The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-03
NOSES ARE LIFTED
Something Rotten in the
Collectors Office?
Men Connected With Management OF
These Rather Queer Whiskey
Cases are Making Such
Charges, it's Said.
Especial to News and Observer)

GREENSBORO, IN -, HSp' g. hSiC was
an important hearing before United
States Clerk Trogden yesterday in
case where the government had seized
thirty-five barrels of whiskey last October
in the territory of Oklahoma. This whis
key was shipped to A. D. Cooper, OF
Shawnee, @. T., from the Milton Liquor
Company, of Milton, Caswell county
North Carolina The nature of the pro
ceedings here yesterday was the taking OF
dispositions by the claimant OF the Whs-
key to show that the government had no
right to seize it, as the tax had been paid
These dispositions are to be forwarded to
the District Judge in Oklahoma. The
witnesses examined by the claimant, A
d. Cooper. were: Special Gauger r. B..
Sans, Storekeeper and Gauger A. j.
Davis. Revenue Officer w. NJ King, and
T. M. Angle.
The government claims the packages
were not properly stamped, and the owner
is trying to show that they We're. Judge
w. p Bynum represents the private
claimant. 1t is charged by the govern
ment that NJ. T. Angle, of Milton, dis
tiller and rectifyer, there is really the
Milton Liquor Company wholesalers,
and is a partner in the Oklahoma concern,
as was the case sought to be made oui
against him Friday on bench warrant
for him from Kentucky wholesale liquor
house. Special Gauger Sans in his testl-
mony today, said that when he examined
the whiskey before it was shipped to
Oklahoma he asked Angle how it was the
whiskey was such high proof, it being
about 125 instead of the usual 100 or less.
Angle, he says, told him that he was in
terested in an Oklahoma wholesale bust
ness, the whiskey was going there, that
water was as cheap in Oklahoma as in
Caswell county, and by shipping more
whiskey and less water he would save
considerable freight. The water could be
added there.
II. C. Sprinkle, who was said to be
the manager OF the Milton Liquor Com
pany, Mr.. Sans said today had run
away. He was young man who former
ly went from Yadkin county to Milton.
The dispositions were concluded at six
o'clock and viii be certified by Clerk
Trogden to the District Court of Okla
homa which meets February 10th.
There is a distinct bit of sensation
about these cases. 1t is believed that
there is something rotten in the collectors
office in Raleigh, and that the trial in
court will bring it to light. The frauds
alleged to have been perpetrated on the
government by this new scheme of shift
ing liquors from Kentucky, Oklahoma,
North Carolina, and other States by a
circritous route of wholesale, rectifying
and distillers combination is a most in
OF do
lection from glaring frauds in Juggling
with the proof record OF the liquors
stamped It is such complicated laby-
rynth of technical astuteness that none
but the best legal and official experts in
the revenue service have been able to fol
low, and a lucid explanation would not
be appreciated by the general reader. But
there was an unmlstdkable flutter among
all the parties in the case here yesterday,
when in giving his testimony before the
clerk United States gauger and store
keeper, who was introduced as a witness
for the complainant in the Oklahoma
case, seeking to establish its title to the
thirty-five barrels of Whiskey seized in
Oklahoma by the government, testified
that he had been instructed by deputy
collector in the office at Raleigh to make
shorter clips in making his returns of
stamp cancellations, because it made the
package less "bungling.' The very es-
sence of the fraud charged by the gov
erned in all these cases seems to consist
in the fact that these clips by a sys-
TEN of ''doctoring' had been turned to
magnificent account in the way of money
making by the parties concerned at the
North Carolina, Kentucky and oklahoma
ends of the line There is unquestionably
a great deal of smoke surrounding these
cases, and a flame may burst forth when
they are tried The storekeeper and
gauger in his testimony did not hesitate
to name the deputy collector, who in Col
lector Duncans office in Raleigh, he
claimed gave him this instruction to
''cIp" closer. This witness is himself
in another case for fraudulent returns,
but in the testimony yesterday his books
and records made out a clean case for him
so fa1 as the regularity of everything
showed. Whether he is willing tool in
the alleged frauds, or injured innocence is
the question. His attorney declares that
he is the latter, and if the matter is not
hushed up there is going to be lot of
tro,lble in revenue officialdom.