Document pe1OX87n7rJG0Ox6j1wn6LVV7

February 12* 1929 Mr. A. E. Mittnach* ' - -i ' i, . Dear I&*. Mittnachti . ' . ' ,... ' . '. In accordance with the request In your l e t t e r of January 31 th a t I folio through to a eonelnahon the case wherein Prohibition Agents held up a shipment of ETEYL Fluid and took a sample f r m one of the drums en route via Cline truck to Philadelphia on January 88,1929 I give herewith th is re port on the investigation of the situ a tio n . 1 ;y * ,' ` . '^ On January 28, 1929 we forwarded to Philadelphia^via the B. G. Cline Trucking Company 15 dr of ETHYL Fluid consigned to the Quaker Line west bound to the Associated O il Company a t Avon, California* In truck ing th is m aterial to the steamer wharves i t is necessary to cross the new Cant- den bridge connecting Camden and Philadelphia. On th is bridge the truck driver was stopped by the Philadelphia police and questioned regarding the contents of h is truck* Although he displayed h is copy of the B ill of Lading describing the m aterial a d at the same time made reasonable id en tificatio n of both him s e lf and the m aterial, nevertheless he was placed under a rre s t aid taken to the Philadelphia 4th D istric t Precinct and held* The driver immediately got in touch w ith Mr. Cline, who in -tern telephoned me. I called the police cap ta in a t th is PTecinet end explained the situ atio n to M s, asking him to be absolutely ce rtain th a t no samples were withdrawn from the drums u n til the agents were e n tire ly aware of the hazards involved and were Instructed in the prescribed method of sampling. I also referred him to Mrl P, J . Lutz, Inspector of the Bureau of Explosives, who could, id en tify the shipment and present the necessary credentials fo r i t s release; I also mentioned the Quaker Line, Who, would be in a position to do likew ise. The police captain assured me th at he would do everything possible to prevent any sampling o f the m aterial and said th a t upon the infoimation th a t I had furnished he would release the truck a t once 1thout having samples taken. Be did l e t the d riv er go. But on the other hand, he cade no e ffo rt whatsoever to prevent sampling of the m aterial by the two Federal Prohibition Agents from the Philadelphia office who were called in. ' ' . . r. ' \ . These two agents upon a rriv a l at the Precinct requested a rubber hose to syphon the contents of one of the drums and were evidently going to suck on the hose in order to obtain a suction but fortunately a hose was not obtainable. I shudder to think of the re su lt i f e ith e r one of these men had k 0000775 --2-- Mr* A, 3. Mittnacht February 12, 1929 swallowed any ETHH. Fluid* Unable to find a rubber bos they then secured a small Coca Cola b o ttle , tie d a cord around the neck, ad dropped the b o ttle into the drtai through the bung opening. Upon f illin g the b o ttle they removed i t from the drum, took hold of the b o ttle (while wet on the outside) with th e ir bare hands and transferred the contents into a larg er b o ttle which they took back to th e ir laboratory in the Federal Administration fflees. As mentioned ' before, the driver was released (a fte r having witnessed the above procedure) and permitted to go on h is way to d eliv er h is load to the Quaker Line Steamship Company. The drum frost which the sample was taken was in a very bad condition, the Fluid having been slopped over the side, and no e ffo rt was made to clean i t up. In handling th is drum a t the p ier there was a good opportunity for Fluid contact by the atevedcr es. Fortunately we were able to get in touch with the Quaker Line and have the drum se t aside before freig h t handlers could get in contact with i t . We also sent our Mr. Armstrong up to the scene immediately. He cleaned the drum en tirely with kerosene, shellaced over the sta in , and re painted the drum so th a t i t was in perfectly good condition before i t was of* fered for loading on deck on the Quaker lin e Steamer* : Beturning to the matter o f the two agents who took the sample, I interviewed these two men yesterday and supplementing the procedure mentioned above, I find the following fa c ts, Upon taking the sample, one o f the men wrapped the b o ttle in a newspaper and put i t in his pocket and carried i t down town to th e ir laboratory. The chemist in charge of the laboratory knowing th a t the m aterial was alleged to be MHYL Fluid containing Tetra Ethyl Head made no e ffo rt to analyze i t on account of having no suitable f a c ilitie s and poured the contents down the sink. About th is t in Ur. JJ.itz appeared on the scene end happened to be in the laboratory when they were going to throw the b o ttle in the waste-basket. This would have been another po ten tial source of a hazard. Upon Mr. Lutz's re quest they wrapped the b o ttle up very carefully and destroyed i t by throwing i t into the Delaware River. One of the two agenta, Mr, L. Logan, said that he did not realize the poisonous properties of the m aterial even though he had read the warning sign on the drum. He said th at one of h is hands was completely stained red fo r a period of two days, and that he did not take any extra pre cautions to wash i t o ff immediately. The other agent, Mr. F, F. Grcber, said that he also got some o f the red s tu ff on the hands but thought nothing of i t , " This is indeed a p retty mess end I think th a t we should take immediate steps to subject these two mm to a medical examination. Although they look perfectly healthy and might not suffer aay i l l effects I do not think we should run the chance of not havfeng them examined. In fa c t I have already suggested to Colonel S. 0. Wynne, Prohibition Administrator, whom I interviewed yesterday, that we have one of our medical examiners c a ll around to see h is two men In the immediate fu tu re. He not only was in accord with th is idea but said th a t i f i t was at a l l possible KE- 0000776 --3" Mr. A. E. Mittnacht February 12, 1929 he certain ly would appreciate our doing th is , la addition to talking to Colonel Wynne himself, I also talked to Mr. f , J , B utler, Chief of Alcohol Division^ Philadelphia D istric t. I explained to these am the dashers , involved in th e ir men taking senples of ETHYL Fluid promiscuously, They wero Quite interested in the case and w ill he very w illing to co-operate with ue in the future, I am going to forward to them samples of our warning and trade-mark labels and give them a description of our package in order th a t they m y post th is information in th e ir office so th a t th e ir agents can readily identify i t ; and i f i t becomes necessary to take a sample, they w ill know the necessary steps and precautions, ................ , I also explained to these two gentlemen th a t Philadelphia would probably be our only artery for outbound shipments into the various places in th is country and th at since th is condition i s purely lo cal I did not believe i t w ill be necessary to take steps with the Federal Prohibition Adminis tra tio n in Washington regarding the sampling of ETHYL Fluid a t other points. I find that not only are the Federal Agents stopping trucks at random but that the Bureau of Police a t Philadelphia are taking a sim ilar procedure. Accordingly, I called upon Commissioner W. B. MiHs, Superintendent of the Bureau o f Police in Philadelphia, end talked over the situ atio n with him where again X received very good co-operation. In th is connection'Superintendent Lillis has g$.ven me a le tte r which is to be carried by the operators of the motor trucks for H. G. Cline when they are hauling ETHYL Fluid* The l e t t e r is addressed to a l l police coramnding o fficers of Philadelphia andstates that i f the driver of any of these tric k s in placed under a rre st or his vehicle detained, th a t he w ill be permitted to immediately c a ll the office of the Superintendent of Police before they in terfere in any manner whatsoever with the cm tents of the truck. I believe th at w1th the co-operation manifested by both the Federal Prohibition Administrator and Superintendent of Police at Philadelphia we sa h ll have no further trouble on th is point* In concluding th is report I would appreciate i t very much i f you would convey to Colonel B, W, Bunn, Chief Inspector of Bureau of Explosives at 30 Veasey S treet, Hew York Gity our thanks and appreciation for the co-opera tio n his department, through Mr. P. 1. Lutz, has given us in th is m atter. I f i t were not fo r Mr. Intz we probably could not have made such, a prompt and sa tis factory conclusion of th is a ffa ir with the authorities in Philadelphia, That part of the investigation carried on by Mr. lu tz was not done in the usual performance of h is regular duties involved in the I . C. C. regulations but in a s p ir it of co-operation and as a humanitarian to see that m aterials, such as ETHYL Fluid, are to be handled in oniy a prescribed fashion, and under no condi tions as promiscuously as i s illu stra te d in the above, and in order to protect any persons who may com in future contact with th is m aterial. KZ 0000777 Referring to the B atter of having a medical examination made on the two agents mentioned in the above, 2 would appreciate i t i f you would act upon th is Immediately attd arrange with Dr. Kehoe to have one o f his men c a ll at the S ari Building, In Philadelphia to give the necessary examination* Before our mddieal examiner c a lls , however, he should arrange through carrespondsnce with Colonel Bunn as to the time th at he may c a ll In order th at the teo sen in question he kept in the office a t that time, I ea sendingSr* Kehoe a copy of th is l e t t e r fo r his information. Yours vary tru ly , lESmkG Hi 0000778