New-York tribune., 1922-09-23
Biggest Haul i'm History
Made by Detectives in
Theater District While
Police Hold Back Crowd
international Ring
Barred, is Charge
Nine Arrested; Gum Fight
Victim Dying i'm St. Louis
Told of Alleged Den

Fourteen thousand assorted pack
ages, cans and bottles of cocaine.
morphine and heroin, weighing from
one to three ounces each, with street
vending value OF more than $500 900.
were seized last night in sensational
police raid on the Hotel Douglas, 2o7
West Fortieth Street, on the edge of
the theatrical district.
Thousands of theatergoers attracted
by the gongs of patrol wagons
gathered In the street and threatened
TO swamp the hotel, where the biggest
made. They were held in check by
narcotic detectives working under the
direction of DR.. Carleton Simon, Spe-
cial Deputy Police Commissioner,
Five arrests were made in the hotel,
which was taken possession of by the
| raiders. Four arrests had precede d
the raid. One previous arrest was in
New York, one in Montreal and two in
St. Louis. Two men are dying in a
hospital in st. Louis after being shot
IN the head during fight over q drug
deal said to have begun at the Hotel
Douglas. One Of the men arrested is
alleged to have made regular trips to
europe to purchase drugs for the ring
alleged to have had the Douglas for
its headquarters.
Chinese Label Printer
The hotel, five stories high. was
comoed from basement to roof In ad-
ditlon to the drugs, the detectives
louno plates for printing Chinese
opium labels. This indicated nr
Simon said, that smoking opium was
being manufactured from crude opiun,
ana was being canned, labeled and sent
20 the illicit trade as far west as Van
conver and Los Angeles.
Ahree trunks and three big packing
cases. were found loaded With com,
mercial brands Of the highest .rado
cocaine, morphine and heroin, besides
tremendous quantities in bulk. pane,
sacks and other containers.
= The hotel, between Broadway and
seventh Avenue. was found to contain
tne raiders said, records of deals ~
users. "''AS
Preparations for the raid were m.de
for weeks. Detectives Frank 0niaaav nHau
and Thomas Farrell were sent to live
IN 1he motel, and registered as sales-
men from out of town. After thcv h - !
been in the hotel for some weeks +heT
called for assistance. Thew said ~
evidence was piling UP SO fast +hnv
could not keep track of it. Detectives
Milton Moffat and Fred Buckley werr
sent to help them. "e4
Deals were engineered for $4,000
worth or narcotics at a time.
Employees Flee
When DR.. Simon, assisted by Can.
TAIN Herman Scherb, Lieutenant Josenh
Mooney, Sergeant Barney Boyland and
some forty detectives, all of the mar
cotic division, crashed into the bn4al il4e
last night, storming the basement and
street entrance, there was a scurrvino
| among attaches for safety.
samuel Spirach, the clerk, twenty
two years old, who lives at the hotel
tried to transfer q bag Of morphine
cubes from the desk, where it is
charged he had it on sale, to the tele-
phone desk. Spirach was relieved of
porn desks and put under arrest.
benJam,n d. Worett, twenty-nine
! and Joseph Bernstein, joint proprietors
Of the place, were arrested. Both live
at the hotel and both are CHARGED with
possessing and selling drugs. Clarence
smart, negro porter, was next ar
| rested, Detectives took charge of the
switchboard and closed it. They also
took charge of all other EMPLOYEES
stations about the place.
Imported From Europe
It was while the search was at its
height that the arrest was made which
the police regard as most important
This prisoner is Joseph Fishman. thir-
ty-one years old, of 141 Second Avenue
1t is charged that he had European con-
nections and with his assistants was
running drugs regularly between Eu-
rope and the Hotel Douglas
Fishman, it is charged, offered to
bring any quantity up to million dol
lars worth of drugs from Europe and
deliver them to Detective Quigley if
Quigley would give him time to make
European trip. He told Quigley not
TO mention at the hotel the prices he
quoted him, as they were the same as
he was getting for drugs delivered to
the ring.
Evidence discovered in the hotel by
detectives resulted in Detectives Reil-
ly, Neville and Wollkof being sent hur-
riedly to 90 Chrystie Street, where they
arrested August Del Garcia, alias
Little Aug" charged to be the East
Side distributor for the ring. Del
Garcia, it is charged, had a fully
loaded revolver hidden in his bedroom
No drugs were found.