HOUSE SAYS PRIVATE FOUND GUILTY OF CURSING ENTITLED TO HONORABLE DISCHARGE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 18, 1926, The Sunday Star reports that the United States House of Representatives voted "a buck private sentenced to 10 years in prison for cursing" is entitled to an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army.
Private George Barrett of Oakland, California cursed when his sergeant read an order "forbidding men to wear gloves or overcoats while grooming horses." Barrett is currently at Livermore Hospital* where he is dying of tuberculosis.
The private served with the 12th Field Artillery of the 2nd Division in the St. Mihiel and Argonne offensives during the world war.
Convicted in 1919, a review board reduced his sentence to one year.
*It is not made clear in the Star's article if Mr. Barrett was at the United States Veterans Hospital in Livermore or Arroyo Del Valle Sanatorium which specialized in treating tuberculosis (1918-1960).
SOURCE
"House Would Clear War Veteran Held Guilty of Cursing," The Sunday Star, April 18, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
