
Knickerbocker disaster the police
worked necessarily for many hours.
Their work was largely in handling
the crowds, taking charge Of and
searching the bodies Of victims and
protecting all valuables found on
dead persons or found in the
theater, and other duties.
Chief Watson said today that he
probably would hold over the fire
Cp1AAAichI N1AOi HHSudA uAtIH ACAe
year.
1--WE will award for 1928 two
medals instead of one" he said to-
day.
No date has yet been set for the
presentation Of the awards: How
ever, plans are being made to make
the presentation a memorable one
in the history Of Washington. The
ribbon bars will be pinned indi-
vidually on every officer and fire.
man.
Policeman Jones, who gets the
police valor medal, will be signally
honored. He will be the only man
to get a medal this year. The three
members of the police department
who received honorable mention by
the committee on awards also viii
be honored.
The ribbon bar will be similar to
the service bars worn in the army.