New-York tribune., 1909-02-16
DRUG SMUGGLERS HELD
Er-DopEhN SYNDICATE
DID BIG BUSINESS.
Death of Physician Broke Up Cod'ne
Market for 4rhiIe-Four
Prisoners Taken.
Prisoners Taken.

Through the persistent edorts of James =
C-,arl1son. Surveyor Of Customs Of this port the
details Of a well organized system Of smuggling
drugs into this country free Of duty were
1,,,el7- 10 light Yesterday IN the Federal Court
sr5 fo4,r men implicated in that industry were
arrested and held in $4,000 bail
Surveyor Clarkson learned several weeks ago
thar efforts were being made TO get large quah-
+t,ias Of codine q derivative Of morphine. into
this country. and. assuming that the prac'ioe
had geen thriving for some time. started an m
,,ss+i-s,ion 4 careful watch was placed upon
all incoming German liners, and within week
after assigning George snyth. Special Deputy
c,,--a,.,r n the case two stewards on the North
German Tdovd Line steamship KronpTinzessin
7ecilie were found TO be Implicated " men
ernzrb and mis- assistants put them through the
.,7ir7 degree the inspectors were able 70 trace
eodine valued at $1,000 10 where 1t was hlooen
,n Manhattan and it was seized and locked up
IN the government vault in the Custom House
on Sunday.
n the course Of his investigation Surveyor
r1a--son found that there exists in Germany a
cor7panv which does nothing but take con-
tracts 70 snuggle goods Of all sorts into this
country free If dutv the agents Of tne company
r.e,,7 chiefly stewards on oceangotng vessels II
ss szss that the agents Of the company IN Tarl-
Gus parts Of Europe win guarantee 70 snausgle
into this country anything presented 70 II loi
that purpose by patron
A. incident in the surveyors work Of lnvesu-
cation which helped largely IN running oo"Ii
the c1Ilprits was the death OF Dr. george N'ii
der Schulenburg who jumped from une "iiiu
of his home. st No 169 East lzoln sOioe'' i.I.
ssn+enber and died q few DAYS later IN the
Harlem Hospital
,<z5sI-.ts made by the stewards arrested
yesterday alleged that the physician was the
yeoesver and distributor Of the smuggleo drugs
His death they said. caused CONFUSION among
the stewards and others handling the gooos' anu
sor q vl7gle they could find no safe market Tor
the large quantities Of codine that were proushl
r,-e- weekly on the incoming steamers
Herman Ebert, who has been steward IN the
service Of the North German Lloyd for thirteen
1-ear. and Adolph Bunneberg, who has been
,uen+v-tV-o years in the companys employ were
arrested yesterday and brought before COM
missioner Shields. Both stewards were put
through the third degree" several DAYS ago.
hut snovth and his inspectors were unaple u"
,e+ r,ucl, information from them concerning
tbeir associates When they learned yesterday
that Cunter Schmitz, bartender on the hron-
,,rinzessin. and his brother-in-law, Alfred T.
vTlenhricber of westwood, n. J, had been
rrouebt before the Commissioner and were un-
.5erroing an examination in separate rooms the
stewards made a full confession and Implicated
= dozen persons besides themselves
II vas brought out at the examination that
after the death of DR.. Won der Schulenburg'
when the lno packages Of codine were coming
o,-or in goodl,y quantities, the stewards were at
q loss for 2 distributors Schnlitz. it is alleged,
was struck with a brilliant idea He confded 70
his friends that wiembricher, his brother-in-
law was salesman for a wholesale drug COM
many in New Jersey. and he might be persuaded
TO carry the smugged codine as side line dur-
ing his trips On the road Schmitz. II is alleged
made a proposition to Wilembricher, and the
latter reluctantly undertook TO sell the codlne-
Z,-17iIa The customs officials anxious to
b-ealx ,1n the Illicit tra4ic they inclined TO
5eeg ie7ientlv with willembricher, who they be
lieve was persuaded to act as q distributing
szsnt against his will The North German
TJovd has helped the customs officials in their
efforts 10 stop the smuggling, and while the
goods have been brought into this country on
its steamers the company is not held morally
responsible.
From the confession of Ebert It was learned
that he had been engaged in the drug smuggling
business for two years, and that Dr. Won DER
sehulenb,,rg had an Office in Nassau street ana
rs sold the codine TO several manufacturers OF
cough candies 80
Go far the surveyor has taken about $50
ounces Of codine, which there is an import
srtv Of 81 an ounce. The eodine, which comes
originally from the Orient IS put through a
chemical process in Germany and prepared for
,h.pulent in ldlo packages The purchase price
in Germany is So ounce.
The Krouprinzessin Cecilie will sail Tor Bre-
- +o-asv without Ebert, Bunneberg and
con--,+z who were locked up last night in the
-ro-,bz in default Of $3.00o bail Willem-
br,cher. the salesman, was released yesterday
as hail was furnished by his friends