The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-09-12
BONUS ARGUMENT
FLARES UP AGAIN
AS LEGION MEETS
Attorney General Makes Report
to Hoover as Ex-Service.
men Convene

what happened when the Bonus
Expeditionary Forces were elected
from Washington by soldiers again
was in dispute Monday, according to
Associated Press dispatches.
Attorney General Mitchell issued a
statement in Washington that use Of
troops was necessary to and did pre-
vent disorder and bloodshed," and that
further rioting would have occurred
had not the troops been called out.
In a 4,000-word document, submitted
to President Hoover, he asserted: 1T
is probable the bonus army brought
into the city of Washington the larg-
est aggregation Of criminals that had
ever been assembled in the city at any
one time"
Pursuing this subject he asserted
that BIT of the first 1856 men on the
B. E. F. roster could not be identified
as eX-servicemen and that of the
4,723 applying for transportation
home 1869 had police records and 500
of these had been convicted. He said
Communists promoted the march on
Washington and sought to incite dis
order.
President Hoover, making the re-
port public, said, however, that their
presence and the presence Of IAN ex-
traordinary large proportion of crimi-
nal and non-veteran elements among
the marchers" should not be taken to
reflect upon the many thousands Of
honest law-abiding men who came to
Washington with full right of pres
entation of their views to congress.
Quality Deteriorated
Mitchell asserted that after con-
gress adjourned the quality of the B.
E. F. steadily deteriorated, that its
members circulated about the city in
dividually and in small groups and
even in large bodies. asking or de-
handing money and supplies and
practically levying tribute on small
merchants and intimidating house.
wives when their demands were re-
fused.
On July %, Mitchell said, mob
from Camp Marks at Anacostia
rushed policemen stationed on gov
eminent property in Pennsylvania
avenue, attacking them with bricks
and rocks.
The police obeyed orders not to use
their revolverS and the attack finally
subsidized. Finally, however, Mitchell
reported. the bonus marcherS attacked
police with bricks. Jumps of concrete
and iron bars and two of the bonus
marchers were shot by police who
had been set upon and were in danger
of their lives. The mob became hos
tile and riotious, it was apparent that
a pitched battle on large scale might
start at any moment" and the troops
were called.
They dispersed the marchers, Nit
chell said, with the use of practically
no weapons except tear gas He
denied that a child in the bonus
camp died of the gas, asserting the
childs ailment previously had been
diagnosed as an intestinal trouble.
Commenting on the burning Of B
E. F.. shackS OH Pennsylvania avenue
Mitchell said the cause of the fires
was not known and that 1.-The troops
had no orders to set any fires That
night, in Anacostia, he said, fires set
by the retiring bonus marchers broke
out in a number of localities. After
the B. E. F.. members had retired, he
said. the troops burned the remainder
of the debris in the area, completing
this work begun by the B. +. T.
Said Report Clarity:
President Hoover said It
should correct the many :
mentS of facts of this i.:c. " ,ti1
which the country has been l.ooocd.
In New York. ?'alter W. Waters
B. E. r. commander, said:
"Mr Mitchcll's charges are abso-
lutely without foundation in fact.
1t was Mr.. Mitchell's job to furnish
this information and he did the best
he could. ..
II regret that this statement was
timed for the American Legion con-
vention as it will only antagonize
thousands of veterans who had begun
to forget what took place in Washing
ton. =.
after a careful study a complete
answer will be prepared and issued. "
r. B. Ellison who said he was ma
tional organizer of the Khaki Shirts
of America, and former contact Of
ficer of the bonus army. in a state
ment here termed the Mitchell report
"a political alibi." He said:
lone is first struck by the fact that
its release to the press and the pub
lie is timed to coincide with the OPEN
ing of the national convention OF the
American Legion, where President
Hoover and his henchmen must make
their last desperate bid to regain the
respect of the ex-servicemen Of the
country"