The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-03-01
TRY HE|KE FOR
SUGAR FRAUDS
Most Important Of Series Of Pros
ecutions Connected With
"Sugar Trust.
WAS DENIED IMMUNITY BATH
Prominent Official Of Trust Charged
With conspiring to Defraud Gov
eminent my Underweighins
Sugar Imports.

New York, March 1.-The most inn
portant in the series of prosecutions in
the sugar fraud cases came before the
bar of the court today when Charles
r. Heike. secretary of the American
Sugar Refining company, was arraign-
ed for trial on charges of conspiring
with other employees of the company to
defraud the government by under
weighing imports of sugar Heike
comes to trial after a most determined
fight by his counsel TO prove that he
should not be prosecuted in view OF
testimony he gave before the grand
Jury which returned the indictments
against numerous employees of the ''su-
gar trust" Judge Martin of the Unit
ed States circuit court ruled, however.
that the defendant was not entitled to
immunity and must stand trial.
Heike is the first of the prominent
officials of the sugar trust" to become
seriously entangled in the meshes of
the federal investigation which has al
ready sent several of the subordinate
employees of the American Sugar Re-
fnlng company to prison and has re-
suited in the company paying to the
government fines aggregating nearly
two million dollars for alleged evasion
OF the customs duties. In the course
of the investigation Heike has been
frequently referred to as "the man
higher up" whom the government
prosecutors hope to prove had full
knowledge of the colossal frauds un-
earthed during the past year. Never
theless the indictment of Heike last
January caused considerable surprise,
coming as it did on the heels of for
NAL statement issued by the directors
of the sugar company in which 1t was
declared that the board was satisfied
that no officer or director of the COM
pany had any knowledge of the frauds.
Heike's connection with the sugar
frauds, on which his Indictment was
found. comes through the fact that the
reports of false weighing went through
his hands as secretary of the company.
II was also learned that he indorsed
checks payable to the sugar company
and drawn upon the United states
treasurer, representing the refund of
duties paid, which. according to the
Indictment, the government should
have retained.
with Secretary Heke there were
named in the indictment Henry w.
Walter, the assistant dock boss at the
williamsburg plant. and Ernest w.
Gerbracht, James F. Bendernagel Jean
NJ Voegler, and James p. Halligan.
Several of these men had been pre-
viously indicted and the new indict-
ments were returned only for the pur-
pose of strengthening the cases against
them.
OF the indictment on which Heike
and his co-defendants are now to be
tried the first four counts charge spe-
cific acts of false entry with respect to
various cargoes of sugar The fifth
count of the indictment fixes the date
of the conspiracy as March 1. 1907
and declares that the defendants did
unlawfully and willfully conspire with
Splitter, Boyle, Coyle. Hennessey ana
Kehoe, the sugar weighing gang al
ready convicted, to defraud the gov
ernment. Then various overt acts are
charged, these including the indorse-
ment by Heike of various checks drawn
b ythe collectors office on the govern
ment to refund to the sugar company
the excess of duties supposed to have
been collected. These checks run
from amounts of several hundred to
several thousand dollars.
The entry of several other cargoes
of sugar at less than their lawful
weights. and the making out of false
statements by Voelker. Halligan, and
the other dock men, are also set up as
overt acts to support the conspiracy
count of the indictment The sixth
and last count of the indictment ac-
cuses Heike and the other defendants
with conspiring with Splitter and his
men to effect the entry OF sugar at
false weights by means of false and
fraudulent written statements. at
dates both before and after March 1.
1907. 1