THE CONSPIRATORS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17078, 29 January 1916, Page 13

THE CONSPIRATORS.

SENTENCED AT NEW YORK. NEW YORK, December 5. Karl Buenz, Plj. D., head of the Hamburg-American Lino in America, formerly Minister to Mexico for Germany and ex-Consul-Gcneral at this port for the Kaiser, was sentenced by Judge Howe in the United States District Court yesterday to serve a year and a half in the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta for conspiring to defraud the United States Government by obtaining false clearance papers. The false papers were used to clear a fleet of supply ships sent from American ports last fall and winter to coal and provision German warships. Dr Buenz is now in his seventy-third year.

George Koetter. superintending engineer of the Hamburg-American Line, and Adolf Hachmeister. purchasing agent of the line, also received gaol sentences of a year and a half.

Joseph Poeppinghaus. still in his thirties and youngest of the convicted conspirators, received the lightest prison sentence of the four men convicted, one year and one day at Atlanta. Peoppinghaus was the supercargo placed aboard the steamship Berwmcl of the supply fleet by the HamburgAmerican Line with authority to direct the skipper of the Berwind. which sailed under the American flag from this port, to tranship her cargo to German warships at sea instead of taking the cargo to Buenos Avrcs. the port of destination sworn to on the clearance papers. The Hamburg-American Line itself, which was also convicted of the conspiracy charge, was sentenced to pay the nominal fine " of one dollar without costs of prosecution." The Line, which under the law could have been fined 10,000 dollars on each of the two indictments iipon which it also was convicted, got oft lightly because of Judge Howe's opinion that the corporation could not "conspire, think, agree or act " except as it did those things through Dr Buenz and the other conspirators. A SMILE FROM KOETTER,

The tall, white-haired, venerable" looking head of the Line heard his gaol sentence pronounced without the slightest display of emotion. Hachmeister did not seem perturbed either. The head of the engineering department of the Line, Koetter, smiled slightly while Judge Howe was pronouncing sentence. As for the comparatively youthful looking Poeppinghaus, who during the course of the trial last week had become" the father of a baby girl, he wore his aln.ost ever present broad grin. "• The only show of feeling on the part of Dr Buenz after he had been sentenced happened along when a process server stepped up and handed him a subpoena to testify in a civil case later in the month.

"Achl" cried the managing diector of the Line when he'had glimpsed the contents of the paper served upon him. " Now this comes along and here I was all ready to take a trip to the South!"

In addition to William Rand, chief of counsel for the convicted men, William Travers Jerome, head of Mr Rand's firm. Edward Sandford, attorney of record, and Howard Gans sat at the defendants' side of the table when Judge Howe entered Court at ton o'clock. Attorney Marshall sat with AssistantAttorney Wood, who tried the case for the Government.

"It is now my painful duty," said Mr Marshall after Mr Rand had listed eighteen reasons why the verdict should be set aside, Judge Howe denying all these customary motions, "to move for the sentencing of these defendants. It is unnecessary for me to repeat the facts of the case; hut I must say to you, your Honor, that the punishment of these men must be substantial, not so much because of the. criminality of the defendants, but in order that their punishment may serve as a warning to others." PLEA BY THE DEFENCE. " 1 only wish to remind your Honor,'' returned Mr Rand, " that these defendants were actuated by no corrupt nurposes. If, despite this, injury was done to the United States, they wish to express here through me their deep regret. The defendant Dr Karl Buenz, as between himself and the others, begs me also to remind your Honor that the whole plan was his. that the others obeyed his orders and that he in turn wa,s obeying the orders of his superiors." "Joseph Poeppinghaus," Judge Howe read from manuscript after he had sentenced the other three shipping men to eighteen months' imprisonment, ' • is sentenced to serve a term of one year and one day. I do not think he participated in forming the conspiracy (broadest grins from Poeppinghaus), and' then. too. his actions were largely directed by the three individual defendants. "There was no evidence that the corporation, the Hamburg-American Line. did anything in the conspiracy except what was done by the three individual defendants, and quite likely Dr Buenz was the only person participating in the conspiracy who had the power to bind the corporation. " The corporation could not conspire, think, agree or act except as it did so through him, and, as he is to be punished for all he did in tho ot>iispir*uy,

I am not inclined to impose much punishment on the corporation in these circumstances, although in the eye of the law it is guilty of the offence charged. Then, too, the less odour of money there is from this sentence, .the better. This is another reason that leads me to take this view regarding the corporation. Therefore, it is sentenced to pay a fine of Idol without costs of prosecution."