614 OLEOMARGARINE. 



has had a preliminary hearing before Commissioner Mason and who is now on bonds 

 of $2,500. 



Rooney is charged with selling oleomargarine as butter. The business was con- 

 ducted in the names of the Aurora Produce Company and the Elgin Produce Com- 

 pany. Checks produced in evidence upon the preliminary hearing tend to show that 

 Rooney and his associates bought as high as $1,000 worth of the product daily and 

 shipped it to customers in several States who had purchased it in the belief that it 

 was high-grade butter. It is charged that in the three or four months that Rooney 

 has been operating he has disposed of between $80,000 and $124,000 worth of oleo- 

 margarine, upon which he made at least 40 cents on the dollar. Rooney's arrest 

 occurred nearly three weeks ago at the Ceylon and Japan Tea Company's plat e, 

 700 West Forty-seventh street. 



REVENUE AGENT AT WORK. 



Since Rooney's arrest several of the cleverest special agents in the employ of the 

 Government have been further investigating in the belief that certain manufacturers 

 of oleomargarine were back of Rooney. It is also believed that had the scheme 

 proved safe the fraudulent dealings would have been increased to a point limited 

 only by the ability to get customers. 



Last November the Agricultural Department learned that large quantities of suspi- 

 cious butter were being shipped into eastern New York, and W. H. Butcher, of Troy, 

 was detailed to look the matter up. On November 27 a consignment of 623 tubs 

 was found in J. B. Wattles's store in Buffalo. Samples were taken and the consign- 

 ment allowed to go. Agents followed it to Chicago, where the W abash officials were 

 told that the shipment here was a mistake, and that the stuff should have been sent 

 to Liverpool. It was reshipped and the Government agents seized it in Detroit. 

 This lot is said to have been sold by Edward Marhoffer, of the Elgin Produce Com- 

 pany, 6242 Halsted street. O. S. Martin, special agent of the internal-revenue depart- 

 ment for Indiana, was sent to Chicago and found that large quantities of oleomar- 

 garine had been shipped to John Schmitz, of Milwaukee. The latter told the agent 

 that a man representing the Aurora Produce Company had called to see him and had 

 said that his concern had a lot of high-grade butter which they could sell at less 

 than prevailing market prices. Schmitz had at various times purchased several 

 hundred dollars' worth from the concern in the. belief that he was buying good 

 creamery butter. 



SCHMITZ PAYS HIS LICENSE. 



Schmitz was a witness before the commissioner and has since paid the Government 

 $480, which is required for a wholesale oleomargarine license. The fact that lie did 

 not know he was selling oleomargarine did not cut any figure with his being liable 

 for the license money. The department here has a list of forty or fifty dealers who 

 will have to pay $48 for a retail license for having bought "prime butter" of the 

 concern. 



Agent Martin went to Aurora after seeing Schmitz and began looking for the Aurora 

 Produce Company. He learned that a man named Kooney had rented a box at the 

 post-office with instructions to have placed in it all his mail and that addressed to 

 the Aurora Produce Company. Later he had given up the box and left instructions 

 to have his mail forwarded to 196 La Salle street. At this place Attorney Maurice 

 Langhouse told the officer that Rooney had asked him to permit his mail to come 

 there, and had paid him $10. Every day a boy came in, and, placing the mail in 

 another envelope, forwarded it to Rooney at 700 West Forty-seventh street. 



The agent's next move was to rent a room opposite the tea company's store. He 

 soon discovered that wagons from Braun & Fitts, oleomargarine manufacturers, 

 made almost daily deliveries of oleomargarine at the store. There the stamps would 

 be removed and Expressman J. W. Foley would take the stuff to various freight 

 offices for shipment. 



SEIZURES AND ARRESTS. 



When the evidence was conclusive, seizures were made and a warrant sworn out 

 for Rooney's arrest. It was learned that his brother, Elmer K. Rooney, was in the 

 deal, and a telegram was sent to Joliet, where he happened to be selling " butter." 

 to cause his arrest. Some one gave him timely warning and he fled. It is said that 

 Edward Marhoffer, George E. Brannen, and a man named Casey have also disap- 

 peared. 



In connection with Rooney the officers arrested Patrick F. Butler, who worked at 

 the Forty-seventh street place. His arrest was due to the fact that all checks in 

 payment for the oleomargarine were made out to Walter F. Butler, and a bank clerk 

 identified Patrick F. Butler as the mau who drew the money on them. The evidence 

 was insufficient to connect Butler with the fraud, and he was discharged. 



