Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-11-21
STEAMSHIP MEN
ON TRIAL MONDAY
High Officials of Hamburg
American Line Charged
With Conspiracy.
UNIQUE IN JURISPRUDENCE
Admit Sending Supplies to Ger
man Cruisers, but Deny At
tempt to Deceive.
UNIQUE IN JURISPRUDENCE

NEW YORK, November cO.-One hum
dred or more witnesses to testify
against high officials of the Hamburg
American Steamship Line at their trial
on charges of conspiracy next Monday
nave been summoned by the govern
'nent. II was announced to-day -Four
of the five defendants have pleaded not
guilty. and tho fifth has not been ap-
pretended. The maximum penalty for
the crime charged is two years i'm
prisonment and $4,000 fine on each Of
the two indictments.
The defendants are: Karl Buenz
managing director OF the line in con-
troll OF great fleet of German mer-
chantmcn and liners which sailed un-
der the Hamburg-American house nag:
Adolpli Hochmcister. purchasing agent
of the line; Joseph Poppenhaus. n
second officer in the lines employ:
George Kotter. superintendent of the
line, and Felix Seffncr. alleged super
cargo on one of the vessels which
sailed with supplies TO the aid of Ger
man cruisers. Scffncr has not been
found.
y charge unique in American juris-
prudence faces hcm---conspracy to de-
fraud and deceive the government bv
obtaining clearance papers on false
representations. To facilitate the trial
counsel for the defense admits that
the defendants chartered certain ships
and sent them with supplies to the Ger
man cruisers Karlsruhe. Kaiser Will
helm and other German men -of-war
active in the Atlantic In the late sum
mer and early fall of 1914, as charged,
but denies that these acts constitute
a conspiracy to defraud or deceive tho
-,,t, , a
was to deceive the allies.
GERMAN AGENTS KNEW
WAR WAS INEVITABLE
SO we'll did the German agents know
that war was inevitable, the govern
ment charges, that some of the ships
involved were chartered weeks before
the war began, and several actually
sailed on their alleged errands of war
before war had actually been declared
To support these and other charges nu-
merous afiidavits have been taken by
the government. One of them relates
to an occurrence aboard the Maria
Quesada. steamer sailing from New
port News. Va. on October. 1914. osten-
sibly for Valparaiso.
This steamer, the government charges
had aboard Il German supercargo. When
the steamer failed to find the German
cruiser she was seeking. the affidavit
recites. She put in at Pernambuco.
The Brazilian authorities sought her
papers. These. the affidavit continues,
the supercargo placed in q bag and
threw overheard.
Several days later the ahant states
the papers. bag and all. were found in
the belly of a shark which some Bra
Zilians had captured.
Seven hundred and nifty thousand
dollars of German money, the de-
PENDANTS admit. was spent in charter
ing and Quitting four vessels for re-
lief OF the cruisers This money, the
government is prepared to prove, ac-
cording to Assistant District Attorney
Roger B. Wood, was placed in Il New
York bank to the credit of n man who
was told to spend 1t under direction of
Captain X. Boy Ed. the German naval
attache. and was spent in accordance
with these instructions. Millions Of
dollars. the government computes.
were spent in chartering and supplv-
ing the fifteen vessels which figure in
the charges.
GOVERNMENT ADVISED
OF ALLEGED PLANS
Two of the fifteen ships. it is charged.
sailed from Pacific ports. and two
others. the Fran and Sommerstad
were to have sailed from Philadelphia.
but did not because the government
was advised of their alleged plans
The other eleven ships. the dates OF
their sailings. all in 1919: the ports
from which they cleared and the ports
given as their destination follow:
Berwind. American, August :. from
New York for BucnoS Aires: Lorenzo.
American, August 6. from New York
for Bucnos Aires: Thor, Norwegian.
August 3, from Newport News for
Buenos Aires; Atna. Norwegian. Au-
gust 4, from Philadelphia for LaCuayra:
Nepos. Norwegian. August o. from
Philadelphia for Monrovia: Mowinchel.
Norwegian. September .. from Phila-
delphia for Monrovia: Unita, Nor
wcGian. September s, from Philadelphia
for CadiZ: Graecia, German, August 81,
from New York for Cadz; Macedonia.
American, August 90. from New Or
leans for CadiZ: Navarro. September ;.
from Pensacola for Pcrnambuco. and
the Maria Quesada formerly the Glad
stone. which sailed in October, 1914.
from Newport News for Valparaiso.
TkHCC ICCIIE i6urII IIssDynr