COMMISSIONER H. B. CROSBY DIES
Retired General Was in Charge of Police in Bonus Flareup.
Maj. Gen. Herbert Ball Crosby, retired chief of Cavalry and former District Commissioner, died at 5:30 p.m. yesterday in Walter Reed Hospital, where he had been patient for more than a year. He was suffering from inflammatory rheumatism when he went to the hospital. Complications developed and he had been failing gradually during recent months. Geri. Crosby was 64 years old on December 24. Gen. Crosby was Commissioner in charge of the Police Department during the invasion of Washington by the bonus army and the fatal rioting which preceded its eviction. Because of his splendid Army record Gen. Crosby was chosen by former President Hoover for the office of civilian Commissioner in charge of the Metropolitan Police and Fire Departments.
Especial care was given to the selection because the Police Department at the time was under fire as the result of charges which culminated in congressional investigation of alleged brutality by police| men and other administration problems. Served 3-Year Term. Entering the District service immediately after his retirement from the Army in 1930, Gen. Crosby served a three-year term as a Commissioner. After retiring on March 13, 1933 he went to San Antonio, Tex., to assume presidency of the National Bank of Fort Sam Houston, which had just been relicensed to open folling the bank holiday. He served there little more than a year when illness forced him to return to Washington for treatment.
During his illness his family lived at 2100 Massachusetts avenue. He is survived by his widow, Catherine Dakin Crosby; two sons, Capt George Dakin Crosby, Field Artillery, now on duty at the United States Military Academy, and Gordon Willard Crosby, and a daughter, Miss Jane Livingston Crosby.
Gen. Crosby will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery at 3 o’clock tomorrow afternoon with full military honors, the War Department announced last night.
Born in Kansas in 1871
Gen. Crosby was born in Fairmount, Kans., December 24, 1871, the son of Herman and Jane Ball Crosby. He was educated there and in Chicago and was appointed to the Millitary Academy from Illinois in 1889. Upon his graduation in 1893 he was commissioned a second lieutenant of Calvalry and assigned to the 8th Calvalry. During his 37 years of Army service he was identified continuously with the Calvalry, except for a period during the World War.
He saw service in Cuba, the Phillipines and on the Mexican border. In 1903-04 he was engaged in an expedition against hostile natives in the Phillipines, during which he distinguished himself on several occasions. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel before the World War and on August 5, 1917, bade a temporary farewell to the Calvary to assume command as colonel of the 351st Infantry of the 88th National Guard division. He was highly commended bor the superior discipline and training of his regiment.
After the armistice he returned to the Calvary with the rank of colonel, Regular Army. He servced as assistant commandant at the Army War College here. He was a continuous resident of the District from the time he came to the War College in 1922 until his retirement from the office of Commissioner 11 years later.
Became Calvary Chief
He became chief of Calvary with the rank of major general on March 21, 1926, and was nearing the end of his Army career four years later when it became necessary to select a Commissioner to take charge of the local police department. Since the law required that the post Gen. Crosby filled on the local Board of Commissioners must be held by a civilian, it was necessary for him to await retirement from the Army before the appointment could become effective. The selection of a high-ranking Army officer to be one of the two civilian Commissioners provided for by the District law established a precedent and there were widely voiced objections from local civic organizations on the ground that such an appointment was contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the District organic law.
It was clear, however, that there was no organized opposition to Gen. Crosby personally and, in view of the general's reputation as a disciplinarian, President Hoover disregarded the objections and sent the appointment to the Senate. The President made it clear that Gen. Crosby had not sought the post. He soon won friends throughout Washington among the groups that had questioned the naming of any Army officer A8 a civilian Commissioner.
Crises in Police Affairs.
He at once plunged into the task of building up the Police Department, but there were crucial periods in police affairs throughout his three years of service. Shortly after he took office, there came the murder of Mary Baker on a lonely road near Arlington Cemetery -one of the most baffling unsolved crimes in police annals here and a continuation of the investigations of the Police Department. As a climax, the coming of the bonus army and its attendant tension, culminating in the riots which shocked the Nation, placed a great weight of responsibility and worry on Gen. Crosby.
It was at the instance of Crosby that Brig. Gen. Pelham D. Glassford was brought here as chief of police, but he resigned after a colorful and stormy career and was succeeded by the present superintendent, Maj. Ernest W. Brown.
With police affairs in order and the coming of the Roosevelt administration, Gen. Crosby sought a long-deferred rest and tendered his resignation on April 9, 1933, about six weeks before the end of his term. President Roosevelt asked him to continue in office until a new Commissioner was named and it was Fall before he finally was free.
Police Reorganized,
To him the Police Department owes its reorganization on a semi-military basis, with the creation of inspection districts and consolidation of several of the old precincts. A number of the reforms he effected are expected to continue permanently. He held that courtesy, humanism and discretion are three fundamental ingredients of a good policeman and he insisted that these qualities be stressed and developed.
Early in his career as Police Commissioner he made it plain that he would not tolerate the "bully" type of policeman.
"There is nothing mechanical about the work of a policeman," Gen. Crosby once said. "It is a real humanized job. Discretion must play an important part in the life of a policeman."
He advocated a stringent vagrancy law as a crime preventive, believing that such a law would place in the hands of the police and the courts 8 potent weapon for use against criminals.
A surprise party was given for him in the board room of the District Building when he retired. The Police Department gave him a handsome six-piece silver service and the Fire Department gave him a wrist watch. There were many tributes to his work and personality.
Evening star (Washington, District of Columbia) · Sun, Jan 12, 1936 · Pages 1 & 1031