New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-03-20
Father, Sons and Daughters
Captured on Ship at New Or
leans and Large Sum Re.
covered in Cash.
$4,000 IN GIRLS CORSET
Others in Party Carried &c..
600 in Currency-Travel I'm.
der Assumed Names, but
Insist They Are Innocent
ALL Held in Cells.
tBy Telegraph 10 The rribun. !

just a. it was about to sail for Colon.
and took from the ship the entire
Musca family. New York human hair
dealers. wanted for an alleged million
dollar fraud.
Those arrested were Antonio Musica.
bead of tho firm: Philip Arthur and B
George. sons of Antonio. and associated ,
with nim in business and Grace and
Louise. his daughters.
United States currency in $4,000
$1,000 and smaller denominations
amounting 10 more than s69. 900. and
English and Italian bank notes amount
ing 10 over $4,000. were found on the
persons Of the father and three sons.
ON Miss Grace Musica was found
$4,000. secreted in her corset
The fusitiyes did not appear to ba
perturbed over their arrest. They took
the situation calmly. and aid they had
/ expected 10 be arrested That was
why. they added. they left New York.
They denied any crimnality. however.
| and declared their willingness TO re-
| turn 10 New York at once. without the
formality of eXtradition papers. An
tonic Musica admitted that his firm
rad been in financial straits
Held Without Bail
The prisoners were arraiened this
/ afternoon and pleaded not guilty. Al
| though they declared they would not
| fight eXtraiition, bail was refused In
the case of me men. The two girls
we're unable to furnish bonds Of s2,o00
each, and they, too. were sent back 10
their cells.
on their way 10 the police station
! Philip Musica tried to kill himself
Whipping out a revolver just as he
eaped from the car between two detec-
tiyes, Philip. who had moment before
told his father in Italian that he would
commit suicide before he would be i'm
prisoned. lifted the weapon TO his head,
but the detectives rabbed his arm and
wrested the revolver from him.
The embarra ssment I'm which We
now find ourselves" said the would be
suicide. was due 10 the failure Of three
large human hair exporting and i'm
porting firms, two of which are in
| France and one in England. | don't re-
member the names Of the firms at this
time When these firms failed We were
pressed for the Indebtedness. as our
| firm did a large business with them.
| We owed them probably 500, 600, not
more
The reason We left New York was
( because We knew we could not get this
/ obligation at once. and We intended re-
naming away until such time as mat
| ters could be adjusted and We would
find ourselves in a financial way to
meet our obligations. AS for receiving
money on fraudulent invoices and bills
Of lading. We are certainly not guilty
we want to get back to New YORK
CITY as quickly as possible and see
what is wrong" said the elder Musica.
Philip explained the fact that thu
family all departed at the same time
by saying they wanted an excursion
and decided TO see Central America"
The baggage of two OF the Musicas.
Philip and Arthur. left New York on
March T.. and that of the father fol-
lowed the next day. according to the
checks
Prompt Chase Of Fugtives.
The American Bankers Association
was interested because several OF the
! large banks which were heavy losers
were members The Burns Detective
Agency was put on the case, and ON
| March H. Dan" I.ehon, the agencys
Southern representative. received a
telegram from william Burns, telling
him TO be on the lookout for the
Muscas.
Lehon learned from Atlanta that per
! sons answering the description of the
| Nusicas. but going under other names,
had passed through Atlanta, and were
probably headed for Mobile. Lemon
went TO Mobile on Monday, and found
| that they had just left The Musicas
reached New Orleans yesterday morn
! ing.
AS they had done all along the route
/ from New York the family separated
on arrival here all securing rooms In
| q hotel. but at different times. The
! father registered as A. Martin ana
/ daughters. from Hartford. Conn. The
daughters merely used initials for their
| first names. Louise using L." and
| Grace r
The three sons registered later, under
the names of William. Roger and Nj.
| Weeks. Because OF the poor penman-
shin. il was impossible to figure out
whether they registered from Chicago
or Onargo. III.
With the arrival Of the Musicas and
their baggage Mr.. Lehon and his as
sistants got busy. The baggage was
traced to the hotel which was kept
under strict surveillance.
Police Aid Detectives.
Superintendent Reynolds Of the Po-
! lice Department placed several men 1t