The Saint Paul globe., 1901-04-29
STOLE FROM UNg|E SAN
MANILA FREEDOM GIVES DETAILS
OF THEF"Es I'm QUARTERlMAs-
TIERS DEPARTMENT
MAMMOTH STEALS UNEARTHED
Inventory Made at Command of
Maj. Webb DisclOses short
ages That Run to Huge
Proportions.

Proportions.
Copies of Manila Freedom, the first
| bearing date Sunday, March ID, give
| somewhat In detail the story of the raids
| on the bakeries and the hotels of that
city, which resulted In the finding of
large quantities OF subsistence stores
| that had been sold to those in whose pos
! session they were found by officers and
| clerks in the commissary department, But
| few arrests had been made at the time
the last paper, dated March 2S. left the
city, but 1t is evident from the tone of
/ the articles that considerable apprehen-
| sion existed in military circles. The first
announcement of the raid was made Sun
day morning, March "a, aud is as follows:
Yesterday afternoon and evening a gen.
eral roundup was made III CHS city by
the central police authorities of the vari-
Gus bakeries throughout the city, which
were relieved of the -four they had on
hand. The -four was taken to the COM
n.iSSary department to be receipted for
| by the authorities there. Among those
visited was Clarks bakery and the Amer
| lean bakery located on Gale Magallanes
in the Intramuros while it was stated
Upon reliable authority that several 9TH
! ers at various places throughout the city
| were among those visited in the round
| up. Mr.. Clarke had about 400 sacks Of
| -four which were loaded into government
| drays ~ hauled away. The American
bakery on Gale Magallanes was relieved
of l47 sacks. the work of loading being
superintendent of policies Office. Five
| drays took this cargo away. two carry
ing twenty-five sacks eacn, and one taxi
ing seventeen sacks.
! The proprietors Of the various places
! were at a loss to know why they were
relieved of their supply of flour and prac.
| tically nothing could be learned from the
| official in charge of tie roundup.
In connection with the -four taken from
| the American bakery the. commissary
sergeant of the Third infantry claims
| that 102 sacks of the amount belonged
! to his regiment and at a late hour last
evening took the books of his company
| v hich showed the entry of the flour Of
| the regiment to present the same to the
| superintendent of police.
Tuesdays Freedom contains the follow
! ing:
The case of wholesale looting in the
| ccmnissary department continues to
| grow and is reaching mammoth proper
! tiOnS, and as yet it is difficult to state
where the END will be, The cause of the
discovery and tho arrests that have been
made was due principally to the fact
! that a new depot commissary officer
| rived OH the scene from the United
| States in the person of Major West to
| take charge of the comnisSary depot in
| the Philippine islands
| On reporting for duty in these islands
Maj. West was necessarily assigned to
| the depot commissary of the department
| point.
Nothing unusual occurred at the time,
! Maj. West simply asking for a receipt
for all commissary goods on hand and
! an accounting for what had been dis
| posed of. This necessitated the taking
| of an inventory to ascertain what was
! on hand and it was found to the sur
| prise of all, that there was a Shortage
| which reached mammoth proportions.
| Maj. West refused to receipt for the
same until the shortage was accounted
| for as a receipt for what he did not
receive would sooner or later mean un-
eXplainable trouble to him. An effort
shortage and this brought about. the
roundup of commisSaries last week as
already reported.
When the shortage was discovered ef-
| forts were made to locate the guilty par
| ties and it was not long before Sergt.
Claud Kneffef OF l. battery, Third artil-
lery. was in the tolls. Kneffer weakened
/ from the start and confessed that he had
| been selling commissary goods to W.. H.
| .F'ifer and Harry J. Finnick of this city.
Fifer and Finnick were locked up I'M
communicate and the investigation wao
continued which resulted in the arrest
of q number of comn1issary SergeantS
and civilian commissary clerks, or check
ers, who, in turn, We're placed in con-
! fnement, incommunicado, awaiting fur
| ther developments and Investigations.
The flour roundup was not the only one
| made by the police authorities, nor were
! Clark's bakery and the American bakery
| the only ones who had their goods4con-
fscated. Finnick and Fifer who run a
! pawnshop and deal in second hand goods
| generally, were among the number, also
! a ChinGman by the name of Qund Tues
| Yuen, who runs q bakery at No. Gas
| Gale Jolo, who had eco sacks of -four
and thirty-five cases of baking powder on
| hand at the time his place was inspect
/ ed. :
! In the shipment of comrnissary supplies
! it has been found that with few excep-
| tions the vessels arriving in this port
! have fallen far short in their cargo to
/ the department.
GOODS LOST IN TRANSIT.
| All goods billed to the depot commits
sary from San francisco seldom reached
/ the department in this city. An enumera,-
alton of vessels might be given, but one
steamer Belgian King had discharged her
! cargo and an inventory of the stock re-
! cseived was made, it was claimed thai
| the cargo was about $4,000 short of the
J amount billed to this port. When the Al
| goas cargo was discharged there WasNa
| large rEmber OF empty cases received,
| them, the boxheads having been replaced.
/ after the goods were taken out and high
| priced candies frequently arriving in
! Similar condition, there being a box
! nothing more.
So irregular was the work of transpor-
! tation from the vessel to the department
that casco loads of goods frequently re-
mained somewhere along the river foa
! several days at time, and it was COIN
mon occurrence to throw off several cas-
CO or lorcha loads of comnlsSary sup
! plies at warehouses No. i and 4
| and at Gale Principe, during the night
| With empty cases coming in continually
| it was an easy matter to throw empty
/ cases overheard when circumstances per-
| nlitted. and scarcely cargo came In
| but what was short more or less
| The present shortage. however, seems
/ to have been for goods that were re.
| ceived and a large number of stores In
| this city have been relieved of goods
| such as flour, baking powder. tobac-
CO and in fact such things as were most
salabie for ready cash.
| Thursdays Freedom says: The gen.
eral roundup in connection with the COM
! missary looting is still on, and while but
] few arrests have been made since yes
terday morning. yet a large supply or
commissary goods have been gathered up
/ by the police force.
A Chinese bakery in this city. the
name Of the parties being uninteligible
! to any one but Chinaman, were re-
| Heyed of a large quantity OF flour, as
! were also several stores and hotels in
| the city.
JUMPED TO SAVE HIS LIFE.