New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-03-02
THREE INDICTED
In PASSPORTS
TRAFFIC FRAUD
Federal Grand Jury Acts
in German Spy Case
Scandal.
STEGLER'S WIFE IN
FIGHT WITH 2 MEN
BalkS Attempt of German Re-
porterS to Get Statement-Ar-
rested. Freed by Judge.

Mrs. Richard !. Stegler, VIII Of the
alleged German spy VINO involved Cap
tain Boyd the German naval sttache'
in p passport fraud when crested he
gan the day yesterday in q cell IN the
West Forty-s Street station. She
wound up i'm thc Office Of Charles H..
Grifiths. her husbands counsel. threat
cr;pc 10 bring suits tor damages for
false arrest and defamation Of character
against those 70 poasblc for her ar
rect.
Mrs. Stcg'ers arrest ,n the carly
morning I'M the Hotel Greuob'e on a
charge Of fciorious assault upon Ar
thur ". Mateiket reporter on The
New York S,aats-ZcitunC. after An
evening spent IN DINING, drinking and
motoring. was dcrog"ce" ny ner rs
frame up
Albert \. Sanders. a.s' reporter on
the "Stasts- Zc'tuug' who accompanied
Nsteiket end Miss Anna Hoffman TO
tbe hotel and admittedly engineered
tho excursion. said frankly that when
Mrs Stcicler said she had been
"frar-ed up" she told the truth
"AHray" in a Hotel.
We saw an opportunity 20 show 70
Inc world chat tins innocent, trusting
little Southern vile, he woman whose
'ovel+v 10 American ideals refused 10
allow her TO permit her husband To go
abroad as spy. was not all that the
pencil Of ar admiring reporter had
PAINTED" he said. Al the hands OF
his pair reputable Germans have sur
fered in name. No decent German was
safe. We proposed to sho" her up N
aArSo he continued with smile, 81
think we did VI
~ was no part Of our programme TO
cause her arrest he declared. nut
hen she began throwing things
around and got nasty generally 1t was
= case of her or us getting the ponce
We beat her 70 It. That's all
Roth men specifically denied they
we're assigned 20 the work by thelt
pspey. and Victor Ridder, IN charge o.
he "Staats-Zeitung' during the III.
ress of his father. expressed reE'eV
inst employees o. his should have oceH
mixed up in such an atfalr: uo
"Th. fact that Stats men were
roenonaibIe for any disclosures such as
his" said he, Immediately causes inc
hing IA lose the value II might have
. accomplished by others.
''The bovs could not isrt +sed my
fathers car on the jaurt. ~ he mas no
car now. 7 have three cars. but II
could have been none OF them rs U''y
are in storaTe. ,..l H.. mo 81,
.atd Heinrich Schmidt, city editor "t
+be "Stsats -Heitung 81 knew nolh'hE
OF II until saw the morning psp"i -,
The 'Staats-eitung' greatly rcgrclS ,nc
affair. which Is very contrary 10 IN.
standard Of ethics It insists upon ~
yes a case of mistaken zeal on Ine
part Of two good reporters ANXIOUS ~
score 8 newspaper beat
Introduced as Frenclrmen
Mira steeler's busy Sunday startca
~. efteTnoon when Miss Anna hon
-nsnn. whom Mrs. Steglcr says Sne haS
t1nna-n for a long time, and VINO she
.Lsrcbt was friend. called as by Al
-.noement on Saturday, pald her SUM
1nopsv she owed, and induced hcT |" 20
sntomobiling with Sander ana wa
+eiLet who were introduced as "'''-
TODD Frenchmen. .,.;,,,. ,rort
According TO both sides thI!ss ~
umoothly until 6lNti '''N"'7' Il
dav morning, when the quartet 40. 40,
;oySrned TO connecting suites IN tnS
5;renobIe. As TO just what hspp '.a;,,
.hon there is dispute, though the man
th;nc in question is whether OF Ho'
Mrs. Stegler dlsrobcu' 49,, tr,,tb i'm
Tho men say she tells the trutn III
saying they demanded that she sign en- d
Easement generating Captain BOY
VA and dcnouncing her hHSoal'u
storv sc false. and that she REUSED 10
do ANYTHING Of the sort. Inc most
ebe would admit, the men say IS that
oil she knew of Boyd Is what her
husband told her and from the written
CThibits in the case. Her own story
pr;nted ON tho day following the ar
rest. largely followed the suggestions
Of Severance Johnson, reporter on
The paper to whom the story was sold.
Other Woman Fled.
Both sides agree that Mrs. Stegler
look offence when she was asked to
sign d statement. They differ as TO
whether or not she had said what she
was asked TO sign. Then 1t is agreed
that Sander called for a policeman and