The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-03-26

AAOAAA eAAC OAAtCa ASAa9 S0AAAR0AAJt a subsidiary of McKesson and Rob- bins which Philip Musica, masquer- ading as F. Donald Coster, had es- tablished.
 Bitzer's letter to Merwin read:
 T am enclosing herewith mem- orandum which, as far as 1t goes, should be self-explanatory.
 ''Mr. Judson, Bob and myself have been rather up tree on this proposition but feel that you prob ably know the whole situation. It strikes us that there may be some thing in back of the whole picture which must necessarily be done in the way my memorandum indicates and that you are probably aware of the circumstances.
 we have given them SIS, 900 which is $25, 900 more than they have ever had with us. We are also arranging to get 30, day notes for this in order that we may take 1t up with you as soon as you return. This is being done on the plea that we want you and the executive com mittee to discuss the line. We shall endeavor to hold them down in the matter of letters of credit until you return.
 Name of Bank Left Out
 q have purposely left the name of the second bank blank, as have promised these people that l would not write a memorandum and men, ton them, but it is from a person who has known you and respected !! you for number of years. would further suggest that when you have read this memorandum that you light a match to it or drown 1t. If you feel 8 cable is necessary to either assure us or caution us, no names need be mentioned"
 According to Bitzer, Merwin cabled back:
 Interview Coster. Let me know results. Play safe use my absence as excuse. Complete investigation"
 The witness said he wrote Mer- win again, saying "he (Coster) would tell you many more things than he would tell us. We shall wait until your return"
 A year after the exchange of memoranda, Bitzer said, United Drug went into bankruptcy owing his bank around $80,000.
 Removes Documents
 A high official of the Bridgeport, (Conn.) City Trust Company, ad- mitted in federal court he had lex tracted" certain memoranda from the banks files to Suppress" the information from grand jury in- vestigating the $21, 100000 swindle of the McKesson and Robbins Drug Company.
 The, witness, Charles w. Bitzer, vice president and treasurer of the Bridgeport Bank, said he had no al- formative but to remove the docu- ments because of "the pressure sur- rounding me at the time"
 The testimony was drawn from Bitzer as a climax of lengthy ques- tioning concerning information given the government by the bank while 1t was being investigated by the McKesson and Robbins grand jury.
 ,"You told MT. Merwin you were taking the memoranda out or the fileS?" Assistant United States At torney Irving Kaufman asked. Bit ger replied that he had. Original Letter The memoranda apparently was an original letter Bitzer wrote to Merwin while the latter was vaca- tioning in Nassau in 1881. The let ter concerned an application for some $300,000 in credits for the United Drug Company, a McKes- son and Robbins subsidiary. A pre- vious witness had testified the com- pany did a big business in alcohol which eventually reached bootleg gers.
 "What happened to the originalP'' Kaufman asked.
 T can't explain that" Bitzer re- piled.
 "You don't know of any original being extracted from the flles?"
 Ut is quite possible since pro. ceedings started"
 By MT. Merwin?"
 "Yes," the witness replied.