POLICE OPEN FIRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 178, 30 July 1932, Page 7

POLICE OPEN FIRE

AMERICAN BONUS ARMY ONE VETERAN SHOT DEAD SEVERAL 01HERS INJURED lEy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright] WASHINGTON, July 28. A group of bonus-seeking United States veterans to-day resorted to violence. After being evicted from the building they were occupying in Lower Pennsylvania Avenue they chased the police for some distance throwing bricks. Shooting broke out between the police and the veterans encamped on Pennyslvania Avenue, two blocks from tho Capitol. One unidentified veteran was shot dead and another seriously wounded. Troops were ordered out at the direction of President Hoover. From Fort Myer squadrons of cavalry were rushed from Virginia into the city and headed for 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. A bullet through the heart was the one that killed, when the police opened fire upon the veterans, who were advancing towards them. A group of comrades took the man to hospital in a patrol wagon, accompanied by two policemen. He was dead when he reached there. He had no marks of identification. Another marcher is in a serious condition from bullet wounds in the neck and lower abdomen, and his recovery is doubtful. Several other marchers were treated for lesser injuries. Out of Hand. Colonel Patrick Hurley, Secretary for War, ordered cavalry from Fort Myer to be rushed into the city at a fast pace, saying that he had been informed by the President that Civil Government of tho district of Columbia has reported to him that it was unable to maintain law and order. After hearing a report from Officer George Shinault, who said that he fired the first shot, Mr. Pelham S. Glassford, Police Chief, said that the shooting which killed was justified. Several police were injured. One policeman was reported' as having died from a blow by a flying brick. This report, which could not be verified immediately, aroused the police to anger in the minutes before the rioting that led the shooting. All of the prisoners are to be turned over to the civil authorities, Colonel Hurley saying: “This brushes aside the question of ma,rtial law.” Communists Blamed. White House officials said that information had come to them from secret service agents that the veterans who led the attack upon the policemen were entirely a Communist group. A statement is made without amplification by one of the resident secretaries that the troops arrived in the troubled area at 4.45 p.m. with orders to clear away the veterans. UNDER MARTIAL LAW UNITED STATES CAPITAL Received July 29, 10.5 p.m. WASHINGTON, July 29. For the first time since the Civil War the capital of the United States was tonight under virtual martial law, with 500 regular army troops, including infantry, cavalry, machine-gunners, tanks and engineering detachments patrolling the city, apparently prepared to continue the offensive against the bonus expeditionary force, which to-day was evicted. A thousand of the veterans were driven from the Federal buildings in the down-town area, after lighting throughout the day, in which one veteran was killed and two seriously injured. One policeman was seriously injured and a score of policemen and veterans, including one woman attached to the army, were slightly injured or tear-gassed. When the veterans learned that tho military were coming to take charge, they greeted the news with cheering and predicted, “Soldiers won’t molest soldiers.” Many looked forward to good old-fashioned army food rations. Instead, the soldiers, after donning ste. I helmets and gas masks, proceeded systematically to evict the veterans, using tear gas bombs freely on the slightest resistance. On the streets squadrons of cavalry repeatedly charged the veterans, slaping them with the flats of their sabres when not moving fast enough. Soon after dark some 600 troop reinforcements were available at a nearby camp, and appeared under General Macarthur, prepared to continue the offensive against the suburban camp of Anacostia, which is reported in complete chaos, all semblance of leadership having disappeared. An effort is being made to evacuate the women and children, which number more than 500. A later report states that at midnight the military threw down a heavy barrage of tear gas, sufficient to effect a general evacuation of Anacostia. By the light of the burning shacks, which had been their homes for the past two months, the weary and hungry veterans started streaming all directions, apparently completely disorganised. Soldiers are heavily patrolling all the evacuated areas to prevent their return A few small camps are still unvisited, although it ic understood that the mili tary will continue to-morrow and not stop till tho last veteran has left Government property. It is feared that the presence of the veterans will provoke a serious police problem in the immediate future in the neighbouring States as well as in Washington. . VETERANS EVACUATE SET FIRE TO SHACKS. Received July 29, 10.50 p.m. NEW YORK, July 29. Federal detachments, with Genera MacArthur and his assistant occupying, a staff-owned car, moved in on the Anacostia camp after some confusion over an alleged order which Mr. Hoover was said to have issued, to suspend operations until morning. The soldiers surrounded the camp and unlim-

bered their equipment for any emergency. Meanwhile the veterans evacuated all women and children, although some inflammatory speeches were made in which self-appointed leaders urged resistance. A general evacuation started with the utmost confusion, many catching freight trains and others starting walking along the various highways. Those remaining, as an act of defiance to the soldiers, set fire to their own shacks, the blaze casting a red glow over the whole scene of disorder. GENERAL’S STATEMENT THREAT TO GOVERNMENT. Received July 29, 11.15 p.m. WASHINGTON, July 29. General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, in charge of the evacuation bonus veterans, expressed the belief that on Friday morning “The Government would have been threatened” had not President Hoover ordere the troops out on Thursday.