Evening star., 1940-06-22
Smed|ey Butler Dies;
Fighting Quaker Of
Marine Corps
Outspoken Officer Won
Many Decorations
In 30-Yeur Service
Sy the Associated Press.


The retired veteran whose dis
tinguished service and expressive
speech brought him before the pub
lie eye many times in military and
civil life. died yesterday at Naval
Hospital of an abdominal ailment
! He had entered the hospital May %
for checkup after an extended lee
ture tour.
A soldiers soldier" Gen. Butler
retired in 1881 after career which
started in 1898 as a provisional
second lieutenant in the Marine
Corps.
Shortly before his resignation in
1881, Gen. Butler caused an inter-
national incident by referring to
Premier Mussolini as "hit-and-run
driver" An apology was sent to the
italian Premier and court-martial
proceedings were ordered for Gen.
Butler. They were later abandoned.
Gen. Butler is survived by his
widoW, two sons and daughter.
Tried to Enlist at 16.
Few careers in the American
fighting forces in recent times have
been more picturesque or surrounded
with more dramatic episodes than
that of Maj Gen. Butler.
A young Quaker who wanted to
fight for his country in the Spanish
American War, he ran away from
home and tried to enlist in the Ma
tional Guard at Philadelphia, but
was turned down because he was
only 16
Later he heard that the Marines
were short of second lieutenants and
again slipped away from home to
appear at Marine headquarters in
Washington. He misrepresented his
age, was passed as eligible and
shortly afterwards was commits
stoned lieutenant.
It was not long before the young
1t. Butler saw action with McCallS
men at Guantanamo and Manzanillo
and started upon a career that has
had few parallels in variety and
activity of service. His record in
Cuba, the Philippines. China, Mic
arague. Mexico, Haiti and France
won for him two Congressional
medals of honor, distinction shared
by only four other men at the time;
an offer of an honorary Victoria
Cross. an Army Distinguished Serv-
ice Medal. Navy Distinguished
Service Medal and brevet medal.
In addition he received promotions
which raised him to the rank OF
brigadied general at 80. and to major
general nine years later.
Some of His Exploits.
Some of the exploits which won
recognition and promotion for Gen.
Butler were these: AS young
Marine officer he rushed out between
the lines in China to bring back
wounded British Tommy; he was
caught in ambush in Nicaragua; he
risked his life to go to Mexico City
= as a spy; he charged bandit fort
at Haiti he carried duckboards with
his men at Brest, France, to aid the
landing of the American expedition
ary Forces in the soupy mud; he
dismounted from his horse at
Quantico to carry the pack of sick
Marine
Gen. Butler was borrowed by the
City Of Philadelphia to act as direc-
tor of the department of public
safety during 1924 and 1925, waging
vigorous campaign against boot
leggers and politicians. only to be
dismissed by the Mayor. He re-
turned to the Marine Corps and
after an assignment in China was
made commanding general of the
Marine base at Quantico, Va.
pory, ot Wocf Chocfor Do T,,lx,
30, 1881, Gen. Butler was descend
ant of two old and distinguished
families of Quakers. He received
his education at the Haverford
School, which he supplemented by
constant study. In June, 1905, he
married Ethel Conway Peters of
Philadelphia. They had three chill
dren, daughter and two sons
Notwithstanding his active mill
tary career, Gen. Butler was
home man and took his family
with him on his assignments in
various parts of the world.
After his service in Cuba during
the Spanish h-American War Gen.
Butler went to the other side of the
world to take part in the Philippine
insurrection and next participated
In the storming of the Tentsin forts
in the Boxer uprising in 1900, suffer-
ing leg wound.
Cited for Courage.
When he returned to the United
States he had another wound, the
silver bars of a captain and a cita-
tion for eminent and conspicuous
courage"
The generals period of inactivity
was short, situations arising in Gen.
trail America which demanded the
attention of the Marines. Gen. But
Ter was on hand for the revolution
in Panama and then for the revolt
in Honduras, where he acted as um-
pire and helped end hostilities when
bullets began flying too close to
American holdings.
Gen. Butler was back with the
American fleet off Vera Cruz in 1914
and with two enlisted men volun-
teered for the risky task of learning
the strength of the Mexican troops
guarding Vera Cruz and conditions
of the route to Mexico City. He
obtained the information at Vera
Cruz without much trouble, but the
spying-out trip to Mexico City was
more dangerous. He was arrested
many times.
Because I carried a net and ap-
peared to be studying the rocks" he
said later, "they thought I was
q nut and let me pass"
Later, with the taking of the GUS
tom house and the occupation of
Vera Cruz, Gen. Butler received his
first Congressional Medal of Honor.
The second was awarded little
more than a year later, when Ma
rines were landed in Haiti. Gen.
Butler, then lieutenant colonel,
was in command, and his first job
was pacification of the black repub-
lie and the determination of ~,