The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-31
State Department Says No Passport Was Issued in His Name Claimed to Be Supplies Salesman When He Bought His Ticket, and Ships Roster Made Him American Citizen.

Paris, March 31 Raymond .Sweboda, one of the passen- gers aboard the French line steamer La Touraine, which was imperilled by a fire at sea on March 6, has been arrested charged with setting fire to the vessel, according to the Matin.
 Sweboda, the paper asserts, is suspected of having close. relations with the enemy, and correspondence found in his rooms is said to indicate he is charged with the task of blow ing up the Touraine. He has been taken to Havre.
 investigations made by experts ap- pointed by Admiral Charleroi who is conducting the inquiry into the steamship fire, has established, it is said; the fact that the blaze aboard the Touraina must have been, caused by the explosion of some detonatine device. Statements made by passen- gers and members of the crew sup port this theorF- The explosion was sufficiently violent to wrench loose the doors of cabins nearby The au- thorities believe the explosive had been placed with criminal intent in s. trunk which was stored with the bag gage Of first class passengers in Number 2 hold.
 With this first report of experts at hand the. state attorney at HaVrs examined as many passengers as could be reached. The witnesses stat ed, according to the Matin, that they had been amazed at the statement made one night during the voyage by g fellow passenger when they were discussing German threats to torpedo ships passing through the war zone. This passenger is quoted as having remarked:
 stOh, &hat isn't the only war zone that would be dangerous Germany is strong enough to do what she wants. This ship herself even before, she reaches the war zone, might be obliged to have recourse to the doc tors and nurses aboard to care for the passengers-'
 Only passing heed, however, was given to this assertion when 1t was made but in view of subsequent events it appeared to the 5nvestigat- ing attorney to have considerable inn portance.
 The passenger in question who was quoted as having, boasted Of Ger ! rnany's power, was listed on the ships records as Raymond Swoboda., | 38 years old, an American subject, profession financier, destination Paris-''
 It has been found that Swoboda has been fairly well known in Paris financial circles and had been con nected with several more or less i'm portant transactions He was sup posed to be a Russian for he often spoke of his family connections at I Petrograd and Moscow. He had served as foreign representative of a broker named Morrison, who con ducts one of the large brokerage houses in Paris.
 | None of Swoboda's business associ- 5ates had seen him after the ship dock Ted at Havre. March 8. but Comnais- sioner Dubert traced him to a hotel only to find that he had left 10 days
 before after a brief stay. He remained there under the name of Raymond l Swoboda and professed to be an Amer jean of independent means who had come from New York on the Touraine- He had told the story of the fire in the Ehotel but the secret service operative said he was told that Swokoda aroused tsuspicion and the other guests kept away frin1 him. He was traced to an other hotel in the Place De Riviol where he was arrested. When his Eroom was searched the police declare letters written in German were found which seemed to point strongly to his guilt He was turned over to the EIavre police by the Paris authorities