New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-19
Phone Cut in to Trap
Office Thief, Officials
Tell Thompson.
SWAMI REVEALS
TAPPING ORDERS
Three Men Who Have
Desks in Seymour's Office
To Be Called To-day.

The telephone wires of Seymour &
Seymour, lawyers, of 100 Broadway,
were tapped by Police Commissioner
Woods, following the receipt Of a
written complaint from J. p. Nor
gan G. Co.
The banking house, the financial
representatives of the Allies in this
country, wrote the Police Commits
sloner that one of its employees had
been selling copies of the secret or
ders for munitions, involving mill
ions Of dollars, received from the
Allies, 70 one or more men having
desks in the Office of Seymour &
Seymour.
The stolen Morgan correspondence.
consisting of cable messages and let
ters, or rather copies of them, were
then "touted" 20 ammunition manu-
facturers. Copies of the Morgan
correspondence were found in Sey-
mour's Office, written on supposedly
Seymour stationery. The method cf
profiting on them was similar to that
employed by a racetrack tout. Each
munition manufacturer was told the
limit that Morgan & Co. had been
told by the Allies to bid on the muni-
tions. The war tout" would then
wait until the contract was let and
call on the successful bidder and
claim a share of the profits.
Swami Makes Revelation.
This was testified to before the
Thompson committee by District At
torney Swami last night. The hear
ing was an executive session, at
which were present only Senator
Thompson, the members of the COM
mittee, counsel; Frederick Seymour,
District Attorney Swami, Police
Commissioner Woods and Corpora
ton Counsel Hardy, who represented
the Mayor.
1t was also testified by District
Attorney Swami, who was not sworn,
that the Burns Detective Agency
was employed by Morgan & Co. and
that it was under Mr.. Burns's dircc-
ton that the dictagrsph or dotecta-
phone was installed in the Office OF
Seymour & Seymour.
From other sources il was learned
that fears were entertained that ths
stolen Morgan cables and correspond
ence found their way into the hands os
German agents. When the executive
session ended, little after o'clock,
Commissioner Woods, accompanied by
Henry Jay Case, his secretary, and two
Deputy Police Commissioners-Frank
Lord and Guy Scull called on Mayor
Mitchell. who was waiting 20 hear from
them. at the City Hall. A few minutes
later Senator Thompson called on tho
Mayor
Morgan Cables Stolen.
Thompson, Woods and Mitchell later
made statements concerning the wire
tapping situation. The Mayor, who had
taken an active part in the days pro
ceedings, threatening "to split things
wide open" if the Thompson committee
would not hear Commissioner Woods,
declared that there was no occasion Tor
the public 10 think that there was any
general tapping OF telephone wires.
Commissioner Woods supplemented
this by saying that IL was only done
for the purposes Of detecting crime.
"The reason We took up that case
said the Commissioner, was because
We had information that some one in
the Seymours' Office, in collision with
some one in Morgan's Office, was steal
ing cables and other information as TO
contracts from Morgan's Office. The in
formation, as 1t looked 10 US, was suf-
ficient 10 make US feel that crime had
been committed. and that We would
have 10 90 20 it and get the evidence
and try 70 run the crime down. That
was one reason why We listened on
that wire. There was another reason,
which am not at liberty to tell you,
because it has to DO with most i'm
portant matters affecting the nstions'
government
MAYOR Makes Statement.
Mayor Mitchell. in whose private Of.
fec Commissioner Woods made the
statement. after his subordinate fin
isned, said:
81 want 20 add to the Commissioners
statement This represents one Of the