Evening star., 1932-09-12


riots, I wish to state emphatically that
nal, Communist and non-veteran ele-
ments amongst the marchers, as shown
by this report. should not be taken to
reflect upon the many thousands OF
honest. law-abiding men who came tc
Washington with full right of presen-
tation of their views to Congress. This
better element and their leaders acted
at all times to restrain crime and
violence. but after the adjournment OF
Congress a large portion of them re-
turned to their homes and gradually
these better elements lost control. This
report should correct the many mis-
statements Of fact as to this incident
with which the country has been
flooded"
The Attorney Generals report read
Immediately following the riot by
the so-called bonus army on July %
you directed that an investigation and
report thereon be made in this de-
I submit herewith a summary OF the
result A vast amount of material in
the form of reports, afndavits and docu-
mentary evidence has been accumu-
lated. 1t is only possible here briefly
to summarize the conclusions.
Arrival Is Recounted.
Il. The entry Of the bonus army
into the District Of Columbia.
THE first contingent of the bonus
army arrived about May n. On June
3. information reached the department
that contingent from Cleveland led
by C. B. Cowan and another from De-
troit led by John T. Pace, comprising
about l 300 men, gathered at the Penn
sylvania Railroad yards at Cleveland
anG had held up mail train and at
tempted to commander transportation
to Washington. Cowan. one OF these
leaders, has a long police record; he
has been convicted and sentenced twice
for forgery in Ohio and was sentenced
to 13 months for robbing the mails
to the United States Penitentiary at
Atlanta in 1928. Pace, a wellknown
Communist leader. has an extended
police record BY one means and an
other these groups and others obtained
transportation to Washington. BY the
middle of June they had congregated
here in large numbers. They entered
into possession of various tracts Of Gov
eminent property, on some of which
were old buildings. In some instances
permission to do so was given by the
police authorities with the acquiescence
of the Treasury. with the understand
ing that the occupancy would be tem-
porary and would be discontinued at
request and when Congress adjourned.
Other Government tracts were seized
without permission and occupied by
members of the bonus army. The num-
Der of bonus army marchers in Wash
ington at the time Of the adjournment
of Congress on July 16 has been vari-
ously estimated at from 5000 to Is 900
Several thousand left shortly after
Congress adjourned. but other groups
came in and at the time of the riot
the best estimates are that there were
from 5000 to 5000 bonus marchers in
the city
80 The quality Of the bonus army.
ITO understand the conditions caus-
ing the riot 1t is necessary to know
something of the character of the men
III the bonus army.
la Number Of Marchers Who Were
Not Ex-Service Men.-A considerable
number of the marchers were not in
military service during the World War.
An approxima ton of the number Is
impossible, but two items of reliable
information throw some light on this
question.
Prior to the riot Of July 20, 34l
members of the bonus army had been
arrested at various dates for variety
OF offenses. including disorderly con-
duct, parading without a permit assault
with a dangerous weapon. destruction
OF private property, trespass aOn private
property and soliciting aims. Seven
teen were arrested by the police on
July % and four on July 29, making .
tctal of 1852. Unfortunately, the police
did not fingerprint all OF these persons
foc Identification, but 81 of them, in
cluding those arrested for disturbing
the peace near the White House. were
fingerprinted. OF these, 16, or approxi-
mately one-third, had no World War
service record.
Prior to June IL, 1855 of the
marchers who were arriving at Wash
ington registered on the muster rolls
Of the bonus army. giving their names
Army numbers, and other data respect
ing their World War service. These
muster rolls came into the hands of the
police and ultimately to the Veterans
Bureau, which commenced to check the
names to ascertain whether the march,
eis were ex-service men. Learning what
use was being made of the muster rolls
after June II the marchers discon-
tirued the practice of registering These
first 1856 registered arrivals had been
checked by the War Department and
the Veterans Bureau against their
records of World War service men, with
the result that of the total Of 1856,
S77, or little more than one-fourth,
could not be identified in either depart
ment as having had World War serv-
ice. 1t is possible that some of the
87I were eX-Service men and could not
be identified because Of meager infor-
nation, but the bulk of them were evil
dently imposters. 1t has been reported
in the press that Director Hines of
the Veterans Bureau has said that over
80 per cent Of the bonus army were
ex-service men. Gen. Hines made no
such statement. He did not make the
statement on July % that he believed not
more than 5000 veterans had ever been
present at any one time, but the 877
men not identified as veterans were
part of the 1856 registered to which
have referred.
Crime Records Given.
With Criminal or Police Records.-Two
sources Of information are available on
this subject. OF the 81 arrested men
fingerprinted by the police prior to
the riot of July 28 and checked in the
flngerprint division Of this department.
II, or an even one-third, had been
convicted of various offenses, including
larceny, assault, sex offenses, forgery,
robbery. military offenses and disorderly
conduct. A more striking result Is OBJ
tanned from the check by the criminal
Identification bureau of this depart
ment of the fngerprints of 4,723 Of
the bonus marchers who were admit
teoly veterans and applied for and OBJ
tained loans from the Veterans Bureau,
after Congress adjourned, for the os-
tensible purpose of returning to their
homes OF these 4,723, l,069 were found