New Britain herald., 1916-04-13
MAN HIGHER UP IS
 SOUGHT BY SLEUTHS
Four Held for Plot to Blow Up
 Ships Not the Principles
VON PAPEN IS INVOLVED
Mysterious Unknown Is Said to Have Supplied $1O,OOO to Finance Plot to Destroy English Vessels at Sea Ships Were Set on Fire.

to Destroy English Vessels at Sea
 Ships Were Set on Fire.
 1 New York, April 13.-Detectives
 who yesterday arrested four Germans
 charged with placing bombs on ships ] carrying war munitions to the en-
 tente allies, today sought evidence
 involving well known German
 who is alleged to have supplied
 s10,0OO fund to finance the fire bomb ] conspiracy. They sought also the ar 1 rest of the chemist who did the
 chemical work in the manufacture of l inc bombs. The name of neither of 1 these men has yet been revealed by I the police.
 Four employees of the Hamburg 1 American and North German Lloyd 1 Steamship companies here are under l arrest charged with attempted
 arson either in making bombs or taking part in the conspiracy They are Ernest Becker, an electrician of the steamer Kaiser Friedrich Der Crosse; Captain Charles Won Kleist superintendent of the New Jersey Agricultural and Chemican company o1 Hoboken, N. J.: Captain Otto Wol- pert superintendent of the Atlas Line piers of the Hamburg-American company and Captain Elmo Bode, superintendent of the Hamburg American Line piers in Hoboken.
 Preparations were made to ar ra1gn them in a Brooklyn court to- Gay to answer to the specific charge of placing bombs in sugar bags on board the steamer Kirk Oswald, on May ?, 1915. The steamer was loaded in Brooklyn at that time. She caught fire from bomb explosions While on her way to Marseilles, France. Unexploded bombs were found in her cargo after her arrival there
 Most Important Step Yet.
 Police Captain Thomas Tunney, who has charge of the case, regards the arrest of the four prisoners as the most important stride yet made in the detection of a great conspiracy to destroy steamships sailing with war munitions from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle. The police believe the men involved in this conspiracy have been responsible for fires on at least thirty-three steamers that have caused not less than $4,O0O0OO dam |
  tht bombs made in a Hoboken fac tory ostensibly operated for the of fertilizer were sent to all parts of the country. The use to Which they Were put other than for the destruction of steamers has not Eeen disclosed.
 Von Papen Involved.
 Detectives asserted today that one of the prisoners said he had been sent to the factory in Hoboken by Captain Franz Won Papen, former military attache of the German em- bassy at Washington, who was re- called by the German government at -he request of the United States.
 The Hoboken factory is small structure in which a few men were employed. One of the prisoners told he police it was used at first to make fertilizer for shipment to Ger many through neutral countries and hat the Germans extracted lubri- ,ating oil from the furtilizer after it's arrival in Germany.
 Two Admit Making Bombs
 Both Becker and Won Kleist are said by the police to have confessed i o making the bombs. The parts l . played by Captains Wolpert and Bode rave not been told It is hinted that he first clue to the conspiracy came o the police as a result of dispute ( between the men higher up in the ( and the chemist who supplied the explosives. Many of the bombs are said to have failed to ex- { lode, and consequently the chemist lad difficulty over his payment
 DiSrOVorN nf n1n bout, according to the authorities if Hobken through the discontent of man who had quarreled with the eaders over money payments. This nan, whose identity the police refuse o make public at this time, is de- Jared to have written to the harbor eutralty squad suggesting an nves- lgation of Won I<leists activities ( he Hoboken authorities said this 2 ,an told them that Captain Boy-Ed, g Iho was the German naval attache f t the German embassy in Washing on, and Captain Won Papen had, o efore their departure from the f Tnited States placed a large sum of | honey at the disposal of the bomb | iakers. 5 Won kleist, they clared. had a part [ CT, known tc his neighbors as | Doctor, in the operation of the $ hemicaI company. This man. with is Wife and two children, dis z ppeared from their home in Hobo C en five days ago and is being sought V Y detectives, who desire to question q i'm.
 The four prisoners were taken from . ,lice headquarters early in the day \ the office of District Attorney Cror- { V of Brooklyn for prosecution ir { a district. 7 { "a TunneN Said ,..n.. -..... G l - !