New-York tribune., 1914-11-28
A. P. FOILS PLOT
OF NEWS THIEVES
Message Destroying the
Phantom Ship "Fliba"
Traps Operator.
ADMITS HE ROBBED
WIRES, 1T IS SAID
Held in $4,000 Bail for Hearing
December Several Papers
Duped In Deal.

Charged with revealing the contents
Of telegraph message sent out by The
Associated Press, II. l.. Linder. an OPP
orator employed by the Postal Tele-
graph Company. was arrested yestcr-
day. lie was arraigned before Magis-
trate House and held in $4,000 bail for
hearing December 1.
Lindcr was stationed in the Office Of
"The Globe and Commercial Adver-
tiser.' and his method Of pilfering
messages. II is charged. was 90 trans
NIT Associated Press dispatches TO the
New York News Bureau, of % Beaver
ST. The New York News Bureau, in
turn. IL il charged, distributed the
story TO the papers II served.
A statement sent out last night by
The Associated Press sets forth that
for long time il had been evident
that dispatches had been systemati-
cally stolen and redistributcd by IA
number Of smaller agencies to their
clients.
A careful watch was set upon the
business and suspicion pointed 10 GER
tain men employed in the GLOBE
Office. Accordingly decoy message
was prepared TO trap the wire-tappers.
The dispatch reported the loss of the
"Fliba," a Russian battleship, in the
Gulf Of Finland, after striking a mine.
The wires at the Office of The As
sOCiated Press were so arranged that
the message went TO the "Globc" alone.
As expected, the news at once appeared
on the ticker and soon after was print
ed in the papers served by news
agencies in other parts of the country.
When this had been done notice
TO "kill" was sent into the "Globe" Of
fee before the item had appeared IN
any of the "Globe's' editions This
was done that the false news might not
reach the papers readers.
There is no Russian battleship
"Fliba" The word was cryptic and
invented in order that there should
be no question Of Identification of the
telegram. BY q manipulation OF code
letters the word "Fhba' becomes
Globe"
To strengthen the meshcs Of the net
beng woven about the culprit a Pink
crton operative established himself rs
an investment banker, "Mr K. d..
Smith" in Offices az $50 Broadway.
The Office was fitted up carefully and
one Of the New York News Bureau
tickers installed.
Associated Press employees were de-
tailed 10 watch and time the appear
ance OF the various dispatches, and,
according TO their reports, the mes
sagcs Of Tho Associated Press were
constantly repeated within five or ten
minutes after being sent out. This
covered period Of several weeks.
John kirkland Clarke, attorney for
Melville Z. Stone, general manager Of
The Associated Press. iu requesting
that substantial bail be required, said
that he believed that others were con-
nected with the thefts Of news dis
patches. He stated that Linder had
made q confession, but that he had
not revealed the names Of others con-
cerncd.
Following the arrest Of Linder, The
Evening sun" one Of the papers which
printed the spurious message with a
four column cut Of the phantom ship,
published statement IN a late edition
10 the effect that the story had been
furnished the paper by the Central
News. also at 26 Beaver ST.
J. 3. Shale, president of the Central
News. denied last night that the Cen
tral News had served "The Evening
Sun" yesterday Harry Rascovar,
manager Of the New York News Bu-
reau, could not he reached last night.
William G. Roick, president of the
Sun Publishing Company, said that
the fight was between The Associated
Press and the Central News, and that
he had no further comments 20 make
on the subject
Iinder. the accused man, is forty
one wears old. and lives at 300 Frank
lin ST., Bloomfield, y. J. The special
wire over which the pilfered dis
patches were alleged 10 have been
transmitted to the New York News
Bureau was said by Jason Rogers,
secretary of the Globe and Commercial
Advertiser Company, TO have been IN
stalled to furnish the New York News
Bnreau with racing results and scores.