The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-01-19
Defendants Named With
Burke in Conspiracy
Cases Plead Guilty.
CUSTER PLEADS AGAIN
Burke Is Sole Member of the
Alleged Ring to Face Jury
in Trial Today.
(By Associated Press Leased Wire !

by Associated Press Leased Wire.)
Mllwaukee.-Walter M. Burke of Ke-
nosha, deserted by the men who had
been named as defendants with him in
the charges of conspiracy to bride in
connection with the operations of the
liquor ring, went to trial alone in the
United States court here today. Burke
in several motions had demanded a sep
arate trial but it came in a way unex-
pected by his attorneys when the other
men who had been charged with him
came into court this morning and
pleaded guilty. A jury to try Burke
had been secured at noon and the tax
ing of testimony was to begin early
this afternoon. Judge Albert B. Ander-
son of Indiana is presiding in the place
of Judge Ferdinand A. Geiger on ac-
count of an affidavit of prejudice filed
against the regular judge in the dis
trict.
Four More Say "Guilty."
Four of five men arraigned in United
States district court today on indict-
ments charging conspiracy and bribery
to violate prohibition pleaded guilty.
They are:
Harry Feuer, Chicago liquor dealer,
whom the government contends is the
mysterious Jacob A, Lederer," higher
up in the conspiracy to bring five car
loads of whiskey into Wisconsin in
1920. hs
Joseph Budar, Milwaukee cafe man,
recently released from tine house of
correction after a years Imprisonment
for selling large quantities of liquor.
Charles Grosscurth, Chicago liquor
dealer. s
Joseph Custer, former director in
charge of internal revenue Office at
Kenosha. n
Feuer and Grosscurth pleaded guilty
to six out Of fourteen counts contained
in two indictments and the government
nolled the other eight counts. h a5,a
Budar and Custer pleaded guilty to
ment. s
Burke Motion Dismissed.
Walter M. Burke, Kenosha attorney,
was the only one of the five to plead
not guilty. He had previously moved
for separate trial, but the unexpected
disposition of the other cases automat-
ically left his case to be tried alone
and the hearing on arguments was dis
missed.
The admission of his guilt by Feuer
lends color to the belief that he is the
phantom of the whiskey ring. At first
the government believed that he was
myth invented by those accused of con-
spiracy and bribery, as a scapegoat.
Later they commended that Lederer and
Feuer were the same man, the former
name being assumed for business"
purposes.
Budar was arrested with a few weeks
after the cafe mans release from the
house of correction.
Kenosha is to be in the limelight
again today as one Of the basis Of OPP
erations of the alleged Milwaukee
Chicago Kenosha whiskey ring when
the trials of Harry Feuer, Walter M.
Burke and others, who are alleged to
be members Of the ring, will be started
in the federal court in Milwaukee. The
decision reached some time ago to
start the trials today was not in any
way affected by the guilty pleas en-
tered to the whisky ring conspiracy
charges of Joseph Dudenhoefer, Sr.,
Joseph Dudenhoefer, Jr., and Frank
Eggerer, of Chiffon, on Saturday.
Although Harry Feuer, of Chicago,
the mysterious Jacob Lederer," was
to be called first for trial and indica-
tions were that Walter M. Burke Of
Kenosha would not be implicated in
the chief legal fireworks in the court
this morning, many Kenoshans went
to Milwaukee this morning to be pres
ent at the opening of the case.
Defense Loses on Saturday.
Burke and Feuer lost the first brush
in the affair on Saturday when Judge
Geiger failed to rule on their motions
for separate trials, ruling that these
motions should be heard on Monday
by the trial judge who disposes of the
related cases These two men will
share the spotlight of public interest
when the cases of conspiracy start in
the court this morning. The trial of
Attorney Burke itself cannot proceed
until the court has ruled on the yari-
Gus motions now filed regarding it.
Co-defendants on the first dry law
Indictment are Burke, Joseph Budar,
Milwaukee. cafe owner recently re-
leased from the house of correction