The New York Times July 24, 1913, Page 16
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BOYS WRECKED BY HER0IN.
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Drug Clerk Convicted of Selling the
Drug Illegally.
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The story of how many youths have been wrecked physically and mentally by the use of heroin was told in Special Sessions yesterday by F. C. Helbing, Chief Probation Officer of the House of Refuge on Randall's Island. As a result of Helbing's testimony, Valentine H. Berndt, a clerk employed by the Southern Pharmacy Company, at 503 Eighth Avenue, was convicted of selling narcotics illegally.

Helbing said he learned of the sale of the drug from an inmate of the House of Refuge, who was returned after breaking his parole in a state of collapse. The boy said that he bought the drug in the Eighth Avenue pharmacy, and gave the Probation Officer the secret instructions necessary for its purchase. Helbing said he had learned of twelve other youths who had been reduced to physical wrecks through the use of heroin.

Berndt was remanded to the Tombs until July 30 for sentence.