Evening star., 1932-09-12
MITCHELL DEFENDS
EVICTION OF B. (. F.
IN REPORT TO HOOVER
Continued From First Page)

1 dQucu WOulu Ildhc d ooIdlIcO
answer after studying the report care
fully.
r. B. Ellison, who said he was ma
tional organizer of the Khaki Shirts of
America and former contact officer of
the B. E. F., characterized the Justice
report as "a political alibi" The "at-
tempt to brand the bonus army as
criminal organization" he stated. falls
fiat by the Attorney Generals own
figures" 1t is unnecessary to try to
refute the figures, he said The B. E.
F. did not ask the veterans II they had
ever been arrested any more than it
asked what their religious baliefs were,"
he explaind.
Police Records Listed.
Included in the Mitchell report as
transmitted to the President, but not
made public, was an exhibit A, detailing
an alphabetical list of each one of the
1869 men out of the 4723 borrowers
who have police records. The time and
place Of their arrests or convictions were
given.
Many Of them had been repeatedly
convicted under various Names" it was
stated.
To understand the conditions causing
the riot, 1t is necessary, the report
pointed cut, to know something of the
army" A considerable number of the
marchers were not in military service
during the World War" the report add
ed arriving at an approximation of at
least one-third as being non-vete-ans
by Investigations into the records of
fingerprints.
Unfortunately" it was stated "the
police did not fingerprint all OF the 362
marchers arrested prior to July 29. but
81 of them, including those arrested
for disturbing the peace near the White
House, were fingerprinted OF these, 16.
or approximately one-thlrd, hco no
| World War service record
Prior to June II, when registration OF
| incoming marchers ceased. the records
| of the first 1866 registered arrivals
were checked by the War Department
and the Veterans Bureau The result
showed, the report stated, that 877, or
little less than one-fourth. could not
be identified as having World War
records.
Regarded as Accurate.
at is possible that some of the 877
! we're ex-service men and could not be
| identified because of meager informa-
| tion," the report added but the bulk
of them were evidently imposters."
Two sources of information were
available to the departmental investi-
| gators on the subject OF criminal rec
ords.
OF the 81 arrested men fingerprinted
prior to the riot of July % and checked
In the lingerprinted division of the JUS
tice Department, 19 had been convicted
Of various offenses. the report citing
larceny, assault, sex offenses. forgery,
robbery. military offenses and dlsorderly
conduct. But more striking results were
obtained from the check of the Grim
inal Identification Bureau from the
fingerprints of 4,723 bonus marchers
who obtained loans from the Veterans
| Bureau for transportation and Subslst-
ence to their homes. OF these, 1869
were found to have police records, the
disposition OF 20 cases was unknown.
| and in the cases of 22O the charges had
| been dismissed
| The convictions in the case of the
| 829 veterans involved charges as fol-
lows: Assault, 81; auto theft, 26; bur-
glary, 66; carrying concealed weapons,
| 8, diSorderly conduct and vagrancy, SO;
driving while intoxicated. "a: drunken
| ness. 95. embezzlement and fraud. 80;
| felonious homicide. 7: forgery and coun-
terfeiting. A gambling, 2; larceny
theft, 1873; liquor laws, 49; military Of
; fenses, desertions, etc, 80. miscella-
neous, 80; narcotic drug laws, 10; Of
| fenses against the family and children.
Is; rape, g. robbery, 46: sex offenses
! except rape). 20; suspicion and inves-
/ tigation, Il; traffic and motor vehicle
, laws, 4.
| Percentage Is 22.6.
"Of those individuals convicted" the
report explained, "l48 had cne prior
| conviction for some offense 49 had two
D., prior convictions, % had three prior
convictions and 26 had more than three
prior convictions"
| The percentage of bonus marchers
! having police records, according to the
official check. was 22.6; the percentage
Of bonus marchers convicted to the
number having police records was 76.9,
while the percentage having convic-
tions to the tosal number whose finger
| prints were searched was ia
The report reminded that consid-
! cradle portion of the bonus army also
included Communists and radicals In
this connection, the report said:
The investigations We have con-
Quoted have demonstrated that a very
| much larger proportion of the bonus
army than was realized at the time con-
! sisted OF ex-convicts, persons with GRIM
! inal records, radicals and non-service
men
On the other hand, very consider
| able number were genuine ex-service
men of good intentions and clean
| records. This is particularly true OF
| the conditions prior to the adjournment
OF Congress and before the exodus of
those who realized that they had no
further justification for remaining in
the city. Some of their leaders were
decent and law-abiding, and others were
not"
The report on radical activities
singled out as the Communist leader.
Emanuel KeWn alias Herman Levin.
managing editor Of the Daily Worker.
who contended the march to Washing
ton had been planned in the headquar-
ters of the Workers Ex-Service Men S
: League.
Other Communist leaders named were
/, John T. Pace, arrested in the White |
House demonstration; James w. Ford. |
colored Communist candidate for Vice |
President: Clair Owen Walter F. Flicker |
| and Sylvester G. Mckinney
Arms Reference Left Out.
The report omits reference to dyna-
mite and firearms allegediy found in |
the bonus camps, charges of which |
were prepared in affidavits supposedly |
for the grand jury. However, it de-
clares that the files Of the Justice De- !
partment contain voluminous reports of J
Communist meetings while the bonus |
army was present. At many OF these |
meetings, the report said, 'incendiary |
speeches and plans to stir the bonus !
army to violence and bloodshed were
made"
After Congress adjourned. the report !
declared. "the quality of the men in the |
bonus army steadily deteriorated." 1t !
pointed to soliciting in the streets, the |
levying or tribute on small merchants /
and the intimidation of housewives.
Health conditions in the camps and |
their effects on the community were
taken up at length in the report, the !
facts being based it was said, on an in
spection by District Health Officer Will
liam c. Fowler The report also re-