Republican farmer., 1920-01-30
TOOK SIX COMPLETE
 LIBERTY MOTORS AT
 L0C0M0BILE PLANT
Captain Hegy, Formerly in Charge at Locomo- bile, and c. A. Wirth, Both of This City, D. S. Gardiner of Detroit ~ and Two From Sey- mOur in Custody.

Five arrests were made to- day in the graft case in the Ordnance department involv- ing between $75,OOO and $1OO,- GOO worth of Government ma chinery, taken from Bridgeport to Seymour to an alleged Lib erty Engine Go. plant where it was purposed to assembled it and sell the engines. Those ar rested in the case are Capt. H. $. Hegy, former officer in charge at the Locomobile Co.,, C. A. Wirth, civilian employed at the Loco plant, D. s. Gardi- ner, an assistant of Hegy, E. H. Ralston of Seymour, and James w. Swan also of Seymour, one of the most prominent men i'll the town.
 i All men were arrested on warrants iS'oo1 II OIl IAe C' S. DlSIrlCL ACIOr- ney's office today. Gardiner was i brought back to this state from De- troit where he was employed as g l foreman in the Ford plant there. 1 According to information given out 1 today at the Ordnance Department | six complete Liberty engines were ] taken from this city and sufficient number of parts to assemble 100 oth. CTS. About $2,000 worth of tools for assembling the engines were also l taken and forwarded to the Seymour 1 plant. Liberty engines are valued al | about $5,50o.
 l Gardiner is said to have been the l go-between between Hegy and Wirtt in this city and Swan and Ralston 1T l Seymour, the engines and parts De, l ing taken there in motor trucks. All of this property has since beer recovered and is now in warehouse 1 193, in Seaview avenue. It was the plan of the so-called Liberty Engine Co, to sell the Liberty engines a
 S3,500 each, advertisements to thi l effect having already been published
 This would have eventually involved l transactions totaling $350,000.
 The case was worked up by oper | atives of the Military Intelligenct Department after a hint from ths district ordnance department. Thos'
 of the Military Intelligence Depart
 ment active in the case were Henr! C. Jessup, chief of the Graft an( | Fraud Department of New York; F. T. Dalton, his assistant and Capt D
 F. Trainor, stationed here as a rep
 resentative of the Military 1ntellt gence.
 The men are in the custody of the
 marshal until night, when, if bail hal
 not been furnished. they will be com
 mitted to the Hartford jail. The ful
 penalty for the offense is S10,000 f1nt
 and two years Imprisonment.
 During the war and afterward Heg1
 was a captain of ordnance. Wirth, z
 civilian in government employ, wa:
 chief inspector of ordnance at thu
 Locomobi1e plant. and Gardiner
 another civilian, was assistant In
 spector of ordnance there. Captai1
 Hegy and wirth are g. little over 4 years of age and Gardiner apparent! in the vicinity of 35.
 The accused men were taken before United States Commissioner Frederic J. Cobett and arraigned by Assistan
 U. $. District Attorney George H. Co ihen. Each of the accused pleaded
 guilty and was held by the commls
 sioner in s5, 900 bonds each for appear ! ance in the United States d1strfc court in February to answer to th' charge Captain Hegy and MT. W1rtl lseemed certain of raising bail befor' l nightfall, but Gardner said he had n' friends in this part of the country ant
 would have to telegraph his wife Il , Detroit to see if she could procure { surety company bond for him there.