Six Draft Boards Raided; Paint Thrown on Records

Unknown invaders broke into four offices of the Selective Service System In Boston early Saturday morning and damaged draft records extensively.

They threw black paint and ink on the induction files and scattered records throughout each office. One of the offices raided was Local No, 31 in Copley Square, which had been damaged November 1.

"Some records are missing, but all of them can be reconstructed from other files." Col. Paul Feeney, deputy director of the Massachusetts Selective Service System, said Saturday. He added, however that some inductions "conceivably could be delayed"

The raid on the boards was the "most widespread attack on draft files in this state. Feeney said. The four offices house six draft boards whose files make up about ten per cent of all Selective Service files in the state.

A group called "the Boston Eight" issued a statement claiming responsibility for "this offense to good taste, and to law and order... We are eight Americans who have exhausted 'legitimate dissent' ... But we insist on moral and non-violent disruption," the statement said. It added that, "at an opportune time," the group would identify itself publicly.

As of last night, the Boston Police and the FBI were continuing their investigation, but had announced no leads on the identities of the raiders.

Feeney said that in addition to a local charge and charges of destruction of property, those responsible for the action could face charges of interference with procedures of the Selective Service, whichcarry a maximum sentence of five years in prison or a $10,000 fine. "I'd like to get my hands on them," he said.

The Selective Service called in sixteen National Guardsmen on active duty to clean up the draft offices. All six draft boards are closed to the public today as civilian draft board clerks continue the clean-up process.

Because of recent attacks on local draft boards, the Selective Service is now considering centralizing all its files, Feeney said.