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If you are not located in the United States, you'll -have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using -this ebook. - - - -Title: Throttled! - The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb Plotters - -Author: Thomas Tunney - -Editor: Paul Merrick Hollister - -Release Date: May 2, 2020 [EBook #61996] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROTTLED! *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: Italic and some underlined text are indicated by -_underscores_. Boldface text is indicated by =equals signs=. - - - - -THROTTLED! - -[Illustration: Inspector Thomas J. Tunney] - - - - - THROTTLED! - - _THE DETECTION OF THE GERMAN - AND ANARCHIST BOMB PLOTTERS_ - - - BY - - INSPECTOR THOMAS J. TUNNEY - - Head of the Bomb Squad of the New York - Police Department - - AS TOLD TO - - PAUL MERRICK HOLLISTER - - Author, with John Price Jones, of “The German - Secret Service in America” - - - ILLUSTRATED - FROM PHOTOGRAPHS - - - [Illustration] - - - BOSTON - SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - - Copyright, 1919 - BY SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY - (INCORPORATED) - - - - -TO - -ARTHUR WOODS - -Formerly Police Commissioner of the City of New York, now colonel in -the United States Army, whose vision and coöperation made the work of -the Bomb Squad possible, this volume is respectfully dedicated - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -Inspector Tunney’s Squad was formed early in August, 1914, to -specialize in organized crimes of violence. It did some radically -effective work against Black Handers, and handled several cases -against domestic enemies of law and order, but as time wore on and war -developed, the Squad’s energies became directed solely against the -nefarious activities of Germans among us. - -Inspector Tunney is a most skilful detective, resourceful, persistent, -understanding human nature, a good leader. He picked a squad of -fearless, tireless men, who not only worked long and hard, but showed -marked skill and tact. They proved themselves to be Americans all -the way through, aggressive, loyal, bound to put the job through, no -matter what the difficulties might be. They were occupied in hunting -out Germans who were outraging our neutrality; and then--after we -finally started to make war against those who had so long been warring -against us, on the high seas and in our very midst--they set to work to -thwart and capture active German enemies. The results they got went -far toward making it possible to maintain order in New York during -those months and years which were full of such menace to the safety of -the city, when the national danger seemed so plain--so increasingly -plain--and the national military strength was so woefully weak. In -many cases the Inspector worked in coöperation with one or more of the -Federal Secret Service forces. The Federal work was seriously hampered, -however, at first by hopelessly inadequate organization, and, later, -by the existence of several entirely distinct forces, instead of one -powerful, unified body. - -Inspector Tunney has written a most interesting book. Much of what -he tells I knew about at the time, from conference with him, or with -Major Scull, Colonel Biddle, or Major Potter, and some of the events -described I had intimate knowledge of because of personal attention -to the cases. Some, however, I personally know nothing about, as they -have taken place since I left the Department on January 1, 1918. And a -vast amount of good work, of real public service, was done by Inspector -Tunney and his men that is not touched upon in this book, that probably -will never be written, since, though of great value to the public -peace, it lacks some of the dramatic features which characterize the -tales that are told. - -No one can read the book without seeing how brutally active our -enemies were here in this country, even while we were at peace with -them, how they flouted our neutrality brazenly and contemptuously, how -they busied themselves through their accredited officials and their -many secret agents in trying to paralyze our industrial life. Their -deliberate effort was to prevent the shipment of all vital supplies to -the Allies, and they sought this end by fomenting labor troubles, by -burning factories, by blowing up ships. It mattered not the slightest -to them that in this kind of activity they destroyed the property of -a people at peace with them, nor did they give a deterring thought to -the fact that they were maiming and killing human beings with their -burnings and blastings. It did concern them, however, to keep things -dark, to work under cover, so that they might continue this underhanded -war against us without being found out. It was the warfare of the -savage, who knows not fair play, who is guided by no rules or customs, -who strikes down his enemy in the dark, from behind. - -The lessons to America are clear as day. We must not again be caught -napping with no adequate national Intelligence organization. The -several Federal bureaus should be welded into one, and that one should -be eternally and comprehensively vigilant. We must be wary of strange -doctrine, steady in judgment, instinctively repelling those who seek -to poison public opinion. And our laws should be amended so that -while they give free scope to Americans for untrammeled expression of -differences of opinion and theory and belief, they forbid and prevent -the enemy plotter and propagandist. - -There was another part of the Squad’s work, which had to do not with -foreign, but with domestic, enemies. The industrial condition of -unemployment, which was so sharp in 1914 and 1915, was exploited by -those who believed in propaganda by violence, hoping to find eager and -bitter listeners in the thousands who could not get work. To ameliorate -the hardships of the situation the police in New York tried several -plans which were at that time rather new as police methods. They found -jobs for people; they afforded relief in cases of distress from funds, -more than half of which were subscribed by policemen. When street -meetings were held and excitement ran high, they held unswervingly to -the line of conduct mapped out for them. They not merely permitted free -assemblage but protected meetings so long as they kept the laws; and -the law was kept if the meeting did not incite to violence or obstruct -the highways. In case of threatened violence, action, prompt and -strong, was taken to prevent it. Order must be maintained. Inspector -Tunney’s Squad were actively engaged here, not in trying to bottle up -the preachers of any particular doctrine, but simply in finding out who -were the plotters of violent deeds and bringing them to justice. - -I believe the police methods in these times were wholesome and -effective, and are the right ones to follow in times of public -excitement and industrial disturbances. They make it clear in practice -that leeway will be given to all for the full exercise of their lawful -rights; and equally clear that adequate means will be taken to prevent -recourse to unlawful measures. In many places in this country where -serious disorder and bloodshed have come to pass, the trouble seems to -have been fostered, at least, by the denial to groups of people of some -of their lawful rights. - -I hope this book will help to teach another lesson also: the need in -our police forces of brains and high morale; the need of cultivating -the professional spirit in them, that shall dignify the work, shall -banish political influence and all other influences that go to break -the heart of the policeman who tries to do his plain duty; the need of -having the public take an intelligent interest in police methods and -results, doing away with the smoke-screens of mystery and concealment -which are traditionally employed to cover dishonesty or incompetency. - - ARTHUR WOODS - - February, 1919. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I THE BOMB SQUAD 1 - - II WESTPHALIAN EFFICIENCY 8 - - III PLAYING WITH FIRE 39 - - IV THE HINDU-BOCHE FAILURES 69 - - V A TRUE PIRATE TALE 108 - - VI ALONG THE WATERFRONT: SUGAR AND SHIPS AND ROBERT FAY 126 - - VII ALONG THE WATERFRONT (II): “DAMN HIM, RINTELEN!” 156 - - VIII MR. HOLT’S FOUR DAYS 183 - - IX THE NATURE FAKER 217 - - X THE PRUSSIAN, THE BOLSHEVIK, AND THE ANARCHIST 246 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Inspector Thomas J. Tunney _Frontispiece_ - - PAGE - Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Biddle, Military Intelligence 4 - - Paul Koenig 10 - - Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book” 22, 23, 26, 27, 36, 37 - - Alexander Dietrichens and Frederick Schleindl 30 - - Carmine and Carbone in Court 46 - - Pages from the bomb-thrower’s textbook 52 - - A postcard received by Commissioner Woods after the arrest of the - Anarchists 60 - - Detectives in Disguise--George D. Barnitz, Patrick Walsh, James - Sterett, Jerome Murphy 64 - - Threats to Polignani 66 - - Frank Abarno and Carmine Carbone 66 - - A Handbill, printed in Hindu, used by the Hindu-Boche Conspirators 72 - - The Hindu-Boche Conspirators 76 - - The _Annie Larsen’s_ Cash Account 80 - - Gupta’s Code Message 80 - - How the Hindus used Price Collier’s “Germany and the Germans” as - a cryptogram 90 - - Alexander V. Kircheisen and his application for a certificate as - able seaman 106 - - Lieutenant George D. Barnitz, U. S. N. 118 - - Robert Fay and Lieut. George D. Barnitz 130 - - Fay, Daeche and Scholz arraigned in Court 130 - - The Fay Bomb Materials 138 - - Lieutenant Fay’s Motor Boat 150 - - Rudder Bombs 154 - - Franz Rintelen 160 - - Henry Barth, who posed as the German Secret Service Agent 164 - - Ernest Becker 168 - - Captain Charles von Kleist and Captain Otto Wolpert 168 - - Sergeant Thomas Jenkins, U. S. Army, who located part of one of - the bombs in the German Turn Verein in Brooklyn 174 - - Norman H. White, of Boston, a civilian attached to the Military - Intelligence, who unearthed numerous German intrigues 180 - - Mrs. Holt’s Mysterious Letter 208 - - The First Word from Texas 208 - - Fritz Duquesne prepared for a Lecture Tour as Captain Claude - Stoughton 224 - - From Fritz Duquesne’s Past 230 - - Papers found in Fritz Duquesne’s effects 236 - - Lieutenant Commander Spencer Eddy 248 - - Major Fuller Potter, Military Intelligence 252 - - Lieutenant A. R. Fish, Naval Intelligence 260 - - Captain John B. Trevor, Military Intelligence 268 - - - - -THROTTLED! - - - - -I - -THE BOMB SQUAD - - -For the past twenty-three years I have been a member of the police -department of the City of New York. It is a long time, in any -single job. The department is comparable in size to a manufacturing -establishment of the first magnitude--it employs more than ten thousand -men--and its occupations are varied enough to suit the inclinations and -ambitions of any man. And so I went through the mill, graduating from -one duty to another until in 1914 I was an acting captain, and had been -in charge of various branches of the Detective Bureau in Brooklyn and -Manhattan. - -My duty was the detection of crime, my specialty, meaning by that -the special branch of crime with which I had been most often thrown -into contact, was bomb-explosions. As far back as 1904 there were a -number of mysterious explosions in New York which caused considerable -property damage, and there I made the acquaintance of the bomb itself. -It was an interesting subject for study, and a wicked weapon in use. -I managed to pick up information of bomb-manufacture in several ways: -Black-Handers, in prison, told me how they had made their missiles; -at the New York office of the Du Pont explosives company I had an -opportunity to study blasting; the publications of the Bureau of Mines -furnished more information, the practice of the Bureau of Combustibles -of our own department proved interesting and instructive, and I found -myself before long forced to become something of a student of chemistry. - -The difference between our work and the work of the laboratory chemist, -however, was that in our case there was no time to make an explosive -mixture and test it--some criminal usually had done that for us, and we -were called to the scene to find out, from such clues as the wreckage -afforded, the name and address of the criminal. The laboratory chemist -mixes ingredients and counts his work done at the moment of explosion; -the detective begins at that moment a stern chase, and a long one, back -to the ingredients and the man who mixed them. - -By the early part of 1914 I had seen a good deal of experience in -tracing bomb outrages to certain of the anarchistic and Black Hand -elements in the population of the city. As the year wore on these -occurrences became so numerous as to warrant special attention, and -on August 1, the approximate date of the outbreak of war in Europe, -Police Commissioner Arthur Woods created in the police department the -Bomb Squad. I was in command, and reported direct to the Commissioner. -As the volume of work increased, and more men were taken on, the -Commissioner delegated his supervision of the Bomb Squad to Guy Scull, -who was then Fifth Deputy Police Commissioner, and who is now a major -in the United States Army. That supervision was later passed on to -Nicholas Biddle, a Special Deputy Commissioner, who, as I write this, -is lieutenant-colonel in the United States Army, in charge of the -Military Intelligence Bureau in New York; and following Mr. Biddle, -Fuller Potter, another special Deputy Commissioner, and now a major in -the Military Intelligence, directed the policies of the Squad. - -Within a few months the personnel of the Bomb Squad included the -following picked men: George D. Barnitz, Amedeo Polignani, Henry Barth, -George P. Gilbert, Edward Caddell, Patrick J. Walsh, Jerome Murphy, -James J. Coy, Valentine Corell, James Sterett, Henry Senff, Michael -Santaniello, Joseph Fenelly, Joseph Kiley, Charles Wallace, William -Randolph, Thomas Jenkins, and Anthony Terra--all detective sergeants, -and George Busby, a lieutenant. To this list were added the names of -James Murphy, Robert Morris, Thomas J. Ford, Walter Culhane, Vincent E. -Hastings, Thomas J. Cavanagh, Louis B. Snowden, Thomas M. Goss, Daniel -F. Collins, Frederick Mazer, Edward J. Maher, Walter Price, William -McCahill, and Cornelius J. Sullivan. It made a list of fine material -for the work which we were called upon to do, and no one will begrudge -me here a word of tribute to their aptitude, their courage--to all of -the qualities which made them such able and vigilant guardians of the -neutrality of our country during the years preceding our entrance into -the war. Many of the Bomb Squad went to war later: Barnitz became a -junior lieutenant in the United States Navy, in intelligence work of a -high order. Barth, Caddell, Corell, Fenelly, Jenkins, Walsh, Sterett, -Santaniello, Randolph, James Murphy, Morris, Ford, Culhane, Hastings, -Cavanagh, Snowden, Goss, Collins, Price, Mazer, Maher, McCahill and -Sullivan became sergeants in the Corps of Intelligence Police of -the National Army. And after I became connected with the Military -Intelligence Branch of the War Department, I had frequent occasion to -deal during the war in coöperation with the men whom I have mentioned -in service. - -[Illustration: Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Biddle, Military -Intelligence] - -My first desire in taking charge of the Squad was to suppress the -activities of persons using explosives to destroy life and property. -What knowledge of the physics and chemistry of explosives my experience -had accumulated I passed on to the men. These periods of instruction -went into considerable detail. We discussed the kinds of explosives -used, their relative strength, their ingredients, the methods of -detonating them, the containers into which they were loaded, and the -use of clockwork, fuses, acids and gas-pressure to explode them. -Special and explicit instruction was given for the handling of -unexploded bombs--a bomb bearing an electrical attachment should not be -placed in water, for example, as water is a conductor of electricity; -it is wise never to smoke in the presence of explosives, even if you -think you know that certain kinds of explosives “_never_ explode by -fire.” The only thing you can depend on explosives to do one hundred -times out of one hundred, is what you don’t expect them to do. The Bomb -Squad was told never to--and why never to--carry bombs on passenger -trains, cars or ferries, or anywhere near where metals were being -shipped. The Bomb Squad was instructed not to remove a bomb found in a -position where its explosion would not endanger life and property, but -to send for an expert and wait until he arrived on the scene, and was -told which positions were dangerous and which were not. Altogether we -conducted a rather thorough course in explosives. - -As the war grew in proportions, and the interest of America in the -conflict became more and more intimate, the activities of the Bomb -Squad became somewhat diverted from the object for which it had been -primarily organized, and its title was changed to the “Bomb and -Neutrality Squad.” We had not expected in August that the German would -try to tip over our neutrality with bombs, but that is what he did, and -that is what kept us grimly busy for three years, until our own nation -had gone to war with those who had so long been waging war upon her. -And that is how the stories which follow come to be told. - -Not that the entrance of the United States into the war put a stop to -the activities of the Squad. I have already cited those who entered -the national service. Their presence in the Naval and Military -Intelligence, their close relations with those whom they left behind in -headquarters, with such men as Commander Spencer Eddy and Lieutenant -Albert Fish of the Navy, Colonel Biddle and Major Potter of the Army, -and with the Corps of Intelligence Police, made possible a degree of -coöperation in spy-hunting in New York which would have been impossible -to develop within a short time with any other set of men, and which -went far towards preserving our domestic security. - - - - -II - -WESTPHALIAN EFFICIENCY - - -The trend of events in early 1915 made it apparent that the Bomb -Squad would be called upon to handle more and more cases of attempted -violation of neutrality. Anyone who remembers our national mind at that -time will recall that it was not yet made up and very liable to attacks -of brainstorm. Every person was seeing events of unheard of violence -and magnitude pass him pell-mell, giving no warning, and not waiting -for comment, and he was too dazed to watch any single event with any -high degree of balanced judgment or reasoning partisanship. It was a -troubled hour, and one in which it behooved us of the Police Department -to keep our heads cool and our eyes open. The Bomb Squad had to act as -a safety valve. - -By the summer of 1915 war orders placed by the Allied governments in -the autumn and winter of 1914 were being filled and shipped overseas -in great quantities. By this time, too, the German navy showed no more -sign of coming out of Kiel in force than it had shown for a year past. -The task of delaying, diverting or destroying those shipments devolved -upon the Germans in America. It took no superhuman amount of reasoning -to combine the abnormal destruction of property in New York with the -strong suspicion of German activity and to arrive at a decision to -check up wherever it was humanly possible the sources and agencies of -destruction. - -Late in the autumn, in our work on the waterfront, we found a man who, -we decided, was worth watching. We learned gradually that Paul Koenig -was a pretty well-known figure along both banks of the Hudson, and that -he carried, as chief detective for the Hamburg-American Line, a certain -amount of authority. That steamship line, which within a week of the -outbreak of war had attempted to send ships to sea under false cargo -manifests to supply the German naval raiders, now had more time than -business on its hands as its entire fleet was tied up in Hoboken. And -yet in spite of the dull times which we knew had been thrust upon them, -their man Koenig was curiously busy, and we became busily curious to -find out why. - -We were more curious than successful at first. We assigned men to -follow him and observe his habits and haunts. This was not as easy as -it might have been with another man, for the Department of Justice had -already tried it and had come to the conclusion that he was not worth -following. - -Now a good shadow is born, not made. The moment the man followed -realizes or even suspects that he is being followed, he becomes a -problem and either gets away or conducts himself in a way which disarms -suspicion and sometimes embarrasses the pursuit. Koenig, a man of keen -animal senses, was unusually quick in discovering his shadower. It used -to confuse certain agents considerably to have him disappear around -a corner, and when the agent quickened his pace and swept around the -same corner after him, to have Koenig pop out of a doorway with a laugh -for his pursuer which meant that the day’s work had gone for nothing. -I have known men who were excellent detectives and poor shadows. -Sometimes they were too large and conspicuous, sometimes they were -over-zealous, sometimes they excited suspicion by being over-cautious; -rare enough was the combination of artlessness and skill which made a -man a good shadow, told him when to saunter away in the opposite -direction, when to pass his man, and how to efface himself. It is, -I think, the instinct of the good fisherman who knows just how much -line to run out, and just when to exert the pressure. For Koenig was a -slippery fish. - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, International Film Service_ - -Paul Koenig, the Hamburg-American employe, who supplied and directed -agents of German violence in America] - -By a new method of “tailing” or shadowing, we learned that he -frequented several popular German places in the city, such as Pabst’s -in Columbus Circle, the German Club, in Central Park West, where Dr. -Albert, Boy-Ed and von Papen frequently went, Luchow’s restaurant in -14th Street, as well as the good American hotels Belmont and Manhattan. -Both of the hotels are centrally situated, and have several entrances, -including direct connection from the basement with the Subway--one of -the easiest places to lose oneself in the city. (A murderer not many -months ago avoided arrest for two days by riding back and forth in -Subway trains.) But such places as these were no more than the natural -points towards which any German might gravitate, and we could never -pick up a scrap of conversation to give us a lead in any specific -direction. - -The fact remained that he was busy, going and coming, and that -he conducted a good deal of his business from his office in the -Hamburg-American building at 45 Broadway. We might as well have -tried to penetrate to Berlin with a brass band as to have entered the -building for information. But there was one advantage we could take: we -could “listen in” on his telephone wire. - -When the men tailing him reported in that he was in the -Hamburg-American Building, and probably in his office, we cut in on -his wire, and posted an officer at our receiver to take down all -conversations which passed. The outgoing calls were disappointing. -Koenig was no fool--or rather was a highly specialized fool--and was -not careless enough to give information of aid and comfort to the -enemy through such a gregarious medium as a public telephone wire. We -listened for a long while, in vain.... - -Then came a call which offered possibilities. A man’s voice told Paul -Koenig that it thought Paul Koenig was a “bull-headed Westphalian -Dutchman,” and added other more lurid remarks. The conversation was -short, but while it lasted indicated that someone was not pleased with -Mr. Koenig. Within the next few days the same voice called “P. K.” -again and told him several things it had forgotten to mention, all -pointing to the fact that the owner of the unknown voice had been -misused. - -We hunted up the number from which the disgruntled calls had been -made. It was a public telephone pay-station in a saloon. Crucial -events can almost always be traced to some trivial circumstances--the -poem “for the want of a nail the battle was lost” is an illustration -of what I mean. We are not dealing here with possibilities but with -facts, yet I cannot sometimes help speculating on the extent to which -German atrocities might have been carried in New York and Canada, -if we had not found a bartender with a good memory in that saloon. -Yes, he remembered a fellow who had come in there at certain times to -telephone. Yes, he came in once in a while. Didn’t know his name, but -thought he lived around the corner at such and such a number. At that -number we found out the man’s name--the bartender’s description had -been accurate. The name was George Fuchs. - -So to George Fuchs we mailed a letter, typed on the stationery of a -wireless telegraph company, suggesting that we had a position for which -we believed he was the proper man, and that we would be pleased to have -him call at the office of the company, at an appointed hour, to discuss -the work and wages. Fuchs did not show up at the appointed hour, which -disturbed the plans momentarily, but when he did arrive, he was -greeted cordially by an executive of the “company” who proceeded to get -acquainted with the applicant. The manner of the wireless person was so -disarming, his German was so good, and his certainty that Fuchs was the -man for the job so taken for granted that the two adjourned to a nearby -restaurant. (Detective Corell had a very good working knowledge of -German.) - -“Who did you say you were working for?” Corell asked, across the crater -of Fuchs’s glass of beer. - -“That bull-headed Westphalian Dutchman,” Fuchs sputtered. “He is some -relative of my mother’s. She was a Prussian, though, _Gott sei dank!_” - -Corell laughed at the right time, and in the conversation which ensued -drew out the man’s grievance against Koenig. In September Mr. and -Mrs. Koenig had paid a visit to the Fuchs household in Niagara Falls, -N. Y., where Fuchs lived with his mother in the Lochiel Apartments. The -wonders of the Falls had received proper attention from the strangers, -and Koenig showed some interest in the Welland Canal, the channel -through which shipping circumnavigates the Falls. He said that the -waterway was closely guarded, otherwise he would like to go over and -have a look at it, and suggested, as a convenient substitute, that -Fuchs go over to Canada and take some snapshots of the locks for him. - -“Why don’t you go yourself?” Fuchs asked. - -“They would probably pick me up if I did,” Koenig replied. - -“Well, that’s just why I won’t take any camera over there with me,” -Fuchs rejoined. “But I’ll go if you want a report.” - -The bargain was closed. Fuchs, Koenig said, was the very man, as he was -known on the Canadian side as George Fox, was an American by birth, and -would not excite suspicion. So at 7 P. M. of September 30--slightly -more than a year since Horst von der Goltz and Captain von Papen -had made their first abortive attempt to destroy the Canal--“Fox” -registered at the Welland House in Welland, close by the waterway. -There he spent the night. The next morning he went to Port Colborne, -the Lake Erie mouth of the Canal, and during the balance of the day -followed its course northward, making mental notes of the shipping and -the construction and guarding of the locks. By night he had reached -Thorold, where he found a room, jotted down his observations, and spent -the night. The next day he covered the balance of the 27 miles to Lake -Ontario, noting the number of locks, and the fact that there were two -or three armed soldiers on guard at each. With his head full of good -ideas for bad plans he reached Niagara Falls again that night--October -2. - -Koenig was enthusiastic over his report, but when Fuchs had written -it down he decided that it would be hazardous to have such a document -found on his person. “Mail it to me at Post Office Box 840 in New York. -Sign it just ‘George’--nobody would know who that was even if they did -find it.” He went back to New York. Fuchs heard nothing from him for a -few days, except that action had been deferred. Then the country cousin -began to importune the city cousin, and Koenig suggested that he come -down to New York to work for him. Which Fuchs did, and on October 8 -was placed on the payroll of the “Bureau of Investigation” at eighteen -dollars a week. Koenig arranged that Fuchs was to hire men who would -row a boatload of dynamite across the upper Niagara River to smuggle -it into Canada, and he had meanwhile arranged with two others, Richard -Emil Leyendecker, his chief assistant, and Fred Metzler, his secretary, -to carry out a definite plan to sever the main artery of lake traffic -by blowing it to pieces. - -By Sunday, November 7, Fuchs had been occupied in several odd jobs for -Koenig, such as spying on outward-bound cargoes along the waterfront, -doing special guard duty at Dr. Albert’s office, and going over to -Hoboken to frighten a poor German agent named Franz Schulenberg, who -had come on from the west to collect money from von Papen. On that -Sunday he was sick and did not report for duty. He asked for his -regular pay, however, and Koenig refused it, doubting that Fuchs had -really been too ill to report, and holding that illness should never -interfere with service to the Fatherland. This created bad blood -between the two. On November 22 Koenig discharged him for “constant -quarrelling with another operative, drinking, and disorderly habits,” -and announced that he would not be paid for his services of the -previous day, when he had refused to go on duty in a river-launch. That -$2.57 due Fuchs had poisoned his soul against Koenig, and he had grown -so bitter that the result we already know--evidence was at last in our -hands for an arrest. - -It was a case for federal prosecution, obviously, so we called in -Captain William Offley and Agent Adams, an able operative of the -Department of Justice. A few hours later Koenig was placed under -arrest. He resented the intrusion, and snapped to Barnitz: “Anyone who -interferes with Germans or the German Government will be punished!” -His house up-town was searched and that search disclosed, among other -matters, an item which is unquestionably one of the richest prizes of -the spy hunt in America. - -It was Paul Koenig’s little black memorandum book--a loose-leaf -affair, scrupulously typewritten, and brought down to within a day of -his arrest. A fanatic on office efficiency might have conceived it, -but none but a German would have kept it posted up. For it told the -story of his Bureau of Investigation with a devotion to detail almost -religious. - -The Hamburg-American Line probably never thought that when they -assigned a shrewd ruffian named Paul Koenig to investigate an alleged -case of wharfage graft in Jersey City away back in 1912 they had -established a “Bureau of Investigation.” But Paul Koenig knew better. -He surrounded his lightest activities with an air of mystery and -efficiency true to the best of amateur-detective tradition. He called -his first case by a mystic number, he conferred the ominous alias of -“xxx” upon himself, hired a man named Fred Metzler as his secretary, -and convinced himself that he and Metzler were a bureau. In the light -of the all-absorbing importance which his bureau held for him, we are -not surprised (and we must not smile), when we see chronicled neatly -in his little black book that on May 13, 1913, he rented a room at 45 -Broadway for “new offices,” on May 24 his first private telephone was -installed, on Nov. 19 a steel cabinet was purchased for the files of -the department, on May 28 of 1914 the adjoining room was added to Room -82, and Room 82 was converted into a _private_ office for the chief, -and on July 14 a new safe was purchased and placed in the office. It -may be that the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand had something -to do with that last item, for it is certain that the Hamburg-American -Line knew that war was coming well in advance of the declaration. At -any rate, we find that on July 31, 1914, before England and Germany -had actually gone to war, and on the same day that the director of the -Hamburg-American in New York received instructions from Berlin that -war was coming and that he was expected to supply German naval vessels -in American waters--on that day Paul Koenig began his war duties by -placing a special guard on all the piers and vessels of the Line in New -York Harbor. - -Up to this time the cases Koenig had handled were matters of -shipping--stowaways, fires, steerage rates, charges against ships’ -officers. On August 22 he became a German military spy. We find it -entered in his own words: - - “Aug. 22. German Government, with consent of Dr. Buenz, - entrusted me with the handling of a certain investigation. - Military attaché von Papen called at my office later and - explained the nature of the work expected. (Beginning of - Bureau’s services for Imperial German Government.)” - -The “certain investigation” consisted in sending two men to Canada -to spy on the Valcartier training camp where the first Canadian -Expeditionary Force was being mobilized, and to report to the military -attaché their state of readiness, in order that he might try some means -of keeping them at home if it were not already too late. What von Papen -had in mind was dynamiting the Welland Canal; it failed, but the case -is of momentary interest to us here because it marked the beginning of -a service on Koenig’s part which grew very fast and extended in many -and diverse directions. - -The Bureau was divided into three parts, the pier division, the special -detail division, and the secret service division, or “Geheimdienst.” -No one was allowed to forget that P. K. was head of all three. In his -rules and regulations he records, among other gems, these: - - “#2. In order to safeguard the secrets and affairs of the - department prior to receiving a caller, hereafter my desk must - be entirely cleared of all papers excepting those pertaining to - the business in hand. - - “#9. All persons related to me, however distant, will be barred - from employment with the Bureau of Investigation. This does not - apply to my wife. - - “#6. It has been found detrimental to the discipline of the - Office to invite direct employees of the Bureau to my residence - or other place socially, or to accept their invitations, - therefore this practice must cease. This ruling does not - apply to agents of the Secret Service Division nor to direct - employees if engaged with me on an operation which requires - either social entertainment or travelling.” - -He had an elaborate and complicated outlay of badges, shields and -photographic identification cards for each operative, for which each -operative stood the expense. His meticulous attention to detail, and -the diligent caution which he observed at all times is indicated in a -list of aliases which he set forth in the memorandum book. In 26 cases -listed he used 26 different names--none of them his own. For example, -in what he called “D-Case 250,” in dealing with an operative named -“Sjurstadt” Koenig was known to Sjurstadt only as “Watson”; in D-Case -316, when he negotiated with his agent von Pilis (a propagandist who -was later interned, by the way) Koenig was “Bode.” He devised a new -name for himself for every new case, and sometimes used two or three -names in dealing with different individuals in the same case. Naturally -a man of as many identities as Koenig had to keep a record of who -he was, and so his list of aliases furnished the government with an -excellent catalogue of the pies in which he had his tough fingers. Each -of his own employees in the Secret Service Division was known to him in -three ways: by his Christian (or rather, his German) name, by a number, -and by a special pair of initials. Thus Richard Emil Leyendecker, the -art-woods dealer associated with him in the Welland Canal affair, was -Secret Agent Number 6, known as “B. P.”; Otto Mottola, a member of the -New York Police Department was Secret Agent Number 4, known as “A. S. -(formerly A. M.).” The connections of the bureaus were mentioned in -his reports by numbers, the Imperial German Embassy being 5000, von -Papen being 7000, Boy-Ed 8000, and Dr. Heinrich Albert, the commercial -attaché of the embassy, 9000. - -[Illustration: - -_SECRET SERVICE DIVISION._ - -_List of Aliases Used by XXX._ - - _D-Cases._ - Sjurstadt #250 Watson - Markow #260 von Wegener - Horn #277 Fischer - Portack #279 Westerberg - Berns #306 Werner - Scott #309 Werner - McIntyre #311 Bode - Miller #314 Reinhardt - Harre #315 Kaufmann - Kienzle #316 Wegener - Wiener #316 Wegener - von Pilis #316 Bode - Burns #325 Reinhardt - Stahl #328 Stemmler - Coleman #335 Schuster - Schleindl #343 Wöhler (Paul) - Leyendecker #344 Heyne - Feldheim #357 Winters - Warburg #362 Blohm - Van de Bund #358 Taylor - Lewis #366 Burg - Hammond #357 Decker (W.P.) - Uffelmann #370 Schwartz - Hirschland #371 Günther - Neuhaus #371 Günther - Ornstein #371 Günther - Witzel #371 Wöhler - Plochmann #375 Breitung - Archer #289 Mendez - Bettes ---- Goebels - Reith #382 Brandt - - -_SECRET SERVICE DIVISION._ - -_Ciphers Used In_ - -_Confidential Reports_ - -(Oct. 1914-Sept. 1915) - - ---oOo--- - - 5000 I. G. Embassy - 7000 ” ” Military Attache - 8000 ” ” Naval Attache - 9000 ” ” Commercial Attache - ------- - 7354 von Knorr - 7371 Tomaseck - 7379 Tokio - 7381 Copenhagen - 7600 Burns Agency - 9001 Herbert Boas - -Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book”] - -[Illustration: - -_SECRET SERVICE DIVISION._ - -_SAFETY BLOCK SYSTEM_ - -Operatives of the S. S. Division, when receiving instructions from me -or through the medium of my secretary as to designating meeting places, -will understand that such instructions must be translated as follows: - - -_For week Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 (midnight)_ - -A street number in Manhattan named over the telephone means that -the meeting will take place 5 blocks further uptown than the street -mentioned. - -Pennsylvania R. R. Station means Grand Central Depot. - -Kaiserhof means General Post Office, in front of P. O. Box 840. - -Hotel Ansonia means Cafe in Hotel Manhattan (basement). - -Hotel Belmont means at the Bar in Pabst’ Columbus Circle. - -Brooklyn Bridge means Bar in Unter den Linden. - - -_For week Dec. 5 to Dec. 12 (midnight)_ - -Code to remain the same as previous week. - - -_For week Dec. 12 to Dec. 19 (midnight)_ - -A street number in Manhattan named over the telephone means that the -meeting will take place 5 blocks further downtown than the street -mentioned. - - -_SECRET SERVICE DIVISION._ - -(Geheimdienst) - - -_Rules and Regulations._ - ---1915-- - - #1. Beginning with November 6th, no blue copies are to be - made of reports submitted in connection with D-Case #343, and - the original reports will be sent to H.M.G. instead of the - duplicates, as formerly. - - #2. In order to accomplish better results in connection with - D-Case #343, and to shorten the stay of the informing agent at - the place of meeting, it has been decided to discontinue the - former practice of dining with this agent prior to receiving - his report. It will also be made a rule to refrain from working - on other matters until the informant in this case has been - fully heard; and all data taken down in shorthand. (11-11-15) - - #3. Beginning with November 28th, 1915, all operations - designated as D-Cases will be handled exclusively by the Secret - Service Division, the Headquarters of which will not be at - the Central Office, as heretofore. This change will result in - discontinuing utilizing operatives or employees attached to the - Central Office, Division for Special Detail and Pier Division. - On the other hand, great - -Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book”] - -In the same way he disguised his meeting places. In his instructions to -the Secret Service Division we find this: - - “Operatives of the S. S. Division when receiving instructions - from me or through the medium of my secretary as to designating - meeting places will understand that such instructions must be - translated as follows: - - “_For week Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 (midnight)._ - - “A street number in Manhattan named over the telephone means - that the meeting will take place 5 blocks further uptown than - the street mentioned. - - “Pennsylvania R. R. Station means Grand Central Depot. - - “Kaiserhof means General Post Office, in front of P. O. Box 840. - - “Hotel Ansonia means café in Hotel Manhattan (basement). - - “Hotel Belmont means at the bar in Pabst’s Columbus Circle. - - “Brooklyn Bridge means bar in Unter den Linden.” - -Each week he rearranged this code, so that anyone who thought that -cutting in on a telephone call meant knowing where Koenig was bound -was not likely to find him there. The man knew his German New York, -and had numerous convenient meeting places where he could meet an -agent and converse undisturbed, such as a German hotel at Third Avenue -and 42d Street, or a German bar at Broadway and 110th Street, or a -lodging house at South and Whitehall Streets, near the lower tip of -the island, or a saloon connected with a Turkish bath in Harlem. He -not only made it almost impossible to trace him by tapping his own -wire, but his operatives were instructed to call him from pay-station -telephones in locations where there was not one chance in a million -of identifying the person who had called. Fuchs, of course, was the -one-millionth chance, but Fuchs was no longer obeying Koenig’s orders, -was persistent, and careless. Altogether Koenig had built up a system -of caution on paper which almost beat the game, and which enabled him -to conduct a large volume of business. - -The functions of his departments were clearly defined. The pier -division guarded the piers and vessels of the Line, and furnished him -information of sailings from the New York waterfront, which he in turn -passed on to the naval attaché, Boy-Ed. Through this division he was -able to keep in touch with the waterfront element for whatever service -of violence might be necessary, and to keep a fairly complete record of -shipping. The special detail division was assigned to the guarding of -von Bernstorff’s summer place at Cedarhurst, Long Island, Dr. Albert’s -office in the Hamburg-American building, von Papen’s office at 60 Wall -Street, and the Austrian consulate in New York. This division conducted -every week a test to determine whether or not Dr. Albert was being -shadowed. We find entered in his notes on his operatives this: - - “_H. J. Wilkens_ is commended by me for good service rendered - thus far as attendant on Dr. Albert. This commendation is based - on a note received from the latter under date of November 12, - reading as follows: - - “‘Dear Mr. Koenig: - - “‘The service rendered by your bureau’s operative, H. J. - Wilkens, have proven entirely satisfactory. - - “‘Yours truly, - (Signed) H. T. ALBERT.’” - -Apparently Koenig’s performance of his duty to the German cause -encouraged the high officials of the German government in the United -States to rely upon him, for these posts were gradually placed under -his direction during the summer of 1915, the Embassy at Cedarhurst on -July 3, Dr. Albert’s office on Sept. 1, von Papen’s office on Oct. -26, and the Austrian Consulate on December 15--three days previous to -Koenig’s arrest, and less than a week after Captain von Papen, who was -returning to his own country by the request of our country, had called -P. K. to the German Club to “express his thanks for the services this -Bureau have rendered to him.” “At the same time,” the little notebook -confides, “he bid me Good-Bye.” We find these functions mentioned with -a suggestion of reverence. - -But the autobiography of Paul Koenig resumes its dark shroud of mystery -when it turns to the functions of the division of secret service. There -he is the dominating figure, a sort of cross between a Dr. Moriarity -and a gorilla, a slippery conniver one minute and a pugnacious bully -the next, convicted by his own complimentary reports. It was in -handling the “D-cases” already mentioned that he employed his many -false names, his secret numbers, his elusive places of appointment, and -his essentially Teutonic discipline. The nature of the work of this -division may best be suggested by citing a case which appears rather -often in his records--Case D-343. - -[Illustration: - - may not be in my interest. The stenographer of the Central - Office, however, will continue to write out checks as - heretofore, but the check-book itself, will always be kept - under lock and key. (11-23-15) - - #11. Operatives of the Pier Division in future will carry as - their means of identification only the Bureau’s identification - card, on the reverse side of which a photograph of the bearer - will be pasted, with my signature written above and below the - photo. The front side of the card will also bear my signature. - These men will not carry any more shields, as in the past. - Any changes in the personnel of the Pier Division, such as - attachments and detachments, will be brought to the attention - of the Marine Superintendent or other Superintends at whose - piers they are stationed. There will be special operatives - selected to check up operatives of the Pier Division and - employees of the piers, who will not be named to anyone in - advance, but who will, at Intervals, make their inspections, - carrying with them as their means of identification, a - commission consisting of a letter on Company’s stationery, - setting forth their authority, which will be duly signed by - me and counter-signed by one of the Company’s Vice Directors. - These special operatives are to be known as Central Office men, - and do not come under the jurisdiction of the Pier Division. - (11-23-15) - - #12. Beginning with today, specific plans have been decided - upon as to the best manner in which to keep newspapers and - clippings dealing with the war and political subjects. - Clippings that refer to D-Cases of this Bureau will continue to - be placed in the private files, together with their respective - reports. An exception to this particular rule may be made in - the event that there are too many clippings at hand, in which - case they may be bound together and kept separate, as is being - done in the case of operation D-#332. Other clippings are to be - mounted on cardboard, and the name of the newspaper and date - typewritten thereon. Articles of interest that cover an entire - page or more will not be clipped, but will be kept whole in - a temporary folder in view of binding same later. This, also - applies to copies which deal with matters on which reports have - been rendered. (12-7-15) - -Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book”] - -[Illustration: - - covering G. G. Station #3 on Sunday, November 21st, from 10 - A.M. until 5 P. M. Contrary to the list of assignments for the - Pier Division he did not do guard duty at the Hoboken Piers - during the night of November 20th to 21st. In order to be at - his new post, G. G. Station #3, he was given this night off - with pay, to be charged to Case #242. Wages while on duty at - G. G. Station #3 will be the same as heretofore. - - _H. v.Staden_ on November 22d, at 10 A. M., reported to Central - Office duty as instructed. He will work jointly with Opt. - W.H.M., his salary to remain unchanged. - - _H. Pearsall_, on Saturday, November 20th upon being instructed - by Opt. H.J.W. that he was to be assigned to the Pier Division, - declared that he refused to accept this post, and tendered - his resignation. According to a written report submitted - by Opt. H.J.W., H. P. acted insolently, and belittled this - Bureau’s service. As H. P. did not tender his resignation - to me personally or by mail, I did not take cognizance of - what he told Opt. H.J.W. regarding leaving the department, - but discharged him at once upon hearing of his conduct. His - services ended on November 21st at 10 A.M. While he has been an - alert watchman, he has often proven to be a cranky, quarrelsome - employee, who was the cause of a great deal of trouble while on - the piers. - - I congratulate myself on having ridden this Bureau of an - ignorant, stubborn and hot-headed man of the caliber of - Pearsall, whose last words to stenographer F. Metzler were that - he would not trust me for a dollar. While it is understood that - this former employee is disbarred from reinstatement, he will - never be given any sort of a recommendation, nor will I receive - him. He is to be kept out of the office entirely. - - _George Fuchs_ was dismissed from the Bureau’s services - on November 22d at 4.30 P.M. The reason for his discharge - is general conduct displayed on Company’s piers, constant - quarreling with another operative, drinking and disorderly - habits. He will receive no pay for the night of November 21st - to 22d, during which he refused to join Opt. J.P.C. in his - duties on Company’s Launch #4. - - _William McCulley_, on November 16th at 3 A.M., was appointed - Chief of the Secret Service Division, his duties to commence - on Sunday, November 28th, at 9 A.M. Salary $28. per week. Upon - his word he promised to remain in this capacity for at least - six months and to be at my disposal at all hours. He is to take - a residence in New York City, and will be known as “William - MacIntyre” at the Headquarters of the Secret Service Division - to be established on December 1st, 1915. - - _R. E. Leyendecker_, on November 23d, at 11 P.M., was appointed - Assistant to the - -Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book”] - -Rule number 1 of the division stated: - - “Beginning with Nov. 6 (1915) no blue copies are to be made - of reports submitted in connection with D-Case 343, and the - original reports will be sent to H. M. G. instead of the - duplicates, as formerly.” - -“H. M. G.” we learned from the key to special personages for whom the -division was conducting investigations, was von Papen himself. Rule 2 -reads: - - “In order to accomplish better results in connection with - D-Case 343, and to shorten the stay of the informing agent at - the place of meeting, it has been decided to discontinue the - former practice of dining with this agent prior to receiving - his report. It will also be a rule to refrain from working on - other matters until the informant in this case has been fully - heard, and all data taken down in shorthand.” - -The book revealed that in D-Case 343 Koenig’s alias was Woehler, and -his agent’s name Schleindl. In his notes on operatives Koenig had -written that “Friedrich Schleindl ... who was first known as Operative -#51, and later as Agent C. O., beginning with October 21st will be -called Agent B. I.” This enabled us to interpret a further regulation -of the division, to this effect. - - “Agent B. I. has been requested not to call again at the - Central Office, this ruling to take effect immediately. Other - arrangements will be made to meet him elsewhere. Whether or not - the stenographer of the Central Office will continue to write - reports covering D-Case 343 will be determined later.” - -Rule 4 read: - - “Supplementing Rule 2, it has been decided that I refrain from - drinking beer or liquor with my supper prior to receiving Agent - B. I., for the reason that I wish to be perfectly fresh and - well prepared to receive his reports.” - -And Rule 3 contained this passage: - - “... great care is to be taken that operatives and agents of - the Secret Service Division remain entirely unknown to members - of the Central Office and other divisions. These regulations - do not apply to D-Case 343, which has been handled since the - beginning of July (1915) with the knowledge of employees not - belonging to the Secret Service Division. Until more favorable - arrangements can be made this practice may be continued.” - -Here clearly was an unusually important case. The notes indicated -that Koenig was receiving frequent reports of great value from this -Schleindl, had been receiving them for at least five months, was -reporting them to von Papen, and intended to safeguard his obtaining -further information. When a German voluntarily forswears his beer, -something serious is on foot. - -Lieut. Barnitz, with Detectives Walsh and Fenelly, arrested Schleindl -the same day we closed in on Koenig. In his pocket was a cablegram -referring to Russian munitions. He was a German reservist, born in -Bavaria. At the outbreak of war he was a clerk in the National City -Bank of New York, and lived away up in the Bronx, and in the first -reaction to war he reported at the German Consulate for duty. Months -passed, and he had not been called upon, when one night he met a German -who told him to report at the Hotel Manhattan to meet another German -named Wagoner. “You’ll find him in the bar,” added his informant. - -“Wagoner,” who was Paul Koenig himself, met the youth, and playing -on his patriotism drew from him the information that he had access -to many cablegrams to and from the Allied governments through the -bank concerning the purchase and shipment of war supplies. Offering -Schleindl a retainer of $25 a week, Koenig told him to steal from the -files all such messages he could lay his hands on, together with -copies of express-bills showing when the goods were delivered to the -piers for shipment, all data relating to the prices paid, detailed -descriptions of the purchases, and any other particulars which would -help the German Government to complete its knowledge of what supplies -America was shipping abroad. Schleindl grew quite enthusiastic in the -work. Starting with light thefts, he gradually grew bolder, until he -was in a position to steal documents night after night, take them -to his appointment with Koenig, have them copied, and arrive at the -Bank early enough the following morning to put them back where they -belonged. Friday night was the regular appointment, but often messages -of big shipments came in and he relayed the news at once to his chief. -The extra $25 a week practically doubled his earning power, and made -devotion to the Fatherland very attractive--so much so that he began -to be afraid that Koenig, who was merely the receiving station for -his reports, and who took no risks himself, would receive more than -his share of credit. If there were any iron crosses to be given out, -or any ribbons for foreign service, Schleindl felt that he had earned -his, so he forwarded to his brother in Austria from time to time -stenographic notes written in the Bavarian dialect which would be -especially difficult of translation. In order to evade the censor he -tore them into scraps and sifted them into the folds of newspapers -which went unmolested through the British mail censors at Kirkwall. -These scraps, pieced together and translated into reports, were -forwarded by his brother to German officials. - -[Illustration: Alexander Dietrichens] - -[Illustration: - - _International Film Service. Inc._ - -Frederick Schleindl] - -[Illustration: Schleindl and Dietrichens at a German party] - -Schleindl’s zeal had led him into other channels of German activity. -At college in Germany he had had a friend named Alexander Dietrichens, -later known variously as Willish, Sander, Glass, and Lizius--one of -those Riga Russians of German parentage who have served Bolshevism so -eminently in Russia. In 1915 Dietrichens was in America, and the two -renewed their friendship. He said he was eager to serve the Fatherland, -and that he only wanted to know who was supplying munitions to the -Allies to start a campaign of destruction against them. He suggested -the Du Pont factories at Wilmington, and asked the young bank clerk -to come along. Schleindl, impressionable and emotional, had not the -courage. He confessed to me that he wept at the thought, and that he -asked Dietrichens whether any harm could come to him if the explosion -killed anyone. “Very likely,” Dietrichens answered cheerfully. -Schleindl then declined, but he helped the dynamiter to the extent of -keeping an occasional bomb or a package of dynamite for him during the -day in his locker or under his desk at the bank. The main cache where -Dietrichens stored his explosives was near Tenafly, New Jersey, but -when Schleindl and I visited it, in a deserted spot almost a mile from -the nearest building, the shanty was empty. - -Schleindl was tried, convicted and sentenced to an indeterminate term -in the penitentiary, for the theft of documents. Koenig pleaded guilty -to the charge, but sentence was suspended on him owing to the greater -importance of the Welland charges. - -The Schleindl and Dietrichens cases are only two examples of many to -which the little black book gave clues. It suggested investigations -into many others, for it was a real storehouse of names, and knowing -Koenig’s close relationship with the highest German authorities in -the United States, it contributed a large number of items to the bill -of complaint against Germany which provoked the President’s Flag Day -warning of 1916. Koenig’s mere mention of the name of “Horn” in D-Case -277 gave evidence of the German sponsorship of the attempt of Werner -Horn to blow up the Vanceboro bridge in February, 1915; the name -“Stahl” in D-Case 328 indicated by Koenig’s own hand that it was he who -paid Gustave Stahl for the false affidavits that the _Lusitania_ had -carried guns; the name “Kienzle” in D-Case 316 was the name of a man -who was involved in trying to blow up vessels sailing for France and -England; the name “Hammond” in D-Case 357 led to the disclosure that -the Bureau of Investigation, although chiefly engaged in spying and -destroying plots, sometimes ran other and more delicate errands for von -Bernstorff. - -Posing this time as “W. H. Becker” Koenig called on one J. C. Hammond, -a writer and publicity man who had offices at 34th Street and Broadway. -To Hammond he stated that from the standpoint of the Germans in America -two newspapers were taking irritating and unfriendly attitudes. These -were the _New York World_ and the _Providence Journal_. Both papers had -taken, soon after the outbreak of war, definite stands on the American -issues involved, and both pursued the subject in a typically thorough -fashion, the Providence paper obtaining much of its information from -sympathetic British sources, and the _World_ having an influential -position politically which led it across the trail of what the -newspaper men call “big stories.” The _Providence Journal_ in fact -emerged from comparative obscurity during the early months of war with -startling charges against German agents both here and abroad, supported -by evidence which seemed incredible though of sound origin. These -stories were republished widely through the country. It was undoubtedly -having a powerful effect upon the public, for the country, dazed with -the fact of war, was ready to take sides against the nation which was -apparently guilty of the worst acts. Some of those charges were true, -and although they seemed at that time so fantastic as to be almost -impossible, the members of the German Embassy knew they were true and -squirmed inwardly every time a fresh one burst out. The _World_ had -a habit of not only spreading exciting news articles over its front -page, but lending color to them by publishing photographs of supporting -documents to prove their authenticity. So von Bernstorff and the -attachés, after having tried to bring influence to bear in many subtle -ways to curb the publications, called in Koenig, and he made his little -pilgrimage to Hammond’s office. - -He offered the publicity agent a large sum of money to find out what -exposures the two papers had still in the ice-box, ready to release. -Later, he increased this to a blanket offer of any sum which Hammond -should name, provided the latter could induce the papers to turn over -to him the articles and affidavits in their possession. The offer was -not accepted. Hammond did not bite at the offer of a later reward of -$100,000 which Koenig hung up to silence the publication of anti-German -news in certain other large newspapers in the country, nor did he, as -Koenig requested, go to England to visit Rintelen, to find out where -Rintelen had left a trunk full of valuable papers when he fled the -United States. - -The name “Lewis” mentioned in the citation of another case in the -little black book revealed a further variation of the services of the -Secret Service Division. The United States owned a large quantity -of Krag-Joergensen rifles for which in that year of peace it had no -use, but which several foreign governments would have been glad to -buy. Commercial bachelors who were looking for war brides all took -turns paying court to the rifles, and all without success. Readers -of the newspapers may recall a small tempest which raged around the -alleged sale of the rifles, and the charges levelled at one after -another German of the attempt to purchase. Each new charge was denied -by its victim, and it finally developed that a Mrs. Selma Lewis had -been involved in the negotiations, and was willing to pose as the -purchaser. The “man behind” was Franz Rintelen, acting for the German -Government, and the name “Lewis” here in Koenig’s notes, amplified by -the full name and address of Mrs. Lewis in a small address book which -we also captured, indicates that Koenig worked for Rintelen as well -as the abler and more authentic members of the embassy of destruction -which Germany kept in America. - -I think I have made it clear that when the United States interned -Paul Koenig it made prisoner one of the busiest men of the German -spy system, and one of the strangest. He was physically powerful and -mentally quick with a German sort of quickness. He had the most supreme -self-confidence it has been my pleasure to meet, and that caused his -downfall. If he had administered his bureau in a manner calculated to -breed loyalty in his employees he would have been more successful, -but he conceived his work as a one-man job, and made his subordinates -goose-step to his tune. It is certain that had he not set down with -such care every item which would be useful to the United States in -unearthing his actions, no one can say how long they would have -continued. Napoleon had his Waterloo, however, and Paul Koenig had his -notebook, and with the same scrupulous foresight the indomitable “xxx” -left that notebook where we would be most likely to find it. - -[Illustration: - - _HEALTH RULES._ - - #1. I have decide to refrain from chewing tobacco in the - office, as it disagrees with my health, thereby interfering - with my work. (12-1-15) - - #2. I shall drink no more whiskey. (12-6) - - - _HEALTH TABLE #1._ - - XI. - - 9-12-14-17-17-21-23-24-25-28-28- 11 - - XII. - - 1-3-5-8-9-11-13-16- - -Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book”] - -[Illustration: - - safeguarding of the Imperial German Embassy at Cedarhurst, - L. I. - - Sept. 1. Bureau was entrusted with the safeguarding of the - offices of Commercial Attache Dr. Albert. - - Oct. 26. Bureau was entrusted with the safeguarding of the - offices of the Military Attache. - - Nov. 12. Began first investigation for Austro-Hungarian - Government. - - Dec. 13. As 6.30 P.M. Captain von Papen, German Military - Attache, received me at the German Club to express his - thanks for the services which this Bureau have rendered - to him. At the same time he bid me Good-Bye. - - Dec. 15. Bureau was entrusted with the safeguarding of the - offices of the I. & R. Austro-Hungarian Consulate General. - - - _LIST OF_ _IMPORTANT CASES HANDLED._ - - - 1913 - - - C.#17. Investigation Re: Jersey City Wharfage Graft. - - C.#24. Investigation of Baggage Department, Hoboken. - - C.#32. Chinese Stowaways on S.S. “PRINZ JOACHIM”, Voy. 77. - - C.#40. Investigation Re: Thefts of Cargo on the Atlas Pier, New - York City. - - C.#41. S.S. “FRIEDRICH DER GROSSE”, Arrival at New York July 2, - 1913. - - C.#49. Charges Made Against W. Barbe, Chief Officer, S.S. “CARL - SCHURZ”. - - C.#54. Investigation Re: S.S. “PRINZ FRIEDRICH WILHELM”, - Arrived at New York on June 3. - - C.#67. Fire on Board S.S. “IMPERATOR” on August 28. - - C.#69. Fire Patrol on S.S. “IMPERATOR”, & etc. - - C.#70. Max Ludwig Thomsen, Alias Thomspson. - - C.#95. Charges Against Paul Koenig. - -Random Pages from “P. K.’s Little Black Book”] - -It is a rare treat, aside from its now past informative value. And it -contains one real mystery which the Westphalian himself can alone clear -up. The page headed “Health Rules” reads as follows: - - “#1. I have decided to refrain from chewing tobacco in the - office as it disagrees with my health thereby interfering with - my work. (12-1-15.) - - “#2. I shall drink no more whiskey. (12-6.)” - -Which leads one to believe that he saw the practical value of an -exemplary life. But we must wait for him to explain the page headed -“Health Table,” which reads: - - “XI - - “9-12-14-17-17-21-23-24-28-28. - - - “XII - - “1-3-5-8-9-11-13-16.” - -The “XI” is evidently November, of 1915, the “XII” December. What did -he do on those dates so accurately mentioned? Did temptation lead -him twice from the path on the 17th and 28th of November? If so, -what could this temptation have been? Is it possible that the same -conscience which made him typewrite his rules of conduct weakened, and -then remorse turned about and forced him to set down his lapses from -grace? Is it further possible that each of the dates cited means that -Paul Koenig broke his brand new health rules ten times in November and -eight times in December, and _chewed tobacco in office hours_? - -We must wait in patience--some day his Westphalian conscience may -answer. - - - - -III - -PLAYING WITH FIRE - - -The business of crime prevention and detection depends largely on -the confidence one man has in another. That is one reason why a -“stool-pigeon” is an uncomfortable ally on a case. You can not be -sure that a man who associates with criminals and is giving them away -is not giving the case away at the same time. His gang hates him for -squealing, his evidence is the evidence of a traitor, and he is a good -person not to depend on. I make that point here because I have always -tried to avoid using stool-pigeons, and because the story to follow -will illustrate what can be accomplished by a dependable man. - -The story really starts about twenty years ago. In the spring of 1900, -an Italian from Paterson, N. J., Brescia by name, attended a meeting -of anarchists in a house in Elizabeth Street, New York. The group was -composed of two parties, one which we may call the progressives, and -one the inactives. Brescia assailed the inactives, denounced them as -cowards, and stirred up so much dissension that the meeting broke up -for fear of a police raid, and several of the members retaliated at -Brescia by accusing him of being a police spy. He sailed for Italy, and -on July 29, in the little Lombardi town of Monza, murdered King Humbert -the Good. When the news was cabled to America it was hailed with proper -grief by the public and with great joy by the anarchists who had called -Brescia a traitor. His execution, which followed swiftly, made him a -martyr. So to do him honor, the group was named the Brescia Circle. - -By 1914 the membership of the circle was nearly 600. A cosmopolitan -lot: Italians, Russians, Russian Jews, Germans, Austrians, Spaniards -and Americans, of both sexes. The leaders were agitators whose speaking -ability had lifted them out of the ranks and who found an easier living -by their wits than by their hands. The Bomb Squad knew something of -their activities and habits, for the past history of anarchist cases -linked up certain names in a pointed way. We knew their fondness for -bombs, and the records of the police department contain many instances -of anarchists inspired to violence by the inflammatory speeches of -such agitators, as their idol, Francisco Ferrer, had preached violence -in Spain. The outbreak of war in Europe, from which so many of the -group had migrated to America, and the promise of social confusion -which it held for them had stirred the Brescia Circle more than a -little. The active members met regularly in the basement of a building -at 301 East 106th Street, a shabby house in a shabby district east of -the New York Central tracks. These meetings, which occurred usually -on a Sunday, as many of the members were working during the week, -were addressed by such notorious anarchists as Emma Goldman, Becky -Edelson, Frank Mandese, Carlo Tresca and Pietro Allegra--names probably -unfamiliar to the general public, but names with which the Police -Department had “auld acquaintance.” Occasionally an editor of an -anarchist newspaper in Lynn, Massachusetts, Gagliani by name, came to -speak in the cellar, and Plunkett, Harry Kelly, and Alexander Berkman -were usually to be found in the group. - -The winter of 1913–1914 was one of industrial depression. Many of -the radical labor element rallied to the I. W. W. and the unemployed -readily joined them. The methods of the anarchists and I. W. W.’s -were similar, and the advocates of unrest were enlisted under both -standards. In the late winter demonstrations began and multiplied -until in March a youth named Frank Tannenbaum, to whom Emma Goldman -later took a fancy, led a mob of I. W. W.’s into St. Alphonsus’ Church -demanding food. The police waited until they had passed inside, then -locked the doors, and arrested the whole lot. This was but one instance -of a number which promised more trouble. Whatever nice distinctions of -creed separated the Industrial Workers from the anarchists were paper -distinctions; the performances of both bodies made it fairly plain that -if you scratched an anarchist you found an I. W. W. underneath. - -There may have been some intimation from abroad of the impending -war, among the anarchists, for in July certain of them began to -grow demonstrative. On Independence Day Mandese was arrested in -Tarrytown, in uncomfortable proximity to the estate and person of -John D. Rockefeller. Carron, Berg and Hansen, three members of the -Brescia Circle, were engaged on that same day in perfecting a bomb in -their rooms at Lexington Avenue and 104th Street, when the machine -exploded prematurely and killed them. That bomb had been intended for -the Rockefeller family. Naturally everyone with a shred of respect -for order who read of these episodes recoiled from them, but it was -necessary to judge them from the anarchist’s own standpoint to see that -while one of the cases had resulted in death, and the Mandese incident -in arrest, both had been successful in creating a disturbance. The -anarchist likes disturbance as well as he dislikes order, for unrest is -contagious, and means new recruits to the cause. It became our duty, -therefore, to make a careful investigation of these disturbances at -their source, and we insinuated a detective into the Brescia Circle -itself. - -He spoke only English--a good language for social intercourse, but -not the key to the affairs of the group in the 106th Street basement. -Whenever the more prominent agitators had a really important matter to -discuss they used the Italian tongue, and it was impossible for our man -to eavesdrop. Perhaps he was over-eager, for twice he was brought to -trial by the Circle charged with spying. Twice he was acquitted. But -when his enemies had him formally charged a third time with treachery, -the anarchists decided that although they had no evidence against him -beyond a powerful suspicion, he would be better outside. Outside he -went. - -On October 3, the anarchists gave a grand ball at the Harlem Casino in -honor of Emma Goldman, and at that affair announcement was made that -October 13 would be observed by those of the cause with a celebration -at Forward Hall, in East Broadway, fitting to the anniversary of the -“assassination” of Francisco Ferrer. The orator, Leonard Abbott, also -reminded the gathering that “the Catholic Church had been responsible -for Ferrer’s death.” At five o’clock in the afternoon of October 12 -a vicious explosion occurred in the north aisle of St. Patrick’s -Cathedral. It was an anarchist’s bomb. The nave of the church held -numerous worshippers, who were panic-stricken, but who fortunately -escaped injury with the exception of a young man struck in the face by -a flying splinter from one of the altars. Shortly after midnight of -the next day a bomb placed in the front area of the priests’ house of -St. Alphonsus’ exploded with violence enough to break every window in -the house and every window in the house across the street. Ferrer’s -“assassination” had evidently been appropriately observed. - -The situation was disturbing. We had to put a stop to bombing before -the anarchists grew bolder and began to kill someone beside themselves. -Of course we wanted all the evidence we could lay hands on, and -yet the evidence we had been able to obtain had not prevented two -outrages. We felt that undoubtedly the best place to look for it was -still the Brescia Circle, as it constituted the chief organization -and headquarters for the element which we believed guilty. And we now -return to the question of the stool-pigeon. - -It would have been possible to employ one of the Circle, perhaps. It is -certain that I should have been uneasy with only his evidence to depend -upon, for a bomb does not wait to be investigated. Planting a man in -the Brescia Circle had not been successful, but I felt that it could be -made successful. So out of five or six candidates from the department I -chose Amedeo Polignani for the work. - -He was a young Italian detective who kept his own counsel, short, -strong, mild-mannered and unobtrusive. And he knew Italian. “Your name -from now on is Frank Baldo,” I said. “Forget you’re a detective. You -can get a job over in Long Island City, so as to carry out the bluff. -You are an anarchist. Join the Brescia Circle and any other affiliated -group, and report to me every day. The older members may be suspicious -of you, and they’ll probably follow you, so we had better arrange when -you are to telephone and I’ll let you know whenever and wherever I want -to see you.” We discussed every possible angle of the work in order -to anticipate and forestall whatever accident either of omission or -commission might occur to make Polignani’s position suspicious. He was -instructed to call me by telephone at certain hours, using a private -number, telephoning from a public pay-station in a store in which -there was not more than one booth, so that no one might follow him and -hear his conversation through the flimsy walls of a booth adjoining. -He was to deport himself in a retiring manner, and to throw himself -earnestly into the part he was to act. I felt sure that his quiet, -agreeable nature would disarm any suspicion of him as a newcomer, and -that complete concentration upon the spirit of the masquerade would -gradually draw out important information. First and foremost, he was -to be on the watch for evidence of the man who had committed the two -bomb outrages in October; secondly, he was to cover the activities and -intentions of the anarchists in general; thirdly, he was to keep his -eyes and ears open and his mouth shut, and to deal with any emergency -which might arise. - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, by International News Service_ - -Carmine and Carbone in Court] - -It often happens in fiction that a man journeys to a far country -and somewhere on the voyage sheds his identity like an old suit of -clothes to proceed through years of adventure as another individual; -in the movies it is no feat at all for a girl to disguise herself as a -man and hoodwink the rest of the actors through several hundred feet -of film; but it remained for a New York detective to discard his name -and his associations for six months, and without once stirring outside -his jurisdiction, without any disguise, and without miraculous power, -to add to the records--and consequently to the efficiency--of his -department a store of information of one of the most troublesome groups -of anarchists in the United States. - -He bade his little family in the Bronx good-by, got employment at -manual labor in a Long Island City factory, and hired a cheap room at -1907 Third Avenue. Throughout November he attended meetings of the -Brescia Circle, listening to bitter speeches full of wild plans to -overthrow the government, and the organized church, and getting the lay -of the land. To such members as chose to speak to him he was courteous -and friendly, but they were not many. The more important members had a -way of gathering in corners and whispering to each other, and the new -member was not invited to join the charmed inner circle. So he held his -peace, and memorized names and faces, and presently his opportunity -came. - -Polignani had noticed on November 30 a young Italian cobbler, named -Carbone, who seemed to have influence in the Circle, and he confirmed -this judgment on the next two Sunday evenings as he saw Carbone in -whispered conversation with Frank Mandese and one Campanielli. The -next Sunday night the same trio was in star-chamber session when a -good-natured wrestling match started in another part of the room, and -Carbone turned to watch it. Polignani was tossing various members to -the floor, and as he was smoothing his ruffled hair after a short -bout, Carbone tapped him on the shoulder and said, “You’re a strong -fellow--I’m glad to see you a member of the Brescia Circle!” The -detective smiled, and the two fell into conversation, which continued -as they left the society’s rooms and strolled up Third Avenue. - -“The trouble with those fellows,” said Carbone, “is that they talk too -much and don’t act enough. They don’t accomplish anything.” - -“That’s right,” Polignani agreed. - -“What they ought to do is throw a few bombs and show the police -something,” Carbone continued. “Wake them up! Look--” he held up the -stumps of five fingers of his right hand--“I got that making a bomb. -Some day I’ll show you how to make ’em.” - -That arrangement suited Polignani perfectly. He had a lead, after -tedious “watchful waiting,” which had been punctuated by the explosion -of a mysterious bomb at the door of the Bronx County Court House on -November 11. He had listened to reams of oratory against the ruling -classes, law, order and the churches, had heard his fellow members -chided because the bombs at St. Patrick’s and St. Alphonsus’ had been -too weak, and had heard speakers advise any members who contemplated -the use of dynamite not to take too many people into their confidences. -Carbone was deliberately confiding in “Baldo,” and the detective made -up his mind to cultivate him. - -This extract from his notebook will illustrate how the acquaintance -ripened: - - “I did not see Carbone again until Sunday the 27th. On this day - he spoke to me of a friend named Frank and said that if all - anarchists were like his friend they would be all right. He - thinks nothing of making and throwing a bomb. On January 1st - about 1.45 P. M. Carbone met me as per appointment. We went to - where the meeting of the unemployed was being held and both - of us shook hands with Louise Berg, Mandese, and Bianco.... He - introduced me to his friend Frank....” - -Enter the third conspirator, Frank Abarno, 25 years old, and a native -of San Velle, Italy. Almost on the heels of his introduction to the -promising new member, the new member began to take a new interest -in life, for on January 3 Carbone drew Polignani out of the meeting -after the speeches and said quietly, “Come on up to the 125th Street -Station. It’s warm up there, and we won’t be bothered. I’ll tell you -something about making bombs.” And on the way up Lexington Avenue -Carbone explained that he needed some caps about two inches long. All -the dynamite he wanted he could get from his uncle, a contractor “out -in the country.” “We’ll get some dynamite, and then you and Frank and -me will blow up some churches, see?” - -“Sure,” the detective answered. “What church?” - -“St. Patrick’s is the best. This time it’ll be a good one too--not like -before.” - -“Did you hear what Mandese was saying the other night?” Polignani -asked. “He was scrapping with another fellow and the fellow says, ‘If -they wouldn’t give me no work I’d throw bombs.’ And Mandese said to -him, ‘The only kind of bombs you shoot are the kind you shoot with -your mouth,’ and he says, ‘What kind of bombs do you shoot then?’ And -Mandese says, ‘The kind that went off at Madison Square and the two -churches, see!’” - -Carbone apparently did not care for the results of the previous -explosions, for he said: - -“Well, they were no good. That bomb that killed Carron and Berg and -Hansen wasn’t made right. It was wound too tight--that’s why it went -off too soon. I can make a bomb from a brass ball off a bed-post that -will start something.” - -A fortnight passed, and Carbone turned up at the Brescia meeting-place -in company with Abarno. They beckoned to Polignani and the three walked -down Third Avenue, Abarno mouthing anarchy, and suddenly suggesting -that he would like to go into St. Patrick’s, find Cardinal Farley -alone, and choke him to death. The gentle soul then remarked: “Carbone, -you make some bombs!” - -“If I can get those caps I’ll make a bomb that will destroy the -Cathedral clear down to the ground, but if I can’t get the caps then -I’ll have to make the other kind.” - -“Well, you make two bombs,” said Abarno. “We’ll set them off on the -outside of the church about six o’clock some morning and then we -can get away clean and get to work on time and nobody will know the -difference.” - -Carbone asked Abarno to get him some sulphur, and turned to Polignani a -slip pencilled, “Collorate di Potase, 1 lb.” and “Andimonio.” “You get -that at a drug store, Baldo,” he said. - -“Baldo” complied, and a few weeks later the materials were assembled. -Carbone instructed Polignani to call on Abarno for a booklet on bomb -manufacture, and about six in the evening of February 4 Abarno gave the -detective the pamphlet to read while he went out to get some spaghetti, -as the two had an appointment with Carbone at 7.30. Polignani was -hardly out of Abarno’s sight when he sprinted to a telephone and called -me. I met him at once, at headquarters, and turned the booklet over to -the photographer, who got to work immediately photographing the pages. -Our time was short, and before we had the job done I had to restore the -book to Polignani. On Lincoln’s Birthday Carbone gave the book to our -man again, to study, and this gave us time to finish the photographic -copying. - -[Illustration: - - ISTRUMENTI - - Una bilancia usata L. 8.-- - Un termometro ” 2.50 - Misure ” 3.-- - Matracci di vetro ” 6.-- - Tre imbuti di vetro e tre bacchette di vetro ” 2.-- - Lampada a spirito ” 1.-- - Un mastello di legno di 30 o 35 litri ” 3.-- - Spese varie e impreviste ” 20.50 - --------- - TOTALE L. 46.-- - - Raccomandiamo a coloro che si vogliono mettere a questi lavori, - di procurarsi prima di tutto il denaro necessario; altrimenti - arrischiano di doversi fermare a mezza strada, di tirar le cose - in lungo ed esporsi inutilmente. - - Raccomandiamo agli stessi di non trascurare nessuna delle - precauzioni necessarie per non attirare l’attenzione della - polizia, di non mettersi in vista colla propaganda pubblica, di - non farsi vedere coi compagni conosciuti, e di non lavorare mai - nelle case soggette ad essere perquisite. - - Sopratutto raccomandiamo non mettersi a fabbricare esplosivi - per il gusto di fabbricarli. Tutto ciò che si può avere bello e - fatto, è inutile, è stupido il volerlo fare da sè, quando non - si ha la pratica ed i mezzi che hanno quelli del mestiere. Nei - posti in cui si può avere la dinamite--e oggi la si può avere - quasi dappertutto--perchè mettersi a fabbricarla? - - Bisogna poi che fra i diversi esplosivi, le diverse bombe, - ecc., ognuno scelga le cose che per lui sono più facili e più - pratiche ricordandosi sempre che: =E’ meglio una cosa piccola - fatta, che una grande restata in proposito.= - - --13-- - - stessa: si legano bene con fil di ferro intorno alla rotaia, - si mette capsula e miccia, si copre con terra e la mina è - pronta. Questa produce una rottura di mezzo metro. Per avere - rotture più estese non v’è che preparare parecchie di queste - mine, a debita distanza e munirle di miccie di eguali qualità e - lunghezza; e raccogliere insieme i capi delle miccie, in modo - che dando fuego alle miccie lo scoppio è contemporaneo in tutti - i punti. Spesso è vantaggioso per far saltare gli scambii, cioè - i punti dove s’incrociano diverse linee. Per mettere fuori - d’uso una locomotiva o una macchina a vapore qualsiasi, basta - far scoppiare 3 o 4 petardi in un tubo intemo della caldaia. - - - BOMBE - - Sono recipienti di metallo pieni di materia esplosiva, che - scoppiando si rompono in pezzi e feriscono i circostanti. - Possono avere qualunque forma, ma la sferica è più efficace. - Per farle scoppiare si può adoperare una capsula con miccia - che brucia rapidissimamente tanto da aver giusto il tempo - per accenderle e lanciarle. Si può anche applicarvi tutto - a l’intorno dei luminelli con capsule o altri apparati, in - modo che per l’urto della caduta il fulminato scoppi e faccia - scoppiare la carica della bomba, come in quelle all’Orsini. - - La bomba fa tanto più effetto quanto più il metallo è - resistente, sempre che la carica abbia la forza di farla - scoppiare. Quindi il miglior metallo è il ferro o l’acciaio, - poi il rame, l’ottone, il bronzo, quindi la ghisa ed infine - lo zinco solo o legato con stagno; il piombo non serve. LO - SPESSORE DELLE PA- - - --39-- - -Pages from the bomb-thrower’s textbook] - -I realized when I saw the translation how Carbone knew so much about -making bombs. - -“La Salute e’ in voi!” read the cover, or “Health is in you!” Evidently -a toast to the brotherhood for which it was prepared. It was a pamphlet -of some sixty pages, measuring about four by eight inches, and cleanly -printed in Italian. It was nothing less than a text-book on how to go -about making bombs--a sort of guide to anarchist etiquette. It would be -unwise to reproduce its instructions here in detail, as they were too -accurate for the general peace, but the index which follows will give -a conception of the thoroughness with which the anonymous writers in -far-off Italy covered their subject. - - “Index-- - First principles 1 - Instruments 7 - Manipulation 8 - Explosive material 11 - Powder 14 - Nitroglycerine 14 - Dynamite 20 - Fulminate of mercury 23 - Gun cotton 27 - Preparation of fuses 31 - Capsule and petard 34 - Application of explosive materials 35 - Bombs 39 - Incendiary materials 44” - -Yes, it was accurate--and very practical. To quote from its advice to -struggling anarchists: - - “We recommend most earnestly that if you wish to engage in - this line of work, you procure, before all else, a sufficient - amount of money, otherwise you risk being put out in the middle - of the street, only to find your long work and trouble all in - vain. We recommend at the same time that you do not omit any - precaution necessary to avoid attracting the attention of the - police, and avoid mixing with the public, nor be seen with - known companions. And do not work at it in the house except - when necessary.... - - “The work should be done in a well ventilated room provided - with a good chimney place and furnished in such a way that you - can hide things if anyone enters, and this room ought to be on - the top floor of the house on account of the odors that are - always being produced.... - - “Above all we recommend that you never make explosives for - the mere pleasure of making them. All you do beyond enough is - useless and stupid--especially so when you have neither the - practice nor the proper means for making them. As to the place - to keep the dynamite, why make it until it is needed? Take - heed that among the various kinds of explosives, bombs, etc., - always choose the one that will be most easily used and most - practical, remembering always that it is better to do a little - thing well than to leave a big thing half done....” - -The little booklet contained a list of the necessary tools with their -estimated costs, and said of the chemicals to be used, “The materials -to be employed should be sufficiently pure. They may be had of dealers -in chemical and pharmaceutical products, and it is well not to buy all -the stuff from the same merchant, in order that he may not know what -you wish to make....” It explained the relative forces of explosives -in this way: “The relative force which the various explosives have -is as follows: Shot-gun powder has a force of 1; an equal amount of -‘Panclastite’ has the force of 6; of dynamite 7; of dry gun-cotton 9 -(if with 50% of salts of nitre, 5); of nitroglycerine 9; of fulminate -of mercury 10 or 3½; of nitromannite 11.... All the other explosives of -which we speak, such as melenite, etc., have nitroglycerine for their -bases, therefore have no greater force than that of nitroglycerine.” - -After an exposition of the method of making nitroglycerine--the mere -reading of which would make your hair bristle--the compilers conclude -“... it is not very dangerous to use when cold, notwithstanding -all that has been said. It would be a great work if some American -manufacturer would devise some means of congealing it so that it would -be less sensitive to shock, so that it might safely be carried on the -railways.” Of fulminating cotton they remark, “As it ignites with -instantaneous rapidity it is best to use a fuse that burns the most -quickly; for example, when for use in bombs made to throw at a person, -it will be enough to twist the cord, etc., etc.” Minute directions are -given for the home-laboratory manufacture of the explosives listed, and -the experimenter who cared to attempt their manufacture was warned in -the simplest and most emphatic terms of the caprices of the different -materials. He was told how to make cord-fuses that would burn at the -rate of 8 hours to the yard, and of 6 hours to the yard; paper fuses -which would reach the explosive two hours after a spark had touched the -corner of a sheet of prepared paper; thread fuses which would sparkle -fifteen seconds to the metre, or three minutes to the metre; and, -finally, an instantaneous fuse which “Because it will burn with all the -speed of electricity ... may be made to serve many important purposes: -to fire a mine under a passing train, under gatherings, or troops of -cavalry.” - -If the bomber wished to blow up a wall, he was told how to compute -by simple mathematics the quantity of explosive required. A bridge -“will require twice the charge needed for a wall”--and the vulnerable -points of the bridge were indicated. Telephone and telegraph poles and -wires, street gratings, street railways, locomotives, steam-boilers, -all came in for their share of attention. “It is very easy to find -suitable receptacles for bombs,” the writer went on. “For example, -large inkwells, brass handles such as are used on letter-presses.... -For certain purposes a bottle may be made to serve as a bomb--they -are suitable for throwing from a window.... Fragile glass bottles -when filled with this solution (an incendiary mixture) make handy -incendiary bombs to hurl among troops, official gatherings, etc.; also -to pour from windows upon troops, or to throw from a drinking glass or -pail....” I have wondered whether Gavrio Prinzip of Sarajevo ever saw -this book, and whether it may not have been translated into Italian -from the original German. - -Mere possession of this wicked treatise would suggest that the owner -was up to no good, especially if the owner, as in this case, was known -to be a volatile member of an anarchistic circle who had already -declared his intentions of wrecking something. It was reasonable to -assume that there must be such a book of instruction in existence, that -the bombers had not been handling delicate explosives with no better -knowledge than word-of-mouth, hearsay chemistry, but I am free to -confess that my first sight of the pamphlet brought the plots of the -men we were watching very close to grim reality. I never knew just when -we would get an ambulance call and have to go and pick Polignani out of -the wreck of a premature explosion, and I never heard him report in on -the telephone that I didn’t experience a momentary apprehension of his -latest news. The detective himself was calm enough, and enthusiastic -over the fact that the trail was growing hotter all the time. The -question of evidence of the previous explosions was in the background -now, and the activities of the Brescia Circle as a political unit did -not concern us nearly as much as the activities of three of its members -with their “andimonio, collorate di potase” and their pamphlet, and -their hatred of the Catholic Church. - -Polignani had seen this hatred demonstrated many times by Carbone. -They passed two Sisters of Charity one chilly evening near the Harlem -station, and the anarchist spat, and cursed them. So the detective -was not surprised by Abarno’s proposal on the night of St. Valentine’s -Day that the three conspirators plant their bombs in St. Patrick’s -Cathedral. “We’ll go over there some day soon and look for a good place -to set them. And then we’ll plant the bomb on some good holiday--say on -March 21, eh?” - -“What’s that day?” Polignani inquired. - -“The Commune!” Abarno answered. - -Polignani bought the antimony and the chlorate of potash, and at a -subsequent meeting watched uneasily while Carbone tried to pulverize -the antimony with a hammer. It was too hard work, however, and “Baldo” -was directed to buy a small quantity of the pulverized substance. This -he did. The three had meanwhile been trying to pick out a good room in -an English-speaking lodging house in 29th Street, but finally gave it -up and hired a furnished room at 1341 Third Avenue. There they brought -their materials, consisting of twelve yards of copper wire, a trunk -full of odds and ends, tools, fuse cord, and various ingredients. To -this supply they wanted to add some hollow iron balls, but the hollow -iron ball market was sparse, and they finally substituted three tin -hand-soap cans. On February 27 Polignani and Abarno made a tour of -inspection of St. Patrick’s, and as they were descending the steps -Abarno remarked that when he had destroyed the Cathedral they would -turn their attention first to the Carnegie residence at 90th Street and -Fifth Avenue, and then to the Rockefeller home. “We won’t wait till -March 21,” he observed impatiently. “Let’s get this job done soon. Say -Tuesday morning.” - -[Illustration: A postcard received by Commissioner Woods after the -arrest of the Anarchists - -The message reads: - - “MR. WOODS - My Dear Sir - - Your police Espionage may go as far as you like for the - promotion of your Bankrupt Law & Order of Society. The - Anarchists of New York have but one Life to give for the Ideal - of Humanity and absolute Freedom of mankind the world over. - yours The Society for the Propagation of absolute Liberty and - Human Freedom....” -] - -High noon of the following day saw the three plotters cheerfully at -work in the furnished room. Abarno and Carbone measured carefully the -proportions of sulphur, sugar, chlorate of potash and antimony; Carbone -filled the tins with the mixture, and led the fuses into the heart of -the mass, glancing up from time to time to the detective with real -pride, as if to say: “See, Baldo? That’s how an expert works!” “Baldo” -had contributed his share of the materials--a few lengths of iron rod. -Carbone bound these to the outside of the cans with cord, and added a -few bolts which he found in a bureau drawer, and a coat-hanger, twisted -out of shape. Round and round this shapeless tangle of metal he wove -copper wire, and so produced two heavy, compact bombs. Polignani had -grown almost gray when, after boring the fuse holes in the can-tops, -Carbone casually picked up a hammer and began to tattoo the cans. -The detective promptly took refuge behind the bed, near the floor. - -“No use to hide there, Baldo!” This with a laugh from Carbone. “If -she goes off she’ll blow the whole house down. How’s that, Frank?” he -added, showing the finished product to Abarno. - -“I’ll throw that one and you can throw the other, Carbone,” Abarno -said. “Now listen. We will meet here Tuesday morning at six o’clock -to the minute. We will get to the Cathedral just at 6.20. Then we’ll -light the bombs, and the fuses will burn slow for twenty minutes, so -as we can get over to the Madison Avenue car and then we can all get -to work on time, and we will have a good alibi all right. Then we’ll -get together Tuesday night and go some place and have a good time to -celebrate throwing a scare into Fifth Avenue, boys! Tuesday morning, -six o’clock sharp?” - -Carbone and Polignani assented, and Abarno left. - -Polignani kept in close touch with me from that moment forward. Ever -since the day when Carbone had sent him to the drug store for black -antimony, with instructions to bribe the drug clerk if he could not -easily obtain it, we had had a double check on the conspirators, for I -had assigned two men to shadow them constantly. The case was building -towards a climax. Polignani had shrewdly kept the slip on which -Carbone wrote the prescription for the explosives, and when Carbone -asked where it was he said, “I tore it up. I didn’t want it to be -found on me. It would get me into trouble.” The anarchist praised the -detective for his forethought. The two men from the Bomb Squad never -let Abarno and Carbone out of their sight, so that for a month we had -not only the direct evidence of Polignani of what the conspirators -said and did in his presence, but evidence from the two shadows which -accounted for their time more fully, probably, than they could have -recalled themselves. And so when Polignani--who did not know he was -being observed--told me of the final plans, I passed the information on -to the two shadows, and we formulated a counter-campaign for Tuesday -morning. - -Shortly after sunrise on Tuesday, Polignani tumbled out of bed and into -his clothes. He ate a hasty and nervous breakfast at a cheap lunch-room -around the corner, and hurried to the sidewalk before 1341 Third -Avenue, arriving a few minutes after six. Abarno joined him at 6.30. - -“Where’s Carbone--isn’t he here?” he said by way of greeting. - -“No,” replied “Baldo.” - -“Well, we can’t wait for him. We can’t lose any time. I got to be at -work at 7.30. Come up and get the bombs with me. We’ll probably meet -him on the way down the street. Or maybe he’s at the shoe-shop.” - -The two men went upstairs and into the third-floor-back. “Give me the -key,” Abarno muttered. Polignani did so. Abarno opened the trunk and -took out the two bombs. “You take one and I’ll take the other,” he -whispered. “Come on. Put it under your coat.” - -When they started down Third Avenue the two shadows--who had also risen -early--disengaged themselves from the doorways where they were idling -and proceeded at an even pace down the Avenue behind the men. A few -hundred yards or so in the rear of the procession was a limousine, and -I was in the limousine. I could spot the men distinctly, and I had to -chuckle when I saw them catch sight of a uniformed officer a block or -so ahead and hastily cross the street. The same thing occurred twice -again in the course of the march. Our parade continued. No one but -ourselves paid any attention to the two laborers who were carrying -lumpy bundles under their coats. - -At Fifty-third Street my chauffeur turned west and slipped into high -speed. We were at the Cathedral in a minute more, and I jumped out and -hurried into the vestibule. No one there but three or four scrub-women, -puttering around in the half-light with their mops and pails. Several -hundred worshippers were already gathered in the front of the nave, -where Bishop Hayes was conducting early mass. As I passed into the body -of the church there was no one near except an elderly usher, with white -hair and beard. I stepped into a dark corner and waited. - -[Illustration: 1. Detective George D. Barnitz - -2. Detective Patrick Walsh - -3. Detective James Sterett - -4. Left to right: Patrick Walsh, Jerome Murphy and James Sterett] - -A matter of two or three minutes passed, though it seemed much longer. -Then I saw Abarno and Polignani enter the vestibule, cross it and enter -the church itself, taking their cigars out of their mouths as they -turned towards the north aisle. Abarno led the way. At the tenth pew -he motioned to Polignani to sit there, and Polignani obeyed, dropping -to his knees in prayer. Abarno continued to the sixth pew ahead. Two -of the scrub-women had deserted their mops, and were dusting the pews -along the north aisle near the newcomers. Abarno rested for a moment in -his pew, with his head and body bent as if in prayer, then rose and -rejoined Polignani. Again he rose, and this time moved toward the north -end of the altar, where he crouched for several seconds, placing his -bomb against a great pillar. With his other hand he flicked the ashes -from the coal of his cigar and touched the glowing end to the fuse. He -had taken perhaps three steps down the aisle again when the scrub-woman -stopped plying her dust-cloth. She fastened an iron grip on Abarno’s -arms and hustled him down the aisle so swiftly that no one remarked the -affair. The scrub-woman was Detective Walsh, disguised. The elderly -usher passed the two and hurried to the spot where Abarno had crouched -by the pillar. He saw the lighted fuse and pinched it out with his -fingers. The elderly usher, underneath his makeup, was Lieutenant -Barnitz. Polignani was promptly placed under arrest and led to the -vestibule with Abarno--for the evidence was not yet all in. - -Abarno immediately suspected Carbone of treachery. He protested -violently that the missing conspirator had instigated the whole affair, -that it was his idea, that he had made the bombs, and that he could -be found living with a Hungarian-Jewish family on the fourth floor of -a house at 216 East 67th Street. He was fluent in the accusations he -made against Carbone, and he grew more fluent as he recovered from the -fright of his arrest. So while we escorted the two bombs and the two -prisoners to headquarters, other members of the Bomb Squad visited -Carbone and placed him under arrest. - -From them at headquarters we verified the story as we already knew it. -Each man accused the other. Both men exonerated Polignani of any part -in suggesting the plot or in making the bombs for several days after -their arrest. But Polignani’s true identity could not be unknown to -them indefinitely, of course, and when they found out that they had -been confiding in a full-fledged detective--ah, then the storm broke! -Prompted, I suspect, by pseudo-legal advice, they cried “Frame-up!” -until they grew hoarse, but it was too late, for in the possession of -Assistant District Attorney Arthur Train was already a sworn statement -which fixed their guilt by their own confession. - -[Illustration: 1. The Dagger Threat to Polignani - -2. The Black Hand Threat - -3. Frank Abarno - -4. Carmine Carbone] - -The anarchists rushed to their rescue, but their efforts were chiefly -verbal. At the Brescia Circle, and at I. W. W. headquarters at 64 East -4th Street, it was common gossip that counsel for the defendants were -going to supply 45 or 50 witnesses to swear that Polignani had invited -them to make bombs. This I had enjoined him strictly not to do, -as a newcomer who talks bombs is a suspicious character in anarchist -circles. I know he obeyed. There was organized a “Carbone ed Abarno -Defence Committee” with headquarters at 2205 Third Avenue, which -solicited other neighboring Italian clubs with anarchistic tendencies -for support of the two. Polignani’s photograph appeared presently in a -New York Italian newspaper with this caption: - - “The filthy carrion who by order of the Police of New York - devised the bomb plot which led up to the arrest of Abarno and - Carbone, now before the Courts. All of us comrades will keep - this in mind.” - -He received several threatening anonymous letters, some bearing the -familiar “black hand,” others sketching on newspaper photographs of him -the point in his anatomy at which he might expect to feel the dagger of -revenge; others mere bombastic defiance. (The anonymous letter-writer -is very often a courageous soul who spells out his messages with -letters and words clipped from newspapers, so that his handwriting will -not betray him.) - -What was the reward of those five months invested in patience? The -two prisoners convicted and sentenced to terms of from six to twelve -years, was one result. But a far greater one was a sharp decrease in -bomb-throwing in New York, and perhaps the most gratifying was the -discord which grew in the Brescia Circle. The group was frightened, -and the members began to suspect each other of espionage. One former -anarchist was quoted as saying that he wouldn’t even trust himself--he -had been dreaming the night before that he was a spy. The Brescia -Circle became disorganized, and several other similar groups in the -city suffered the same fate. Their leaders drifted away--and got into -more trouble, as we shall see later. - -We never found the original of the treatise on bombs. Carbone said he -had destroyed it. But there are probably other copies from the same -press in the hands of accredited bomb-throwers. If not, they may apply -to the New York police department. - - - - -IV - -THE HINDU-BOCHE FAILURES - - -Bret Harte said that “the heathen Chinee” was peculiar. The British -have learned long since that the Hindu, being an Oriental, cannot -help being equally “peculiar,” and it is a great tribute to British -persistence that it has labored so hard and so successfully in the good -government of a people so temperamentally complex. They have studied -the Hindu, and have understood him as well as may be. Understanding him -they have watched him. When war broke out, this great Oriental empire -presented to Britain a grave problem, for as a Hindu editor in the -United States phrased it, “England is Germany’s enemy. England is our -enemy. Our enemy’s enemy is our friend.” - -It is not in my intention or power to discuss the methods which England -employed to maintain strict loyalty in the Indian peninsula, but to -outline here the part we played in uncovering a plot which threatened -seriously to complicate her efforts around on the other side of the -earth. - -Scotland Yard told us in February, 1917, that Hindus were conspiring in -bomb plots with certain Germans in the United States. If it was true, -it was against the laws of our country. They supplied us with a few -names, but tactfully suggested that inasmuch as it was our country and -our laws which the plotters were attempting to disturb, we would prefer -to develop the case ourselves. Various authorities in this country had -already had strong suspicions of the British claims, but as yet those -suspicions had not grown to proof of any specific act. So we went to -work. - -Among other names which were furnished us was that of one Chakravarty, -whose address was 364 West 120th Street, New York. For more than a -fortnight men of the Bomb Squad under Mr. (now Lieut.-Col.) Nicholas -Biddle, as special aid to the commissioner, watched that house. They -hired a room opposite, where through a slit in the window shade they -could keep the doorway under observation. At the hours when working New -York leaves its home to make money, and comes home at night having made -it, the door was rarely used, but sometimes at mid-forenoon, sometimes -in the small hours of the morning, the men on watch saw several -dark-skinned individuals pass in and out of the house. The building -itself gave no sign of suspicious activity. We were on the brink of -war, and as was the case in most of the other houses in the block, an -American flag hung draped in the front window. What went on behind the -camouflage screen we did not know. Now and then our men, hiding in the -shadow of the areaway, would go quietly up into the dark doorway and -listen, but the house never gave out a sound. There was certainly no -indication that these Hindus were conspiring with the Imperial German -Government in dynamite plots. - -We knew certain East Indians who could be depended upon, and told them -to call upon Chakravarty. This ruse failed because Chakravarty never -presented to the callers anything but a guileless reception. So far -as they could learn his occupation was that of manufacturer of pills; -he and a certain Ernest Sekunna constituted the Omin Company, which -company packed in aluminum boxes and sold to a limited clientele pills -which like most patent remedies were recommended for any ailment from -indigestion up or down--if the pill sold, then it was a success. This -news did not quiet our impatience, and we decided on a raid. - -On the night of March 7, 1917, Detectives Barnitz, Coy, Randolph, -Murphy, Jenkins, Walsh, Sterett and Fenelly called at the house, -Sterett, pretending to be a messenger, and carrying a dummy package, -presenting himself at the front door, and the rest of the party -covering other avenues of escape. The portal was opened by a little -Hindu who looked up innocently to Sterett and said that Dr. Chakravarty -was not in--he had gone to Boston. The detectives announced their -intention of searching the house. The little man protested, and was -given certain short reasons why the search was in order. Surprise, -injured innocence, and irritation crossed his olive-drab face, and -he announced that he was a patriotic American and that he had never -done anything to break the laws of the United States. If we wanted -Dr. Chakravarty, he said, we should go and get him, and not disturb a -peaceful household in this way, and he added that Chakravarty had left -for New England months before, leaving no address. In this the little -Hindu was borne out by the answers which the other occupant of the -house gave to our questions--this was Sekunna, a German of thirty-five -or so. We searched the house, and took the two prisoners and -considerable material to headquarters. - -[Illustration: A Handbill, printed in Hindu, used by the Hindu-Boche -Conspirators] - -The search disclosed a supply of literature of the Omin Company -describing the properties of its pills, a photograph of Sekunna and -Chakravarty as the turbaned benefactors of an unhealthy world, and a -number of express money-order receipts, deeds and a bank book which -showed the missing Chakravarty to be one who had acquired a good deal -of money during the past two years. The photograph on closer inspection -revealed that the little prisoner was Dr. Chakravarty himself. Sekunna -verified this, and Chakravarty, confronted by it, admitted it. - -We asked the prisoner how he had suddenly come by the $60,000 which -his books showed. He said that it was his inheritance from the estate -of his grandfather in India, and that no less a personage than -Rabindranath Tagore, the Indian poet, had paid him, in December, 1916, -$25,000 of the $45,000 due from the estate. About $35,000 had been -given him, he added, by a lawyer named Chatterji, from Pegu, Burma, in -March, 1916. - -So far as he gave us his history, it related that he had graduated from -the University of Calcutta, and had lived for a time in London, and -later in Paris, before coming to the United States. He had heard that -there was a warrant out for his arrest in India for sedition, probably -due, he suggested, to his having written several articles on the -subject of British Rule. - -“Have you been to Germany recently?” I asked. - -“Of course not,” he answered. “How could I get there, with the British -watching for me? They would arrest me if I tried to go. Why do you ask -that?” - -“Because I wanted to know,” I answered. I had good reason to believe -that he had been there because among his effects we found several -exhibits which pointed toward such a trip. A letter from a woman in -Florida dated December 13, 1915, said: - -“I would never for one moment try to deter you from the effort or -achievement of your lofty ideals and noble aims, for in this as in many -other things my spirit accords with yours. Brother dear, _do_ nothing, -_say_ nothing, _trust_ nobody, without extreme caution. God speed you. -God hasten your return to those who are interested in you, and in all -in which you are interested. Bless you, precious brother.” - -This indicated a journey, clearly. A cablegram dated Bergen, Norway, -Dec. 23, 1915, addressed to Sekunna, read, “Safe arrival here,” and -took him as far as the Continent, at least. Three postcards supplied -the rest of the information; they were addressed by Sekunna to -himself at a Berlin address, and bore the instructions, “Return to -Sender, E. A. Sekunna, Omin Company, 417 E. 142nd Street, New York -City”; postmarked Berlin in December and January, they suggested -that Chakravarty had used them as part of a pre-arranged system of -communication with America in which he did not wish his own name used. - -I found among the papers a photographic print of Chakravarty wearing -a fez, which I knew was not an orthodox head-dress for a Bengalese. -Furthermore, it struck me that the print was of the size and finish -usually used on passports for identification of the bearer. I showed it -to him, with the remark: - -“Why do you tell me you haven’t been in Berlin, when you used this -photograph so you could get a passport as a Persian?” - -He bit. “I see you got me,” he replied. “I lied to you. I want to tell -you a different story--the real one. I did go to Germany.” - -“Why?” - -“To see Wesendonck. He is a secretary for India of the German foreign -office. He wanted to make plans for propaganda for the liberation of -India from British rule.” - -Chakravarty sat there and unfolded an amazing story. He touched -gingerly upon his own part in it at first, then evidently sensed the -fact that there were others in the plot guilty of perhaps no less -reprehensible but more violent crimes, and the little doctor’s capture -and confession not only gave clues to the authorities which enabled -them to follow up the outstanding German-Hindu plots in America, but -developed prosecutions of the first magnitude and the keenest general -interest. - -[Illustration: 1. Franz Schulenberg - -2. Ram Chandra - -3. Ram Singh (on the left) - -4. Dr. Chandra Chakravarty and Dr. Ernest Sekunna - -5. Dr. Chandra Chakravarty in his Persian Dress] - -The enterprises must be recounted out of their actual sequence. -The first he claimed to have had little part in--the project of an -uprising in India which its sponsors hoped would repeat the Mutiny of -1857--but with a more successful outcome. Captain Hans Tauscher, the -New York agent of the Krupp steel and munitions works, was in Berlin -when war broke out. He reported for active duty to Captain von Papen, -in New York, as soon as he could cross the Atlantic, and one of his -earliest services was the purchase of a large quantity of rifles, field -guns, swords and cartridges, which he stored in 200 West Houston -Street, New York. On January 9, 1915, he shipped a trainload of arms -and ammunition to San Diego, California. There it was loaded into a -little vessel, the _Annie Larsen_, which had been chartered by German -interests, and the _Annie Larsen_ put to sea, ostensibly for Mexico, -where revolutionary arms were in demand. Her real destination was a -rendezvous off Socorro Island with the _Maverick_, a tank-ship which -had been bought in San Francisco with German money. The _Maverick_ -was to trans-ship the arms, flood them with oil in her cargo tanks in -case she might be searched, and proceed by way of Batavia and Bangkok -to Karachi, a seaport in India which is the gateway to the Punjab. -There she would be met by friendly fishing vessels who would land her -cargo, and if all went well, there would be a massacre of the garrison -of Karachi, and hell would break loose over India. The effect of such -an uprising upon Great Britain’s sorely tried military condition of -early 1915 would have been incalculable. The native troops in France -who were helping to stop the breach until England’s great armies could -be trained would have to be recalled, the semi-loyal tribes would have -seen their opportunity, Germany would hardly have hesitated to throw a -Turkish force at the northern passes, and altogether it would not have -been pleasant for the integrity of the British Empire. - -The _Maverick_ and the _Annie Larsen_ missed connections at Socorro. -The _Annie Larsen_ wandered about the Pacific for some weeks and -eventually put into Hoquiam, Washington, where the United States -seized the arms. The _Maverick_ blundered from Socorro to San Diego, -to Hilo, Hawaii, to Anjer, Java, by way of Johnson Island, then to -Batavia, Java, where she was received with disappointment by a German -agent and where she was finally sold. The filibuster ended in flat -and costly failure: the arms cost not less than $100,000 and probably -$150,000, the freight to the Pacific Coast some $12,000, the charter -of the _Annie Larsen_ $19,000, the purchase of the _Maverick_ involved -hundreds of thousands, not to mention the individual fees of the -numerous agents employed. - -We knew in a general way of this plot, though it remained for the -tireless efforts of United States District Attorney John W. Preston in -San Francisco to unearth the details. In a raid which had been made on -the office of Wolf von Igel, von Papen’s secretary, at 60 Wall Street, -New York, agents of the Department of Justice had found von Igel’s -memoranda of correspondence in arranging the expedition through the -San Francisco consulate. But Chakravarty said that the revolutionary -end of the project had been handled by another Hindu, Ram Chandra, and -denied that he was guilty of any part in it. Ram Chandra had negotiated -with the German consuls in Seattle and San Francisco, and through -them with Tauscher and von Papen. Chakravarty supplied the names of -Hindus who had sailed on the _Annie Larsen_, said that there had been -Filipinos and Germans aboard as well, and added that the Filipinos had -been transferred to a German ship, and had later escaped from her in a -motorboat while she was being pursued by a Japanese cruiser. But, he -said, he had nothing to do with it--it was Ram Chandra who was the real -agent. - -It was this Ram Chandra who was editor of the Hindu revolutionary -newspaper _Ghadr_ (Mutiny) published at Berkeley, California. He -succeeded to the editor’s chair in 1914 when his predecessor, Har -Dayal, out on bail after an arrest for ultra-free speech, had fled -across the continent and the Atlantic Ocean to Berlin. There Dayal -established the Hindustani Revolutionary Committee, collaborating with, -taking orders from, and financed by the German Government, under the -direction of Herr Wesendonck of the Foreign Office. Ten million marks -had been placed to their credit, and German consulates throughout the -neutral world had instructions through their parent-embassies to render -all possible assistance to the revolutionary project, and to spend -whatever money might be necessary, charging it to the account of the -Indian Nationalist Party. Three hundred thousand dollars was invested -in China and Java. Hindus were sent through Persia and Afghanistan into -India with German credit to foster unrest, and Afghanistan itself was -full of spies trying to break the Amir’s promise, given to the British -Government at the outbreak of war, that he would maintain strict -neutrality. It was this same Har Dayal who conferred with Chakravarty -when the latter made his visit to Berlin in December, 1915. The reason -for this visit to Berlin came out very soon, and that will lead us in -turn to the second of the German-Hindu plots hatched in America. - -[Illustration: The _Annie Larsen’s_ Cash Account - -Gupta’s Code Message] - -Chakravarty got bail from a surety company without much trouble. Two -or three days after his arrest he called me up on the telephone and -said that a man named Gupta had threatened him. “He says I must give -him $2,000. And there is another man named Wagel. He is a Hindu. -He wants $10,000 from me, otherwise he will do me harm. He already -has had $7,000 from the German Government in Mexico. He has demanded -$20,000,000 of Count von Bernstorff to finish up the revolution in -India.” - -“Wait a minute, now,” I suggested. The figures were going to my head. -“Where is Wagel?” - -“I do not know,” Chakravarty answered. - -“Well, where is Gupta?” - -“He is a student at Columbia,” replied the little man. - -“All right, doctor,” I said, “we’ll not let any harm come to you.” - -Detectives Coy and Walsh at once got on the trail of Gupta. They found -him in his dormitory room at 73 Livingston Hall, Columbia, and brought -him to headquarters. “I saw of Chakravarty’s arrest in the paper,” he -said, “and I thought I might be arrested if he implicated me.” Gupta -knew full well he would be arrested, for there was jealousy between the -two, and he went on to reveal why. - -Heramba Lal Gupta was then thirty-two years old. Since his boyhood -in Calcutta he had been all over the world, and had studied in the -United States. In the spring of 1915 he had several conferences with -Captain von Papen in the city in which the military attaché conceived -such confidence in the young Hindu that he gave him $15,000 for -expense money and sent him to Chicago to confer with Gustav Jacobsen, -an ex-German consul. With him went Jodh Singh, another Hindu who had -migrated from Brazil to Berlin and thence to Captain von Papen, and an -art collector named Albert H. Wehde. They were joined by George Paul -Boehm and a German named Sterneck, and two plans were arranged. Gupta, -Singh and Wehde were to proceed to Japan to establish connections and -obtain assistance for fomenting Indian revolt. Boehm and Sterneck -were to go to the Philippines, pick up a third plotter, Chakravarty’s -lawyer-friend Chatterji, proceed thence to Java to meet two escaped -officers of the destroyed German cruiser _Emden_, and thence to the -Himalayan hills north of India, where Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the Arctic -romancer, was on an expedition. There they were to overpower the Cook -party, Boehm was to assume the explorer’s identity and travel about the -hills spreading sedition among the native tribes. This wild plan failed -completely, as the Germans never kept their appointment in Java. (Gupta -believed in preparedness to the extent of taking Boehm to several -shooting galleries in Chicago and practising pistol firing with him.) - -Gupta, Singh and Wehde set sail from San Francisco in the _Mongolia_ -and landed in Yokohama, September 16, 1915. Gupta immediately got -in touch with various prominent Hindus. Although their conferences -were enthusiastic and the prospect of obtaining Japanese arms for the -revolution was good, his work was hampered by the discovery on the part -of British agents that Gupta was in Japan. He was notified within a -week of his arrival that he must leave by the next steamer: the next -steamer was bound for Shanghai, a British port; the order was equal to -delivery into the hands of the British, and death. A Japanese friend -came to his rescue. He took him to his house, followed by the police. -By a subterfuge the police were distracted long enough to allow the -Hindu to slip out the back door, jump into an automobile, and flee -to the interior of the country. There he was hidden for six months, -between the flimsy walls of his friend’s house. It was May of 1916 -before he could escape, smuggled out in an eastbound vessel, and it was -June before he returned to New York. There he found that the following -order had been issued from Berlin: - - “Berlin, February 4, 1916. To the German Embassy, Washington. - - “In future all Indian affairs are to be exclusively handled by - the committee to be formed by Dr. Chakravarty. Dhirendra Sarkar - and Herambra Lal Gupta, the latter of whom has meanwhile been - expelled from Japan, thus cease to be representatives of the - Indian Independence Committee existing here. - - “(Signed) ZIMMERMANN.” - -Gupta, in short, found himself displaced. His expedition had been a -failure. Chakravarty had had his job for nearly six months. He tried -to negotiate with Chakravarty for a restoration of some of his lost -prestige, but the little man would not have much to do with him. In -January, 1917, the French secret service intercepted at the Swiss -border a letter postmarked New York, November 16, 1916, and addressed -as follows: - - “Mr. Albourge - “Hotel Des Alpas - “Territel - “Montreau, Switzerland.” - -The letter was in cipher, and was seized and returned to French -agents in the United States, and by them turned over to the American -authorities for investigation, at about the time when diplomatic -relations were broken off with Germany. Search here disclosed little. -The letter was typewritten, and the only clue to its message was a hint -suggested by a sub-address on the back of the envelope: - - “Mr. Chatterjee” - -who was apparently a Hindu. (This, by the way, was the same Chatterji -who persists in cropping up in the wings of this story from time to -time). Now there is no “Hotel Des Alpas” in Montreux; the name of the -inn referred to is the “Hotel des Alpes.” Again, the name “Territel” -was apparently a misspelling of “Territet,” and “Montreau” probably -meant “Montreux.” When we captured Gupta we found in a memorandum book -not only the address cited above, but the _same misspellings_--pretty -conclusive proof that he was the author of the letter. This address was -later found with the same misspellings, in the mailing list of _Ghadr_, -the revolutionary paper published in California. Thus little errors -combined to forge important links. - -The code of the Gupta letter was a popular and scholarly volume by an -American author: Price Collier’s “Germany and the Germans,” published -in New York in 1913. The letter was so written that the words which -contained the meat of each sentence were carefully enciphered. The -letter said, for example: - - “... I do - not believe there - are very many men - including - 98-5-2 - 98-1-1 - 98-1-9 - 98-4-1 - 98-5-8 - 98-3-3 - ------ - ”Who can show much - better results a- - long the line of - 97-1-3 - 97-1-11 - 97-6-5 - 97-8-4 - -------- - 132-1-1 - -------- - “Undertook” - -Turning to page 98 of “Germany and the Germans,” we see that the second -letter of the fifth line is _b_; the first letter of the first line is -_h_; the ninth letter of the first line is _u_; the first letter of -the fourth line is _p_; the eighth in the fifth line is _e_; and the -third in the third line _n_. Sum total: B-h-u-p-e-n--a Hindu name. On -page 97, the first few lines read: - - “am willing to concede that perhaps even an emperor - has been baptized with the blood of the martyrs, - and feels himself to be in all sincerity the instrument - of God; if we are to understand this one, we must - admit so much. - - “In certain ...” etc. - -Thus 97-1-3 is _w_, 97-1-11 is _o_, 97-6-5 is _r_, 97-8-4 is _K_; total -w-o-r-k. 132-1-1 is _I_. Our translation reads therefore: - - “_I do not believe that there are very many men including - Bhupen, who can show much better results along the line of work - I undertook._” - -Four columns to the typewritten page it ran on over seven sheets of -foolscap, and wound up with a plea in plain English which showed that -Gupta was angry: - - “Seems no action taken yet. If want work, change methods - completely. I insist the man in charge is not only useless but - spoiling the work; important workers wasting time for want of - coöperation and funds while that man is squandering money. Do - not care what you decide, I inform you as it is my duty but you - don’t seem to pay any attention. This is my last warning for - the cause. Again I appeal to you to think more seriously and - not spoil the work by leaving it in the hands of irresponsible - and insane person. I again tell you that no one is willing to - work with him because he does not understand anything, secondly - he spends money in a ridiculous way, thirdly he does not do any - work. Think seriously and reply.” - -In order to show why Gupta was upset and also in passing to show how -innocently he had coded his letter, we shall quote it in full, with -those words in italics which had to be decoded months later: - - “Dear _Chatto_: Am back from _Japan_. Had lots _trouble_. - _Thakur_, real _name Rash Behari Ghose_, splendid worker in - _India_ still in _Japan_. Sent report twice, besides messages - through _German_ sources. Went to _Japan_ as planned. Am - surprised to hear from _Tarak_ you said I had no _right_ to go - to Japan. See my reports submitted to the committee. Before - leaving _Berlin Shanghai_ authorities also wanted me for - important work. This I was told at _German Embassy_ so cannot - understand why you failed to know anything about me. Have sent - two reports since my return. Hope you got them. _Tarak_ said - you were not satisfied with _my work_ and _Bhupen Dutt_ said - that such incapable men as _I_ should not have been sent to - America. _Bhupen_ before leaving _America_ said to _Chakravarty - ‘Gupta_ nothing but _adventurer_; should not have been sent,’ - and as usual everybody knew and it naturally prejudiced men - _I_ had to work with. What right had _Bhupen_ to make such - remarks? I don’t claim to be a very capable man. You remember - I did not want to _come here_. But how _Bhupen_ measured my - abilities? If no report was received how could anybody pass an - opinion on unknown things? You may _criticize my_ reticence. - I do not believe there are very many men including _Bhupen_ - who can show much better results along the line of _work I_ - undertook. Results of such work cannot be shown in _black and - white_ but I challenge anybody who dares ignore the _solid - work_ done through _our agencies_. Time alone can prove it. - You cannot compare the _work_ lately undertaken with the - _program_ we started with. If we _failed to start a revolution - in Bengal_ as asked by you it has been for the best. If we - _failed land arms_ it was due more to _Germans_ than anybody - else. Our _men worked, suffered_. Still _suffering_. The whole - plan under the direct supervision of _Germans_ of more capable - _brains failed_ too. We have succeeded in laying foundation - for _future work_. Our _work_ in _Japan_ has been unique. Even - _Lajpat Rai_ who slights our _work_, quite often admits in - three months more _solid work_ done there than any other part - of the world outside _India_ in number of years. I understand - _Chakravarty_ has charge of affairs. Met him. _Tarak Harish_ - says he was given instruction to form a _committee_ of five - including _myself_. He did not agree. Said all depended on his - discretion. Fact is he has grudge against me and the fault lies - with _you_. Report went to _Berlin_ concerning his _relations_ - with _Mrs. Warren_. You told him I did it. I did not. Even if - I did you had no business to mention my name. I like also to - know how did the _committee_ satisfy itself as to the charge - being false. From _Chakravarty’s letters_ only? He wanted me - to _apologize_. I did not: will not. First I did not _report_; - secondly suppose I did, in the interest of the _cause_. I was - of opinion he had _connection with Mrs. Warren_. She came to - know many things about _work_ through _him_. Am still of same - opinion. I do not care how many _women man enjoys_ but he has - no right to talk about serious _work to women_. I do not know - what _work he_ doing. Does not give me any information. The - _house_ he took with _princely furniture_ shows at once _German - connection_. Some of his _pamphlets_ nothing but _German - propaganda_. It may be your _policy_. We have _centres in - Japan, Burmah, Manila_; regular _communication_ with _India_ - through _Japanese_ sources. _Working_ but badly _in need of - funds_. Started _work_ with impression _balance of funds - credited_ to my _account_ would be forthcoming but no sign of - it. For better _work_ need send at least one more _man_ to - _Japan_. _Tarak_ going _China, Chakravarty_ told him his - men would _watch Tarak_ for a month. If behaves well will be - helped, given facilities. What _grand diplomacy! Chakravarty_ - told me _committee_ not sure of _Tarak_ so sent him away. - _Tarak_ said large _funds_ have been sanctioned. He can draw - without receipt. Will you blame me (if this be true) if I fail - to understand the policy? _Ram Chandra working_ in his own - way. I did not interfere for _fear_ of creating divisions. - Only helped getting _funds_. Have now influence over him but - as _Chakravarty gone San Francisco_ I consider my duty keep - quiet until hear from you. Have _worked_ to best abilities and - shall work but cannot do so at the instance of people who I am - sure do not know the exact nature of work _done last year_ and - _half_. Am surprised at _mean jealousies_, even sacrificing - _work_. Am shocked at your _faith shaken in me_ and _my work_. - Hope to hear soon all regarding _work_. Remember me to all. - Did not mail the first letter as waiting for information from - _Berlin_.” - -[Illustration: How the Hindus used Price Collier’s “Germany and the -Germans” as a cryptogram] - -Followed the postscript in English already cited. - -The reader will probably be interested, even at the cost of -interrupting the narrative, in the way in which this cipher code was -discovered and the letter translated. By a partial decipherment by -common methods of deduction, it was found to be almost sure that on a -certain page of the code book--the name of which was of course not -then known--the phrase “foreign legation” would appear. The cipher -experts deduced, too, that the phrase “rush to a newspaper” must appear -in a certain line of another page of the volume, and working further -they assembled some twenty-five fragmentary words and phrases of whose -position in the missing volume they were certain. The problem was to -find the volume. The nature of the words and phrases suggested that -the work was a recent one, probably dealing with history--and perhaps -with the nature of a people. These limitations reduced the field of -possibility to a minimum of 100,000 volumes, and the cipher experts set -agents at work searching for such books. The caption of the letter, -“Hossain’s Code,” threw them off the scent and they spent some time in -scouring Allied Europe and America for such a code. There was none, -for “Houssain” was merely a Hindu agent in Trinidad. Then, one of the -agents hunting for the needle in the haystack found it--Mr. Collier’s -book. - -Gupta, it is evident, was a prejudiced judge of Chakravarty’s ability. -Even when Gupta was arrested Chakravarty wiped out past scores, and -went bail for the man who had blackmailed and traduced him. But Gupta -was definitely in trouble this time. The evidence supplied of his trip -to Japan, its purpose, and his collusion with Germans brought him to -trial in Chicago with Jacobsen, Wehde, and Boehm. (Mr. Chatterji was a -witness for the prosecution.) The three Germans, after a trial in which -the State’s case had been admirably handled by U. S. District Attorney -Clyne, were convicted and sentenced to serve five years in prison and -pay fines of $13,000. Gupta was sentenced to two years, fined $200, and -released on bail, pending an appeal. He jumped his bail and escaped to -Mexico in May, 1918, while a number of his countrymen were being tried -in San Francisco. - -His escape was probably due to fear. The Hindus are a vengeful lot, and -it is no more than possible that the “grapevine cable” had informed him -that friends of the men on trial in San Francisco were planning to get -even with him for having supplied part of the evidence used against -them. Some of that evidence we found in his room at Columbia, and more -in his safety deposit box in a Columbus Avenue bank. Among other items -was the list of addresses in Switzerland already mentioned, and this -was amplified by a letter which we found in Chakravarty’s house, from -Sekunna to the little doctor, which read: - - “My dear boy, - - “Enclosed please find addresses from Wesendonck. Send your - reports to: Mr. Director Karl Hirsch, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland.” - -Chakravarty, in turn, furnished us with two more codes which were used -in writing to these addresses: One which cited pages and word-numbers -in a certain German-English dictionary, and a second, based on an -entirely different principle. The second and third were often used in -the same letter, as this fragment from one of Chakravarty’s reports -will show. The letter reads, in part: - - “50337069403847695228, 265-3, 331-6, 497-2, 337-10-3, 335-14, - 77-11.” - -The first series of figures is written in the third code mentioned, and -must be deciphered by using the following square: - - _1 2 3 4 5 6 7_ - _1_ A B C D E F G - _2_ H I J K L M N - _3_ O P Q R S T U - _4_ V W X Y Z - -Each letter is indicated first by the digit marking the horizontal -row in which the letter falls, second by the number of the vertical -column. Thus “A” is 1-1, or 11: “K” 2-4, or 24, and so on. But if the -Hindu wished to transfer a message in cipher, he would not stop with -this simple designation of the letters, for they would recur too often -and fall too readily under the “laws of repetition” by which most -ciphers can be untangled. So after he had his word translated by this -square chart, he added four key numbers to it, those key numbers being -fixed and permanent, and being added in rotation. In order that we may -find out what this word is, we must therefore subtract the key number -thus: - - _Message_ 50337069403847695228 (or divided into letters) - - 50 33 70 69 40 38 47 69 52 28 - _Key numbers_ 25 11 26 32 25 11 26 32 25 11 - - _Result_ 25 22 44 37 15 27 21 37 26 17 - -Consulting our chart again, we see that 25 is “L,” 22 is “I” 44 is “Y,” -and that the message deciphers thus: - - _L I Y U E N H U N G_ - -The line we quoted above read: - -“_Li Yuen Hung is now the president of China_” After transmitting the -proper-name in the second cipher (as the name of course would not have -appeared in the dictionary code), Chakravarty had lapsed back into the -first code, as being swifter. - -Gupta, we observed, was harshly critical of Chakravarty. Let us see -whether he was justified. Chakravarty said he had been commissioned to -deal only with the broader propaganda. From captured reports which he -transmitted through the German embassy as well as through the mails -to Switzerland, he had been delegated to form a committee of five, -with Ram Chandra as one of the other members, to handle Indian affairs -here. They were to send an agent to the West Indies to stir up the -Hindu coolies there, of whom there were estimated to be 100,000, and -to send back to India all who would volunteer for revolution. The same -policy was to be followed in British Guiana, Java, and Sumatra. From -Ram Chandra’s _Ghadr_ press were to be issued reams of propaganda in -the various Indian dialects for circulation throughout the East and -West Indies, in Hindustan itself, and even for German aviators to drop -upon Hindu troops in France. Chakravarty was to procure letters of -introduction to parties in Japan which would assure a safe welcome to -an emissary to be sent there to carry out what Gupta had failed to do, -and an envoy was to be sent to China for a similar purpose. It was a -broad program, and the doctor set to work immediately upon his return -to organize his staff. - -In all his work he had the coöperation of von Bernstorff and the -embassy at Washington. Chakravarty organized a Pan-Asiatic League as -a blind, so that Hindus posing as its members could travel without -exciting suspicion. His work was somewhat handicapped in the early -spring by an automobile accident which took him to the hospital, and by -the seizure of the military attaché’s papers in von Igel’s office. He -hired a Chinaman named Chin as the delegate to China, and shipped him -off on a Greek vessel from New York. Referred by Berlin to Houssain, -the spy in Trinidad, Chakravarty established contact with him, and -supervised the formation of an organization there. In July Chakravarty -started for a tour of the West, in the course of which he visited two -disloyal Hindus in Vancouver and determined upon a plan of action for -that section. Then he swung down to San Francisco, where he called -upon Ram Chandra, the western head of the committee. He conferred with -friendly agents of Japanese newspapers who proposed to attack the -Anglo-Japanese treaty. He conferred with W. T. Wang, private secretary -to the new president of China, as the secretary was leaving for Peking, -and learned that “some of the prominent people are quite willing to -help India directly and Germany indirectly--on three conditions, those -conditions being a secret treaty with Germany for military protection, -to last five years after peace had been declared, and to be secured by -giving China one-tenth of all the arms and ammunition which she would -undertake to smuggle across the Indian frontier.” By the late autumn of -1916 Chakravarty was acting as the master-wheel in a most elaborate and -complicated machine for disturbing British rule in almost all of her -colonial holdings, and it is safe to say that if the _Maverick_ affair -had not roused shipping inspectors to unusual vigilance to prevent -filibustering, the United States might have seen the bloody result of -his work by March of 1917, when we arrested him. Even as it was, he was -the general manager of a going concern. - -It may be wondered how he was able to perfect an organization. The -answer to that we found in Gupta’s safety deposit box--a list of two -hundred or more members of an Indian society in the United States, a -large proportion of whom were students in American colleges, sent -here for education on scholarships, in the hope that they would return -to their native country and uplift it. Some of them were influential -agents, and they were scattered conveniently about the country. Add to -this force the coöperation of almost innumerable German agents and pay -it with a share of the $32,000,000 which Chakravarty said had been set -aside in Berlin for anarchistic, race-riot and Hindu propaganda in the -western world, and you have a real factor for trouble. It is perhaps -surprising that the organization worked undiscovered as long as it -did, but it is more surprising that having worked under cover for more -than fourteen months it did not break out into a grave demonstration. -Chakravarty’s arrest, however, came in time, and the authorities were -on the whole satisfied that so much time had elapsed because it gave -them more clues to work on and a larger group to round up. - -And Chakravarty himself was pleased, I think. When he confessed his -trip to Berlin, he was on the horns of a dilemma, for he feared the -British would revenge themselves on him. I assured him that he would be -protected as an American prisoner. He said, “Well, if I tell you about -what I have done for the Germans, and they hear about it, they will -kill me. And in any case my own people will kill me. You don’t know -them!” I again quieted him and suggested that he tell me now where he -got the money which he said had come to him from his estate in India. - -“Von Igel gave it to me,” he answered. “I could not go to his office -downtown, so I sent Sekunna. In all I got $60,000. I spoke of the -poet, Tagore, because he won the Nobel prize, and I thought he would -be above suspicion.” He had bought the house at 364 West 120th Street -and equipped it comfortably as a residence. He bought a house in -77th Street to open a Hindu restaurant. He bought a farm at Hopewell -Junction to use as a rendezvous for the plotters. And when he had given -us valuable information, and had appeared at the trial, and had been -himself convicted and had served his sentence (a short term) in jail, -and the smoke had cleared away, he was the owner of three nice parcels -of real estate and a comfortable income. Dr. Chakravarty, although -a failure as a Prussian agent, fared pretty well as an investor of -Prussian funds. - -After a series of digressions which I hope have not led us too far -from the path, we may return to the third of the Hindu-German projects -in which we of the Bomb Squad were especially interested. Ever since -Captain von Papen’s check-book had been captured by the British at -Falmouth in January, 1916, students of the German plots in the United -States had wondered why two of the stubs bore the entries: - - “Feb. 2, 1915, German Consulate, Seattle - (Angelegenheit) $1,300. - - “May 11, 1915, German Consulate, - Seattle - (for Schulenberg) 500.” - -In December, 1917, Barnitz, Randolph and I had gone to San Francisco -to testify in the _Annie Larsen-Maverick_ case. It so happened that a -German who was unable to give a satisfactory account of himself had -just been picked up at San Jose. His name was Franz Schulenberg, and -at the invitation of the San Francisco authorities we assisted in the -examination of the prisoner. He testified that in the early months -of 1915 he had met Lieutenant von Brincken, of the San Francisco -Consulate, who had sent him to the consul at Seattle. There von Papen -in person paid him $4,000 to buy fifty guns, fifty Maxim silencers, a -ton of dynamite, and deliver it to one Singh, at the border between -Sumas, Washington, and Canada. There Singh was to deliver it to a -small army of coolies, who would start a reign of terror in the -Canadian northwest, dynamiting bridges, railways and shipping, and -shooting guards. Schulenberg had actually bought some of the munitions -when he received a letter from von Brincken telling him to break off -relations with the Hindus. After some time he tried to get more money -from von Brincken, but Franz Bopp, the consul, spurned him, and von -Brincken sent him to New York, to get it from von Papen. Von Papen -refused to pay him further. While Schulenberg was in Hoboken, three men -from Paul Koenig’s staff approached him and posing as United States -agents offered him $5,000 for any information which would incriminate -Count von Bernstorff. Von Papen had had Koenig send them--although -Schulenberg did not know this--to test him. One of the three was George -Fuchs. The air was getting thick around von Papen’s head at the moment, -and he could not afford to have a disgruntled and unpaid henchman -gabbling about the saloons in Hoboken. But Schulenberg believed that -the three were really American secret service men, and refused to -divulge what he knew. The next morning a German whom he had not seen -before appeared at his lodging house and gave him a railroad ticket -to Mexico. “They’re after you--the secret service,” he said. “Here’s -a ticket. Use it.” Schulenberg was half sick anyway, and evidently it -did not enter his mind to squeal. He fled to Mexico, and von Papen thus -disposed of a troublesome source of information. When we talked to -Schulenberg, two years later, he was a sorry reminder of another German -failure. - -Although we three members of the Bomb Squad had made the trip to San -Francisco to testify to the circumstances of Chakravarty’s arrest, and -to the statements which he and Gupta had made, we were not in at the -death of the Hindu hunt. The trial was a long affair, with more than a -hundred defendants. Aided by the revelations of the little doctor, the -Government had presented to the Grand Jury a picture of violation of -Section 13 of the Federal Code which caused indictments to be returned -against the entire German consulate of San Francisco, its accomplices -among the shipping men who chartered the _Annie Larsen_ and bought -the _Maverick_, its Hindu agents from the nucleus of Berkeley and Ram -Chandra’s editorial rooms, and a list of other notorious characters -which included von Papen and von Igel, both of whom were by this time -safe in Germany. We did, however, have opportunity to observe the -Indian prisoners, and we noticed that they did not seem altogether -fond of each other. They were forever whispering, wagging their heads, -stuffing notes down each other’s necks and when the testimony of one of -their number grew too truthful they squirmed and scowled. Chakravarty’s -life was threatened during the trial. The officials in charge of the -case all had more than their usual share of responsibility to maintain -order. The trial lasted more than six months. The Germans upbraided -each other in the court room: von Brincken, who had been jealous -of Bopp, and had accused him of indifference to his duties, openly -showed his independence of his chief, and ill feeling spread among -the defendants. Its climax came on April 24, 1918, the day when, with -the testimony all in, Judge Van Fleet ordered a recess preparatory to -delivering his charge to the jury. Ram Singh, one of the defendants, -suddenly rose in the court room and fired two shots at Ram Chandra from -a revolver. Ram Chandra fell dead, and as he did so, a bullet from the -revolver of United States Marshal Holohan broke Ram Singh’s neck. The -jury then received its charge, retired, and returned convictions of the -great majority of the conspirators. - -So, just as Holohan’s bullet broke Ram Singh’s neck, Chakravarty’s -statements had broken the neck of the Hindu plot. But there was one -more incident related to it in store for us; it will conclude our -story. The men in charge of the _Annie Larsen_ were a spy named -Alexander V. Kircheisen and a Captain Othmer. Kircheisen’s name had -appeared in several German secret service reports as “K-17.” As late -as 1917 he was arrested in Copenhagen, Denmark, and on his person -was found a letter addressed to another agent, La Nine by name. The -letter advised La Nine that if he arrived in the United States before -Kircheisen, he was to call for the former’s mail at “Kotzenberg’s, 1319 -Teller Avenue, in the Bronx.” - -When this information reached us, Detectives Randolph and Senff called -at Mr. Kotzenberg’s house. He knew nothing of Kircheisen, he said, -except that he was a friend of his cousin’s. - -“Who is your cousin?” asked Randolph, in German. - -“His name is Othmer,” Kotzenberg replied. “He escaped from San -Francisco, and he came back across the whole country, half by train and -half in automobile. He stayed here for a while. One morning he put on -some overalls and he left and he went away on a Norwegian boat, and I -guess now he is back into Germany.” - -Randolph and Senff searched the house. They found among other papers, -an application which Kircheisen had filled out in New York on January -9, 1917, for a certificate of service as an able seaman. In order to be -granted such a certificate he had to swear that he was a naturalized -citizen of the United States, and that he would “support and defend -the Constitution of the United States against all enemies ... and ... -bear true faith and allegiance to the same,” which he swore without any -qualms of conscience. Furthermore, his character was attested to by one -Charles A. Martin, who also wanted a seaman’s certificate. The records -of the office show that Kircheisen obligingly turned about and swore -to Martin’s good character. I have often wondered who Martin was.... -We found in Kotzenberg’s house an expense account which the fugitive -Othmer had submitted to von Papen after he had left the unfortunate -_Annie_ at Hoquiam. And finally, we found two scraps of a memorandum -book, which constituted the log of _Annie_ herself. It reads: - - “Mar. 8. left S.D. - Mar. 18. arr Soc. - Apr. 5. Start Digg. wells. - Apr. 9 boat _Emma_ arrived. - 2 sailors. - Apr. 10. _Emma_ arrived. - two crews working on well - April 16. Well 22 feet struck hard rock bottom no water gave up - Apr.17. left for Mex. coast - ” 22 went ashore in boat look for water - Apr.24th. arr at Acapulco - U. S. S. _Yorktown_ _Nansham_(?) - _N. Orleans_ _Annapolis_ - April 27 left Acapulco - May 19 gave up Socorro - made for coast - June 7 (_two illegible words_) - got provisions - June 29 arr. Hoquiam - July 1 arr. W. - 1 arr. Investigator - Jul. 4 _aus_” - -So, in a word, Othmer summed up all the efforts of the Hindus and the -Germans to hatch revolution in America. All, all “_aus_”! - -[Illustration: Alexander V. Kircheisen and his application for a -certificate as able seaman] - - - - -V - -A TRUE PIRATE TALE - - -Of all the stories of the sea to which the war has given rise, here is -one that is certainly not the least entertaining. It is not a story of -hunting a criminal. The only part which the Bomb Squad played in it -was bringing the prisoner back to justice. It called for no service on -our part save that of examining the prisoner, and returning him, with -his statements and the statements of others who had dealings with him, -to New York. And I think those statements themselves had best tell the -story. - - -(_From Detective Corell to the Commanding Officer of the Bomb Squad, -April 1, 1916_) - - Sir: In compliance with orders received I went to Lewes, - Delaware, to investigate and if possible bring back one Ernest - Schiller, an alleged German spy.... - - -(_From, a statement taken by Corell at Lewes, Del., March 31, 1916_) - - My name is Ernest Schiller. I am a native of Russia, 23 years - of age.... My occupation is that of textile engineer. I arrived - in New York in April, 1915, in the steamship _Colorado_ from - Hull, England, as a member of the crew, my assignment on the - ship being greaser. My name on the ship was Frank Robertson. - When I arrived at New York the captain gave me some of my money - and I left the ship. I worked all told about eight or nine - months, in Pawtucket, R. I., Lawrence, Mass., Whitinsville, - Mass., Newton Upper Falls, Mass., and finished erecting a - factory in Salem, Mass.... - - -(_From the examination of Clarence Reginald Hodson, alias Ernest -Schiller, Robinson, Robertson, A. Henry, New York, April 1, 1916_) - - _Question._ What is your full name? - - _Answer._ Clarence Reginald Hodson. - - _Q._ What other names are you known by? - - _A._ Robinson, Robertson, A. Henry, and Ernest Schiller. - - _Q._ Where were you born? - - _A._ Petrograd, Russia. - - _Q._ Where were your father and mother born? - - _A._ My father in Russia, my mother in Germany. We lived in - Petrograd until I was about 10 or 11. Then we went to England. - My father and mother left me in Chatham House College, in - Ramsgate. I stayed there three years.... - - _Q._ What is the name of the head of that college? - - _A._ A. Henry. - - _Q._ Did you graduate? - - _A._ No. I was put on a Cadet--a Marine ship--named _Conway_, - to train as a marine officer. I was on that ship two years. - I left when I was 17 and went to work in a machine shop in - Oldham, outside Manchester, and learned the trade of machinist - there. I left there in August, 1914, and I joined the English - Army.... I was asked to leave the job--was told that they would - not have any young fellows on the job.... My boss said that - sooner or later I should have to leave and that it would be - better to go now, and that there would be a better opportunity. - - _Q._ At that time were your sympathies with the English? - - _A._ They were never with England. I just wanted to see what - it was like to be a soldier. I didn’t intend to fight against - Germany. I did not think the war would last long--only a few - months--and I knew all the time I could run away if I wanted - to. So in December I left. - - _Q._ What was the occasion of your leaving? - - _A._ I commenced to discriminate the soldiers and make them - out as to what they really were, and I found them a lot of - rats. I saw that I was not a Britisher in my ideas, and that - I favored the cause of Germany. I used to stay away from the - other soldiers all I could, and go out with a newspaper and - read in the fields. They were always bullyragging me, and one - time I almost killed two soldiers for it. They chastised me for - a German spy. I got away, and worked in Bath for a week, and - then the police caught me and brought me back, and I was later - discharged by my colonel when I explained that I could not - agree with their theory of the war.... - - -(_From the statement of “Schiller” to Corell_) - - A few months ago I received a letter from my mother and she - wanted me to go back to Russia. I came down to New York to get - my passport, but it did not arrive, so I waited a month. My - money was gradually going down, so I borrowed some money, I - won’t say from whom....” - - -(_From the examination of Hodson_) - - _Q._ While in Lawrence, Mass., where did you stop? - - _A._ At the Saxsonia House, with Germans.... - - _Q._ What are the names of any other people that you met at the - Saxsonia House? - - _A._ Met a gentleman named Gruenwald at a German party. He - invited me to come to his saloon in Lawrence.... - - _Q._ While up in his saloon was there anybody else you were - acquainted with there? - - _A._ Nobody, but I knew a young lady who stopped at the same - house.... - - _Q._ You were quite friendly with her? - - _A._ Yes, platonic friendship. - - _Q._ Did she loan you any money? - - _A._ She loaned me money from her own will. Two hundred - dollars.... I only asked for $30, but she brought $200 in gold, - all in gold.... - - _Q._ How long after that before she loaned you any more? - - _A._ About a month later.... Telegraphed to her “Want money - immediately.” I received by 12 o’clock $40. She said some more - money coming tonight. Next morning I went to the address in - Hoboken and there was a letter and there was another $40 in - the letter. Then I received $10 another time from her. - - _Q._ That’s $290. - - _A._ Yes, all I can think of. - - -(_From the “Schiller” statement_) - - ... so I borrowed some money, I won’t say from whom. I went - to Boston again and was looking for work. I could not get the - work I wanted, so I returned to New York, and in Hoboken I ran - across a few fellows, I do not know their names, and we made a - plan to get some money.... - - -(_From the Hodson examination_) - - _Q._ Now where did you meet the Germans? - - _A._ When I arrived in New York, in a saloon near the Cunard - Steamship Company in West Street about 12th, I met a man who - I thought was a German, and I talked to him about blowing up - ships, and we then went to Hoboken where I met the man Haller - in a saloon.... Then we proposed which ship to blow up. That - was the Cunard liner _Pannonia_.... - - _Q._ And how did you come to decide upon that boat? - - _A._ Because I knew perfectly well that all were carrying - plenty of ammunition.... I went down to the piers, and I saw - this boat, and I thought that would be the right kind of a - boat.... I met the three men in the vicinity of Pier 54. I - bought them their suppers.... I then told the unknown man to - get some dynamite ... and I gave him $6. Becker said that he - had a boat, and I gave Becker $8 to buy gasolene, then to buy - two revolvers out of a pawnshop.... I bought Haller a revolver - and 100 cartridges.... - - _Q._ Did you see them after that? - - _A._ Yes, I saw them Saturday morning and asked Becker about - his motorboat and he said that he did not expect it would be - frozen up, and acted as if he would have been willing to go - into the plot only that the boat was frozen up. Becker said - that the boat could be launched in two hours, and although I - do not know anything about running a motorboat it is my belief - that it would have taken six hours to launch this boat---the - boat we were supposed to use to go over in to blow up the - _Pannonia_--and this would be too late to get to the ship - before she sailed.... Since that time I have not seen any of - these men.... - - -(_From the “Schiller” statement_) - - ... but the other fellows left me, so I went on my own accord. - I saw the steamship _Mattoppo_ was going to leave, so I stowed - away on her, in a life boat, where I remained for five days. - The sixth day we left.... - - -(_From the statement of Captain R. Bergner, of the British S. S. -“Mattoppo”_) - - At 3:30 P. M. on the 29th March, the British S. S. _Mattoppo_ - sailed from 12th Street pier, Hoboken, destined to - Vladivostock, Russia. - - -(_From the “Schiller” statement_) - - That night ... I came out from my hiding place and walked - towards the captain’s cabin.... - - -(_From Captain Bergner’s statement_) - - At about 7:45 P. M. ... when at a point about twenty miles from - Sandy Hook Lightship, I was talking to the Chief Engineer in - his room, and at 8:05 P. M. left and went to my own cabin, and - as I entered my bedroom, which was adjoining, I was held up at - the point of two revolvers by one Ernest Schiller, who said to - me: “Hands up! I am a German. I am going to sink your ship.” He - then made me turn round and gave me a frisk. He found nothing - on me. He ordered me to shut my cabin door; then stood me in - a corner and kept me covered with the two revolvers. Then he - said: “Where is the safe? You have two thousand pounds aboard, - and I want the money!” He told me he had placed bombs aboard - the ship and was going to blow her up. - - At 8:20 P. M. the Second Engineer knocked at my door, and - receiving no reply opened it. Schiller instantly covered him - with one of the revolvers and ordered him to come into the - room, which he did. He then locked and bolted the doors on the - inside and asked me for my keys.... He got them and proceeded - to go through all the ship’s papers and my private effects. He - opened my cash box and took four pounds in gold and five pounds - in silver and said it was the first time he had ever robbed - anyone but he needed the money. On seeing from the ship’s - papers that she had barbed wire in her, he said: “That is - contraband, and I am going to sink her.” He then inquired where - I was bound for, and on my telling him she was going to Russia - he seemed to hesitate about sinking her as he said he loved - Russia. The conversation continued until about midnight.... - - -(_From the “Schiller” statement_) - - While I was in the Captain’s room the Second Engineer came up, - and after searching him to see if he had any revolvers on him, - I told him to sit down and make himself comfortable. I asked - the Captain if he had any whiskey, as I was cold and had not - had much to eat for five days, so the Captain gave me a bottle - of whiskey and biscuits. After wishing one another good health - we sat there for a couple of hours.... - - -(_From Captain Bergner’s statement_) - - At midnight he said that he was going to disable the wireless, - and on hearing someone in the chart room he bound me on my - honor not to leave the cabin saying that if I did he would - shoot me on sight.... - - -(_From the statement of the Second Officer Allen Maclurcom_) - - When I came on watch at midnight I passed someone outside the - chart room, but it being dark, and thinking it was the Captain, - I walked on into the chart room, where this party followed - me, and told me to throw my hands up. He told me the ship was - under German command, and not attempt to make any resistance - as it would mean the sacrifice of the Captain’s and Second - Engineer’s lives. He said if the ship had been going to England - he would have destroyed her immediately, but as she was bound - for Russia he would probably spare her. Then he told me to - walk ahead of him to the port-after-lifeboat, and get the axe, - which was in the forward end of it. He then took me back to the - Marconi room.... - - -(_From the statement of the wireless operator, Alexander Dunnett_) - - I was on watch in the wireless room when this man came along - with the Second Officer. He held me up with two revolvers, and - brought me along to the apprentice’s room, together with the - Second Officer. The latter told the apprentice, who acts as - second operator, to come out. Schiller held him up, and told us - both to go up to the chart room.... - - -(_From the Second Officer’s statement_) - - He then took me back to the Marconi room, and proceeded to - demolish the installation, holding the revolver against my - ribs. From there he went to the Chief Engineer’s cabin and - demanded his rifle, I accompanying him, and after obtaining it, - threw it overboard. From there he made me walk ahead of him - to the Chief Officer’s cabin, who he disarmed whilst he was - asleep. He then ordered me to the bridge to steer south-west by - compass, and as I was going on the bridge the Third Officer - came down and he held him up, I going on the bridge in the - meanwhile. - -[Illustration: Lieutenant George D. Barnitz, U. S. N.] - - -(_From the Wireless Operator’s statement_) - - Schiller came back again, and took us into the Captain’s - room. Some time later he came back again and brought me down - to the wireless room to see if I could repair the wireless - installation, which he said he had smashed. I told him it might - be possible to repair one instrument, and he said, “We will - leave it until morning,” and then brought me along the deck - to the Fourth and Fifth Engineers’ cabins and I opened the - door and he went in. Both engineers were asleep and he made me - search all the drawers; he brought out a revolver and a box of - cartridges, which he made me throw over the side. He then took - me to the Third Engineer’s cabin, and searched all the drawers - there. He brought out of there a bottle of whiskey, and asked - me if I had any money. Then he marched me up to the Captain’s - cabin and ordered me to remain there until 6 A. M. - - -(_From “Schiller’s” statement_) - - I went into the various officers’ rooms and took all the - revolvers from them. From the Steward I took ten dollars, and a - two-dollar bill from the Second Mate. - - -(_From the Second Officer’s statement_) - - At 1:30 A. M. he returned to the bridge and ordered me to steer - south by compass. - - -(_From the “Schiller” statement_) - - Then I went to the Captain’s cabin again, and told him I should - sink the ship, but the Captain said he has worked since a boy - on ships for a few shillings a week and he has worked himself - up to this and surely it has not come to this. He said he has - a wife and a child--a girl--and showed me on the wall the - portrait of the child, and I asked him suppose the ship went - down would he get another job, and he said he would have to - work as a longshoreman. He said it was too rough for the boats - to be lowered, so I did not want to commit murder. And knowing - that the Captain would lose his position, and as I am a young - man and can always find work, I asked the Captain if he will - put me ashore in the morning. He gave me his word of honor that - he would.... - - -(_From Captain Bergner’s statement_) - - At 5:30 A. M. ... he let me take charge of the ship, and I made - for Delaware Breakwater.... - - -(_From the Wireless Operator’s statement_) - - At 6 A. M. he told me I could go below, but not to go into the - wireless room. I was along near the carpenter’s room when he - was searching it, and he made me bring out an axe and took me - to the wireless room again; there he told me to smash up one of - the instruments, and he stood in back of me threatening me. I - asked him then if that would do, after I had partly demolished - the instruments, and he told me to leave the axe and lock the - door, which I did. He then left me. - - -(_From “Schiller’s” statement_) - - When we sighted shore the Captain said that we would have to go - straight towards the lighthouse, or else, if we went the other - way (the way I wanted to) we should run ashore, so I left it to - the Captain and trusted to his word, as he said he would land - me.... - - -(_From Captain Bergner’s statement_) - - On approaching land he ordered one of the ship’s boats to be - manned, and said that he was going to take two of the ship’s - officers along as hostages to guarantee that I should not run - him down, and he wanted three Chinese from the crew to row him - ashore.... - - -(_From the statement of John S. Wingate, Keeper of the Cape Henlopen -Coast Guard Station_) - - At about 11:30 A. M. I noticed a steamship coming in from off - shore. I said to the crew that it was a war vessel coming but - I didn’t know whether it was German or British. At 11:45 the - lookout reported to me that the steamer was headed direct for - Hen and Chicken Shoal. I immediately ordered the signal “J. D.” - hoisted on the pole, which means, “You are standing into - danger.” When we supposed the ship saw our signal, he stopped, - and laid to for about ten minutes, when he hard a-port and went - clear of the shoal. - - A few minutes later he lowered a boat--we thought to take - soundings, for the boat pulled away from the ship and headed - direct for the beach. - - -(_From the Second Officer’s statement_) - - At approximately 11:45 A. M.... I got into the small boat at - his command, with four of the crew, and we proceeded toward - shore, but were stopped by the pilot cutter _Philadelphia_ who - told us that if we attempted to land we would be drowned. The - _Philadelphia_ then towed us into smooth water.... - - -(_From Captain Wingate’s statement_) - - Meanwhile the pilot boat was heading down on the ship, blowing - her whistle to warn the ship of her danger. By this time the - ship hoisted a signal “K. T. S.,” which means “_Piracy_.” I - ordered my boat made ready at once when I saw the “Piracy” - signal; five minutes later he started for the ship. At 12:20 I - had called Keeper Lynch of the Lewes station telling him what I - was going to do, and to meet me off the Point. - - -(_From the statement of Captain John S. Lynch of the Lewes Coast Guard -Station_) - - I and my crew launched our power lifeboat and started for the - steamer. Before I could get to the steamer I saw the pilot - boat towing in the steamer’s skiff. The pilot boat let go of - the skiff right off the Capes, and the occupants of the skiff - started to row for shore. I called to them and they stopped. We - went alongside, and I told them I would take the man ashore and - save them the trouble. So he got into our boat. - - I then run off and picked up Captain Wingate, whose boat is a - rowboat, and we went alongside the steamer. I asked for the - Captain of the steamer, and they told me he was going ashore in - the sail pilot boat, so we run alongside the sail pilot boat, - and I asked the Captain of the steamer to come along with me. - He says, “I will not. Not with _that_ man in your boat. He’s - got five guns on him!” I then told him that I did not care how - many guns he had as I was not afraid of him and he requested me - to take the man ashore myself. Then this man Ernest Schiller - began to throw his guns overboard: Schiller throwed one gun - overboard, Captain Wingate, who had come aboard my boat throwed - two overboard, and C. A. Jenkins throwed another one overboard, - Schiller having thrown them into the bottom of the boat. He, - Schiller, throwed a lot of cartridges overboard, and when - we came ashore we searched him and took the balance of the - cartridges which he had on him and throwed them overboard. I - then brought him up to the Customs Office and left him there. - - -(_From “Schiller’s” statement_) - - I am willing to go back to New York ... immediately, and - confess my guilt. I swear on oath that there are no bombs - placed on the ship, to my knowledge. I simply made that - statement to the Captain as a bluff. - -Thus this venturesome Russian, Hodson by birth, Schiller by preference, -and German by conviction, who single-handed captured a steamship, -returned to New York, thirty-six hours after he had left port. He -walked the plank to the United States Penitentiary at Atlanta for life, -for “piracy on the high seas.” - - - - -VI - -ALONG THE WATERFRONT - -I - -_Sugar and Ships and Robert Fay_ - - -Anyone familiar with the waterfront of a great port can appreciate its -difficulties as an area to be policed. One of the busiest sections of -the community during the daytime, it is little frequented at night. In -districts where you find few people you will rarely find lights, and -where there are no lights you may well expect crime. The contours of -the shoreline are irregular, following usually the original margins -of solid ground lining the natural harbor, and for every thoroughfare -which can pass as a street there are a dozen or two alleys, footpaths, -shadowy recesses and blind holes. Locks and keys and night watchmen -will protect the land side of the piers, but from the water side -entrance to any pier is easy, concealment still easier, and flight no -trick at all. - -If New York harbor in 1914 had presented the aspect of the same harbor -of twenty years before, I could hardly estimate the confusion which -would have resulted from the coming of war. But there is probably no -port in the world which handles New York’s volume of shipping with -greater orderliness--I speak now from the standpoint of “law and order” -rather than of the terminal facilities of the port. Its waterfront was -physically clean and its longshore population, thanks to a competent -police force, manageable. And yet, as Shakespeare said, “there are land -rats and water rats--” - -From August, when war was declared and the Bomb Squad formed, through -the fall of the year 1914, certain changes came over the waterfront. -Great German liners of the Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd -Lines, freighters of the Atlas Line, and a miscellany of other vessels -flying the red-white-and-black lay idle in port when England’s fleet -blockaded the seaward channels. Some eighty German vessels were tied -up at their piers. They dared not move, for Germany’s only available -convoys were in southern waters trying to dodge the British and prey -upon shipping. The Hamburg-American Line and Captain Boy-Ed made -several abortive attempts to supply the raiders, but the considerable -merchant fleet caught in port by the war stayed in port. This dumped -on the longshore population some thousands of ardent Boches. Meanwhile -the great steamship lines owned by neutral and allied capital entered -on a period of activity such as they had never seen before. The first -ships from abroad brought purchasing agents and European money to -barter for American supplies, for immediate delivery. Any man who owned -anything that bore a speaking likeness to a cargo-boat suddenly found -himself potentially wealthy. The whole United States began to pour into -the New York waterfront a huge volume of supplies for the Allies--and -for a time for Germany, via neutral Holland and Scandinavia--and out of -the Hudson and East rivers flowed a steady, swelling current of this -overseas trade. - -By the arrival of the year 1915 the current was well under way. -The piers were extremely busy and the facilities for trouble were -multiplying. On January 3 there was an explosion on the steamship -_Orton_ in Erie Basin for which there was no apparent explanation. -A month later a bomb was discovered in the cargo of the _Hennington -Court_, but no one could say how it came there. Toward the end of -February the steamship _Carlton_ caught fire at sea--mysteriously. Two -months passed, then two bombs were found in the cargo of the _Lord -Erne_. We might have had a look at them, for that was the business of -the Bomb Squad, if those who had found the bombs had not dumped them -overboard rather hastily. A week later a bomb was found in the hold of -the _Devon City_. Again no explanation. Nor any reasonable cause why -the _Cressington Court_ caught fire at sea on April 29. Our attention -had been directed to each of these instances, and we had investigated, -and folders waited in the files for the reports which properly -developed would lead to an arrest, and the sum total of those reports -was--nothing. Then our luck turned for a moment. - -The steamship _Kirkoswald_, out of New York, laden with supplies for -France, docked at Marseilles, and in four sugar-bags in her hold were -found bombs. The French authorities commandeered them, and removed -and analyzed the explosive charge. The police commissioner cabled at -once to Marseilles requesting the return of one of the bomb-cases, -together with the bag in which it had been found, and an analysis of -the contents. No answer. So he cabled again. The bomb-case then began -a journey back to the United States, presented with the compliments -of the Republic of France by M. Jusserand to the State Department -at Washington, and forwarded in turn to Mayor Mitchel of New York. -Our study disclosed that it was of a new type: a metal tube some ten -inches long, divided into two compartments by a thin aluminum disc. One -compartment had held potassium chlorate, a powerful explosive, and the -other had contained sulphuric acid. The acid had been expected to eat -through the thin disc separating the compartments, and explosion was to -have followed, but for some reason it had failed. The metals were of -good quality, and the workmanship was thorough. - -Here was our first clue on the case. Many policemen work on theory -so determinedly that they exclude really important facts which do -not fit comfortably into the theory. I have always believed in -taking the evidence, building a theory upon it, and then trying to -confirm or reject that theory as new facts appear. It was well that -we followed such a policy here, for we had nothing but the bomb-tube -itself to build our theory upon. What did it offer? First, we were -fortunate in having a bomb to study, for usually the fire following -an explosion leaves no trace of its origin. We had its construction -and ingredients as real, if vague, clues. Second, we knew that -the _Kirkoswald_ had carried supplies to France, and that all of the -vessels on which bombs had been found or fires had broken out, had -also been carrying supplies to the Allies. The list, by this time, had -grown, for there were three more ship cases of fires or bombs in May, -one in June, and five in July. Our primary theory was, therefore, that -the bombs were made and placed on the vessels either by Germans or -their paid agents. - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y._ - -Lieut. Robert Fay (on right) and Lieut. George D. Barnitz after Fay’s -arrest] - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, by Underwood and Underwood_ - -From left to right: Fay, Daeche and Scholz, arraigned in Court] - -The _Kirkoswald_ carried sugar. By examining the cargo-records of the -other ships which had suffered near or actual mishaps, we found that -they had also carried sugar, and that in the instances when fire broke -out, the highly inflammable sugar gave a lot of trouble to the fire -crew. The vigilance of the waterfront and harbor police had of course -been keyed up to detect anything suspicious, but a bomb-planter does -not often carry his bomb under a policeman’s nose, and it seemed not -unreasonable to suspect that the bombs had gone aboard with the sugar. -So I went to a sugar refinery to see how sugar was made. - -I followed the process from the entry of the raw sugar to the bagging -and shipping of the finished product. All of the sugar shipped abroad -went in bags, which were sewn tight either by hand or by machinery. -After considerable testing I found that it was fairly easy to open a -hand-sewn bag and sew it up again without leaving evidence of what I -had done; the machine stitches, however, resisted any intrusion, and -were hard to duplicate once they had been taken out. I put that fact -away for future reference and looked in on the shipping department, to -learn there that the only two persons who could know of the destination -of a consignment of sugar before it was actually loaded into a vessel’s -hold were the shipping clerk of the refinery and the captain of the -lighter who took the sugar from the refinery to the ship. - -So we first paid court to the lighter captains and their aids. We -followed shipments of sugar from the refinery doors to the lighters, -saw the shipping clerk hand over his bill to the captain, saw the -lighter pull out for a pier somewhere about the harbor, followed him to -the pier, and watched the transfer of the cargo into the vessel’s hold. -If a lighterman knew that hand-sewn bags could be ripped open, and -wished to insert a bomb and close the bag again, he would have to do it -on the way from the refinery to the pier--of that we were confident, -for as soon as the lighter pulled up to the vessel’s side the -stevedores rushed the cargo into the hold, the hatches were sealed, and -the cargo-checker, employed by the vessel, turned over to the lighter -captain his receipt for the consignment. There was apparently no other -time for tampering with the bags. - -How to watch the bags themselves from the refinery into the vessel was -a troublesome problem. The river, during the daytime, is in constant -traffic, and navigation for a cumbersome lighter in the river-paths is -about as comfortable as crossing Fifth Avenue on foot at rush hour. -The river at night was comparatively free, and it was then that most -of the lightering was done. A waterman can identify the uncouth shapes -of queer craft on dark waters, a landsman cannot, but we had to make -the best of a bad bargain and chase the lighters in a motorboat, often -diligently following a blinking light through the mist for hours to -discover finally that it was on the wrong ship. Ships on a dark river -are like timid spinsters in a dark street--they exhibit, perhaps -through fear of collision, perhaps because ships are feminine, a strong -suspicion of anything that approaches. Our barking motorboat advertised -itself half a mile away. If we drifted we lost our quarry. We tried to -smuggle men aboard the lighters, but there were so many, and they were -bound in so many different directions, that we were not manned for this. - -So passed June and July. It was a thankless task, and one which had -its risks. Detective Senff fell into the river one night when he was -chasing a suspicious character around under a pier at the foot of West -44th Street and nearly drowned before he could be pulled out. The case -seemed to be getting no further than abstractions. Ashore, however, we -learned that most of the lighter captains in the harbor were Germans, -and in an effort to reduce the field we learned the names of the -captains of the lighters which had most frequently visited the vessels -on which fires had occurred. This took time and an exhaustive study of -lighterage receipts, but it brought out the fact that in every case -of a delivery of sugar to an outward bound vessel, the captain of the -lighter had returned a full receipt--which exploded the possibility -that a lighterman might take a bag from one shipment, put a bomb in it, -and add it to the next. - -I am happy now to say that we did not give up. We couldn’t, for the -ship fires were going right on, increasing in frequency, and somebody -was making bombs, for they continued to be found. On the assumption -that a lighter captain who would place a bomb in a sugar-bag must first -get the bomb, we began to shadow the captains, not only afloat but -ashore, and then suddenly the case took a queer twist and our theory of -German intrigue got badly balled up. - -We followed certain lightermen to their homes, their drinking haunts, -and their other places of business, and among their other places of -business found the residence--on the lower West Side of Manhattan--of a -man known to be a river pirate. That was enough for an arrest, and on -August 27 we brought Mike Matzet, Ferdinand Hahn, Richard Meyerhoffer -and Jene Storms, Germans, and John Peterson, Swede, to headquarters -for examination. Matzet confessed that he, and “all the rest” of the -lighter captains, as he expressed it, had been regularly stealing sugar -from the consignments, and selling it to river pirates for ⅙ the market -price, which allowed the pirates to re-sell it at ⅚ the market for 400 -per cent. clear profit. The pirates in a motorboat would steal into the -shadow of a lighter as she lay at her anchorage, take off a few bags, -and slip away. We had seen such boats, but had never been able to close -in and see what they were doing. The checkers who were supposed to -render a true and just account of the number of bags which later passed -into the hatches of the ocean vessels were merely accomplices who -shared in the profits when the stolen sugar was sold. - -There were no bombs on the captains (who presently went to jail) but -they were all fully aware of the conditions along the waterfront, for -one said to a pirate who was “buying” sugar: “Take all you want--the -damn ship will never get over anyway!” No bombs--and what if there had -been? We were reasonably certain that the ships were being fired, but -we did not know now whether it was for German reasons, or merely to -efface the sugar thefts before the cargoes reached the other side of -the ocean and were discovered by the consignees. The conviction of the -thieves was not much consolation for the slow development of the case, -and it fixed no guilt for bombs. - -But when you are bound on a long trip, and you have mislaid your -ticket, it is second nature to go through your pockets one by one, -knowing full well that it is not in any of them, for you “just looked -there.” Then you find it in one of the pockets where you knew it could -not be. Acting on a not dissimilar instinct we began to retrace our -steps from June to September, and to follow again the progress of -sugar from the refinery to the hold of the outward bound steamer. Our -theory that the bombs had some connection with the sugar was either -to be proven or destroyed this time. It was in this more or less dull -review that we made the acquaintance of the Chenangoes. - -They were nothing more romantic than fly-by-night stevedores whom the -lighter companies engaged at the sugar wharves to load cargoes. They -worked by the day, or by the job, there were always plenty loitering -around to be hired, and they drew their pay and went their way. No -one ever had to wonder who they were or where they came from, for a -stout body was all the recommendation a Chenango required. They were -a nondescript type of common labor, the same, I suspect, that carried -materials for the Tower of Babel, and speaking almost as many tongues. -The same face rarely appeared a second time to be hired--not that there -was anything particularly unpleasant about the work, but rather that -all work is repulsive to a Chenango. He is the hobo of labor and if the -same man had been re-hired, no one would have noticed or cared. We paid -such attention to them as their variety permitted--followed them to all -the points of the compass, and watched them closely while they worked, -to see whether any of them seemed to linger aboard in the cargo, or -carried any suspicious package. The wickedest thing we found was an -occasional pint flask on the hip, which was no proof of any special -criminal affairs. - -Ever since we had examined the _Kirkoswald_ bomb we had had lines -out to follow the sale of chlorate of potash and sulphuric acid--the -ingredients of the bomb. We examined reams of sales’ records submitted -by explosive and chemical manufacturers, traced dozens of reports from -drug stores, and found nothing of consequence. Those two substances are -widely and harmlessly used, and rarely purchased in small quantities by -any individual whose intentions might excite suspicion. Under our rigid -city explosives’ laws investigation of purchases was facilitated for -us, but all the facility in the world could not help the case without -anything to investigate. So passed September and a part of October, and -just about the time when the bomb case was growing dull and the ship -fires which were constantly occurring had almost found us calloused, -the French Government, with traditional courtesy, helped us out again, -and blew our sugar theory into many and small pieces. - -[Illustration: The Fay Bomb Materials - -Suit cases containing an atlas, two maps of the harbor, drawing -instruments, tools, a wig and two false mustaches, a telescope bomb, -and several packages of ingredients] - -Captain Martyn, the French military attaché in New York, telephoned to -say that he thought we would be interested in a man who he believed was -trying to buy some explosive. What kind? Trinitro-toluol, or “TNT,” one -of the most violent propellants used in modern shell. Yes, we would be -interested. - -A war exporter, Wettig by name, had told Captain Martyn that a fellow -with whom he shared office space had asked him to obtain a quantity of -TNT--a small quantity, for trial purposes. The purchaser, who was known -both as Paul Siebs and Karl Oppegaarde, and who lived at the Hotel -Breslin, directed Wettig to deliver the material to a Jersey address -and said he would then receive payment. On the axiom that a bomb in the -hand is worth two in someone else’s, we were introduced to Wettig, and -formulated with him a plan to follow the explosive. So on Thursday, -October 21, Detective Barnitz accompanied Wettig to a “dynamite store” -at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where the latter bought some 25 pounds of -TNT. The two returned to New York with their package. We looked up Mr. -Oppegaarde and asked him what he proposed to do with his purchase. He -said he really hadn’t the slightest idea: an acquaintance of his, a war -broker named Max Breitung, had referred a certain Dr. Herbert Kienzle, -a German clock-maker, to him as a likely person to obtain explosives. -Dr. Kienzle had placed the order, had wanted it delivered at a garage -in Main Street, Weehawken, to a man who bore the name of Fay, and who -had assured Siebs that when he had it delivered he would be paid for -his services. Further than that he knew nothing. Nobody seemed to know -anything, although here was a considerable amount of vicious explosive -in which five men were very much interested. We spent the rest of that -day in looking up what we could of the players in this little game of -“passing the TNT”--from Kienzle to Breitung to Siebs to Wettig to Fay. - -Six men were assigned to the case: Murphy, Walsh, Fenelly, Sterett, -Coy and Barnitz, and they most admirably stayed on the job. On Friday -Detectives Barnitz and Coy took the explosive to the Weehawken garage. -Fay was not there, but a man who was there told the detectives he lived -at 28 Fifth Street, so the men from the Bomb Squad and their package -called at the boarding house where Fay lived. Again he was not to be -found, but our men had a chat with the landlady, who told them that Mr. -Fay was a real nice gentleman who had lived there with his friend Mr. -Scholz for a month, always paid his bills, subscribed to a magazine, -and was working on inventions, or at least so she thought, because he -used a table to draw plans on. Sociable, too-- - -They left the TNT for him. I ought to remind the reader that it is -harmless unless confined or heated, and cannot be properly exploded -without a proper detonating charge. It may have been a bit rough on the -boarding house, but we had gone to deliver the goods to Fay; Wettig had -told him they would be delivered (though not by whom) and we had to -carry out the plan even though Fay was not at home. - -At the same hour, across the Hudson Detectives Coy, Walsh and Sterett -learned why Fay had not been receiving visitors, for they found him in -Siebs’s company in the Hotel Breslin. Effacing themselves until the -interview was over, they tailed Fay to the West 42nd Street ferry, then -across the river to Weehawken, up the long hill to the town, and to his -garage at 212 Main Street. In the early evening an automobile emerged -from the garage, driven by Fay and containing another passenger, and -wound out of town in a northerly direction along the Palisades. Behind -it was a police car. North of Weehawken a few miles where the country -is inhabited by installment-plan “villas,” moving-picture studios and -scrub-oak trees, Fay stopped his car at the roadside and disappeared -with the other man into the underbrush and then into the deeper woods. -The police car waited until they returned, and followed them back to -their boarding house, where the detectives took up a vigil outside. - -A New York policeman has not the power of arrest in another state, and -it began to look as though we might have to make an arrest in Jersey, -so Chief Flynn assigned Secret Service Agents Burke and Savage to -the case and they joined forces with us Saturday morning. Detectives -Barnitz, Coy, Walsh, Sterett, Fenelly and Murphy were watching the -house in Weehawken. About noon Fay and his companion appeared, and got -aboard a Grantwood street-car. The Bomb Squad followed at a discreet -distance to the point where the men had dodged into the woods the -night before. Barnitz, who was in command, sent Sterett and Coy in -after them. But nature was against us, for the fallen leaves carpeting -the woods crackled under foot, and to snap a twig was to shout one’s -presence through the clear air. Twice Fay turned sharply around and -peered through the trees. The two detectives were nearly discovered -on both occasions. They finally decided that it would be impossible -to approach their men without alarming them, so they returned to the -waiting automobile. The police party waited an hour or more, and then -realized that Fay and his companion had evidently gone out the other -side of the woods and so worked their way back to civilization. - -Barnitz thought and acted swiftly. He sent Sterett and Coy at once to -New York to cover Dr. Kienzle, on the chance that Fay might get into -communication with him--it was a long chance, but the only one that -offered, for the men were now lost to us. Barnitz, Murphy, Fenelly and -Walsh returned to Weehawken to watch Fay’s house. For two hours nothing -happened to interest them, and Barnitz was beginning to wonder whether -he would ever see his quarry again when an express wagon drove up and -stopped at 28 Fifth Street. The driver presently trundled a trunk out -of the house, swung it up into his wagon and drove off. The police car -idled along behind him for a mile or so through the Weehawken streets, -and the wagon stopped at another house. While the driver was indoors -this time, Fenelly, who was roughly dressed and light of foot, slipped -up behind the wagon, vaulted into the back of it, took one look at the -trunk and rejoined the others. “There’s a plain calling-card on the -trunk. It reads ‘Walter Scholz,’” he said. Again the expressman headed -a small parade, which terminated when the detectives saw him leave -the trunk in a storage warehouse. Barnitz dared not follow it there -for fear of arousing suspicion, and he figured that the trunk would -probably not be removed during the week-end at least. The detectives -once more returned to the boarding house and resumed their tedious -watch. - -The evening passed, and there was no word either from Coy and Sterett -or the lost men. Late fall evenings in Weehawken are cold. Some time -after midnight two figures came up the street, and as they turned in -to the boarding house we saw they were Fay and Scholz. Out of the -shadows a moment later Sterett and Coy slipped up to the car--“I could -have kissed ’em both,” Barnitz said afterward. They had covered the -office of the Kienzle Clock Company at 41 Park Place, picked up Dr. -Kienzle as he left the office, tailed him until five in the afternoon, -and then saw him enter the lobby of the Equitable Building at 120 -Broadway--where he met Fay and Scholz! The men conversed for a few -moments, and Fay excused himself. He went to a telephone booth and -closed the door. Sterett went into the next booth. Through the thin -partition he heard Fay call the garage, ask whether a package had been -delivered to him there, then say “it hasn’t, eh?” and hang up the -receiver. He rejoined Scholz and Kienzle and the three went to a Fulton -Street restaurant to dine. The detectives went to the restaurant but -did not dine, and when the Germans left, and Kienzle parted from the -others, they tailed Fay and Scholz to Grand Central Palace, saw them -appropriate two young women, dance with them, pledge them in a few -drinks, and finally leave them and return to Weehawken. - -That trunk episode made us uneasy. It might have meant that they -had been frightened and were going to disappear, and it certainly -signified their intention of moving. We decided to force the issue, and -accordingly in the small hours of Sunday morning we directed Wettig, -of whom, of course, Fay had no suspicions, to call at Fay’s house -later in the forenoon to arrange to test the TNT. From the automobile, -which was parked at the street-corner some distance from the house, -the detectives saw Wettig enter, and in a few moments saw him come -out-of-doors with Fay and Scholz. They strolled to the street-car line, -allowed two cars to pass unsignalled, and then, suddenly, hailed a -third. It had closed doors, and when Murphy, Fenelly, and Coy, seeing -the men climbing aboard, tried to reach the car themselves, the doors -had slammed in their faces and the car was on its way. Somewhere in -the shuffle Walsh had been mislaid--he had been last seen up the block -covering an alley which led back of the boarding house. There was no -time to pick him up, and the automobile followed the car to Grantwood -and the now familiar woods. At times the car was out of sight of the -pursuers, and they fully expected to lose their men again. But from far -in the rear they saw the car stop opposite the woods. The doors snapped -open, and the first person to set foot on the ground was Walsh. The -second and third were Fay and Scholz, and the last, Wettig. Walsh had -seen them climb aboard in Weehawken, and had promptly sprinted for the -next corner ahead, where he caught the car! That was good shadowing -technique. - -The Germans slipped into the protection of the underbrush immediately. -Barnitz was not disposed to let them get away again, so he spread out -his forces so as to follow the party and finally surround it, and the -Bomb Squad, the Secret Service and two members of the Weehawken police -entered the wood and wove a circle about their victims. As they closed -in they saw Fay enter a little shack in the depth of the brush, and -bring out a package, from which he took a pinch of some material and -placed it on a rock. With a nice new hammer he dealt the rock a sharp -blow, there was a loud report, and the handle snapped in his hand. The -detectives closed in at once, and Barnitz said, “You’re under arrest!” - -“Who is in charge of you all?” Fay asked. - -“I am,” Barnitz replied. - -“Well, I will tell you that I am not going to be placed under arrest,” -Fay announced. “If I am, great people will suffer! You will surely have -war. It cannot be--it is impossible. I will give you any amount of -money if you will let me go.” - -This was good news, not for its financial content but because we had -no previous evidence against this man Fay save that he had TNT in his -possession. Here he was, trying to confirm our suspicions. - -“How much will you give me?” Barnitz parleyed. - -“All you want--any amount!” - -“Fifty thousand?” - -“Yes, fifty thousand, if you want it.” - -“Got it with you?” Barnitz asked instantly. - -“No, I haven’t got it all, but I can get it. I’ll pay you a hundred -dollars now as a guarantee, and I’ll give you the balance at noon -to-morrow.” - -Barnitz called two of the other men. “Get this,” he said, and turning -to Fay: “All right, where’s your money?” Fay paid him. Then they -took him to the Weehawken headquarters, guilty at least of attempted -bribery, and Barnitz turned in the cash as Exhibit A. - -We suspected that he had something more than the possession of -explosives to conceal, and so he had, for a search of his rooms and the -garage brought to light the parts for a number of thoroughly ingenious -mechanical contrivances which, although they were of a new type, we -immediately recognized as bombs. In a packing case at the storage -warehouse were four bombs finished and ready to fill. He had apparently -intended to manufacture them on a large scale, for in addition to his -trial quantity of TNT Fay had twenty-five sticks of dynamite, 450 -pounds of chlorate of potash, four hundred percussion caps, and two -hundred bomb cylinders. Apparently, too, he had German sympathies, for -we found in his rooms a regulation German army pistol, loaded. The -discovery of a chart of New York harbor, and the information, which -we soon got, that he had a motorboat in a slip opposite West 42nd -Street, pointed the finger of guilt toward the waterfront--which after -all those months of waiting was the direction in which we were most -interested. - -Fay told his story. He was a lieutenant of the German Army, detached -for special secret service. He ascribed his detachment from his command -to his own brilliant realization, as he was on the fighting front in -France, that if all the American shells that were being fired at him -from French seventy-fives and British eighteen-pounders could be sunk -before they reached France they would not cause his countrymen so -much annoyance, and also that pushed to its capacity that idea would -probably influence the outcome of the war. The fact is that Fay’s -career, training, education, languages and character were well known -to the secret service in Berlin, and that when they wanted to assign a -reliable and desperate man to Captain von Papen in New York, they sent -him. They knew that Fay had spent years in America, and that he was -trained in mechanics. They gave him $4,000 and a plan of campaign, and -said: “Go west.” - -It was natural that when he landed he should seek out his -brother-in-law, Walter Scholz, who was working as gardener on an -estate in Connecticut. It was natural, too, that when he set about -getting supplies for his bombs he should call on Dr. Kienzle, who made -clock machinery, for Dr. Kienzle had already written to the German -secret service in Berlin recommending just such work as Fay had come to -undertake. When he came to require explosives, it was only natural that -Kienzle should refer him to his friend Max Breitung, with the result -which we have seen, and naturally Paul Daeche, who was a good friend -of both Kienzle and Breitung (he had tried to return to Germany with -both of them on the _Kronprinzessin Cecilie_ when she put out of New -York and put in to Bar Harbor in late July, 1914)--naturally Daeche was -interested in Fay’s projects and devices, and helped him with them. -Daeche was one of those doubtful Germans who had come to America to -“study business methods”--in short a commercial spy, willing to make a -living. - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y._ - -Lieutenant Fay’s Motor Boat] - -Fay was crestfallen after his arrest. He worried, first, over what his -government would think of him when he had left home promising that not -a single munitions’ ship would leave New York and reach the Allies; -second, because revealing his commission to destroy those ships would -place Germany in a bad light with other neutral nations; third, for -fear he might implicate the Imperial German Embassy at Washington. He -protected the Embassy for a time, and then admitted that his plans had -only been waiting a word from von Papen and Boy-Ed for consummation. -His mines were all ready to be set, and the attachés, whom he had met, -had not given the word. All his clever craftsmanship had gone for -nothing. - -The bombs were so constructed that they might be attached under water -to the rudder-post of a vessel as she lay at her pier. Inside the -bomb case was a clockwork, so poised as to fire two rifle cartridges -into a chamber of ninety pounds of TNT. Lieut. Robert S. Glasburn, of -Fort Wadsworth, who testified at Fay’s trial, is my authority for the -statement that the government requires only 100 pounds of TNT, exploded -at a depth of fifteen feet under water, to destroy a dreadnought; -Fay’s ninety pounds would have torn the rudder out like a toothpick -and ripped away the entire after part of the vessel. The helmsman of -the vessel himself was unconsciously to have set the bomb off, for the -clockwork was geared to a wire attached to the rudder itself in such a -way that each normal swing of the rudder would wind up the mechanism -until it fired the cartridge. The bomb chamber was fitted with rubber -gaskets so that no water would be admitted before the charge had done -its work. Fay was a skilful hand, and had done the assembling himself. -Scholz bought the materials at various machine shops about New York, -Kienzle supplied the mechanisms and approved the finished product. -Breitung contributed 400 pounds of chlorate of potash to make a German -holiday, and Daeche just hung around and helped everybody. - -Fay knew it was easy to approach a pier from the water-side, for he -had spent hours fishing idly in the river to determine that very fact. -Just as soon as the military attaché said the word, he and Scholz were -to put out into the darkness of the river in their fast motorboat and -visit ten ships sailing for England and France, donning a diver’s suit, -and attaching a bomb to each rudder. He would first slip alongside the -police patrol boats, whose haunts he knew, and steal the guns from -them, counting on the swiftness of his own craft to get away from -pursuers. He even entertained the possibility of visiting the British -patrol cruisers outside the harbor to fix bombs to them--though hardly -seriously, I suspect. He had made a different type of bomb, resembling -a telescope, in which the carefully timed dissolution of a white -powder would release a firing pin on a large quantity of potassium -chlorate. This type he proposed to smuggle into the cargo. When he had -created such a reign of terror in New York harbor that no ship dared -leave, he would go to Boston and Philadelphia and do likewise, then -to Chicago and Buffalo to paralyze lake shipping, and thence to New -Orleans and San Francisco and home by way of New York or Mexico. It was -a great pity, he said, that he had been arrested, for this program had -been cancelled. He wished he had got word to start sooner. He had had a -few bombs ready for some time. Then there came a slack period, and he -sent Daeche to Bridgeport on a little side mission for Germany: to get -some dum-dum bullets. These Fay intended to forward to Berlin through -von Papen to support a protest from Germany to the United States that -we were shipping dum-dum bullets to the Allies. We were not, naturally, -but that did not prevent his bringing back a few bullets with the -jackets carefully notched by a German agent in Bridgeport. - -We had heard enough of what he had intended to do, and of his -disappointment. What had he accomplished? What ships had he blown up? -Was he responsible for the five fires in the hold of the _Craigside_ -on July 24? No. Did he make the bombs found on the _Arabic_ on July 27? -Did he cause the fires on the _Assuncion de Larrinaga_, the _Rotterdam_ -or the _Santa Anna_, and did he put a bomb aboard the _Williston_? He -did not, he assured me. - -I showed him the _Kirkoswald_ bomb. - -“Did you ever see that?” - -“No,” he answered. - -“Didn’t you make that?” - -“I did not,” he replied, and laughed. “That’s a joke. I see now why -they sent me over to this country--they wanted someone to make bombs -that would do some damage. That’s crude work.” - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y._ - -The Rudder Bomb - -A Closer View of the Rudder Bomb] - -His answer was truthful. We had to admit it for there was absolutely no -evidence to connect him with any specific act outside his confession, -and we had to find comfort in the fact that he was guilty at least of -having intended to continue the reign of terror along the wharves. -Bombs had been found or fires had broken out on no less than twenty-two -vessels bound out of New York up to the time we closed on Fay--and not -one was his prey. He was tried with Scholz and Daeche. The only law -then applying to his case, and the one under which he was tried, -charged him with “conspiracy to defraud the insurance underwriters” -who had insured cargoes on certain ships. When the charge was read to -him, Fay innocently asked: “What are underwriters?” He found out. Fay -went to Atlanta for eight years, Scholz for six, and Daeche for four. -Kienzle and Breitung were not brought to trial and after we went to -war were invited to join various other Germans in an internment camp. -Fay had been at Atlanta a month when he escaped. German friends gave -him clothes and helped him to Baltimore, where Paul Koenig met him and -paid him $450, with injunctions to go to San Francisco and get more. -For some reason the fugitive feared that there was a plot against his -life in San Francisco, although he had protected the “great people,” so -instead of going west he fled immediately to Mexico. From there he fled -to Spain, and it was not until the summer of 1918 that he was caught -there. - -He was a bold and important criminal in his field, and we were glad -to have brought him in. He was not the one we wanted most, not if our -sugar theory was sound. The pursuit of Fay had certainly scared that -theory up an alley. It was high time we got out of the alley and back -into Main Street. - - - - -VII - -ALONG THE WATERFRONT - -II - -“_Damn Him, Rintelen!_” - - -The pursuit of Robert Fay unearthed what trial lawyers delight in -calling “not one scintilla of evidence” that he had actually set fire -to a ship. Fay was punished for what he intended to do and not for any -real achievement for the German cause. - -Yet the thought persisted in our minds that he knew who was making and -placing ship bombs. He professed ignorance. “I do know this much,” he -said, after a long session of futile questioning, “I do know that a -certain man paid another man $10,000 to make those bombs. I won’t tell -you who he is, because I think he is now a prisoner in the Tower of -London, and he might get into more trouble. You can make what you like -out of that.” - -We made this out of it--that the prisoner then in the Tower to whom -Fay referred was probably Franz Rintelen. He was a German of prominent -station who had had a vision quite like Fay’s--a vision of interrupting -American shipping, and so damming the flood of war supplies. In early -1915 he had come to America equipped with plenty of authority and a -bank credit limited only by the resources of the German Empire, and -had spent six months here trying to exercise that authority and spend -the money in numerous ways. He had tried to buy rifles of the American -government, he had fostered peace demonstrations, promoted strikes, -lobbied for an embargo on munitions and made himself busily useless in -numerous other ways, only to sail for home in the fall of the year--and -fall into the hands of the British. - -But the charges which I have just cited, and which are now fully -confirmed against this man, were not then known to us, and Fay’s tip -was too ambiguous to help us at the moment. Instead of ceasing after -his arrest, the fires continued. The day after we caught Fay in the -woods the steamer _Rio Lages_ which had sailed a few days previously -took fire out at sea. A week later a blaze started in the hold of -the _Euterpe_. The _Rochambeau_, of the French line, caught fire at -sea on November 6, and the next day there was an explosion aboard -the _Ancona_. The _Tyningham_ suffered two fires on her voyage east -during early December. There was a maddening certainty about it all -that suggested that every ship that left port must have nothing in her -hold except hungry rats, parlor matches, oily waste and free kerosene. -Never in the history of the port had so many marine fires occurred in -a single year. Marine insurance was away up and our patience was away -down. - -The steamship companies put on special details of guards to watch the -vessels from the moment they entered port until they sailed again. -We resumed patrolling the river in various disguises. Fay’s swift -motorboat had disappeared, but there were plenty of others, and the -men of the Bomb Squad suffered real hardship in all sorts of inclement -weather. It seemed as though every item of cargo was watched as it -passed into the hold, and every stranger about the piers carefully -followed, but there was absolutely nothing to excite suspicion. So we -returned to our sugar theory and the Chenangoes. - -I mentioned the fact that they were a floating tribe in more senses -than one, and that the same man rarely came back twice for employment. -A few familiar faces, however, could occasionally be spotted in the -crowd at work loading the lighters. We made it our business to study -these steady workers and found them for the most part a harmless lot of -Scandinavians. - -Those who came, worked once, and vanished, were of all nationalities, -with a considerable German representation. Some of them used to come -from Hoboken, and by a process of elimination we found that certain of -the Hoboken delegation were sailors from the idle North German Lloyd -and Hamburg-American ships. We followed them and asked enough questions -about them to learn the entire history of any civilized people, but -nothing in the form of legal evidence resulted. A friend who knew the -methods taught in the Wilhelmstrasse for destroying property said it -would be futile for us to follow those men anyway, for the destroying -agent himself rarely knows the men higher up, the real conspirators. -So it began to look as if even the arrest of a guilty Chenango would -not supply the background necessary to picture the bomb system in its -entirety. - -On one of the early days of 1916 Detectives Barth, Corell and Senff -reported for duty and were assigned to Hoboken. They were instructed -to hang about the restaurants, saloons and hotels where the officers -and petty-officers from the German ships were accustomed to gather, -and posing as confidential German agents they were to fish about for -whatever might take their bait. All three men are fine Americans of -German descent, with an excellent command of the German language, so -they got on well with the longshore folk they met in the “stubes” of -Hoboken. They occasionally suggested in a vague way that they Were -the picked servants of the Kaiser, and aroused some interest and no -suspicion among their new acquaintances. Every man has more or less -desire to be a “secret service man” and in looking back on the German -antics in America during the war I think one may attribute as much of -their activity to the dramatic instinct, as to their cupidity or their -real patriotic zeal. (Paul Koenig is an exaggerated example of what -I mean.) And so it was with those to whom the three Bomb Squad men -talked: a nod here, and a wink there, a whisper and a wag of the head, -and they took on some importance. - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, by International Film Service, Inc._ - -Franz Rintelen] - -Their reward came when a German whom Barth had picked up suggested -quietly that he knew a man who had been doing work for the government -(German) and wouldn’t Barth like to meet him? Barth would. So with -some ceremony Barth was introduced as one of von Bernstorff’s special -agents to a funny little old man who looked like a cartoon of the late -Prussian eagle. He was Captain Charles von Kleist of Hoboken. The three -lunched together in Hahn’s restaurant, in Park Row, New York, and von -Kleist found Barth agreeable. He was very glad to meet a real agent, -for he had a grudge against a fellow over in Hoboken who said he was a -member of the German secret service. - -“You can’t be too careful of those fellows,” Barth said. “There are a -lot of fakes around. What’s he done to you?” - -“This Scheele, he has a laboratory, where he has been doing work, -making some things. I was his superintendent now for a long time, and -he owes me several hundred dollars, but he does not pay me. I think von -Igel ought to know about it, and perhaps Captain von Papen himself.” - -“So do I,” said Barth. “I’ll see that it gets to him. What was it you -were doing over there?” - -Von Kleist was a chemist. Dr. Walter T. Scheele had been employing him -in his laboratory at 1133 Clinton Street, Hoboken, in a factory which -was ostensibly for the manufacture of agricultural chemicals. The real -business they transacted was the manufacture of bombs. Ernest Becker, -the chief electrician of the North German Lloyd liner _Friedrich der -Grosse_, and Carl Schmidt, her chief engineer, had made the containers -out of sheet metal. These Becker had delivered to Scheele, and up in -the laboratory the containers had been filled with explosive. Becker -would come then and take them away, and the bombs had been used to -great advantage, von Kleist continued, in harassing the shipping. But -what good did it do him, he asked Barth, if he got no pay for it? - -“You wait,” returned the “secret agent.” “I’ll get you fixed up. I know -a man who is close to von Igel, and I’ll have him meet you. If what you -say is true, you certainly have something coming to you. Wait till I -get this other man.” - -A few days passed. Then von Kleist came again to Hahn’s restaurant, and -was introduced to “Herr Deane,” who Barth said spoke no German, but -was a good man in spite of the handicap. A trace of suspicion crossed -the old chemist’s face, and Barth hastened to add: “We have to use all -kinds of people to fool these stupid Yankees, see?” This bit of heavy -satire reassured von Kleist, and he found Deane a likable person, who -seemed interested in his case against Scheele. He went over the ground -again. “If you want any more proof I’ll show you,” he concluded. “Come -to my house.” “Deane” (who votes under the name of George D. Barnitz, -of the Bomb Squad) joined Barth and accompanied von Kleist to his house -at 1121 Garden Street, Hoboken, and out of the muddy back yard the old -man dug up an empty bomb container, _almost an exact duplicate of the -“Kirkoswald” bomb_! “There is one of them--and I have filled dozens -like that,” he said. - -“Let’s go for a ride,” Barth suggested. “We can go down to Coney -Island and have supper--the hotel has opened up--and we’ll talk things -over.” The old man felt very amiable towards his new friends, and was -a talkative and appreciative guest. They dined at the Shelburne and -later Barnitz wrote out a statement of von Kleist’s services as the -latter outlined them. “This is just for the sake of regularity, you -understand. I have to have a written report to give to the chief, or -else you won’t get yours. You can sign this as your formal statement.” - -“All right,” von Kleist agreed, and signed. “How long do you think it -will be before I could get some money?” - -“Oh, don’t worry about that part of it,” Barth said. “I tell you what -we’ll do. We’ll all three go up to see the chief now--I want him to -meet you anyhow, and you can supply any more facts that we may not have -down.” - -So they came up to my office--not von Igel’s. Barnitz and Barth said -his expression changed when he entered headquarters and knew he had -been betrayed. He said, “I see now why you have been so good to me.” - -The prisoner was docile. He said he knew he was caught and he wanted to -help us round up the rest. I showed him the _Kirkoswald_ bomb, and told -him where it had been found. “Yes,” he said, “Captain Steinburg and -Captain Bode came to the laboratory after they saw in the paper that -the bomb had been found in Marseilles and they gave Dr. Scheele the -devil because it had not gone off. It was supposed to explode within -four days, but it didn’t explode in twelve.” “How many did you make?” -I asked. “I don’t know how many,” the prisoner answered. The ones that -were put on the _Inchmoor_ and the _Dankdale_ went off all right, and -there were two fires on the _Tyningham_. “I gave one box of thirty -of them to two Irishmen from New Orleans, O’Reilly and O’Leary. They -took them down there to set fire to ships with them.” - -“Did you give the rest to Becker?” - -“Yes. And he gave them to Captain Wolpert. Wolpert is superintendent of -the piers of the Atlas Line over in Hoboken. Captain Bode, he is also -a superintendent, for the Hamburg-American Line. Captain Steinburg I -don’t know much about, but he is in Germany now.” - -[Illustration: Henry Barth, U. S. Army, who posed as the German Secret -Service agent in the von Rintelen ship bomb cases] - -I thanked him for his information, and asked him if he would tell me -everything about the plot, from its beginning up to the moment. He said -he would; that he was going to help the United States now. I excused -myself for a moment and left the room. - -Von Kleist saw an electrician in a rough shirt and overalls repairing -the lights in the room, and struck up a conversation with him. The -electrician’s English carried a slight German accent, and von Kleist -said: - -“Sie sind deutsch, nicht wahr?” (You’re German?) - -“Ja,” replied the workman. - -Still using the mother tongue the prisoner asked the workman to do -him a favor. “Deliver these notes for me, will you? I can’t go out of -here, and I would like to send word to some people.” And he wrote on -two messages, one addressed to Wolpert and Bode, the other to Schmidt -and Becker. The substance of both was the same: “Beat it--I’m pinched.” -Detective Senff had been disguised as an electrician and stationed in -the room for the express purpose of getting any statement the prisoner -made--a practice not usually necessary, but this was a serious case. -Evidently von Kleist’s profession of transferred loyalty to the United -States was only a scrap of paper. We locked him up. - -That night Walsh and Murphy watched Captain Bode’s house in a New -Jersey suburb, while Sterett and Fenelly covered Wolpert’s house -nearby. Both men reported at their respective piers for work the next -morning, and both were invited by the detectives to come over to -headquarters “to consult with us in a little waterfront investigation -we were carrying on.” Senff went to the North German Lloyd piers to -call on Becker. The guard at the pier-head put through a telephone -connection, and Senff told Becker he wanted to see him on an urgent -matter. Presently Becker appeared at the pier gates, and through the -bars Senff whispered: “Von Kleist wants to see you. Trouble--” Becker -returned in an instant with his hat and came to headquarters. A little -later in the day the net caught Schmidt, and after a year and a half of -waiting we had rounded up in twenty-four hours five promising prisoners. - -Von Kleist, we knew, was not altogether reliable; Bode was positively -robust in his denial of any knowledge of the affair. Becker, a thin -blond youth, made a complete confession. Yes, he had made the bomb -containers--several hundred of them, under Schmidt’s orders. He had -filled them with chlorate of potash and sulphuric acid at the Scheele -laboratory and had seen Captain Wolpert take them away. At that -moment Wolpert, a hulking red figure, who had been conversing fairly -freely, shut up tight, and refused to answer further questions. Becker -acknowledged that he had made the _Kirkoswald_ bomb, and added that the -later cases were larger than that. - -“Captain Wolpert,” I said, “don’t you think you’re doing Germany more -harm than good by doing this sort of thing?” - -“Damn it!” he exploded. “I gave it up June first. But you’ve got to do -what those bull-headed fellows tell you, haven’t you?” - -“Did you know Robert Fay, Captain?” I asked. - -“Yes--I met him one time in Schimmel’s office with Rintelen,” he -replied. - -“You mean _von_ Rintelen?” I asked, using the aristocratic prefix which -Rintelen had assumed. - -“No!” bellowed Wolpert. “Not _von_, damn him--_Rintelen_!” - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright, International Film Service_ - -Ernest Becker - - _Copyright, International Film Service_ - -Captain Charles von Kleist (left) and Captain Otto Wolpert (right)] - -The result of our first examination of the four was the arrest of Carl -Schmidt, chief engineer of the _Friedrich der Grosse_, and three of -his assistants, Georg Praedel, William Paradies and Friedrich Garbade. -We covered the laboratory, but Dr. Scheele had fled, to Florida. There -he received a telegram telling him it was safe for him to return to -New York. He had traveled as far as Baltimore when another telegram -informed him of the arrests, and he fled to Cuba, and it was March -of 1918 before he was arrested by the Havana police and extradited -to New York. The laboratory was in a secret room on the top floor of -the factory, accessible only through a trap door, and the trap itself -was pierced with eyeholes so that anyone at work inside could see -who was outside. We found a rich store of explosive and incendiary -chemicals--all the ingredients of the bombs, which Lieutenant Busby -brought back as evidence. Scheele was a finished chemist, and a German -spy of 23 years’ standing. It had never occurred to him that von -Kleist would squeal for want of money. “How good a German are you?” he -had asked von Kleist when he engaged him in March, 1915. (The first -project of the two was to saturate fertilizer with lubricating oil and -thus smuggle the oil into Germany.) “I’m as good a German as you ever -pretended to be,” von Kleist answered. “You are not,” said Scheele, -“or you wouldn’t have taken out naturalization papers here. I didn’t -do that.” “Well, I couldn’t have got my captain’s sailing license if I -hadn’t,” said von Kleist. - -Loyalty to Germany alone had not satisfied the appetite of von Kleist, -for he had caught a glimpse that night of the check for $10,000, signed -“Hansen” which Scheele proudly waved as evidence of what Germany -thought of his ship-destroying ability. In the Austrian-subsidized -Transatlantic Trust Company, where von Rintelen had deposited a large -amount of money on his arrival from Germany, he had an account in the -name of Hansen. Here then was the explanation of Fay’s remark about his -friend who was a prisoner in England. - -So far, so good. We knew that Becker, Schmidt and the other engineers -had made the bombs, and that Becker and Scheele had filled them. On -the evidence the four were convicted; Becker and von Kleist were sent -to Atlanta for two years, and the other four to the penitentiary for -six months. We were satisfied, but could not prove, that Wolpert and -Bode had disposed of the bombs where they would do the most damage. -They refused naturally to convict themselves, were admitted to bail of -$25,000, which was provided by friendly Germans, and were interned when -we went to war. The four assistants served their terms and then were -extended the privileges of internment camps as dangerous enemy aliens. - -So far, so good, but the snake was not yet dead--we had only cut off a -section of his tail. To be sure, he could not get about with his former -vigor. The ship fires, which had continued through February, stopped, -and one can count on his fingers the fires that broke out on ships -after that date. Our theory had served its purpose--but who were the -men higher up? - -When Paul Koenig had been taken into custody in late December, 1915, we -had found in his house in West 94th Street an address book containing -some hundreds of names of folk with whom he apparently did business. -The memorandum book is mentioned elsewhere in this volume in detail, -but the present case may show just what specific use we made of the -catalogue of spies which the obliging Koenig had left in our hands. -Among other entries was this: - - “Boniface during the day--3396 Worth--ask for - - Boniface at night 1993 Chelsea--Never home until 10:30 P. M.” - -We had gone systematically through the book, checking up our knowledge -of each person mentioned, in order to see whether the trail of Koenig, -von Papen, Boy-Ed and the Hamburg-American interests might not lead us -to other unexpected outrages, and so we were seeking this Boniface who -was “never home until 10:30 P. M.” For months he proved elusive, but -not long after the arrest of the Hoboken bomb-manufacturers we located -a certain Bonford Boniface. - -He had only a single room for lodgings, and we called there one day -while he was known to be elsewhere and made a careful examination of -its contents. Our first signal that Boniface might be off-color was the -discovery of a file of clippings from newspapers describing the arrest -of von Kleist and his crew. Apparently he was interested in German -bombs. There was no evidence of the reason for his interest, however, -and the detectives were about to ‘leave the room as they had found it -when they ran across two letters signed “Karl Schimmel,” one postmarked -Buenos Aires and one from Holland. Both were colorless messages asking -how fortune was treating Boniface. - -Now a cat may look at a king, and a man may receive friendly notes from -the Argentine and Holland without molestation, but I recalled something -of this name Karl Schimmel. He had come under suspicion before, first, -when the so-called “Do-Do Chemical Company” of 395 Broadway had applied -to the fire department for permission to store dynamite on the premises -of its executive, Karl Schimmel, at 127 Concord Avenue, the Bronx. The -application had been denied, and the fire department had asked the -Bomb Squad to look up the Do-Do Chemical Company and its officers. It -had no factory, no visible business, and as we presently found out no -Karl Schimmel, for he became alarmed at our investigations and fled to -Mexico, and South America, and then, with the aid of Count Luxburg he -made his way back to Germany. Again, Wolpert had spoken of having met -Fay in Schimmel’s office with Rintelen--but Wolpert would not talk. -There was a reasonable margin of doubt in our minds of Schimmel’s -behavior--enough to warrant Barth’s going to Boniface and asking him to -come to headquarters. - -Schimmel, Boniface told us, had employed him for a time at $25 a week. -And what had he done in return? Nothing more than provide Schimmel -with a list of weekly sailings of all steamships leaving New York for -Europe, together with a description of their cargoes. Why had Schimmel, -a lawyer, been interested in sailings and cargoes? Boniface said he -did not know. How had Boniface compiled the list? At first, he said, -by scouting along the waterfront, picking up scraps of conversation -here and there and keeping an observant eye on the trucks bound for -the piers. Pier-guards began to notice him a trifle too attentively, -the waterfront was too many miles long, twenty-five dollars a week was -only twenty-five dollars a week, and Boniface, it must be remarked, was -racially thrifty. So he adopted the much simpler expedient of buying -each morning a copy of the _New York Herald_, a newspaper which pays -some attention to shipping, net cost in those days one cent, copying -sailing dates, hours and destinations from its columns, and conjuring -the cargoes out of his imagination. - -Where had he delivered his reports? To Schimmel in his office at 51 -Chambers Street. Whom had he seen there? Why, Rintelen, once, but he -didn’t know what his business there was. Another time a man named -Herman Ebling. (Ebling, it developed later, had been directed by -Wolpert, who had had his orders from á Captain Steinburg, to take a -tube of glanders germs and a dipping stick, seek out the wharves where -horses were being shipped abroad for artillery and transport, and -insert the germ-soaked stick into the nostrils of every third horse he -could reach, in order that a serious epidemic might presently break -out. Ebling claims he threw the tube overboard without fulfilling his -mission.) Where was Ebling? Boniface professed not to know. Whom else -had he seen? Well, there was another German lawyer, Martin Illsen, -counsel for the _New Yorker Herold_, a German daily. - -We sent for Illsen and questioned him of his dealings with Schimmel. -He had written an article which he sent to the newspapers protesting -against the shipment of arms and ammunition to the Allies, for which -Schimmel had paid him $100. That he said was the extent of his service. - -[Illustration: Sergeant Thomas Jenkins, U. S. Army, who successfully -located a part of one of the bombs in a locker in the German Turn -Verein in Brooklyn] - -“Did you ever see this man Ebling there?” I inquired, feeling that -in Ebling we might find the missing link between the bomb-makers and -the fires. “Yes,” Illsen replied. “Where is he now?” Illsen did not -know. “Do you remember meeting anyone else in the office?” “Yes, there -was a lithographer. His name is Uhde. He comes, I think, from Brooklyn -but I do not know where he is.” - -It is our business to find out where people are, and as the reader may -already have observed, to follow a case through from one man to another -if we have to question a thousand individuals on the way to our goal. -We took up the search for Uhde, and investigated everyone of that name -in Greater New York. More months had passed before we finally found the -man we were after--Walter Uhde. We pounced on him without the formality -of an examination, and searched his room, to find some correspondence -with Schimmel and more newspaper accounts of the arrest and trial -of the Hoboken gang. It was this evidence and the pressure which it -brought to bear upon his conscience that made Uhde give up evidence -enough to picture the bomb plot in its entirety. - -It began, as the outbreak of the ship fires already had indicated, -in the early months of 1915. One winter night there was a secret -meeting in the restaurant of the Brooklyn Labor Lyceum. In a private -dining-room sat Dr. Scheele, the chemist, Captain Wolpert, the -dock-superintendent, Karl Schimmel, the lawyer, Uhde, the lithographer, -Eugene Reistert, the proprietor of the restaurant, and a certain -Captain Steinburg. This man was particularly dangerous to the welfare -of the United States. His real name was Erich von Steinmetz, and he was -a captain in the German navy. At that time he had just come to America -by way of Vladivostock, dodging the immigration examiners by travelling -in woman’s dress, and evading the quarantine authorities by concealing -in the fold of the dress the same tubes of glanders germs with which -he sent Ebling to inoculate the horses for the Allies. Steinmetz was -Rintelen’s first and ablest assistant, and Schimmel was his second. -The two men outlined to the dinner party a plan to manufacture and -plant the bombs. The sailors would make the containers, Scheele would -see that they were filled and would act as paymaster for the group, -Schimmel and Wolpert would keep in touch with the sailings and cargoes, -and Wolpert, Uhde and Reistert would deliver them to the small fry who -could be hired to place them in sugar-bags and other freight. - -How well the plan succeeded we already know. Wolpert distributed the -bombs to several local points of German operation in the greater city, -and even Scheele had on one occasion carried a box full of bombs packed -only in sawdust from the laboratory over to the Labor Lyceum. Reistert -and Uhde tested a few of the infernal machines in the rear of the -building, and Uhde fancied them so much that he kept one as a souvenir, -stowed away in the toe of an old boot in his locker at the Turn -Verein, where Detectives Barth and Jenkins found it. The conspiracy -had originated in March; the first day of May, Wolpert gave a bomb to -a Chenango who smuggled it aboard the _Kirkoswald_, with the result -which we have followed. On May 7, 1915, the glorious _Lusitania_ was -torpedoed, and on the following morning, Karl Schimmel, coming into his -office and finding Illsen and Boniface there, exclaimed: - -“Ah--that U-boat commander has done well enough, but he has stolen all -the glory away from me. I had nine cigars on the _Lusitania_.” (For -“cigars” read “bombs.”) “If they had not torpedoed her the cigars would -have done the work!” - -He may have told the truth. His secret is at the bottom of the Atlantic -now, along with what shreds of respect the civilized world might -otherwise have had for Germany. It is certain that Schimmel tried to -place his “cigars” aboard the vessel, for Reistert had given Uhde $100 -and a little man named Klein a package of bombs with instructions to go -to a saloon in West Street near the White Star piers. There they were -to meet a third man, to whom they would deliver the package, and that -man would see them safely aboard the ship. The man did not appear at -the appointed hour, so they left the package with the bartender, and -went to the missing man’s house in Harlem, where they paid him his fee. -It was the same Klein who had been carrying a bomb in his pocket one -afternoon when Schimmel had sent him to South Ferry to place it aboard -a ship. But the bomb caught fire, and before he could rid himself of it -it had burned through his clothing, so Schimmel magnanimously gave him -$20 for a new suit and his trouble. And it was the same Klein whom we -found dead of disease in a hospital, beyond the law’s reach, when we -finally were tracing him for arrest. - -The stories of the culprits combined to lay at their door the origin -of most of the ship fires with which we had been afflicted for the -past two years. If nothing else had proved it, the cessation of the -fires would have been enough. We were anxious, after our twisting, -winding search, rather to have the guilty men convicted and placed in -safe-keeping than to fix definitely upon them the guilt for all of the -fires--that would have been practically impossible--but the very fact -that the fires ceased is sufficient evidence of their complete guilt. -It was not until October 17, 1917, six months after the United States -had gone to war, that our long hunt came to an end, and we arrested -Boniface, Reistert, Uhde and one Peter Zeffert. It was Zeffert who -confessed to having gone to Schimmel’s office one afternoon to help him -fill the bomb containers with chemicals. Reistert was there, and the -three took the bombs away in a taxi-cab to meet a destroying agent in -a waterfront saloon. The agent did not show up, and Messrs. Schimmel, -Reistert and Zeffert thereupon returned to the Chambers Street office -and unloaded the tubes. - -I am sorry that our laws were not at that time drastic enough to punish -the men as they deserved. James W. Osborne, the assistant United States -Attorney who tried the case, wove an admirable prosecution, and Judge -Harland B. Howe turned a stern face upon the prisoners. Wolpert had -been haled from Atlanta to answer to the new charge, as had von Kleist -and Becker. The engineers were brought out of their internment camps. -And last, and foremost of all, Franz Rintelen was there--returned -to us by the British to answer to a series of charges which he had -tried hard and expensively to conceal. The best our laws of the moment -could do for these men who had defiled our hospitality and destroyed -millions of dollars’ worth of property on our soil was to sentence them -to one-and-one-half years in Atlanta. It is to the everlasting credit -of Judge Howe that Rintelen, Wolpert, von Kleist, Becker, Praedel, -Paradies and Garbade received the maximum prison term, and the maximum -fine of $2,000 each. Under the espionage act later adopted each of them -could be sentenced to twenty years and fined $10,000. - -Popular consent would have made short work of these men’s lives. -Justice had to preside over their trials, however, and they were -punished to the full extent of an inadequate law. A more drastic -criminal code would probably have frightened the German spies in the -United States, and it is equally true that German agents who were -caught in the net of the law laughed up their sleeves as they made use -of one after another of the law’s technical provisions and privileges -to avert what would have been certain and swift death had they worn -the field-gray uniforms of their nation. They have not suffered in -proportion to their crimes. But their nation is paying the price. - -[Illustration: Norman H. White, of Boston, a civilian attached to the -Military Intelligence, who unearthed numerous German intrigues] - -There is something in the spectacle of Rintelen serving his sentence -at Atlanta--a long sentence, which he tried numerous tricks to -evade--that is peculiarly German, and that comes more nearly satisfying -our popular desire for retribution than the plight of any of his -wretched employees. He came to America arrogant, rich, defiant, cruel, -and sly--to wage war upon us. One of his first acts was to sign his -check for $10,000 to manufacture bombs to destroy our shipping. When -certain Americans crossed his reeking trail he ran away in terror. -By great good luck he was captured, discovered, and returned and by -considerable persistence and patience on the part of the Bomb Squad -one of his trails was laid bare. (He had many others.) He suffered -great indignity, as he thought, at being tried with the manual laborers -whom he had employed and left in trouble. He was convicted and sent -to prison. He pleaded ill-health, though he was a strong man, and -he tried to be transferred to a more lenient prison. He invoked the -aid of his crumbling government, who informed Washington that unless -he were surrendered to Germany that nation would take the lives of -American soldiers captured in battle. Every trick failed, and Franz -Rintelen, tried not as a prisoner of war for what morally were acts of -war against the United States, but by our peace courts, and under our -lenient peace laws, must now serve out his term in an American prison, -although his nation has given up the war and begged for clemency. - -Rintelen used to suggest that he was an illegitimate relative of the -late Kaiser. It may be true: the two have something in common. The -Kaiser has become plain Hohenzollern, and the chief German bomb-plotter -in the United States, is, as Wolpert angrily said that day at -headquarters, “not _von_ Rintelen, damn him--_Rintelen_!” - - - - -VIII - -MR. HOLT’S FOUR DAYS - - -The facts were apparently unrelated to each other. Only a flight of -imagination would have connected them, and imagination, though it is -often valuable in speculating on what probably happened, is not court -evidence of what did happen. In the order of their occurrence, the -facts were these: - -1. On April 16, 1906, Leone Krembs Muenter, wife of Erich Muenter, an -instructor in German in Harvard College, died, soon after the birth -of her second baby. The circumstances of her death were suspicious, -and the Coroner directed that the stomach of the body be taken to the -Harvard Medical School for examination. Dr. Muenter, on the following -day, requested that he be allowed to escort the remains from Cambridge -to Chicago for burial, and this permission was granted. With the -children he made the gloomy pilgrimage west. The body of the dead wife -was cremated. Dr. Muenter wrote at once from Chicago to the New York -Life Insurance Company directing that the policy on his wife’s life be -made payable to her sister, instead of to himself. The examination of -the lining of the stomach had indicated slow arsenical poisoning and a -warrant was issued at once for the husband. But it reached Chicago to -find him gone--no one knew where. - -2. In a corridor of the main floor of the Senate wing of the United -States Capitol at Washington used to stand a telephone switchboard. On -the night of Friday, July 2, 1915, an explosion near it blew fragments -of the board through the walls of the telephone booths adjoining. No -one was about, which was lucky, for the wrecked switchboard was not the -only damage done: plaster rained from the walls and ceilings, every -door nearby was blown open (one was a door into the Vice-President’s -office which had not been in use for forty years), the east reception -room was wrecked, a gaping hole was torn in the stonework of the wall, -and fragments of windows, mirrors, crystal chandeliers and telephone -apparatus flew in every direction. - -3. In his country home on East Island, where Long Island reaches out -into the Sound to form Glen Cove, John Pierpont Morgan was having -breakfast on the morning of Saturday, July 3, 1915. It was nearly -half past nine, and the members of his family, together with several -holiday guests, were in the breakfast room, which is on the eastern -side of the house. An automobile drove up to the front door, and the -butler was confronted by a man of dingy appearance who asked, in an -accent suggesting German, to see Mr. Morgan. He presented a card -bearing the legend “Society Summer Directory: represented by Thomas C. -Lester.” The butler wanted better credentials and asked for them. The -stranger pulled a revolver from his pocket, covered the butler with it -and stepping inside the door demanded, “Where is Morgan?” - -With good presence of mind the butler answered, “In the library,”--the -library being in the west wing of the house, and away from the -breakfast room--and stepped toward the library door. Unfortunately it -was open, and the intruder, who was following with his gun aimed, saw -that the room was empty, and that the butler had lied. At the same -moment Physick, the butler, realized that his ruse had not worked. He -shouted, “Upstairs, Mr. Morgan! Upstairs!” hoping by the urgency of his -cry to convey to the banker a warning that something was distinctly -wrong and at the same time to get him out of range. Mr. Morgan at once -hurried up a rear stairway and began to search for the trouble. A -moment later Mrs. Morgan joined him. They proceeded from one room to -another, found nothing, and asked a nurse what was wrong. As the little -search party reached the head of the main staircase, with Mrs. Morgan -in the lead, she caught sight of a strange man with a revolver in each -hand. Lester had come up the front staircase. Mr. Morgan saw his wife -between himself and the guns, brushed her aside, and charged. The man -fired twice as the two went to the floor, grappling, and the hammer -of his revolver clicked twice more on caps that did not explode. Two -wounds, one in the front of the abdomen, and the other in the left -thigh, did not prevent Mr. Morgan, from overpowering his assailant: he -lay with the full weight of his 220 pounds on the man’s body, pinning -down the revolvers to the floor. One of the guns Mrs. Morgan and the -nurse wrenched from the man’s hand; the other Mr. Morgan captured. -Physick had meanwhile roused the servants, and he stunned the intruder -with a lump of coal as he lay on the floor. Lester’s unconscious form -was then trussed up and taken to the Glen Cove jail. - -There, briefly, were the facts. The Morgan shooting I have recounted -in some detail to show the desperation with which the stranger -trespassed, and attempted murder. It was not an affair which suggested -a motive of robbery, but apparently a cold attempt at assassination. -The Capitol explosion had been fruitless in its results so far as the -loss of human life was concerned, and its origin was at that time a -complete mystery. The Muenter affair had long since passed out of my -memory. How to get evidence to establish motives for the crimes, fix -the entire responsibility, and punish the offenders? - -Never, probably, has long-distance communication played a swifter or -more helpful part in a case. In order to show just how a nation which -has been called to the hunt can enter into the pursuit, let us follow -the developments in their strict chronological order. - -At seven o’clock Saturday morning, before Lester had appeared at the -door of the Morgan house, the newspapers in Washington received a -typewritten form letter, signed “R. Pearce,” protesting in excited -terms against the shipment of munitions to the nations at war. Its -second paragraph read: - - “In connection with the Senate affair would it not be well to - stop and consider what we are doing?” - -The writer stated further: - - “Sorry, I, too, had to use explosives (for the last time I - trust). It is the export kind, and ought to make enough noise - to be heard above the voices that clamor for war and blood - money. This explosion is the exclamation point to my appeal for - peace.” - -Again he wrote: - - “By the way, don’t put this on the Germans or Bryan. I am an - old-fashioned American...” - -And he added, in a penned postscript: - - “We would, of course, not sell to the Germans if they could buy - here, and since so far we only sold to the Allies, neither side - should object if we stopped.” - -At half-past nine o’clock the shooting occurred at Glen Cove. About the -same time Dr. Charles Munroe, consulting expert of the Bureau of Mines, -was called to the Capitol to make an examination of the wreckage of the -explosion. He soon arrived at the conclusion that the shock had been -caused by no spontaneous combustion, but by a fair quantity of high -explosive. - -While he was prying about among the débris, Lester was being lodged in -the Glen Cove jail. His bonds were loosened, leaving him a very sore -set of ankles and wrists, his cut forehead was bound up, and when he -was questioned, he gave out the following statement: - - “I, Frank Holt, of Ithaca, N. Y., and lately professor of - German at Cornell, do hereby freely make to William E. Luyster, - justice of the peace, the following statement of the facts - concerning my visit to the home of J. P. Morgan at East Island, - Glen Cove, N. Y. - - “I have been in New York City about ten days and had made a - previous trip to the home of Mr. Morgan last week. My motive in - coming here was to try to force Mr. Morgan to use his influence - with the manufacturers of munitions in the United States, and - with the millionaires who are financing the war loans, to have - an embargo put on shipments of war munitions, so as to relieve - the American people from complicity in the death of thousands - of our European brothers. - - “If Germany should be able to buy munitions here we would of - course positively refuse to sell to her. The reason that the - American people have not as yet stopped the shipments seems - to be that we are getting rich out of this traffic, but do we - not get enough prosperity out of non-contraband shipments? - And would it not be better for us to make what money we can - without causing the slaughter of Europeans? - - “I am very sorry that I had to cause the Morgan family this - unpleasantness, but I believe that if Mr. Morgan would put - his shoulder to the wheel he could accomplish what I have - endeavored to do. I wanted him to do the work I could not do. - I hope that he will do his share anyway. We must stop our - participation in the killing of Europeans, and God will take - care of the rest.” - -Lester, then, was not Lester at all, but Frank Holt. - -Meanwhile I knew nothing of what had transpired. I had risen that -Saturday morning looking forward to a day of relaxation and pleasure, -for there was to be a field day for the police at Gravesend Bay. On the -way down to the track I read with some interest of the explosion in the -Capitol, and then dismissed it from my mind: the newspapers, which had -been printed about one o’clock of that morning, carried no news except -a description of the effects of the explosion. Furthermore, it was a -holiday, with another to follow, and I proposed to enjoy it. - -About noon Police Commissioner Woods called me to the telephone, told -me hurriedly that Mr. Morgan had been “shot by a German,” and told me -to get down to Glen Cove as fast as possible. “Find out the man’s -motives and any accomplices he had,” the commissioner said. “Keep in -touch with me.” And hung up. I found Detective Coy of the Bomb Squad, -and a patrolman who knew German in case we should need an interpreter, -and after some delay in getting a car, we hastened to the little Glen -Cove jail. - -Then, at four o’clock, for the first time, I was told the facts as -Glen Cove knew them. A search of Holt’s person had disclosed two -revolvers, three sticks of dynamite, a number of loose cartridges, a -cartoon clipped from a Philadelphia newspaper, an express receipt, and -a scrap of paper bearing the names in pencilled handwriting of Mr. -Morgan’s children. Frank McCahill, the constable in charge, showed -me the statement Holt had made, and supplied the further information -that Holt had been identified by some of Mr. Morgan’s employees as a -man who had been seen on the estate two days before--on Thursday. Glen -Cove had been in a turmoil since the shooting. Newspaper reporters -and photographers had flocked to the jail, had taken photographs of -the prisoner, and already prints of the photographs were on their way -to every large newspaper in the country. His statement, as well as a -description of the man, had been telegraphed over the Associated and -United Press wires in every direction. So I decided to have a talk with -the prisoner himself. - -He was brought out of his cell, and we sat in comparative privacy on -two camp-stools in the corridor. He was a frail, slight fellow, with -deep eye-sockets, a prominent hook-nose, and a retreating chin. His -accent was certainly German. His name, he said, was Frank Holt, and -he was born in the United States. He told me he was forty years old, -that his father and mother had been born in America, although they had -both French and German ancestors, and that his wife and two children -were in Dallas. For several years, he said, he had taught in Vanderbilt -University, and during the year just past had been instructor in German -in Cornell University, at Ithaca. He had left Ithaca two weeks before, -and had stopped at a Mills Hotel in New York before coming down to Glen -Cove. - -“What did you try to kill Mr. Morgan for?” I asked. - -“I didn’t intend to kill him. I want to persuade him to use his -influence to stop the shipment of ammunition to Europe.” - -“Well, you chose a pretty strong means of persuading him, didn’t you? -What was the dynamite for?” - -“I was going to show him what was causing all the trouble--explosives.” - -He answered frankly, but not completely. The scrap of paper bearing -the names of the Morgan children, he said, was only a memorandum; -he had intended to hold them hostage until Mr. Morgan promised to -exert himself to stop the export of supplies to the Allies. No amount -of questioning would bring an answer as to where he had bought the -dynamite, but he readily volunteered the approximate addresses of the -shops where he had purchased the revolvers and cartridges. These facts -gave me something to work on, and I went outside to a telephone while -he was locked up again. - -Meanwhile the whole United States had been taking a keen interest in -the case. Holt’s statement had reached Washington on the Associated -Press wire, and was delivered to Captain Boardman of the Washington -Police. Captain Boardman had been busy all morning throwing out lines -on the Capitol case, and attempting to trace the author of the R. -Pearce letters, which had been mailed in the city about nine o’clock of -the previous evening. He read the Pearce letter over several times in -search of some clue to the writer. Presently the Holt statement came -in. From the two communications these sentences met the Captain’s eyes: - - -_Pearce_ - - “We would, of course, not sell to the Germans if they could buy - here, and since so far we only sold to the Allies, neither side - should object if we stopped.” - - -_Holt_ - - “If Germany should be able to buy munitions here we would, of - course, positively refuse to sell to her.” - -Captain Boardman’s next move was to wire to his chief, Major Pullman, -who happened to be in New York to attend that same field day that Coy -and I had missed. His message, dated 2 P. M. (while we were on the way -to Glen Cove), read: - - “Ascertain from F. Holt, in custody at Glen Cove, N. Y., for - shooting J. P. Morgan, his whereabouts Thursday and Friday, as - he may have placed the bomb in the Capitol here Friday night.” - -This message, sent in care of Inspector Faurot, was relayed to us at -Glen Cove by Guy Scull, deputy commissioner, but not until after the -Associated Press man at the jail had had a tip telegraphed from his -Washington office to ask Holt the same question. Holt denied that he -had been in Washington, flatly. But McCahill knew he had been in Glen -Cove Thursday, so at 5 P. M. he telegraphed Captain Boardman: - - “F. Holt was in Glen Cove Thursday, July 1, P. M.” - -I telephoned headquarters the numbers of the revolvers, and the -neighborhood in which Holt said he had bought them. Several members of -the squad started out from headquarters to identify the pawnshops, and -to find out what they could of the history of three sticks of dynamite -marked “Keystone National Powder Company. 60 per cent. Emporium, Pa.” - -Holt had proved obstinate to all questions of the source of his supply -of dynamite. The man was getting tired: he had had a hard day, had been -considerably battered, had been interviewed, photographed, harried with -questions, his ankles and wrists ached, his head throbbed, and his -mind, which though alert and active, was none too stable, was showing -signs of exhaustion. His condition suggested that he might be in a mood -to supply some of the further information we needed, so I suggested -that we take an automobile ride and he could show me where he had been -the day before. He protested at once. - -“No! My head is aching, and you want to take me on a ride and make a -show of me to the morbid crowd. I will not tell you--not until later. -Later perhaps, but not now!” - -“All right,” I answered. “Later.” - -Then I decided we had better get our information down on paper in a -formal examination. - -The meeting convened at once, with Coy, McCahill, a county detective -from Mineola, two deputy sheriffs, two patrolmen, a stenographer and -myself as board of inquiry. It may serve to describe the fellow’s -manner, as well as to bring out what the examination further disclosed, -if we make use here of extracts from the proceedings: - -_Question._ Where were you born? - -_Answer._ Somehow my brain is in such a shape that I can’t -remember--Wisconsin, I know. I don’t know what it is that affected -me--something inside of me--maybe it is the shock I got from that. - -_Q._ You speak with a German accent. Were you born in Germany, or in -any of the European countries--tell me the truth. - -_A._ Now listen. That has been said before--that I speak with a foreign -accent. That is because I speak several languages. I speak French, -German, Spanish, and all that. That is the cause of that, you see? - -_Q._ We will eliminate the trouble of asking you questions if you will -tell us the town or city in which you were born. - -_A._ Yes. Now I am trying to think (a pause) I will have to disappoint -you. - -_Q._ Your memory is very clear on other things. - -_A._ As I told you, I have been lying there, thinking, thinking. - -I took up the matter of the express receipt found on him: - -_Q._ On June 11, 1915, you shipped a box by the American Express -Company to D. F. Sensabaugh, 101 South Marsalis Street, Dallas, Texas. -What did that box contain? - -_A._ It evidently must have been a typewriter. I would not be sure now, -I think it was a typewriter. - -And then the cartoon, clipped from the Philadelphia paper, brought out -a very unexpected fact: - -_Q._ How many times have you been in Philadelphia? - -_A._ No time. - -_Q._ You came to New York from Ithaca? - -_A._ Yes. - -_Q._ Do you mean to truthfully answer my question by saying that you -have not been to Philadelphia at any time since you left Ithaca? - -_A._ At no time. - -_Q._ You have a clipping of a Philadelphia newspaper in your -possession. Where did you get that? - -_A._ I think I got that out of a Philadelphia paper of course, that I -found lying around. I think it was a cartoon. - -_Q._ Were you not in Philadelphia when you purchased that paper? - -_A._ I did not purchase that. I saw that lying around somewhere, -probably in the Mills Hotel. - -_Q._ Where did you sleep last night? - -_A._ Now, I will tell you. A reporter from the Associated Press asked -me about this Washington business, and he was trying to connect me with -that. I suppose that is what you are trying to do. - -_Q._ I am not trying to connect you with anything. I want truthful -answers. I am very frank and honest with you. I will fairly investigate -every answer that you make. - -_A._ Yes, I thought that over since he was here, and I think it is just -as well to say that I wrote that R. Pearce letter. I was in Washington -yesterday and came back on the train. I think it is just as well to say. - -Here was news! McCahill slipped out of the room, and sent this telegram -to Captain Boardman: - -“Holt was in Washington Friday. Will wire full particulars later,” and -returned for the particulars, which Holt continued to unfold. - -He had gone to Washington early Friday, arriving at 2 P. M., hired a -furnished room near the Union Station, and two hours later walked over -to the Capitol and found the Senate wing deserted. He placed a bomb -near the telephone booth, timed so as to explode in eight hours. He -idled away the evening, mailed the R. Pearce letters, took a midnight -train to New York, stopped at the Mills Hotel for mail, and took an -early train to Glen Cove Saturday morning. What his activities had been -since then we well knew. But while the confession of his responsibility -for the Washington outrage was a really surprising bit, it did not -conclude our work, for he had pointed out several new alleys of -possibility which we must search. - -By seven o’clock we had, first, a sketch of Holt’s recent career as -a teacher. This we proceeded to verify by telephone to New York and -by telegraph thence to Ithaca, Dallas, Nashville, and Philadelphia. -His account of the Washington bombing Mr. Scull telephoned to -Washington, and Major Pullman left at once for Long Island to secure -a more complete confession. We had the numbers of his revolvers and -were already at work upon that clue. We had no information except -the trade-mark of where he had got his dynamite, and knowing the -strict city restrictions on its sale, I felt confident that he had -accomplices who supplied it to him. The chances were, too, that Holt -had more dynamite than the three sticks which he said had made up the -Capitol bomb, and the three on his person. We knew he had called at -the Mills Hotel, and we sent a man to search his room. We had a wholly -unsatisfactory statement of his birthplace, which he had already -contradicted once, and which lent color to the Germanic origin of his -accent. And finally, Holt had given a description of the methods he -used in making his bomb which I cannot detail here for obvious reasons, -but which from my acquaintance with explosives I knew to be untrue. By -no means all the particulars of his acquaintance with dynamite had -been explained, and the fact that this remarkable teacher of foreign -languages, a man apparently of fair intellect, had committed one major -crime and confessed to another all in the same day, made the motive all -the more obscure. But we had learned that he talked freely, and that -meant that he would give us more information, either consciously or -unconsciously. - -Holt was moved about half past seven that night to safer keeping in -the county jail at Mineola, and we reconvened there an hour later for -further examination. Major Pullman joined us in the course of the -evening and took part in the questioning. By that time I had word from -New York that a telegram had arrived for Holt at the Mills Hotel signed -by D. F. Sensabaugh, and inquiring for particulars. Thinking that this -was a clue to possible accomplices I tried, taking several different -angles of attack, to find out whether Holt had told Sensabaugh (who -he said was his father-in-law), what he was going to do, and why he -had written that evening to his wife. The result of this questioning -was nil. Then we went over his course in Washington, step by step, and -brought out nothing of significance; then returned to the topic of his -views on the shipment of munitions, and tried to draw out any talks -which he might have had with friends on that subject. His answer to -this was: - -“I have not talked to my friends about it, because my friends, in -my position, they are not the kind of people who would talk on such -things. Do you suppose that a university professor would undertake that -sort of thing? I think that can be easily figured out that I could not -have anybody else with me.” - -That was the conclusion which we were being forced to accept. But the -mystery of the dynamite purchase was still unsolved. Holt said we could -not guess the reason why he was withholding the answer to it. I was -inclined to agree with him just then. I couldn’t guess. But he betrayed -in one of his replies the real factor which was to solve the mystery. -Major Pullman asked: - -“Why did you decide to go to the Capitol?” - -“Merely,” replied the thin figure in the chair, “to get the most -prominent place in the country. You see I wanted to call attention to -my appeal.” - -In this he had succeeded. The whole country was working on the case. -If our feeling that Holt had bought more explosives was no more than a -theory at first, it was strengthened when he admitted that he had spent -nearly $275 in two weeks, had only six sticks of dynamite to show for -it, and was able to account for only $50. He denied that he had ever -been in the German Club in New York, reiterated that he was born in the -United States, dodged the exact city, then suggested Milwaukee, said -that the name of the college he had attended in Texas “wouldn’t come,” -and sidestepped cleverly any admission which might allow us to trace -the dynamite purchase. Thus ended Saturday, July 3, which had started -out as a holiday. I left two men to watch Holt, and went home, tired -out, and not at all satisfied. - -While we had been busy with the prisoner, the wires to Boston and -the trains to Chicago had been carrying out their routine tasks -of syndicating news. A police officer in Cambridge in reading the -description of Holt which had flashed out to the newspapers detected -a familiar ring to the natural phrase “shambling walk” which had been -used to describe Holt’s gait. Thousands of men whom we encounter in -daily life have shambling walks, but to this officer only one man had -a shambling walk in which he was interested, and that man was Erich -Muenter, a Harvard instructor, whom he had suspected of wife-murder -nine years before. Nine years is a long time, and the average person -cannot recall offhand the gait of anyone whom he last saw nine years -ago, but those two words had evidently typified to the Cambridge -officer the murderer who got away. When the news photographs followed -the description to Boston and the Cambridge police saw them, they -were not so sure, for Muenter had had a beard, and in his Cambridge -days his head was not bandaged. But suspicion had been aroused, and -that was enough to issue the news throughout the country during the -night. Reporters in Ithaca tried to verify it from Holt’s associates at -Cornell, and failed, reporters two thousand miles away in Dallas tried -to verify it from Holt’s confused father-in-law, and failed. Dallas, -however, supplied the particulars of his previous life so far as -anyone seemed to know them, and these particulars were again relayed, -verified, and amplified in every city in which Holt had ever been known -in recent years. - -Sunday morning, Independence Day, I went early to Mineola and -questioned Holt again, with little result. Meanwhile the Bomb Squad -at work in New York had found one of the shops in Jersey City where -Holt had purchased a revolver. He gave his name to the proprietor as -“Henderson,” and his address as Syosset, Long Island--a little station -not far from Glen Cove. I asked him why he gave this fictitious name -and address; he replied he had happened to see Syosset on a timetable, -and that the name Henderson popped into his head. We then returned to -my favorite subject, dynamite, and Holt finally said that he would tell -me on the following Wednesday, July 7, where he had bought it. Why -Wednesday, July 7? He would not answer, and no amount of questioning -served any end except that of further confusion. - -The day was not without developments, however. During the afternoon -District Attorney Smith of Nassau County paid a visit to the jail, and -identified the wretched Holt as a former acquaintance in Cambridge, -Erich Muenter. At almost the same hour the Chicago authorities came -into possession of the news photograph of the man mailed from New York -the day before. They hurried with it to the home of two spinsters, -known to be sisters of the missing Muenter, and obtained from them an -unqualified identification: it was their lost brother, and “the news -would kill their mother.” This Pearce-Lester-Holt-Henderson-Muenter -was becoming more interesting every minute. Wife-poisoner, dynamiter, -gunman--what next? - -“Next” was Monday. The second revolvershop had been discovered, and -again the use of the alias Henderson and the address Syosset. Holt, -when I called on him in the morning, repeated only what he had told -the day before, and reiterated, “Wednesday I will tell you,” until it -became almost a refrain. He denied that he was Muenter, and that he had -ever heard the name. I returned to New York to spend the rest of the -daylight in investigation among the explosives’ manufacturers. From the -records of the Ætna Company, of which the Keystone was a subsidiary, we -learned during the afternoon that one Henderson had telephoned an order -for 200 sticks of dynamite to be delivered at Syosset. I was just ready -to start for Syosset with Commissioner Scull when, as if we had not -already had enough to interest us, our friends the anarchists exploded -a bomb in Police Headquarters itself. Curiously enough, although it was -a delay, this did not prove the disturbing incident which one might -believe. We had had anonymous threats of it some weeks before; it was -one year and a day after the accidental death of the anarchist Berg, -who was killed making a bomb, and it seemed to have no connection -whatever with the Holt case. No one was injured, and after steps had -been taken to follow the case, I went home to sleep what was left of -the night. - -Tuesday arrived. - -I went to Syosset, and interviewed the station agent, George D. Carnes. -Carnes said he knew a man named Henderson. Henderson had seen him first -about three weeks before when he came to the little station to claim a -new trunk which had been shipped down from New York, apparently empty, -as it weighed only thirty-six pounds. Henderson had signed for the -trunk, and gone away. He reappeared some days later and asked Carnes -whether he had received two boxes of dynamite and two boxes of fuses -and detonating caps--he had to blow up some stumps and he expected the -explosives. They had not arrived. Henderson made inquiries for several -days, and when the boxes came, claimed them, signed the name of Frank -Hendrix to the receipt, and drove away in a Ford. At last we seemed to -be on the right trail. - -He had received the material, we knew, but where was it? In the trunk, -perhaps. Had the trunk been shipped out of Syosset? No, Carnes said. -We telephoned several stations in the vicinity, and finally at Central -Park, a few miles west, we struck the trail again. The baggage records -there revealed that a Henderson had checked a trunk to the Pennsylvania -station, New York, on July 2--Friday. That was enough to take us to -Central Park. - -The check number I telephoned to New York for detectives to trace -from the station if they could. Information of a stranger is freely -offered in a village, and we found shortly that Holt had employed a -small boy with a wheelbarrow to convey his trunk from a shanty in the -woods to the station, and to the shanty we went. Near it lay a charred -dynamite-box, and there were a few wax-paper wrappers from sticks of -dynamite which the weather had left for our information. No explosive -was to be seen, but there was evidence that he had burned some of it -nearby. - -[Illustration: Mrs. Holt’s Mysterious Letter - -The First Word from Texas] - -If he had not burned it all, the balance of those two hundred sticks -were in the trunk. The day was growing old. Carnes and I sped back to -Mineola, and the station agent identified Holt as the dynamite man. I -repeated my questions; Holt replied, “I will tell you Wednesday.” - -“Look here,” I said. “I have the number of that check. That dynamite -is in the trunk. It’s liable to go off any minute and kill a lot of -people. I can trace that check, but it will take time, and you -better tell me quick where you left the trunk.” - -“All right,” Holt answered, and said that he had sent it to a storage -warehouse whose office was somewhere near 40th Street and Seventh -Avenue. Two minutes later Lieut. Barnitz and I were out of the jail and -in a motor bound for New York. - -It took just 28 minutes to cover the 20 miles to Fifty-Ninth Street -and Fifth Avenue, and we turned south to the section around Fortieth -Street. We found the office of the storage company--empty. The -warehouse itself was at 342 West 38th Street, and we hurried over -there, arriving simultaneously with the detectives who had been tracing -the check number from the Pennsylvania station. An old watchman was -in charge who knew nothing whatever of the records of the office, but -who turned bright green when we told him what we were after. While -Detectives Barnitz, Coy, Murphy, Sterett, Walsh and Fenelly went up -into the recesses of the warehouse to hunt for the trunk, I called -headquarters. - -“Commissioner Woods just called and wants you to call him at the -Harvard Club,” the office said. I did so, and reported our progress. - -“Get that trunk as fast you can and find out exactly what’s in it,” -said the Commissioner. “Washington just called me to say that Governor -Colquitt down in Dallas just wired them. He says Holt’s wife got a -letter from Holt dated July 2 saying that he’s put dynamite on a ship -now at sea, and that it will sink on the seventh!” - -On the fifth floor of the great dark barn they discovered the trunk, -with a dozen others on top of it. There were no lights, and it was -necessary to roll it over, haul it out, snake it across other piles, -and carry it down four flights of steep stairs in the dark to the -office. Barnitz picked up an axe and hacked the lock away. He lifted -the cover, and there we found one hundred and thirty-four sticks of -dynamite--one hundred in their original box, and the rest packed in -small spaces between hammers, nails, bolts, and other tools, several -bottles of sulphuric and nitric acid, and 197 detonating caps--a pretty -package to trundle down four flights of dark stairs and open with an -axe! - -Fifty sticks of the original 200 were unaccounted for. I telephoned the -report to the Commissioner, and followed it to the Harvard Club, in -44th Street, while Barnitz telephoned for the inspector of combustibles -to come and take possession of the explosives. The Commissioner, with -Guy Scull, were sitting in the lounge, and I was reporting in greater -detail when the Commissioner was called to the telephone. He returned a -moment later, and his first remark was this: - -“_Holt is dead at Mineola!_” - -And there went our case. - -The first wild report from Mineola had it that Holt had been shot by -a German. The international consequences of the case, which had been -hovering just out of reach for the past four days, now seemed certain. -A nation which was still bitterly angry over the recent _Lusitania_ -sinking would certainly not brook the violation of its Capitol and the -attempted assassination of one of its chief figures by a German agent, -and if Holt had been shot by a German, it was more than likely that he -had been killed to prevent a further confession which would implicate -the Imperial German Government. These thoughts passed through our minds -as we motored back across the Queensboro Bridge, and retraced the route -Barnitz and I had just traveled. - -Holt was not shot by a German. Holt was not shot at all. An aged guard -had been left to watch him that evening, just after Barnitz and I had -left, for the prisoner, despairing over the Muenter identification, had -already made one attempt with a bit of tin from a lead pencil to cut -the arteries of his wrists, and we did not want him to try again. The -old bailiff who sat outside the cell cage had not only left the cage -door unlocked, but had been careless enough to leave Holt’s cell door -ajar. The prisoner seemed quiet enough, and the bailiff fell asleep. He -woke to find Holt’s body in a twisted heap in the center of the floor -of the cell corridor. Holt had evidently been feigning sleep and while -the bailiff dozed had crept out, climbed to the top of the cage, and -dived headforemost to the concrete floor. - -There we found him. The man’s skull was crushed from the impact of his -dive. Rumors that he was shot by a mysterious rifle bullet from outside -notwithstanding, Holt bore no wound except the bruise Physick gave him -with the lump of coal, and the wound which was the result of his fall. -If Holt was a German agent, he died with his secret. - -We had no time to analyze the question. We knew that Holt had written -his wife he had placed dynamite aboard a ship which was at sea, and -that July 7, the date on which he had promised an explosion, was less -than two hours away. On the theory that he might have shipped an -express parcel containing a bomb overseas from some nearby station, Mr. -Scull and I spent the night in an exhaustive canvass by telephone and -motor of every station in Nassau County. Many of the station agents -were asleep, but we woke them, and searched until dawn. The net result -was record of two shipments to Europe since the day Holt received the -dynamite: One from Syosset the other from Oyster Bay. Back to New York -again we raced, and at the office of the Adams Express Company found -the Syosset package, opened it, and found--no dynamite at all. The -Oyster Bay package had already been shipped to Europe; we telephoned -the consignor, and learned that it contained clothes for a poor -relative in England. - -Apparently Holt had not shipped a bomb. While we were opening his trunk -at the warehouse the night before, the government was issuing from -Washington a wireless bulletin to all ships at sea, warning them to -search the cargo thoroughly for a bomb. One by one the vessels which -had sailed during the past week reported that they had investigated -with no result, and as these reports came in we began to rest easier -in our minds. Yet he had so persistently refused to tell us of the -dynamite “until Wednesday” that we could not ignore the prophecy he -had made to his wife--“With God’s help, a ship that sailed from New -York July 3 will sink on July 7.” At noon, of Wednesday, July 7, -an explosion occurred in the hold of the steamship _Minnehaha_, in -mid-ocean, so strong as to blow out a section of the upper decks. The -_Minnehaha_ had left New York on July 3. Happily there was no loss of -life, and she reached port safely. - -Two and two make four, but we must not add them for a moment. Holt--or -Muenter, as he was fully and finally identified--may have placed a -bomb in the _Minnehaha_. His promise may have been valid, but there -is another possible origin for that explosion, namely, the activities -of Paul Koenig’s little group. He may have placed a bomb on the -_Minnehaha_ which was exploded by a bomb placed there by another. He -may have placed a bomb on quite another ship--which did not explode, -and which may have traveled harmless to its consignee in England. That -consignee may have been fictitious, or he may have been an accomplice; -if an accomplice he may have been German. We must not add two and two -until we have gathered up the loose threads as they were gathered up -during those last active days, and begin to sort them out. - -If we do, we shall see that the Ithaca police found in Holt’s rooms -a scrapbook curiously replete with newspaper reports of crimes, -fratricides, patricides and plain murders. But no cases of wife-murder, -nor of arsenical poisoning. And no clippings dating back of 1906; -for all the evidence of the scrapbook, Holt had never existed before -1907. His wife, who, by a queer coincidence, bore the same maiden -name, Leona, as the one whom he had poisoned, apparently knew nothing -of Holt’s life before she met him in Texas in 1909, loved him, and -married him. She did not know that he was born in Germany, and educated -in Germany or that he had fled from Chicago to Mexico in 1906 and had -then worked back into Texas as a student. He probably wrote to her -from Ithaca in September, 1914, that he had just had the pleasure of -meeting Professor Ernest Elster, of Marburg, Germany, who was visiting -Cornell, and that Elster had highly commended him for his articles on -Goethe--but if he did write to her, what then? Perhaps Herr Professor -Elster had commended Holt for some other past or projected service to -_Kultur_. There is a queer development of the story in the fact that -on September 4, 1915, Mrs. Frank Holt, writing from Dallas, Texas, to -Griffithe’s warehouse, enclosed one dollar to pay for storage on a -trunk left there by her husband July 2, and signed her name: “F. H. -Henderson.” Perhaps the rumor is true that a woman appeared at the -offices of J. P. Morgan and Company in New York on July 2, 1915, and -attempted to warn Mr. Morgan of “something that was going to happen the -next day” and perhaps she was a friend of von Rintelen’s. Mr. Morgan -never saw her. But it is a fact that Rintelen had said to an American -with whom he was dealing: “Morgan and Root ought to be put out of the -way!” - -Probably--not perhaps--speculation has already carried this story too -far. The facts are that Mr. Morgan recovered from his wounds, and that -two and two make four. - - - - -IX - -THE NATURE FAKER - - -Richard Harding Davis could have done justice to this story. - -In December of 1917 we had been eight months at war. We would be an -innocent and purposely ignorant nation if we did not acknowledge that -even after we had been eight months at war there were German spies -in the United States practising their quiet trade in order to make -our waging of war as difficult as possible, just as for three years -they had practised to keep us out of the war entirely. It would be as -absurd to assume that there are not German spies in America to-day who -have been here throughout our part in the war, and who have done their -utmost to cripple us. - -But there is one who will not be here indefinitely.... - -In December, 1917, I received a complaint that valuable papers had been -stolen from a certain Captain Claude Staughton, who lived at 137 West -75th Street, Manhattan. The Captain himself said that the lives of -thousands of American soldiers were in jeopardy, and that neither they -nor he would rest in conscious security until those papers were found. -So two other Thomases of the Bomb Squad, Sergeant Thomas J. Ford and -Detective Thomas J. Cavanagh, were sent to investigate the theft. - -They found that Captain Staughton lived in an apartment on the second -floor of the premises at 137 West 75th Street and that his rooms were -shared by a Captain Horace D. Ashton. Staughton, they learned, was a -captain of West Australia Light Horse--or was supposed to be--and a -photograph they found of the captain in his uniform revealed four gold -wound-stripes on his sleeve, which suggested an interesting and heroic -experience overseas. The detectives’ first assumption was that the -missing papers had had to do with British war work on which the captain -was detailed to the United States. Then they found several photographic -prints in which he was dressed in the uniforms of other nations than -Great Britain, and their second assumption was that he might be another -of the nervy little band of counterfeit officers which had done all its -fighting in the restaurants and sympathetic check-books of New York -during the war. - -The detectives learned that Ashton had his mail forwarded to the -“Argus Laboratories” at 220 West 42d Street. They called upon Ashton, -and inquired about his room-mate. Duquesne was all right, Ashton -said--was employed by an engineering company downtown as an inspector -of airplanes, was in Pittsburg at the moment, but was expected shortly -to return. Duquesne returned, and was placed under arrest on the charge -(we had no better one at the moment) of unlawfully masquerading in the -uniform of one of our allies, a uniform to which he had no title. A -thousand questions sprang up in our minds about the man: why was he -in disguise, how long had he been posing, how could he carry out the -bluff without being discovered, especially by the highly reputable firm -which employed him?--those were a few. We began to investigate, and -from Ashton and other sources we pieced together the checkered pattern -of his career. Many of the fragments are missing, and some of them are -probably in the wrong places, but this is the picture we found. - -He had applied for work at the J. G. White Engineering Company on -September 18, 1917, and in his rather detailed application for -employment set forth that his name was Fred du Quesne. He stated -further that he was 39 years old, married, and a United States -citizen, though born in a British colony. His nearest relative was -“A. Jocelyn du Quesne,” in Los Angeles, and he had evidently had some -trouble in parting the name in the middle, for it was written over an -erasure. His next nearest relative was set down as “Viscount François -de Rancogne, Prisoner of War, Germany,”--an address safe enough from -prompt investigation. Last of all his relatives was cited Edward -Wortley, “Colonial Secretary, Jamaica, B. W. I.” The three names -were impressive, and with the possible exception of Los Angeles, the -addresses were too remote to enable the J. G. White Company to find out -quickly what sort of man this du Quesne might be. - -He described himself as a graduate of St. Cyr, the French West Point, -as master of French and English (not German or Portuguese or Spanish), -and as having lived in England, France, Africa, Australia, Central -America, Brazil, Argentine, and the United States (but not Germany). -Present position he had none, but he would like one as “Inspector -of military devices, purchasing agent for same, or army supplies -transportation.” You or I, were we working for the Kaiser, would -have liked just such a position. He gave as references the name of -Thomas O’Connell, a relative employed by the J. G. White Company in -Nicaragua; Ashton, Senator Robert Broussard of Washington, and the -Marquis (not “viscount” this time) de Rancogne, “Lieutenant General of -Cavalry, France.” - -He then set forth his previous experience, which I may quote direct in -the light of later events: - -“1898 to 1899. Secretary to board of selection on military devices -and contracts. South Africa reporting Genr. de Villiers. (salary) £10 -weekly. - -“1899 to 1902. South African War. Was inspector of military -communication and reported secretary of war.” (_He does not state which -secretary of war_) £12.2.6 weekly. - -“1902 to 1903. Lived in United States to start residence. Had an -experience job in the subway looking on. $25.00. - -“1903 to 1904. Went on tour of Congo Free State in the interests of -making favorable publicity in this country for King Leopold. Gerard -Harry in charge of campaign for the King. Received $10,000 for the job, -with expenses. - -“1904–5–6. Headed Eldu expedition and industrial research party in -Australia. Sir Arthur Jones financed me. Received £2,000 yearly. - -“1907–8. Toured Russia for _Petit Bleu_. Publicity. 1,000 florins -weekly. - -“1908–9–10. Organized and built string of theatres in British West -Indies. Financed and erected hydro-electric plant for S. S. Wortley & -Co., Kingston, Jamaica. Made percentages. - -“1911–12. Lived in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Was with Mr. Thomas -O’Connell in Nicaragua for one year. Made industrial and investment -investigations, especially ore, fibre, rubber. $5,000 and expenses -yearly. Mr. Hite financed. Address New Rochelle. - -“1913–14–15–16. Explored and travelled in South America, Brazil, -Argentine, Peru, and Bolivia, on own account. Also conducted special -expedition for Horace Ashton of 220 W. 42d St., New York.” - -An eventful record, certainly. We asked Ashton to cast a little light -on it. Captain Fritz Joubert Duquesne, he said, was a scout in the Boer -war--“the leading scout” were his exact words--but not for the British, -but the Boers. There may have been a touch of irony in Duquesne’s -description of himself as “inspector of military communications” for -he had been captured eight or nine times in his migrations through the -British lines and had escaped each time--until the last, when he was -made a prisoner of war at Cape Town, and according to an entry in the -records of Scotland Yard, “was sent to Bermuda, whence he escaped after -the declaration of Peace.” The same records say: “The man Duquesne -was acting as correspondent for a Belgian paper, the _Petit Bleu_; he -was however in reality working for the Boers....” Duquesne fancied -photographs of himself, as he made up rather dashingly, and an old -print which the Bomb Squad men found in his effects bore out the fact -of his imprisonment, for there he stood in his Bermuda jail with the -shackles on his ankles and a grim, martyred expression on his face. - -The lure of Africa called to him, evidently, and he went back. We -need not take too seriously his statement that he made a junket for -King Leopold through the Belgian Congo, but anyone who remembers the -uproar over the slavery by which the depraved old monarch was turning -his colony into gold to pay for his excesses will also recall the -international complications which the Congo threatened. It was a likely -spot for an international spy. During his survey of the publicity -possibilities of the jungle Duquesne conceived a few publicity -possibilities for himself, and he came to America as a mighty hunter of -big game. - -“I ran across him first,” said Ashton, “in 1909.--At that time he was -writing an article for _Hampton’s Magazine_ called ‘Hunting Big Game -in Africa.’ In publishing his articles he needed photographs, and he -came to me. I was interested in his conversation and I said to him: -‘Why don’t you lecture?’ So he went down to the Pond Lyceum Bureau. He -went on a lecture tour for the Lyceum and later on a tour of the Keith -circuit....” - -We found in his effects a program of the lectures he gave, its cover -decorated with a small round photograph of Colonel Roosevelt in hunting -costume and a large studio photograph of Duquesne in khaki, wearing -boots and a revolver, and looking sternly out of the picture as -tradition says a lion-hunter should look. Page two carried a synopsis -of his lecture, of which one topic was “Hunting with Roosevelt,” and -a reproduction of a number of newspapers which were then publishing -his “Hunting Ahead of Roosevelt,” an article written for _Hampton’s -Magazine_. On page three Captain Duquesne figured again in effigy, this -time standing beside the prostrate form of “A Rare Specimen--the ‘White -Rhinoceros,’” and we are to believe that he killed the beast. Page four -(and last), reproduced a cartoon from the _Washington Star_ of January -26, 1909, which portrayed President Roosevelt pointing to a picture -of an elephant, and enthusiastically inquiring of a hairy hunter -labelled “Duquesne”: “I want to know his vital spot!” - -[Illustration: Fritz Duquesne prepared for a Lecture Tour as Captain -Claude Stoughton] - -A quotation from _Hampton’s Magazine_, also printed in this program, -gives a new vision of the man’s life from 1900 to 1909. It is probably -as truthful as any--here it is: - -“When the British succeeded in cutting cable communications between the -Boer Republic and the rest of the world, Duquesne carried the news of -the Boer victories over the Mozambique border, and from there he wrote -his despatches to the _Petit Bleu_, the official European organ of the -Boer Government. He was once captured by the Portuguese and thrown into -prison at Lorenzo Marques. Later he was taken a prisoner to Europe at -the request of the British Government. When the ship that conveyed him -and his guard touched at Naples, he was suffering from a fever and in -consequence was placed in an Italian hospital. On his recovery he was -allowed to go free. He went to Brussels and was sent back to the front -by Doctor Leyds, with plans for the seizure of Cape Town by the Boer -commandos then mobilized in Cape Colony. - -“Everything was ready for the taking of the city when, a traitor -having revealed the plot, Duquesne and a number of others were captured -in Cape Town inside the British defenses. This was the climax of what -has come to be known as the ‘Cape Town Plot.’ Some of the prisoners -were shot and some sentenced to death who later had their sentences -changed to life imprisonment. Captain Duquesne was among the latter. -Ten months later he escaped from the Bermuda prisons, got aboard the -American yacht _Margaret_ of New York while she was coaling at the -dock, and was conveyed to Baltimore. - -“Back to Europe he went again, as war correspondent and military writer -on the _Petit Bleu_; thence to Africa, where he took a commission on -the Congo. In East Africa he hunted big game for sport and profit, and -finally he came to New York to do newspaper and magazine work.” - -He cut a figure in America as a hunter. Back in 1910, when Congress -amused itself with light diversions, when President Taft was in the -White House and when President Roosevelt was in Africa, the eyes of the -nation were turned perforce toward that great preserve of wild game. On -March 24, 1910, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Agriculture -went into session with the Honorable Charles F. Scott in the chair. -Late March in Washington has a hint of spring, and that Thursday was -probably an off-day, with nothing much to do, for the committee’s -business was the consideration of H. R. 23261--a bill “to import into -the United States wild and domestic animals whose habitat is similar to -government reservations and lands at present unoccupied and unused.... -_Provided_, that such animals will thrive and propagate and prove -useful either as food or as beasts of burden, and that two hundred -and fifty thousand dollars ... be appropriated for this purpose.” The -bill was Representative Broussard’s, of Louisiana; he had in mind the -re-population of the unyielding backwaters of his constituency with -happy families of--what? Foreign sheep, or parrots, or egrets, or fish? -Not at all. Families of hippopotamuses. - -The Gentleman from Louisiana addressed the meeting briefly, saying -that he had brought to the hearing three distinguished specialists in -the matter of wild beasts, Dr. Irwin of the Bureau of Plant Industry, -Major Frederic Russell Burnham, a fine old pioneer whom Richard Harding -Davis did describe in his “Real Soldiers of Fortune,” and “Captain -Fritz Duquesne, formerly in the Boer army, who is lecturing and writing -on this subject....” Dr. Irwin spoke earnestly for the introduction -of the hippo, Major Burnham made an absorbing address on the habits -of wild animals he had known--and a herd of camels he once pursued in -Texas--and our bright and voluble Captain Fritz then told the committee -extraordinary things of the home of the hippopotamus, the delicacy of -its flesh, the amiability of its temperament, and the carelessness -of its appetite. “During my boyhood,” he said at one stage of the -proceedings, “the French soap manufacturers used to come down there -and pay us all sorts of prices, competing with one another, to get the -fat of the hippopotamus; and we made a considerable amount of money -from saving the fat when we killed a hippo. The Boers were in the habit -of going down to the river and killing a hippo and bringing it in and -dividing it among the different families in the district. It is pretty -hard to get rid of four and a half tons of meat. In the case of the -bones of the animal, we would take an ordinary wood saw and saw them -in halves, and make a great big pot of soup for a large number of the -people, including the Kaffir servants on the ranch, or the farm, as we -call it.” Again: “My father was instrumental in sending the camel to -Australia from Africa, and also in introducing it into the Kalahari -desert. The German Government now uses the camel exclusively for its -cavalry in the Kalahari desert, which is practically the counterpart of -the deserts in this country. My father had the contract to take them -over to Australia for the West Australian Government and I took them -over there. To-day camels and ostriches from Africa are being raised in -Australia.” - -Mr. Chapman asked: “Do you think animals such as you have mentioned -would become acclimated here without difficulty?” Duquesne replied: -“Yes, I was over there recently in one place where Colonel Roosevelt -passed through, and the frost was that thick (indicating about one -inch). That is where he went to get some of his best animals....” In -discussing the zebra he said: “There is nothing wrong with the animal. -The English in Africa want to get percentage, you know. They put an -animal out and they want to break it in right away, and they want to -get some money for it right on the spot. That is what they are in -Africa for. They want to take on the animals and break them in at -once. The Germans are more scientific than the English. In German East -Africa they are making a great success of domesticating these animals -I have spoken of, and crossing the zebra.... The Germans in Germany, -France, and Belgium, not to mention those in the United States, tried -scientifically to make the leopard change his spots, too.” - -The man really exhibited an unusual acquaintance with wild beasts, and -he summed up the picturesque argument for the bill when he said: “If -there is vegetation in a river, the hippopotamus will never leave the -river. If you had the hippopotamus in Louisiana and it ate up all your -water plants you would be quite willing to let the hippo live down -there. You see the water plants have to live on a certain amount of -air, and the fish live on a certain amount of air. Neither the plant -nor the fish can live on air that is not there. As the plant is the -stronger, and is able to take the air from above, it will draw it at -the bottom and draw it from the top, and the fish is suffocated in the -water. Then when a storm comes and blows the water plants, which are -floating, all to one side, the fish are netted up against them and kept -in one place until they die. These plants exhaust the air in the water -that is passing through the fishes’ gills and that destroys the fish.” -I wish there were space here to reproduce all the proceedings of that -hearing--it is historic vaudeville: a German spy teaching a class of -American congressmen about the hippo, and suggesting subtly that when -they purchase a fleet of the great beasts for the Louisiana bayous, -they let him round them up. He would have done it if there had been -American money in it. - -[Illustration: 1. Fritz Duquesne as a War Correspondent - -2. Duquesne as a Boer Soldier - -3. From Duquesne’s Press Notices - -4. As a British Prisoner of War - -5. A Prisoner’s Bank Note Found in Duquesne’s Effects] - -American money appeared from another source, however, in 1911. Duquesne -had been working in a desultory way for the moving pictures, and he -interested one Hite, a functionary in the Thanhouser Film Company, in -a plan to explore Central America with a moving-picture camera. Ashton -said he also obtained financial support from Frank Seiberling of the -Goodyear Rubber Company of Akron, a great patron of sports, and the -financier of the ill-fated balloon “Akron” in which Walter Wellman once -tried to cross the Atlantic. He set sail in 1911 for Jamaica, where he -enlisted the finances of his father-in-law, Wortley, in the project, -and then moved on to Guatemala. There he was suspected of revolutionary -activities, and after cabling Washington and receiving a satisfactory -report from the state department, he was released, and made his way -through Honduras to Nicaragua. There he spent some time, and saw -something of O’Connell, the railroad man--enough to receive a pass -over all lines of the Nicaraguan railroad. - -In 1913 he returned to the United States. Among the papers which we -discovered was a record of an insurance policy for a maximum of $80,000 -worth of moving picture film at $4 a foot, which Duquesne took out -with the Mannheim Insurance Company in New York on December 17. He was -setting out on another expedition, and he wished to insure his reels of -film on shipboard from - - “seas, fires, pirates, rovers, assailing thieves, jettison, - barratry of the master and mariners, and all other perils, - losses and misfortunes that have or shall come to the hurt, - detriment or damage of the said goods and merchandise or any - part thereof.” - -By a separate certificate the company also insured Duquesne against -further risk, thus: - - “It is agreed that this insurance covers only the risk of - capture, seizure or destruction by men-of-war, by letters of - marque, by taking at sea, arrests, restraints, detainments - or acts of kings, princes and people authorized by and in - prosecution of hostilities between belligerent nations....” - -and off to the Spanish Main and the pirates and the assailing thieves -sailed Fritz Duquesne. - -His migrations during the years of 1914 and 1915 are not clear. This -much is certain: that on June 16, 1915, Sir C. Mallet, the British -minister at Panama, wrote to the foreign office in London the following -note, setting forth an observation he had made that day in the Zone: - -“Through a Canal Zone detective I learnt confidentially that a -passenger named Captain F. Duquesne, travelling with a passport issued -by the United States Consul at Mañaos, Brazil, had embarked for -Trinidad on the R. M. S. _Panama_ on the 14th instant. - -“My informant stated that Captain Duquesne poses as an American officer -but in reality is an intelligence officer in the service of the German -Government. - -“I have warned the Governor of Trinidad by telegraph so that a watch -may be kept on Captain Duquesne’s movements.” - -The wily captain had been cruising rather busily through the Caribbean, -over the Isthmus, and into South America. His passport connected him -with Mañaos, the British message established his presence at Panama -and Trinidad, a German war communiqué dated “December 20,” and signed -by the German consul, Lehmann, in Guatemala, showed that he was an -acceptable guest at the outposts of the German Empire. And he had -visited Nicaragua before he entered Panama in 1915, for we found in his -possession this letter: - - “Managua, May 5, 1915. - - “Imperial German Consulate - for Nicaragua: - - “It is a pleasure for me to recommend to you, my countrymen, - the bearer of this, Mr. Fritz Duquesne, Captain of Engineers to - the Boer army, very warmly. - - “The same gentleman has on many occasions given many notable - services to our good German cause. - - “The Imperial German Consul, - “UEBERSEXIG.” - -Enclosed in the envelope was Uebersexig’s personal card, reinforcing -his recommendation of Duquesne as an accredited German agent. - -Trinidad is a good jumping-off place into the far tropics, and it -is quite possible that as Ashton said Duquesne disappeared into the -interior of Brazil, and “explored the unknown regions of Brazil and -the Amazon.” It is not hard to find unknown regions of Brazil within -a few miles of the coast. He probably did not penetrate far into the -interior, for in January of 1916, he showed up in lower Brazil. - -He emerged from the interior as a valiant explorer, preceded by native -carriers whom he had hired to transport his precious movie-film. As -he approached the port of Bahia Duquesne’s personality underwent a -perceptible change. Duquesne suddenly became George Fordham. Among his -papers we found an application for shipment by a Brazilian broker which -read as follows: - - “Honorable Superintendent. - - “Francisco Figuerado requests a permit to ship for New York - via steamer _Verdi_ to sail on January 28, 1916, a case as - described below: - - “Bahia, January 27, 1916. - - “Raul E. de Oliveira, Custom House Broker. - - “1 case weighing 80 kilos 00$500 - - “One case of potter’s earth in dust (samples)” - -Potter’s earth may have been included in the materials in the case, -but that is doubtful, for on October 4, 1916, “Mrs. Alice Duquesne -being duly sworn deposes and says that she accompanied her husband, -Captain Fritz Duquesne, during his trip through Central America in the -Spring and Summer of 1914. That in the baggage was an iron trunk used -to carry moving picture films and negatives which she presumes to be -the same trunk that was subsequently shipped by Capt. Duquesne per -the S. S. _Tennyson_ from Bahia to New York sailing in January, 1916. -That the said trunk was about ½ inch thick, and made of iron about 45 -inches in length by 30 inches in height by 26 inches in depth ... had -a hinged cover that overlapped the sides of same, and fastened down -with two thumb screws and a lock. That two iron bands went around the -trunk and were riveted to same. That the cover was lined with packing -where it overlapped the sides of the trunk. That the said trunk was -of very solid construction, painted a dark green, almost black, and -that two men were required to lift same.” Hardly a suitable receptacle -for potter’s earth. Furthermore, George Fordham, whose handwriting is -identical with that of Fritz Duquesne for the simple reason that the -two men were the same, on February 11 signed an invoice at the American -consulate in Bahia stating that he solemnly and truly declared that -the 28,000 feet of moving picture film and the 4100 negatives which -he was shipping back to the United States were to the best of his -knowledge and belief of the manufacture of the United States and had -been exported from the United States in 1913. - -[Illustration: - - 1. A significant clipping found in Duquesne’s effects - - 2. A German Communique found on Duquesne - - 3. The United States Customs invoice by which Duquesne, as - “George Fordham,” shipped his “Films” -] - -The _Tennyson_ sailed quietly out of the river-mouth into the Atlantic -and Duquesne vanished just as quietly. On February 26, when the ship -was coasting along the Brazilian forest toward the Equator, a terrific -explosion occurred in her hold, and three sailors were killed. The iron -trunk never reached New York. The news of the catastrophe set fire to -the British in South America and the English press seethed with such -paragraphs as this--which we found in Duquesne’s papers, clipped from -an Argentine newspaper: - - “Rio de Janeiro. - - “The confession of the clerk Bauer, arrested in connection - with the _Tennyson_ outrage, which led to the discovery of the - papers and funds of the band of German bombers in an English - safe deposit institution reveals a plot of far-reaching - consequences fraught with danger to the neutrality of a number - of South American republics, as well as peril to the lives of - their citizens. - - “Besides a number of important documents, the police seized - $6,740 in American bills, which were in an envelope marked - ‘On His Majesty’s Service’ and addressed: ‘Piet Naciud.’ - When this name was published it caused quite a shock in the - Allied circles here, as this man always cultivated their - society and even recited at their benefits. He was ever loud - in his denunciations of the Germans, and as he was a Boer, - or pretended to be one, was doubly liked for his seemingly - praiseworthy attitude. Little did the English dream that they - were harbouring a black-hearted spy in their midst whom they - now know as one of the leading plotters whose audacity is - beyond belief. The safe deposit was in his own name, and he - gave his home address as Cape Town. Neither he nor the agent - Niewirth and his fellow conspirators have yet been arrested. It - is believed that they left with Naciud in a powerful motorboat - that he owned.” - -How Captain Fritz Duquesne, alias Fordham, alias Naciud, must have -chuckled as he sat safely in the neutral Argentine and read this -flattering tribute to his audacity. For he did turn up presently -in Buenos Aires, and embarked on a new audacity--nothing less than -collecting the insurance of $80,000 for the loss of the film which he -claimed to have shipped in the iron box! - -Let Ashton take up the story: - -“... his wife ... tried to collect the insurance, but was advised -that she would have better chances ... if he would disappear. He -then assumed the name of Fredericks. In 1916 a report was published -in the New York _Evening Post_ and the New York _Times_ that he had -been assassinated by Indians in the interior of Bolivia, and being -interested I called at the office of the N. Y. _Post_ and asked Mr. -A. D. H. Smith, editor, to look this report up, and he found that -the report came from the Associated Press, the same being signed -‘Fredericks.’ They also had a cablegram signed, ‘Captain Duquesne,’ and -it said: ‘I am still alive.’ The report also said that he was the sole -survivor of an attack from the Indians and that he was somewhere in -Bolivia recovering in a hospital, the location being unknown. He sent -the message signed ‘Fredericks’ himself from Buenos Aires. - -“He then became connected with the Board of Education of the Argentine, -supplying films for the schools, and a certain politician in Buenos -Aires claims he gave him $24,000 with which to purchase films (certain -educational films). He claims to have come to New York with a man named -Williamson and purchased the films, paying $24,000 in cash.” - -Mrs. Duquesne was already in New York, having a hard time collecting -her claim against the German-owned Mannheim Insurance Company for the -“sympathy verdict” for damage to the films. He stored the new films -he claims to have purchased in the Fulton and Flatbush Warehouse, 437 -Carlton Avenue, Brooklyn--stored them as “statuary,” and used to visit -the warehouse frequently. On one occasion he arrived after hours, and -tried unsuccessfully to bribe the watchman to admit him. He moved to -a small hotel in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and about two weeks after the -storage of the cases of “statuary” in the Brooklyn warehouse, the -warehouse mysteriously caught fire. - -By a queer coincidence the “films”--Duquesne has never proved that he -did buy them--which of course were destroyed in this fire too, had been -insured by their purchaser, “Mr. Frederick Fredericks,” for $33,000 by -the Stuyvesant Insurance Company, and he set out to collect the $33,000 -for the total loss of his property. If both claims proved successful, -he and his wife would have gathered in some $113,000. But they found it -one thing to be insured and another thing entirely to get the money. -Times were not treating Duquesne well. - -Along in July, 1917, when the United States was in the throes of -buckling down to the business of war, and Washington was sweltering -under its increased load of war-time population and business, Ashton, -Duquesne’s old friend, happened to have business in the capital. He -dropped in to call on Robert F. Broussard, of New Iberia, Louisiana, -who in 1915 had been elected senator from this state ... the same -Broussard who had been the author of the hippopotamus bill. Ashton -asked the United States Senator from Louisiana if he had heard from -Captain Duquesne. Ashton continues: “his secretary overheard the -conversation (his secretary is a charming young lady) and I took her -out to dinner, and about five days later she wrote me and said, ‘You -may be interested to know that Captain Duquesne is in Washington, but -does not want it known.’ I immediately became interested and concluded -that if Captain Duquesne was in Washington and did not want it known, -especially to me, I ... would investigate. So I went to Washington ...” -and learned something of Duquesne’s whereabouts and circumstances. - -“After hearing this story in Washington,” Ashton continues, “I learned -that this man was in desperate need of assistance and I offered to -help him in any way that I could.... Senator Broussard was trying to -secure a position for him with General Goethals,... also at this time -he had plans on file with the Secretary of the Navy, of an invention -to destroy mines in harbors, and was hoping that he might secure a -position with the Navy Department. I had been offered a position -with George Creel, and I also introduced Duquesne to him, and I then -got in touch with Major Kendall Barnelli. I advised him to listen to -Duquesne and to give him a position. I also advised Barnelli that I was -investigating Duquesne’s story.” - -Damon Ashton then brought Pythias Duquesne back to New York and put him -up in the apartment in which the Bomb Squad men had first been called -to investigate the theft of papers. Duquesne begged his friend not -to make him known under his own name, as the insurance case for the -warehouse fire was still pending. So Duquesne continued to masquerade -as “Fredericks.” His health was poor, and he did not go to work at -once. At times Ashton’s charity seemed to irk Duquesne, and he even -went to the telephone and called up an agency to discuss a lecture -tour. The lecture agents told him that only war lectures were making -money. There was a real inspiration, and after working for several -days to assemble a uniform of the West Australia Light Horse, correct -in every detail, he dressed up in it and called at the lecture bureau -as Captain Claude Staughton. His Australian experience as chaperone -to the camels stood him in good stead, and he went about town mixing -with British Army officers without arousing suspicion. He even got on -famously with the late Sir George Reed, prime minister of Australia, -whom he met one night at the Hotel Astor. - -The Pond lecture folk took him up and arranged a tour for him. -Consciously or unconsciously, they swallowed Duquesne whole. They -had him photographed in his new uniform, with the ribbons of three -decorations over his heart, and they reproduced the natty figure on the -cover of a publicity folder announcing the subjects on which Captain -Claude Staughton was prepared to talk. “Captain Staughton,” read the -folder, “has perhaps seen more of the war than any man at present -before the public.... He wears ribbons showing that he has received -five medals: two of these the King’s and Queen’s for service in the -Boer war, carrying seven clasps; one is for service in Natal, and two -for bravery in saving lives. A sixth French medal for which he has been -cited is yet to be awarded. At the outbreak of the Boer war, Captain, -then Lieutenant, Staughton, was an officer in one of Australia’s crack -horse regiments, the Mounted Rifles. He went with his regiment to -Africa, and served in Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Natal -and Basuto Land. He was with Kitchener at the Battle of Paardeburg when -General Cronje was captured; was with Lord Roberts at the Capture of -Bloemfontein; at the fall of Johannesburg and the seizure of Pretoria. -Later, in pursuit of DeWet’s army, he was attached to General Knox’s -flying column as intelligence officer and commandeering officer for -the Australian Bushmen. He later entered the Cape forces and took -active part in the clearing up of Basuto Land, and in the last Natal -insurrection he fought with the Natal forces.” - -That is a mere fragment of the fighting in which this eulogy proceeded -to sketch Captain Staughton’s modest part. New Guinea, Gallipoli, -Flanders, the Somme, Arras (illustrated by motion pictures), four -times gassed, three times bayoneted, once pronged by a German -trench-hook--those were the high lights of the career which, the folder -assured the public, had finally brought him face to face with the most -fearless lecture audience in the world--the United States. He would be -pleased to lecture on the story of the Anzacs, underground warfare--or, -on “German Spy Methods,” of which “he had learned much in Egypt.” - -One of the sub-topics in this lecture on German spy methods was this: -“Germany pays nothing for its spying on us.--We pay it all.--How long -will we stand it?” - -Well, we stood it for a long time--too long a time by half. But -not long enough to permit Captain Staughton to lecture before many -audiences, nor to ask this question too frequently. He gulled a few -suburban Sunday schools, but his arrest put an end at least to his -attempt to pick up a bit of odd change by collecting insurance. - -For the steamship _Tennyson_ was British territory, and, as this is -written, the report comes that this picturesque charlatan is going back -across the Atlantic, to be tried for the murder of a British sailor. So -begins the last chapter in the story of Fritz Duquesne. - - - - -X - -THE PRUSSIAN, THE BOLSHEVIK, AND THE ANARCHIST - - -We caught a glimpse, in the chapter describing the attempt to wreck St. -Patrick’s Cathedral, of the peace-time game of the anarchist group; -we looked into their meeting places and their disorderly minds; and -those of us who are familiar with the localities which were their -haunts in New York City will have been enabled to visualize with some -clearness the squalid surroundings in which they worked. War gave -them new opportunities, and possibly a few high-lights which the Bomb -Squad caught of the anarchist, I. W. W., and Russian activities since -1914 may prove to be readable. If they are readable the author should -be content, but he will not be unless he has put before his people -something which may serve as a warning for the period of readjustment -which the end of war has opened. - -An anarchist publication appeared in New York, dated November 15, 1918, -four days after Germany had signed the armistice, with this legend on -its front page, in large type: - - “The War Is Dead: Long Live the Revolution!” - -It reflects the joyful frame of mind with which orthodox anarchists -received the news of peace, and hailed the beginning of what they -thought would be unrestrained guerilla warfare on law and class. They -had done very little to help the war, and their two chief figures, Emma -Goldman and Alexander Berkman, were in prison for obstructing the draft -of America’s army. Yet the anarchists as a class were extremely happy. -Let us review some of the reasons why. - -On October 25, 1915, Har Dayal, who had fled at the outbreak of war to -the protection of Berlin, where he was placed in charge of the Indian -Nationalist Committee, wrote from Amsterdam, Holland, to Alexander -Berkman in New York. The letter follows: - - “Dear Comrade: - - “I am well and busy and sad. Can you send me some earnest and - sincere comrades, men and women, who would like to help our - Indian revolutionary movement in some way or other? I need the - coöperation of very earnest comrades. Perhaps you can find - them in New York or at Paterson. They should be real fighters, - I. W. W.’s or anarchists. Our Indian party will make all - necessary arrangements. - - “If some comrades wish to come, they should come to Holland. We - have a centre in Amsterdam, and Dutch comrades are working with - us. If some comrades are ready to come, please telegraph me - from New York to the following address: - - “‘Israel Aaronson, c/o Madame Kercher, - “‘116 Oude Scheveningerweg, - “‘Scheveningen, Holland.’ - - “My assumed name is ‘Israel Aaronson.’ Kindly don’t - telegraph in your own name. The word ‘yes’ will suffice. The - Rotterdam-Amerika Line will receive instructions from us here - to give tickets, etc., to as many persons as you recommend. All - financial arrangements will be made by our party. - - “News from India is good. We have lost (?) some very brave - comrades in the recent skirmishes. - - “It would be better if you could intimate in your telegram how - many comrades wish to come. For instance, put the number in - some sentence. I shall understand, e. g., Five months’ holiday - coming. Etc., etc. - - “The need for the services of comrades is urgent. Please do - come to our help. We are fighting against heavy odds. - - “With love and respect. - - “Your for the Fight, - “HAR DAYAL.” - - “P. S. Kindly be very careful in keeping everything secret - and confidential. When comrades arrive they should go and - see Domela Nieuwenhuis, 20 Burgmestre Schooklaan, Hilversum - (near Amsterdam). He will tell them where to meet me. Please - also write a letter to the above address in Scheveningen, in - addition to the telegram. Telegram may be intercepted. - - “H. D.” - -[Illustration: Lieutenant Commander Spencer Eddy] - -Not satisfied apparently that this letter would reach Berkman, Har -Dayal wrote another a week later, which read as follows: - - “Address: Israel Aaronson, - “c/o Madame Kercher, - “116 Oude Scheveningerweg, - “Scheveningen. - - “Dear Comrade: - - “I am well and busy. Can you send me some earnest and sincere - comrades men and women, to help our Indian revolutionary party - at this juncture? They should be persons of good character. If - Tannenbaum is free, would he like to come? - - “Please keep this matter strictly _secret_ and _confidential_. - Kindly don’t discuss it with too many people. - - “This is a great opportunity for our party. I need the - coöperation of earnest comrades for very important work. - Several of our comrades have come from India with encouraging - news and messages. - - “If some comrades can come, please _wire_ and _write_ to the - above address to my assumed name, ‘Israel Aaronson.’ I shall - send you money immediately to the name which you telegraph. Let - it be a name beginning with a B. I shall understand. Please - don’t telegraph in your own name. - - “Kindly also word the telegram in such a way that I can - understand how many comrades are coming. If five comrades wish - to come, please wire: - - “‘Five hundred dollars job vacant come.’ Just put the number of - comrades before the ‘_hundred_.’ Or use any other device. - - “Kindly also send me names and addresses of the prominent - anarchist comrades in Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, - Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, and other European - countries. Please also send letters of introduction for me to - them from Emma or yourself, if you know them.” - -And so on. There is enough to show the company the Hindu-German -intriguers kept, and to show that the Hindu committee in Berlin had -enough money to buy mercenaries from the American anarchist group, for -which the American brokers would hardly go unrewarded. Rintelen, within -a week of his arrival in the United States in May, 1915, had tried to -hire anarchists to blow up shipping and start strikes in munitions -plants. It further shows that during that week in October of 1915, -Har Dayal had a bright thought that if he could only get letters from -Emma Goldman or Berkman introducing him to the anarchists of Europe, -and could perhaps introduce to them in turn his lieutenant, Frank -Tannenbaum, from America--the same who stormed St. Alphonsus’ church -with a gang of I. W. W.’s in 1914, demanding food--he could hoodwink -the anarchists into believing that he was playing their game, and -really make good use of them in playing his game--which of course was -Berlin’s. - -As it happened, Tannenbaum was busy. So was Emma. So was Berkman, -who received the letter. He was just formulating plans to go to San -Francisco and become an editor--not a new avocation, for he had for -ten years helped Emma Goldman issue a publication known as “Mother -Earth”--and to carry out certain radical and novel ideas. Before we -sketch the way in which he put those ideas on paper, it may be well -to see what experiences he had had to generate ideas, and just what -promise his career contained that he would be of guiding benefit to -these United States. - -Alexander Berkman was a Russian by birth, and was then about 44 years -old. When he was a youth of 20 he became involved in the famous -Homestead strike in Pennsylvania, and on July 22, 1892, he burst into -the office of Henry Frick, a steel manufacturer, in the Carnegie -Building in Pittsburg and shot that gentleman in the neck. He then went -to the Western Penitentiary and served fourteen years. This qualified -him as a rare martyr among anarchists. After he got out of prison he -was occasionally arrested in various cities, for wherever he appeared -among advocates of violence there was pretty certain to be trouble. -The long prison term had given him a chance to develop his mind, and -he had written 512 pages on “The Prison Life of an Anarchist,” which -the “Mother Earth Publishing Company” brought out, and which sold for -$1.15--a very interesting book indeed. - -So he went to San Francisco in the fall of 1915. A short time before he -left New York his friend Bill Shatoff gave him a farewell dinner. As -the evening wore on the diners adjourned to the neighborhood of Second -Avenue and Fifth Street for a frolic, and Berkman and Shatoff playfully -mauled a policeman, and took his club away, for which both men were -arrested. But that did not interfere long with Berkman’s departure for -the Coast, and the purpose and fruit of his journey appeared within a -short time. - -[Illustration: Major Fuller Potter, Military Intelligence] - -It was called _The Blast_. According to its own description _The -Blast_ was a revolutionary labor weekly, which meant that it preached -revolution every so often to those who had a grievance against their -employers and to those who had no employers but who had a deep contempt -for anything of the sort. Alexander Berkman appeared as editor and -publisher, E. B. Morton as associate editor, and M. E. Fitzgerald -as manager. It sold for five cents a copy, unless you bought it in -bundles, in which case you paid half that price. - -In the first issue, dated January 15, 1916, the title of the paper is -explained by the editor. “Do you mean to destroy?” he asks. “Do you -mean to build? These are the questions we have been asked from many -quarters by inquirers sympathetic and otherwise. Our reply is frank and -bold: We mean both: to destroy and to build. For socially speaking, -Destruction is the beginning of Construction.... The time is NOW. The -breath of discontent is heavy upon this wide land. It permeates mill -and mine, field and factory. Blind rebellion stalks upon highway and -byway. To fire it with the spark of Hope, to kindle it with the light -of Vision, and turn pale discontent into conscious social action--that -is the crying problem of the hour. It is the great work calling to -be done. To work, then, and blasted be every obstacle in the way of -the Regeneration!” In a congratulatory telegram in the same issue, -Emma wrote to Alexander: “Let _The Blast_ re-echo from coast to coast, -inspiring strength and courage into the disinherited, and striking -terror into the hearts of the craven enemy, now that one more of our -brothers has fallen a victim to the insatiable Moloch. May _The Blast_ -tear up the solidified ignorance and cruelty of our social structure. -Blast away! To the daring belongs the future.” - -A sample of the methods by which _The Blast_ proposed to begin its -regeneration of the disinherited is this delicate editorial paragraph: - - -“_Judas Made Respectable._ - - “Judas Iscariot delivered the Nazarene agitator into the hands - of the Roman District Attorney. This base betrayal incensed the - people against the mercenary stool-pigeon. Judas had enough - decency to go and hang himself.” - -A slap evidently at the person whom Emma referred to in her telegram, -who had just sold out to Moloch. - -It was a cardinal principle of the paper to be scurrilous and direct -in its attacks upon the enemies of anarchy. General Harrison Grey -Otis, a Los Angeles publisher whose newspaper building was bombed in -1912 after labor trouble, was referred to as “General Hungry Growl -Otis,” Colonel Roosevelt as “The Human Blowout.” The leading cartoon -of the second issue, drawn--and well drawn--by Robert Minor, showed a -huge figure of a laborer bearing on a tray the figure of a tiny though -corpulent judge, its mouth open in speech, and its chair guarded by -three stolid elephantine policemen. The laborer is bearing the dish to -a feast of anarchists, the title of Minor’s contribution is “The Court -Orders--.” The court had evidently ordered in the direction of _The -Blast_, and Berkman did not like the order. In the same issue he wrote -editorials against conscription in England, against the convention -of the American Federation of Labor which had just been held in San -Francisco, against its president, Samuel Gompers, and against national -preparedness. - -I have quoted these extracts not because they are specially interesting -or readable, but because they will give one who is not wholly familiar -with the practical platform of anarchy a suggestion of anarchy’s tone -of voice. It is not friendly, but is on the contrary quite snobbish. -Selig Schulberg, in an article on Mexico, gently suggested: “Toilers -of America, if the Hearsts, Otises and Rockefellers have property, for -which they want protection, in Mexico, let _them_ protect it!” The -editor says: “The Fords, the Bryans, the Jane Addams may be sincere. -If so they are blind leaders of the blind.” A writer signing himself -“L. E. Claypool,” wrote, under the title “Preparedness is Hell,” this -tribute to our tortured Ally in Europe: “Most of you gents that yell -(i. e., yell, ‘What about Belgium?’) never heard of Belgium till this -war broke out. A lot of you probably don’t know that the language -of the Belgians is French. Further, you don’t know that Belgium had -a treaty with England and France which placed the little nation in -the war before the German invasion. You may not know that French and -English engineers and military experts had surveyed the land and were -preparing to make it a battle ground long before the Germans did -so.” That statement was typical German propaganda of a very crude -sort, calculated to appeal by its insinuation to the class of readers -who affected _The Blast_. The platform of the paper, in a word, was -Against. - -Berkman was in a rich field for labor unrest. California is a strong -labor state. The whole country, outside as well as inside California, -had been excited over the _Los Angeles Times_ bomb affair in 1912, and -it revived that excitement when two of the culprits were prosecuted -three years later. One finds constant reference to the case in the -files of _The Blast_, and to the strikes at Lawrence, Mass., and -Ludlow, Colorado, and Youngstown, Ohio. Anti-capitalistic rough-house -in any corner of the continent was good copy for Berkman. If it -flagged for a moment he took up the cudgels for his friend Emma, who -had just been arrested in New York and sentenced to the workhouse for -distributing birth-control literature. Or he dove into international -relations, comparing in one instance Villa and President Wilson, with -little mercy for the latter. The issue of April Fool’s Day, 1916, -carried a leading editorial directed against the Pacific Coast Defense -League, just organized to bring the national guard of the Pacific and -Mountain states into a condition of higher efficiency and to start -a program of “healthy physical and military training” in the public -schools. This editorial was signed by Tom Mooney, who soon appeared in -the columns of the paper in another capacity. - -The publication did not go unheeded by the Post Office department. -On May 1 Berkman burst out with an article headed, “To Hell With The -Government,” in which he used language that would make any ordinary -head of hair curl up. He was angry because the Government had issued an -order holding up all succeeding issues of the paper. In an editorial -he said he welcomed the uprising in Ireland--the Easter Day affair in -Dublin which cost several Sinn Feiners their lives. Other anarchistic -publications in the country were meeting the same fate. _The Alarm_, in -Chicago, _Revolt_ of New York, _Regeneracion_, a Mexican revolutionary -sheet issued in Los Angeles, and _Voluntad_, a Spanish paper in New -York, were closed up. But Berkman went on publishing, and howling about -the constitutional freedom of the press. Back in New York other friends -of his had been making more trouble: Mrs. Max Eastman and Bolton Hall -were arrested for circulating birth-control pamphlets, and Bouck White -was jailed for distributing an effigy of the American flag bearing a -dollar-mark. Berkman took up their cases and howled. He sent appeals -for help in his fight against the Post Office department, and raised -a little money. One of his liberal contributors was a writer named -John Reed, who sent him five dollars from New York. Then a strike -broke out, fostered by the I. W. W., on the iron ranges in Northern -Minnesota, and William M. Haywood wrote Berkman an appeal for help -which the latter published in _The Blast_ with a eulogy. He found -no dearth of subjects to fill his pages, and then suddenly came an -interruption. - -San Francisco turned out in a great preparedness parade on July 22. -Someone threw a bomb into the ranks of the marchers. Nine people were -killed. The next issue of _The Blast_ said substantially: “Well, -they might have expected it,” and said actually: “To try to connect -the Anarchists, the I. W. W., the Labor elements or the participants -in the peace meeting with the bomb tragedy is stupid. The act was -obviously the work of an individual who evidently sought to express -his opposition to Preparedness for Slaughter by using the ammunition -of Preparedness. Terrible as it is, it is merely a foretaste in -miniature of what the people may expect multiplied a million times, -from the Preparedness insanity.” When two men, Nolan and Tom Mooney, -were arrested and charged with the crime, _The Blast_ rushed to their -defense. When Warren Billings and Israel Weinberg were added to the -list of accused, _The Blast_ ran sketches of the defendants by Minor, -the staff artist. The case was of consuming interest to the anarchist -group, and they rubbed their hands, in _The Blast_ office, over their -good luck that it had happened right in their own little circle. _The -Blast_ ceased firing random shots and focussed on the bomb case in -salvos, followed the course of the trials, drew a parallel between the -condition of the San Francisco suspects and that of Fielden, Neebe and -Schwab, three of the anarchists who were implicated in the Haymarket -bomb outrage in Chicago in 1886 and pardoned. - -The business of being an anarchist became surrounded with more and -more difficulty as the year drew toward a close. Caplan, the fourth -Los Angeles bomb suspect to be tried, was convicted and sentenced to -ten years; a group of laborers who had engaged in violence in strikes -against the United States Steel Corporation were under sentence in a -Pittsburg prison; Carlo Tresca (whom we recall as a speaker at the -Brescia Circle in 1915), and ten others were in jail in Duluth charged -with murder in the I. W. W. strike on the Mesaba Iron range; the Magon -brothers, two Mexican revolutionary anarchists, were in prison, and the -days of _The Blast_ were numbered. Berkman came back to New York in the -fall. While he was absent, _The Blast_ sputtered once more in its -issue of January, 1917, with a venomous cartoon by Minor, and went out, -for want of funds. - -[Illustration: Lieutenant A. R. Fish, Naval Intelligence] - -Berkman found Emma Goldman well and prosperous. She had visited him in -March in San Francisco, and again in June and July had delivered two -series of birth-control lectures there. After her first visit, _The -Blast_ had blossomed out with a book advertisement, which included -the list of volumes sold by the Mother Earth Publishing Company in -New York. There were the usual texts on anarchy, revolution, and -syndicalism, and it is interesting to note among the books sent to -Berkman for review the following titles: “A Few Facts About British -Rule In India. Published by the Hindustani Gadar, San Francisco,” -“India’s ‘Loyalty’ to England. Published by The Indian Nationalist -Party,” and “The Methods of the Indian Police in the Twentieth Century. -Published by the Hindustan Gadar.” Har Dayal had been the editor of -_Ghadr_ until 1914; apparently his acquaintanceship with Berkman was -being kept fresh by his successors at the nest of Hindu intrigue in -Berkeley. - -But when Berkman got back to New York he found that birth-control was -no longer the thing. A new development had taken place, half-way -around the earth, and it looked promising for the anarchistic -interests. So we must leave the two for a moment. - -On January 9, 1917, the Russian premier resigned. A fortnight later -the newspapers announced that the Germans had recaptured considerable -important ground on the Riga front. On February 3, the United States -severed diplomatic relations with Germany, gave Bernstorff his papers, -and sent him home two weeks later. On March 11 a revolutionary -demonstration broke out in Petrograd, and the next day the Czar of All -the Russias abdicated his throne. A new cabinet was formed, its foreign -minister told the Allies that Russia would continue to fight, and the -United States recognized the new régime. The news was hailed with a -good deal of fraternal spirit in America, and with special cordiality -in New York, where there were great numbers of Russians who had left -Europe to escape the persecution of the old régime. - -Many of the New York Russians knew what was going to happen in -Petrograd. The Bomb Squad made friends with an anarchist as early as -February 1, 1917. On that day at a spot not far from where Shatoff -and Berkman had attacked the policeman a year before, a certain -Mr. Plotkin met a Mr. Bogdanovitch. Plotkin urged Bogdanovitch to -call a special conference of all the revolutionary organizations in -the city to protest against militarism. “No,” said the conservative -Bogdanovitch. “Our group will either have to pass a resolution as a -single unit, or else go over to Group 2 and see what they are doing -about this news that we are going to have war. Don’t be too ready to -jump to conclusions.” So the two went to call on Group 2, which was -in session--some 50 Russians and Russian Jews, who spent the evening -harmlessly reading the war prospects from American newspapers. No -resolution was passed. - -The next night, however, there was a lecture at Beethoven Hall, at 210 -East 5th Street. The speaker was introduced as “Mr. Bornstein,” who had -just returned from Russia. “Mr. Bornstein” was Leon Trotzky. - -Trotzky, using the Russian language, told of the plans that were being -developed for revolution. “You anarchists here,” he said, “don’t want -any militarism or any government which is of no help to the working -class, and is always ready to fire on the workman. It’s time you did -away with such a government once and forever!” After his speech, the -chairman, Comrade G. Chudnofsky, rose and addressed the crowd of 300 -in the hall, to this effect: - -“Comrades, some of you can’t read English. You don’t know what is -going on until you see it in the Russian papers. Only to-day I noticed -that the Police Commissioner is going to call out all the reserves he -can get to handle the situation, since Germany notified America what -she would do. The capitalistic government is _afraid of us_! They are -afraid of the working class. Remember that, for in case of war, we can -protest against militarism and start our own war. Here is a resolution -which I propose to prevent any of our loyal number joining the army. I -will read it.” And he read it. - -The next day Bill Shatoff was scheduled to speak at a meeting at Number -9 Second Avenue, but he was suddenly called to Boston, and a substitute -took the platform. He was howled down because he made a speech which -reflected loyalty to the United States. The audience consisted of 75 -Russians, of whom some 30 were anarchists known to the Bomb Squad. The -United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany that night. - -On February 4 the representatives of several of the Russian anarchist -groups were to meet at 534 East 5th Street and pass the resolution -against militarism, but they could not agree upon it, and the session -ended by postponing the matter. Most of the delegates present adjourned -to 64 East 7th Street (almost within earshot of the Washington Arch), -to hear Chudnofsky rave against enlistment, the police, the government -and the war. - -Those little meetings were typical of the eruptions which occurred -throughout the poorer districts of the great city during the remainder -of the month of February. Such propagandists as Chudnofsky and Trotzky, -uttering their exhortations to a multiplication of such groups as -gathered in the Fifth Street house, spread among the gossipy East -Siders and into the remotest slums the news that great things were -about to happen in Russia, and rumor and expectancy set the stage for -the arrival of the news of the revolution on March 12. The leaders then -began to mobilize their forces and act quickly. Under Shatoff, Schnabel -and Rodes the revolutionary fire was passed along from one to another. -The story was that Russia was free, reclaimed from Czardom and all that -it had meant of oppression. - -The lid was off, and it was a case of first come, first served. The -Provisional Government was no better than any other, these men said. -“Russia shall be ours.” “How?” asked the eager disciples. “By helping -yourselves,” answered Shatoff and Schnabel and Rodes. “That’s all very -well,” said the proletariat, “but we haven’t the price.” “Oh, in that -case, come to the farewell meeting on March 26 for Leon Trotzky, at -Harlem River Casino, and all will be made clear to you.” - -Some 800 people were at Trotzky’s farewell party, which was held under -the auspices of the German Socialist Federation. Alexander Berkman and -Emma Goldman were among those present. A blond Russian made a speech in -which he said: “Comrades, some of us are going back to Russia to push -the revolution as we think it ought to be pushed, and those who remain -here must get ready to do their share of the work as it ought to be -done.” Trotzky then rose and speaking first in German, then in Russian, -repeated the advice the previous speaker had given, and added: “You who -stay here must work hand in hand with the revolution in Russia, for -only in that way can you accomplish revolution in the United States.” -He was cheered to the echo. - -(There are still those who wonder why we have not recognized the -Bolsheviki.) - -The pier of the Norwegian-American line the next morning was a strange -sight. Trotzky, with his wife, Chudnofsky, Plotkin, and a group -of fifty more Russians, including such names as Muhin, Rapaport, -Dnieprofsky, Yaroshefsky and Rashkofsky, sailed for Norway. An -undersized, wild-eyed, fanatic little plucked-bantam of a Russian -expatriate literally set out from Hoboken to upset the Provisional -Government of Russia, prevent the formation of a republic, stop the war -with Germany and prevent interference from other governments--that was -his open boast. And, if such a mission can be crowned with success, he -succeeded. - -The leaders of the groups left behind began that very afternoon to -examine recruits for the return to Russia. They met at 534 East 5th -Street and elected a committee of five to serve as examining board -for applicants for the $20 to $50 free passage money extended by the -Provisional Government to help Russians who had fled the persecutions -of the old days to repatriate themselves. It is unnecessary to state -that the Provisional Government hardly knew how thoroughly these homing -pigeons were going to re-establish themselves. All those who passed -muster were put down for a sailing date. - -The Norwegian ship bearing Trotzky and his party put into Halifax and -the British detained the entire passenger list. On April 15 a mass -meeting of anarchists, socialists, and Industrial Workers of the World -was held at Manhattan Lyceum to make a formal protest to the British -government against their detention. Kerensky asked for their release, -and they were allowed to go on. By this time a second consignment had -left, but by a different route. On April 3 George Brewer, H. Gurin, -Mr. and Mrs. David Rohlis, one Kotz, one Schmidt, one Nemiroff and 27 -others left the Pennsylvania Station for Chicago, Vancouver, Japan -and Siberia. On April 23 Comrades Bogdanovitch, Bendetsky, Albert -Greenfield, John (or Ivan) Stepanoff, Michael Smirnoff, Henry Shklar -and 89 more left on the Erie Railroad for Seattle, Japan and Siberia. -On the 12th day of May, “Dynamite Louise” Berg, sister of the anarchist -who was killed July 4, 1914, by the accidental explosion of a bomb, -boarded the steamship _United States_ of the Scandinavian-American Line -in Hoboken for Christiania and Russia. On that ship sailed nearly a -hundred others of the anarchist and revolutionary element. Ninety more, -including Sokoloff, a prominent I. W. W., left for San Francisco -and Japan two days later. On May 26 Mrs. Bill Shatoff, with Alexander -Broide, J. Wishniefsky, and 18 more members of the Coöperative -Anarchist Organization sailed from Hoboken on the _Oskar II_. Two days -passed and Meyer Bell, an anarchist who had seen the inside of many an -American jail for revolutionary agitation, and Mrs. Meyer Bell, with -110 others took their departure for San Francisco and the Orient. The -last consignment but one, a group of 90 more potential Bolsheviki, -followed them on June 24. - -[Illustration: Captain John B. Trevor, Military Intelligence] - -Shatoff and Wolin waited until their flock had been herded out of -the country, and then vanished themselves. No one knew their route, -but they were heard from in Seattle. Altogether some 600 anarchists -made the pilgrimage. Some never reached Russia. Others who did get -back found that conditions offered slim picking, and the Chinese and -Manchurian ports are sprinkled with them to-day--men without a country, -who cannot live in Russia, and who may not return to the United States. - -Those who did get through to the capital of Russia straightway joined -the organization. Trotzky had found Lenine there with plans already -well advanced. The Provisional Government superficially was adequate -to handle the situation, and during June it gave some slight promise -of being able to prosecute its share of the war, but a breach was -coming. A Council of Workmen and Soldiers had sprung up to oppose the -Duma and the government when the Duma voted for an immediate offensive -in Galicia, the Council voted for a separate peace. Kerensky swung -himself back into balance for a month, and led a military offensive. It -turned into a retreat, the retreat into a rout. Korniloff took command -of the army on August 2, and the following day the military governor -of Petrograd was assassinated. The deposed Czar was taken to Siberia. -On September 2 Kerensky tried the expedient of arrest against his -rising enemies in Moscow. On September 16 he proclaimed a new republic, -but political structures could not keep out the terrifying German -military advance that already was threatening Petrograd nor the German -propaganda which was already there. Mid-October saw the government in -flight to Moscow. On the 21st of October Leon Trotzky, at the head of -the Bolsheviki in the Council, declared his party for an immediate -democratic peace, and left the hall at their head, cheering. Municipal -elections on November 1 rejected the Bolsheviki, but they would not be -rejected, and on November 7 the Maximalists deposed Kerensky and took -possession of the Government. Lenine became premier, Trotzky minister -of foreign affairs. - -The New York delegation won influential positions under the new -régime. A United States senator has described the current Russian -government as nothing but “Lenine and a gang of anarchists from New -York, Philadelphia and Chicago.” Wolin took charge of a branch of the -press--a sort of commissioner of public misinformation. Shatoff, in -America a humble syndicalist and I. W. W., rose to the eminence of -chairman of the “Extraordinary Commission for the Struggle Against -Speculators and the Counter Revolution” in Petrograd, a commission -whose activities are perhaps better described by its common title -in the capital. It is called the “Blood and Murder” or the “To the -Wall” committee. He has filled in his spare time as Commissioner of -Railroads, and has been commonly credited in Petrograd with the murder -of the Czar and his family. Ouritzky, Shatoff’s predecessor at the -head of the Committee, had amassed a fortune of some four million -roubles during his tenure of office. He died a violent death. Shatoff, -in October of 1918, had not followed suit. The same John Reed who -contributed to the support of the _Blast_ appeared in Petrograd as a -sympathetic correspondent, and was made consul to New York--a portfolio -which he was unable to use when he returned to New York because of -his indictment, along with Max Eastman and several other editors of -a paper known as _The Masses_, for attempting to obstruct the draft. -The balance of the New York anarchists who made up the expeditionary -force of 1917 found their way, such of them as escaped the rigors of -Petrograd life, into positions of influence in the government of one -hundred or more millions of Russian people. To be sure, their hold is -not too secure, but they are enjoying for the moment a sense of power -which is intoxicating. Nothing seems to please a Bolshevik of the New -York City group more than power--the same thing he tried to overthrow. -I suppose it makes a difference whose power it happens to be. - -Neither Goldman nor Berkman returned to Russia. Their publishing and -bookselling business kept them here, and both were always in demand as -lecturers. Both had pictured themselves for many years as the champions -of anarchy in the United States, and it is conceivable that they -did not wish to pass over their sceptres to any less well qualified -successors. Unlike the ringleaders of the I. W. W., these anarchists -did not dodge real work. Both had active minds, and were happiest when -they were busy. Berkman’s writing at times shows a certain cheerful -tenderness underneath its bombast, and Emma Goldman had a rather -good-natured sarcasm at times as a speaker. - -The two cast their lot in with the pacifists, the -anti-conscriptionists, and the factions whose chief aim was to -interfere with America’s going to war. Emma began to lecture on the -subject. On the night of May 18 she spoke to a meeting in the Harlem -River Casino. After a preamble advising the audience that government -agents were present and that violence would be out of order, she drew -what she probably considered a logical conclusion from this advice and -shouted: - -“And so, friends, we don’t care what people will say about us. We -only care for one thing, and that is to demonstrate to-night, and to -demonstrate as long as we can be able to speak, that when America went -to war ostensibly to fight for democracy, it was a dastardly lie. -It never went to war for democracy!... It is not a war of economic -independence, it is a war for conquest. It is a war for military -power. It is a war for money. It is a war for the purpose of trampling -underfoot every vestige of liberty that you people have worked for, -for the last forty or thirty or twenty-five years, and therefore we -refuse to support such a war.... - -“We believe in violence and we will use violence.... How many people -are going to refuse to conscript? I say there are enough. I could count -fifty thousand, and there will be more.... They will not register! What -are you going to do if there are 500,000? It will not be such an easy -job, and it will compel the government to sit up and take notice, and -therefore we are going to support, with all the money and publicity at -our hands, all the men who will refuse to register and who will refuse -to fight. - -“I hope this meeting is not going to be the last. As a matter of fact -we are planning something else.... We will have a demonstration of all -the people who will not be conscripted, and who will not register. We -are going to have the largest demonstration this city has ever seen, -and no power on earth will stop us.... If there is any man in this hall -that despairs, let him look across at Russia ... and see the wonderful -thing that revolution has done.... - -“What is your answer? Your answer to war must be a general strike, and -then the governing class will have something on its hands....” - -She wound up her speech with an appeal for funds, and said that her -paper, _Mother Earth_, was going to support the rebellion against -the draft law which had been signed by the president that very day. -_Mother Earth_ spoke, in her next issue, which appeared shortly before -registration day, June 5, and spoke in fairly disapproving terms toward -conscription. But the sun went down into New Jersey on registration day -without having witnessed the greatest demonstration New York City ever -saw, or any demonstration whatever save the quiet, cheerful enrollment -of what later became a heroic national army. - -On June 15 Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were arrested in the -office of _Mother Earth_ at 20 East 125th Street. On June 27 they were -arraigned for trial. On July 9 the jury pronounced them guilty of -having attempted to obstruct the draft. Judge Mayer thereupon sentenced -Berkman to two years in the Federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Goldman -to the state penitentiary at Jefferson City, Missouri for two years, -and fined each of them $10,000. It was a stiff blow to organized -anarchy--the maximum sentence possible, and the judge followed it by -directing the District Attorney, Harold A. Content, to notify the -Commissioner of Labor of the conviction, in order that when the two -emerged from prison, they might be deported as aliens convicted of two -or more crimes to the country from which they came, bringing uplift to -down-trodden America. - -Their work has since been carried on in a more or less desultory way. -They, too, have become official martyrs to the cause, whose names will -be inscribed along with those of Brescia, the Haymarket murderers, and -a score of others, on the anarchist service flag. The undercurrent -of opposition appeared spasmodically during the war and it became -necessary for an Alabama Judge, sitting in the District Court of New -York, on October 25, 1918, to impose maximum sentences under the -espionage act upon three more advocates of unrest, Jacob Abrams, Samuel -Lipman and Hyman Lachnowsky, the ringleaders of a group who circulated -leaflets denouncing armed intervention in Russia and advocating a -general strike. They were sentenced to twenty years apiece; a fourth -member got three years and a $1,000 fine. A woman in the group, Mollie -Steiner, was sentenced to fifteen years. - -The efforts at “demonstration” which the imported anarchists in America -have employed are neither as picturesque nor as popularly received as -those of their comrades in the old world. Anarchy is out of tune in -America. Prussianism has already had its answer from the United States. -Bolshevism is not for a well-educated, deep-breathing nation like ours. -And anarchy, the poorest wretch of the three, must make terrifying -faces through some other window than that of a country full of people -who are going to continue to make this democracy safe for itself. - - -THE END - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant -preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not -changed. Inconsistent hyphenation was not changed. - -Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation -marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left -unbalanced. - -Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs -and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support -hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to -the corresponding illustrations. - -Transcribers improved readability of some numbers in some -illustrations, and switched the transcribed sequence of the text of one -pair of “random pages” (following page 26) to make it easier to follow. - -Transcriber corrected the Title page misspelling of “SMALLL, MAYNARD & -COMPANY” to “SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY”, which is how it appears on the -Copyright page. - -Transcriber removed redundant book title just above the title of the -first chapter. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Throttled!, by Thomas Tunney - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THROTTLED! *** - -***** This file should be named 61996-0.txt or 61996-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/9/9/61996/ - -Produced by deaurider, Charlie Howard, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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