Faulkner, Broadus [Bonus Army Riot]

Broadus Faulkner was a member of the Bonus Army made up of more than 43,000 protesters, mostly World War I veterans and family members. The protesters, both Blacks and whites, were seeking cash payments for veterans' Service Certificates. The U.S. Government had issued more than three million certificates that were to mature in 1945, 20-year certificates that represented the pay promised to veterans plus compound interest.

During the Great Depression, unemployed veterans marched on Washington during the spring and summer of 1932, led by former Army Sargent Walter W. Waters.  The veterans had gathered at the Capital to convince Congress to make immediate payments.

The protesters camped-out near the White House in an encampment called Hooverville. The campers lived in tents and makeshift huts.

In June 1932, the House passed a bill for payment that was blocked in the Senate. In July, the Attorney General ordered the police to evacuate the Bonus Army. A riot broke out; in reaction, President Hoover called out troops to force the protesters out of Washington. Several veterans and their family members were injured--two were killed. Hooverville was burned to the ground. In August, the Washington D.C. grand jury indicted three men for their role in the riot.

Broadus Faulkner, a 32-year old African American from Kentucky, was charged with felonious assault and assault to kill Patrolman John E. Winters. Faulkner and Bernard McCoy, a Chicago bricklayer who was also indicted, had thrown bricks at the police. John O. Olson, the third man to be indicted, was a carpenter whose last address was in Nebraska. Olson had used a table leg as a weapon against the police.

For more see "Three Indicted in bonus army fight," Kingsport Times, 8/16/1932, pp. 1 & 6; The Bonus Army, by P. Dickson and T. B. Allen; and The 'Bonus Army' Storm into Hooverville at History.net.

Broadus Faulkner, born in Paint Lick, KY November 28, 1899, was the son of Isiah and Jane Smith Faulkner. In 1910, the family of seven lived in Buckeye, KY [source: U.S. Federal Census - last name spelled "Faulconer"]. In 1920, Faulkner lived in Cincinnati, OH, where he worked as a laborer. He was a private in the  U.S. Army during World War I; in 1926 he was sentenced to prison in Chelsea, MI for breaking and entering [sources: 1920 and 1930 U.S. Federal Census; "2 would-be robbers of fur store caught," The Owosso Argus-Press, 3/1/1926, p. 6; and "Three Bonus men indicted," The Milwaukee Journal, 8/16/1932, p. 12]. Faulkner had also served 90 days in Philadelphia, PA for stealing.

Following the Bonus Army riot in 1932, Faulkner, Bernard McCoy, and John O. Olson were jailed. They were represented by lawyers Dan McCullough and Frank S. Easby-Smith. After their trial, all three of the jailed men were freed with suspended sentences [source: "Men jailed in Bonus Eviction Riot Freed," The Toledo News-Bee, 11/25/1932, p. 1].  By 1940, Broadus Faulkner had moved to Los Angeles, CA [source: U.S. Federal Census] where he died May 3, 1961 [source: California Death Index].