"Hell's Own Brood"

Charles R. Forbes, who once headed the Veteran's Bureau and since has been investigated, was indicted by a grand jury in Chicago for conspiracy to defraud the Government. Thus after many months of Senate investigation and public scandalmongering,, the law at last started towards a conclusion on the merits of the case.

The indictment declared that "Forbes, Thompson, Black [contractors], Cramer [General Counsel of the Veterans' Bureau, who committed suicide last summer during the investigation] and Mortimer [of Thompson and Black, and chief witness for the Government] from April 1, 1922, to Jan. 1, 1923, at the city of Chicago, did unlawfully and feloniously conspire, confederate and agree together and with divers other persons, to said grand jurors unknown, to defraud the United States by fraudulently, corruptly and unlawfully applying and converting portions of money so appropriated to the private and personal use of said conspirators, Forbes and Mortimer, depriving the United States of benefits accruing to it under said acts of Congress.

"The conspirators, Thompson and Black, paid to the defendants, Forbes and Mortimer, portions of moneys which they should receive under such contract as compensation for their actions in securing contracts for Black and Thompson for expenses to be incurred by them, the said moneys to be wasted and misapplied and the purpose of said acts defeated."

The grand jury also declared there were other matters in connection with the case which warranted legal action, but which were not within the jurisdiction of the Chicago court.

Following the indictments Mr. Forbes, who was at the Capital, delivered a statement:

"I am firm in the belief that these indictments will give me an opportunity to reveal before an impartial court, a fair jury and a just press, a Hell-engendered conspiracy against my honor and integrity. . .

"I am not going to Florida. I am not going to stand on my constitutional rights and refuse to testify. . . . The political pressure upon the Veterans' Bureau is a force for evil. Were I permitted by my counsel, I should now give the complete details and names of individuals involved in this attempted political corruption happily foiled. I shall make this information public later. I am convinced that for the want of a more convenient political goat I was selected as a victim and a sacrifice.

"These indictments are as false as the lies of Mortimer, as vindictive as the villainous conduct of O'Ryan and Arnold, as cowardly as the so-called second preliminary report of the Senate committee, who had not the courage nor the fairness to hear my defense, who shirked the duty of formulating an honest report, and who have attempted to escape deserved criticism by scurrying behind the barricade of O'Ryan's malignant verbosity and by merely crying out: 'Some of it we believe, some of it we don't believe; please take your choice,' knowing all the time the charges against me are as false as Hell's own brood."