The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-17

' V al 70
 Reproduction of Charles R. Forbe, It bears this inscription in Forbes l Mortimer-F Friendship should be las memesr me among those you love. , sBnrssa and to help General o'Ryar with the case.
 Cramer, chief counsel of the Vet erans' Bureau, came under fire of the inyestiKAtors. He had held his post from the information of the bureau. Al contracts for buildings and supplies ha. Iassed thr6ush his hands. He partici- .pated in most of the transactions oi. which the senatorial committee found cause for Criticism. Forbes ana .Cramer sthad ambitions for higher honofs., At one time, Forbes. seemed to expect that he would succeed Fall as Secretary of the Interior. Cramer wanted to be- Assistant Secretary of War. -ssss
 Much that be did in the Veterans Bureau was doubtless in the nature of trading for political influence which might secure him this appointment. As I have told in previous article, at the time when Forbes sprang his sud den bargain for the Perryville supplies. Mrs. GSanief,s at Washington, tele- graphed to her husband at Los Angeles 1: Think Colonel traitor" and things very wrong in bureau" Cramer re- turned, to find himself swimming in trouble. By March his ambition for a higher post in the government service had become impossible. f
 Cause. Of Suicide
 Perhaps it. is futile to search for the causes for a case of suicites Often one tiny trouble, piled .s6ti greater troubles, brings down the- whole structure of reason. Once l. knew a man who, after being put on. his back in friendly wrestling bout, went home and blew out his own brainss On the evening of March 12, Crafdef saw his wife of. on a tgsiHt f0s Eews York. He ! did not 50 ;fo Bf5 at might, In the n16f hin& sersef f6aHd his body on the bathroom floor He held a revol- yer; there was hole through his head. A clipping regarding the trouble at the Veterans Bureau lay on the desk at which he had written far into the night. The newspapers, reporting hon. cstly the information thew were given, said that he left no letters. That was a mistake. He left three letters. one to the President. What they contained, possibly no one but the recipients ever knew.
 Mortimer was working, up to. his determination. Domestic troubles had piled oh to his other grudges and per plexities. The, MOrtimers had sepa- rated. Later, Rtters of Mortimer to his wife pleading for reconciliation, declar- ing all he had Said against Forbes iin- true, appeared. among the exhibits at the Senate iniuiry.
 | He changed that tune, however, when General O'Ryah and Major Arnold questioned him. Ever since the break of friendship in September, 1922, Mort inner had worried Colonel Forbes. James Williams; tMra Mortimef's uncle, by marriag has testified that in the autumn of that year, Forbes and his friend Bieber were trying to get certain papsrs in + Mortimer's possession. Mrs. Williams, whom Forbes and Biaber interviewed on the subject, went even further. She tes- tified , st3ss 3sssS <f ,s.
 They were there either to tell ter rible things about Mir Mortimer that he was going tDbe pur in. prison, and what they were going to do to him, and sthey did hot want my niece to be with him when he was going to be arrested and sent ito prison, and that she must get away, and the, same with those papers, that if she, was found with those papers it. would incriminate her, and that was the reason I went to Washington with Der to get those papers. .,.. there. was not anything in the world that they did not say about him tMortimer9 ;S;terrible, awful things They said tbey were going to have him horsewhipped, and Mr. Forbes said he had Departmeift of Justice man out side of Mir. Mortimer's door all the time to try to protect Mrs. Mortimer The things he told were hofrifying." l"
 Protest To President
 At about the. period of the Perryyille transaction Mir. Williams, .througk tbe influence of, Congressman Edmunds, reached the President swith a protest over the actions of Forbes in his home. Mrs. Williams testified:
 Il do not know that the President apologized- of in an apology way -1-how he had met Colonel Forbes. and he had evidently. come to a. parting. He said he was taking a trip to Homo lulu and the Governor of Honolulu in troduced them, and he was their com panion; and after he was nominated he came to MArion---"
 When General O'Ryan and Major Arnold took hold of the matter, the charges and tales, which have re- lated in. this series interested them less than the disorganization in the Veterans Bureau and its possible re- organization for efficiency and economy. They had worked two months before they decided that personalities were fhe roots of the matter and began to ''proye iip" the stories of irregularity I have told M this series, together with others whteh I have had no space to tell. They saw Mortimer. He agreed to tes- tify. E
 Hearings In October
 The hearings began in October. nearly a year nfter fhe Perryville sale. In the meantime. Colonel Forbes had travelled to Cuba, to Boston, finally to the Pacific coAst whence he came to. testify. Disease had aged him in the meantime. The proceedings lasted six weeks. They varied in interest be- tween dull but useful consideration of hospital statistics, and an attempted assault on a witness in the corridor. The appearahee of Mortimer on the stand Introduced dgRfia. Cool it man- naf, hatchet.faeesk hawk-eyetz z1for two days be spilled sensAtien after sensation
 Forbes, when his turn came. was more emotional. When he touched on Mortimer, who sat glaring at him from