Evening star., 1932-07-30
BANS
VETERAN FORCES
Repudiates Invitation Sent
by Mayor-PIane Is
Rushed for Waters.
tContinuAd From First Page.)

invited the entire army to Johnstown.
but had merely suggested that its
leaders establish headquarters here to
formulate their plans for the organi-
zation to be known as the Khaki
Shirts"
McCloskey said today that despite
Grams In Johnstown, he feels the city
sympathizes with the ex-soldiers be
cause the city knows what starvation
and suffering are"
None Will Go Hungry"
I'm not worried over the con-
centration of hundreds of men," Nc
Closkey said None of them will 60
hungry" He said sufficient supplies
are on hand to feed all for several days
and that other plans to obtain food
will be drafted when Waters arrives.
McCloskey said that like leaders of
the Bonus Exceditionary Force" he
Is urging the men to go home. But
II .fley come here they'll be taken care
of" he added.
Fighting alone in stormy session of
City Council, McCloskey oyerrode an
the city.
mayor shouted:
II will take full responsibility for
anything that happens here"
He then called all police on furlough
into service.
The antagonism of the citizenry over
the influx of veterans is increasing
hourly and there are hints that seine
drastic action win be taken to force
them to evacuate the city.
There was a furry of excitement at
Jennecstown as a contingent of about
trucks, leaped from the vehicles and
headed In the direction of Johnstown.
The convoy Of State police accom-
panying the trucks rounded up the
veterans, told them the plan was to
take them to the West Virginia State
line and asked that they get back on
board. Most of them complied, but
about 20 trudged south toward Johns
town. No effort was made to stop
them.
Asks State Protection.
The Johnstown Chamber Of Com
merce wired Maj. Lynn Adams. super
intendent of State police, with request
that he protect the city against incur
sion by the bonus army"
The chamber. in its telegram, pointed
out that "Johnstown cannot care for its
own needy and we petition the State
police to keep the B. E. F. moving
through Pennsylvania as Maryland is
doing. Situation Is serious"
The organization called upon all con-
stituted authority to take cognizance
of "this desperate situation in which the
city is placed" and urged that proper
steps be taken ito protect lives and
property in our city"
The board of directors went into
emergency session to lay plans for cop
ing with eventualities.
Capt. Doak A. Carter, chief of staff,
and r. B. Ellison, national contact
officer, and their lieutenants congre-
gated again today in the mayors Office
TO assist in working out details of the
local problem and to align it with pro-
grams elsewhere
Meanwhile, across the State Of Penn
sylvania highway trucks carried hun
dreds Of veterans, many of them bound
for Johnstown.
The first convoy of 80 trucks carried
500 men, women and children, mostly
Californians, led by r. H. Shaw Of
Long Beach, Calf. Transport stations
have been set up at Gettysburg, Me-
Connellsburg and Ligonier. The route
being followed Is the Lincoln Highway,
which does not pass through JohnStown.
Veterans who wish to come here, how
ever, will be allowed to leave the cara
van at the closest point, Highways Sec
retary Samuel S. Lewis said. He has
63 trucks in use and said he would
order more If necessary.
State police and highway patrolmen
are accompanying the groups, which are
being relayed at the transport stations.
Veterans will be moved to the Ohio line
through Greensburg.
Group Stranded at York.
Two hundred bonus "marchers' passed
through York, Pa, yesterday, and
about one-fourth of them were left
Most OF them were enroute to Johns
town. Freight trains carried groups of
the men fleeing Washington.
Shaw said before leaving the Capital
that his band, now on trucks, did not
intend to stay long in Johnstown, that
1t intended to return. Red flags to
stop freight trains are in possession of
the men.
Reports reaching here said a ma
jority of the veterans en- route to Johns
town are from the West and Middle
West, with Illinois and Minnesota
largely represented
While the exodus from Washington
is being made by thousands, other small
groups are en- route Eastward to join
those remaining. One group Of As from
Canton, Akron, Cleveland and East
Liverpool, Ohio, spent the night in
Washington. Pa. Their leader, C. B.
Collins of Cleveland, asserted treatment