Evening star., 1925-03-22
ACCUSED VETERAN
CAN SEE TO DRIVE
Lewis Says Sight, Is Too Dim
to Read-Denies Fraud in
Asking Auto Permit.

There's another angle to the case
OF Howard T. Lewis. 507 Fifth street
northeast World War veteran, listed
as permanently blind at the Hel-
erans' Bureau, and now being IN
Vestigated as the result of his haV-
ing been discovered driving an au-
tomobile last Thursday.
The court of last resort or the
Veterans Bureau-the board of ap-
peals-probably will report finally on
his case Wednesday or Thursday. In
the meantime Lewis is facing loss or
his S20O-a-month compensation anu
prosecution in the Police Court on a
charge of having violated the pollce
regulations in obtaining an opera
tors permit for automobile driving
despite his inticmity.
IT gradually came home, though,
listening to his story as he talked
tn INSPECTOR A. J. Headley at the
traffic bureau yesterday. that here
was one of the boys who, some SIX
or seven short years ago, was halleu
as a hero wherever he went. All the
glamor of the cOnquerinS soldier
coming back to his own enVeloped
these overseas boys. and the heart
of the public went out in sympathy
TO those especially VINO came pdCh
hurt or wounded.
Lewis was an overseas man. lie
was shot in the legs during some OF
the hot fighting. He contracted eye
trouble, which has left him in semi
twilight, if his account is to be be-
lieved.
Can See Only DlmIy.
There's pathos in the very way he
told his story.
Il can't go to shows" he said. Il
can't even see we'll enough to enjoy
a base ball game. I can't read l
can't work. All l wanted with the
automobile permit was to drive a
few blocks now and then in a secluded
neighborhood. always had some
body with me when l was driving.
You see, I've been around automobiles
all my life, pretty near, and I'm used
10 them"
1t seemed from the way he talked
that the only pleasure he could get
out of life, the only way to lift him
self above the humdrum of daily
routine. was to get in an automobile e
with his hands on the wheel, and
drive slowly around a few blocks.
Can he see? Yes. He admits it.
He can see-just about the way a
normal man can see if he looks
steadily at the sun and then tries to
focus his vision on a definite object.
It's all a blur.
Can he write? Yes. His name.
But he does that in straggly
manner. And he can't read an ap-
plication for a drivers permit to
operate an automobile. This is the
count against him in so far as the
Traffic Bureau is concerned. war
rant is being sought for violation of
the police regulation covering this
point: The applicant must make out
his application.
But there's another angle to it all.
Has Dependent Family.
What are my wife and two children
going to do if ] lose my compensa-
ton money" Lewis wants to know.
Il haven't got a penny saved. 1
haven't tried to fool anybody. 1 let
the doctors examine me. They know
how much L can see and how much
] can't. This is a fine way to treat
a man who tried to do right by his
country"
There wasn't a trace of heroism in
the last sentence. He talked like a
chap who simply doesn't understand
why public can turn from warm to
cool so soon, relatively, after the
war, which he and his buddies won.
Yesterday he was a hero. A disabled
hero. Today he's a plain case" of
the Veterans Bureau.
The question which remains to be
solved is double pronged: Is a man
entitled to compensation for total
blindness when his eyesight is so bad
that he can't work or get the proper
enjoyment out of life through his i'm
paired eyesight-when he is not to-
tally blind Or, does the fact that
his eyes are useless to him, so far as
work, wages and a livelihood is con-
cerned. justify his compensation for
permanent" blindness?
Maj. Arnold of the Veterans Bureau
says Lewis will get a square deal.
The board of appeals has his case
now. The case came up to the Vet
Grams Bureau through the Washing
ton regional office. from which it was
turned over to the central office of
the Veterans Bureau. The medical
department Of the Veterans Bureau,
after tests, declared Lewis ''perma-
nently blind" Then the case went
to the board of appeals, which acts
on such claims of World War vet
erns, and the board stamped it with
approval