The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-07-10
ELECTED
PROPOSAL
THAT HE
RESIGN
Major Walker Plans Appeal to
Higher Officials to Clear
His Name.

4
. Major Thacker v. Walker, 81
veteran of three wars and presi-!
dent of the Alabama State So-I
ciety, was ousted as commander
of the George Washington POST
No. /, American Legion, at 81
special meeting held last night in
the posts club house, 1929 Il
street northwest. Forces antago-l
nistic to his regime musteredl
their strength and when the vote
was taken on the impeachment
proceedings he was ousted by q
majority vote. The count was;
70 to 80, a two-thirds majority
being needed to make the oustingI
proceedings conform to the Lee!
gion's constitution.
Follows Long Fight.
The action came only after six1
hour fight in executive session.
Waiting newspaper men were given
no inkling of the trend Of the secret
session, and when the meeting broke
up shortly before o'clock this
morning a group OF grlm-V1sageQ
men filed slowly out of the room
Their mouths had been closed by
adoption of q resolution pledging
them to secrecy, and it was not until
this morning that the verdict was
made public.
The position Of commander OF
the post is vacant by the ruling OF
the majority last night. and there
will have to be q special meeting
for the election Of new commander
Lew s. Mohler is acting commanders
Plans to Appeal. i
Major Walker today refused to
issue a statement on the grounds
that the meeting was in executive
session and that he could not dt5
vulge what transpired. His sole
comment on the case was that he
would appeal the decision to see liz
he was tried on the charges that
were preferred against me or on
some other cause"
William J. Holloman, adjutant OF
the Post, resigned in protest against
Major Walkers forced retirements
When the vote showed that the
necessary votes had been cast t0
impeach him, Major Walker was re;
Quested to resign. He refused to
resign, and another vote was taken
on the question Of declaring the
position which he held vacant. This
also was passed and acted uponI
though, it is alleged, less than onet
fifth Of the post membership was
present. q
The fact that the George Washs
ington Post lost more than 700 acf
tive paid-in memberships December
81 came to light today. This loss
of membership was attributed to the
fact that on that date heavy dues
were assessed against each member
for the support Of the palatial club
house on I street. Since that time
the post has steadily decreased from
it's leadership in point OF members
until now it ranks second to the
Vincent B. Costello Post.
The charge on which Major
Walker was tried was presented by
Charles B. Hanford. 1t set forth
that Major Walker had "acted in
had faith with the post in that he
had not succeeded in recalling the
charter for the auxiliary to the post
which he had sanctioned. The
charter was granted and the aux:
Hilary was organized despite Walkers
efforts to have it recalled. A secl
ond charge, that of sanctioning the
charter without the express permisS
sion Of the post, was also presented
against him.
PerpIexing Question.
Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett, pres
ident Of the national auxiliary to
the Legion telegraphed Major
Walker and the Post that in her
opinion "he was entirely within his
rights when he sanctioned the char
ter" Mrs. Barrett stated that she
had always known Major Walker
as a ''peace-maker" in the Post.
The question of what will become
of the auxiliary now that 1t has the
charter officially granted Is per-
picking members of the post. The
of the legion provides
for an auxiliary and it will take
action in national convention to re-
woke the charter.
Major Walker stated today that ne
would appeal his case to vindicate
his record. He said that he did not
wish to remain q member of the post
and if he could clear his record, he
said. he would leave the post as
quickly as possible. He intimated
that malcoutents in the post had
fomented the charges against him
because he had been unwilling to
let influential members of the post
dictate to him in matters which his
office entitled him to have complies
jurisdiction. He would mention no
names and he was unwilling that
any statement be attributed to him
charging that he had not been fairly