FATAL RIOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 178, 29 July 1932, Page 7

FATAL RIOT.

U.S. BONUS ARMY. VETERANS FIRED ON. One Dead in Clash With Police In Washington. SHOWER OF BRICKS RESENTED. (United P.A.—Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Received 10.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, July 28. A group of the Bonus Army, -which has been in the capital for some time in an effort to force the Government to pay the promised money to exservicemen, on Thursday resorted to violence after being evicted from the building they have been occupying in Lower Pennsylvania Avenue. They chased the police some distance, throwing bricks. Shooting broke out between the police and the veterans two blocks from the Capitol. One unidentified veteran was shot dead and another was seriously wounded in the rioting. Troops were ordered out at the direction of Provident Hoover. From Fort Myer, squadrons of cavalry rushed from Virginia into the city and headed for the White House. Meanwhile, down near the Capitol the police strove to keep order among the veterans, who were in an ugly mood after having been fired upon by officers. Bullet Through Heart. A bullet through the heart was the one that killed when the police opened fire upon the veterans as the latter were advancing toward them. A group of his comrades took the man to hospital in a patrol wagon, accompanied by two policemen. The man was dead when he reached hospital. There was no mark of identification. Another marcher is in a serious condition with bullet wounds in the neck and lower abdomen, and his recovery is doubtful. Several other marchers were treated for lesser injuries. Mr. Patrick Hurley, Secretary of War, ordered the cavalry from Fort Myer to be rushed into the city at a fast pace, saying that ho had been informed by the President that "the civil government in the district of Columbia had reported to him that it was unable to maintain law and order." After hearing the report from an officer, George Shinault, who said he fired the first shot, Pelham D. Glassford, police chitf, said that the shooting which killed was justified. Several police were injured, one. Private Scott, being reported to have died from a blow by a flying brick. This report, which could not be verified, immediately aroused the to anger in the few minutes before the rioting that led to the shooting All prisoners will be turned over to the civil authorities. Mr. Hurley said that tnis brushes aside the question of martial law. Early in June the "Bonus Army" in Washington totalled some 4000 veterans. In a fortnight it had reached clamouring for the passage of the Soldiers' Bonus Bill, allowing them to collect the remaining 50 per cent of their bonuses, issued originally to actual war veterans. Until two years ago they were allowed to borrow cup to 22V4 per cent of the face value of the certificates, but over President Hoover's veto Congress increased the loan value last year to 50 per cent. The presemt agitation is for the outright payment of the remainder, amounting to several hundred million dollars, and would be normally payable in 1945. When the police first took charge of the "army" a Communist plot to oppose restrictions with violence was discovered. However, except for the virtual possession of the Capitol, the veterans have caused no trouble.