New-York tribune., 1920-02-05
3 More Held i'm
$225,0O0A
Robbery Plot
Seventeen Now Under Bail
and Another Is Sought as
New $5OO,OOO Scheme Is
Found at the Base Here
$50 Clerk Baked Thieves
Edward Kline Said to Have
Resisted $4,000 Bribc
Offer by the Conspirators

Three more men were arrested yes
terday in connection with the at
tempted theft Tuesday night of 1925,
900 worth of army goods from the
Army Supply Base in Brooklyn. This
makes total of seventeen men caught
so far in the dragnet arranged by the
government officials. They are seek
| ing one more man.
The accused civilians, of which there
were ten, were arraigncd before Fed
eral Commissioner McCabe and held
under $4,000 bail each for a further
examination February III. The seven
army men implicated in the affair
were taken to the army base guard
house, where they face courtmartial
proceedings.
The three men arrested yesterday
were Lawrence Puppulo, twenty two
years old, of 643 Lorimer Street, Brook
yn, checker, declared by government
officials to have arranged for the dis
posal of the stolen property; Arthur
Meagher, Of Woodcliffe, N. j., truck
dispatcher at the base, thirty years old,
and Robert Aaronson, checker, Of $50
Broadway, Brooklyn.
As a result of the investigation grow
ing out of the attempted robbery. II
was stated by the authorities that they
were in the track OF another plot at
the base that would involve consider.
ably moro than $5O0,00O. They expect
tha present disclosures will frightcn
the scemers to cover.
1t was learned that the exposure Of
the conspiracy to steal the government
property came about through the re-
department at the base, to a $50 900
bribe. While Major Joseph j. McCon-
vile. head of the base, declined to give
out the name of this clerk, it is said
to be Edward Kline, who has been de-
tanned as a material witness against
the accused.
Permits for the removal Of goods
from the yard must be obtained from
Shipping Superintendent Isidor New
that last Thursday one of the check
crs arrested approached Kline and
said: DO YOU want to make 10000 2"
"Show it to me- Kline is said to
have replied.
The checker then is alleged to have
said: "No man ever got rich yet by be-
ing strictly honest. There's no danger
in this. We've got influence behind us.
All you've got to do is to get the per-
nit for the shipment by five motor
trucks to Camp Merritt of 10000 shirts
and 10000 officers riding gloves. We
have forged the requisition and the
colonel has passed it. There's $50, 900
in it for you if you get the permits for
us to get out of the base
| Kline reported the plot TO Newman,
who took 1t up with Major McConvillc.
! Under the latter's instructions Kline
and Newman went through with the
whole affair, while the major arranged
the trap for the schemers, resulting in
their arrest by army base police IN
spectors and city police. as they we're
unloading the goods IN q warehouse at
1872 West l27th Street.
The army men arrested were all
chaufeurs of the trucks, and it is the
general belief that these men were not
directly concerned in the plot, but were
acting under instructions.
The prosecution Of the civilian
prisoners is in the hands of United
States District Attorney Leroy ".
Ross. Mr.. Ross said yesterday that
the men arrested profess to be ignorant
of the plot to appropriate the govern
ment clothing, He says he knows the
names Of the men who were to have
bought the goods, but that they would
not be disclosed for the present. When
the men were asked why they took
the loads to the warehouse, they said
that they were told to do SO by a man
they met at the West Forty-second
Street ferry who represented himsclf +
as coming from the army base. Tnc
| authorities are looking for this man