The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-03-21
SCharlin Victim of Ills
Own CIeVernesS in
Deals.
NOW IN THE CELLS
Opium Trade Tipped
OFF by Buyers Who
Got Mad.
(From saturdays Advertiser.)

(h'rom Saturdays AdVertlser')
After nearly Eve hundred tins of
opium had been disposed of in Homo
lulu the seller was discovered yester-
day in the person of Nathan Scharlin,
a member of the firm of Scharlin
Brothers, San Francisco, and for the
past six months guest at the Hawai-
ian Hotel. He is under a charge of
selling opium in the Territory Of Ha-
waii, which is against the law, while
he. as well as other members of his firm
will probably be called upon to face
a charge of perjury in San Francisco
on the ground that they swore falsely
to shipping manifests. In the posses
sion of United States District Attor-
ney Breckons is ample evidence that
Scharlin Brothers disposed of opium IN
large lots to local Chinese, and that
they expected the opium to arrive ON
certain steamers, and expected large
amount on the Lurline.
Nathan Scharlin expected to receive
110 tins of opium on the Matson steam
shin Lurline. 1t arrived ON that yes
lin was under surveillance The dis
trict attorney and collector of customs
went over the manifests of the Lurline
and discovered Sharlin s name thereon.
For the past three or four weeks they
had watched the manifests arriving on
every steamer to see if Scharlin S name
was there. They left word at the
steamship office to be notified when a
m ,.lr IA Fpt OF ha nfh
and a man was stationed at the wharf
to be on hand when the wharf bill was
presented to the man in charge
Seized on Lurline.
The bill was issued from the Office
of Castle g. Cooke on Thursday after
noon, and the officers were notified.
Yesterday morning about eleven o clock
a Portuguese drayman, who has been
hauling for Scharlin for some time, ap-
peared at the new Matson wharf with
q bill for packages for Nathan Schar-
lin. Then the officers stepped in and
seized the goods. The packages on the
manifests were billed as millinery,
boots and shoes, etc, the value being
given as $3.50. When the packages
were opened, some millinery and boots
and shoes were found of the value of
about $3.50, and in addition there were
ITO tins, ten tins in one package and
one hundred in another. At the pre-
vailing prices, according to the rates IN
the possession of the district attorney
the seized goods has a value of $500.
If Scharlin has disposed of five hundred
other tins he would have sold $26,OOU
worth of opium.
Scharlin has been under the eagle
eve of Chief McDuffie of the police
detective bureau for some time. Sew
eral weeks ago McDufie had his suspi-
ciOns aroused and these were conveyed
to the federal authorities.
Double-oros Chinese.
Scharlin is said to have given the
double cross not only to Uncle Sam
but also to Chinese customers. One
Chinaman whom the district attorney
has questioned, showed tin which he
said was purchased from Scharlin orig
inally, although he obtained it from
one who dealt with Scharlin. He said
that the remainder of the opium here
would have enhanced value shortly, as
the supply was becoming exhausted and
then smokers would have to pay sky
high prices. Scharlin, however, who
had said after selling a former lot, thai
he would not import more, apparentl,
forgot that part of the deal, for ol
March he contracted with wei
known Chinaman to deliver 100 tin
for $4,000 and acknowledged receipt o
about $4,000 of the money. As he use
Hawaiian Hotel stationery in maxim
out receipts and making notes of hi
transactions these have been checke
up.
Strange Coincidence.
One delivery of opium amounting t
one hundred tins was for delivery o
March 10. By a strange eoincidenc
the Lurline arrived from San Fran
cisco ON March 16 and in the earg
were two packages for Seharlin an
both packages contained opium, bu
one of them contained one hundre
tins. This may have been a coinc
denee, bnt the notation of advane
money paid, the receipt and dates an
the actual tins now in the possessiO
of the authorities, together with Schal
Inns signatures to receipts, and Ch
nese memorandums telling of ihe tram
actions, are, it is believed, sufficient
connect Seharlin up with a larg
amount of unlawful opium business.
The tins seized are stamped. This
is, they bear the purported stamp {
the customhouses on the Coast. Whetl
or the labels are genuine is anothe
question. II they are, then the tin
just seized are probably among the Lac
10 have such labels in San Francisc,
as it is believed little opium is ge
ting into San Francisco from Pacif
Ocean liners, while the stamped suppl
must be running very low.
Queer Boots and Shoes"
Nathan seharlin has been doin
>-sbusiness in boots and shoes and DR.
R0pds IN general. While representa-
sehaflin Brothers Of San Francisco j