The Washington times., 1926-04-20
RUNNING DOWN
FENN|NG CASE
Continued from First Page)

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don't think these poor helpless wards
will be protected under nny law
that we might pass" Representa-
tive Rankin declared.
Major Arnold stated that the
courts officer. Herbert L. Davis,
had told him that an audit of every
commission was made: The state
ment was questioned by Repr esen-
tative Rankin. who declared he
would show that the auditor had
not passed upon all of the commits
sions charged by Fenning, and that
apparently there was no control by
any official body over the amount
of commissions in certain cases.
Representative Rankin cited one
case In which commissions totaltng
$1.234 were allowed Fenning from
the property of one soldier during
period OF four years.
Mr.. Davis will be called. before
the committee at its next meeting
to explain what system Is being
used by the court to protect the
rights Of mentally incompetent war
veterans.
ID. G. Committee to Act
Investigation OF the. Fenning case
by the. special subcommittee of the
House District Committee will be-
gin this week it was decided at a
preliminary meeting today.
The subcommittee, headed by Rep
resentative Ernest w. Gibson Of
Vermont, was in session Is minutes
today and will meet again In execu-
tive session at 7:3O o'clock tonight.
Plans will be made tonight for the
conduct of the investigation.
After today's meeting Chairman
Gibson announced that the com.
mittee had discussed the charges
informally, but had reached no con-
clusions.
He indicated that the committee
was seriously considering the ad-
visibility of holding the entire in
vestigation behind closed doors to
prevent undue publicity and expe'
dite the hearings. .......
The House Judiciary Committee.
to which viii be referred the Inn
peachment of Commissioner Fen
ming by Representative Thomas L.
Blanton of Texas, had taken no
action today.
Impeachment Lags
The committee chairman, Repre-
sentative George S. Graham Of
Pennsylvania, stated that he had
not received official notification of
the impeachment proceeding from
the House, and would take no steps
until the papers were in his hands.
He is expected to appoint a sub
committee to examine Blanton's
charges before the close of the
week. This subcommittee will de-
terrAine whether further investiga-
ton will be necessary.
AT the hearings before the Vet
Grams Committee, Major Arnold tes-
titled that he has official informa-
ton of only three cases of delin-
quency on the part of guardians in
the District. He admitted, however,
that it had taken two years to Sc.
cure this information and that in
that period there might have been
other cases.
He was able to give details re-
garding only one of these cases in
which Commissioner Fenning was
guardian. Fenning was not accused
OF delinquency in this case, how
ever. The delinquent guardian,
Major Arnold said was Mrs. Mar"
garet Jones, acting Tor her brother,
Albert S. Gross, a war veteran,
who now is confined to st. Eliza
beths.
Bureau Is Criticized
Major Arnold testified that Mrs.
Jones had failed to file accounting
for $11, 900 and that she now is
being sued by the new guardian,
who was appointed last January.
Fenning relinquished the guard
ianship Of this case in 1920, turn
ing over 1896 to Mrs. Jones.
The records showed that Mrs.
Jones had been paid a total Of
$1l,771.18 since she took the case
over from Fenning. Major Arnold
said that Mrs. Jones and her hus-
band have since gone to Florida,
where they have met with success
in the real estate business.
He was asked to present the de-
tails of the other delinquencies at
the next session of the committee.
Representative Rankin declared
that in his opinion there is more
acknowledgement of funds belonging
to war veterans in the District than
in all Of the remainder Of the coun-
try. He sharply criticised Veteran
Bureau officials for failure to pro-