LODGE WINS FIST FIGHT
Knocks His Assailant Down for Calling Him a liar
Later reports of the set-to in which Senator Henry Cabot Lodge figured in Washington on Monday indicate that the senator came out first best in the encounter and that it was his antagonist who went to the floor. Here is the later dispatch:
WASHINGTON.—A personal encounter between Senator Lodge of Massachusetts and Alexander Bannwart of Dorchester, Mass., in which the senator knocked his opponent down, occurred in the corridors of the capitol. Bannwart, the Rev. Paul Harris Drake of Christ church, Dorchester, and several other men and women of pacifist delegations called Senator Lodge to the door of his committee room and asked him to vote against a declaration of war with Germany. Senator Lodge replied that if President Wilson asked for such a declaration he certainly would support it. "That is cowardice," retorted one of the group. "National degeneracy is worse than cowardice," replied the Massachusetts senator. "You are a coward," said Bannwart. "You are a liar, retorted Senator Lodge. Bannwart advanced and struck the senator, who then, despite his 67 years, launched a blow that sent Bannwart sprawling on the hard tiles of the corridor. Bannwart and several of his friends were taken in charge by the capitol police. Bannwart told the capitol police he was not the aggressor and contended that Senator Lodge struck the first blow. In other respects his story did not differ greatly from that told by the senator.  By employees in the senator's office. After Senator Lodge finished with the pacifist, David B. Serman of this city stepped in and, according to spectators, pummeled Bannwart, cutting several gashes in his forehead and. 