John Vreeland and Adele Martin Vreeland arrested on federal charges of hoarding sugar

1. Timothy Hawley served the federal warrants on the Vreelands.
2. The secret service agents had “filed their reports and left town” before the Courant reporter could interview them.

1. The allegations against the Vreelands as reported were apparently based on information received from at least one anonymous source. There were three instances from which this can be inferred:

• The departure of the secret service agents “was admitted” at the district’s office.
• “It was understood” what evidence the district attorney’s office had in its possession.
• The information on what was found during the search of the house was “according to reliable information.”

2. It is not clear when the Vreelands were arrested, but it was during the day today.
3. The article reported that “[i]n the family whose premises were visited by secret service agents, there are only Mr. and Mrs. Vreeland, a young son, and a maid servant.” That “young son” was likely the son who came home during the search, but the Vreelands had two sons at this point, Charles and Kenneth.  Both were born prior to the Vreelands’ arrival in Hartford.

Following their arrests, the Vreelands were released by Hawley on their own recognizance.

The Vreelands were scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before Richard F. Carroll at 2:00 PM tomorrow.

This was not the first arrest for hoarding in Connecticut – that happened in February 1918, when Dwight Atwood was arrested for hoarding five barrels of flour in Woodbury.

1. “On the food administration’s basis of a fair allowance of sugar being ‘three pounds per person per month,’ the family had enough to least them well into next year, it is alleged.”
2. “It is understood that the district attorney is in possession of evidence that the Vreelands had on hand ninety-five pounds of sugar in unopened cartons and seven or eight pounds of sugar in another tin container.”

1. John H. Vreeland was assistant secretary of the Scottish Union & National Insurance Company.
2. Timothy Hawley was a US marshal.
3. Richard F. Carroll was the US commissioner.
4. According to the allegations, the Vreelands had on hand either 102 or 103 pounds of sugar. Based on the “3 pounds per person per month,” that would be 3 pounds per 4 people (per the article – it was really five people, though), that’s 12 pounds per month, which means the Vreelands had roughly 8.5 months of sugar, which would have lasted until mid-February 1919.
5. If you include the Vreelands’ other son, they had just shy of 7 months of sugar on hand.

Unattributed.  “Insurance official and his wife held for sugar hoarding,” Hartford Courant, June 5, 1918, page 11.