Show HARDING MADE fORBES QUIT SAWYER SAYER SAYS Some Mystery Still Prevails Prevails Prevails Prevails' Pre Pre- vails vails- as to Actual Development Development Development De De- De- De Following Violation of Ord Order r This Is la the seventh and conc d. d Ing Instalment of The Telegrams Telegram's exclusive story tory by Will Irwin o of ot the amazing career of Colonel Charles R. R Forbes who was appointed by the late President Harding as tor of the United States States' Veterans bureau with absolute control of the expenditure of of government government gov gov- funds I By WILL IRWIN NEW YORK Feb 16 The The circumstances circumstances cir cir- surrounding Colonel Forbes Forbes' resignation from the veterans veterans' veterans veterans' vater veter veter- ans' ans bureau are still surrounded by bym m mystery and contradiction In the first week of or Janu January ry 1923 General General General Gen Gen- eral Sawyer discovered that for the fort the second time In a month the veterans veterans veterans' vet vet- t- t erans erans' erans bureau burea had violated a presidential presidential order stopping shipment shipment- of ot supplies from Perryville PerrY Md General General Gen Gen- era eral Sawyer sa says s 's flatly flath that the president thereupon Forbes to resign Forbes testified to th the senate committee that In D December Decem Decem- cember cem- cem ber her he i resigned voluntarily be- be be because because cause he could no longer stand General Sawyers Sawyer's Interference He lIe added that tha the president asked him to continue In office for tw two i months mo more moe e By Bythe the of Ja January January- uary r ru rumors ru- ru I mors of the irregularities at Per Per-I floated abo about t TI e matt mattec x h had d come come to attention I of at t 1 least ast a dOz dozen mien men en in tho in-tho n. n tho I tCo U i d-i r MADE t SAWYER SAYE SAYS e MY Mystery Still Preas Pres Pre Pre- is as s to Actual De De- Following a ti I of Order from front page 1 1 health service and the bud bue bu- bu If d the tiie e budget some o ot of them II fly and an naturally free l ds in the government for purchase o ot of con- con goods who had frozen Out ut in the P Perryville c clfon tf inn had no official al brake brak rear tongues the they talked taIled l fE t mention of th the affair 1 n flan fIner In the newspapers d fIt uary 18 18 1923 It is a led i cr Story announcing a t remove Forbes Inter Inter- t r io o colonel said larding has never spoken to 6 resign Ing The president tit lri Have ve been on the l best est of ofa a atilT d are arc tOd today y good friends correspondents in took these irresponsible rumors lightly February y 1 l' l a I press bureau carried a a t report P that t Forbes lorbes was as mentioned as s as assistant s set of or war FIRST HINT APPEARS APPEARS I On J January 30 however r appeared appeared ap appealed ap- ap pealed the first hint in hi the news newspapers news news- papers so papers so fat far as fay investigation go goes that goes that s-that that something Was waa wrong with the Perryville sale T To Td i an ail old newspaper man mari it has the scent and flavor of or a guarded story etory given out from officials for pur y purposes r- r poses of l diplomacy Possibly the rumors had begun to exaggerate t the affair It was was best to quell quail th them m by a hint of ot truth I All this t time m Colonel ColoMI Forbes was wits preparing to leave the I scene of action On n January Januar 12 h hI he I wrote to the president asking per- per fi to visit I Europe on official business Many I ny disabled soldiers the said eaid had rem remained ln overseas they a as well en as their repatriated re repatriated re- re comrades were charges of the veterans veterans' ns' ns bureau Forbes w Wanted anted to look them over and determine de elE- termine proper me measures for or dr th their lr relief What answer President I Harding made does not appear inthe in Iti inthe the thi record At the fhe cn end endot 1 of t Jt January the newspapers ts t report pott that es esis 9 is not in Washington And 11 1 o Ott on January Januar- 30 without fuss f feathers athers or preliminary prel i ce 1 h hS lie Sited a I Europe Merle S Sweet f hi private secretary ac accompanied film On the way Sweet testified l Forbes was as father seriously ill III Ills His health had begun to break He who administers a complex bureau bui spending 4 O a year must live und under r responsibility and str strain ln Beyond that Forbes had kept l late to hours And since lie lle returned front from I Ith th the Pacific coast In July he had endured ninny many an anxieties It k I I his hea heart tj Colonel l Forbes may mayI never again J b t 1 entirely well I SOON TO WALK PLA PLANK K He lie sailed Railed on January 30 he I Iwas was b back l on oft February 25 25 so so soon l th that t many wonder if fl he ever I really landed Certainly he hd did didi i not fulfill his mission as st stated ted inthe In InI Inthe I the Jetter letter to the pre president dent I I Y YI t the time tim he stepped off oft the Steamer stelmer Steam Steam- ste mer m- m I er President Harding in Ne NeW c York remarking to the reporters that I all aU his European an travels had done I This his cold no good m many ny things had happened Under Udder date of ot February February I a ary fy 5 a newspaper declared th that t tI Director F Forbes Wag as soon to walk I th the tho plank On February 16 the announcement of ot his resignation became came public The newspapers i relying probably on official I 1 s said Id that Hint it had been boen cabled from Europe The Tile rep about Irregularities l In the Perry- Perry villa v sale Gale had lied become more th than n rumors It was ammunition for the Dem Democratic opposition Congressmen Congress Congress- men and senators had interviewed men in the public health service and the tile veterans veterans' bureau and fid heard shan strange e stories stories' Congressman Latsen Lat Lat- I sen Ren had written and tele telegraphed to Elias nilas lIa II IL Mortimer Im met of ot Philadel- Philadel I h in once agent for contractors to toI toJ I J the e government asking what he knew krien Inie Finally on the day after aCter I Forbes landed l in Ih Fur Europe pe the pres pres- president I ident appointed Brigadier adler General ral Frank T T. lines limes director of the veterans veterans' vet rans' rans out bureau buteau au On February 11 I Senator SPlint or Walsh of fj Massachusetts lass introduced ed resolution reF it a for a comi committee committee com com- i to study the veterans veterans' s' s bureau The An an legion which had been en critical of ot Forbes rolled into the capitol charges of Incompetent management The matter was getting beyond parti parti- I Senator Reed feed Ii c of I vania introduced on March 2 a resolution for a thorough Investigation I I gation g by tl the t senate ate Senator I II Reed together tog with Senator Walsh I I of Massachusetts and Senator of ot Nevada were appointed a special special special cial committee in this matter GAVE UP PRACTISE Major General OIt an who led tEd the Twenty seventh division in France con consented to vary his llis duties as tt transit commissioner er d of df New York With tb the Job of assisting assist assist- assisting ing mg- the committee as co Counsel ns 1 OR ORyan an was wag the only militia Officer Officer of our l late te war t to attain command command command com com- mand of t R. R division n. n Further he had th the courage when all an was over to d declare clar that civilization should hould and e could uld abolish war Mator Ma Ma- Major aJor a- a I jor tor Davis d. d Arnold who overseas spas E-as with the artillery save gave ave up his law practise in Providence I I in become a ari an ri assistant t dir director of the veterans veterans' buteau bureau and to help I Genc General ral ORyan With the case Cramer chief counsel of the vet- vet I enns PIans bureau bineau came un under ef of oft t tho th investigators rs He had held his pot post from th the formation of ot the bureau All contracts for tor buildings and nd supplies had passed through his hands bands He participated P Ip in hi most of ot th the transactions of which the senatorial committee e found cause for criticism Forbes and Cramer had ambitions for higher honors At one time Forbes seemed to expect ex- ex ex expect xI x- x that he would succeed Fall Fan Fanas Fallas Fallas as secretary of the interior Cramer Cramer Cra Cia I mer wanted to ta be assistant secretary secretary secretary secre secre- tary of ot wat war Much that he did inthe In Inthe inthe the veterans veterans' bureau was doubtless ss 1 Jn the nat nature re of ot trading for pol politic cal al influence h e which w might secures him this thin app appointment As I have told in a pr previous article at the time when F t e Forbes rarig den sprang his hla sudden sud- sud bargain for th the P Perryville plies Mrs Cr Cramer m r at Washington supplies sup sup- telegraphed to to- her husband at t Ix Los s Angeles Think and colonel a traitor things ver very wr wrong rig rig- rigIn in bureau bateau Cramer returned to find himself swimming in trouble By March his hia ambition n for a a high higher r post in the tho government nt service h had d be become be be- come Impossible LEFT THREE LETTERS Perhaps It is futile to f fot th the s search it Causes for tor a. a case of suicide Often one ono tiny trouble piled on greater great r troubles I whole brings down dOn the structure of ot reason Once I knew a man who after atter being put on his back hack in a friendly I Wrestling bout went home and blew out his own brains brains' On the March evening of 12 Cramer J saw w his wife off on a train to New York Yarle lIe He did not go to to- tobed bed t that t night In the morning servants found hl hH his bod body on the bathroom floor H He lie held a re te re volver theta there was a hole through his head A it clipping regarding th the trouble at t the veterans veterans' but bureau buteau u l lay y on the desk at which he had written Written Writ writ- ten far into the night The newspapers news new papers reporting honestly the in in- in formation tation th they y w t re given n s said ld that he l left tt n nO letters That was a mistake H He left three e l letters fetters one ona to the president nt What they contained possibly no one but the recipIents ever knew lenc Mortimer was Working g tip up his ls determination de de- termination Domestic troubles les h had d piled on t to his oth other r gri grudges and perplexities The Mortimer Mortimers' had il separated Later lett letters letter rs of Mortimer Morti- Morti M mer to tb b his wife pleading dIng for foP r r reconciliation recon recon recon- on- on declaring all h he had said eaid against Forbes untrue appeared appear d among the exhibits at the senate senat in itt itt- He changed chang d that tune however however how how- ever when hen General ORy ORyan n and Major Arnold questioned him hire Ever I since the break of friendship in September September Sep Sep- 1922 Mortimer had worried Colonel Forbes James es Williams ms Mrs 1 Mortimer's Mortimers uncle by marriage e has testified that in the autumn of that year Forbes anc and his friend Bieber Bieber Bie- Bie ber were trying to get certain papers papers pa pa- pers in Mortimer's Mortimers possession Mrs Mra Williams whom Forbes and Bieber interviewed on the su subject subject went even further She testified They were there either to tell teU terrible things about bout Mr Mortimer th that t he was going to t be e put in prison prison prison pris pris- on and what they were going to do td to him and they did n not t want my niece t to be with him then v h li Ji he ie w was S going to be art arrested t d and n s sent t to prison and that she m st get aY away a art ay Y and the same with those papers that if it she was found with those papers it would incriminate her and that w was s the reason I went to Washing Washing- ton toil with her to get those papers there was not anything in in the world that they did not say about him Mortimer terrible awful aw aw- ful tul things They S said i they were re go- go go going lilt ing to have him horsewhipped anti and anu Mr Mr Jt Forbes said he had a department department depart depart- ment pt of Justice m man n outside of l Mr r. r Mortimers Mortimer's door all the time to tr try to protect Mrs Mortimer The things he t told ld were ho horrifying PROTEST IS M MADE DE I At about the period of the Perryville Perryville Perry- Perry ville trans transaction Mr Williams through the influence of ot Congressman Congress Congress- man Edmunds reached the presIdent president president dent with a protest over oyer th the actions of Forbes in his home Jiom Mrs Ii Wil Williams llama liams testified I do not know that the president ap apologized sort apologized sort of in an n a apology way how wily how lie he had met Colonel Forbes and he h had evidently cometo come cometo rrie to a parting He said li he was fis taking tale talc ing a trip to Honolulu and th the Governor of ot Hon Honolulu introduced d them and he was VM their companion cot and after h he was nominated he came to Marion Marlon When General ORyan and Major Arnold took hold of or the matt matter r th the thO charges chargee and tales tale's which I 1 have re related to- to lat d in this serIes interested th thefts less than the disorganization in th the veterans' veterans bureau and its possible reorganization re reorganization reorganization re- re organization for efficiency and economy econ econ- omy They had worked two months before they decided that personal personal- personalities ties were the roots of the matter matterand matterand matterand and began to prove up the st stories atones rt s sot of ot irregularity I haVo hav told in this series together with others which I have had no space to tell They saw Mortimer He agreed to testify tes tes- The hearings began In October 1922 1921 nearly a year after aner tee Perryville Ferryville Perry Ferry ville sale In n the meantime Colonel Forbes had traveled to Cuba to Boston oston finally to the Pacific coast whence he came to testify D Disease sease h had cl aged him in the meantime The proceedings lasted six weeks They v varied in interest between dull dun but useful consideration of hospital statistics statistics sta sta- and an attempted t assault on a witness in the c corridor The appearance ap- ap p- p pear nce of Mortimer on the stand introduced c drama r ma Cool in mariner marin t Ji hatchet faced fa ed hawk hawk- hawk eyed hawk for tor for two Va days he spilled sensation aft after i- i is s sensation sen sen- sen n- n FORBES EMOTIONAL Forbes when his turn came wa was more emotional When he touched d on Mortimer who sat glaring at hUn him from the e he lost now arid and then his self control A lI liar r a society bo bootlegger tl a drunk these Varied ari d his testimony In a session of six weeks the sen senate tc heard sixty witnesses took 1700 printed pages of testimony in ih op open n session filed exhibits of or documents The inquisitors inquisitors' could not run down very every story of inefficiency inefficiency clency and irregularity in iri the veterans veterans' veterans veterans' veterans veterans' vet vet- erans' erans bure bureau u. u However they covered covered cov covered cov- cov ered pretty thoroughly the main is sues Th The findings Were vere condensed and cl classified ss fied in General Oft ans an's report as introduced into the senate senate senate sen sen- ate tin On F February 9 of this year ear by Reed of Pennsylvania With sol soldierly soldier soldier- ler- ler ly he charges corruption unfairness inefficiency ri i ncy and wastefulness waste waste- wastefulness of or method The department of justice meantime meantime meantime mean mean- time apparently took no action until last October eleven months after news nests of the Perryville sale reached |