Evening star., 1932-09-07
u. s. AGENTS RISK
!. HOSPITAL DANGERS
Investigators Fake Illnesses
to Get Evidence on
Law Violations.
BY REX COLLIER.

Ine forblQQlng walls OF en- insane
| asylum or the contagious ward of a
| hospital hold no terrors for a special
agent of the United States Bureau Of
| Investigation when he is tracking down
violators of Federal laws.
Faking mental disorders, coughs or
| other ailments, these Government de-
tectives secure admission as patients"
| and proceed, unnoticed, with their
| undercover inquiries-all for the sake
of justice.
An instance of this kind, in which an
agent recently smugg.ed himself into
United States Veterans Hospital and
| exposed lottery racket that had puz-
zled medical authorities. was made
public today at the bureau of which j.
Edgar Hoover is director.
Hospital authorities had complained
to the Department of Justice that the
lottery scheme was causing so much
excitement among patients in the
hospital at Oteen, North Carolina, that
an increace in hemorrhages had been
noted. Lires Of some of the more seri-
ously affected veterans were endan-
gered, 1t was declared.
Poor Service Charged.
Complaint also had been made that
certain attendants at the hospital were
refusing to render adequate service to
patients who declined to join in the lot
terry. An inquiry had been attempted
by representative of the Veterans
Administration, but his ineXperience as
an investigator led to disclosure of his
identity and frustrated the probe. Di-
rector Hoover was appealed to.
Hoover assigned an agent to assume
the role Of 1T. B." patient and con-
duct an inside investigation. Affecting a
Wracking cough, he was admitted to the
receiving ward for examination" and
Conservation" The agent succeeded in
giving unsuspecting attaches the impress
sion he was suffering from tubercular
throat, and he consequently was placed
with patients who had virulent con-
sumption, risking possibility of actual
infection.
The new patient" soon had made
friends with other inmates and with
attendants. Before long he was invited
to get in" on the lottery and was told
all about its workings. He learned that
colored orderly and three patients
were engaged in selling the chances.
Administrative officials of the insti-
tuition had agreed to keep secret the
presence of the Federal investigator in
the hospital, but rumor leaked out as
to the identity of the new patient, fore
ing the agent to conclude his investiga-
tion in haste
The operative, forgetting all about his
cough, sought out the orderly and the
trio of patients and displayed his Gre
dentials. They were so taken by sur
prise that they readily confessed.
Action Is Promised.
enc y,roeac,,fi,a ,o+;o,, ,,oc +oho,, L.,
this matter, the bureau said in a re-
port of the case, because Federal
jurisdiction was doubtful. but the au-
thoritieS at the hospital agreed to take
administrative action agains the Offend
ers." The nature of the action was
not made public.
Another investigative trick of like
nature was performed by Bureau Of In
vestigation agents in the w. D. Manley
fraud case in 1929, in Georgia. In
that case an agent feigned 'melan-
cholia" and duped physicians and Of
ficials of private sanitarium into ad-
mitting him "for observation"-only the
observing was done by the agent at the
expense of Mr.. Manley.
Manley, indicted for mail frauds as
an outgrowth of the crash of his Bank
ers' Trust Co. and the subsequent clos
ing of SO banks in Georgia and Florida
within so days, had eluded trial for
three years before the Bureau of In
vestigation exposed Manleys insanity"
sham. Manley is serving a seven-year |
sentence in Atlanta Penitentiary.
When the case first was called for |
trial, four Of Manley's associates ap- !
peared and were convicted, but Man |
ley sent word he was seriously i'll and |
mentally incompetent to stand trial. |
Because of the apparently authentic |
representations made to the court, |
Manley escaped immediate trial Later |
the Government made successive efforts |
to bring the banker to trial. but each |
time the court was advised that Manley |
was gravely ILL.,
Suspicious Of Government officials |
became aroused and the Justice Bureau I
was asked to investigate a rumor that |
Manley was malingering A special |
agent Of the bureau put on his saddest |
countenance and was escorted to the |
sanitariur1 where Manley was confined |
by several other agents, representing |
themselves as distressed relatives.
Remains Two Months.
For nearly two months the agent re-
manned at the sanitarium under |
treatment" all the while secretly jot-
ting notes regarding Manley's move
ments and health. He found nothing |
wrong with either. and so reported to |
his relatives" who visited him from |
time to time. The agent struck up an |
acquaintance with Manley that pro-
duced information tending to support |
the charge that the banker was put
ting one over" on the Government.
Recovering from his "melancholia, |
the agent obtained his discharge. His |
report to the court resulted in an order |
holding that Manley was sane and |
physically able to stand trial. So we'll |
did the agent conceal his identity that |
the physician in charge of the sani- |
tarium did not learn of the deception |
until the former patient" was called |
to testify in court