The San Francisco call., 1910-05-25
HEAD Of SUGAR
COMBINE CALLED
President Thomas Subpenaed in
Weight Case, but Not Yet
Examined
Name of Hayemeyer Mentioned
by Witnesses in Evidence
of Fraud

B. Thomas, president of the American
sugar refining company. has been sub
penaed by the government and will
appear as a witness at the trial of
Charles r. Heike. secretary treasurer
of the company, charged with conspir-
acy to defraud the government by un-
derweighing sugar.
Thomas appeared in court with DR.
Samuel ID. Hooker of Philadelphfa. a
director of the company. but left hur-
riedly after he was informed his pres
ence was not needed today Just when
he will testify was not announced.
AS he left the Federal building. the
head of the sugar company said:
Il have just been summoned here as
witness-that is all l know. I pre-
sumo [ will be called to the stand later
| really have no idea what the govern
ment wishes TO find out from me"
HAyENIEYER MENTIONED
The name of the late Henry o. Have
meyer, one time head of the company,
figured prominently in today's testi-
mony. 1t was~hrought out on cross ex-
animation by the defense, in an attempt
to clear Heike. The witness was John
A. Thompson, book keeper in the COM
pany's Wall street offices. He testified
that Heike knew nothing about weights
at the docks, but he could not give as
clean record for James f. Bender
nagel, former cashier and one of the
defendants.
Oliver Splitter, the convicted dock
superintendent, pardoned by President
Taft and now aiding the government in
the prosecutions. probably will be the
star witness tomorrow. He is yet to
undergo cross examination.
Edward Whalley, special treasury
agent, was a witness today. He was
with the other investigators, Parr and
Brezinski when the famous raid on the
sugar docks was made in 1907 and the
fraudulent weighing devices were dis
covered
Whalley was on the stand only few
minutes and was not cross examined
He was employed for time by the
sugar company and under Spitzer's di-
rection, he said, used to tamper with
the scales by rolling the BALL. as he
called it. He gave an illustration of
the process on the scales in the court
room, twisting the cylindrical weight
to the left of the beam to decrease the
weight recorded. He said he never
saw the steel spring until the time pre-
vfous to this raid.
WEIGHTS DIFFERED
James F. Kerrigan and William X
Mulhearn. clerks in BendernagePs of
flee, admitted they never had received
instructions to compare the govern
ment weighers' weights with those of
the city weighers. The last are alleged
to be the actual weights on which the
sugar company pays for its purchases
and the government figures the ones
registered by the fraudulent scales and
on which the duty was based. Kerrigan
said he sent the government and city
weighers' returns to the Wall street
Offices of the trust
The governments contention that
the city weighers weights were en-
ployed in the commercial calculations
of the trust and those of the govern
ment weighers made use of only for
duties was backed up by John A.
Thompson, for the last 35 years a book
keeper in the company's Wall street
offices. Tire witness said too, that de-
spite the fact that the government
weighers' returns were stored away
only Is feet from him he never in all
the years he worked in the office com
pared the two sets of weights.
Thompson said whenever he was in
doubt as to the correctness of the city
weighers' returns or learned there was
a difference of 2 per cent or more in
the weights he would call up Bender
nagel Late in November, 1907, there
differences and he talked with Bender
nagel about it over the telephone
II told him there was no loss of
weight in the last three months and he
said it was because the government
agents were on the dock" Thompson
testified.
INSTRUCTED BY HAVEMEYER
Thompson, on cross examination,
said the late II. o. Havemeyer, the
president of the company, first in
structed him to call up BendernageI
when the necessity arose.
Heike knew nothing of his duties,
he said. The witness had no knowl-
edge of any crooked device on the
docks.
George II. Becker, clerk in the
Wall street office under Leroy, to
whom Splitter yesterday testified he
had told of the frauds that were go
ing on at the Williamsburg docks, said
that when sugar arrived he would send
the city weighers weights and the
marks on the bags to Bendernagel
Becker testified that the sugar trust
used the government weights quite
often on which to pay the freight
charges, but the ship owners became
aware of the fact and the practice was
discontinued.