Forbes Punished

"Abandon hope, all ye rejected here"--this legend might well be inscribed over the doorway of the old Senate Chamber in the Capitol, the Chamber in which the Supreme Court now sits. Last week Mr. Charles R. Forbes, onetime Director of the Veterans' Bureau, and Mr. John W. Thompson, St. Louis building contractor, were rejected there.

It was two years ago next June that an indictment was brought against these two gentlemen for conspiracy to defraud the Government in the building of hospitals for Veterans. Some 14 months ago the two were convicted in Chicago, sentenced each to two years in jail and to be deprived of his property to the extent of $10,000.

Since then they have appealed to the Federal Circuit Court, been rejected, and have asked to have the Supreme Court review their case on the ground that they were to be deprived of liberty and property without due process of law (they alleged technical defects in the trial procedure). The Supreme Court also turned them down.

Both had been free on bond, but the Supreme Court's action left them no alternative but to pay their fines and go to Leavenworth penitentiary--unless they should be excused from imprisonment because of ill health. Mr. Forbes' health broke about a year ago. Mr. Thompson was last week in a St. Louis hospital recovering from an operation for hernia.

But Mr. Forbes did not try to avoid prison on account of his health. Because of a stroke of paralysis a year ago, he limped as he went to Leavenworth. Although he is only 47 he is bent and grey, with perhaps only 150 Ib. of his usual 225 Ib. remaining.

He went to prison of his own accord--before orders for his commitment could be prepared--and paid a visit. He had been in prison before when he was a boy of 22, for deserting from the Army. Since then he has won the Distinguished Service Medal and Croix de Guerre in France. He said to the warden: "I shall do my best to obey every rule of the institution, and I do not expect to be shown any favors over other prisoners. If I am assigned to shoveling coal, I shall not make the slightest complaint. I am willing to do anything you may require.

"I wish I could start my sentence right now, for the sooner I start the sooner I shall be free. Every day I am out now counts one more at the other end." Two days later he entered the prison again.