The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-29
Police Suspect Alleged Con-
s%pirators Worked With
erm Agents.
loot TOTALS $4,000:
MORE ARRESTS LIKELY

,,a the ships IN port or AT sea leu
.-,.-d,y to the arrest Of six men.
a., ~ ,hcm officers of barges or lighters
-. ore 4 second hand furniture dealer.
The police estimate roughly that since
-. var began $4,000 worth of sugar
-. heeu stolen from lighters and
,,,sss loading British ships in this port.
-. ,,c of their theories IL that the al
-, constructors may have worked
go IN hand with German aents.
IS sudden was the police coup early
~s,crd,y morning and the night be-
so,a that ~ yet the connection
,ha alleged thefts and the mysterious
60 Is NOT definitely established. II is
m.raly drawn AS "A logical inference.
furthermore. the belief hat German
.rs,,s may have been involved In the
alleged thcfts or the fires is based en-
trely ON the fact that -four of the men
under arrest. charged with grand lar
ory. claim German parentage in this
country or in Germany.
Fire bombs found.
Tho arrests followed an investigation
under Firth Deputy COMMISSIONS Guy
SOUL and Fire Marshal Brophy OF fires
or fire bombs on six British steamships
loaded with sugar for the Allies. Four
lighters and one barge. which carried
The sugar from the National sugar Re-
fning Company At Yonkers to the steam
ship piers in Manhattan and Brooklyn
are involved. Four of the fires developed
In New York harbor before the ships
: sailed. and in the cases OF two more
ships fire bombs were discovered in their
clrgoes when they reached European
ports
The mon under arrest AZ Police Head
quarters last night were
Michael Mattel. 672 Forty-eighth
street, brooklyn. Born in Germany -;
captain Of the lighter s. F. s., owned
Charged with grand larceny.
Sigmuug Sjursen. 81 Sixth avenue,
Brooklyn. Born in the United States
Of German parentage; captain of the
barge Dixie OF the same concern.
Charged with grand larceny.
John Peterson. % Buena Vista avenu
Yonkers mate Of the :. r. 5. Charged
with grand larceny.
Ferdinand Hahn. 49, Seventeenth
street, Brooklyn. Born in the United
! States Of German parentage captain OF
he lighter John r.. Rymer, Charged with
grand larceny.
Richard Milhofer. 6914 Fourteenth
avenue. Brooklyn. Born in East Prus-
STA: captain of the lighter Trial
Charged with grand larceny.
Abraham Katchelink, SO Monroe
street, a second hand furniture dealer,
in whose place. according TO the police,
III bags Of sugar were found. Charged
with receiving stolen goods.
Others Questioned.
Jean Styrms. 30. a Belgian who works
a. a weight checker on the French line
pier at Thirty-fourth street and lives
a. col Tenth venue was detained a
Police Headquarters for further nves'
LEGATION, but no charge WAS lodged
against him. The police also questioned
James +, Dillon, 80 Willow place, Brook
ku, a checker. and Gus Fisher. 10 Wal
cor street, brooklyn. captain of th'
lighter DahlInar, a German, but they
were not detained.
According to information gathered b!
detectives who have worked on the al
kged conspiracy since last April, wher
the first mysterious fire broke out IN
the sugar largo on board the British
Geamship Devon City at her West
Thirty-fourth street pier. thefts of small
quantities Of sugar-a few bags at {
tme-have been going on for years. bu
the increased argoes since the wa,
N'A''' h'NA'l bplN " pibiiu''
Hence from small offerings. II is said
DE alleged thefts increased to 200 o.
40 hsgS of sugar n week, each bat
VAbued at ST. II !" probable. however
~ the sugar losses would never ha W
been DISCOVERED IL the attention of tn,
police and fir, departments had no
ben called to the mysterious fires II
sugar vessels and lighters.
The Devon city's cargo caught FIR,
q April -. one Of the lighters whic|
hf Transferred sugar to her hold wa
the Trial on May . the British steam
0ntp kukeSwald sailed for Marseille
with q cargo Of sugar, and when sh'
un'oaded at that port WI acid fir
bombs we're found in the cargo. TIL
Tral vi. one Of the lighters which ha'
he'pFd load her cargo of uga and ais
transferred part Of a sugar cargo I
ne British steamship Knutsford, whic'
cughi iiro At her pier AT Thirty-firs
street, Brooklyn. on July 20. Mean
while m May s the British STEAMSHIP
Bankdale 81 led for Havre with a suga
cargo in which a fire bomb was dis
covered when she reached Havre o
MAY Il.
Agents. of the Fabrc Line investigate
ce fire bombs on the Kirkeswald o
o. theory tina they had been place
'T''F - 'l'N 'b WV oA'i' ~'l
Tunney and Fire Marshal Brophy mean
while had detectives investigating III
Devon city fire and the fires on III
knutsford and the British steamshi
Crdgside, which had a serious fire 1
one Of her sugar holds on July p
IN" detectives found that In both tn
ht'or cases the lighter $. T.. s.. Cap
ha'zo', had loaded most of the suga
orgoes.
II WAS noted as significant, accordin
u The police. that when the :. +. =. wa
taken off the sugar lighterage servic
a Tor a while there were no fires. Cap
Tunncy also sent detectives to the suga
refinery and to act az helpers on tn
lighters bringing the bags Of dow
te river to the steamships, The frs
definite clue leading to yesterdays al
rests followed the discovery OF a fir
thursday night on the =. i. >, at III
French Line pier at West Forty-fourt
street, where she lay with "A large carg
Of sugar aboard. A few hours later tn
sarge Dixie developed a fire in her suga
cargo al West Forty-eighth street.
Commissioner Scull Immediately OF
oered = patrolman to watch the $. j..
The arrest of Capt. Matzet n Mat
Peterson followed soon afterward, an
rom Information obtained from then
the police say, they were able to local
l9l bags Of sussv ~ xatchelink's plas
and the other arrests were made at II
ter'als during Friday night and yestel
day.
The men denied insistently hat the
Knew anything about the fires. SO wide
spread is the alleged conspiracy b'
heved to be. however, that last nigh
other "A rrpltS MARA axnaptaH