The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-20
POOL
! GAVE CASH TO
. HELP BRISBANE
Coin Collected i'm Round
about Way to Aid in
Paper Purchase.
FEIGENSPAN Is TRUSTEE
Copies of Checks and Letters
Used in Deal Are
.. Shown.

Photographic copies OF checks. letters
and promissory notes given out yester-
day by Francis p. Garvan. New York
representative of A. Mitchell Palmer,
Alien Enemy Custodian. reveal the
source Of the funds with which Arthur
Brisbane purchased the Washington
Times. From these documents 1t APP
by a pool of wealthy brewers in New
York, Milwaukee. Philadelphia and
Boston.
Christian w. Feigenspan Of Newark
acted as trustee for the pool. which
Included George Ehret of New York,
Julius Lehman Of Brooklyn. J. C. G.
Hupfel of New York, Jacob Rupert OF
New York, Joseph +. Uihlein. general
manager Of the Schlitz Brewing Com
pany Of Milwaukee; Edward Lansberg
Of Chicago, Reuter- & Co. of Boston.
A. J. Houghton & Co., William Hamm,
0ustave Pabst of Milwaukee. the Fred
Miller Brewing Company of Mt1wau-
kee. c. Schmidt & Sons of Philadelphia.
r. A. Poth & Sons Of Philadelphia, the
United States Brewers Association and
Bsrgner & Engel.
A Roundabout Purchase.
As in the case of the Evening Mail.
the purchase OF the Washington Times
was remarkable for the tortuous course
taken by the funds involved. OF the
entire sum raised by the brewers. $780,
900 found its way to Mr.. Brisbane. who
bought the paper from Frank A. Munsey.
The money was first contributed in
varying sums by the different members
Of the pool to Feigenspan, who de-
posted It In the Federal Trust Com
pany of Newark. of which he was head.
BY means of cashiers checks, the
money then found its way to the Grow
Ing Circulation Corporation. a concern
ostensib!y engaged in the trucking BUSH
ness, but having on its directorate Will
lam A. De Ford and John T. Sturdevant.
two of the lawyers for William RAN
dolph Hearst, with whom Mr.. Brisbane
IL editorially associated. Mrs. Alice
Brisbane Thursby. Arthur Brisbane's
sister, was also associated with the
Growing Circulation Corporation, and
she deposited the checks to the credit of
that organisation. Thereafter however.
all traces of the checks were lost. but
Mr.. Garvan. who traced the transactions
to their source has Mr.. Brisbane's ac-
knowledgment to Feigenspan of the re-
ceipt Of the money.
The investigation Of the purchase OF
the Washington Times began last May
as the result of STRAY" tip picked up
by Mr.. Garvan in the taking over of the
estate OF George Ehret, brewer. part OF
whose property was seized by the Alien
Enemy Custodian while he, Ehret. was
in Europe. Among Mr.. Ehrets effects
were found documentary references to
the pool of brewers. Pursuing this thread
Of evidence Mr.. Garvan finally obtained
from Mr.. Feigenspan the admission that
he had acted as trustee for the group
Of brewers.
Amount Too Large.
The sum which the brewers were origi-
nally asked to raise was 100000. Bris-
bane later found. however. that he would
only require $4,000 and some of the
bigger checks sent in by the members
Of the pool were returned with instruc-
tons to the payees to make them
smaller. At no time does the name OF
Arthur Brisbane or the contributors 10
the funds appear on the checks.
The Growing Circulation Company
through which the money is supposed to
have reached Brisbane, is New York
corporation capitalized at $4,000, with
offices at 40 Nassau street. No ex-
PLANTATION is given of how this $4,000
Federal Trust Company of Newark with
no other security than its capital
Cine phase of the investigation dates
bact further than the seizure of the
Ehret estate. however. 1t began with
the arrest of Capt. Hans Tauscher, hus'
band OF Nine. Gadski. Tauscher was
arrested in connection with the second
attempt to blow UP the Welland Cana
in Canada and was acquitted. but among
his papers was a letter from Alexander
Konta head Of the Hungarian Loyalty
League. complaining that DR.. Dernburg
had apparently ignored some sugges
tions made by him (Konta) with refer
ence to the ACCESSIBILITY of purchasing a
sent the interests of the German Amer
leans.
This led to the unearthing of the letter
in which Konta embodied his suggestion
to Dr. Dernburg. Konta in this letter
discussed all the New York papers II
detail and wound up by suggesting thai
the brewers of the country might BIZ
prevailed upon to put up the money fol
the purchase of a paper as they were
badly in need of such an organ to es
pouse their cause and oppose the spread
of prohibition. The fact that DR.. Dern
burg failed to answer Konta's first let
ter does not prove to the satisfaction o.
the Federal authorities that he ignored
altogether the suggestion for combining
the interests OF the German propagan
dists and the brewers
Palmer Bares Deal.
1t was with the knowledge OF all thes,
facts that Mr.. Palmer made his sensa
tional speech at Harrisburg, Pa, re
Gently in which no said that twelve Of
fifteen German brewers in this countr,
had combined to buy a newspaper pub
lished 'in the shadow Of the Capito
ITSELF and that that newspaper wal
"fghthg the battle of the liquor traf
nc"
on September IS Senator King o
Utah aent a letter to Mr.. Palmer de
manding that he make public the nam
of the paper to which he referred ant
that he also disclose the details of hi
information regarding this paper. /
was in response to this letter that Mr.
Palmer authorized the giving out yes
terday OF the Photographic duplicate
of the checks, notes and letters involved