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diff --git a/8684.txt b/8684.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2924866 --- /dev/null +++ b/8684.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8039 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Conquest of America, by Cleveland Moffett + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Conquest of America + A Romance of Disaster and Victory + +Author: Cleveland Moffett + + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8684] +This file was first posted on August 1, 2003 +Last Updated: May 19, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mary Meehan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA + + A Romance of Disaster and Victory: U.S.A., 1921 A. D. + + BASED ON EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY + OF JAMES E. LANGSTON, WAR CORRESPONDENT + OF THE "LONDON TIMES" + + + BY + CLEVELAND MOFFETT + + 1916 + + AUTHOR OF "THROUGH THE WALL," "THE BATTLE," + "CAREERS OF DANGER AND DARING," + ETC., ETC. + + + + +[Illustration: ABOUT NOON ON THE DAY OF CAPITULATION, MAY 25, 1921, A +DETACHMENT OF GERMAN SOLDIERS MARCHED QUIETLY UP BROADWAY, TURNED INTO +WALL STREET, AND STOPPED OUTSIDE THE BANKING HOUSE OF J. P. MORGAN & +COMPANY.] + + + +_Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country; and +a great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. +They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their +voice roareth like the sea, and they ride upon horses; every one set in +array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion_. + +Jeremiah 6: 22, 23. + + +_They seemed as men that lifted up +Axes upon a thicket of trees. +And now all the carved work thereof together +They break down with hatchet and hammers. +They have set thy sanctuary on fire; +They have profaned the dwelling place of thy name even to the ground. +They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: +They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land_. + +Psalms 74: 5-8. + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + +TO MY FELLOW AMERICANS + + I. I WITNESS THE BLOWING UP OF THE PANAMA CANAL + + II. AMERICAN AEROPLANES AND SUBMARINES BATTLE DESPERATELY AGAINST THE + GERMAN FLEET + + III. GERMAN INVADERS DRIVE THE IRON INTO THE SOUL OF UNPREPARED + AMERICA + + IV. INVASION OF LONG ISLAND AND THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN + + V. GENERAL VON HINDENBURG TEACHES NEW YORK CITY A LESSON + + VI. VARIOUS UNPLEASANT HAPPENINGS IN MANHATTAN + + VII. NEW HAVEN IS PUNISHED FOR RIOTING AND INSUBORDINATION + + VIII. I HAVE A FRIENDLY TALK WITH THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE AND SECURE A + SENSATIONAL INTERVIEW + + IX. BOSTON OFFERS DESPERATE AND BLOODY RESISTANCE TO THE INVADERS + + X. LORD KITCHENER VISITS AMERICA AND DISCUSSES OUR MILITARY PROBLEMS + + XI. HEROIC ACT OF BARBARA WEBB SAVES AMERICAN ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF + TRENTON + + XII. REAR ADMIRAL THOMAS Q. ALLYN WEIGHS CHANCES OF THE AMERICAN FLEET + IN IMPENDING NAVAL BATTLE + + XIII. THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA + + XIV. PHILADELPHIA'S FIRST CITY TROOPS DIE IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTY + BELL + + XV. THRILLING INCIDENT AT WANAMAKER'S STORE WHEN GERMANS DISHONOUR + AMERICAN FLAG + + XVI. AN AMERICAN GIRL BRINGS NEWS THAT CHANGES THE COURSE OF THE MOUNT + VERNON PEACE CONFERENCE + + XVII. THOMAS A. EDISON MAKES A SERIOUS MISTAKE IN ACCEPTING A DINNER + INVITATION + +XVIII. I WITNESS THE BATTLE OF THE SUSQUEHANNA FROM VINCENT ASTOR'S + AEROPLANE + + XIX. GENERAL WOOD SCORES ANOTHER BRILLIANT SUCCESS AGAINST THE CROWN + PRINCE + + XX. THIRD BATTLE OF BULL RUN WITH AEROPLANES CARRYING LIQUID CHLORINE + + XXI. THE AWAKENING OF AMERICA + + XXII. ON CHRISTMAS EVE BOSTON THRILLS THE NATION WITH AN ACT OF + MAGNIFICENT HEROISM + +XXIII. CONFESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN SPY AND BRAVERY OF BUFFALO SCHOOLBOYS + + XXIV. NOVEL ATTACK OF AMERICAN AIRSHIP UPON GERMAN SUPER-DREADNOUGHT + + XXV. DESPERATE EFFORT TO RESCUE THOMAS A. EDISON FROM THE GERMANS + + XXVI. RIOTS IN CHICAGO AND GERMAN PLOT TO RESCUE THE CROWN PRINCE + +XXVII. DECISIVE BATTLE BETWEEN GERMAN FLEET AND AMERICAN SEAPLANES + CARRYING TORPEDOES + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +ABOUT NOON ON THE DAY OF CAPITULATION, MAY 25, 1921, A DETACHMENT OF +GERMAN SOLDIERS MARCHED UNOBSERVED UP BROADWAY, TURNED INTO WALL STREET, +AND STOPPED OUTSIDE THE BANKING HOUSE OP J. P. MORGAN & COMPANY + +AS THE GERMAN LANDING OPERATIONS PROCEEDED, THE NEWS OF THE INVASION +SPREAD OVER THE WHOLE REGION WITH THE SPEED OF ELECTRICITY. THE ENEMY WAS +COMING! THE ENEMY WAS HERE! WHAT WAS TO BE DONE? + +THEN, FACING INEXORABLE NECESSITY, GENERAL WOOD ORDERED HIS ENGINEERS TO +BLOW UP THE BRIDGES AND FLOOD THE SUBWAYS THAT LED TO MANHATTAN. IT WAS +AS IF THE VAST STEEL STRUCTURE OF BROOKLYN BRIDGE HAD BEEN A THING OF +LACE. IN SHREDS IT FELL, A TORN, TRAGICALLY WRECKED PIECE OF MAGNIFICENCE + +THE PEOPLE KNEW THE ANSWER OF VON HINDENBURG. THEY HAD READ IT, AS HAD +ALL THE WORLD FOR MILES AROUND, IN THE CATACLYSM OF THE PLUNGING TOWERS. +NEW YORK MUST SURRENDER OR PERISH! + +GERMAN GUNS DESTROY THE HOTEL TAFT + +"YOU KNOW, MARK TWAIN WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF MY FATHER'S," SAID THE CROWN +PRINCE. "I REMEMBER HOW MY FATHER LAUGHED, ONE EVENING AT THE PALACE IN +BERLIN, WHEN MARK TWAIN TOLD US THE STORY OF 'THE JUMPING FROG.'" + +AND ON THE MORNING OF JULY 4, TWO OF VON KLUCK'S STAFF OFFICERS, +ACCOMPANIED BY A MILITARY ESCORT, MARCHED DOWN STATE STREET TO ARRANGE +FOR THE PAYMENT OF AN INDEMNITY PROM THE CITY OF BOSTON OF THREE HUNDRED +MILLION DOLLARS + +"MY FRIENDS, THEY SAY PATRIOTISM IS DEAD IN THIS LAND. THEY SAY WE ARE +EATEN UP WITH LOVE OF MONEY, TAINTED WITH A YELLOW STREAK THAT MAKES US +AFRAID TO FIGHT. IT'S A LIE! I AM SIXTY YEARS OLD, BUT I'LL FIGHT IN THE +TRENCHES WITH MY FOUR SONS BESIDE ME, AND YOU MEN WILL DO THE SAME. AM I +RIGHT?" + + + + +THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA + + + + +TO MY FELLOW AMERICANS + +The purpose of this story is to give an idea of what might happen to +America, being defenceless as at present, if she should be attacked, say +at the close of the great European war, by a mighty and victorious power +like Germany. It is a plea for military preparedness in the United +States. + +As justifying this plea let us consider briefly and in a fair-minded +spirit the arguments of our pacifist friends who, being sincerely opposed +to military preparedness, would bring us to their way of thinking. + +On June 10, 1915, in a statement to the American people, following his +resignation as Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan said: + +Some nation must lead the world out of the black night of war into the +light of that day when "swords shall be beaten into plow-shares." Why not +make that honour ours? Some day--why not now?--the nations will learn +that enduring peace cannot be built upon fear--that good-will does not +grow upon the stalk of violence. Some day the nations will place their +trust in love, the weapon for which there is no shield; in love, that +suffereth long and is kind; in love, that is not easily provoked, that +beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all +things; in love, which, though despised as weakness by the worshippers of +Mars, abideth when all else fails. + +These are noble words. They thrill and inspire us as they have thrilled +and inspired millions before us, yet how little the world has seen of the +actual carrying out of their beautiful message! The average individual in +America still clings to whatever he has of material possessions with all +the strength that law and custom give him. He keeps what he has and takes +what he can honourably get, unconcerned by the fact that millions of his +fellow men are in distress or by the knowledge that many of the rich whom +he envies or honours may have gained their fortunes, privilege or power +by unfair or dishonest means. + +In every land there are similar extremes of poverty and riches, but these +could not exist in a world governed by the law of love or ready to be so +governed, since love would destroy the ugly train of hatreds, arrogances, +miseries, injustices and crimes that spread before us everywhere in the +existing social order and that only fail to shock us because we are +accustomed to a regime in which self-interest rather than love or justice +is paramount. + +My point is that if individuals are thus universally, or almost +universally, selfish, nations must also be selfish, since nations are +only aggregations of individuals. If individuals all over the world +to-day place the laws of possession and privilege and power above the law +of love, then nations will inevitably do the same. If there is constant +jealousy and rivalry and disagreement among individuals there will surely +be the same among nations, and it is idle for Mr. Bryan to talk about +putting our trust in love collectively when we do nothing of the sort +individually. Would Mr. Bryan put his trust in love if he felt himself +the victim of injustice or dishonesty? + +Once in a century some Tolstoy tries to practise literally the law of +love and non-resistance with results that are distressing to his family +and friends, and that are of doubtful value to the community. We may be +sure the nations of the world will never practise this beautiful law of +love until average citizens of the world practise it, and that time has +not come. + +Of course, Mr. Bryan's peace plan recognises the inevitability of +quarrels or disagreements among nations, but proposes to have these +settled by arbitration or by the decisions of an international tribunal, +which tribunal may be given adequate police power in the form of an +international army and navy. + +It goes without saying that such a plan of world federation and world +arbitration involves universal disarmament, all armies and all navies +must be reduced to a merely nominal strength, to a force sufficient for +police protection, but does any one believe that this plan can really be +carried out? Is there the slightest chance that Russia or Germany will +disarm? Is there the slightest chance that England will send her fleet to +the scrap heap and leave her empire defenceless in order to join this +world federation? Is there the slightest chance that Japan, with her +dreams of Asiatic sovereignty, will disarm? + +And if the thing were conceivable, what a grim federation this would be +of jealousies, grievances, treacheries, hatreds, conflicting patriotisms +and ambitions--Russia wanting Constantinople, France Alsace-Lorraine, +Germany Calais, Spain Gibraltar, Denmark her ravished provinces, Poland +her national integrity and so on. Who would keep order among the +international delegates? Who would decide when the international judges +disagreed? Who would force the international policemen to act against +their convictions? Could any world tribunal induce the United States to +limit her forces for the prevention of a yellow immigration from Asia? + +General Homer Lea in "The Valour of Ignorance" says: + +Only when arbitration is able to unravel the tangled skein of crime and +hypocrisy among individuals can it be extended to communities and +nations, as nations are only man in the aggregate, they are the aggregate +of his crimes and deception and depravity, and so long as these +constitute the basis of individual impulse, so long will they control the +acts of nations. + +Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University and +trustee of the Carnegie Peace Foundation, makes this admission in _The +Army and Navy Journal:_ + +I regret to say that international or national disarmament is not taken +seriously by the leaders and thinking men of the more important peoples, +and I fear that for one reason or another neither the classes nor the +masses have much admiration for the idea or would be willing to do their +share to bring it about. + +Here is the crux of the question, the earth has so much surface and +to-day this is divided up in a certain way by international frontiers. +Yesterday it was divided up in a different way. To-morrow it will again +be divided up in a new way, unless some world federation steps in and +says: "Stop! There are to be no more wars. The present frontiers of the +existing fifty-three nations are to be considered as righteously and +permanently established. After this no act of violence shall change +them." + +Think what that would mean! It would mean that nations like Russia, Great +Britain and the United States, which happened to possess vast dominions +when this world federation peace plan was adopted would continue to +possess vast dominions, while other nations like Italy, Greece, Turkey, +Holland, Sweden, France, Spain (all great empires once), Germany and +Japan, whose present share of the earth's surface might be only one-tenth +or one-fiftieth or one-five-hundredth as great as Russia's share or Great +Britain's share, would be expected to remain content with that small +portion. + +Impossible! These less fortunate, but not less aspiring nations would +never agree to such a policy of national stagnation, to such a stifling +of their legitimate longings for a "greater place in the sun." They would +point to the pages of history and show how small nations have become +great and how empires have fallen. What was the mighty United States of +America but yesterday? A handful of feeble colonies far weaker than the +Balkan States to-day. + +"Why should this particular moment be chosen," they would protest, "to +render immovable international frontiers that have always been shifting? +Why should the maps of the world be now finally crystallised so as to +give England millions of square miles in every quarter of the globe, +Canada, Australia, India, Egypt, while we possess so little? Did God make +England so much better than he made us? Why should the Russian Empire +sweep across two continents while our territory is crowded into a corner +of one? Is Russia so supremely deserving? And why should the United +States possess as much of the earth's surface as Germany, France, Italy, +Belgium, Holland, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, +Roumania, Spain, Norway, Sweden and Japan all together and, besides that, +claim authority to say, through the Monroe Doctrine, what shall happen or +shall not happen in South America, Mexico, the West Indies and the +Pacific? How did the United States get this authority and this vast +territory? How did Russia get her vast territory? How did England get her +vast territory?" + +The late Professor J. A. Cramb, an Englishman himself, gives us one +answer in his powerful and illuminating book, "Germany and England," and +shows us how England, in the view of many, got _her_ possessions: + +England! The successful burglar, who, an immense fortune amassed, has +retired from business, and having broken every law, human and divine, +violated every instinct of honour and fidelity on every sea and on every +continent, desires now the protection of the police!... So long as +England, the great robber-state, retains her booty, the spoils of a +world, what right has she to expect peace from the nations? + +In reply to Mr. Bryan's peace exhortations, some of the smaller but more +efficient world powers, certainly Germany and Japan, would recall similar +cynical teachings of history and would smilingly answer: "We approve of +your beautiful international peace plan, of your admirable world police +plan, but before putting it into execution, we prefer to wait a few +hundred years and see if we also, in the ups and downs of nations, cannot +win for ourselves, by conquest or cunning or other means not provided for +in the law of love, a great empire covering a vast portion of the earth's +surface." + +The force and justice of this argument will be appreciated, to use a +homely comparison, by those who have studied the psychology of poker +games and observed the unvarying willingness of heavy winners to end the +struggle after a certain time, while the losers insist upon playing +longer. + +It will be the same in this international struggle for world supremacy, +the only nations willing to stop fighting will be the ones that are far +ahead of the game, like Great Britain, Russia and the United States. + +We may be sure that wars will continue on the earth. War may be a +biological necessity in the development of the human race--God's +housecleaning, as Ella Wheeler Wilcox calls it. War may be a great soul +stimulant meant to purge mankind of evils greater than itself, evils of +baseness and world degeneration. We know there are blighted forests that +must be swept clean by fire. Let us not scoff at such a theory until we +understand the immeasurable mysteries of life and death. We know that, +through the ages, two terrific and devastating racial impulses have made +themselves felt among men and have never been restrained, sex attraction +and war. Perhaps they were not meant to be restrained. + +Listen to John Ruskin, apostle of art and spirituality: + +All the pure and noble arts of peace are founded on war. No great art +ever rose on earth but among a nation of soldiers. There is no great art +possible to a nation but that which is based on battle. When I tell you +that war is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is the +foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men. It was very +strange for me to discover this, and very dreadful, but I saw it to be +quite an undeniable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of +civil life flourished together I found to be utterly untenable. We talk +of peace and learning, of peace and plenty, of peace and civilisation; +but I found that these are not the words that the Muse of History coupled +together; that on her lips the words were peace and sensuality, peace and +selfishness, peace and death. I found in brief that all great nations +learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war; that they +were nourished in war and wasted in peace; taught by war and deceived by +peace; trained by war and betrayed by peace; in a word, that they were +born in war and expired in peace. + +We know Bernhardi's remorseless views taken from Treitschke and adopted +by the whole German nation: + +"War is a fiery crucible, a terrible training school through which the +world has grown better." + +In his impressive work, "The Game of Empires," Edward S. Van Zile quotes +Major General von Disfurth, a distinguished retired officer of the German +army, who chants so fierce a glorification of war for the German idea, +war for German Kultur, war at all costs and with any consequences that +one reads with a shudder of amazement: + +Germany stands as the supreme arbiter of her own methods. It is of no +consequence whatever if all the monuments ever created, all the pictures +ever painted, and all the buildings ever erected by the great architects +of the world be destroyed, if by their destruction we promote Germany's +victory over her enemies. The commonest, ugliest stone that marks the +burial place of a German grenadier is a more glorious and venerable +monument than all the cathedrals of Europe put together. They call us +barbarians. What of it? We scorn them and their abuse. For my part, I +hope that in this war we have merited the title of barbarians. Let +neutral peoples and our enemies cease their empty chatter, which may well +be compared to the twitter of birds. Let them cease to talk of the +cathedral of Rheims and of all the churches and all the castles in France +which have shared its fate. These things do not interest us. Our troops +must achieve victory. What else matters? + +Obviously there are cases where every noble sentiment would impel a +nation to go to war. A solemn promise broken, a deliberate insult +to the flag, an act of intolerable bullying, some wicked purpose of +self-aggrandisement at the expense of weaker nations, anything, in short, +that flaunted the national honour or imperilled the national integrity +would be a call to war that must be heeded by valiant and high-souled +citizens, in all lands. Nor can we have any surety against such wanton +international acts, so long as the fate of nations is left in the hands +of small autocracies or military and diplomatic cliques empowered to act +without either the knowledge or approval of the people. Wars will never +be abolished until the war-making power is taken from the few and +jealously guarded by the whole people, and only exercised after public +discussion of the matters at issue and a public understanding of +inevitable consequences. At present it is evident that the pride, greed, +madness of one irresponsible King, Emperor, Czar, Mikado or President may +plunge the whole world into war-misery that will last for generations. + +There are other cases where war is not only inevitable, but actually +desirable from a standpoint of world advantage. Imagine a highly +civilised and progressive nation, a strong prosperous nation, wisely and +efficiently governed, as may be true, some day, of the United States of +America. Let us suppose this nation to be surrounded by a number of weak +and unenlightened states, always quarrelling, badly and corruptly +managed, like Mexico and some of the Central American republics. Would it +not be better for the world if this strong, enlightened nation took +possession of its backward neighbours, even by force of arms, and taught +them how to live and how to make the best of their neglected resources +and possibilities? Would not these weak nations be more prosperous and +happier after incorporation with the strong nation? Is not Egypt better +off and happier since the British occupation? Were not the wars that +created united Italy and united Germany justified? Does any one regret +our civil war? It was necessary, was it not? + +Similarly it is better for the world that we fought and conquered the +American Indians and took their land to use it, in accordance with our +higher destiny, for greater and nobler purposes than they could either +conceive of or execute. It is better for the world that by a revolution +(even a disingenuous one) we took Panama from incompetent Colombians +and, by our intelligence, our courage and our vast resources, changed a +fever-ridden strip of jungle into a waterway that now joins two oceans +and will save untold billions for the commerce of the earth. + +Carrying a step farther this idea of world efficiency through war, it is +probable that future generations will be grateful to some South American +nation, perhaps Brazil, or Chile or the Argentine Republic, that shall +one day be wise and strong enough to lay the foundations on the field of +battle (Mr. Bryan may think this could be accomplished by peaceful +negotiations, but he is mistaken) for the United States of South America. + +And why not ultimately the United States of Europe, the United States of +Asia, the United States of Africa, all created by useful and progressive +wars? Consider the increased efficiency, prosperity and happiness that +must come through such unions of small nations now trying separately and +ineffectively to carry on multiple activities that could be far better +carried on collectively. Our American Union, born of war, proves this, +does it not? + +"United we stand, divided we fall," applies not merely to states, +counties and townships, but to nations, to empires, to continents. +Continents will be the last to join hands across the seas (having first +waged vast inter-continental wars) and then, after the rise and fall of +many sovereignties, there will be established on the earth the last great +government, the United States of the World! + +That is the logical limit of human activities. Are we not all citizens of +the earth, descended from the same parents, born with the same needs and +capacities? Why should there be fifty-three barriers dividing men into +fifty-three nations? Why should there be any other patriotism than world +patriotism? Or any other government than one world government? + +When this splendid ultimate consummation has been achieved, after ages of +painful evolution (we must remember that the human race is still in its +infancy) our remote descendants, united in language, religion and +customs, with a great world representative government finally established +and the law of love prevailing, may begin preparations for a grand world +celebration of the last war. Say, in the year A.D. 2921! + +But not until then! + +If this reasoning is sound, if war must be regarded, for centuries to +come, as an inevitable part of human existence, then let us, as loyal +Americans, realise that, hate war as we may, there is only way in which +the United States can be insured against the horrors of armed invasion, +with the shame of disastrous defeat and possible dismemberment, and that +is by developing the strength and valiance to meet all probable +assailants on land or sea. + +Whether we like it or not we are a great world power, fated to become far +greater, unless we throw away our advantages; we must either accept the +average world standards, which call for military preparedness, or impose +new standards upon a world which concedes no rights to nations that have +not the might to guard and enforce those rights. + +Why should we Americans hesitate to pay the trifling cost of insurance +against war? Trifling? Yes. The annual cost of providing and maintaining +an adequate army and navy would be far less than we spend every year on +tobacco and alcohol. Less than fifty cents a month from every citizen +would be sufficient. That amount, wisely expended, would enormously +lessen the probability of war and would allow the United States, if war +came, to face its enemies with absolute serenity. The Germans are willing +to pay the cost of preparedness. So are the French, the Italians, the +Japanese, the Swiss, the Balkan peoples, the Turks. Do we love our +country less than they do? Do we think our institutions, our freedom less +worthy than theirs of being guarded for posterity? + +Why should we not adopt a system of military training something like the +one that has given such excellent results in Switzerland? Why not cease +to depend upon our absurd little standing army which, for its strength +and organisation, is frightfully expensive and absolutely inadequate, and +depend instead upon a citizenry trained and accustomed to arms, with a +permanent body of competent officers, at least 50,000, whose lives would +be spent in giving one year military training to the young men of this +nation, all of them, say between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three, +so that these young men could serve their country efficiently, if the +need arose? Why not accept the fact that it is neither courageous nor +democratic for us to depend upon hired soldiers to defend our country? + +Does any one doubt that a year of such military training would be of +lasting benefit to the men of America? Would it not school them in +much-needed habits of discipline and self-control, habits which must be +learned sooner or later if a man is to succeed? Would not the open air +life, the physical exercise, the regularity of hours tend to improve +their health and make them better citizens? + +Suppose that once every five years all American men up to fifty were +required to go into military camp and freshen up on their defence duties +for twenty or thirty days. Would that do them any harm? On the contrary, +it would do them immense good. + +And even if war never came, is it not evident that America would benefit +in numberless ways by such a development of the general manhood spirit? +Who can say how much of Germany's greatness in business and commerce, in +the arts and sciences, is due to the fact that _all_ her men, through +military schooling, have learned precious lessons in self-control and +obedience? + +The pacifists tell us that after the present European war, we shall have +nothing to fear for many years from exhausted Europe, but let us not be +too sure of that. History teaches that long and costly wars do not +necessarily exhaust a nation or lessen its readiness to undertake new +wars. On the contrary, the habit of fighting leads easily to more +fighting. The Napoleonic wars lasted over twenty years. At the close of +our civil war we had great generals and a formidable army of veteran +soldiers and would have been willing and able immediately to engage in a +fresh war against France had she not yielded to our demand and withdrawn +Maximilian from Mexico. Bulgaria recently fought two wars within a year, +the second leaving her exhausted and prostrate; yet within two years she +was able to enter upon a third war stronger than ever. + +If Germany wins in the present great conflict she may quite conceivably +turn to America for the vast money indemnity that she will be unable to +exact from her depleted enemies in Europe; and if Germany loses or half +loses she may decide to retrieve her desperate fortunes in this tempting +and undefended field. With her African empire hopelessly lost to her, +where more naturally than to facile America will she turn for her coveted +place in the sun? + +And if not Germany, it may well be some other great nation that will +attack us. Perhaps Great Britain! Especially if our growing merchant +marine threatens her commercial supremacy of the sea, which is her life. +Perhaps Japan! whose attack on Germany in 1914 shows plainly that she +merely awaits favourable opportunity to dispose of any of her rivals in +the Orient. Let us bear in mind that, in the opinion of the world's +greatest authorities, we Americans are to-day totally unprepared to +defend ourselves against a first-class foreign power. My story aims to +show this, and high officers in our army and navy, who have assisted me +in the preparation of this book and to whom I am grateful, assure me that +I have set forth the main facts touching our military defencelessness +without exaggeration. C. M. + +WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY, 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +I WITNESS THE BLOWING UP OF THE PANAMA CANAL + +In my thirty years' service as war correspondent of the London _Times_ I +have looked behind the scenes of various world happenings, and have known +the thrill of personally facing some great historic crises; but there is +nothing in my experience so dramatic, so pregnant with human +consequences, as the catastrophe of April 27, 1921, when the Gatun Locks +of the Panama Canal were destroyed by dynamite. + +At that moment I was seated on the shaded, palm-bordered piazza of the +Grand Hotel at Colon, discussing with Rear-Admiral Thomas Q. Allyn of the +United States Navy the increasing chances that America might find herself +plunged into war with Japan. For weeks the clouds had been darkening, and +it was now evident that the time had come when the United States must +either abandon the Monroe Doctrine and the open door in China, or fight +to maintain these doctrines. + +"Mr. Langston," the Admiral was saying, "the situation is extremely +grave. Japan intends to carry out her plans of expansion in Mexico and +China, and possibly in the Philippines; there is not a doubt of it. Her +fleet is cruising somewhere in the Pacific,--we don't know where,--and +our Atlantic fleet passed through the Canal yesterday, as you know, to +make a demonstration of force in the Pacific and to be ready for--for +whatever may come." + +His hands closed nervously, and he studied the horizon with half-shut +eyes. + +In the course of our talk Admiral Allyn had admitted that the United +States was woefully unprepared for conflict with a great power, either on +sea or land. + +"The blow will be struck suddenly," he went on, "you may be sure of that. +Our military preparations are so utterly inadequate that we may suffer +irreparable harm before we can begin to use our vast resources. You know +when Prussia struck Austria in 1866 the war was over in three months. +When Germany struck France in 1870 the decisive battle, Sedan, was fought +forty-seven days later. When Japan struck Russia, the end was foreseen +within four or five months." + +"It wasn't so in the great European war," I remarked. + +"Why not? Because England held the mastery of the sea. But we hold the +mastery of nothing. Our fleet is barely third among the nations and we +are frightfully handicapped by our enormous length of coast line and by +this canal." + +"The Canal gives us a great advantage, doesn't it? I thought it doubled +the efficiency of our fleet?" + +"It does nothing of the sort. The Canal may be seized. It may be put out +of commission for weeks or months by landslides or earthquakes. A few +hostile ships of the _Queen Elizabeth_ class lying ten miles off shore at +either end, with ranges exactly fixed, or a good shot from an aeroplane, +could not only destroy the Canal's insufficient defences, but could +prevent our fleet from coming through, could hold it, useless, in the +Atlantic when it might be needed to save California or useless in the +Pacific when it might be needed to save New York. If it happened when war +began that one half of our fleet was in the Atlantic and the other half +in the Pacific, then the enemy could keep these two halves separated and +destroy them one by one." + +"I suppose you mean that we need two fleets?" + +"Of course we do--a child can see it--if we are to guard our two +seaboards. We must have a fleet in the Atlantic strong enough to resist +any probable attack from the East, and another fleet in the Pacific +strong enough to resist any probable attack from the West. + +"But listen to this, think of this," the veteran warrior leaned towards +me, shaking an eager fore-finger. "At the present moment our entire +fleet, if massed off Long Island, would be inferior to a fleet that +Germany could send across the Atlantic against us by many ships, many +submarines and many aeroplanes. And hopelessly inferior in men and +ammunition, including torpedoes." + +As I listened I felt myself falling under the spell of the Admiral's +eloquence. He was so sure of what he said. These dangers unquestionably +existed, but--were they about to descend upon America? Must we really +face the horrors of a war of invasion? + +"Your arguments are very convincing, sir, and yet--" I hesitated. + +"Well?" + +"You speak as if these things were going to happen _right now,_ but there +are no signs of war, no clouds on the horizon." + +The Admiral waved this aside with an impatient gesture. + +"I tell you the blow will come suddenly. Were there any clouds on the +European horizon in July, 1914? Yet a few persons knew, just as I have +known for months, that war was inevitable." + +"Known?" I repeated. + +Very deliberately the grizzled sea fighter lighted a fresh cigar before +replying. + +"Mr. Langston, I'll tell you a little story that explains why I am posing +as a prophet. You can put it in your memoirs some day--if my prophecy +comes true. It's the story of an American naval officer, a young +lieutenant, who--well, he went wrong about a year ago. He got into the +clutches of a woman spy in the employ of a foreign government. He met +this woman in Marseilles on our last Mediterranean cruise and fell in +love with her--hopelessly. She's one of those devilish sirens that no +full-blooded man can resist and, the extraordinary part of it is, she +fell in love with him--genuinely in love. + +"Well--it was a bad business. This officer gave the woman all he had, +told her all he knew, and finally he asked her to marry him. Yes. He +didn't care what she was. He just wanted her. And she was so happy, so +crazy about him, that she almost yielded; she was ready to turn over a +new leaf, to settle down as his wife, but--" + +"But she didn't do it?" I smiled. + +The Admiral shook his head. + +"He was a poor man--just a lieutenant's pay and she couldn't give up her +grand life. But she loved him enough to try to save him, enough to leave +him. She wrote him a wonderful letter, poured her soul out to him, gave +him certain military secrets of the government she was working for--they +would have shot her in a minute, you understand, if they had known +it--and she told him to take this information as a proof of her love and +use it to save the United States." + +I was listening now with absorbed interest. + +"What government was she working for?" + +The Admiral paused to relight his cigar. + +"Wait! The next thing was that this lieutenant came to me, as a friend of +his father and an admiral of the American fleet, and made a clean breast +of everything. He made his confession in confidence, but asked me to use +the knowledge as I saw fit without mentioning his name. I did use it +and"--the Admiral's frown deepened--"the consequence was no one believed +me. They said the warning was too vague. You know the attitude of recent +administrations towards all questions of national defence. It's always +politics before patriotism, always the fear of losing middle west +pacifist votes. It's disgusting--horrible!" + +"Was the warning really vague?" + +"Vague. My God!" The old sea dog bounded from his chair. "I'll tell you +how vague it was. A statement was definitely made that before May 1, +1921, a great foreign power would make war upon the United States and +would begin by destroying the Panama Canal. To-day is April 27, 1921. I +don't say these things are going to happen within three days but, Mr. +Langston, as purely as the sun shines on that ocean, we Americans are +living in a fool's paradise. We are drunk with prosperity. We are deaf +and blind to the truth which is known to other nations, known to our +enemies, known to the ablest officers in our army and navy. + +"The truth is that, as a nation, we have learned nothing from our past +wars because we have never had to fight a first-class power that was +prepared. But the next war, and it is surely coming, will find us held in +the grip of an inexorable law which provides that nations imitating the +military policy of China must suffer the fate of China." + +The Admiral now explained why he had sent for me. It was to suggest that +I cable the London _Times_, urging my paper to use its influence, through +British diplomatic channels, to avert another great war. I pointed out +that the chances of such intervention were slight. Great Britain was +still smarting under the memory of Americans' alleged indifference to +everything but money in 1918 when the United States stood by, +unprotesting, and saw England stripped of her mastery of the sea after +the loss of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. + +"There are two sides to that," frowned the Admiral, "but one thing is +certain--it's England or no one. We have nothing to hope for from Russia; +she has what she wants--Constantinople. Nothing to hope for from France; +she has her lost provinces back. And as for Germany--Germany is waiting, +recuperating, watching her chance for a place in the South American sun." + +"Germany managed well in the Geneva Peace Congress of 1919," I said. + +The veteran of Manila threw down his cigarette impatiently. + +"Bismarck could have done no better. They bought off Europe, they +crippled England and--they isolated America." + +"By the way," continued the Admiral, "I must show you some things in my +scrap book. You will be astonished. Wait a minute. I'll get it." + +The old fellow hurried off and presently returned with a heavy volume +bound in red leather. + +"Take it up to your room to-night and look it over. You will find the +most overwhelming mass of testimony to the effect that to-day, in spite +of all that has been said and written and all the money spent, the United +States is totally unprepared to defend its coasts or uphold its national +honour. Just open the book anywhere--you'll see." + +I obeyed and came upon this statement by Theodore Roosevelt: + +What befell Antwerp and Brussels will surely some day befall New York or +San Francisco, and may happen to many an inland city also, if we do not +shake off our supine folly, if we trust for safety to peace treaties +unbacked by force. + +"Pretty strong words for an ex-President of the United States to be +using," nodded the Admiral. "And true! Try another place." + +I did so and came upon this from the pen of Gerhard von +Schulze-Gaevernitz, professor of political economy at the University of +Freiburg and a member of the Reichstag: + +Flattered and deftly lulled to sleep by British influence, public +opinion in the United States will not wake up until the 'yellow New +England' of the Orient, nurtured and deflected from Australia by England +herself, knocks at the gates of the new world. Not a patient and meek +China, but a warlike and conquest-bound Japan will be the aggressor when +that day comes. Then America will be forced to fight under unfavourable +conditions. + +The famous campaigner's eyes flashed towards the Pacific. + +"When that day comes! Ah! Speaking of Japan," he turned over the pages in +nervous haste. "Here we are! You can see how much the Japanese love us! +Listen! This is an extract from the most popular book in Japan to-day. It +is issued by Japan's powerful and official National Defence Association +with a view to inflaming the Japanese people against the United States +and preparing them for a war of invasion against this country. Listen to +this: + +"Let America beware! For our cry, 'On to California! On to Hawaii! +On to the Philippines!' is becoming only secondary to our imperial +anthem!... To arms! We must seize our standards, unfurl them to the winds +and advance without the least fear, as America has no army worthy the +name, and with the Panama Canal destroyed, its few battleships will be of +no use until too late. + +"I tell you, Mr. Langston," pursued the Admiral, "we Americans are to-day +the most hated nation on earth. The richest, the most arrogant, the most +hated nation on earth! And helpless! Defenceless! Believe me, that's a +bad combination. Look at this! Read this! It's a cablegram to the New +York _Tribune_, published on May 21, 1915, from Miss Constance Drexel, an +American delegate to the Woman's Peace Conference at The Hague: + +"I have just come out of Germany and perhaps the predominating impression +I bring with me is Germany's hatred of America. Germany feels that war +with America is only a matter of time. Everywhere I went I found the same +sentiment, and the furthest distance away I found the war put was ten +years. It was said to me: 'We must settle with England first, but then +will come America's turn. If we don't make war on you ourselves we will +get Japan into a war with you, and then we will supply arms and munitions +to Japan.'" + +At this point, I remember, I had turned to order an orange liqueur, when +the crash came. + +It was terrific. Every window in the hotel was shattered, and some scores +of labourers working near the Gatun Locks were killed instantly. Six +hundred tons of dynamite, secreted in the hold of a German merchantman, +had been exploded as the vessel passed through the locks, and ten +thousand tons of Portland cement had sunk in the tangled iron wreck, to +form a huge blockading mass of solid rock on the floor of the narrow +passage. + +Needless to say, every man on the German ship thus sacrificed died at his +post. + +The Admiral stared in dismay when the news was brought to him. + +"Germany!" he muttered. "And our fleet is in the Pacific!" + +"Does it mean war?" I asked. + +"Yes, of course. Unquestionably it means war. We have been misled. We +were thinking of one enemy, and we have been struck by another. We +thought we could send our fleet through the Canal and get it back easily; +but--now we cannot get it back for at least two months!" + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AMERICAN AEROPLANES AND SUBMARINES BATTLE DESPERATELY AGAINST THE GERMAN +FLEET + +A week later--or, to be exact, on May 4, 1921--I arrived in New York, +following instructions from my paper, and found the city in a state of +indescribable confusion and alarm. + +War had been declared by Germany against the United States on the day +that the Canal was wrecked, and German transports, loaded with troops and +convoyed by a fleet of battleships, were known to be on the high seas, +headed for American shores. As the Atlantic fleet had been cut off in the +Pacific by that desperate piece of Panama strategy (the Canal would be +impassable for months), it was evident that those ships could be of no +service for at least eight weeks, the time necessary to make the trip +through the Straits of Magellan; and meanwhile the Atlantic seaboard from +Maine to Florida was practically unguarded. + +No wonder the newspapers shrieked despairingly and bitterly upbraided +Congress for neglecting to provide the country with adequate naval +defences. + +Theodore Roosevelt came out with a signed statement: + +"Four years ago I warned this country that the United States must have +two great fleets--one for the Atlantic, one for the Pacific." + +Senator Smoot, in a sensational speech, referred to his vain efforts +to secure for the country a fleet of fifty sea-going submarines and +twenty-five coast-defence submarines. Now, he declared, the United States +would pay for its indifference to danger. + +In the House of Representatives, Gardner and Hobson both declared that +our forts were antiquated, our coast-defence guns outranged, our +artillery ridiculously insufficient, and our supply of ammunition not +great enough to carry us through a single month of active warfare. + +On the night of my arrival in Manhattan I walked through scenes of +delirious madness. The town seemed to reel in a sullen drunkenness. +Throngs filled the dark streets. The Gay White Way was no longer either +white or gay. The marvellous electrical display of upper Broadway had +disappeared--not even a street light was to be seen. And great hotels, +like the Plaza, the Biltmore, and the new Morgan, formerly so bright, +were scarcely discernible against the black skies. No one knew where the +German airships might be. Everybody shouted, but nobody made very much +noise. The city was hoarse. I remembered just how London acted the night +the first Zeppelin floated over the town. + +At five o'clock the next morning, Mayor McAneny appointed a Committee of +Public Safety that went into permanent session in Madison Square Garden, +which was thronged day and night, while excited meetings, addressed by +men and women of all political parties, were held continuously in Union +Square, City Hall Park, Columbus Circle, at the Polo Grounds and in +various theatres and motion-picture houses. + +Such a condition of excitement and terror necessarily led to disorder and +on May 11, 1921, General Leonard Wood, in command of the Eastern Army, +placed the city under martial law. + +And now on every tongue were frantic questions. When would the Germans +land? To-day? To-morrow? Where would they strike first? What were we +going to do? Every one realised, when it was too late, the hopeless +inadequacy of our aeroplane scouting service. To guard our entire +Atlantic seaboard we had fifty military aeroplanes where we should have +had a thousand and we were wickedly lacking in pilots. Oh, the shame of +those days! + +In this emergency Rodman Wanamaker put at the disposal of the government +his splendid air yacht the _America II_, built on the exact lines of the +_America I_, winner of across-the-Atlantic prizes in 1918, but of much +larger spread and greater engine power. The America II could carry a +useful load of five tons and in her scouting work during the next +fortnight she accommodated a dozen passengers, four officers, a crew of +six, and two newspaper men, Frederick Palmer, representing the Associated +Press, and myself for the London _Times._ + +What a tremendous thing it was, this scouting trip! Day after day, far +out over the ocean, searching for German battleships! Our easy jog trot +speed along the sky was sixty miles an hour and, under full engine +pressure, the _America II_ could make a hundred and twenty, which was +lucky for us as it saved us many a time when the slower German aircraft +came after us, spitting bullets from their machine guns. + +On the morning of May 12, a perfect spring day, circling at a height of +half a mile, about fifty miles off the eastern end of Long Island, we had +our first view of the German fleet as it ploughed through smooth seas to +the south of Montauk Point. + +We counted eight battle cruisers, twelve dreadnoughts, ten +pre-dreadnoughts, and about sixty destroyers, in addition to transports, +food-ships, hospital-ships, repair-ships, colliers, and smaller fighting +and scouting vessels, all with their full complement of men and +equipment, moving along there below us in the pleasant sunshine. Among +the troopships I made out the _Kaiserin Auguste Luise_ and the +_Deutschland,_ on both of which I had crossed the summer following the +Great Peace. I thought of the jolly old commander of the latter vessel +and of the capital times we had had together at the big round table in +the dining-saloon. It seemed impossible that this was war! + +I subsequently learned that the original plan worked out by the German +general staff contemplated a landing in the sheltered harbour of Montauk +Point, but the lengthened range (21,000 yards) of mortars in the American +forts on Fisher's Island and Plum Island, a dozen miles to the north, now +brought Montauk Point under fire, so the open shore south of East Hampton +was substituted as the point of invasion. + +"There's no trouble about landing troops from the open sea in smooth +weather like this," said Palmer, speaking through his head-set. "We did +it at Santiago, and the Japs did it at Port Arthur." + +"And the English did it at Ostend," I agreed. "Hello!" + +As I swept the sea to the west with my binoculars I thought I caught the +dim shape of a submerged submarine moving slowly through the black +depths like a hungry shark; but it disappeared almost immediately, and I +was not sure. As a matter of fact, it was a submarine, one of six +American under-water craft that had been assigned to patrol the south +shore of Long Island. + +The United States still had twenty-five submarines in Atlantic waters, in +addition to thirty that were with the absent fleet; but these twenty-five +had been divided between Boston Harbour, Narragansett Bay, Delaware +Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and other vulnerable points, so that only six were +left to defend the approaches to New York City. And, of these six, five +were twenty-four hours late, owing, I heard later, to inexcusable +delays at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where they had been undergoing repairs. +The consequence was that only the K-2 was here to meet the German +invasion--one lone submarine against a mighty fleet. + +Still, under favourable conditions, one lone submarine is a force to be +reckoned with, as England learned in 1915. + +The K-2 attacked immediately, revealing her periscope for a minute as she +took her observations. Then she launched a torpedo at a big German +supply-ship not more than a thousand yards away. + +"Good-bye, ship!" said Palmer, and we watched with fascinated interest +the swift white line that marked the course of the torpedo. It struck the +vessel squarely amidships, and she sank within five minutes, most of the +men aboard being rescued by boats from the fleet. + +It now went ill with the K-2, however; for, having revealed her presence, +she was pursued by the whole army of swift destroyers. She dived, and +came up again two miles to the east, bent on sinking a German +dreadnought; but, unfortunately, she rose to the surface almost under the +nose of one of the destroyers, which bombarded her with its rapid-fire +guns, and then, when she sank once more, dropped on her a small mine that +exploded under water with shattering effect, finishing her. + +As I think it over, I feel sure that if those other five submarines had +been ready with the K-2, we might have had another story to tell. +Possibly the slowness of the Brooklyn Navy Yard--which is notorious, I +understand--may have spoiled the one chance that America had to resist +this invasion. + +The next day the five tardy submarines arrived; but conditions were +now less favourable, since the invaders had had time to prepare their +defence against this under-water peril. As we flew over East Hampton on +the following afternoon, we were surprised to see five fully inflated +air-ships of the nonrigid Parseval type floating in the blue sky, like +grim sentinels guarding the German fleet. Down through the sun-lit ocean +they could see the shadowy underwater craft lurking in the depths, and +they carried high explosives to destroy them. + +"How about our aeroplanes?" grumbled Palmer. + +"Look!" I answered, pointing toward the Shinnecock Hills, where some tiny +specks appeared like soaring eagles. "They're coming!" + +The American aeroplanes, at least, were on time, and as they swept nearer +we counted ten of them, and our spirits rose; for ten swift aeroplanes +armed with explosive bombs can make a lot of trouble for slower and +clumsier aircraft. + +But alas for our hopes! The invaders were prepared also, and, before the +American fliers had come within striking distance, they found themselves +opposed by a score of military hydroplanes that rose presently, with a +great whirring of propellers, from the decks of the German battle-ships. +Had the Americans been able to concentrate here their entire force of +fifty aeroplanes, the result might have been different; but the fifty had +been divided along the Atlantic coast--ten aeroplanes and five submarines +being assigned to each harbour that was to be defended. + +Now came the battle. And for hours, until night fell, we watched a +strange and terrible conflict between these forces of air and water. With +admirable skill and daring the American aeronauts manoeuvred for +positions above the Parsevals, whence they could drop bombs; and so swift +and successful were they that two of the enemy's air-ships were destroyed +before the German aeroplanes really came into the action. After that it +went badly for the American fliers, which were shot down, one by one, +until only three of the ten remained. Then these three, seeing +destruction inevitable, signalled for a last united effort, and, all +together, flew at full speed straight for the great yellow gas-bag of the +biggest Parseval and for certain death. As they tore into the flimsy +air-ship there came a blinding flash, an explosion that shook the hills, +and that brave deed was done. + +There remained two Parsevals to aid the enemy's fleet in its fight +against American submarines, and I wish I might describe this fight in +more detail. We saw a German transport torpedoed by the B-1; we saw +two submarines sunk by rapid-fire guns of the destroyers; we saw a +battle-cruiser crippled by the glancing blow of a torpedo; and we saw the +K-1 blown to pieces by bombs from the air-ships. Two American submarines +were still fighting, and of these one, after narrowly missing a +dreadnought, sent a troop-ship to the bottom, and was itself rammed and +sunk by a destroyer, the sea being spread with oil. The last submarine +took to flight, it seems, because her supply of torpedoes was exhausted. +And this left the invaders free to begin their landing operations. + +During four wonderful days (the Germans were favoured by light northeast +breezes) Palmer and I hovered over these East Hampton shores, watching +the enemy construct their landing platforms of brick and timbers from +dynamited houses, watching the black transports as they disgorged from +lighters upon the gleaming sand dunes their swarms of soldiers, their +thousands of horses, their artillery, their food supplies. There seemed +no limit to what these mighty vessels could carry. + +We agreed that the great 50,000-ton _Imperator_ alone brought at least +fifteen thousand men with all that they needed. And I counted twenty +other huge transports; so my conservative estimate, cabled to the paper +by way of Canada,--for the direct cables were cut,--was that in this +invading expedition Germany had successfully landed on the shores of Long +Island one hundred and fifty thousand fully equipped fighting-men. It +seemed incredible that the great United States, with its vast wealth and +resources, could be thus easily invaded; and I recalled with a pang what +a miserable showing England had made in 1915 from similar unpreparedness. + +[Illustration: AS THE GERMAN LANDING OPERATIONS PROCEEDED, THE NEWS OF +THE INVASION SPREAD OVER THE WHOLE REGION WITH THE SPEED OF ELECTRICITY. +THE ENEMY WAS COMING! THE ENEMY WAS HERE. WHAT WAS TO BE DONE?] + +As the German landing operations proceeded, the news of the invasion +spread over the whole region with the speed of electricity, and in every +town and village on Long Island angry and excited and terrified crowds +cursed and shouted and wept in the streets. + +The enemy was coming! + +The enemy was here! + +What was to be done? + +Should they resist? + +And many valorous speeches in the spirit of '76 were made by farmers and +clerks and wild-eyed women. What was to be done? + +In the peaceful town of East Hampton some sniping was done, and afterward +bitterly repented of, the occasion being the arrival of a company of +Uhlans with gleaming helmets, who galloped down the elm-lined main street +with requisitions for food and supplies. + +Suddenly a shot was fired from Bert Osborne's livery stable, then another +from White's drug store, then several others, and one of the Uhlans +reeled in his saddle, slightly wounded. Whereupon, to avenge this attack +and teach Long Islanders to respect their masters, the German fleet was +ordered to shell the village. + +Half an hour later George Edwards, who was beating up the coast in his +trim fishing schooner, after a two weeks' absence in Barnegat Bay (he +had heard nothing about the war with Germany), was astonished to see a +German soldier in formidable helmet silhouetted against the sky on the +eleventh tee of the Easthampton golf course, one of the three that rise +above the sand dunes along the surging ocean, wigwagging signals to the +warships off shore. And, presently, Edwards saw an ominous puff of white +smoke break out from one of the dreadnoughts and heard the boom of a +twelve-inch gun. + +The first shell struck the stone tower of the Episcopal church and hurled +fragments of it against the vine-covered cottage next door, which had +been the home a hundred and twenty years before of John Howard Payne, the +original "home sweet home." + +The second shell struck John Drew's summer home and set it on fire; the +third wrecked the Casino; the fourth destroyed Albert Herter's studio and +slightly injured Edward T. Cockcroft and Peter Finley Dunne, who were +playing tennis on the lawn. That night scarcely a dozen buildings in this +beautiful old town remained standing. And the dead numbered more than +three hundred, half of them being women and children. + + + +CHAPTER III + + +GERMAN INVADERS DRIVE THE IRON INTO THE SOUL OF UNPREPARED AMERICA + +The next week was one of deep humiliation for the American people. Our +great fleet and our great Canal, which had cost so many hundreds of +millions and were supposed to guarantee the safety of our coasts, had +failed us in this hour of peril. + +Secretary Alger, in the Spanish War, never received half the punishment +that the press now heaped on the luckless officials of the War and the +Navy Departments. + +The New York _Tribune_, in a scathing attack upon the administration, +said: + +The blow has fallen and the United States is totally unprepared to meet +it. Why? Because the Democratic party, during its eight years' tenure of +office, has obstinately, stupidly and wickedly refused to do what was +necessary to make this country safe against invasion by a foreign power. +There has been a surfeit of talking, of explaining and of promising, but +of definite accomplishment very little, and to-day, in our extreme peril, +we find ourselves without an army or a navy that can cope with the +invaders and protect our shores and our homes. + +Richard Harding Davis, in the _Evening Sun_, denounced unsparingly those +Senators and Congressmen who, in 1916, had voted against national +preparedness: + +For our present helpless condition and all that results from it, let the +responsibility rest upon these Senators and Congressmen, who, for their +own selfish ends, have betrayed the country. They are as guilty of +treason as was ever Benedict Arnold. Were some of them hanged, the sight +of them with their toes dancing on air might inspire other Congressmen to +consider the safety of this country rather than their own re-election. + +The New York _World_ published a memorable letter written by Samuel J. +Tilden in December, 1885, to Speaker Carlisle of the Forty-ninth Congress +on the subject of national defence and pointed out that Mr. Tilden was a +man of far vision, intellectually the foremost democrat of his day. In +this letter Mr. Tilden said: + +The property exposed to destruction in the twelve seaports, Portland, +Portsmouth, Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, +Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Galveston and San Francisco, cannot be +less in value than five thousand millions of dollars.... While we may +afford to be deficient in the means of offence we cannot afford to be +defenceless. The notoriety of the fact that we have neglected the +ordinary precautions of defence invites want of consideration in our +diplomacy, injustice, arrogance and insult at the hands of foreign +nations. + +To add to the general indignation, it transpired that the American +reserve fleet, consisting of ten predreadnoughts, was tied up in the +docks of Philadelphia, unable to move for lack of officers and men to +handle them. After frantic orders from Washington and the loss of +precious days, some two thousand members of the newly organised naval +reserve were rushed to Philadelphia; but eight thousand men were needed +to move this secondary fleet, and, even if the eight thousand had been +forthcoming, it would have been too late; for by this time a German +dreadnought was guarding the mouth of Delaware Bay, and these inferior +ships would never have braved its guns. So here were seventy-five million +dollars' worth of American fighting-ships rendered absolutely useless and +condemned to be idle during the whole war because of bad organisation. + +Meantime, the Germans were marching along the Motor Parkway toward New +York City with an army of a hundred and fifty thousand, against which +General Wood, by incredible efforts, was able to oppose a badly +organised, inharmonious force of thirty thousand, including Federals and +militia that had never once drilled together in large manoeuvres. Of +Federal troops there was one regiment of infantry from Governor's Island, +and this was short of men. There were two infantry regiments from Forts +Niagara and Porter, in New York State. Also a regiment of colored cavalry +from Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, a battalion of field artillery from Fort +Myer, Virginia, a battalion of engineers from Washington, D. C., a +battalion of coast artillery organised as siege artillery from Fort +Dupont, Delaware, a regiment of cavalry from Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, +two regiments of infantry from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, one regiment of +field artillery from Fort Sheridan, Illinois, one regiment of horse +artillery from Fort Riley, Kansas, one regiment of infantry and one +regiment of mountain guns from Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. + +I may add that at this time the United States army, in spite of many +efforts to increase its size, numbered fewer than 70,000 men; and so many +of these were tied up as Coast Artillery or absent in the Philippines, +Honolulu, and the Canal Zone, that only about 30,000 were available as +mobile forces for the national defence. + +As these various bodies of troops arrived in New York City and marched +down Fifth Avenue with bands playing "Dixie" and colours flying, the +excitement of cheering multitudes passed all description, especially when +Theodore Roosevelt, in familiar slouch hat, appeared on a big black horse +at the head of a hastily recruited regiment of Rough Riders, many of them +veterans who had served under him in the Spanish War. + +Governor Malone reviewed the troops from the steps of the new Court House +and the crowd went wild when the cadets from West Point marched past, in +splendid order. At first I shared the enthusiasm of the moment; but +suddenly I realised how pathetic it all was and Palmer seemed to see that +side of it, too, though naturally he and I avoided all discussion of the +future. In addition to such portions of the regular army as General Wood +could gather together, his forces were supplemented by infantry and +cavalry brigades of militia from New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, +Connecticut, and Massachusetts, these troops being more or less +unprepared for battle, more or less lacking in the accessories of +battles, notably in field artillery and in artillery equipment of men and +horses. One of the aides on General Wood's staff told me that the +combined American forces went into action with only one hundred and fifty +pieces of artillery against four hundred pieces that the Germans brought. + +"And the wicked part of it is," he added, "that there were two hundred +other pieces of artillery we might have used if we had had men and horses +to operate them; but--you can't make an artillery horse overnight." + +"Nor a gun crew," said I. + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +INVASION OF LONG ISLAND AND THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN + +To meet this desperate situation and the enemy's greatly superior forces, +General Wood decided not to advance against the Germans, but to intrench +his army across the western end of Long Island, with his left flank +resting on Fort Totten, near Bayside, and his nine-mile front extending +through Creedmore, Rosedale, and Valley Stream, where his right flank +would be guarded from sea attack by the big guns of Fort Hancock on Sandy +Hook, which would hold the German fleet at a distance. + +Any military strategist will agree that this was the only course for the +American commander to pursue under the circumstances; but unfortunately +popular clamour will often have its way in republics, and in this case a +violent three days' gale--which arrived providentially, according to some +of the newspapers--gave an appearance of reason to the general demand. + +This gale interfered seriously with the German landing operations,--in +fact, it wrecked one of their supply-ships,--and, in consequence, such +strong political pressure was brought to bear upon the President that +orders came from Washington to General Wood that he advance his army +against the invaders and drive them into the sea. The General made a few +remarks not for publication, and obeyed. As he told me afterward, it is +doubtful whether the result would have been different in any event. + +In throwing forward his forces, General Wood used the three lines of +railroad that cross Long Island from west to east; and on May 17 his +battleline reached from Patchogue through Holtsville to Port Jefferson. +Meantime, the Germans had advanced to a line that extended from East +Moriches to Manorville; and on May 18 the first clash came at daybreak in +a fierce cavalry engagement fought at Yaphank, in which the enemy were +driven back in confusion. It was first blood for the Americans. + +This initial success, however, was soon changed to disaster. On May 19 +the invaders advanced again, with strengthened lines, under the support +of the big guns of their fleet, which stood offshore and, guided by +aeroplane observers, rained explosive shells upon General Wood's right +flank with such accuracy that the Americans were forced to withdraw. +Whereupon the Germans, using the famous hook formation that served them +so well in their drive across northern France in the summer of 1914, +pressed forward relentlessly, the fleet supporting them in a deadly +flanking attack upon the American right wing. + +On May 20 von Hindenburg established his headquarters at Forest Hills, +where, less than a year before, his gallant countryman, the great +Fraitzheim, had made an unsuccessful effort to wrest the Davis cup from +the American champion and ex-champion, Murray and McLoughlin. + +But that was a year ago! + +In the morning General Wood's forces continued to retreat, fighting with +dogged courage in a costly rear-guard action, and destroying railroads +and bridges as they went. The carnage wrought by the German six- and +eleven-inch explosive shells with delayed-action fuses was frightful +beyond anything I have ever known. Ten feet into the ground these +projectiles would bury themselves before exploding, and then--well, no +army could stand against them. + +On May 22 General Wood was driven back to his original line of defences +from Fort Totten to Valley Stream, where he now prepared to make a last +stand to save Brooklyn, which stretched behind him with its peaceful +spires and its miles of comfortable homes. Here the Americans were safe +from the hideous pounding of the German fleet, and, although their losses +in five days amounted to more than six thousand men, these had been +replaced by reinforcements of militia from the West and South. There was +still hope, especially as the Germans, once they advanced beyond Westbury +and its famous polo fields, would come within range of the heavy mortars +of Fort Totten and Fort Hamilton, which carried thirteen miles. + +That night the German commander, General von Hindenburg, under a flag of +truce, called upon the Americans to surrender in order to save the +Borough of Brooklyn from destruction. + +General Wood refused this demand; and on May 23, at dawn, under cover of +his heavy siege-guns, von Hindenburg threw forward his veterans in +terrific massed attack, striking simultaneously at three points with +three army divisions--one in a drive to the right toward Fort Totten, one +in a drive to the left toward Fort Hamilton, and one in a drive straight +ahead against General Wood's centre and the heart of Brooklyn. + +All day the battle lasted--the battle of Brooklyn--with house-to-house +fighting and repeated bayonet charges. And at night the invaders, +outnumbering the American troops five to one, were everywhere victorious. +The defender's line broke first at Valley Stream, where the Germans, led +by the famous Black Hussars, flung themselves furiously with cold steel +upon the militiamen and put them to flight. By sundown the Uhlans were +galloping, unopposed, along the broad sweep of the Eastern Parkway and +parallel streets towards Prospect Park, where the high land offered an +admirable site for the German artillery, since it commanded Fort Hamilton +from the rear and the entire spread of Brooklyn and Manhattan. + +It was now that Field Marshal von Hindenburg and his staff, speeding +along the Parkway in dark grey military automobiles, witnessed a famous +act of youthful heroism. As they swung across the Plaza to turn into +Flatbush Avenue von Hindenburg ordered his chauffeur to slow up so that +he might view the Memorial Arch and the MacMonnies statues of our Civil +War heroes, and at this moment a sharp burst of rifle fire sounded across +Prospect Park. + +"What is that?" asked the commander, then he ordered a staff officer to +investigate. + +It appears that on this fateful morning five thousand American High +School lads, from fifteen to eighteen years of age, members of the +Athletic League of New York Public Schools, who had been trained in these +schools to shoot accurately, had answered the call for volunteers and +rallied to the defence of their city. By trolley, subway and ferry they +came from all parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Harlem, Staten Island and the +Bronx, eager to show what their months of work with subtarget gun +machines, practice rods and gallery shooting, also their annual match on +the Peekskill Rifle Range, would now avail against the enemy. But when +they assembled on the Prospect Parade Ground, ready to do or die, they +found that the entire supply of rifles for their use was one hundred and +twenty-five! Seventy-five Krags, thirty Springfields and one hundred and +twenty Winchesters, 22-calibre muskets--toys fit for shooting squirrels, +and only a small supply of cartridges. The rifles available were issued +to such of the boys as had won their badges of sharpshooter and marksman, +two boys being assigned to each gun, so that if one was shot the other +could go on fighting. + +"It was pitiful," said General George W. Wingate, President of the +League, who was directing their movements, "to see the grief of those +brave boys as they heard the German guns approaching and realised that +they had nothing to fight with. Five thousand trained riflemen and no +rifles!" + +Nearer and nearer came the flanking force of the invading host and +presently it reached the outskirts of this beautiful park, which with +hill and lake and greensward covers five hundred acres in the heart of +Brooklyn. A few boys were deployed as skirmishers along the eastern edge +of the Park, but the mass occupied hastily dug trenches near the monument +to the Maryland troops on Lookout Hill and the brass tablet that +commemorate the battle of Long Island. At these historic points for half +an hour they made a stand against a Bavarian regiment that advanced +slowly under cover of artillery fire, not realising that they were +sweeping to death a crowd of almost unarmed schoolboys. + +Even so the Americans did deadly execution until their ammunition was +practically exhausted. Then, seeing the situation hopeless, the head +coaches, Emanuel Haug, John A. C. Collins, Donald D. Smith and Paul +B. Mann, called for volunteers to hold the monument with the few remaining +cartridges, while the rest of the boys retreated. Hundreds clamoured for +this desperate honour, and finally the coaches selected seventy of those +who had qualified as sharpshooters to remain and face almost certain +death, among these being: Jack Condon of the Morris High School, J. +Vernet (Manual Training), Lynn Briggs (Erasmus), Isaac Smith (Curtis), +Charles Mason (Commercial), C. Anthony (Bryant), J. Rosenfeld +(Stuyvesant), V. Doran (Flushing), M. Marnash (Eastern District), F. +Scanlon (Bushwick), Winthrop F. Foskett (De Witt Clinton), and Richard +Humphries (Jamaica). + +Such was the situation when Field Marshal von Hindenburg dashed up in his +motor car. Seventy young American patriots on top of Lookout Hill, with +their last rounds of toy ammunition, were holding back a German regiment +while their comrades fled for their lives. And surely they would have +been a martyred seventy, since the Bavarians were about to charge in full +force, had not von Hindenburg taken in the situation at a glance and +shouted: + +"Halt! It is not fitting that a German regiment shall use its strength +against a handful of boys. Let them guard their monument! March on!" + +Meantime, to the east and north of the city the battle raged and terror +spread among the populace. All eyes were fixed on New York as a haven of +refuge and, by the bridge, ferry and tunnel, hundreds of thousands made +their escape from Brooklyn. + +The three great bridges stretching their giant black arms across the +river were literally packed with people--fathers, mothers, children, all +on foot, for the trolleys were hopelessly blocked. A man told me +afterwards that it took him seven hours to cross with his wife and their +two little girls. + +Other swarms hovered about the tunnel entrances and stormed the +ferry-boats at their slips. Every raft in the harbour carried its load. +The Pennsylvania and Erie ferries from the other side of Manhattan, the +Staten Island boats, the Coney Island and other excursion steamers, +struggled through the press of sea traffic and I heard that three of +these vessels sank of their own weight. Here and there, hardly +discernible among the larger craft, were the small boats, life-boats, +canoes, anything and everything that would float, each bearing its little +group to a precarious safety on Manhattan Island. + +Meantime, Fort Totten and Fort Hamilton had been taken from the rear by +overwhelming forces, and their mortars had been used to silence the guns +of Fort Schuyler and Fort Wadsworth. In this emergency, seeing the +situation hopeless, General Wood withdrew his forces in good order under +cover of a rear-guard action between the Uhlans and the United States +colored cavalry, and, hurrying before him the crowds of fleeing +civilians, marched his troops in three divisions across the Brooklyn +Bridge, leaving Brooklyn in flames behind him. Then facing inexorable +necessity, he ordered his engineers to blow up these three beautiful +spans that had cost hundreds of millions, and to flood the subways +between Brooklyn and Manhattan. + +Seen through the darkness at the moment of its ruin the vast steel +structure of the Brooklyn Bridge, with its dim arches and filaments, was +like a thing of exquisite lace. In shreds it fell, a tangled, twisted, +tragically wrecked piece of magnificence. + + + +CHAPTER V + + +GENERAL VON HINDENBURG TEACHES NEW YORK CITY A LESSON + +On May 24, 1921, the situation of New York City was seen to be desperate, +and most of the newspapers, even those that had clamoured loudest for +resistance and boasted of American valour and resourcefulness, now +admitted that the metropolis must submit to a German occupation. + +Even the women among the public officials and political leaders were +inclined to a policy of nonresistance. General Wood was urged to +surrender the city and avoid the horrors of bombardment; but the +commander replied that his first duty was to defend the territory of the +United States, and that every day he could keep the enemy isolated on +Long Island was a day gained for the permanent defences that were +frantically organising all over the country. + +It was vital, too, that the immense stores of gold and specie in the +vaults of the Federal Reserve and other great New York banks should be +safely transported to Chicago. + +All day and all night, automobile trucks, operated under orders from +William G. McAdoo, Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank, loaded with +millions and millions of gold, passed unprotected and almost unheeded +through the crowded section between Wall Street and the Grand Central +Station. The people stared at them dumbly. They knew what was going on. +They knew they could have a fortune by reaching out their hands. But at +this moment, with their eternities in their eyes, they had no thought of +gold. Hour after hour the work went on. Finally, subway trains and street +cars were pressed into service as treasure-carriers. + +By night $800,000,000 had started West and the next morning Chicago was +the financial capital of America. + +At midnight General Wood gave final orders for resistance to the last gun +and the last man; and, when early the next morning the German general +again sent officers with a flag of truce demanding the surrender of +Manhattan Island, Wood's reply was a firm refusal. He tried, however, to +gain time in negotiations; and a few hours later I accompanied a +delegation of American staff officers with counter-proposals across the +East River in a launch. I can see von Hindenburg now, in his high boots +and military coat, as he received the American officers at the foot of +the shattered Brooklyn Bridge. A square massive head with close-cropped +white hair, brushed straight back from a broad forehead. And sad +searching eyes--wonderful eyes. + +"Then you refuse to surrender? You think you can fight?" the Field +Marshal demanded. + +At which the ranking American officer, stung by his arrogance, declared +that they certainly did think they could fight, and would prove it. + +"Ah! So!" said von Hindenburg, and he glanced at a gun crew who were +loading a half-ton projectile into an 11.1-inch siege-gun that stood on +the pavement. "Which is the Woolworth Building?" he asked, pointing +across the river. + +"The tallest one, Excellency--the one with the Gothic lines and gilded +cornices," replied one of his officers. + +"Ah, yes, of course. I recognise it from the pictures. It's beautiful. +Gentlemen,"--he addressed the American officers,--"I am offering +twenty-dollar gold pieces to this gun crew if they bring down +that tower with a single shot. Now, then, careful!... + +"Ready!" + +We covered our ears as the shot crashed forth, and a moment later the +most costly and graceful tower in the world seemed to stagger on its +base. Then, as the thousand-pound shell, striking at the twenty-seventh +story, exploded deep inside, clouds of yellow smoke poured out through +the crumbling walls, and the huge length of twenty-four stories above the +jagged wound swayed slowly toward the east, and fell as one piece, +flinging its thousands of tons of stone and steel straight across the +width of Broadway, and down upon the grimy old Post Office Building +opposite. + +_"Sehr gut!"_ nodded von Hindenburg. "It's amusing to see them fall. +Suppose we try another? What's that one to the left?" + +"The Singer Building, Excellency," answered the officer. + +"Good! Are you ready?" + +Then the tragedy was repeated, and six hundred more were added to the +death toll, as the great tower crumbled to earth. + +"Now, gentlemen,"--von Hindenburg turned again to the American officers +with a tiger gleam in his eyes,--"you see what we have done with +two shots to two of your tallest and finest buildings. At this time +to-morrow, with God's help, we shall have a dozen guns along this bank of +the river, ready for whatever may be necessary. And two of our +_Parsevals_, each carrying a ton of dynamite, will float over New York +City. I give you until twelve o'clock to-morrow to decide whether you +will resist or capitulate. At twelve o'clock we begin firing." + +Our instructions were to return at once in the launch by the shortest +route to the Battery, where automobiles were waiting to take us to +General Wood's headquarters in the Metropolitan Tower. I can close my +eyes to-day and see once more those pictures of terror and despair that +were spread before us as we whirled through the crowded streets behind +the crashing hoofs of a cavalry escort. The people knew who we were, +where we had been, and they feared what our message might be. + +Broadway, of course, was impassable where the mass of red brick from the +Singer Building filled the great canyon as if a glacier had spread over +the region, or as if the lava from a man-made Aetna had choked this great +thoroughfare. + +Through the side streets we snatched hasty impressions of unforgetable +scenes. Into the densely populated regions around Grand and Houston +Streets the evicted people of Brooklyn had poured. And into the homes of +these miserably poor people, where you can walk for blocks without +hearing a word in the English tongue, Brooklyn's derelicts had been +absorbed by tens of thousands. + +Here came men and women from all parts of Manhattan, the rich in their +automobiles, the poor on foot, bearing bundles of food and eager to help +in the work of humanity. And some, alas, were busy with the sinister +business of looting. + +Above Fourteenth Street we had glimpses of similar scenes and I learned +later that almost every family in Manhattan received some Brooklyn +homeless ones into their care. New York--for once--was hospitable. + +In Madison Square the people waited in silence as we approached the great +white tower from which the Commander of the Army of the East, unmindful +of the fate of the Woolworth and the Singer buildings, watched for +further moves from the fortified shores of Brooklyn. Not a shout greeted +our arrival at the marble entrance facing the square, not even that +murmur of expectancy which sweeps over a tense gathering. The people knew +the answer of von Hindenburg. They had read it, as had all the world for +miles around, in the cataclysm of the plunging towers. + +New York must surrender or perish! + +Scarcely three blocks away, the Committee of Public Safety, numbering one +hundred, sat in agitated council at the Madison Square Garden, while +enormous crowds, shouting and murmuring, surged outside, where five +hundred armed policemen tried vainly to quell the spirit of riot that was +in the air. Far into the night the discussion lasted, while overhead in +the purple-black sky floated the two _Parsevals_, ominous visitors, their +search-lights playing over the helpless city that was to feel their wrath +on the morrow unless it yielded. + +Meantime, on the square platform within the great Moorish building, a +hundred leading citizens of Manhattan, including the ablest and the +richest and a few of the most radical, spoke their minds, while thousands +of men and women, packed in the galleries and the aisles, listened +heart-sick for some gleam of comfort. + +And there was none. + +Among the Committee of Public Safety I recognised J. P. Morgan, Jacob H. +Sehiff, John D. Rockefeller, Charles F. Murphy, Andrew Carnegie, Vincent +Astor, Cardinal Farley, Colonel Jacob Ruppert, Nicholas Murray Butler, S. +Stanwood Menken, Paul M. Warburg, John Finley, Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont, +James E. Gaffney, Ida Tarbell, Norman Hapgood, William Randolph Hearst, +Senator Whitman, Bernard Ridder, Frank A. Munsey, Henry Morgenthau, Elihu +Root, Henry L. Stimson, Franklin Q. Brown, John Mitchell, John Wanamaker, +Dr. Parkhurst, Thomas A. Edison, Colonel George Harvey, Douglas Robinson, +John Hays Hammond, Theodore Shonts, William Dean Howells, Alan R. Hawley, +Samuel Gompers, August Belmont, Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, the Rev. Percy +Stickney Grant, Judge E. H. Gary, Emerson McMillin, Cornelius Vanderbilt, +and ex-Mayor Mitchel. + +Former President Wilson motored over from Princeton, accompanied by +Professor McClellan, and was greeted with cheers. Ex-President Taft was +speaking at the time, advocating a dignified appeal to the Hague Tribunal +for an adjudication of the matter according to international law. Nearly +all of the speakers favoured non-resistance, so far as New York City was +concerned. With scarcely a dissenting voice, the great financial and +business interests represented here demanded that New York City +capitulate immediately. + +Whereupon Theodore Roosevelt, who had just entered the Garden with his +uniform still smeared with Long Island mud, sprang to his feet and cried +out that he would rather see Manhattan Island sunk in the Bay than +disgraced by so cowardly a surrender. There was still hope, he declared. +The East River was impassable for the enemy. All shipping had been +withdrawn from Brooklyn shores, and the German fleet dared not enter the +Ambrose Channel and the lower bay so long as the Sandy Hook guns held +out. + +"We are a great nation," Roosevelt shouted, "full of courage and +resourcefulness. Let us stand together against these invaders, as our +forefathers stood at Lexington and Bunker Hill!" + +During the cheers that followed this harangue, my attention was drawn to +an agitated group on the platform, the central figure being Bernard +Ridder, recognised leader of the large German-American population of New +York City that had remained staunchly loyal in the crisis. Presently a +clamour from the crowd outside, sharper and fiercer than any that had +preceded it, announced some new and unexpected danger close at hand. + +White-faced, Mr. Ridder stepped to the edge of the platform and lifted +his hand impressively. + +"Let me speak," he said. "I must speak in justice to myself and to half a +million German-Americans of this city, who are placed in a terrible +position by news that I have just received. I wish to say that we are +Americans first, not Germans! We are loyal to the city, loyal to this +country, and whatever happens here tonight--" + +At this moment a tumult of shouts was heard at the Madison Avenue +entrance, and above it a shrill purring sound that seemed to strike +consternation into an army officer who sat beside me. + +"My God!" he cried. "The machine-guns! The Germans are in the streets!" + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +VARIOUS UNPLEASANT HAPPENINGS IN MANHATTAN + +I shall never forget the horror of that hoarse cry: + +"The Germans are in the streets!" + +What followed was still more terrifying. Somewhere at the back of the +Garden, a piercing whistle cut the air--evidently a signal--and suddenly +we found ourselves facing a ghastly tragedy, and were made to realise the +resistless superiority of a small body of disciplined troops over a +disorganised multitude. + +"_Fertig! Los! Hup!_" shouted a loud voice (it was a man with a +megaphone) in the first gallery opposite the platform. Every face in that +tremendous throng turned at once in the direction of the stranger's +voice. And before the immense audience knew what was happening, five +hundred German soldiers, armed with pistols and repeating rifles, had +sprung to life, alert and formidable, at vantage-points all over the +Garden. Two hundred, with weapons ready, guarded the platform and the +Committee of Public Safety. And, in little groups of threes and fives, +back to back, around the iron columns that rose through the galleries, +stood three hundred more with flashing barrels levelled at the crowds. + +I counted fifteen of these dominating groups of soldiers in the northern +half of the lower gallery, and it was the same in the southern half and +the same on both sides of the upper gallery, which made sixty armed +groups in sixty strategic positions. There was nothing for the crowd to +do but yield. + +"Pass out, everybody!" screamed the megaphone man. "We fire at the first +disorder." + +"Out, everybody!" roared the soldiers. "We fire at the first disorder." + +As if to emphasise this, an automatic pistol crackled at the far end of +the Garden, and frantic crowds pushed for the doors in abject terror. +There was no thought of resistance. + +"Use all the exits," yelled the megaphone man; and the order was passed +on by the soldiers from group to group. And presently there rolled out +into the streets and avenues through the thirty great doors and down the +six outside stairways that zigzag across the building such streams of +white-faced, staggering, fainting humanity as never had been seen on +Manhattan Island. + +I was driven out with the others (except the Committee of Public Safety), +and was happy to find myself with a whole skin in Twenty-sixth Street +opposite the Manhattan Club. As I passed a group of German soldiers near +the door, I observed that they wore grey uniforms. I wondered at this +until I saw overcoats at their feet, and realised that they had entered +the Garden like spies with the audience of citizens, their uniforms and +weapons being concealed under ordinary outer garments, which they had +thrown off at the word of command. + +We stumbled into the street, and were driven roughly by other German +soldiers toward the open space of Madison Square. We fled over red and +slippery pavements, strewn with the bodies of dead and wounded policemen +and civilians--the hideous harvest of the machine-guns. At the corner of +Madison Avenue and Twenty-fifth Street I saw an immense coal-carrying +motor-truck with plates of iron covering its four sides, and through +loopholes in the plates I saw murderous muzzles protruding. + +It appears that shortly after midnight, at the height of the debate, four +of these armoured cars came lumbering toward the Garden from west and +east, north and south; and, as they neared the four corners of the +immense yellow building, without warning they opened fire upon the +police, which meant inevitably upon the crowd also. In each truck were a +dozen soldiers and six machine-guns, each one capable of firing six +hundred shots a minute. There was no chance for resistance, and within a +quarter of an hour the streets surrounding the Garden were a shambles. On +Madison Avenue, just in front of the main entrance, I saw bodies lying +three deep, many of them hideously mutilated by the explosive effects of +these bullets at short range. As I stepped across the curb in front of +the S.P.C.A. building, I cried out in horror; for there on the sidewalk +lay a young mother--But why describe the horror of that scene? + +With difficulty I succeeded in hiring a taxicab and set out to find +General Wood or some officer of his staff from whom I might get an +understanding of these tragic events. Who were those German soldiers at +the Garden? Where did they come from? Were they German-Americans? + +It was four o'clock in the morning before I located General Wood at the +plaza of the Queensborough Bridge, where he was overseeing the placing of +some artillery pieces. He was too busy to talk to me, but from one of his +aides I learned that the soldiers at the Madison Square Garden were not +German-Americans and were not von Hindenburg's men, but were part of that +invisible army of German spies that invariably precedes the invading +forces of the Kaiser. Arriving a few hundred at a time for a period of +more than three years, 50,000 of these German spies, fully armed and +equipped, now held New York at their mercy. More than that, they had in +their actual physical possession the men who owned half the wealth of the +nation. That New York would capitulate was a foregone conclusion. + +After cabling this news, I went back to my hotel, the old Brevoort, +for a snatch of sleep; and at half-past eight I was out in the streets +again. The first thing that caught my eye was a black-lettered +proclamation--posted by German spies, no doubt--over Henri's barber shop, +and signed by General von Hindenburg, announcing the capitulation of New +York City. The inhabitants were informed that they had nothing to fear. +Their lives and property would be protected, and they would find the +Germans just and generous in all their dealings. Food and supplies would +be paid for at the market price, and citizens would be recompensed for +all services rendered. The activities of New York would go on as usual, +and there would be no immediate occupation of Manhattan Island by German +troops. All orders from the conquering army in Brooklyn must be +implicitly obeyed, under penalty of bombardment. + +I could scarcely believe my eyes. New York City had capitulated! I asked +a man beside me--an agitated citizen in an orange tie--whether this could +be true. He said it was--all the morning papers confirmed it. The immense +pressure from Wall Street upon Washington, owing to the hold-up of +multimillionaires, had resulted in orders from the President that the +city surrender and that General Wood's forces withdraw to New Jersey. + +"What about John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan and +the other hostages?" I asked. + +"The _Sun_ says they have been taken over to Brooklyn where the German +army is, and they've got to raise a billion dollars in gold." + +"A billion dollars in gold!" + +"Sure; as an indemnity for New York City. You'll notice we could have +bought a few defences for that billion," sniffed the angry citizen. + +Things moved rapidly after this. All the shipping in waters about the +island metropolis, including ferry-boats, launches, pilot-boats, +everything that floated, was delivered over to the Germans. The Sandy +Hook defences were delivered over, and the rivers and bays were cleared +of mines. All motor-cars, supplies of gasolene, firearms, and ammunition +in New York City were seized and removed to Brooklyn. The telephone +service was taken over by the Germans and operated by them, chiefly for +military purposes. The mail service ceased. The newspapers were ordered +not to appear--with the exception of the _Staats-Zeitung_, which became +the official organ of the invaders and proceeded to publish editions in +English as well as German. + +"What will happen if we go ahead and get out the paper in spite of your +order?" inquired the city editor of the _Evening Journal_ when a youthful +Prussian officer informed him that the paper must not appear. + +"Oh, you will be shot and William Randolph Hearst will be shot," said the +officer pleasantly. + +About noon on the day of capitulation, May 25, 1921, a company of German +soldiers with two machine guns, two ammunition carts and a line of motor +trucks landed at the Battery and marched quietly up Broadway, then turned +into Wall Street and stopped outside the banking house of J. P. Morgan & +Co. A captain of hussars in brilliant uniform and wearing an eyeglass +went inside with eight of his men and explained politely to the manager +that the Germans had arranged with J. P. Morgan personally that they were +to receive five million dollars a day in gold on account of the indemnity +and, as four days' payment, that is twenty million dollars, were now due, +the captain would be obliged if the manager would let him have twenty +million dollars in gold immediately. Also a match for his cigarette. + +The manager, greatly disturbed, assured the captain that there was not as +much money as that in the bank, all the gold in New York having been sent +out of the city. + +"Ah!" said the officer with a smile. "That will simply put you to the +trouble of having it sent back again. You see, we hold the men who own +this gold. Besides, I think you can, with an effort, get together this +trifling amount." + +The manager vowed it was utterly impossible, whereupon the captain +motioned to one of his men, who, it turned out, had been for years a +trusted employee of J. P. Morgan & Co. and had made himself familiar with +every detail of Wall Street affairs. He knew where a reserve store of +gold was hidden and the consequence was that half an hour later the +German soldiers marched back to the Battery, their motor trucks groaning +under the weight of twenty million dollars in double eagles and bullion. + +"You see, we need some small change to buy eggs and chickens and +vegetables with," laughed the officer. "We are very particular to pay for +everything we take." + +An hour later the first show of resistance to German authority came when +a delegation of staff officers from General von Hindenburg visited the +city hall to instruct Mayor McAneny as to the efficient running of the +various municipal departments. I had the details of this conference from +the mayor's private secretary. The officers announced that there would be +no interference with the ordinary life of the city so long as the results +were satisfactory. Business must go on as usual. Theatres and places of +amusement were to remain open. The city must be gay, just as Berlin was +gay in 1915. + +On the other hand any disorder or failure to provide for German needs in +the matter of food and supplies would be severely dealt with. Every +morning there must be delivered at the foot of Fulton Street, Brooklyn, +definite quantities of meat, poultry, eggs, butter, vegetables, flour, +milk, sugar, fruits, beer, coffee, tea, besides a long and detailed list +of army supplies. + +"Suppose we cannot get these things?" protested the mayor. "Suppose the +train service to New York is cut off by General Wood's army?" + +"Hah!" snorted a red-faced colonel of artillery. "There are two and a +half million Americans on Manhattan Island--and we'll see that they stay +there--who will starve within one week if General Wood cuts off the train +service. I don't think he will cut it off, Mr. McAneny." + +"Besides, my dear sir," drawled a slender English-looking officer, +wearing the iron cross, "if there should be any interference with our +food supply, remember that we can destroy your gas and electric lighting +plants, we can cripple your transportation system and possibly cut off +your water supply with a few well directed shots. Don't forget that, Mr. +McAneny." + +The trouble began as these German officers walked down Broadway with a +small escort of soldiers. Whenever they passed a policeman they required +him to salute, in accordance with published orders, but a big Irishman +was defiant and the officers stopped to teach him manners. At which a +crowd gathered that blocked Broadway and the officers were insulted and +jostled and one of them lost his helmet. There was no serious disorder, +but the Germans made it a matter of principle and an hour later the +_Staats Zeitung_ came out with a special edition announcing that, +inasmuch as disrespect had been shown to five German officers by a +Broadway crowd, it now became necessary to give the city an object lesson +that would, it was hoped, prevent such a regrettable occurrence in the +future. That evening five six-inch shells would be fired by German siege +guns in Brooklyn at five indicated open spaces in Manhattan, these being +chosen to avoid losses of life and property. The first shell would be +fired at seven o'clock and would strike in Battery Park; the second at +7.05 and would strike in Union Square; the third at 7.10 and would strike +in Madison Square; the fourth at 7.15 and would strike in Stuyvesant +Square; the fifth at 7.20 and would strike in Central Park just north of +the Plaza. + +This announcement was carried out to the letter, the five shells +exploding at the exact points and moments indicated, and the people +realised with what horrible precision the German artillery-men held +Manhattan island at their mercy. + +The newspapers also received their object lesson through the action of +the _Evening Telegram_ in bringing out an extra announcing the +bombardment. My own desk being in the foreign editor's room, I witnessed +this grim occurrence. At half-past five a boyish-looking lieutenant +sauntered in and asked for the managing editor, who was sitting with his +feet on a desk. + +"Good-evening," said the German. "You have disobeyed orders in getting +out this edition. I am sorry." + +The editor stared at him, not understanding. "Well, what's the answer?" + +The officer's eyes were sympathetic and his tone friendly. He glanced at +his wrist watch. "The answer is that I give you twenty minutes to +telephone your family, then I'm going to take you up on the roof and have +you shot. I am sorry." + +Twenty minutes later they stood up this incredulous editor behind the +illuminated owls that blinked down solemnly upon the turmoil of Herald +Square and shot him to death as arranged. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +NEW HAVEN IS PUNISHED FOR RIOTING AND INSUBORDINATION + +Meantime the United States from coast to coast was seething with rage +and humiliation. This incredible, impossible thing had happened. New +York City was held by the enemy, and its greatest citizens, whose names +were supposed to shake the world--Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, +Vanderbilt,--were helpless prisoners. General Wood's defeated army had +been driven back into New Jersey, and was waiting there for von +Hindenburg's next move, praying for more artillery, more ammunition, more +officers, and more soldiers. Let this nation be threatened, Secretary of +State Bryan had said, and between sunrise and sunset a million men would +spring to arms. Well, this was the time for them to spring; but where +were the arms? Nowhere! It would take a year to manufacture what was +needed! A year to make officers! A year to make soldiers! And the enemy +was here with mailed fist thundering at the gates! + +The question now heard in all the clubs and newspaper offices, and in +diplomatic circles at Washington, was, which way would von Hindenburg +strike when he left New York? Would it be toward Boston or toward +Philadelphia? And why did he delay his blow, now that the metropolis, +after a week's painful instruction, was resigning itself to a Germanised +existence, with German officials collecting the New York custom house +revenues and a German flag flying from the statue of Liberty? What was +von Hindenburg waiting for? + +On the 3d of June these questions were dramatically answered by the +arrival of another invading expedition, which brought a second force of +one hundred and fifty thousand German soldiers. What cheering there was +from Brooklyn shores as these transports and convoys, black with men, +steamed slowly into the ravished upper bay, their bands crashing out +"Deutschland Ueber Alles" and their proud eagles floating from all the +mast-heads! + +"This makes three hundred thousand first-class fighting-men," scowled +Frederick Palmer as we watched the pageant. "What is Leonard Wood going +to do about it?" + +"I know what von Hindenburg is going to do," said I, taking the role of +prophet. "Divide his forces and start two drives--one through New England +to Boston, and one to Washington." + +As a matter of fact, this is exactly what the German general did do--and +he lost no time about it. On June 5, von Hindenburg, with an army of +125,000, began his march toward Trenton, and General von Kluck, who had +arrived with the second expedition, started for Boston with an equal +force. This left 50,000 German troops in Brooklyn to control New York +City and to form a permanent military base on Long Island. + +General Wood's position was terribly difficult. His army, encamped half +way between Trenton and Westfield, had been increased to 75,000 men; but +50,000 of these from the militia were sadly lacking in arms and +organisation, and 5,000 were raw recruits whose first army work had been +done within the month. He had 20,000 regulars, not half of whom had ever +seen active warfare. And against these von Hindenburg was advancing with +125,000 veterans who had campaigned together in France and who were +equipped with the best fighting outfit in the world! + +It would have been madness for the American commander to divide his +outclassed forces; and yet, if he did not divide them, von Kluck's army +would sweep over New England without resistance. In this cruel dilemma, +General Wood decided--with the approval of the President--to make a stand +against von Hindenburg and save Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, +if he could, and to leave New England to its fate. + +At this critical moment I was instructed by my paper to accompany a +raiding expedition sent by General von Hindenburg into northern New +Jersey, with the object of capturing the Picatinny arsenal near Dover; +and this occupied me for several days, during which General von Kluck's +army, unresisted, had marched into Connecticut up to a line reaching from +beyond Bridgeport to Danbury to Washington, and had occupied New +Rochelle, Greenwich, Stamford, South Norwalk, and Bridgeport. The Germans +advanced about fifteen miles a day, living off the country, and carefully +repairing any injuries to the railways, so that men and supplies from +their Long Island base could quickly follow them. + +On June 10, when I rejoined General von Kluck's staff (to which I had +been assigned), I found that he was accompanied by the Crown Prince and +the venerable Count Zeppelin, both of whom seemed more interested in this +New England occupation than in the activities of von Hindenburg's army. +They realised, it appears, the great importance of controlling the +industrial resources, the factories and machine-shops of Connecticut and +Massachusetts. It was this interest, I may add, that led to the first +bloodshed on Connecticut soil. + +Thus far not a shot had been fired by the invaders, who had been received +everywhere by sullen but submissive crowds. Only a small part of the +population had fled to the north and east, and the activities of occupied +towns and cities went on very much as usual under German orders and +German organisation. The horrible fate of Brooklyn, the wreck of the +Woolworth and Singer buildings were known everywhere; and if New York +City, the great metropolis, had been forced to meek surrender by the +invaders, what hope was there for Stamford and Bridgeport and South +Norwalk? + +[Illustration: THEN, FACING INEXORABLE NECESSITY, GENERAL WOOD ORDERED +HIS ENGINEERS TO BLOW UP THE BRIDGES AND FLOOD THE SUBWAYS THAT LED TO +MANHATTAN. IT WAS AS IF THE VAST STEEL STRUCTURE OF BROOKLYN BRIDGE HAD +BEEN A THING OF LACE. IN SHREDS IT FELL, A TORN, TRAGICALLY WRECKED PIECE +OF MAGNIFICENCE.] + +But in Hartford a different spirit was stirring. By their admirable spy +service, their motorcycle service, and their aeroplane service, the +German staff were informed of defiant Hartford crowds gathering in +Bushnell Park; of the Putnam Phalanx parading in continental uniforms, +and of the Governor's First Company Foot Guards marching past the +monument where the Charter Oak had stood facing the South Congregational +Church; and of patriotic speeches from beside the statue of Nathan Hale +on Main Street. + +Also in New Haven, city of elms and of Yale College, the Second Company +of Governor's Foot Guards and the valiant New Haven Grays, followed by +cheering crowds, had marched down Chapel and Meadow streets to the Second +Regiment Armory, home of joyous Junior promenades; and here vehement +orators had recalled how their ancestors, the minute-men of 1776, had +repelled the British there to the west of the city, where Columbus and +Congress and Davenport avenues meet at the Defenders' Monument. Why +should not this bravery and devotion be repeated now in 1921 against the +Germans? Why not? + +The answer was spoken clearly in a widely published appeal to the people +of New England, made by the Governor of Connecticut and supported by +Simeon E. Baldwin, ex-Governor of the State, and Arthur T. Hadley, +president of Yale, in which the utter folly and hopelessness of +resistance without army or militia was convincingly set forth. Professor +Taft declared it the duty of every loyal citizen to avoid nameless +horrors of bloodshed and destruction of property by refraining from any +opposition to an overwhelmingly superior force. + +We entered New Haven on June 12, and for forty-eight hours there was no +disorder. German siege guns were placed on the sheer precipice of East +Rock, ranged alongside the grey shaft of the Soldiers' Monument, +dominating the city; machine-guns were set up at the four corners of the +Green, at points surrounding the college buildings, and at other +strategic points. Students were not allowed to leave the college grounds +without military permission. + +To further insure the good behaviour of the city, twenty hostages were +taken, including ex-President William H. Taft, President Arthur T. Hadley +of Yale University, Thomas G. Bennett, ex-president of the Winchester +Repeating Arms Company, Major Frank J. Rice, ex-Governor Simeon E. +Baldwin, Edward Malley, General E. E. Bradley, Walter Camp, and three +members of the graduating class of Yale University, including the +captains of the baseball and football teams. These were held as prisoners +within the grey granite walls and towers of Edgerton, the residence of +Frederick F. Brewster. As staff headquarters, General von Kluck and the +Crown Prince occupied the palatial white marble home of Louis Stoddard, +the famous polo-player. + +The trouble began on June 14, when the invaders tried to set going +the manufacturing activities of New Haven, shut down during the past +week--especially he Winchester Repeating Arms Company, mploying about +eleven thousand men, and the Sargent Hardware Manufacturing Company, +employing eight thousand. Large numbers of these employees had fled from +New Haven in spite of offers of increased wages, so that the Germans had +been obliged to bring on men from New York to fill their places. This led +to rioting and scenes of violence, with a certain amount of looting, in +various parts of the city; and toward evening German troops fired upon +the crowds, killing and wounding about two hundred. + +In punishment of this insubordination, General von Kluck ordered the guns +on East Rock to destroy the Hotel Taft and the new Post Office Building, +and this was done as the sun was setting. He also ordered that two of the +hostages, chosen by lot, should be led out before Vanderbilt Hall, at the +corner of College and Chapel streets, the next day at noon, and shot. + +However, this grim fate was averted through the intercession of an +American woman, a white-haired lady whose husband, a Northern general, +had fought with Count Zeppelin in the American Civil War, and who at +midnight went to the Whitney mansion, where the Count and his staff were +quartered, and begged on her knees for mercy. And, for the sake of old +times and old friendship, Count Zeppelin had this penalty remitted. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +I HAVE A FRIENDLY TALK WITH THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE AND SECURE A +SENSATIONAL INTERVIEW + +After the pacification of New Haven and the re-establishment of its +industries, our division of the German army, numbering about five +thousand men, swung to the north, through Wallingford, Meriden, and +Middletown, and marched toward the capital of the State. + +I shall always remember the morning of June 17, 1921, when, at the +request of the Crown Prince, I rode at his side for an hour before we +entered Hartford. I was amazed at the extent of the Prince's information +and at his keen desire for new knowledge. He asked about the number of +men employed in the Hartford rubber works, in Colt's armory, in the Pratt +& Whitney machine-shops, and spoke of plans for increasing the efficiency +of these concerns. He knew all about the high educational standards of +the Hartford High School. He had heard of the Hotel Heublein, and of the +steel tower built by its proprietor on the highest point of Talcott +Mountain--had already arranged to have this tower used for wireless +communication between Hartford and the German fleet. He knew exactly how +many Germans, Italians, and Swedes there were in Hartford, exactly how +many spans there were in the new three-million-dollar bridge across the +Connecticut. He looked forward with pleasure to occupying as his Hartford +headquarters the former home on Farmington Avenue of Mark Twain, whose +works he had enjoyed for years. + +"You know Mark Twain was a great friend of my father's," said the Crown +Prince. "I remember how my father laughed, one evening at the palace in +Berlin, when Mark Twain told us the story of 'The Jumping Frog of +Calaveras County.' It's rather a pity that afterward Mark--but never mind +that." + +"Your Imperial Highness has a wonderful memory for details," I remarked. + +"That is nothing," he smiled. "It's our business to know these things; +that is why we are here. We must know more about New England than the New +Englanders themselves. For example, ask me something." + +"Does your Imperial Highness--" I began. But he stopped me with a jolly +laugh. I can still see the eager, boyish face under its flashing helmet, +and the slim, erect figure in its blue-and-silver uniform. + +"Never mind the Imperial Highness," he said. "Just ask some +questions--any question about Hartford." + +"The insurance companies?" I suggested. + +"Ah! Of course I know that. We considered the insurance companies in +fixing the indemnity. Hartford is the richest city in America in +proportion to her population. Let's see. Of her life insurance companies, +the Aetna has assets of about a hundred and twenty million dollars; the +Travellers' about a hundred million; the Connecticut Mutual about seventy +million; the Phoenix Mutual about forty million--besides half a dozen +small-fry fire insurance companies. We're letting them off easily with +twenty million dollars indemnity. Don't you think so, Mr. Langston?" + +This informal talk continued for some time, and I found the Prince +possessed of equally accurate and detailed information regarding other +New England cities. It was positively uncanny. He inquired about the +Bancroft Japanese collection in Worcester, Massachusetts, and wanted to +know the number of women students at Wellesley College. He asked if I had +seen the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Athenaeum in Providence. +He had full details about the United States Armory at Springfield, and he +asked many questions about the Yale-Harvard boat races at New London, +most of which I was, fortunately, able to answer. + +Frederick William was curious to know what had given Newport its great +popularity as a summer resort, and asked me to compare the famous +cottages of the Vanderbilts, the Belmonts, the Astors, along the cliffs, +with well-known country houses in England. He knew that Siasconset on +Nantucket Island was pronounced "Sconset," and he had read reports on +marine biology from Woods Hole. He even knew the number of watches made +at Waltham every year, and the number of shoes made at Lynn. + +I was emboldened by the Crown Prince's good humour and friendly manner to +ask the favour of an interview for publication in the London _Times_, +and, to my great satisfaction, this was granted the next day when we were +settled in our Hartford quarters, with the result that I gained high +commendation; in fact my interview not only made a sensation in England, +but was cabled back to the United States and reprinted all over America. +Needless to say, it caused bitter resentment in both countries against +Frederick William. + +"The responsibility for the present war between Germany and the United +States must be borne by England," he said in this memorable utterance. +"It was the spirit of hatred against Germany spread through the world by +England and especially spread through America that made the United States +unwilling to deal with the Imperial government in a fair and friendly +way, touching our trade and colonising aspirations in South America and +Mexico. + +"We Germans regard this as a most astonishing and deplorable thing, that +the American people have been turned against us by British +misrepresentations. Why should the United States trust England? What has +England ever done for the United States? Who furnished the South with +arms and ammunition and with blockade runners during the Civil War? +England! Who placed outrageous restrictions upon American commerce during +the great European war and, in direct violation of International law, +prohibited America from sending foodstuffs and cotton to Germany? +England! + +"What harm has Germany ever done to the United States? Turn over the +pages of history. Remember brave General Steuben, a veteran of Frederick +the Great, drilling with Washington's soldiers at Valley Forge. Remember +the German General De Kalb who fell pierced by red-coat balls and +bayonets at the battle of Camden. Remember General Herckheimer with his +band of German farmers who fought and died for American independence at +the battle of Oriskany. + +"Then go to Greenwood cemetery and look at the graves of German soldiers, +rows and rows of them, who gave their lives loyally for the Union at +Antietam, at Bull Run and at Gettysburg. + +"The United States is a great nation with vast resources," he went on, +"but these have been largely wasted, owing to the inefficiency and +corruption inevitable in all democracies." + +"Your Imperial Highness does not think much of American efficiency?" + +The prince threw back his head with a snort of contemptuous amusement. + +"Ha! What can one expect from a government like yours? A government of +incompetents, politicians, office seekers." + +"I beg your pardon," I protested. + +"I do not mean to offend you," he laughed, "but hasn't the whole world +known for years that America was utterly defenceless? Haven't you +Americans known it since 1914? Haven't you read it in all your +newspapers? Hasn't it been shouted at you from the housetops by all your +leading men? + +"And yet your senators, your congressmen, your presidents and their +cabinet officers did nothing about it, or very little. Is that what you +call efficiency? America remained lacking in all that makes for military +preparedness, did she not? And she tried to be a world power and defend +the Monroe doctrine! She told Germany in 1915 what Germany might do with +her submarines and what she might not do. Ha! We were at a disadvantage +then, but we remembered! You, with your third-rate navy and your +tenth-rate army, told us what we might do! Well, you see where your +efficiency has brought you." + +I sat silent until this storm should pass, and was just making bold to +speak when the prince continued: + +"Do you know where America made her great mistake? Oh, what a chance you +had and missed it! Why did you not declare war on Germany after our +invasion of Belgium? Or after the sinking of the _Lusitania?_ Or after +the sinking of the _Arabic?_ You had your justification and, with your +money and resources, you could have changed the course of the great war. +That is what we feared in Berlin. We were powerless to hurt you then and +we knew you would have time to get ready. Yes, if America had gone into +the war in 1915, she would be the greatest power on earth to-day instead +of being a conquered province." + +These words hurt. + +"America is a long way from being a conquered province," I retorted. + +He shook his head good-naturedly, whereupon I resolved to control my +temper. It would be folly to offend the prince and thus lose my chance to +secure an interview of international importance, which this proved to be. + +"We hold New York already," he continued. "Within three weeks we shall +hold New England. Within three months we shall hold your entire Atlantic +seaboard." + +"We may win back our lost territory," said I. + +"Never. We are conquerors. We will stay here exactly as the Manchu +conquerors stayed in China. Exactly as the Seljuk conquerors stayed in +Asia Minor. Your military strength is broken. Your fleet will be +destroyed when it reaches the Caribbean. How can you drive us out?" + +"Our population is over a hundred million." + +"China's population is over three hundred million and a handful of +Japanese rule her. Remember, America is not like Russia with her heart +deep inland. The military heart of America lies within a radius of 180 +miles from New York City and we hold it, or soon will. In that small +strip, reaching from Boston to Delaware Bay, are situated nine-tenths of +the war munition factories of the United States, the Springfield Armory, +the Watervliet Arsenal, the Picatinny Arsenal, the Frankfort Arsenal, the +Dupont powder works, the Bethlehem steel works, and all these will +shortly be in our hands. How can you take them from us? How can you get +along without them?" + +"We can build other munition factories in the West." + +"That will take a year or more, in which time we shall have fortified the +whole Appalachian Mountain system from Florida to the St. Lawrence, so +that no army can ever break through. Do you see?" + +The prince paused with a masterful smile and played with a large signet +ring on his third finger. + +"Surely Your Imperial Highness does not think that Germany can conquer +the whole of America?" + +"Of course not, at least not for many years. We are content with your +Atlantic seaboard, the garden spot of the earth in climate and resources. +We shall hold this region and develop it along broad lines of German +efficiency and German _kultur._ What wonderful improvements we will make! +How we will use the opportunities you have wasted! + +"Ha! Let me give you one instance among many of your incredible +inefficiency. Those disappearing carriages of your coast defence guns! I +suppose they were the pet hobby of some politician with an interest in +their manufacture, but Gott in Himmel! what foolishness! The guns +themselves are good enough, but the carriages allow them an elevation +of only ten percent against a thirty percent elevation that is possible +for guns of equal calibre on our battleships, which means that our +twelve-inch guns outrange yours by a couple of miles simply because we +can fire them at a higher angle." + +"You mean that one of your super-dreadnoughts--" + +"Exactly. One of our super-dreadnoughts can lie off Rockaway Beach +and drop shells from her twelve-inch guns into Union Square, and the +twelve-inch guns of your harbour forts, handicapped by their stupid +carriages, could never touch her." + +The conversation now turned to other subjects and presently the prince +was led by enthusiasm or arrogance to make a series of statements that +gave extraordinary importance to my interview, since they enraged the +whole Anglo-Saxon world, particularly our Western and Middle Western +states. Fortunately I submitted my manuscript to Frederick William before +cabling the interview to London, so there was no danger of his +repudiating my words. + +With brutal frankness this future ruler of a nation maintained that +against German arms America must now go down to defeat just as England +went down to partial defeat in 1917 and for the same unchangeable reason +that the fittest among nations inevitably survive. + +"Ask your readers in the London Times, Mr. Langston, why it was that in +the fall of 1915 Germany had been able to put into the field nine million +fully equipped, highly efficient soldiers, whereas England, with nearly +the same population, counting her white colonies, had been able to send +out only two and a half million, a third of these being physically +defective? Why was that? + +"Was it lack of guns and ammunition? Lack of officers and training? +Partly so, but something else was lacking, I mean patriotism among the +English masses that would give them the desire to fight for England, also +a high standard of physical excellence that would make them able to fight +effectively and to endure the hardships of the trenches. + +"Now why should there be more patriotism in Germany than in England? Why +should the masses of Germany excel the masses of England in physical +vigour? + +"I will tell you why, and the answer applies in some degree to America; +it is because the German system of government is better calculated to +create patriotism and physical vigour, just as it is better calculated to +create an efficient war machine. In Germany we have concentration of +power, a benevolent paternalism that knows the needs of the people and +supplies them whether the people wish it or not. For example, in Germany +we have to a great extent abolished poverty and such degrading slum +conditions as prevail in English and American cities. We know that slums +lead to drink, vice and physical unfitness. We know that we must kill the +slums or see the slums kill efficiency and kill patriotism. + +"In Germany we hold the capitalist class within strict bounds. We allow +no such heaping up of huge fortunes as are common in America through the +exploitation of the weak by the strong. We Germans protect the weak and +make them stronger, but you English and Americans make them weaker by +oppressing them. You make slaves of children in a thousand factories, +crushing out their strength and their hope, so that a few more of you can +become millionaires. Do you think those children, grown to manhood, will +fight for you very loyally or very effectively when you call on them to +rally to the flag? What does such a flag mean to them?" + +"What does the American flag mean to thousands of American steel workers +forced to toil at the furnaces twelve hours a day for two dollars? Twelve +hours a day and often seven days a week lest they starve! Why should +these men fight for a flag that has waved, unashamed, over their misery +and over the unearned and undeserved fortunes of their task masters, +Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan? Why should the down-trodden miners in +Colorado fight to perpetuate a John D. Rockefeller system of government?" + +"What does Your Imperial Highness mean by a John D. Rockefeller system of +government?" + +"I mean the English and American system of individualism gone mad--every +man for himself and the devil take the hindermost. The result is a +trampling on the many by the few, a totally unfair division of the +products of toil and such wicked extremes of poverty and riches as are +familiar in London and New York but are unknown in Germany. + +"In Germany the masses are well housed and well nourished. In all our +cities cheap and wholesome pleasures abound, music, beer gardens, great +parks with playgrounds and dancing pavilions. It is literally true that +work at fair wages with reasonable hours is provided for every German +citizen who is able to work. And those unable to work are taken care +of,--pensions for the aged, homes for the disabled, state assistance for +poor mothers. There are no paupers, no factory slaves in Germany. The +central government sees to this, not only as a matter of humanity, but as +good policy. We know that every German citizen will fight for the German +flag because he is proud of it and has personal reason to be grateful to +it, since it represents fair play, large opportunity, a satisfactory life +for him and his children." + +The prince maintained that here were new elements in the problem of +Germany's conquest of America. Not only were the invaders more valiant +warriors possessed of a better fighting machine, but they came with a +moral and spiritual superiority that must make strong appeal to Americans +themselves. + +"After yielding to us by force of arms," he went on, "your people will +come to welcome us when they see how much better off, how much happier +they will be under our higher civilisation. Mr. Langston, we understand +your nation better than it understands itself. I assure you, Americans +are sick of their selfish materialism, they are ashamed of the degrading +money worship that has stifled their national spirit." + +Here I challenged him angrily. + +"Do you mean to say that we have no national spirit in America?" + +"Not as Germans understand it. You live for material things, for +pleasures, for business. You are a race of money schemers, money +grovellers, lacking in high ideals and genuine spiritual life without +which patriotism is an empty word. Who ever heard of an American working +for his country unless he was paid for it? + +"Think what America did in the great war! Why was your president so +wrought up in 1915 when he assailed Germany with fine phrases? Was it +because we had violated Belgium? No! When that happened he had nothing to +say, although the United States, equally with England, was a signatory of +the Hague Conference that guaranteed Belgium's integrity. Why did not +your president protest then? Why did he not use his fine phrases then? +Because the United States had suffered no material injury through +Belgium's misfortune. On the contrary, the United States was sure to gain +much of the trade that Belgium lost. And that was what he cared about, +commercial advantage. You were quick enough to protect your trade and +your money interests. You were ready enough to do anything for gold, +ready enough, by the sale of war munitions, to bring death and misery +upon half of Europe so long as you got gold from the other half. High +ideals! National spirit! There they are!" + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +BOSTON OFFERS DESPERATE AND BLOODY RESISTANCE TO THE INVADERS + +Our wing of the advancing German army remained in Hartford for four days, +at the end of which all signs of disorder had ceased; in fact, there was +little disorder at any time. The lesson of New Haven's resistance had +been taken to heart, and there was the discouraging knowledge that a row +of German six-inch siege-guns were trained on the city from the heights +of Elizabeth Park, their black muzzles commanding the grey towers and +golden dome of State House, the J. Pierpont Morgan Memorial, the gleaming +white new City Hall, the belching chimneys of the Underwood typewriter +works, and the brown pile of Trinity College. + +There was the further restraining fact that leading citizens of Hartford +were held as hostages, their lives in peril, in James J. Goodwin's +palatial home, among these being ex-Governor Morgan G. Buckley, Mayor +Joseph H. Lawler, Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster, Dr. Flavel S. Luther, +Bishop John J. Nilan, Mrs. Richard M. Bissell, Mrs. Thomas N. Hepburn, +the Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter, Charles Hopkins Clark, Rolland F. +Andrews, the Rev. Francis Goodwin, Thomas J. Spellacy, and Sol +Sontheimer. + +So the invaders' march through New England continued. It is a pitiful +story. What could Connecticut and Massachusetts do? With all their wealth +and intelligence, with all their mechanical ingenuity, with all their +pride and patriotism, what could they do, totally unprepared, more +helpless than Belgium, against the most efficient army in Europe? + +Three times, between Hartford and Springfield, unorganised bands of +Americans, armed with shotguns and rifles, lay in ambush for the +advancing enemy and fired upon them. These men declared that they would +die before they would stand by tamely and see the homes and fields of New +England despoiled by the invader. Whereupon the Germans announced, by +means of proclamations showered upon towns and villages from their +advance-guard of aeroplanes, that for every German soldier thus killed by +Americans in ambush a neighbouring town or village would be burned by +fire bombs dropped from the sky. And they carried out this threat to the +letter, so that for every act of resistance by the fathers and brothers +and sons of New England there resulted only greater suffering and +distress for the women and the children. + +The average man, especially one with a wife and children, is easily cowed +when he has no hope; and presently all resistance ceased. What feeble +opposition there was in the first week dwindled to almost nothing in the +second week and to less than nothing in the third week. Stamford paid two +million dollars in gold, Bridgeport five million, New Haven five million, +Hartford twenty million, Fall River three million, Springfield five +million, Worcester two million, Providence ten million, Newport fifty +million. The smaller cities got off with half a million each, and some of +the towns paid as little as one hundred thousand dollars. But every +community paid something, and the total amount taken from New England, +including a hundred million from New Hampshire, a hundred million from +Vermont, and a hundred million from Maine, was eight hundred million +dollars, about a third of which was in gold. + +With a battle-front fifty or seventy-five miles long, von Kluck's forces +strolled across this fertile and populous region, living off the land, +leaving small holding forces with artillery at every important point, a +few hundred or a few thousand, while the main army swept relentlessly and +resistlessly on. It was a delightful four weeks' picnic for von Kluck and +his men; and at the end of four weeks everything in New England had +fallen before them up to the city of Boston, which had been left for the +last. _And the total German losses in killed and wounded were less than +twenty!_ + +On July 2, General von Kluck's army, sweeping forward unopposed, reached +the western and southwestern suburbs of Boston, passing through Newton +and Brookline, and making a detour to avoid ruining the beautiful golf +links where Ouimet won his famous victory over Ray and Vardon. This +sportsmanlike consideration was due to the fact that several of the +German officers and the Crown Prince himself were enthusiastic golfers. + +Meantime there was panic in the city. For days huge crowds had swarmed +through Boston's great railway stations, fleeing to Maine and Canada; and +across the Charles River bridge there had passed an endless stream of +automobiles bearing away rich families with their jewels and their +silver. Among them were automobile trucks from the banks, laden with tons +of gold. No boats left the harbour through fear of a grim German +battleship that lay outside, plainly visible from the millionaire homes +of Nahant and Manchester. + +Even now there was talk of resistance, and German Taubes looked down upon +a mass meeting of ten thousand frantic citizens gathered in Mechanics +Hall on Huntington Avenue; but prudent counsels prevailed. How could +Boston resist without soldiers or ammunition or field artillery? Brooklyn +had resisted, and now lay in ruins. New Haven had tried to resist, and +what had come of it? + +At three o'clock on this day of sorrow, with banners flying and bands +playing, the German forces--horse, foot, and artillery--entered the +Massachusetts capital in two great columns, the one marching down Beacon +Street, past the homes of Oliver Wendell Holmes and Julia Ward Howe, the +other advancing along Commonwealth Avenue, past the white-columned +Harvard Club, past the statues of Alexander Hamilton and William Lloyd +Garrison, on under the shade of four rows of elms that give this noble +thoroughfare a resemblance to the Avenue de la Grande Armee in Paris. + +It was a perfect summer's day. The sun flashed from the golden dome of +the State House on the hill over Boston Common, and from the great white +Custom House tower that rose impressively in the distance above the green +of the Public Gardens. Boston looked on, dumb with shame and stifled +rage, as the invaders took possession of the city and ran up their flags, +red, white, and black, above the Old South Meeting House on Washington +Street, where Benjamin Franklin was baptised, and above the sacred, now +dishonoured, shaft of the Bunker Hill Monument. + +Hostages were taken, as usual, these including Major Henry L. Higginson, +President A. Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University, Major James M. +Curley, Edward A. Filene, Margaret Deland, William A. Paine, Ellery +Sedgwick, Mrs. John L. Gardner, Charles W. Eliot, Louis D. Brandeis, +Bishop William Lawrence, Amy Lowell, T. Jefferson Coolidge, Thomas W. +Lawson, Guy Murchie, and Cardinal O'Connell. + +A proclamation was made in the _Transcript_ (now forced to be the +official German organ and the only newspaper that was allowed to appear +in Boston) that these prominent persons would be held personally +responsible for any public disorder or for any failure of the city to +furnish the army of occupation with all necessary food and supplies. + +On the night of occupation there were scenes of violence, with rioting +and looting in various parts of Boston, notably in Washington Street and +Tremont Street, where shops were wrecked by mobs from the South End, +several thousand of the unruly foreign element, crazed with drink and +carrying knives. Against this drunken rabble the American police, sullen +and disorganised, could do nothing or would do nothing; and the situation +was becoming desperate, when German troops advanced along Washington +Street, firing into the crowd and driving back the looters, who surged +through Winter Street, a frantic, terrified mass, and scattered over +Boston Common. + +Here, in front of the Park Street Church, another huge mob of citizens +had gathered--five thousand wildly patriotic Irishmen. Armed with clubs, +rifles, and pistols, and madly waving the Stars and Stripes, they cursed, +cheered, and yelled out insults to the Germans. Suddenly a company of +German soldiers with machine-guns appeared on the high ground in front of +the State House. Three times a Prussian officer, standing near the St. +Gaudens Shaw Memorial, shouted orders to the crowd to disperse; but the +Irishmen only jeered at him. + +"They want it; let them have it," said the Prussian. "Fire!" + +And three hundred fell before the blast of rifles and machine-guns. + +At which the mob of Irish patriots went entirely mad, and, with yells of +hatred and defiance, swarmed straight up the hill at the battery that was +slaughtering them, shouting: "To hell with 'em!" "Come on, boys!" +charging so fiercely and valiantly, that the Germans were swept from +their position, and for a short time a victorious American mob held the +approaches to the State House. + +Alas, it was for only a short time! The enemy quickly brought forward +reinforcements in overwhelming strength, and an hour later there were +only dead, wounded and prisoners to tell of this loyal but hopeless +effort. + +In other parts of the city during this night of terror there were similar +scenes of bloodshed, the Germans inflicting terrible punishment upon the +people, innocent and guilty suffering alike for every act of disobedience +or resistance. There were a few cases of sniping from houses; and for +these a score of men, seized indiscriminately in the crowds, were hanged +from windows of the offending or suspected buildings. As a further lesson +to the city, two of the hostages, chosen by lot, were led out into the +Public Gardens the next morning at sunrise and shot near the statue of +Edward Everett Hale. + +Machine-guns were now placed on the high ground before the Soldiers' +Monument and at other strategic points, and ten thousand soldiers were +encamped on Boston Common, the main part of the army being withdrawn, +after this overwhelming show of force, to Franklin Park on the outskirts, +where heavy siege-guns were set up. + +The _Transcript_ appeared that day with a black-lettered proclamation, +signed by General von Kluck, to the effect that at the next disorder five +hostages would be shot, and six beautiful buildings--the State House, the +Custom House, the Boston Public Library, the Opera House, the Boston +Art Museum, and the main building of the Massachusetts School of +Technology--would be wrecked by shells. This reduced the city to absolute +submission. + +Mrs. John L. Gardner's fine Italian palace in the Fenway, with its wealth +of art treasures, was turned into a staff headquarters and occupied by +the Crown Prince, General von Kluck, and Count Zeppelin. The main body of +officers established themselves in the best hotels and clubs, the Copley +Plaza, the Touraine, the Parker House, the Somerset, the St. Botolph, the +City Club, the Algonquin, the Harvard Club, paying liberally for the +finest suites and the best food by the simple method of signing checks to +be redeemed later by the city of Boston. + +Non-commissioned officers made themselves comfortable in smaller hotels +and in private houses and boarding-houses to which they were assigned. A +popular eating-place was Thompson's Spa, where a crush of brass-buttoned +German soldiers lunched every day, perched on high stools along the +counters, and trying to ogle the pretty waitresses, who did not hide +their aversion. + +It is worthy of note that the Tavern Club was burned by its own members +to save from desecration a spot hallowed by memories of Oliver Wendell +Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Charles Eliot Norton, and George William +Curtis. + +I must mention another instance of the old-time indomitable New England +spirit that came to my knowledge during these sad days. The Germans +levied upon the city of Boston an indemnity of three hundred million +dollars, this to be paid at the rate of three million dollars a day; and +on the morning of July 4, two of von Kluck's staff officers, accompanied +by a military escort, marched down State Street into the now deserted +region of banks and vaults and trust companies, to arrange for the +regular payment of this sum. Entering the silent halls of a great banking +house, they came to a rear office with the door locked. A summons to open +being unanswered, they broke down this door; whereupon a shot, fired from +within, killed the first soldier who crossed the threshold. A German +volley followed, and, when the smoke cleared away, there sat a prominent +Boston financier, his father's Civil War musket clutched in his hands and +the look of a hero in his dying eyes. All alone, this uncompromising +figure of a man had waited there in his private office ready to defy the +whole German army and die for his rights and his convictions. + + + +CHAPTER X + + +LORD KITCHENER VISITS AMERICA AND DISCUSSES OUR MILITARY PROBLEMS + +I was standing with Count Zeppelin in the doorway of Mrs. John L. +Gardner's Fenway palace when the news of the great sea horror reached +Boston. The German submarine U-68, scouting off the coast of Maine, +had sunk the American liner _Manhattan_, the largest passenger vessel +in the world, as she raced toward Bar Harbor with her shipload of +non-combatants. Eighteen hundred and sixty-three men, women, and children +went down with the ship. No warning had been given. No chance had been +offered for women or children or neutral passengers to escape. The +disaster duplicated the wrecking of the _Lusitania_ in 1915, but it +exceeded it in loss of human life. The American captain and all his men +shared the fate of the passengers intrusted to their care. + +In Boston the effect on the German officers and men was unbelievable. +Tremont and Boylston and Washington streets, echoing with cheers of the +exulting conquerors, resembled the night of a Harvard-Yale football game +when Brickley used to play for Cambridge University. The citizens of the +big town, their senses deadened by their own disaster, received the news, +and the ghastly celebration that followed it, without any real interest. +The fact that an ex-Mayor of Boston and the son of the present Governor +were among those that perished failed to rouse them. Boston, mentally as +well as physically, was in the grip of the enemy. + +That this was just the effect the Germans planned to produce is shown by +General von Kluck's own words. In an interview that he gave me for the +London _Times_, after the occupation of Boston on July 2, 1921, General +von Kluck said: + +"The way to end a war quickly is to make the burden of it oppressive upon +the people. It was on this principle that General Sherman acted in his +march from Atlanta to the sea. It was on this principle that General +Grant acted in his march from Washington to Richmond. Grant said he would +fight it out on those lines if it took all summer--meaning lines of +relentless oppression. In modern war a weak enemy like Belgium or like +New England, which is far weaker than Belgium was in 1914, must be +crushed immediately. Think of the bloodshed that would have stained the +soil of Connecticut and Massachusetts if we had not spread terror before +us. As it is, New England has suffered very little from the German +occupation, and in a very short time everything will be going on as +usual." + +The veteran warrior paused, and added with a laugh: "Better than usual." + +As a matter of fact, within a week Boston had resumed its ordinary life +and activities. Business was good, factories were busy, and the theatres +were crowded nightly, especially Keith's, where the latest military +photo-play by Thomas Dixon and Charles T. Dazey--with Mary Pickford as +the heroine and Charley Chaplin as the comedy relief--was enjoyed +immensely by German officers. + +As to the commerce of Boston Harbor, it was speedily re-established, with +ships of all nations going and coming, undisturbed by the fact that it +was now the German flag on German warships that they saluted. + +I received instructions from my paper about this time to leave New +England and join General Wood's forces, which had crossed the Delaware +into Pennsylvania, where they were battling desperately with von +Hindenburg's much stronger army. On the day following my arrival at the +American headquarters, I learned that Lord Kitchener had come over from +England to follow the fighting as an eye-witness; and I was fortunate +enough to obtain an interview with his lordship, who remembered me in +connection with his Egyptian campaigns. + +"The United States is where England would have been in 1914 without her +fleet," said Lord Kitchener. + +"Where is that?" + +"If England had been invaded by a German army in 1914," replied the great +organiser gravely, "she would have been wiped off the map. It was +England's fleet that saved her. And, even so, we had a hard time of it. +Everything was lacking--officers, men, uniforms, ammunition, guns, +horses, saddles, horse blankets, everything except our fleet." + +A sudden light burned in Lord Kitchener's strange eyes, and he added +earnestly: "There is something more than that. In 1914 Germany was +wonderfully prepared in material things, but her greatest advantage over +all other nations, except Japan, lay in her dogged devotion to her own +ideals. She may have been wrong, as we think, but she believed in +herself. There was nothing like it in England, and there is nothing like +it in America. The German masses, to the last man, woman, and child, were +inspired to give all that they had, their lives included, for the Empire. +In England there was more selfishness and self-indulgence. We had labour +troubles, strike troubles, drink troubles; and finally, as you know, in +1916 we were forced to adopt conscription. It will be the same story here +in America." + +"Don't you think that America will ultimately win?" + +Lord Kitchener hesitated. + +"I don't know. Germany holds New York and Boston and is marching on +Philadelphia. Think what that means! New York is the business capital of +the nation. It is hard to conceive of the United States without New +York." + +"The Americans will get New York back, won't they?" + +"How? When? It is true you have a population of eighty millions west of +the Allegheny Mountains, and somehow, some day, their American spirit and +their American genius ought to conquer; but it's going to be a job. +Patriotism is not enough. Money is not enough. Potential resources are +not enough. It is a question of doing the essential thing before it is +too late. We found that out in England in 1916. If America could have +used her potential resources when the Germans landed on Long Island, she +would have driven her enemies into the sea within a week; but the thing +was not possible. You might as well expect a gold mine in Alaska to stop +a Wall Street panic." + +I found that Lord Kitchener had very definite ideas touching great social +changes that must come in America following this long and exhausting war, +assuming that we finally came out of it victorious. + +"America will be a different land after this war," he said. "You will +have to reckon as never before with the lowly but enlightened millions +who have done the actual fighting. The United States of the future must +be regarded as a vast-co-operative estate to be managed for the benefit +of all who dwell in it, not for the benefit of a privileged few. And +America may well follow the example of Germany, as England has since the +end of the great war in 1919, in using the full power of state to lessen +her present iniquitous extremes of poverty and wealth, which weaken +patriotism, and in compelling a division of the products of toil that is +really fair. + +"I warn you that America will escape the gravest labour trouble with the +possibility of actual revolution only by admitting, as England has +admitted, that from now on labour has the whip hand over capital and must +be placated by immense concessions. You must either establish state +control in many industries that are now privately owned and managed and +establish state ownership in all public utilities or you must expect to +see your whole system of government swing definitely toward a socialistic +regime. The day of the multi-millionaire is over." + +I found another distinguished Englishman at General Wood's headquarters, +Lord Northcliffe, owner of the London _Times_, and I had the unusual +experience of interviewing my own employer for his own newspaper. As +usual, Lord Northcliffe took sharp issue with Lord Kitchener on several +points. His hatred of the Germans was so intense that he could see no +good in them. + +"The idea that Germany will be able to carry this invasion of America to +a successful conclusion is preposterous," he declared. "Prussian +supermen! What are they? Look at their square heads with no backs to them +and their outstanding ears! Gluttons of food! Guzzlers of drink! A race +of bullies who treat their women like squaws and drudges and then cringe +to every policeman and strutting officer who makes them goose-step before +him. Bismarck called them a nation of house-servants, and knew that +in racial aptitude they are and always will be hopelessly inferior to +Anglo-Saxons. + +"Conquer America? They can no more do it than they could conquer England. +They can make you suffer, yes, as they made us suffer; they can fill you +with rage and shame to find yourselves utterly unprepared in this hour of +peril, eaten up with commercialism and pacifism just as we were. But +conquer this great nation with its infinite resources and its splendid +racial inheritance--never! + +"The Germans despise America just as they despised England. John Bull was +an effete old plutocrat whose sons and daughters were given up to sport +and amusement. The Kaiser, in his famous Aix-la-Chapelle order, referred +scornfully to our 'contemptible little army.' He was right, it was a +contemptible little army, but by the end of 1917 we had five million +fully equipped men in the field and in the summer of 1918 the Kaiser saw +his broken armies flung back to the Rhine by these same contemptible +Englishmen and their brave allies. There will be the same marvellous +change here when the tortured American giant stirs from his sleep of +indifference and selfishness. Then the Prussian superman will learn +another lesson!" + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +HEROIC ACT OF BARBARA WEBB SAVES AMERICAN ARMY AT THE BATTLE OF TRENTON + +Coming now to the campaign in New Jersey, let me recall that on the +evening of June 18, American scouting aeroplanes, under Squadron +Commander Harry Payne Whitney, reported that a strong force of Germans, +cavalry, infantry, and artillery, had occupied the heights above +Bordentown, New Jersey, and were actively proceeding to build pontoons +across the Delaware. It seemed clear that von Hindenburg was preparing to +cross the river at the very point where Washington made his historic +crossing in 1776; and General Wood proceeded to attack the enemy's +position with his artillery, being assisted by four light-draught +gunboats from the Philadelphia navy-yard, which lay in the deepened +channel at the head of tide-water and dropped shells inside the enemy's +lines. The Germans replied vigorously, and a smart engagement at long +range ensued, lasting until darkness fell. We fully expected that the +next day would see a fierce battle fought here for the command of the +river. No one dreamed that this was a trap set by von Hindenburg. + +As a matter of fact, the crossing movement from above Bordentown was a +feint in which not more than 8,000 Germans were engaged, their main army +being gathered twenty miles to the north, near Lambertville, for the real +crossing. And only the prompt heroic action of three young Americans, two +boys and a girl, saved our forces from immediate disaster. + +The heroine of this adventure was Barbara Webb, a beautiful girl of +sixteen, who, with her brother Dominick and their widowed mother, lived +in a lonely farm-house on Goat Hill, back of Lambertville. They had a boy +friend, Marshall Frissell, in Brownsburg, Pennsylvania, on the other side +of the river, and Marshall and Dominick had learned to wigwag signals, in +boy-scout fashion, back and forth across the Delaware. + +It seems that, on this memorable night, the brother and sister discovered +a great force of Germans building pontoons about a mile below the wrecked +Lambertville bridge. Whereupon Dominick Webb, knowing that all telegraph +and telephone wires were cut, leaped upon a horse and set out to carry +the news to General Wood. But he was shot through the thigh by a Prussian +sentry, and, hours later, fainting from loss of blood, he returned to the +farm-house and told his sister that he had failed in his effort. + +Then Barbara, as day was breaking, climbed to the crest of Goat Hill, and +began to signal desperately toward Brownsburg, in the hope that Marshall +Frissell might see and understand. For an hour she waved, but all in +vain. Marshall was asleep. Still she waved; and finally, by a miracle of +faith, the boy was roused from his slumbers, drawn to his window as the +sun arose, and, looking out, saw Barbara's familiar flag wigwagging +frantically on the heights of Lambertville three miles away. Then he +answered, and Barbara cried out in her joy. + +Just then a German rifle spoke from the riverbank below, a thousand yards +away, where the enemy were watching, and a bullet pierced the Stars and +Stripes as the flag fluttered over that slim girlish figure silhouetted +against the glory of the eastern sky. Then another bullet came, and +another. The enemy had seen Barbara's manoeuvre. She was betraying an +important military secret, and she must die. + +Wait! With a hostile army below her, not a mile distant, this fearless +American girl went on wigwagging her message--letter by letter, slowly, +painstakingly, for she was imperfect in the code. As she swept the flag +from side to side, signalling, a rain of bullets sang past her. Some cut +her dress and some snipped her flowing hair; and finally one shattered +the flag-staff in her hands. Whereupon, like Barbara Frietchie of old, +this fine young Barbara caught up the banner she loved, and went on +waving the news that might save her country, while a hundred German +soldiers fired at her. + +And presently a wonderful thing happened. The power of her devotion +touched the hearts of these rough men,--for they were brave +themselves,--and, lowering their guns, with one accord, they cheered this +little grey-eyed, dimpled farmer's girl with her hair blowing in the +breeze, until the Jersey hills rang. + +And now the lad in Brownsburg rose to the situation. There were Germans +on the opposite bank, a great host of them, making ready to cross the +Delaware. General Wood must know this at once--he must come at once. They +say that freckle-faced Marshall Frissell, fifteen years old, on a mad +motorcycle, covered the twenty miles to Ft. Hill, Pa., where General Wood +had his headquarters, in fifteen minutes, and that by seven o'clock troop +trains and artillery trains were moving toward the north, winding along +the Delaware like enormous snakes, as Leonard Wood, answering the +children's call, hastened to the rescue. + +I dwell upon these minor happenings because they came to my knowledge, +and because the main events of the four days' battle of Trenton are +familiar to all. In spite of the overwhelming superiority of the Germans +in men and artillery, the American army, spread along a twelve-mile front +on the hills opposite Lambertville, made good use of their defensive +position, and for three days held back the enemy from crossing the river. +In fact, it was only on the evening of the third day, June 21, that von +Hindenburg's engineers succeeded in completing their pontoon line to the +Pennsylvania shore. Again and again the floating bridge was destroyed by +a concentrated shell fire from American batteries on the ridge a mile and +a half back from the river. + +American aeroplanes contributed effectively to this work of resistance by +dropping explosive bombs upon the pontoons; but, unfortunately, German +aeroplanes outnumbered the defenders at least four to one, and soon +achieved a mastery of the sky. + +A brilliant air victory was gained by Jess Willard, volunteer pilot of a +swift and powerful Burgess machine, over three Taubes, the latter +attacking fiercely while the champion prize-fighter circled higher and +higher, manoeuvring for a position of advantage. I shall never forget the +thrill I felt when Willard swooped down suddenly from a height of eight +thousand feet, and, by a dangerous turn, brought his machine directly +over the nearest German flier, at the same time dropping a fire bomb that +destroyed this aeroplane and hurled the wreck of it straight down upon +the two Taubes underneath, striking one and capsizing the other with the +rush of air. So the great Jess, by his daring strategy, hurled three of +the enemy down to destruction, and escaped safely from the swarm of +pursuers. + +On the fourth day, the Germans--thanks to an advantage of three to one in +artillery pieces--succeeded in crossing the Delaware; and after that the +issue of the battle was never in doubt, the American forces being +outnumbered and outclassed. Two-thirds of General Wood's army were either +militia, insufficiently equipped and half trained, or raw recruits. There +were fifteen thousand of the latter who had volunteered within a +fortnight, loyal patriots ready to die for their country, but without the +slightest ability to render efficient military service. These volunteers +included clerks, business men, professional men from the cities of New +Jersey and Pennsylvania, thousands of workmen from great factories like +the Roebling wire works, thousands of villagers and farmers, all blazing +with zeal, but none of them able to handle a high-power Springfield rifle +or operate a range-finder or make the adjustments for the time-fuse of a +shell. + +[Illustration: THE PEOPLE KNEW THE ANSWER OF VON HINDENBURG. THEY HAD +READ IT, AS HAD ALL THE WORLD FOR MILES AROUND, IN THE CATACLYSM OF THE +PLUNGING TOWERS. NEW YORK MUST SURRENDER OR PERISH!] + +"They shot away tons of ammunition without hitting anything," said one of +the American officers to me. "They didn't know how to use wind-gauges or +elevation-sights. They couldn't even pull a trigger properly." + +And yet, the Germans suffered heavily in that desperate battle of the +fourth day--partly because they attacked again and again in close +formation and were mowed down by American machine-guns; partly because +General Wood had fortified his position with miles of wire entanglements +through which high-voltage electric currents were sent from the +power-house of the Newtown and Trenton trolley systems in Newtown, +Pennsylvania; and, finally, because the American commander, in an address +to his troops, read at sunset on the eve of battle, had called upon them +in inspiring words to fight for their wives and children, for the +integrity of the nation, for the glory of the old flag. + +And they fought until they died. When the battle was over, the Americans +had lost 15,000 out of 70,000, while the Germans lost 12,000 out of +125,000. Von Hindenburg himself admitted that he had never seen such mad, +hopeless, magnificent courage. + +Again General Wood faced defeat and the necessity of falling back to a +stronger position. For weeks thousands of labourers had been digging +trenches north of Philadelphia; and now the American army, beaten but +defiant, retreated rapidly and in some disorder through Jenkintown and +Bristol to this new line of intrenchments that spread in fan shape from +the Schuylkill to the Delaware. + +It was of the most desperate importance now that word be sent to +Harrisburg and to the mobilisation camp at Gettysburg and to other +recruiting points in the West and South, demanding that all possible +reinforcements be rushed to Philadelphia. As communication by telegraph +and telephone was cut off, General Wood despatched Colonel Horace M. +Reading and Captain William E. Pedrick, officers of the National Guard, +in a swift automobile, with instructions that these calls for help be +flashed _without fail_ from the wireless station in the lofty granite +shaft of the Trenton monument that commemorates Washington's victory over +the Hessians. + +Unfortunately, owing to bad roads and wrecked bridges, these officers +suffered great delay, and only reached the Trenton monument as the German +host, with rolling drums, was marching into the New Jersey capital along +Pennington Avenue, the triumphant way that Washington had followed after +his great victory. + +As the invaders reached the little park where the monument stands, they +saw that a wireless station was in operation there, and demanded its +surrender. + +Colonel Reading, wishing to gain time (for every minute counted), opened +a glass door and stepped out on the little balcony at the top of the +monument one hundred and fifty feet above the ground. He tried to speak, +but a German officer cut him short. He must surrender instantly or they +would fire. + +"Fire and be damned!" shouted the Colonel, and turned to the white-faced +wireless operator inside. "Have you got Harrisburg yet?" he asked. "For +God's sake, hustle!" + +"Just got 'em," answered the operator. "I need five minutes to get this +message through." + +Five minutes! The German officer below, red with anger, was calling out +sharp orders. A six-inch gun was set up under the Carolina poplars not a +hundred yards from the monument. + +"We'll show them!" roared the Prussian, as the gun crew drove home a +hundred-pound shell. "Ready!" + +"Is that message gone?" gasped Reading. + +"Half of it. I need two minutes." + +Two minutes! The officer was aiming the big gun at the base of the +monument, and was just giving the word to fire when the heavy bronze door +swung open, and between the two bronze soldiers appeared Elias A. Smith, +a white-haired veteran, over ninety years old, with a bronze medal on his +breast and the Stars and Stripes wound around his waist. + +"I fought in the Civil War!" he cried, in a shrill voice. "Here's my +medal. Here's my flag. I've been the guardian of the monument for sixteen +years. George Washington's up there on top, and if you're going to shoot +him, you can shoot me, too." + +The Germans were so surprised by this venerable apparition that they +stood like stones. + +"Hi! Yi!" shouted Colonel Reading. "It's gone!" + +"Hurrah!" echoed the old man. "I was with Grant at Appomattox when Lee +surrendered. Why don't you fire?" + +Then they did fire, and the proud shaft bearing the statue of George +Washington crumbled to earth; and in the ruin of it four brave Americans +perished. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +REAR-ADMIRAL THOMAS Q. ALLYN WEIGHS CHANCES OF THE AMERICAN FLEET IN +IMPENDING NAVAL BATTLE + +While the main German army pressed on in pursuit of General Wood's +fleeing forces, a body of ten thousand of the invaders was left behind at +various points in northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania to pacify +this region and organise its industries and activities. The Picatinny +arsenal was now running night and day, under the direction of a force of +chemists brought from Germany, turning out shells and cartridges for the +invading army. The great Roebling plant in Trenton was commandeered for +the production of field telephone and telegraph wire, and the Mercer +automobile factory for military motor-trucks and ambulances. + +I was astonished at the rapidity with which German engineers repaired +bridges and railroads that had been wrecked by the retreating Americans, +and was assured that the invaders had brought with them from their own +country a full supply of steel spans, beams, girders, trusses, and other +parts necessary for such repairs, down to the individual bolts and pins +for each separate construction. It was an amazing illustration of their +preparedness, and of their detailed knowledge of conditions in America. + +Trains were soon running regularly between Jersey City and Trenton, their +operations being put in the hands of two Pennsylvania Railroad officials, +J.B. Fisher, superintendent of the New York division, and Victor Wierman, +superintendent of the Trenton division--these two, with their operating +staffs, being held personally responsible, under pain of death, for the +safe and prompt arrival of troops and supplies. + +For the pacification of Trenton the Germans left a force of three +thousand men with artillery encamped in the State Fair grounds near the +capital, and it was announced in the Trenton _Times_ (made the official +German organ) that at the first disorder shells would be fired at the +white marble City Hall, at the State House, with its precious collection +of flags and banners from the Civil and Revolutionary wars, at the Broad +Street National Bank, and at the Public Service building, which stands +where the Hessians surrendered in 1776. + +Among hostages taken here by the Germans were R.V. Kuser, head of the +Trenton Brewing Company; General Wilbur F. Sadler, president of the Broad +Street Trust Company; Colonel E. C. Stahl, a Civil War veteran and the +father of Rose Stahl; also the Roman Catholic Bishop James F. McFaul and +the Episcopal Bishop Paul Matthews. + +Many Trenton women, including Mrs. Karl G. Roebling, Mrs. Oliphant, wife +of the General, Miss Mabel Hayter, and Mrs. Charles Howell Cook, were +devoted in nursing the wounded who were brought by thousands to the +historic churches of Trenton, used as hospitals, and to the vast Second +Regiment armory. + +Several American nurses came into possession of diaries found on wounded +German soldiers, and some of these recorded excesses similar to those +committed in Belgium in 1914. + +"On the main street of the town of Dover, New Jersey," wrote Private +Karmenz, 178th Saxon Regiment, "I saw about fifty citizens shot for +having fired from ambush on our soldiers." + +"Glorious victories in Pennsylvania," rejoiced Lieutenant A. Aberlein of +the Eighth Bavarian Army Corps. "Our men of softer spirit give the +wounded a bullet of deliverance; the others hack and stab as they may." + +The tribute levied upon Trenton was four million dollars in gold, +recently realised by the State Treasurer from an issue of State bonds to +supply State deficiencies. + +German officers made themselves comfortable in the Trenton Club, the +Lotus Club, the Carteret Club, and the Elk Home; also in the Windsor +House, the Trenton House, and the Sterling House. Printed schedules of +rates for food and rooms were posted up, and the proprietors were +notified that they would be punished if they refused to give service at +these rates, just as the German soldiers would be punished if they tried +to evade payment. + +Officers of the German headquarters staff occupied Karl G. Roebling's +show place, with its fine stables, lawns, and greenhouses. + +A few days after the battle of Trenton, I received a cable to the effect +that the American fleet had nearly completed its voyage around South +America and had been sighted off Cape St. Roque, the northeastern corner +of Brazil, headed toward the Caribbean Sea. It was known that the German +fleet had been cruising in these waters for weeks, awaiting the enemy's +arrival, and cutting off their colliers and supply ships from all ports +in Europe and America; and it was now evident that a great naval battle +must occur in the near future. + +I took steamer at once for Kingston, Jamaica; and on the evening of my +arrival, July 10, I called on my friend, Rear-Admiral Thomas Q. Allyn of +the United States Navy (now retired), whom I had not seen since our +dramatic meeting at Colon when the Panama Canal was wrecked by the +Germans. I had many questions to ask the Admiral, and we talked until +after midnight. + +"I am horribly anxious, Mr. Langston," said the veteran of Manila. "We +are facing a great crisis. Our ships are going into battle, and within a +few hours we shall know whether the civilian policy at Washington that +has controlled our naval development--the policy that forced me to resign +rather than assume the responsibility for consequences--we shall know +whether that policy was wise or foolish." + +"I did not suspect that you resigned for that reason," said I. + +His face darkened. + +"Yes. There had been tension for months. The whole service was +demoralised. Discipline and efficiency were destroyed. As far back as +1914, I testified before the House Committee on Naval Affairs that it +would take five years to make our fleet ready to fight the fleet of any +first-class naval power, and to get our personnel into proper condition. +I said that we were not able to defend the Monroe Doctrine in the +Atlantic, or to force the Open Door of trade in the Pacific. I might as +well have spoken to the winds, and when the order came last April, +against the best naval advice, to take our fleet into the Pacific, I +handed in my resignation." + +"You must be glad you did, in view of what happened." + +"Yes; but--I am thinking of my country. I am thinking of those +unfortunate ships that have come around South America without sufficient +coal or provisions." + +I asked Admiral Allyn how the American fleet compared with the Germans in +number of ships. He shook his head. + +"We are far behind them. Nine years ago, in 1912, we stood next to Great +Britain in naval strength; but since then we have steadily fallen back. +Germany has a dozen super-dreadnoughts, ships of over 30,000 tons, while +we have six. Germany has twenty dreadnoughts of from 20,000 to 30,000 +tons to our ten. She has four battle-cruisers, while we have none. She +has a hundred destroyers to our twenty-five." + +"I understand that these figures refer to the fleets that are actually +going into battle?" + +"Yes. Germany's entire naval strength is a third more than that. I have +accurate information. You see, our fleet is outclassed." + +"But it will fight?" + +"Of course our fleet will fight; but--we can't get to our base at +Guantanamo--the German fleet blocks the way. For years we have begged +that Guantanamo be fortified; but our request was always refused." + +"Why?" + +"Ah, why? Why, in 1915, were we refused eighteen thousand men on the +active list that were absolutely necessary to man our ships? Why have we +practically no naval reserves? Why, in 1916, were the President's +reasonable demands for naval preparedness refused by Congress? I will +tell you why! Because politics has been considered more than efficiency +in the handling of our navy. Vital needs have been neglected, so that a +show of economy could be made to the people and get their votes. Economy! +Good heavens! you see where it has brought us!" + +On the morning of July 11, as I was breakfasting in the hotel with +Admiral Allyn, there was great excitement outside, and, going to the +piazza, we saw a large airship approaching rapidly from the northwest at +the height of about a mile. It was one of the non-rigid Parseval type, +evidently a German. + +"A scout from the enemy's fleet," said Admiral Allyn. + +"That means they are not far away?" + +"Yes. They came through the Windward Passage three weeks ago, and have +been lying off Guantanamo ever since. We ought to have wireless reports +of them soon." + +As a matter of fact, before noon the wireless station at Santiago de Cuba +flashed the news that coasting steamers had reported German battleships +steaming slowly to the south, and a few hours later other wireless +reports informed us that the American fleet had been sighted off the +southern coast of Haiti. + +The Admiral nodded grimly. + +"The hour has struck. The German and American fleets will meet in these +waters somewhere between Guantanamo and Jamaica." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE OF THE CARIBBEAN SEA + +In a flash my newspaper sense made me realise that this was an +extraordinary opportunity. The greatest naval battle in history was about +to be fought so near us that we might almost hear the big guns booming. +It would be worth thousands of pounds to the London _Times_ to have an +eye-witness account of this battle, and I resolved to turn the island of +Jamaica upside down in search of an aeroplane that would take me out to +sea. + +The fates were certainly kind to me--or rather the British Consul +was efficient; and before night I had secured the use of a powerful +Burgess-Dunne aeroboat, the property of Vincent Astor; also Mr. Astor's +skilful services as pilot, which he generously offered through his +interest in naval affairs and because of his desire to give the world +this first account of a sea battle observed from the sky. + +We started the next morning, an hour after sunrise, flying to the north +straight across the island of Jamaica, and then out over the open sea. I +shall never forget the beauty of the scene that we looked down upon--the +tropical flowers and verdure of the rugged island, and the calmly smiling +purple waters surrounding it. We flew swiftly through the delicious air +at a height of half a mile, and in two hours we had covered a third of +the distance to Guantanamo and were out of sight of land. + +At ten o'clock we turned to the right and steered for a column of smoke +that had appeared on the far horizon; and at half-past ten we were +circling over the American fleet as it steamed ahead slowly with fires +under all boilers and everything ready for full speed at an instant's +notice. + +As we approached the huge super-dreadnought _Pennsylvania_, flag-ship of +the American squadron, Mr. Astor unfurled the Stars and Stripes, and we +could hear the crews cheering as they waved back their greetings. + +I should explain that we were able to converse easily, above the roar of +our propellers, by talking into telephone head-pieces. + +"Look!" cried Astor. "Our ships are beginning a manoeuvre." + +The _Pennsylvania_, with red-and-white flags on her foremast, was +signalling to the fleet: "Prepare to engage the enemy." We watched +eagerly as the great ships, stretching away for miles, turned slightly to +starboard and, with quickened engines, advanced in one long line of +battle. + +At half-past eleven another smoke column appeared on our port bow, and +within half an hour we could make out enemy vessels on either hand. + +"They're coming on in two divisions, miles apart," said Astor, studying +the two smoke columns with his glasses. "We're headed right between +them." + +We flew ahead rapidly, and presently could clearly discern that the +vessels to starboard were large battleships and those to port were +destroyers. + +At one o'clock the two fleets were about nineteen thousand yards apart +and were jockeying for positions. Suddenly four vessels detached +themselves from the German battleship line and steamed at high speed +across the head of the American column. + +"What's that? What are they doing?" asked Astor. + +"Trying to cap our line and torpedo it. Admiral Togo did the same thing +against the Russians in the Yellow Sea. Admiral Fletcher is swinging his +line to port to block that move." + +"How do they know which way to manoeuvre? I don't see any signals." + +"It's done by radio from ship to ship. Look! They are forcing us to head +more to port. That gives them the advantage of sunlight. Ah!" + +I pointed to the German line, where several puffs of smoke showed that +they had begun firing. Ten seconds later great geyser splashes rose from +the sea five hundred yards beyond the _Pennsylvania,_ and then we heard +the dull booming of the discharge. The battle had begun. I glanced at my +watch. It was half-past one. + +_Boom! Boom! Boom!_ spoke the big German guns eight miles away; but we +always saw the splashes before we heard the sounds. Sometimes we could +see the twelve-inch shells curving through the air--big, black, clumsy +fellows. + +Awe-struck, from our aeroplane, Astor and I looked down upon the American +dreadnoughts as they answered the enemy in kind, a whole line thundering +forth salvos that made the big guns flame out like monster torches, dull +red in rolling white clouds of smokeless powder. We could see the tense +faces of those brave men in the fire-control tops. + +"See that!" I cried, as a shell struck so close to the _Arizona_, second +in line, that the "spotting" officers on the fire-control platform high +on her foremast were drenched with salt water. + +I can give here only the main features of this great battle of the +Caribbean, which lasted five hours and a quarter and covered a water area +about thirty miles long and twenty miles wide. My plan of it, drawn with +red and black lines to represent movements of rival fleets, is a tangle +of loops and curves. + +"Do you think there is any chance that it will be a drawn game?" said +Astor, pale with excitement. + +"No," I answered. "A battle like this is never a drawn game. It's always +a fight to a finish." + +Our aeroboat behaved splendidly, in spite of a freshening trade-wind +breeze, and we circled lower for a better view of the battle which now +grew in fierceness as the fleets came to closer quarters. At one time we +dropped to within two thousand feet of the sea before Astor remembered +that our American flag made a tempting target for the German guns and +steered to a higher level. + +"They don't seem to fire at us, do they? I suppose they think we aren't +worth bothering with," he laughed. + +As a matter of fact, not a single shot was fired at us during the entire +engagement. + +I must say a word here regarding an adroit German manoeuvre early in the +battle by which the invaders turned an apparent inferiority in submarines +into a distinct advantage. The American fleet had thirty submarines +(these had been towed painfully around South America) while the Germans +had only five, but these five were large and speedy, built to travel with +the fleet under their own power and not fall behind. The thirty American +submarines, on the other hand, could not make over twelve knots an hour. +Consequently, when the German line suddenly quickened its pace to +twenty-five knots, Admiral Fletcher had to choose between abandoning his +underwater craft and allowing his fleet to be capped by the enemy; that +is, exposed to a raking fire with great danger from torpedoes. He decided +to abandon his submarines (all but one that had the necessary speed) and +thus he lost whatever assistance these vessels might have rendered, and +was obliged to fight with a single submarine against five, instead of +with thirty against five. + +When I explained this manoeuvre to Mr. Astor he asked the natural +question why Admiral Fletcher had not foreseen this unfortunate issue and +left his burdensome submarines at Panama. I pointed out that these thirty +vessels had cost half a million dollars apiece and it was the admiral's +duty to take care of them. It naturally was not his fault if Congress had +failed to give him submarines that were large enough and swift enough for +efficient fighting with the fleet. + +Meantime the battle was booming on in two widely separated areas, the +battleships in one, the destroyers in the other. + +Mr. Astor had held the wheel for five hours and, at my suggestion, he +retired to the comfortable little cabin and lay down for fifteen minutes, +leaving the aeroboat to soar in great slow circles under its admirable +automatic controls over the main battle area. When he returned he brought +hot coffee in a silver thermos bottle and some sandwiches, and we ate +these with keen relish, in spite of the battle beneath us. + +The dreadnoughts had now closed in to eight thousand yards and the battle +was at the height of its fury, making a continuous roar, and forming five +miles of flaming tongues in a double line, darting out their messages of +hate and death. + +As the afternoon wore on the wind strengthened from the northeast and I +realised the disadvantage of the American ships indicated by Admiral +Allyn, namely, that, being light of coal, they rode high in the sea and +rolled heavily. Unfortunately, the Germans had thirty battleships to +seventeen and this disparity was presently increased when the flotilla of +German destroyers, about eighty, after vanquishing their opponents, +swarmed against the hardpressed American line, attacking from the port +quarter under the lead of the four battle-cruisers so that the valiant +seventeen were practically surrounded. + +In this storm of shells every ship was struck again and again and the +huge Pennsylvania, at the head of the column, seemed to be the target of +the whole German column. About three o'clock, as the flagship rolled far +over to port and exposed her starboard side, a twelve-inch shell caught +her below the armoured belt and smashed through into the engine-room, +where it exploded with terrific violence. The flagship immediately fell +behind, helpless, and Admiral Fletcher, badly wounded and realising that +his vessel was doomed, signalled to Admiral Mayo, on the _Arizona_, +second in line, to assume command of the fleet. + +"Look!" cried Astor, suddenly, pointing to two black spots in the sea +about a thousand yards away. + +"Periscopes," said I. + +At the same moment we saw two white trails swiftly moving along the +surface and converging on the _Pennsylvania_ with deadly precision. + +"Torpedoes! They're going to finish her!" murmured Astor, his hands +clenched tight, his eyes sick with pain. + +There was a smothered explosion, then a thick column of water shot high +into the air, and a moment later there came another explosion as the +second torpedo found its target. + +And now the great super-dreadnought _Pennsylvania_ was sinking into the +Caribbean with Admiral Fletcher aboard and seventeen hundred men. She +listed more and more, and, suddenly, sinking lower at the bows, she +submerged her great shoulders in the ocean and rolled her vast bulk +slowly to starboard until her dark keel line rose above the surface with +a green Niagara pouring over it. + +For a long time the _Pennsylvania_ lay awash while the battle thundered +about her and scores of blue-jackets clambered over her rails from her +perpendicular decks and clung to her slippery sides. We could hear them +singing "Nancy Lee" as the waves broke over them. + +"Are we afraid to die?" shouted one of the men, and I thrilled at the +answering chorus of voices, "No!" + +Just before the final plunge we turned away. It was too horrible, and +Astor swung the aeroplane in a great curve so that we might not see the +last agonies of those brave men. When we looked back the flagship had +disappeared. + +As we circled again over the spot where the _Pennsylvania_ went down we +were able to make out a few men clinging to fragments of wreckage and +calling for help. + +"Do you see them? Do you hear them?" cried Astor, his face like chalk. +"We must save one of them. She'll carry three if we throw over some of +our oil." + +This explains why we did not see the end of the battle of the Caribbean +and the complete destruction of the American fleet. We threw overboard a +hundred pounds of oil and started back to Kingston with a crippled engine +and a half-drowned lieutenant of the _Pennsylvania_ stretched on the +cabin floor. How we saved him is a miracle. One of our wings buckled when +we struck the water and I got a nasty clip from the propeller as I +dragged the man aboard; but, somehow, we did the thing and got home hours +later with one of the few survivors of Admiral Fletcher's ill-fated +expedition. + +I have no idea how I wrote my story that night; my head was throbbing +with pain and I was so weak I could scarcely hold my pencil, but somehow, +I cabled two columns to the London _Times_, and it went around the world +as the first description of a naval battle seen from an aeroplane. I did +not know until afterwards how much the Germans suffered. They really lost +about half their battleships, but the Americans lost everything. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +PHILADELPHIA'S FIRST CITY TROOPS DIE IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBERTY BELL + +I come now to the point in my narrative where I ceased to be merely a +reporter of stirring events, and began to play a small part that Fate had +reserved for me in this great international drama. Thank God, I was able +to be of service to stricken America, my own country that I have loved so +much, although, as correspondent of the London _Times_, it has been my +lot to spend years in foreign lands. + +Obeying instructions from my paper, I hastened back to the United States, +where important events were pending. Von Hindenburg, after his Trenton +victory, had strangely delayed his advance against Philadelphia--we were +to learn the reason for this shortly--but, as we passed through Savannah, +we had news that the invading army was moving southward against General +Wood's reconstructed line of defence that spread from Bristol on the +Delaware to Jenkintown to a point three miles below Norristown on the +Schuylkill. + +The next morning we reached Richmond and here, I should explain, I said +good-bye to the rescued lieutenant, an attractive young fellow, Randolph +Ryerson, whose home was in Richmond, and whose sister, Miss Mary Ryerson, +a strikingly beautiful girl, had met us at Charleston the night before in +response to a telegram that her brother was coming and was ill. She +nursed him through the night in an uncomfortable stateroom and came to me +in the morning greatly disturbed about his condition. The young man had a +high fever, she said, and had raved for hours calling out a name, a +rather peculiar name--Widding--Widding--Lemuel A. Widding--over and over +again in his delirium. + +I tried to reassure her and said laughingly that, as long as it was not a +woman's name he was raving about, there was no ground for anxiety. She +gave me her address in Richmond and thanked me very sweetly for what I +had done. I must admit that for days I was haunted by that girl's face +and by the glorious beauty of her eyes. + +When we reached Washington we found that city in a panic over news of +another American defeat. Philadelphia had fallen and all communications +were cut off. Furthermore, a third force of Germans had landed in +Chesapeake Bay, which meant that the national capital was threatened by +two German armies. We now understood von Hindenburg's deliberation. + +In this emergency, Marshall Reid, brother-in-law of Lieutenant Dustin, +the crack aviator of the navy, who had been aboard the _Pennsylvania_, +volunteered to carry messages from the President to Philadelphia and to +bring back news. Reid himself was one of the best amateur flying men in +the country and he did me the honour to choose me as his companion. + +We started late in the afternoon of August 17 in Mr. Reid's swift Burgess +machine and made the distance in two hours. I shall never forget our +feelings as we circled over the City of Brotherly Love and looked down +upon wrecks of railroad bridges that lay across the Schuylkill. Shots +were fired at us from the aerodrome of the League Island Navy Yard; so we +flew on, searching for a safer landing place. + +We tried to make the roof landing on the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, but +the wind was too high and we finally chanced it among the maples of +Rittenhouse Square, after narrowly missing the sharp steeple of St. +Mark's Church. Here, with a few bruises, we came to earth just in front +of the Rittenhouse Club and were assisted by Dr. J. William White, who +rushed out and did what he could to help us. + +Five hours later, Reid started back to Washington with details of +reverses sent by military and city authorities that decided the +administration to move the seat of government to Chicago without delay. +He also carried from me (I remained in Philadelphia) a hastily written +despatch to be transmitted from Washington via Kingston to the London +_Times_, in which I summed up the situation on the basis of facts given +me by my friend, Richard J. Beamish, owner of the Philadelphia _Press_, +my conclusion being that the American cause was lost. And I included +other valuable information gleaned from reporter friends of mine on the +_North American_ and the _Bulletin_. I even ventured a prophecy that the +United States would sue for peace within ten days. + +"What were General Wood's losses in the battle of Philadelphia?" I asked +Beamish. + +"Terribly heavy--nearly half of his army in killed, wounded and +prisoners. What could we do? Von Hindenburg outnumbered us from two to +one and we were short of ammunition, artillery, horses, aeroplanes, +everything." + +"Who blew up those railroad bridges and cut the wires?" + +"German spies--there are a lot of them here. They sank a barge loaded +with bricks in the Schuylkill just above its joining with the Delaware +and blocked the channel so that ten battleships in the naval basin at +League Island couldn't get out." + +"What became of the battleships?" + +"Commandant Price opened their valves and sank them in the basin." + +"And the American army, where is it now?" I asked. + +"They've retreated south of the Brandywine--what's left of them. Our new +line is entrenching from Chester to Upland to Westchester with our right +flank on the Delaware; but what's the use?" + +So crushing was the supremacy of the invaders that there was no further +thought of resistance in Philadelphia. The German army was encamped in +Fairmount Park and it was known that, at the first sign of revolt, German +siege-guns on the historic heights of Wissahickon and Chestnut Hill would +destroy the City Hall with its great tower bearing the statue of William +Penn and the massive grey pile of Drexel and Company's banking house at +the corner of Fifth and Chestnut streets. Von Hindenburg had announced +this, also that he did not consider it necessary to take hostages. + +There was one act of resistance, however, when the enemy entered +Philadelphia that must live among deeds of desperate heroism. + +As the German hosts marched down Chestnut Street they came to +Independence Hall and here, blocking the way on their sorrel horses with +two white mounted trumpeters, was the First City Troop, sixty-five men +under Captain J. Franklin McFadden, in their black coats and white +doeskin riding-breeches, in the black helmets with raccoon skin plumes, +in their odd-shaped riding boots high over the knee, all as in +Revolutionary days--here they were drawn up before the statue of George +Washington and the home of the Liberty Bell, resolved to die here, +fighting as well as they could for these things that were sacred. And +they did die, most of them, or fell wounded before a single one of the +enemy set foot inside of Independence Hall. + +Here is the list of heroes who offered their lives for the cause of +liberty: + +Captain J. Franklin McFadden, First Lieutenant George C. Thayer, Second +Lieutenant John Conyngham Stevens, First Sergeant Thomas Cadwalader, +Second Sergeant (Quartermaster) Benjamin West Frazier, Third Sergeant +George Joyce Sewell, William B. Churchman, Richard M. Philler, F. Wilson +Prichett, Clarence H. Clark, Joseph W. Lewis, Edward D. Page, Richard +Tilghman, Edward D. Toland, Jr., McCall Keating, Robert P. Frazier, +Alexander Cadwalader, Morris W. Stroud, George Brooke, 3d, Charles +Poultney Davis, Saunders L. Meade, Cooper Howell, C. W. Henry, Edmund +Thayer, Harry C. Yarrow, Jr., Alexander C. Yarnall, Louis Rodman Page, +Jr., George Gordon Meade, Pierson Pierce, Andrew Porter, Richard H. +R. Toland, John B. Thayer, West Frazier, John Frazer, P. P. Chrystie, +Albert L. Smith, William W. Bodine, Henry D. Beylard, Effingham Buckley +Morris, Austin G. Maury, John P. Hollingsworth, Rulon Miller, Harold M. +Willcox, Charles Wharton, Howard York, Robert Gilpin Irvin, J. Keating +Willcox, William Watkins, Jr., Harry Ingersoll, Russell Thayer, Fitz +Eugene Dixon, Percy C. Madeira, Jr., Marmaduke Tilden, Jr., H. Harrison +Smith, C. Howard Clark, Jr., Richard McCall Elliot, Jr., George Harrison +Frazier, Jr., Oliver Eton Cromwell, Richard Harte, D. Reeves Henry, Henry +H. Houston, Charles J. Ingersoll. + +It grieved me when I visited the quaint little house on Arch Street with +its gabled window and wooden blinds, where Betsey Ross made the first +flag of the United States of America, to find a German banner in place of +the accustomed thirteen white stars on their square of blue. And again, +when I stood beside Benjamin Franklin's grave in Christ Church Cemetery, +I was shocked to see a German flag marking this honoured resting-place. +"Benjamin and Deborah, 1790," was the deeply graven words and, beside +them under a kindly elm, the battered headstone of their little +four-year-old son, "Francis F.--A delight to all who knew him." Then a +German flag! + +I began to wonder why we had not learned a lesson from England's +lamentable showing in 1915. What good did all our wealth do us now? It +would be taken from us--had not the Germans already levied an indemnity +of four hundred millions upon Philadelphia? And seized the Baldwin +locomotive works, the greatest in the world, employing 16,000 men? And +the Cramp shipbuilding yards? And the terminus at Point Breeze down the +river of the great Standard Oil Company's pipe line with enormous oil +supplies? + +Philadelphians realised all this when it was too late. They knew +that ten thousand American soldiers, killed in battle, were lying in +fresh-made graves. They knew that the Philadelphia Hospital and the +University of Pennsylvania Hospital and the commercial museum buildings +nearby that had been changed into hospitals could scarcely provide beds +and nurses for wounded American soldiers. And yet, "What can we do?" said +Mayor George H. Earle, Jr., to me. "New York City resisted, and you know +what happened. Boston rioted, and she had her lesson. No! Philadelphia +will not resist. Besides, read this." + +He showed me a message just arrived from Washington saying that the +United States was about to sue for peace. + +The next day we had news that a truce had been declared and immediately +negotiations began between Chicago and Berlin, regarding a peace +conference, it being finally decided that this should take place at Mt. +Vernon, in the historic home of George Washington, sessions to begin +early in September, in order to allow time for the arrival of delegates +from Germany. + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THRILLING INCIDENT AT WANAMAKER'S STORE WHEN GERMANS DISHONOUR AMERICAN +FLAG + +During these peace preliminaries Philadelphia accepted her fate with +cheerful philosophy. In 1777 she had entertained British conquerors, now +she entertained the Germans. An up-to-date _meschianza_ was organised, as +in Revolutionary days, at the magnificent estate "Druim Moir" of Samuel +F. Houston in Chestnut Hill, with all the old features reproduced, the +pageant, the tournament of Knights Templars and the games, German +officers competing in the latter. + +In polo an American team composed of William H. T. Huhn, Victor C. +Mather, Alexander Brown and Mitchell Rosengarten played against a crack +team of German cavalry officers and beat them easily. + +In lawn tennis the American champion, Richard Norris Williams, beat +Lieutenant Froitzheim, a famous German player and a friend of the Crown +Prince, in straight sets, the lieutenant being penalised for foot +faulting by the referee, Eddie von Friesen, a wearer of the iron cross, +although his mother was a Philadelphia woman. + +Thirty thousand German soldiers crowded Shibe Park daily to watch the +series of exhibition contests between the Athletics and the Cincinnati +Reds, both teams being among the first civilians captured on the victors' +entrance into Philadelphia. The Reds, composed almost entirely of +Germans, owned by Garry Hermann and managed by Herzog, were of course the +favourites over the Irish-American cohorts of Cornelius McGillicuddy; but +the Athletics won the series in a deciding game that will never be +forgotten. The dramatic moment came in the ninth inning, with the bases +full, when the famous Frenchman, Napoleon Lajoie, pinch-hitting for +Baker, advanced to the plate and knocked the ball far over Von Kolnitz's +head for a home run and the game. + +Another interesting affair was a dinner given to German officers by +editors of the _Saturday Evening Post_, on the tenth floor of the Curtis +Building, the menu comprising characteristic Philadelphia dishes, such as +pepper pot soup with a dash of sherry, and scrapple with fishhouse punch. +Various writers were present, and there were dramatic meetings between +American war correspondents and Prussian generals who had put them in +jail in the 1915 campaign. I noticed a certain coldness on the part of +Richard Harding Davis toward a young Bavarian lieutenant who, in Northern +France, had conceived the amiable purpose of running Mr. Davis through +the ribs with a bayonet; but Irvin S. Cobb was more forgiving and drank +clover club cocktails to the health of a burly colonel who had ordered +him shot as a spy and graciously explained the proper way of eating +catfish and waffles. + +The Crown Prince was greatly interested when informed by Owen Wister that +these excellent dishes were of German origin, having been brought to +America by the Hessians in Revolutionary days and preserved by their +descendants, such families as the Fows and the Faunces, who still +occupied a part of Northeastern Philadelphia known as Fishtown. His +Imperial Highness also had an animated discussion with Joseph A. +Steinmetz, President of the Aero Club of Pennsylvania, as to the +effectiveness of the Steinmetz pendant hook bomb Zeppelin destroyer. + +The German officers enjoyed these days immensely and made themselves at +home in the principal hotels, paying scrupulously for their +accommodations. General von Hindenburg stopped at the Ritz-Carlton, +Admiral von Tirpitz at the Bellevue-Stratford and others at the Walton +and the Adelphia. Several Prussian generals established themselves at the +Continental Hotel because of their interest in the fact that Edward VII +of England stopped there when he was Prince of Wales, and they drew lots +for the privilege of sleeping in the historic bed that had been occupied +by an English sovereign. + +The Crown Prince himself was domiciled with his staff in E. T. +Stotesbury's fine mansion on Walnut Street. Every day he lunched at the +Racquet Club, now occupied by German officers, and played court tennis +with Dr. Alvin C. Kraenzlein, the famous University of Pennsylvania +athlete, whom he had met in Berlin when Kraenzlein was coaching the +German Olympic team for the 1916 contests that were postponed, owing to +the war, until 1920. He also had a game with Jay Gould, champion of the +world, and being hopelessly outclassed, declared laughingly (the Crown +Prince loves American slang) that this young millionaire was "some +player." + +A few days after the _meschiama_ fetes, his Imperial Highness gave a +dinner and reception to some of the leading men in Philadelphia and, +despite prejudice, was voted a remarkable figure like his father, +combining versatile knowledge with personal charm. He talked politics +with Boies Penrose, and reform with Rudolph Blankenburg. He was +interested in A. J. Drexel Biddle's impartial enthusiasm for Bible +classes and boxing matches. He questioned Dr. D. J. McCarthy, famous +neurologist of the University of Pennsylvania, about mental diseases +caused by war. He laughed heartily on hearing a limerick by Oliver +Herford beginning: "There was a young prince Hohenzollern," which was +said to have delighted the British ambassador. Finally, he listened while +Ned Atherton and Morris L. Parrish explained the fascination of _sniff_, +a gambling game played with dominoes much in vogue at the Racquet Club. +His Imperial Highness said he preferred the German game of _skat_, played +with cards, and James P. McNichol, the Republican boss, made a note of +this fact. + +As I passed through a gallery containing the magnificent Stotesbury +collection of paintings I heard a resounding voice saying with a harsh +German accent: "Ach! I told you! Your form of government is a failure. +People need a benevolent paternalism. There is no chance for military +efficiency under a republic." + +Turning, I recognised the stocky form of Commandant Price of the League +Island navy yard, who was listening to a tirade from Admiral von Tirpitz. +The latter, it seems, was marvelling that the United States naval +authorities had lacked the intelligence to cut a 1,700-yard canal from +the naval basin to the Delaware which would have made it impossible for +the Germans to tie up the American reserve fleet by blocking the +Schuylkill. This canal would also have furnished an ideal fresh-water +dry-dock. + +Commandant Price had informed the admiral that this very plan, with an +estimated cost of only three million dollars, had been repeatedly brought +before Congress, but always unsuccessfully. In other words, it was no +fault of the navy if these battleships were rendered useless. Whereupon +von Tirpitz had burst forth with his attack upon representative +government. + +I was told that the Crown Prince had intended to invite to this gathering +some of the prominent women of Philadelphia, particularly one famous +beauty, whom he desired to meet, but he was dissuaded from this purpose +by a tactful hint that the ladies would not accept his invitation. The +men might go, for reasons of expediency, but American women had no place +at the feast of an invader. + +It happened, however, a few days later, that the Imperial wish was +gratified, the occasion being an auction for the benefit of the +American Red Cross Fund held one afternoon in the gold ballroom of the +Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Tea was served with music by the Philadelphia +orchestra under Leopold Stokowski and the tickets were five dollars. + +In a great crush (the gallery was reserved for German officers, including +the Crown Prince) the most distinguished society women in Philadelphia +stepped forth smilingly as manikins and displayed on their fair persons +the hats, gowns, furs, laces or jewels that they had contributed to the +sale. E. T. Stotesbury proved a very efficient auctioneer and large +prices were realised. + +Mrs. G. G. Meade Large sold baskets of roses at twenty dollars each. Mrs. +W. J. Clothier sold three hats for fifty dollars each. Mrs. Walter S. +Thomson, said to be pro-German, sold a ball-gown for three hundred +dollars. Mrs. E. T. Stotesbury sold one of her diamond tiaras for twenty +thousand dollars. Mrs. Edward Crozer, Mrs. Horatio Gates Lloyd and Mrs. +Norman MacLeod sold gowns for three hundred dollars each. Mrs. Harry Wain +Harrison and Mrs. Robert von Moschzisker sold pieces of lace for a +hundred dollars each. + +Mrs. A. J. Antelo Devereux, in smart riding costume, sold her fine +hunter, led in amid great applause, for two thousand dollars. Mrs. George +Q. Horwitz and Mrs. Robert L. Montgomery sold sets of furs for a thousand +dollars each. Mrs. Barclay H. Warburton sold her imported touring-car for +five thousand dollars. Mrs. Joseph E. Widener sold a set of four +bracelets, one of diamonds, one of rubies, one of sapphires, one of +emeralds, for fifteen thousand dollars. + +The sensation of the afternoon came at the close when Admiral von Tirpitz +bought a coat of Russian sables offered by Mrs. John R. Fell for ten +thousand dollars, this being followed by a purchase of the Crown Prince, +who gave thirty thousand dollars for a rope of pearls belonging to Mrs. +J. Kearsley Mitchell. + +All of this was briefly recorded in the Philadelphia _Press_, which had +been made the official German organ with daily editions in German and +English. The Crown Prince himself selected this paper, I was told, on +learning that the author of one of his favourite stories, "The Lady or +the Tiger," by Frank R. Stockton, was once a reporter on the _Press_. + +A few days later at the Wanamaker store on Chestnut Street the Crown +Prince figured in an incident that became the subject of international +comment and that throws a strange light upon the German character. + +It appears that the Crown Prince had become interested in an announcement +of the Wanamaker store that half of its profits for one week, amounting +to many thousands of dollars, would go to the relief of American soldiers +wounded in battle. His Imperial Highness expressed a desire to visit the +Wanamaker establishment, and arrived one afternoon at the hour of a +widely advertised organ concert that had drawn great crowds. A special +feature was to be the Lohengrin wedding march, during the playing of +which seven prominent society women, acting on a charitable impulse, had +consented to appear arrayed as bridesmaids and one of them as a bride. + +The Crown Prince and his staff, in brilliant uniforms, entered the vast +rotunda packed with men and women, just as this interesting ceremony was +beginning and took places reserved for them as conquerors, near the great +bronze eagle on its granite pedestal that faces the spot where William H. +Taft dedicated the building in December, 1911. + +A hush fell over the assembly as Dr. Irvin J. Morgan at his gilded height +struck the inspiring chords, and a moment later the wedding procession +entered, led by two white-clad pages, and moved slowly across the white +gallery, Mrs. Angier B. Duke (dressed as the bride), Mrs. Victor C. +Mather, Mrs. A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr., Mrs. Gurnee Munn, Mrs. Oliver E. +Cromwell, Miss Eleanor B. Hopkins and Mrs. George Wharton Pepper, Jr., a +tall and willowy auburn beauty and a bride herself only a few months +before, while Wagner's immortal tones pealed through the marble arches. + +As the music ceased one of the German officers, in accordance with a +prearranged plan, nodded to his aides, who stepped forward and spread a +German flag over the American eagle. At the same moment the officer waved +his hand towards the organ loft, as a signal for Dr. Morgan to obey his +instructions and play "The Watch on the Rhine." + +The crowd knew what was coming and waited in sickening silence, then +gasped in amazement and joy as the organ gloriously sounded forth, "My +Country, 'Tis of Thee." + +"Stop!" shouted the Prussian, purple with rage. "Stop!" + +But Irvin Morgan played on like a good American, thrilling the great +audience with the treasured message: + +"Sweet land of Liberty, +Of Thee I sing." + +At this moment a little fellow seven years old, from Caniden, N. J., in +boy-scout uniform, did a thing that will live in American history. He had +been taught to rise when he heard that music and sing the dear words that +his mother had taught him, and he could not understand why all these +Americans were silent. Why didn't they sing? He looked about him +anxiously. He had seen those Prussian officers spread the German flag +over the American eagle, and it suddenly flashed into his mind that it +was his business to do something. He must tear down that hateful flag. He +must do it if he died and, springing forward before any one could divine +his purpose, he dragged the German banner to the floor and, standing on +it, waved a little American flag drawn from his pocket. + +"Land where my fathers died, +Land of the Pilgrims' pride!" + +He shrilled out, singing all alone while the proud organ thundered forth +its accompaniment. + +As a match starts the powder train so this boyish act fired the whole +gathering of dumb patriots and straightway, Germans or no Germans, ten +thousand American voices took up the words while the youthful leader, +with eyes flashing, held up the Stars and Stripes there by the eagle. + +A German officer, furious at this defiance, sprang toward the boy with +lifted sword and would have struck him down had not his Imperial master +intervened and with his own weapon caught the descending blow. + +"Shame! Coward!" cried the Crown Prince. "We do not fight with children." + +And the end of it was that no one was punished, although concerts were +forbidden after this in the Wanamaker store. + +I have related this incident not only for its own sake, but because of +its bearing on subsequent events. + +"I'm going to write a story about that boy", I said to W. Barran Lewis, +who stood near me. "Do you know his name?" + +"Yes," said the editor. "He is Lemuel A. Widding, Jr. Makes a good story, +doesn't it?" + +Lemuel A. Widding! Where had I heard that name? Suddenly I +remembered--Kingston, Jamaica, and Lieutenant Ryerson and the lovely girl +who had told me about her brother's ravings. That was the name he had +called out again and again in his delirium. Lemuel A. Widding! + +In spite of my interest in this puzzling circumstance I was unable to +investigate it, owing to the fact that I was hurried off to Mount Vernon +for the Peace Conference, but I wired Miss Ryerson in Richmond of my +discovery and gave her the boy's address in Camden, N. J. Then I thought +no more about the matter, being absorbed in my duties. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +AN AMERICAN GIRL BRINGS NEWS THAT CHANGES THE COURSE OF THE MOUNT VERNON +PEACE CONFERENCE + +The sessions of the Mount Vernon Peace Congress were held in a large room +of the historic mansion that was George Washington's business office. The +United States was represented by General Leonard Wood, William H. Taft +and Elihu Root; Germany by General von Hindenburg, General von Kluck and +Count von Bernstoff. + +Although I was not personally present at these discussions I am able, +thanks to the standing of the London _Times_, to set forth the main +points on the highest authority. + +In the very first session the peace commissioners came straight to the +main question. + +"I am instructed by the President of the United States," began General +Wood, "to ask your Excellency if the German Imperial Government will +agree to withdraw their armies from America in consideration of receiving +a money indemnity?" + +"No, sir," replied General von Hindenburg. "That is quite out of the +question." + +[Illustration: GERMAN GUNS DESTROY THE HOTEL TAFT.] + +"A large indemnity? I am empowered to offer three thousand million +dollars, which is three times as much, your Excellency will remember, as +the Imperial German Government accepted for withdrawing from France in +1870." + +"Yes, and we always regretted it," snapped von Hindenburg. "We should +have kept that territory, or part of it. We are going to keep this +territory. That was our original intention in coming here. We need this +Atlantic seaboard for the extension of the German idea, for the spread of +German civilisation, for our inevitable expansion as the great world +power." + +"Suppose we agreed to pay four billion dollars?" suggested the American +commander. + +Von Hindenburg shook his head and then in his rough, positive way: "No, +General. What we have taken by our victorious arms we shall hold for our +children and our grandchildren. I am instructed to say, however, that the +Imperial German Government will make one important concession to the +United States. We will withdraw our troops from the mouths of the +Mississippi which we now hold, as you know; we will withdraw from +Galveston, New Orleans, Pensacola, Tampa, Key West; in short, from all +ports in the Gulf of Mexico and in Florida. If you will allow me, +gentlemen, I will show you on this map what we propose to surrender to +you and what we propose to keep." + +The venerable Field Marshal unrolled upon the broad surface of George +Washington's desk a beautifully shaded relief map of the United States, +and General Wood, ex-President Taft and Elihu Root bent over it with +tense faces and studied a heavy black line that indicated the proposed +boundary between the United States and the territory claimed by the +invaders. This latter included all of New England, about one-third of New +York and Pennsylvania (the southeastern portions), all of New Jersey and +Delaware, nearly all of Virginia and North Carolina and all of South +Carolina and Georgia. + +"You observe, gentlemen," said von Hindenburg, "that our American +province is to bear the name New Germany. It is bounded on the north by +Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Florida, and +on the west by Alabama and the Allegheny Mountains. It is a strip of +land; roughly speaking, a thousand miles long and two hundred miles +wide." + +"About the area of the German Empire," said ex-President Taft. + +"Possibly, but not one-tenth of the entire territory of the United +States, leaving out Alaska. We feel that as conquerors we are asking +little enough." He eyed the Americans keenly. + +"You are asking us to give up New York, Philadelphia and Washington and +all of New England," said Elihu Root very quietly. "Does your Excellency +realise what that means to us? New England is the cradle of our +liberties. New York is the heart of the nation. Washington is our +capital." + +"Washington _was_ your capital," broke in General von Kluck, with a +laugh. + +"I can assure your Excellency," said General Wood, keeping his composure +with an effort, "that the American people will never consent to such a +sacrifice of territory. You may drive us back to the deserts of Arizona, +you may drive us back to the Rocky Mountains, but we will fight on." + +Von Hindenburg's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ah, so!" he smiled grimly. +"Do you know what will happen if you refuse our terms? In the next few +months we shall land expeditions from Germany with a million more +soldiers. That will give us a million and a half men on American soil. We +shall then invade the Mississippi Valley from New Orleans, and our next +offer of terms will be made to you from St. Louis or Chicago, _and it +will be a very different offer_." + +"If your Excellency will allow me," said Elihu Root in a conciliatory +tone, "may I ask if the Imperial German Government does not recognise +that there will be great difficulties in the way of permanently holding a +strip of land along our Atlantic seaboard?" + +"What difficulties? England holds Canada, doesn't she? Spain held Mexico, +did she not?" + +"But the Mexicans were willing to be held. Your Excellency must realise +that in New England, in New York, in New Jersey, you would be dealing +with irreconcilable hatred." + +"Nothing is irreconcilable. Look at Belgium. They hated us in 1915, did +they not? But sixty-five percent of them accepted German citizenship when +we offered it to them after the peace in 1919, and they have been a +well-behaved German province ever since." + +"You mean to say that New England would ever become a German province?" +protested William H. Taft. "Do you think that New York and Virginia will +ever take the oath of allegiance to the German Emperor?" + +"Of course they will, just as most of the Spaniards you conquered in the +Philippine Islands took the oath of allegiance to America. They swore +they would not but they did. Men follow the laws of necessity. Half of +your population are of foreign descent. Millions of them are of German +descent. These people crowded over here from Europe because they were +starving and you have kept them starving. They will come to us because we +treat them better; we give them higher wages, cleaner homes, more +happiness. They _have_ come to us already; the figures prove it. Not ten +percent of the people of New York and New England have moved away since +the German occupation, although they were free to go. Why is that? +Because they like our form of government, they see that it insures to +them and their children the benefits of a higher civilisation." + +My informant assured me that at this point ex-President Taft, in spite of +his even temper, almost exploded with indignation, while General Wood +rose abruptly from his seat. + +For a time it looked as if this first Peace Conference session would +break up in a storm of angry recrimination; but Elihu Root, by tactful +appeals, finally smoothed things over and an adjournment was taken for +forty-eight hours, during which it was agreed that both sides, by +telegraph and cable, should lay the situation before their respective +governments in Chicago and Berlin. + +I remained at Mount Vernon for two weeks while the truce lasted. Every +day the peace commissioners met for hours of argument and pleading, but +the deadlock of conflicting purposes was not broken. Both sides kept in +touch with their governments and both made concessions. America raised +her indemnity offer to five billion dollars, to six billion dollars, to +seven billion dollars, but declared she would never surrender one foot of +the Atlantic seaboard. Germany lessened her demands for territory, but +refused to withdraw from New York, New England and Philadelphia. + +For some days this deadlock continued, then America began to weaken. She +felt herself overpowered. The consequences of continuing the war were too +frightful to contemplate and, on September 8, I cabled my paper that the +United States would probably cede to Germany within twenty-four hours the +whole of New England and a part of New York State, including New York +City and Long Island. This was the general opinion when, suddenly, out of +a clear sky came a dramatic happening destined to change the course of +events and draw me personally into a whirlpool of exciting adventures. + +It was about three o'clock in the afternoon of September 9, a blazing hot +day, and I was seated on the lawn under one of the fine magnolia-trees +presented years before by Prince Henry of Prussia, wondering how much +longer I must swelter here before getting off my despatch to the _Times_, +when I heard the panting of a swiftly approaching automobile which +presently drew up outside the grounds. A moment later a coloured +chauffeur approached and asked if I was Mr. James Langston. I told him I +was, and he said a lady in the car wanted to speak to me. + +"A lady?" I asked in surprise. "Did she give her name?" + +The chauffeur broke into a beaming smile. "She didn't give no name, boss, +but she sure is a ve'hy handsome lady, an' she's powh'ful anxious to see +you." + +I lost no time in answering this mysterious summons, and a little later +found myself in the presence of a young woman whom I recognised, when she +drew aside her veil, as Miss Mary Ryerson, sister of Lieutenant Randolph +Ryerson. With her in the car were her brother and a tall, gaunt man with +deep-set eyes. They were all travel-stained, and the car showed the +battering of Virginia mountain roads. + +"Oh, Mr. Langston," cried the girl eagerly, "we have such wonderful news! +The conference isn't over? They haven't yielded to Germany?" + +"No," said I. "Not yet." + +"They mustn't yield. We have news that changes everything. Oh, it's so +splendid! America is going to win." + +Her lovely face was glowing with enthusiasm, but I shook my head. + +"America's fleet is destroyed. Her army is beaten. How can she win?" + +Miss Ryerson turned to her brother and to the other man. "Go with Mr. +Langston. Tell him everything. Explain everything. He will take you to +General Wood." She fixed her radiant eyes on me. "You will help us? I can +count on you? Remember, it's for America!" + +"I'll do my best," I promised, yielding to the spell of her charm and +spirit. "May I ask--" I glanced at the tall man who was getting out of +the car. + +"Ah! Now you will believe. You will see how God is guiding us. This is +the father of the brave little boy in Wanamaker's store. He has seen +Thomas A. Edison, and Mr. Edison says his plan to destroy the German +fleet is absolutely sound. Mr. Langston, Mr. Lemuel A. Widding. Now +hurry!" + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THOMAS A. EDISON MAKES A SERIOUS MISTAKE IN ACCEPTING A DINNER INVITATION + +As General Wood left the peace conference (in reply to our urgent +summons) and walked slowly across the Mount Vernon lawn to join us in the +summer house, he looked haggard and dejected. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"Good news, General," I whispered, but he shook his head wearily. + +"No, it's all over. They have worn us down. Our fleet is destroyed, our +army is beaten. We are on the point of ceding New England and New York to +Germany. There is nothing else to do." + +"Wait! We have information that may change everything. Let me introduce +Lieutenant Ryerson and Mr. Widding--General Wood." They bowed politely. +"Mr. Widding has just seen Thomas A. Edison." + +That was a name to conjure with, and the General's face brightened. + +"I'm listening," he said. + +We settled back in our chairs and Lemuel A. Widding, with awkward +movements, drew from his pockets some papers which he offered to the +American commander. + +"These speak for themselves, General," he began. "Here is a brief +description of my invention for destroying the German fleet. Here are +blueprints that make it clearer. Here is the written endorsement of +Thomas A. Edison." + +For a long time General Wood studied these papers with close attention, +then he sat silent, looking out over the broad Potomac, his noble face +stern with care. I saw that his hair had whitened noticeably in the last +two months. + +"If this is true, it's more important than you realise. It's so important +that--" He searched us with his kind but keen grey eyes. + +"Thomas A. Edison says it's true," put in Widding. "That ought to be good +enough evidence." + +"And Lieutenant Ryerson tells me that Admiral Fletcher spoke favourably +of the matter," I added. + +"He did, General," declared the lieutenant. "It was on the _Pennsylvania_ +a few hours before we went into battle. The admiral had been looking over +Mr. Widding's specifications the night before and he said--I remember his +words: 'This is a great idea. If we had it in operation now we could +destroy the German fleet.'" + +At this moment there came a fateful interruption in the form of an urgent +call for General Wood from the conference hall and he asked us to excuse +him until the next day when he would take the matter up seriously. + +We returned at once to Washington and I spent that evening at the Cosmos +Club listening to a lecture by my oceanographical friend, Dr. Austin H. +Clark, on deep-sea lilies that eat meat. At about nine o'clock I was +called to the telephone, and presently recognised the agitated voice of +Miss Ryerson, who said that an extraordinary thing had happened and +begged me to come to her at once. She was stopping at the Shoreham, just +across the street, and five minutes later we were talking earnestly in +the spacious blue-and-white salon with its flowers and restful lights. +Needless to say, I preferred a talk with this beautiful girl to the most +learned discussion of deep-sea lilies. + +Her message was brief but important. She had just been telephoning in a +drug-store on Pennsylvania Avenue when she was surprised to hear the name +of Thomas A. Edison mentioned several times by a man in the next booth +who was speaking in German. Miss Ryerson understood German and, listening +attentively, she made out enough to be sure that an enemy's plot was on +foot to lay hold of the great inventor, to abduct him forcibly, so that +he could no longer help the work of American defence. + +Greatly alarmed she had called me up and now urged me to warn the +military authorities, without wasting a moment, so that they would take +steps to protect Mr. Edison. + +In this emergency I decided to appeal to General E.M. Weaver, Chief of +Coast Artillery, whom I knew from having played golf with him at Chevy +Chase, and, after telephoning, I hurried to his house in a taxicab. The +general looked grave when I repeated Miss Ryerson's story, and said that +this accorded with other reports of German underground activities that +had come to his knowledge. Of course, a guard must be furnished for Mr. +Edison, who was in Baltimore at the time, working out plans for the +scientific defences of Washington in the physical laboratories of the +Johns Hopkins University. + +"I must talk with Edison," said the General. "Suppose you go to Baltimore +in the morning, Mr. Langston, with a note from me. It's only forty-five +minutes and--tell Mr. Edison that I will be greatly relieved if he will +return to Washington with you." + +I had interviewed Thomas A. Edison on several occasions and gained his +confidence, so that he received me cordially the next morning in +Baltimore and, in deference to General Weaver's desire, agreed to run +down to Washington that afternoon, although he laughed at the idea of any +danger. + +As we rode on the train the inventor talked freely of plans for defending +the national capital against General von Mackensen's army which, having +occupied Richmond, was moving up slowly through Virginia. It is a matter +of familiar history now that these plans provided for the use of liquid +chlorine against the invaders, this dangerous substance to be dropped +upon the advancing army from a fleet of powerful aeroplanes. Mr. Edison +seemed hopeful of the outcome. + +He questioned me about Lemuel A. Widding and was interested to learn that +Widding was employed at the works of the Victor Talking Machine (Edison's +own invention) in Camden, N. J. His eyes brightened when I told him of +young Lemuel's thrilling act at Wanamaker's Philadelphia store which, as +I now explained, led to the meeting of the two inventors through the +efforts of Miss Ryerson. + +"There's something queer about this," mused the famous electrician. +"Widding tells me he submitted his idea to the Navy Department over a +year ago. Think of that! An idea bigger than the submarine!" + +"Is it possible?" + +"No doubt of it. Widding's invention will change the condition of naval +warfare--it's bound to. I wouldn't give five cents for the German fleet +when we get this thing working. All we need is time. + +"Mr. Langston, there are some big surprises ahead for the American people +and for the Germans," continued the inventor. "They say America is as +helpless as Belgium or China. I say nonsense. It's true that we have lost +our fleet and some of our big cities and that the Germans have three +armies on our soil, but the fine old qualities of American grit and +American resourcefulness are still here and we'll use 'em. If we can't +win battles in the old way, we'll find new ways. + +"Listen to this, my friend. Have you heard of the Committee of +Twenty-one? No? Very few have. It's a body of rich and patriotic +Americans, big business men, who made up their minds, back in July, that +the government wasn't up to the job of saving this nation. So they +decided to save it themselves by business methods, efficiency methods. +There's a lot of nonsense talked about German efficiency. We'll show them +a few things about American efficiency. What made the United States the +greatest and richest country in the world? Was it German efficiency? What +gave the Standard Oil Company its world supremacy? Was it German +efficiency? It was the American brains of John D. Rockefeller, wasn't +it?" + +"Is Mr. Rockefeller one of the Committee of Twenty-one?" + +"Of course, he is, and so are Andrew Carnegie, James J. Hill, J. P. +Morgan, John Wanamaker, John H. Fahey, James B. Duke, Henry B. Joy, +Daniel B. Guggenheim, John D. Ryan, J. B. Widener, Emerson McMillin, +Philip D. Armour, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Elihu Root, George W. Perkins, +Asa G. Candler and two or three others, including myself. + +"The Germans are getting over the idea that America is as helpless as +Belgium or China. Von Mackensen is going slow, holding back his army +because he doesn't know what we have up our sleeve at the Potomac. As +a matter of fact, we have mighty little except this liquid chlorine +and--well, we're having trouble with the steel containers and with the +releasing device." + +"You mean the device that drops the containers from the aeroplanes?" + +"That's it. We need time to perfect the thing. We've spread fake reports +about wonderful electric mines that will blow up a brigade, and that +helped some, and we delayed von Mackensen for two weeks south of +Fredericksburg by spreading lines of striped cheese-cloth, miles of it, +along a rugged valley. His aeroplane scouts couldn't make out what that +cheese-cloth was for; they thought it might be some new kind of +electrocution storage battery, so the whole army waited." + +As we talked, the train stopped at Hyattsville, a few miles out of +Washington, and a well-set-up officer in uniform came aboard and +approached us with a pleasant smile. + +"Mr. Edison? I am Captain Campbell of General Wood's staff," he said. +"General Wood is outside in his automobile and asks you to join him. The +General thought it would be pleasanter to motor down to Mount Vernon." + +"That's very kind," said Edison, rising. + +"And, Mr. Langston," continued Captain Campbell, addressing me, "General +Wood presents his compliments and hopes you will dine with Mr. Edison and +himself at seven this evening." + +"With pleasure." I bowed and watched them as, they left the train and +entered a military-looking automobile that stood near the track with +curtains drawn. A moment later they rolled away and I settled back in my +seat, reflecting complacently on the high confidence that had been shown +in my discretion. + +Two hours later I reached Mount Vernon and was surprised, as I left the +train, to find General Wood himself waiting on the platform. + +"You got back quickly, General," I said. + +He gave me a sharp glance. "Back from where?" + +"Why, from where you met our train." + +"Your train? What train? I came here to meet Mr. Edison." + +"But you did meet him--two hours ago--in your automobile--at +Hyattsville." + +The general stared in amazement. "I don't know what you are talking +about. I haven't left Mount Vernon. I haven't seen Mr. Edison. What has +happened? Tell me!" + +"Wait!" I said, as the truth began to break on me. "Is there a Captain +Campbell on your staff?" + +He shook his head. "No." + +"Then--then--" I was trying to piece together the evidence. + +"Well? Go on!" he urged impatiently, whereupon I related the events of +the morning. + +"Good Lord!" he cried. "It's an abduction--unquestionably. This Captain +Campbell was a German spy. You say the automobile curtains were drawn? +That made it dark inside, and no doubt the pretended General Wood wore +motor goggles. Before Edison discovered the trick they were off at full +speed and he was overpowered on the back seat. Think of that! Thomas A. +Edison abducted by the Germans!" + +"Why would they do such a thing?" + +"Why? Don't you see? That invention of Widding's will destroy the German +fleet. It's a matter of life and death to them and Edison knows all about +it--all the details--Widding told him." + +"Yes," said I. "My friend Miss Ryerson brought Widding to Mr. Edison a +few days ago, but--how could the Germans have known that?" + +The general's face darkened. "How do they know all sorts of things? +Somebody tells them. Somebody told them this." + +"But Widding himself knows all about his own invention. It won't do the +Germans any good to abduct Edison unless--" + +Our eyes met in sudden alarm. + +"By George, you're right!" exclaimed Wood. + +"Where is Widding? Is he stopping at your hotel?" + +"Yes. We're all there, Miss Ryerson and her brother and Widding and I." + +"Call up the hotel--quick. We must know about this." + +A minute later I had Miss Ryerson on the 'phone and as soon as I heard +her voice I knew that something was wrong. + +"What does she say?" asked the general anxiously, as I hung up the +receiver. + +"She is very much distressed. She says Widding and her brother +disappeared from the hotel last night and no one has any idea where they +are." + +Here were startling happenings and the developments were even more +startling, but, before following these threads of mystery (days passed +and they were still unravelled) I must set forth events that immediately +succeeded the rupture of peace negotiations. I have reason to know that +the Committee of Twenty-one brought pressure upon our peace +commissioners, through Washington and the public press, with the result +that their attitude stiffened towards the enemy and presently became +almost defiant, so that on October 2, 1921, all efforts towards peace +were abandoned. And on October 3 it was officially announced that the +United States and Germany were again at war. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +I WITNESS THE BATTLE OF THE SUSQUEHANNA FROM VINCENT ASTOR'S AEROPLANE + +During the next week, in the performance of my newspaper duties, I +visited Washington and Baltimore, both of these cities being now in +imminent danger of attack, the latter from von Hindenburg's army south of +Philadelphia, the former from the newly landed German expedition that was +encamped on the shores of Chesapeake Bay near Norfolk, Virginia, which +was already occupied by the enemy. + +I found a striking contrast between the psychology of Washington and that +of Baltimore. The national capital, abandoned by its government, awaited +in dull despair the arrival of the conquerors with no thought of +resistance, but Baltimore was girding up her loins to fight. Washington, +burned by the British in 1812, had learned her lesson, but Baltimore had +never known the ravages of an invader. Proudest of southern cities, she +now made ready to stand against the Germans. Let New York and Boston and +Philadelphia surrender, if they pleased, Baltimore would not surrender. + +On the night of my arrival in the Monumental City, September 15, I found +bonfires blazing and crowds thronging the streets. There was to be a +great mass meeting at the Fifth Regiment Armoury, and I shall never +forget the scene as I stood on Hoffman Street with my friend F. R. Kent, +Editor of the Baltimore _Sun_, and watched the multitude press within the +fortress-like walls. This huge grey building had seen excitement before, +as when Wilson and Bryan triumphed here at the Democratic convention of +1912, but nothing like this. + +As far as I could see down Bolton Street and Hoffman Street were dense +crowds cheering frantically as troops of the Maryland National Guard +marched past with crashing bands, the famous "Fighting Fourth" (how the +crowd cheered them!), the "Dandy Fifth," Baltimore's particular pride, +then the First Regiment, then the First Separate Company, coloured +infantry and finally the crack cavalry "Troop A" on their black horses, +led by Captain John C. Cockey, of whom it was said that he could make his +big hunter, Belvedere, climb the side of a house. + +The immense auditorium, gay with flags and national emblems, was packed +to its capacity of 20,000, and I felt a real thrill when, after a prayer +by Cardinal Gibbons, a thousand school girls, four abreast and all in +white, the little ones first, moved slowly up the three aisles to seats +in front, singing "Onward Christian Soldiers," with the Fifth Regiment +band leading them. + +Gathered on the platform were the foremost citizens of Baltimore, the +ablest men in Maryland, including Mayor J. H. Preston, Douglas Thomas, +Frank A. Furst, U. S. Senator John Walter Smith, Hon. J. Charles +Linthicum, ex-Gov. Edwin Warfield, Col. Ral Parr, John W. Frick, John M. +Dennis, Douglas H. Gordon, John E. Hurst, Franklin P. Cator, Capt. I. E. +Emerson, Hon. Wm. Carter Page, Hon. Charles T. Crane, George C. Jenkins, +C. Wilbur Miller, Howell B. Griswold, Jr., George May, Edwin J. Farber, +Maurice H. Grape, Col. Washington Bowie, Jr., and Robert Garrett. + +Announcement was made by General Alexander Brown that fifty thousand +volunteers from Baltimore and the vicinity had already joined the colours +and were in mobilisation camps at Halethrope and Pimlico and at the Glen +Burnie rifle range. Also that the Bessemer Steel Company of Baltimore, +the Maryland Steel Company, the great cotton mills and canneries, were +working night and day, turning out shrapnel, shell casings, uniforms, +belts, bandages and other munitions of war, all to be furnished without a +cent of profit. Furthermore, the banks and trust companies of Baltimore +had raised fifty million dollars for immediate needs of the defence with +more to come. + +"That's the kind of indemnity Baltimore offers to the Germans," cried +General Brown. + +Speeches attacking the plan of campaign and the competency of military +leaders were made by Charles J. Bonaparte, Leigh Bonsal and Henry W. +Williams, but their words availed nothing against the prevailing wild +enthusiasm. + +"Baltimore has never been taken by an enemy," shouted ex-Governor +Goldsborough, "and she will not be taken now. Our army is massed and +entrenched along the south bank of the Susquehanna and, mark my words, +the Germans will never pass that line." + +As these patriotic words rang out the thousand white-clad singers rose +and lifted their voices in "The Star Spangled Banner," dearest of +patriotic hymns in Baltimore because it was a Baltimore man, Francis +Scott Key, who wrote it. + +While the great meeting was still in session, a large German airship +appeared over Baltimore's lower basin and, circling slowly at the height +of half a mile, proceeded to carry out its mission of frightfulness +against the helpless city. More than fifty bombs were dropped that night +with terrific explosions. The noble shaft of the Washington Monument was +shattered. The City Hall was destroyed, also the Custom House, the +Richmond Market, the Walters Art Gallery, one of the buildings of the +Johns Hopkins Hospital, with a score of killed and wounded, and the +cathedral with fifty killed and wounded. + +The whole country was stirred to its depths by this outrage. Angry +orators appeared at every street corner, and volunteers stormed the +enlisting offices. Within twenty-four hours the business men of Baltimore +raised another hundred millions for the city's defence. Baltimore, never +conquered yet, was going to fight harder than ever. + +The great question now was how soon the Germans would begin their drive. +We knew that the Virginia expedition under General von Mackensen had +advanced up the peninsula and had taken Richmond, but every day our +aeroplane scouts reported General von Hindenburg's forces as still +stationary south of Philadelphia. Their strategy seemed to be one of +waiting until the two armies could strike simultaneously against +Washington from the southeast and against Baltimore from the northeast. +On the ninth of October this moment seemed to have arrived, and we +learned that von Hindenburg, with a hundred thousand men, was advancing +towards the Susquehanna in a line that would take him straight to the +Maryland metropolis. A two days' march beyond the river would give the +enemy sight of the towers of Baltimore, and how the city had the +slightest chance of successful resistance was more than I could +understand. + +I come now to the battle of the Susquehanna, which my lucky star allowed +me to witness in spite of positive orders that war correspondents should +not approach the American lines. This happened through the friendship of +Vincent Astor, who once more volunteered his machine and his own services +in the scouting aeroplane corps. I may add that Mr. Astor had offered his +entire fortune, if needed, to equip the nation with the mightiest air +force in the world; and that already four thousand craft of various types +were in process of construction. With some difficulty, Mr. Astor obtained +permission that I accompany him on the express condition that I publish +no word touching military operations until after the battle. + +On the morning of October 10th we made our first flight, rising from the +aerodrome in Druid Hill Park and speeding to the northeast, skirting the +shores of Chesapeake Bay. Within half an hour the broad Susquehanna, with +its wrecked bridges, lay before us and to the left, on the heights of +Port Deposit, we made out the American artillery positions with the main +army encamped below. Along the southern bank of the river we saw +thousands of American soldiers deepening and widening trenches that had +been shallowed out by a score of trench digging machines, huge locomotive +ploughs that lumbered along, leaving yellow ditches behind them. There +were miles of these ditches cutting through farms and woods, past +windmills and red barns and rolling wheat fields, stretching away to the +northwest, parallel to the river. + +"They've done a lot of work here," said I, impressed by the extent of +these operations. + +Astor answered with a smile that puzzled me. "They have done more than +you dream of, more than any one dreams of," he said. + +"You don't imagine these trenches are going to stop the Germans, do you?" + +He nodded slowly. "Perhaps." + +"But we had trenches like these at Trenton and you know what happened," I +objected. + +"I know, but--" again that mysterious smile, "those Trenton trenches were +not exactly like these trenches. Hello! They're signalling to us. They +want to know who we are." + +In reply to orders wig-wagged up to us from headquarters in a white +farmhouse, we flung forth our identification streamers, blue, white and +red arranged in code to form an aerial passport, and received a wave of +approval in reply. + +As we swung to the northwest, moving parallel to the river and about four +miles back of it, I studied with my binoculars the trenches that +stretched along beneath us in straight lines and zigzags as far as the +eye could see. I was familiar with such constructions, having studied +them on various fields; here was the firing trench, here the shelter +trench and there the communicating galleries that joined them, but what +were those groups of men working so busily farther down the line? And +those other groups swarming at many points in the wide area? They were +not digging or bracing side-wall timbers. What were they doing? + +I had the wheel at this moment and, in my curiosity, I turned the machine +to the east, forgetting Mr. Astor's admonition that we were not allowed +to pass the rear line of trenches. + +"Hold on! This is forbidden!" he cried. "We'll get in trouble." + +Before I could act upon his warning, there came a puff of white smoke +from one of the batteries and a moment later a shell, bursting about two +hundred yards in front of us, made its message clear. + +We turned at once and, after some further manoeuvring, sailed back to +Baltimore. + +We dined together that night and I tried to get from Mr. Astor a key to +the mystery that evidently lay behind this situation at the Susquehanna. +At first he was unwilling to speak, but, finally, in view of our +friendship and his confidence in my discretion, he gave me a forecast of +events to come. + +"You mustn't breathe this to a soul," he said, "and, of course, you +mustn't write a word of it, but the fact is, dear boy, the wonderful fact +is we're going to win the battle of the Susquehanna." + +I shook my head. "I'd give all I've got in the world to have that true, +Mr. Astor, but von Hindenburg is marching against us with 150,000 men, +first-class fighting men." + +"I know, and we have only 60,000 men, most of them raw recruits. Just the +same, von Hindenburg hasn't a chance on earth." He paused and added +quickly: "Except one." + +"One?" + +"If the enemy suspected the trap we have set for them, they could avoid +it, but they won't suspect it. It's absolutely new." + +"How about their aeroplane scouts? Won't they see the trap?" + +"They can't see it, at least not enough to understand it. General Wood +turned us back this afternoon as a precaution, but it wasn't necessary. +You might have circled over those trenches for hours and I don't believe +you would have known what's going on there. Besides, the work will be +finished and everything hidden in a couple of days." + +I spurred my imagination, searching for agencies of destruction, and +mentioned hidden mines, powerful electric currents, deadly gases, but +Astor shook his head. + +"It's worse than that, much worse. And it isn't one of those fantastic +things from Mars that H. G. Wells would put in a novel. This will work. +It's a practical, businesslike way of destroying an army." + +"What? An entire army?" + +"Yes. There's an area on this side of the Susquehanna about five miles +square that is ready for the Germans--plenty of room for a hundred +thousand of them--and, believe me, not one man in ten will get out of +that area alive." + +I stared incredulously as my friend went on with increasing positiveness: +"I know what I'm saying. I'll tell you how I know it in a minute. This +thing has never been done before in the whole history of war and it will +never be done again, but it's going to be done now." + +"Why will it never be done again?" + +"Because the conditions will never be right again. Armies will be +suspicious after one has been wiped out, but the first time it's +possible." + +"How can you be sure von Hindenburg's army will cross the Susquehanna at +the exact place where you want it to cross?" + +"They will cross at the clearly indicated place for crossing, won't they? +That's where we have set our trap, five miles wide, on the direct line +between Philadelphia and Baltimore. They can't cross lower down because +the river swells into Chesapeake Bay, and if they cross higher up they +simply go out of their way. Why should they? They're not afraid to meet +Leonard Wood's little army, are they? They'll come straight across the +river and then--good-night." + +This was as near as I could get to an understanding of the mystery. Astor +would tell me no more, although he knew I would die rather than betray +the secret. + +"You might talk in your sleep," he laughed. "I wish I didn't know the +thing myself. It's like going around with a million dollars in your +pocket." Then he added earnestly: "There are a lot of American cranks and +members of Bryan's peace party who wouldn't stand for this if they knew +it." + +"You mean they would tell the Germans?" + +"They would tell everybody. They'd call it barbarous, wicked. Perhaps it +is, but--we're fighting for our lives, aren't we? For our country?" + +"Sure we are," I agreed. + +Later on Mr. Astor told me how he had come into possession of this +extraordinary military knowledge. He was one of the Committee of +Twenty-one. + +The next day we flew out again to the battle front, taking care not to +advance over the proscribed area, and we scanned the northern banks of +the Susquehanna for signs of the enemy, but saw none. On the second day +we had the same experience, but on the third day, towards evening, three +Taubes approached swiftly at a great height and hovered over our lines, +taking observations, and an hour later we made out a body of German +cavalry on the distant hills. + +"An advance guard of Saxons and Westphalians," said I, studying their +flashing helmets. "There will be something doing to-morrow." + +There was. The battle of the Susquehanna began at daybreak, October 14th, +1921, with an artillery duel which grew in violence as the batteries on +either side of the river found the ranges. Aeroplanes skirmished for +positions over the opposing armies and dropped revealing smoke columns as +guides to the gunners. Hour after hour the Germans poured a terrific fire +of shells and shrapnel upon the American trenches and I wondered if they +would not destroy or disarrange our trap, but Astor said they would not. + +Our inadequate artillery replied as vigorously as possible and was +supported by the old U. S. battleship _Montgomery_, manned by the +Baltimore naval brigade under Commander Ralph Robinson, which lay two +miles down the river and dropped twelve-inch shells within the enemy's +lines. Valuable service was also rendered by heavy mobile field artillery +improvised by placing heavy coast defence mortars on strongly reinforced +railroad trucks. None of this, however, prevented the Germans from +forcing through their work of pontoon building, which had been started in +the night. Five lines of pontoons were thrown across the Susquehanna in +two days, and very early on the morning of October 14th, the crossing of +troops began. + +All day from our aeroplane, circling at a height of a mile or rising to +two miles in case of danger, we looked down on fierce fighting in the +trenches and saw the Germans drive steadily forward, sweeping ahead in +close formation, mindless of heavy losses and victorious by reason of +overwhelming numbers. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon they had dislodged the Americans from +their first lines of entrenchment and forced them to retreat in good +order to reserve lines five miles back of the river. Between these front +lines and the reserve lines there was a stretch of rolling farm land +lined and zigzagged with three-foot ditches used for shelter by our +troops as they fell back. + +By six o'clock that evening the German army had occupied this entire area +and by half-past seven, in the glory of a gorgeous crimson sunset, we saw +the invaders capture our last lines of trenches and drive back the +Americans in full retreat, leaving the ground strewn with their own dead +and wounded. + +"Now you'll see something," cried Astor with tightening lips as he +scanned the battlefield. "It may come at any moment. We've got them where +we want them. Thousands and thousands of them! Their whole army!" + +He pointed to the pontoon bridges where the last companies of the German +host were crossing. On the heights beyond, their artillery fire was +slackening; and on our side the American fire had ceased. Night was +falling and the Germans were evidently planning to encamp where they +were. + +"There are a few thousand over there with the artillery who haven't +crossed yet," said I. "The Crown Prince must be there with his generals." + +My friend nodded grimly. "We'll attend to them later. Ah! Now look! It's +coming!" + +I turned and saw a thick wall of grey and black smoke rolling in dense +billows over a section of the rear trenches, and out of this leaped +tongues of blue fire and red fire. And farther down the lines I saw +similar sections of smoke and flame with open spaces between, but these +spaces closed up swiftly until presently the fire wall was continuous +over the whole extent of the rear trenches. + +We could see German soldiers by hundreds rushing back from this peril; +but, as they ran, fires started at dozens of points before them in the +network of ditches and, spreading with incredible rapidity, formed +flaming barriers that shut off the ways of escape. Within a few minutes +the whole area beneath us, miles in length and width, that had been +occupied by the victorious German army, was like a great gridiron of fire +or like a city with streets and avenues and broad diagonals of fire. All +the trenches and ditches suddenly belched forth waves of black smoke with +blue and red flames darting through them, and fiercest of all burned the +fire walls close to the river bank. + +"Good God!" I cried, astounded at this vast conflagration. "What is it +that's burning?" + +"Oil," said Astor. "The whole supply from the Standard Oil pipe lines +diverted here, millions and millions of gallons. It's driven by big pumps +through mains and pipes and reservoirs, buried deep. It's spurting from a +hundred outlets. Nothing can put it out. Look! The river is on fire!" + +I did look, but I will not tell what I saw nor describe the horrors of +the ensuing hour. By nine o'clock it was all over. The last word in +frightfulness had been spoken and the despoilers of Belgium were the +victims. + +I learned later that the pipes which carried these floods of oil carried +also considerable quantities of arseniuretted hydrogen. The blue flames +that Mr. Astor and I noticed came from the fierce burning of this +arseniuretted hydrogen as it hissed from oil vents in the trenches under +the drive of powerful pumps. + +Thousands of those that escaped from the fire area and tried to cross +back on the pontoons were caught and destroyed, a-midstream, by fire +floods that roared down the oil-spread Susquehanna. And about 7,000 that +escaped at the sides were made prisoners. + +It was announced in subsequent estimates and not denied by the Germans +that 113,000 of the invaders lost their lives here. To all intents and +purposes von Hindenburg's army had ceased to exist. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +GENERAL WOOD SCORES ANOTHER BRILLIANT SUCCESS AGAINST THE CROWN PRINCE + +On the evening of October 14, 1921, Field Marshal von Kluck awaited final +news of the battle of the Susquehanna while enjoying an excellent meal +with his staff in the carved and gilded dining-room of the old S. B. +Chittenden mansion on Brooklyn Heights, headquarters of the army of +occupation. All the earlier despatches through the afternoon had been +favourable and, as the company finished their _Kartoffelsuppe_, von Kluck +had risen, amidst _hochs_ of applause, and read a telegram from his +Imperial master, the Crown Prince, who, with Field Marshal von +Hindenburg, was directing the battle from Perryville on the Northern +bank, announcing that the German army had crossed the river and driven +back Leonard Wood's forces for five miles and occupied a vast network of +American trenches. + +The officers lingered over their _preisselbeeren compote_ and +_kaffeekuchen_ and, presently, the commander rose again, holding a +telegram just delivered by a red-faced lieutenant whose cheek was slashed +with scars. + +"Comrades, the great moment has come--I feel it. Our victory at the +Susquehanna means the end of American resistance, the capture of +Baltimore, Washington and the whole Atlantic seaboard. Let us drink to +the Fatherland and our place in the sun." + +Up on their feet came the fire-eating company, with lifted glasses and +the gleam of conquerors in their eyes. + +"_Hoch! Hoch!_" they cried and waited, fiercely joyful, while von Kluck +opened the despatch. His shaggy brows contracted ominously as he scanned +two yellow sheets crowded with closely written German script. + +"_Gott in Himmel!_" he shouted, and threw the telegram on the table. + +The blow had fallen, the incredible truth was there before them. Not only +had the redoubtable von Hindenburg, idol of a nation, hero of countless +Russian victories, suffered crushing defeat, but his proud battalions had +been almost annihilated. In the whole history of warfare there had never +been so complete a disaster to so powerful an army. + +"Burned to death! Our brave soldiers! Was there ever so barbarous a +crime?" raved the Field Marshal. "But the American people will pay for +this, yes, ten times over. We still have two armies on their soil and a +fleet ready to transport from Germany another army of half a million. We +hold their greatest cities, their leading citizens at our mercy, and they +shall have none. Burned in oil! _Mein Gott!_ We will show them." + +"Excellency," questioned the others anxiously, "what of his Imperial +Highness the Crown Prince?" + +"Safe, thank God, and von Hindenburg is safe. They did not cross the +cursed river. They stayed on the Northern bank with the artillery and +three thousand men." + +I learned later that these three thousand of the German rear guard, +together with seven thousand that escaped from the fire zone and were +made prisoners, were all that remained alive of the 120,000 Germans that +had crossed the Susquehanna that fatal morning with flying eagles. + +Orders were immediately given by von Kluck that retaliatory steps be +taken to strike terror into the hearts of the American people, and the +wires throughout New England were kept humming that night with +instructions to the commanding officers of German forces of occupation in +Boston, Hartford, New Haven, Portland, Springfield, Worcester, Newport, +Fall River, Stamford; also in Newark, Jersey City, Trenton and +Philadelphia, calling upon them to issue proclamations that, in +punishment of an act of barbarous massacre committed by General Wood and +the American army, it was hereby ordered that one-half of the hostages +previously taken by the Germans in each of these cities (the same to be +chosen by lot) should be led forth at noon on October 15th and publicly +executed. + +At half-past eleven, October 15th, on the Yale University campus, there +was a scene of excitement beyond words, although dumb in its tragic +expression, when William Howard Taft, who was one of the hostages drawn +for execution, finished his farewell address to the students. + +"I call on you, my dear friends," he cried with an inspired light in his +eyes, "to follow the example of our glorious ancestors, to put aside +selfishness and all base motives and rise to your supreme duty as +American citizens. Defend this dear land! Save this nation! And, if it be +necessary to die, let us die gladly for our country and our children, as +those great patriots who fought under Washington and Lincoln were glad to +die for us." + +With a noble gesture he turned to the guard of waiting German soldiers. +He was ready. + +Deeply moved, but helpless, the great audience of students and professors +waited in a silence of rage and shame. They would fain have hurled +themselves, unarmed, upon the gleaming line of soldiers that walled the +quadrangle, but what would that have availed? + +A Prussian colonel of infantry, with many decorations on his breast, +stepped to the edge of the platform, glanced at his wrist-watch and said +in a high-pitched voice: "Gentlemen of the University, I trust you have +carefully read the proclamation of Field Marshal von Kluck. Be sure that +any disorder during the execution of hostages that is now to take place +will bring swift and terrible punishment upon the city and citizens of +New Haven. Gentlemen, I salute you." + +He turned to the guard of soldiers. "_Gehen!_" + +"_Fertig! Hup!_" cried a stocky little Bavarian sergeant, and the grim +procession started. + +At the four corners of the public green were companies of German soldiers +with machine-guns trained upon dense crowds of citizens who had gathered +for this gruesome ceremony, high-spirited New Englanders whose faith and +courage were now to be crushed out of them, according to von Kluck, by +this stern example. + +Down Chapel Street with muffled drums came the unflinching group of +American patriots, marching between double lines of cavalry and led by a +military band. At Osborn Hall they turned to the right and moved slowly +along College Street to the Battell Chapel, where they turned again and +advanced diagonally across the green, the band playing Beethoven's +funeral march. + +In the centre of the dense throng, at a point between Trinity Church and +the old Centre Church, a firing squad of bearded Westphalians was making +ready for the last swift act of vengeance, when, suddenly, in the +direction of Elm Street near the Graduates' Club, there came a tumult of +shouts and voices with a violent pushing and struggling in the crowd. A +messenger on a motorcycle was trying to force his way to the commanding +officer. + +"Stop! Stop!" he shouted. "I've got a telegram for the general. Let me +through! I _will_ get through!" + +And at last, torn and breathless, the lad did get through and delivered +his message. It was a telegram from Field Marshal von Kluck, which read: + +"Have just received a despatch from General Leonard Wood, stating that +his Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and Field Marshal von Hindenburg, +with their military staffs, have been made prisoners by an American army +north of the Susquehanna, and giving warning that if retaliatory measures +are taken against American citizens, his Imperial Highness will, within +twenty-four hours, be stood up before the statue of his Imperial ancestor +Frederick the Great, in the War College at Washington, and shot to death +by a firing squad from the Pennsylvania National Guard. In consequence of +this I hereby countermand all previous orders for the execution of +American hostages. (Signed) VON KLUCK." + +Like lightning this wonderful news spread through the crowd, and in the +delirious joy that followed there was much disorder which the Germans +scarcely tried to suppress. They were stunned by the catastrophe. The +Crown Prince a prisoner! Von Hindenburg a prisoner! By what miracle of +strategy had General Wood achieved this brilliant coup? + +Here were the facts, as I subsequently learned. So confident of complete +success was the American commander, that by twelve o'clock on the day of +battle he had diverted half of his forces, about 30,000 men, in a rapid +movement to the north, his purpose being to cross the Susquehanna higher +up and envelop the rear guard of the enemy, with their artillery and +commanding generals, in an overwhelming night attack. Hour after hour +through the night of October 14th a flotilla of ferry-boats, cargo-boats, +tugs, lighters, river craft of all sorts, assembled days before, had +ferried the American army across the Susquehanna as George Washington +ferried his army across the Delaware a hundred and fifty years before. + +All night the Americans pressed forward in a forced march, and by +daybreak the Crown Prince and his 3,000 men were caught beyond hope of +rescue, hemmed in between the Susquehanna River and the projecting arms +of Chesapeake Bay. The surprise was complete, the disaster irretrievable, +and at seven o'clock on the morning of October 15th the heir to the +German throne and six of his generals, including Field Marshal von +Hindenburg, surrendered to the Americans the last of their forces with +all their flags and artillery and an immense quantity of supplies and +ammunition. + +By General Wood's orders the mass of German prisoners were moved to +concentration camps at Gettysburg, but the Crown Prince was taken to +Washington, where he and his staff were confined with suitable honours in +the Hotel Bellevue, taken over by the government for this purpose. Here, +during the subsequent fortnight, I had the honour of seeing the +illustrious prisoner on several occasions. It seems that he remembered me +pleasantly from the New England campaign and was glad to call upon my +knowledge of American men and affairs for his own information. + +[Illustration: "YOU KNOW, MARK TWAIN WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF MY FATHER'S," +SAID THE CROWN PRINCE, "I REMEMBER HOW MY FATHER LAUGHED, ONE EVENING AT +THE PALACE IN BERLIN, WHEN MARK TWAIN TOLD US THE STORY OF 'THE JUMPING +FROG.'"] + +As to von Hindenburg's defeat (leaving aside the question of military +ethics which he denounced scathingly) the Crown Prince said this had been +accomplished by a mere accident that could never occur again and that +could not interfere with Germany's ultimate conquest of America. + +"This will be a short-lived triumph," declared His Imperial Highness, +when he received me in his quarters at the Bellevue, "and the American +people will pay dearly for it. The world stands aghast at the horror of +this barbarous act." + +"America is fighting for her existence," said I. + +"Let her fight with the methods of civilised warfare. Germany would scorn +to gain an advantage at the expense of her national honour." + +"If Your Imperial Highness will allow me to speak of Belgium in 1914--" I +began, but he cut me short with an impatient gesture. + +"Our course in Belgium was justified by special reasons--that is the calm +verdict of history." + +I refrained from arguing this point and was patient while the prince +turned the conversation on his favourite theme, the inferiority of a +democratic to an autocratic form of government. + +"I have been studying the lives of your presidents," he said, +"and--really, how can one expect them to get good results with no +training for their work and only a few years in office? Take men like +Johnson, Tyler, Polk, Hayes, Buchanan, Pierce, Filmore, Harrison, +McKinley. Mediocre figures, are they not? What do they stand for?" + +"What does the average king or emperor stand for?" I ventured, whereupon +His Imperial Highness pointed proudly to the line of Hohenzollern rulers, +and I had to admit that these were exceptional men. + +"The big men of America go into commercial and industrial pursuits rather +than into politics," I explained. + +"Exactly," agreed the prince, "and the republic loses their services." + +"No, the republic benefits by the general prosperity which they build +up," I insisted. + +With this the Imperial prisoner discussed the American Committee of +Twenty-one and I was astonished to find what full knowledge he had +touching their individual lives and achievements. He even knew the +details of Asa G. Candler's soda water activities. And he told me several +amusing stories of Edison's boyhood. + +"By the way," he said abruptly, "I suppose you know that Thomas A. Edison +is a prisoner in our hands?" + +"So we concluded," said I. "Also Lemuel A. Widding." + +"Also Lemuel A. Widding," the prince admitted. "You know why we took them +prisoners? It was on account of Widding's invention. He thinks he has +found a way to destroy our fleet and we do not want our fleet destroyed." + +"Naturally not." + +"You had a talk with Edison on the train last week. He knows all the +details of Widding's invention?" + +"Yes." + +"And he believes it will do what the inventor claims? He believes it will +destroy our fleet? Did he tell you that?" + +"He certainly did. He said he wouldn't give five cents for the German +fleet after Widding's plan is put into operation." + +"Ah!" reflected the Crown Prince. + +"Would Your Imperial Highness allow me to ask a question?" I ventured. + +His eyes met mine frankly. "Why, yes--certainly." + +"I have no authority to ask this, but I suppose there might be an +exchange of prisoners. Edison and Widding are important to America +and--". + +"You mean they might be exchanged for me?" his face grew stern. "I would +not hear of it. Those two Americans alone have the secret of this Widding +invention, I am sure of that, and it is better for the Fatherland to get +along without a Crown Prince than without a fleet. No. We shall keep Mr. +Edison and Mr. Widding prisoners." + +He said this with all the dignity of his Hohenzollern ancestry; then he +rose to end the interview. + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +THIRD BATTLE OF BULL RUN WITH AEROPLANES CARRYING LIQUID CHLORINE + +I now come to those memorable weeks of November, 1921, which rank among +the most important in American history. There was first the battle that +had been preparing south of the Potomac between von Mackensen's advancing +battalions and General Wood's valiant little army. This might be called +the third battle of Bull Run, since it was fought near Manassas where +Beauregard and Lee won their famous victories. + +Although General Wood's forces numbered only 60,000 men, more than half +of them militia, and although they were matched against an army of +150,000 Germans, the American commander had two points of advantage, his +ten miles of entrenchments stretching from Remington to Warrenton along +the steep slopes of the Blue Ridge mountains, and his untried but +formidable preparations for dropping liquid chlorine from a fleet of +aeroplanes upon an attacking army. + +In order to reach Washington the Germans must traverse the neck of land +that lies between the mountains and the Potomac's broad arms. Here clouds +of greenish death from heaven might or might not overwhelm them. That was +the question to be settled. It was a new experiment in warfare. + +I should explain that during previous months, thanks to the efficiency of +the Committee of Twenty-one, great quantities of liquid chlorine had been +manufactured at Niagara Falls, where the Niagara Alkali Company, the +National Electrolytic Company, the Oldburg Electro-Chemical Company, the +Castner Electrolytic Alkali Company, the Hooker Electro-Chemical Company +and several others, working night and day and using 60,000 horsepower +from the Niagara power plants and immense quantities of salt from the +salt-beds in Western New York, had been able to produce 30,000 tons of +liquid chlorine. And the Lackawanna Steel Company at Buffalo, in its +immense tube plant, finished in 1920, had turned out half a million thin +steel containers, torpedo-shaped, each holding 150 pounds of the deadly +liquid. This was done under the supervision of a committee of leading +chemists, including: Milton C. Whitaker, Arthur D. Little, Dr. L. H. +Baekeland, Charles F. McKenna, John E. Temple and Dr. Henry Washington. + +And a fleet of military aeroplanes had been made ready at the immense +Wright and Curtiss factories on Grand Island in the Niagara River and at +the Packard, Sturtevant, Thomas and Gallaudet factories, where a force of +20,000 men had been working night and day for weeks under government +supervision. There were a hundred huge tractors with double fuselage and +a wing spread of 200 feet, driven by four 500 horse-power motors. Each +one of these, besides its crew, could carry three tons of chlorine from +Grand Island to Washington (their normal rate of flying was 120 miles an +hour) in three hours against a moderate wind. + +I visited aviation centers where these machines were delivered for tests, +and found the places swarming with armies of men training and inspecting +and testing the aeroplanes. + +Among aviators busy at this work were: Charles F. Willard, J. A. D. +McCurdy, Walter R. Brookins, Frank T. Coffyn, Harry N. Atwood, Oscar +Allen Brindley, Leonard Warren Bonney, Charles C. Witmer, Harold H. +Brown, John D. Cooper, Harold Kantner, Clifford L. Webster, John H. +Worden, Anthony Jannus, Roy Knabenshue, Earl S. Dougherty, J. L. Callan, +T. T. Maroney, R. E. McMillen, Beckwith Havens, DeLloyd Thompson, Sidney +F. Beckwith, George A. Gray, Victor Carlstrom, Chauncey M. Vought, W. C. +Robinson, Charles F. Niles, Frank H. Burnside, Theodore C. Macaulay, Art +Smith, Howard M. Rinehart, Albert Sigmund Heinrich, P. C. Millman, Robert +Fowler. + +In the balloon training camps, I noticed some old-time balloonists, +including: J. C. McCoy, A. Leo Stevens, Frank P. Lahm, Thomas S. Baldwin, +A. Holland Forbes, Charles J. Glidden, Charles Walsh, Carl G. Fisher, Wm. +F. Whitehouse, George B. Harrison, Jay B. Benton, J. Walter Flagg, John +Watts, Roy F. Donaldson, Ralph H. Upson, R. A. D. Preston and Warren +Rasor. + +Five days before the battle the hundred great carriers began delivering +their deadly loads on the heights of Arlington, south of the Potomac, +each aeroplane making three trips from Niagara Falls every twenty-four +hours, which meant that on the morning of November 5, 1921, when the +German legions came within range of Leonard Wood's field artillery, there +were 5,000 tons of liquid chlorine ready to be hurled down from the +aerial fleet. And it was estimated that the carriers would continue to +deliver a thousand tons a day from Grand Island as long as the deadly +stuff was needed. + +The actual work of dropping these chlorine bombs upon the enemy was +entrusted to another fleet of smaller aeroplanes gathered from all parts +of the country, most of them belonging to members of the Aero Club of +America who not only gave their machines but, in many cases, offered +their services as pilots or gunners for the impending air battle. + +"What is the prospect?" I asked Henry Woodhouse, chief organiser of these +aeroplane forces, on the day before the fight. + +He was white and worn after days of overwork, but he spoke hopefully. + +"We have chlorine enough," he said, "but we need more attacking +aeroplanes. We've only about forty squadrons with twelve aeroplanes to a +squadron and most of our pilots have never worked in big air manoeuvres. +It's a great pity. Ah, look there! If they were all like Bolling's +squadron!" + +He pointed toward the heights back of Remington where a dozen bird +machines were sweeping through the sky in graceful evolutions. + +"What Bolling is that?" + +"Raynal C.--the chap that organised the first aviation section of the New +York National Guard. Ah! See those boys turn! That's Boiling at the head +of the 'V,' with James E. Miller, George von Utassy, Fairman Dick, Jerome +Kingsbury, William Boulding, 3rd, and Lorbert Carolin. They've got +Sturtevant steel battle planes--given by Mrs. Bliss--yes, Mrs. William H. +Bliss. She's one of the patron saints of the Aero Club." + +We strolled among the hangars and Mr. Woodhouse presented me to several +aeroplane squadron commanders, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Robert Bacon, +Godfrey Lowell Cabot, Russell A. Alger, Robert Glendinning, George +Brokaw, Clarke Thomson, Cortlandt F. Bishop; also to Rear Admiral Robert +E. Peary, Archer M. Huntington, J. Stuart Blackton, and Albert B. +Lambert, who had just come in from a scouting and map-making flight over +the German lines. These gentlemen agreed that America's chances the next +day would be excellent if we only had more attacking aeroplanes, about +twice as many, so that we could overwhelm the enemy with a rain of +chlorine shells. + +"I believe three hundred more aeroplanes would give us the victory," +declared Alan R. Hawley, ex-president of the Aero Club. + +"Think of it," mourned August Belmont. "We could have had a thousand +aeroplanes so easily--two thousand for the price of one battleship. And +now--to-morrow--three hundred aeroplanes might save this nation." + +Cornelius Vanderbilt nodded gloomily. "The lack of three hundred +aeroplanes may cost us the Atlantic seaboard. These aeroplanes would be +worth a million dollars apiece to us and we can't get 'em." + +"The fifty aeroplanes of the Post Office are mighty useful," observed +Ex-Postmaster-General Frank H. Hitchcock to Postmaster-General Burleson. + +"It isn't the fault of you gentlemen," said Emerson McMillin, "if we did +not have five thousand aeroplanes in use for mail carrying, and coast +guard and life-saving services." + +This remark was appreciated by some of the men in the group, including +Alexander Graham Bell, Admiral Peary, Henry A. Wise Wood, Henry +Woodhouse, Albert B. Lambert, and Byron R. Newton, head of the Coast +Guard and Life Saving Service. For years they had all made supreme but +unavailing efforts to make Congress realize the value of an aeroplane +reserve which could be employed every day for peaceful purposes and would +be available in case of need. + +"Five thousand aeroplanes could have been put in use for carrying mail +and express matter and in the Coast Guard," said Mr. McMillin, "and with +them we could have been in the position of the porcupine, which goes +about its peaceful pursuits, harms no one, but is ever ready to defend +itself. Had we had them in use, this war would probably never have taken +place." + +A little later, as we were supping in a farmhouse, there came a great +shouting outside and, rushing to doors and windows, we witnessed a +miracle, if ever there was one. There, spread across the heavens from +west and south, sweeping toward us, in proud alignment, squadron by +squadron--there was the answer to our prayers, a great body of aeroplanes +waving the stars and stripes in the glory of the setting sun. + +"Who are they? Where do they come from?" we marvelled, and, presently, as +the sky strangers came to earth like weary birds, a great cry arose: +"Santos Dumont! Santos Dumont!" + +It was indeed the great Santos, the famous Brazilian sportsman, and +president of the Aeronautical Federation of the Western Hemisphere, who +had come thus opportunely to cast his fortunes with tortured America and +fight for the maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine. With him came the +Peruvian aviator, Bielovucci, first to fly across the Alps (1914), and +Senor Anassagasti, president of the Aero Club Argentino, and also four +hundred aeroplanes with picked crews from all parts of South America. + +There was great rejoicing that evening at General Wood's headquarters +over this splendid support given to America by her sister republics. + +"It looks now as if we have a chance," said Brigadier General Robert K. +Evans. "The Germans will attack at daybreak and--by the way, what's the +matter with our wireless reports?" He peered out into the night which was +heavily overcast--not a star in sight. He was looking toward the radio +station a mile back on the crest of a hill where the lone pine tree stood +that supported the transmission wires. + +"Looks like rain," decided the general. "Hello! What's that?" + +Plainly through purplish black clouds we caught the shrill buzz of +swift-moving aeroplanes. + +"Good lord!" cried Roy D. Chapin, chief inspector of aircraft. "The +Germans! I know their engine sounds. Searchlights! Quick!" + +Alas! Our searchlights proved useless against the thick haze that had now +spread about us; they only revealed distant dim shapes that shot through +the darkness and were gone. + +"We must go after those fellows," muttered General Evans, and he detailed +William Thaw, Norman Prince and Elliot Cowdin, veterans of many sky +battles in France and Belgium, to go aloft and challenge the intruders. + +This incident kept the camp in an uproar half the night. It turned out +that the strange aeroplanes had indeed been sent out by the Germans, but +for hours we did not discover what their mission was. They dropped no +bombs, they made no effort to attack us, but simply circled around and +around through the impenetrable night, accomplishing nothing, so far as +we could see, except that they were incredibly clever in avoiding the +pursuit of our airmen. + +"They are flying at great speed," calculated A. F. Zahm, the aerodynamic +expert of the Smithsonian Institution, "but I don't see what their +purpose is." + +"I've got it," suddenly exclaimed John Hays Hammond, Jr. "They've sprung +a new trick. Their machines carry powerful radio apparatus and they're +cutting off our wireless." + +"By wave interference?" asked Dr. Zahm. + +"Of course. It's perfectly simple. I've done it at Gloucester." He turned +to General Evans. "Now, sir, you see why we've had no wireless reports +from our captive balloon." + +This mention of the captive balloon brought to mind the peril of Payne +Whitney, who was on lookout duty in the balloon near the German lines, +and who might now be cut off by enemy aircraft, since he could not use +his wireless to call for help. I can only state briefly that this danger +was averted and Whitney's life saved by the courage and prompt action of +Robert J. Collier and Larry Waterbury, who flew through the night to the +rescue of their friend with a supporting air squadron and arrived just in +time to fight off a band of German raiders. + +I deeply regret that I must record these thrilling happenings in such +bald and inadequate words and especially that my pen is quite unequal to +describing that strangest of battles which I witnessed the next day from +the heights back of Remington. Never was there a more thrilling sight +than the advance of this splendid body of American and South American +aeroplanes, flying by squadrons in long V's like flocks of huge birds, +with a terrifying snarling of propellers. To right and left they +manoeuvred, following wireless orders from headquarters that were +executed by the various squadron commanders whose aeroplanes would break +out bunting from time to time for particular signals. + +So overwhelming was the force of American flyers, all armed with machine +guns, that the Germans scarcely disputed the mastery of the air, and +about seventy of their old-fashioned eagle type biplanes were soon +destroyed. Our total losses here were only eleven machines, but these +carried precious lives, some of our bravest and most skilful amateur +airmen, Norman Cabot, Charles Jerome Edwards, Harold F. McCormick, James +A. Blair, Jr., B. B. Lewis, Percy Pyne, 2nd, Eliot Cross, Roy D. Chapin, +Logan A. Vilas and Bartlett Arkell. + +I turned to my friend Hart O. Berg, the European aeroplane expert, and +remarked that we seemed to be winning, but he said little, simply frowned +through his binoculars. + +"Don't you think so?" I persisted. + +"Wait!" he answered. "There's something queer about this. Why should the +Germans have such an inferior aircraft force? Where are all their +wonderful Fokker machines?" + +"You mean--" + +"I mean that this battle isn't over yet. Ah! Look! We're getting our work +in with that chlorine." + +It was indeed true. With the control of the skies assured us, our fleet +of liquid gas carriers had now gone into action and at many points we saw +the heavy poison clouds spreading over the enemy hosts like a yellow +green sea. The battle of chlorine had begun. The war of chemistry was +raining down out of the skies. It is certain that nothing like this had +ever been seen before. There had been chlorine fighting in the trenches +out of squirt gun apparatus--plenty of that in 1915, with a few score +killed or injured, but here it came down by tons over a whole army, this +devilish stuff one breath of which deep into the lungs smote a man down +as if dead. + +The havoc thus wrought in the German ranks was terrific; especially as +General Wood took advantage of the enemy's distress to sweep their lines +with fierce artillery fire from his batteries on the heights. + +"We've got them going," said I. + +Berg shook his head. + +"Not yet." + +If General Wood had been able to hurl his army forward in a desperate +charge at this moment of German demoralisation it is possible we might +have gained a victory, but the risks were too heavy. The American forces +were greatly outnumbered and to send them into those chlorine-swept areas +was to bring the enemy's fate upon them. Wood must hold his men upon the +heights until our artillery and poison gas attack had practically won the +day. Then a final charge might clinch matters--that was the plan, but it +worked out differently, for, after their first demoralisation, the enemy +learned to avoid the descending danger by running from it. They could +avoid the slowly spreading chlorine clouds by seeking higher ground and, +presently, they regained a great measure of their confidence and courage +and swept forward in furious fresh attacks. + +Even so the Americans fought for hours with every advantage and our +artillery did frightful execution. At three o'clock I sent off a cable +to the _Times_ that General Wood's prospects were excellent, but at +half-past four our supply of liquid chlorine was exhausted and news came +from Niagara Falls that a German spy on Grand Island had blown up the +great chlorine supply tank containing 20,000 tons. And the Niagara +power-plants had been wrecked by dynamite. + +Still the Americans fought on gallantly, desperately, knowing that +everything was at stake, and our aeroplanes, with their batteries of +machine guns, gave effective assistance. Superiority in numbers, however, +soon made itself felt and at five o'clock the Germans, relieved from the +chlorine menace, advanced their heavy artillery and began a terrific +bombardment of our trenches. + +"Hello!" exclaimed Berg suddenly. "What's that coming?" + +He pointed to the northeast, where we made out a group of swiftly +approaching aeroplanes, flying in irregular order. We watched them alight +safely near General Wood's headquarters, all but one marked "Women of +1915," which was hit by an anti-aircraft gun, as it came to earth, and +settled down with a broken wing and some injuries to the pilot, Miss +Ethel Barrymore, and the observer, Mrs. Charles S. Whitman, wife of +Senator Whitman. + +This was but one demonstration of the heroism of our women. Thousands had +volunteered their services as soon as the war broke out and many, finding +that public sentiment was against having women in the ranks, learned to +fly and to operate radio apparatus and were admitted in these branches of +the service. Among the women who volunteered were hundreds of members of +the Women's Section of the Movement for National Preparedness, including +members of the Council of Women, Daughters of American Revolution, Ladies +of the G. A. R. (National and Empire State), United Daughters of the +Confederacy, Association Opposed to Woman's Suffrage, Civic Federation +Woman's Department, Society United States Daughters of 1812, Woman's +Rivers and Harbors Congress, Congress of Mothers, Daughters of +Cincinnati, Daughters of the Union, Daughters of the Revolution, and +National Special Aid Society. + +These organisations of American women not only supplied a number of +skilled aeroplane pilots, but they were of material help in strengthening +the fighting forces, as well as in general relief work. + +As the shadows of night approached we were startled by the sudden sweep +across the sky of a broad yellow searchlight beam, lifted and lowered +repeatedly, while a shower of Roman candles added vehemence to the +signal. + +"Something has happened. They've brought important news," cried my +friend, whereupon we hurried to headquarters and identified most of the +machines as separate units in Rear Admiral Peary's aero-radio system of +coast defence, while two of them, piloted by Ralph Pulitzer (wounded) and +W. K. Vanderbilt, belonged to Emerson McMillin's reefing-wings scouting +squadron. + +We listened eagerly to the reports of pilots and gunners from these +machines, Marion McMillin, W. Redmond Cross, Harry Payne Whitney +(wounded), William Ziegler, Jr., Alexander Blair Thaw, W. Averill +Harriman, Edwin Gould, Jr. (wounded), and learned that a powerful fleet +of enemy aircraft, at least 500, had been sighted over Chesapeake Bay and +were flying swiftly to the support of the Germans. These aeroplanes had +started from a base near Atlantic City and would arrive within half an +hour. + +A council of war was held immediately and, acting on the advice of +aeroplane experts, General Wood ordered the withdrawal of our land and +air forces. It would be madness to attempt further resistance. Our army +was hopelessly outnumbered, our chlorine supply was gone, our air fleet, +after flying all day, was running short of gasoline and its weary pilots +were in no condition to withstand the attack of a fresh German fleet. At +all costs we must save our aeroplanes, for without them the little +remnant of our army would be blind. + +This was the beginning of the end. We had done our best and failed. At +six o'clock orders were given that the whole American army prepare +for a night retreat into the remote fastnesses of the Blue Ridge +Mountains. We had made our last stand east of the Alleghenies and fell +back heavy-hearted, leaving the invaders in full possession of our +Atlantic seaboard. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +THE AWAKENING OF AMERICA + +There followed dark days for America. Washington was taken by the enemy, +but not until our important prisoners, the Crown Prince and von +Hindenburg, had been hurried to Chicago. Baltimore was taken. Everything +from Maine to Florida and all the Gulf ports were taken. + +Add to this a widespread spirit of disorder and disunion, strikes and +rioting in many cities, dynamite outrages, violent addresses of +demagogues and labour leaders, pleas for peace at any price by misguided +fanatics who were ready to reap the whirlwind they had sown. These were +days when men of brain and courage, patriots of the nation with the +spirit of '76 in them, almost despaired of the future. + +Through all this storm and darkness, amid dissension and violence, one +man stood firm for the right, one wise big-souled man, the President of +the United States. In a clamour of tongues he heard the still small voice +within and laboured prodigiously to build up unity and save the nation. +Like Lincoln, he was loved and honoured even by his enemies. + +It was my privilege to hear the great speech which the President of the +United States delivered in Chicago, November 29, 1921, a date which +Theodore Roosevelt has called the most memorable in American history. The +immense auditorium on the lake front, where once were the Michigan +Central tracks, was packed to suffocation. It is estimated that 40,000 +men and women, representing every state and organisation in the Union, +heard this impassioned appeal for the nation, that will live in American +history along with Lincoln's Gettysburg address. + +The President spoke first and did not remain to hear the other orators, +as he was leaving for Milwaukee, where he hoped to relieve a dangerous, +almost a revolutionary situation. He had been urged not to set foot in +this breeding place of sedition, but he replied that the citizens of +Milwaukee were his fellow countrymen, his brothers. They were dear to +him. They needed him. And he would not fail them. + +In spite of this stirring cry from the heart, the audience seemed but +mildly affected and allowed the President to depart with only perfunctory +applause. There was no sign of success for his plea that the nation rouse +itself from its lethargy and send its sons unselfishly in voluntary +enlistment to drive the enemy from our shores. And there were resentful +murmurs when the President warned his hearers that compulsory military +service might be inevitable. + +"Why shall the poor give their lives to save the rich?" answered Charles +Edward Russell, speaking for the socialists. "What have the rich ever +done for the poor except to exploit them and oppress them? Why should the +proletariat worry about the frontiers between nations? It's only a +question which tyrant has his heel on our necks. No! The labouring men of +America ask you to settle for them and for their children the frontiers +between poverty and riches. That's what they're ready to fight for, a +fair division of the products of toil, and, by God, they're going to have +it!" + +One feature of the evening was a stirring address by the beautiful +Countess of Warwick, prominent in the feminist movement, who had come +over from England to speak for the Women's World Peace Federation. + +"Women of America," said the Countess, "I appeal to you to save this +nation from further horrors of bloodshed. Rise up in the might of your +love and your womanhood and end this wholesale murder. Remember the great +war in Europe! What did it accomplish? Nothing except to fill millions of +graves with brave sons and beloved husbands. Nothing except to darken +millions of homes with sorrow. Nothing except to spread ruin and +desolation everywhere. Are you going to allow this ghastly business to be +repeated here? + +"Women of America, I bring you greetings from the women of England, the +women of France, the women of Germany, who have joined this great +pacifist movement and whose voices sounding by millions can no longer be +stifled. Let the men hear and heed our cry. We say to them: 'Stop! Our +rights on this earth equal yours. We gave you birth, we fed you at the +breast, we guarded your tender years, and we notify you now that you +shall no longer kill and maim our husbands, our sons, our fathers, our +brothers, our lovers. It is in the power of women to drive war's hell +from the earth and, whatever the cost, we are going to do it.'" + +"No! No!" came a tumult of cries from all parts of the hall. + +"We believe in fighting to the last for our national existence," +cried Mrs. John A. Logan, waving her hand, whereupon hundreds of +women patriots, Daughters of the American Revolution, suffrage and +anti-suffrage leaders, members of the Navy League, Red Cross workers, +sprang to their feet and screamed their enthusiasm for righteous war. + +Among these I recognised Mrs. John A. Logan, Miss Mabel Boardman, Mrs. +Lindon Bates, Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood, Mrs. Seymour L. Cromwell, Miss Alice +Hill Chittenden, Mrs. Oliver Herford, Mrs. Hobart Chatfield-Taylor, Mrs. +John Temple Graves, Mrs. Edwin Gould, Mrs. George Dewey, Mrs. William +Cumming Story, Mrs. George Harvey, Mrs. Thomas A. Edison, Mrs. William C. +Potter, Miss Marie Van Vorst, Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge, Mrs. George J. Gould, +Mrs. T. J. Oakley Rhinelander, Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, Mrs. John Jacob +Astor, Mrs. Peter Cooper Hewitt, Mrs. M. Orme Wilson, Mrs. Simon Baruch, +Mrs. Oliver Herford, Mrs. Wm. Reynolds Brown, and Mrs. Douglas Robinson. + +When this storm had subsided, Henry Ford rose to renew the pacifist +attack. + +"It shocks and grieves me," he began, "to find American women openly +advocating the killing of human beings." + +"Where would your business be," yelled a voice in the gallery, "if George +Washington hadn't fought the War of the Revolution?" + +This sally called forth such frantic cheers that Mr. Ford was unable to +make himself heard and sat down in confusion. + +Other speakers were Jane Addams, Hudson Maxim, Bernard Ridder and William +Jennings Bryan. The audience sat listless as the old arguments and +recriminations, the old facts and fallacies, were laid before them. Like +the nation, they seemed plunged in a stupor of indifference. They were +asleep. + +Then suddenly fell the bomb from heaven. It was during the mild applause +following Mr. Bryan's pacifist appeal, that I had a premonition of some +momentous happening. I was in the press gallery quite near to Theodore +Roosevelt, the next speaker, who was seated at the end of the platform, +busy with his notes, when a messenger came out from behind the stage and +handed the Colonel a telegram. As he read it I saw a startling change. +Roosevelt put aside his notes and a strange tense look came into his eyes +and, presently, when he rose to speak, I saw that his usually ruddy face +was ashen grey. + +As Roosevelt rose, another messenger thrust a wet, ink-stained newspaper +into his hand. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, and in his first words there was a +sense of impending danger, "for reasons of the utmost importance I shall +not deliver the speech that I have prepared. I have a brief message, a +very grave message, that will reach your hearts more surely than any +words of mine. The deliberations of this great gathering have been taken +out of our hands. We have nothing more to discuss, for Almighty God has +spoken! + +"My friends, the great man who was with us but now, the President of the +United States, has been assassinated." + +No words can describe the scene that followed. A moment of smiting +silence, then madness, hysteria, women fainting, men clamouring and +cursing, and finally a vast upsurging of quickened souls, as the organ +pealed forth: "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," and forty thousand Americans +rose and sang their hearts out. + +Then, in a silence of death, Roosevelt spoke again: + +"Listen to the last words of the President of the United States: '_The +Union! The Flag!_' That is what he lived for and died for, that is what +he loved. '_The Union! The Flag!_' + +"My friends, they say patriotism is dead in this land. They say we are +eaten up with love of money, tainted with a yellow streak that makes us +afraid to fight. It's a lie! I am ready to give every dollar I have in +the world to help save this nation and it's the same with you men. Am I +right?" + +A roar of shouts and hysterical yells shook the building. + +"I am sixty years old, but I'll fight in the trenches with my four sons +beside me and you men will do the same. Am I right?" + +Again came a roar that could be heard across Chicago. + +"We all make mistakes. I do nothing but make mistakes, but I'm sorry. +I have said hard things about public men, especially about +German-Americans, but I'm sorry." + +With a noble gesture he turned to Bernard Ridder, who sprang to meet him, +his eyes blazing with loyalty. + +"There are no German-Americans!" shouted Ridder. "We're all Americans! +Americans!" + +He clasped Roosevelt's hand while the audience shouted its delight. + +Quick on his feet came Charles Edward Russell, fired with the same +resistless patriotism. + +"There are no more socialists!" he cried. "No more proletariat! We're all +Americans! We'll all fight for the Union and the old flag! _You too!_" + +He turned to William Jennings Bryan, who rose slowly and with +outstretched hands faced his adversaries. + +"I, too, have made mistakes and I am sorry. I, too, feel the grandeur of +those noble words spoken by that great patriot who has sent us his last +message. I, too, will stand by the flag in this time of peril and will +spare neither my life nor my fortune so long as the invader's foot rests +on the soil of free America." + +"Americans!" shouted Roosevelt, the sweat streaming from his face. +"Look!" He caught Bryan by one arm and Russell by the other. "See how we +stand together. All the rest is forgotten. Americans! Brothers! On your +feet everybody! Yell it out to the whole land, to the whole world, +America is awake! Thank God, America is awake!" + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +ON CHRISTMAS EVE BOSTON THEILLS THE NATION WITH AN ACT OF MAGNIFICENT +HEROISM + +Now all over America came a marvellous spiritual awakening. The sacrifice +of the President's noble life, and his wife's thrilling effort to shield +her husband, was not in vain. Once more the world knew the resistless +power of a martyr's death. Women and men alike were stirred to warlike +zeal and a joy in national sacrifice and service. The enlistment officers +were swamped with a crush of young and old, eager to join the colours; +and within three days following the President's assassination a million +soldiers were added to the army of defence and a million more were turned +away. It was no longer a question how to raise a great American army, but +how to train and equip it, and how to provide it with officers. + +Most admirable was the behaviour of the great body of German-Americans; +in fact it was a German-American branch of the American Defence Society, +financed in America, that started the beautiful custom, which became +universal, of wearing patriotic buttons bearing the sacred words: _"The +Union! The Flag!"_ + +"It was one thing," wrote Bernard Ridder in the Chicago _Staats-Zeitung_, +"for German-Americans to side with Germany in the great European war +(1914-1919) when only our sympathies were involved. It is quite a +different thing for us now in a war that involves our homes and our +property, all that we have in the world. When Germany attacks America, +she attacks German-Americans, she attacks us in our material interests, +in our fondest associations; and we will resist her just as in 1776 the +American colonists, who were really English, resisted England, the mother +country, when she attacked them in the same way." + +I was impressed by the truth of this statement during a visit that I +made to Milwaukee, where I found greatly improved conditions. In fact, +German-Americans themselves were bringing to light the activities of +German spies and vigorously opposing German propaganda. + +In Allentown, Pennsylvania, which has a large German population, I heard +of a German-American mother named Roth, who was so zealous in her loyalty +to the United States that she rose at five o'clock on the day following +the President's assassination and enlisted her three sons before they +were out of bed. + +In Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland and other cities women +volunteered by thousands as postmen, street-car conductors, elevator +operators and for service in factories and business houses, so as to +release the men for military service. Chicago newspapers printed pictures +of Mrs. Harold F. McCormick, Mrs. J. Ogden Armour, Mrs. J. Clarence +Webster and other prominent society women in blue caps and improvised +uniforms, ringing up fares on the Wabash Avenue cars for the sake of the +example they would set to others. + +In San Francisco, Denver, Portland, Oregon, Omaha, and Salt Lake City a +hundred thousand women, at gatherings of women's clubs and organisations, +formally joined the Women's National War Economy League and pledged +themselves as follows: + +"We, the undersigned American women, in this time of national need and +peril, do hereby promise: + +"(1) To buy no jewelry or useless ornaments for one year and to +contribute the amount thus saved (from an average estimated allowance) to +the Women's National War Fund. + +"(2) To buy only two hats a year, the value of said hats not to exceed +ten dollars, and to contribute the amount thus saved (from an average +estimated allowance) to the Women's National War Fund. + +"(3) To buy only two dresses a year, the value of said dresses not to +exceed sixty dollars, and to contribute the amount thus saved (from an +average estimated allowance) to the Women's National War Fund. + +"(4) To forego all entertaining at restaurants, all formal dinner and +luncheon parties and to contribute the amount thus saved (from an average +estimated allowance) to the Women's National War Fund. + +"(5) To abstain from cocktails, highballs and all expensive wines, also +from cigarettes, to influence husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and men +friends to do the same, and to contribute the amount thus saved to the +Women's National War Fund. + +"(6) To keep this pledge until the invader has been driven from the soil +of free America." + +I may mention that Mrs. Harriot Stanton Blatch, in urging her sister +women at various mass meetings to sign this pledge, made the impressive +estimate that, by practising these economies during a two years' war, a +hundred thousand well-to-do American women might save a _thousand million +dollars_. + +Other American women, under the leadership of Mrs. Mary Logan Tucker, +daughter of General John A. Logan, prepared themselves for active field +service at women's military camps, in several states, where they were +instructed in bandage making, first-aid service, signalling and the use +of small arms. + +As weeks passed the national spirit grew stronger, stimulated by rousing +speeches of Roosevelt, Russell and Bryan and fanned into full flame by +Boston's immortal achievement on December 24, 1921. On that day, by +authorisation of General von Beseler, commanding the German force of +occupation, a great crowd had gathered on Boston Common for a Christmas +tree celebration with a distribution of food and toys for the poor of the +city. In the Public Gardens near the statue of George Washington, Billy +Sunday was making an address when suddenly, on the stroke of five, the +bell in the old Park Street church and then the bells in all the churches +of Boston began to toll. + +It was a signal for an uprising of the people and was answered in a way +that will fill a proud page of American history so long as human courage +and love of liberty are honoured upon earth. In an instant every +telephone wire in the city went dead, leaving the Germans cut off from +communication among themselves. All traffic and business ceased as if by +magic, all customary activities were put aside and, with the first +clangour of the bells, the whole population poured into the streets and +surged towards Boston Common by converging avenues, singing as they went. + +Already a hundred thousand citizens were packed within this great +enclosure, and guarding them were three thousand German, foot soldiers +and a thousand horsemen in formidable groups, with rifles and machine +guns ready--before the State House, before the Soldiers' Monument, along +Tremont Street and Boylston Street and at other strategic points. Never +in the history of the world had an unarmed, untrained mob prevailed over +such a body of disciplined troops. The very thought was madness. And +yet-- + +Hark! That roar of voices in the Public Gardens! What is it? A band +playing in the distance? Who ordered a band to play? German officers +shout harsh commands. "Back!" "Stand back!" "Stop this pushing of the +crowd!" "_Mein Gott!_ Those women and children will be trampled by the +horses!" + +Alas, that is true! Once more the cause of American liberty requires that +Boston Common be hallowed by American blood. The people of this New +England city are tired of German rule. They want their city for +themselves and are going to take it. Guns or not, soldiers or not, they +are going to take their city. + +Listen! They are coming! Six hundred thousand strong in dense masses that +choke every thoroughfare from wall to wall the citizens of Boston, women +and children with the men, are coming! And singing! + + "Hurrah! Hurrah! We sound the jubilee! + Hurrah! Hurrah! The flag that set us free." + +They are practically unarmed, although some of the men carry shot-guns, +pistols, rifles, clubs, stones; but they know these will avail little +against murderous machine guns. They know they must find strength in +their weakness and overwhelm the enemy by the sheer weight of their +bodies. They must stun the invaders by their willingness to die. That is +the only real power of this Boston host, their sublime willingness to +die. + +It is estimated that five thousand of them did die, and ten thousand were +wounded, in the first half hour after the German machine guns opened +fire. And still the Americans came on in a shouting, surging multitude, a +solid sea of bodies with endless rivers of bodies pouring in behind them. +It is not so easy to kill forty acres of human bodies, even with machine +guns! + +Endlessly the Americans came on, hundreds falling, thousands replacing +them, until presently the Germans ceased firing, either in horror at this +incredible sacrifice of life or because their ammunition was exhausted. +What chance was there for German ammunition carts to force their way +through that struggling human wall? What chance for the fifteen hundred +German reserves in Franklin Park to bring relief to their comrades? + +At eight o'clock that night Boston began her real Christmas eve +celebration. Over the land, over the world the joyful tidings were +flashed. Boston had heard the call of the martyred President and answered +it. The capital of Massachusetts was free. The Stars and Stripes were +once more waving over the Bunker Hill Monument. Four thousand German +soldiers were prisoners in Mechanics Hall on Commonwealth Avenue. _The +citizens of Boston had taken them prisoners with their bare hands!_ + +This news made an enormous sensation not only in America but throughout +Europe, where Boston's heroism and scorn of death aroused unmeasured +admiration and led military experts in France and England to make new +prophecies regarding the outcome of the German-American war. + +"All things are possible," declared a writer in the Paris _Temps_, "for a +nation fired with a supreme spiritual zeal like that of the Japanese +Samurai. It is simply a question how widely this sacred fire has spread +among the American people." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + +CONFESSIONS OF AN AMERICAN SPY AND BRAVERY OF BUFFALO SCHOOLBOYS + +On December 26th I received a cable from the London _Times_ instructing +me to try for another interview with the Crown Prince and to question him +on the effect that this Boston victory might have upon the German +campaign in America. Would there be retaliatory measures? Would German +warships bombard Boston from the sea? + +I journeyed at once to Chicago and made my appeal to Brigadier General +George T. Langhorne, who had been military attache at Berlin in 1915 and +was now in charge of the Imperial prisoner. The Crown Prince and his +staff occupied the seventh floor of the Hotel Blackstone. + +"I'm sorry," said General Langhorne, after he had presented my request. +"The Crown Prince has no statement to make at present. But there is +another German prisoner who wishes to speak to you. I suppose it's all +right as you have General Wood's permission. He says he has met you +before--Colonel von Dusenberg." + +"Colonel von Dusenberg?" + +"He is on the Crown Prince's staff. In here." I opened a heavy door and +found myself in a large dimly lighted room. + +"Mr. Langston!" + +The voice was familiar and, turning, I stared in amazement; for there, +dressed as an officer of the Prussian guard, stood the man I had rescued +in the Caribbean Sea, the brother of the girl I had seen in Washington, +Lieutenant Randolph Ryerson of the United States navy. He had let his +moustache grow, but I recognised him at once. + +"You?" I stood looking at him and saw that his face was deathly white. + +"Yes. I--I'm in trouble and--I have things to tell you," he stammered. +"Sit down." + +I sat down and lighted a cigarette. I kept thinking how much he looked +like his sister. + +"Ryerson, what the devil are you doing in that Prussian uniform?" + +He turned away miserably, then he forced himself to face me. + +"I'll get the worst over first. I don't care what happens to me +and--anyway I--I'm a spy." + +"A spy?" + +He nodded. "In the service of the Germans. It was through me they knew +about Widding's invention to destroy their fleet. It was through me that +Edison and Widding were abducted. I meant to disappear--that's why I +joined von Hindenburg's army, but--we were captured and--here I am." +He looked at me helplessly as I blew out a cloud of smoke. + +"How is this possible? How did it happen? How, Ryerson?" I gasped in +amazement. + +He shook his head. "What's the use? It was money and--there's a woman in +it." + +"Go on." + +"That's all. I fell for one of their damnable schemes to get information. +It was three years ago on the Mediterranean cruise of our Atlantic +squadron. I met this woman in Marseilles." + +"Well?" + +"She called herself the Countess de Matignon, and--I was a young +lieutenant and--I couldn't resist her. Nobody could. She wanted money and +I gave her all I had; then I gambled to get more. She wanted information +about the American fleet, about our guns and coast defences; unimportant +things at first, but pretty soon they were important and--I was crazy +about her and--swamped with debts and--I yielded. Within six months she +owned me. I was a German spy, mighty well paid, too. God!" + +I stared at him in dismay. I could not speak. + +"Well, after the war broke out between Germany and America last April, +this woman came to New York and got her clutches on me deeper than ever. +I gave her some naval secrets, and six weeks ago I told her all I knew +about Widding's invention. You see what kind of a dog I am," he concluded +bitterly. + +"Ryerson, why have you told me this?" I asked searchingly. + +"Why?" He flashed a straightforward look out of his handsome eyes. +"Because I'm sick of the whole rotten game. I've played my cards and +lost. I'm sure to be found out--some navy man will recognise me, in spite +of this moustache, and--you know what will happen then. I'll be glad of +it, but--before I quit the game I want to do one decent thing. I'm going +to tell you where they've taken Edison." + +"You know where Edison is?" + +"Yes. Don't speak so loud." + +Ryerson leaned closer and whispered: "He's in Richmond, Virginia." + +Silently I studied this unhappy man, wondering if he was telling the +truth. He must have felt my doubts. + +"Langston, you don't believe me! Why should I lie to you? I tell you I +want to make amends. These German officers trust me. I know their plans +and--Oh, my God, aren't you going to believe me?" + +"Go on," I said, impressed by the genuineness of his despair. "What plans +do you know?" + +"I know the Germans are disturbed by this patriotic spirit in America. +They're afraid of it. They don't know where hell may break loose +next--after Boston. They're going to leave Boston alone, everything alone +for the present--until they get their new army." + +"New army?" + +"Yes--from Germany. They have sent for half a million more men. They'll +have 'em here in a month and--that's why I want to do something--before +it's too late." + +As I watched him I began to believe in his sincerity. Handsome fellow! I +can see him now with his flushed cheeks and pleading eyes. A spy! It +would break his sister's heart. + +"What can you do?" I asked sceptically. + +He looked about him cautiously and lowered his voice. + +"I can get Edison away from the Germans, and Edison can destroy their +fleet." + +"Perhaps," said I. + +"He says he can." + +"I know, but--you say Edison is in Richmond." + +"We can rescue him. If you'll only help me, Langston, we can rescue +Edison. I'll go to Richmond with papers to the commanding German general +that will get me anything." + +"Papers as a German spy?" + +"Well--yes." + +"You can't get to Richmond. You're a prisoner yourself." + +"That's where you're going to help me. You must do it--for the +country--for my sister." + +[Illustration: AND ON THE MORNING OF JULY 4, TWO OF VON KLUCK'S STAFF +OFFICERS, ACCOMPANIED BY A MILITARY ESCORT, MARCHED DOWN STATE STREET TO +ARRANGE FOR THE PAYMENT OF AN INDEMNITY FROM THE CITY OF BOSTON OF THREE +HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.] + +"Does your sister know--what you are?" + +He looked away, and I saw his lips tighten and his hands clench. + +"No!" + +"Do you want me to tell her?" + +He thought a moment. + +"What's the use of hiding it? She's bound to know some day, and--she'll +be glad I've had this little flicker of--decency. Besides, she may have +an idea. Mary's got a good head on her. Poor kid!" + +I told Ryerson that I would think the matter over and find some way to +communicate with him later. Then I left him. + +I telegraphed at once to Miss Ryerson, who hurried to Chicago, arriving +the next morning, and we spent most of that day together, discussing the +hard problem before us. The girl was wonderfully brave when I told her +the truth about her brother. She said there were circumstances in his +early life that lessened the heinousness of his wrong doing. And she +rejoiced that he was going to make amends. She knew he was absolutely +sincere. + +I suggested that we go to General Wood, who was friendly to both of us, +and tell him the whole truth, but Miss Ryerson would not hear to this. +She would not place Randolph's life in jeopardy by revealing the fact +that he had been a German spy. Her brother must make good before he could +hope to be trusted or forgiven. + +"But he's a prisoner; he can do nothing unless he has his liberty," I +objected. + +"We will get him his liberty; we _must_ get it, but not that way." + +"Then how?" + +For a long time we studied this question in all its phases. How could +Lieutenant Ryerson gain his liberty? How could he get a chance to make +amends for his treachery? And, finally, seeing no other way, we fell back +upon the desperate expedient of an exchange. I would obtain permission +for Miss Ryerson to visit her brother, and they would change clothes, she +remaining as a prisoner in his place while he went forth to undo if +possible the harm that he had done. + +The details of this plan we arranged immediately. I saw Ryerson the next +day, and when I told him what his sister was resolved to do in the hope +of saving his honour, he cried like a child and I felt more than ever +convinced of his honest repentance. + +We decided upon December 28th for the attempt, and two days before this +Randolph found a plausible excuse for cutting off his moustache. He told +General Langhorne that he had become a convert to the American fashion of +a clean shaven face. + +As to the escape itself, I need only say that on December 28th, in the +late afternoon, I escorted Miss Ryerson, carefully veiled, to the Hotel +Blackstone; and an hour later I left the hotel with a person in women's +garments, also carefully veiled. And that night Randolph Ryerson and I +started for Richmond. I may add that I should never have found the +courage to leave that lovely girl in such perilous surroundings had she +not literally commanded me to go. + +"We may be saving the nation," she begged. "Go! Go! And--I'll be thinking +of you--praying for you--for you both." + +My heart leaped before the wonder of her eyes as she looked at me and +repeated these last words: _"For you both!"_ + +We left the express at Pittsburg, intending to proceed by automobile +across Pennsylvania, then by night through the mountains of West Virginia +and Virginia; for, of course, we had to use the utmost caution to avoid +the sentries of both armies which were spread over this region. + +In Pittsburg we lunched at the Hotel Duquesne, after which Ryerson left +me for a few hours, saying that he wished to look over the ground and +also to procure the services of a high-powered touring car. + +"Don't take any chances," I said anxiously. + +"I'll be careful. I'll be back inside of two hours," he promised. + +But two hours, four hours, six hours passed and he did not come. I dined +alone, sick at heart, wondering if I had made a ghastly mistake. + +It was nearly ten o'clock that night when Ryerson came back after seven +hours' absence. We went to our room immediately, and he told me what had +happened, the gist of it being that he had discovered important news that +might change our plans. + +"These people trust me absolutely," he said. "They tell me everything." + +"You mean--German spies?" + +"Yes. Pittsburg is full of 'em. They're plotting to wreck the big steel +plants and factories here that are making war munitions. I'll know more +about that later, but the immediate thing is Niagara Falls." + +Then Ryerson gave me my first hint of a brilliant coup that had been +preparing for months by the Committee of Twenty-one and the American high +command, its purpose being to strike a deadly and spectacular blow at the +German fleet. + +"This is the closest kind of a secret, it's the great American hope; but +the Germans know all about it," he declared. + +"Go on." + +"It's a big air-ship, the America, a super-Zeppelin, six hundred feet +long, with apparatus for steering small submarines by radio control--no +men aboard. Understand?" + +"You mean no men aboard the submarine?" + +"Of course. There will be a whole crew on the air-ship. Nicola Tesla and +John Hays Hammond, Jr., worked out the idea, and Edison was to give the +last touches; but as Edison is a German prisoner, they can't wait for +him. They are going to try the thing on New Year's night against the +German dreadnought _Wilhelm II_ in Boston Harbour." + +"Blow up the _Wilhelm II_?" + +"Yes, but the Germans are warned in advance. You can't beat their +underground information bureau. They're going to strike first." + +"Where is this air-ship?" + +"On Grand Island, in the Niagara River, all inflated, ready to sail, but +she never will sail unless we get busy. After tomorrow night there won't +be any _America_." + +In the face of this critical situation, I saw that we must postpone our +trip to Richmond and, having obtained from Ryerson full details of the +German plot to destroy the _America_, I took the first train for Niagara +Falls--after arranging with my friend to rejoin him in Pittsburg a few +days later--and was able to give warning to Colonel Charles D. Kilbourne +of Fort Niagara in time to avert this catastrophe. + +The Germans knew that Grand Island was guarded by United States troops +and that the river surrounding it was patrolled by sentry launches; but +the island was large, sixteen miles long and seven miles wide, and under +cover of darkness it was a simple matter for swimmers to pass unobserved +from shore to shore. + +On the night of December 30th, 1921, in spite of the cold, five hundred +German spies had volunteered to risk their lives in this adventure. They +were to swim silently from the American and Canadian shores, each man +pushing before him a powerful fire bomb protected in a water-proof case; +then, having reached the island, these five hundred were to advance +stealthily upon the hangar where the great air-ship, fully inflated, was +straining at her moorings. When the rush came, at a pre-arranged signal, +many would be killed by American soldiers surrounding the building, but +some would get through and accomplish their mission. One successful fire +bomb would do the work. + +Against this danger Colonel Kilbourne provided in a simple way. Instead +of sending more troops to guard the island, which might have aroused +German suspicions, he arranged to have two hundred boys, members of the +Athletic League of the Buffalo Public Schools, go to Grand Island +apparently for skating and coasting parties. It was brisk vacation +weather and no one thought it strange that the little ferry boat from +Buffalo carried bands of lively youngsters across the river for these +seasonable pleasures. It was not observed that the boat also carried +rifles and ammunition which the boys had learned to use, in months of +drill and strenuous target practice, with the skill of regulars. + +There followed busy hours on Grand Island as we made ready for the +crisis. About midnight, five hundred Germans, true to their vow, landed +at various points, and crept forward through the darkness, carrying their +bombs. As they reached a circle a thousand yards from the huge hangar +shed they passed unwittingly two hundred youthful riflemen who had dug +themselves in under snow and branches and were waiting, thrilling for the +word that would show what American boys can do for their country. Two +hundred American boys on the thousand yard circle! A hundred American +soldiers with rifles and machine guns at the hangar! And the Germans +between! + +We had learned from Ryerson that the enemy would make their rush at two +o'clock in the morning, the signal being a siren shriek from the Canadian +shore, so at a quarter before two, knowing that the Germans were surely +in the trap, Colonel Kilbourne gave the word, and, suddenly, a dozen +search-lights swept the darkness with pitiless glare. American rifles +spoke from behind log shelters, Maxims rattled their deadly blast, and +the Germans, caught between two fires, fled in confusion, dropping their +bombs. As they approached the thousand-yard line they found new enemies +blocking their way, keen-eyed youths whose bullets went true to the mark. +And the end of it was, leaving aside dead and wounded, that _two hundred +Buffalo schoolboys made prisoners of the three hundred and fifty German +veterans!_ + +And the great seven-million dollar air-ship _America_, with all her radio +mysteries, was left unharmed, ready to sail forth the next night, New +Year's Eve, and make her attack upon the superdreadnought Wilhelm II, on +January 1, 1922. I prayed that this would be a happier year for the +United States than 1921 had been. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + +NOVEL ATTACK OF AMERICAN AIRSHIP UPON GERMAN SUPER-DREADNOUGHT + +I come now to the period of my great adventures beginning on New Year's +Day, 1922, when I sailed from Buffalo aboard the airship _America_ on her +expedition against the German fleet. For the first time in my modest +career I found myself a figure of nation-wide interest, not through any +particular merit or bravery of my own, but by reason of a series of +fortunate accidents. I may say that I became a hero in spite of myself. + +In recognition of the service I had rendered in helping to save the great +airship from German spies, I had been granted permission, at General +Wood's recommendation, to sail as a passenger aboard this dreadnought of +the skies and to personally witness her novel attack with torpedoes +lowered from the airship and steered from the height of a mile or two by +radio control. Never before had a newspaper correspondent received such a +privilege and I was greatly elated, not realising what extraordinary +perils I was to face in this discharge of my duty. + +I was furthermore privileged to be present at a meeting of the Committee +of Twenty-one held on the morning of January 1st, 1922, at the Hotel +Lenox in Buffalo. Various details of our airship expedition were +discussed and there was revealed to me an important change in the +_America's_ strategy which I will come to presently. + +Surveying the general military situation, John Wanamaker read reports +showing extraordinary progress in military preparedness all over the +country, especially in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the +women, recently victorious in their suffrage fight, were able to make +their patriotic zeal felt in aggressive legislation. Strange to say, +American wives and mothers were the leaders in urging compulsory physical +and military training, a year of it, on the Swiss plan, for all American +young men of twenty and a month of it every five years afterwards for all +men up to fifty. + +The Committee were in the midst of a discussion of Charles M. Schwab's +plan providing that American soldiers carry armour, a helmet, breastplate +and abdominal covering of light but highly tempered steel, when there +came a dramatic interruption. A guard at the door of the Council Room +entered to say that Mr. Henry A. Wise Wood, President of the Aero Club of +America, was outside with an urgent communication for the Committee. Mr. +Wise Wood was at once received and informed us that he had journeyed from +Pittsburg bearing news that might have an important bearing upon the +airship expedition. + +"As you know, gentlemen," he said, "we have a wireless station in the +tower of our new Aero Club building in Pittsburg. Yesterday afternoon at +three o'clock the operator received a message addressed to me. It was +very faint, almost a whisper through the air, but he filially got it down +and he is positive it is correct. This message, gentlemen, is from Thomas +A. Edison." + +"Edison!" exclaimed Andrew Carnegie, "but he is a prisoner of the +Germans." + +"Undoubtedly," agreed Mr. Wise Wood, "but it has occurred to me that the +Germans may have allowed Mr. Edison to fit up a laboratory for his +experiments. They would treat such a man with every consideration." + +"They would not allow him to communicate with his friends," objected +Cornelius Vanderbilt. + +"He may not have asked permission," laughed George W. Perkins. "He may +have rigged up some secret contrivance for sending wireless messages." + +"Why don't you read what he says?" put in J.P. Morgan. + +Mr. Wise Wood drew a folded yellow paper from his pocket and continued: +"This message is unquestionably from Mr. Edison, in spite of the fact +that it is signed _Thaled_. You will agree with me, gentlemen, that +Thaled is a code word formed by putting together the first two letters of +the three names, Thomas Alva Edison." + +"Very clever!" nodded Asa G. Candler. + +"I don't see that," frowned John D. Rockefeller. "If Mr. Edison wished to +send Mr. Wise Wood a message why should he use a misleading signature?" + +"It's perfectly clear," explained James J. Hill. "Mr. Edison has +disguised his signature sufficiently to throw off the track any German +wireless operator who might catch the message, while leaving it +understandable to us." + +"Read the message," repeated J.P. Morgan. Whereupon Mr. Wise Wood opened +the yellow sheet and read: + +"Strongly disapprove attack against German fleet by airship _America_. +Satisfied method radio control not sufficiently perfected and effort +doomed to failure. Have worked out sure and simple way to destroy fleet. +Details shortly or deliver personally. THALED". + +This message provoked fresh discussion and there were some, including +Elihu Root, who thought that Mr. Edison had never sent this message. It +was a shrewd trick of the Germans to prevent the _America_ from sailing. +If Mr. Edison could tell us so much why did he not tell us more? Why did +he not say where he was a prisoner? And explain on what he rested his +hopes of communicating with us in person. + +"Gentlemen," concluded Mr. Root, "we know that Germany is actually +embarking a new army of half a million men to continue her invasion of +America. Already she holds our Atlantic seaboard, our proudest cities, +and within a fortnight she will strike again. I say we must strike first. +We have a chance in Boston Harbour and we must take it. This single coup +may decide the war by showing the invader that at last we are ready. +Gentlemen, I move that the airship _America_ sail to-night for Boston +Harbour, as arranged." + +I longed to step forward to tell what I knew about Edison, how he was a +prisoner in Richmond, Virginia, and how an effort was actually on foot to +rescue him, but I had promised Miss Ryerson not to betray her brother's +shame and was forced to hold my tongue. Besides, I could not be sure +whether this wireless message did or did not come from Edison. + +The Committee finally decided that the _America_ should sail that +evening, but should change her point of attack so as to take the enemy +unprepared, if possible; in other words, we were to strike not at the +German warships in Boston Harbour, but at the great super-dreadnought +_Bismarck_, flagship of the hostile fleet, which was lying in the upper +bay off New York City. + +I pass over the incidents of our flight to Manhattan and come to the +historic aerial struggle over New York harbour in which I nearly lost my +life. The _America_ was convoyed by a fleet of a hundred swift and +powerful battle aeroplanes and we felt sure that these would be more than +able to cope with any aeroplane force that the Germans could send against +us. And to avoid danger from anti-aircraft guns we made a wide detour to +the south, crossing New Jersey on about the line of Asbury Park and then +sailing to the north above the open sea, so that we approached New York +harbour from the Atlantic side. At this time (it was a little after +midnight) we were sailing at a height of two miles with our aeroplanes +ten miles behind us so that their roaring propellers might not betray us +and, for a time, as we drifted silently off Rockaway Beach it seemed that +we would be successful in our purpose to strike without warning. + +There, just outside the Narrows, lay the _Bismarck_, blazing with the +lights of some New Year's festivity and resounding with music. I remember +a shrinking of unprofessional regret at the thought of suddenly +destroying so fair and happy a thing. + +I was presently drawn from these meditations by quick movements of the +airship crew and a shrill voice of command. + +"Ready to lower! Let her go!" shouted Captain Nicola Tesla, who had +volunteered for this service. + +"Bzzz!" sang the deck winches as they swiftly unrolled twin lengths of +piano wire that supported a pendant torpedo with its radio appliances and +its red, white and green control lights shining far below us in the void. + +"Easy! Throw on your winch brakes," ordered Tesla, studying his dials for +depth. + +A strong southeast wind set the wires twisting dangerously, but, by +skillful manoeuvring, we launched the first torpedo safely from the +height of half a mile and, with a thrill of joy, I followed her lights +(masked from the enemy) as they moved swiftly over the bay straight +towards the flagship. The torpedo was running under perfect wireless +control. Tesla smiled at his keyboard. + +Alas! Our joy was soon changed to disappointment. Our first torpedo +missed the Bismarck by a few yards, went astern of her because at the +last moment she got her engines going and moved ahead. Somehow the +Germans had received warning of their danger. + +Our second torpedo wandered vainly over the ocean because we could not +follow her guide lights, the enemy blinding us with the concentrated +glare of about twenty of their million-candle power searchlights. + +And our third torpedo was cut off from radio control because we suddenly +found ourselves surrounded y the two fleets of battling aeroplanes, +caught between two fires, ours and the enemy's, and were obliged to run +for our lives with an electric generator shattered by shrapnel. I was so +busy caring for two of our crew who were wounded that I had no time to +observe this thrilling battle in the air. + +It was over quickly, I remember, and our American aeroplanes, vastly +superior to the opposing fleet, had gained a decisive victory, so that we +were just beginning to breathe freely when an extraordinary thing +happened, a rare act of heroism, though I say it for the Germans. + +There came a signal, the dropping of a fire bomb with many colours, and +instantly the remnant of the enemy's air strength, four biplanes and a +little yellow-striped monoplane, started at us, in a last desperate +effort, with all the speed of their engines. Our aerial fleet saw the +manouver and swept towards the biplanes, intercepting them, one by one, +and tearing them to pieces with sweeping volleys of our machine guns, but +the little monoplane, swifter than the rest, dodged and circled and +finally found an opening towards the airship and came through it at two +miles a minute, straight for us and for death, throwing fire bombs and +yelling for the Kaiser. + +"Save yourselves!" shouted Tesla as the enemy craft ripped into our great +yellow gas bag. + +Bombs were exploding all about us and in an instant the _America_ was in +flames. We knew that our effort had failed. + +As the stricken airship, burning fiercely, sank rapidly through the +night, I realised that I must fight for my life in the ice cold waters of +the bay. I hate cold water and, being but an indifferent swimmer, I +hesitated whether to throw off my coat and shoes, and, having finally +decided, I had only time to rid myself of one shoe and my coat when I saw +the surging swells directly beneath me and leapt overside just in time to +escape the crash of blazing wreckage. + +Dazed by the blow of a heavy spar and the shock of immersion, I remember +nothing more until I found myself on dry land, hours later, with kind +friends ministering to me. It seems that a party of motor boat rescuers +from Brooklyn worked over me for hours before I returned to consciousness +and I lay for days afterward in a state of languid-weakness, indifferent +to everything. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + +DESPERATE EFFORT TO RESCUE THOMAS A. EDISON FROM THE GERMANS + +I wish I might detail my experiences during the next fortnight, how I was +guarded from the Germans (they had put a price on my head) by kind +friends in Brooklyn, notably Mrs. Anne P. L. Field, the Sing-Sing angel, +who contrived my escape through the German lines of occupation with the +help of a swift motor boat and two of her convict proteges. + +We landed in Newark one dark night after taking desperate chances on the +bay and running a gauntlet of German sentries who fired at us repeatedly. +Then, thanks to my old friend, Francis J. Swayze of the United States +Supreme Court, I was passed along across northern New Jersey, through +Dover, where "Pop" Losee, the eloquent ice man evangelist, saved me from +Prussians guarding the Picatinny arsenal, then through Allentown, Pa., +where Editor Roth swore to a suspicious German colonel that I was one of +his reporters, and, finally, by way of Harrisburg to Pittsburg, where at +last I was safe. + +To my delight I found Randolph Ryerson anxiously awaiting my arrival and +eager to proceed with our plan to rescue Edison. We set forth for +Richmond the next day, January 16th, 1922, in a racing automobile and +proceeded with the utmost caution, crossing the mountains of West +Virginia and Virginia by night to avoid the sentries of both armies. +Twice, being challenged, we drove on unheeding at furious speed and +escaped in the darkness, although shots were fired after us. + +As morning broke on January 20th we had our first view of the +seven-hilled city on the James, with its green islands and its tumbling +muddy waters. We knew that Richmond was held by the Germans, and as we +approached their lines I realised the difficulty of my position, for I +was now obliged to trust Ryerson absolutely and let him make use of his +credentials from the Crown Prince which presented him as an American spy +in the German service. He introduced me as his friend and a person to be +absolutely trusted, which practically made me out a spy also. It was +evident that, unless we succeeded in our mission, I had compromised +myself gravely. Ryerson was reassuring, however, and declared that +everything would be all right. + +We took a fine suite at the Hotel Jefferson, where we found German +officers in brilliant uniforms strolling about the great rotunda or +refreshing themselves with pipes and beer in the palm room nearthe white +marble statue of Thomas Jefferson. + +"If you'll excuse me now for a few hours," said Ryerson, who seemed +rather nervous, "I will get the information we need from some of these +fellows. Let us meet here at dinner." + +During the afternoon I drove about this peaceful old city with its +gardens and charming homes and was allowed to approach the threatening +siege guns which the Germans had set up on the broad esplanade of +Monument Avenue between the equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee and the +tall white shaft that bears the heroic figure of Jefferson Davis. These +guns were trained upon the gothic tower of the city hall and upon the +cherished grey pile of the Capitol, with its massive columns and its +shaded park where grey squirrels play about the famous statue of George +Washington. + +My driver told me thrilling stories of the fighting here when Field +Marshal von Mackensen marched his army into Richmond. Alas for this proud +Southern city! What could she hope to do against 150,000 German +soldiers? For the sake of her women and children she decided to do +nothing officially, but the Richmond "Blues" had their own ideas and a +crowd of Irish patriots from Murphy's Hotel had theirs, and when the +German army, with bands playing and eagles flying, came tramping down +Broad Street, they were halted presently by four companies of eighty men +each in blue uniforms and white plumed hats drawn up in front of the +statues of Stonewall Jackson and Henry Clay ready to die here on this +pleasant autumn morning rather than have this most sacred spot in the +South desecrated by an invader. And die here they did or fell wounded, +the whole body of Richmond "Blues," under Colonel W. J. Kemp, while their +band played "Dixie" and the old Confederate flags waved over them. + +As for the Irishmen, it seems that they marched in a wild and cursing mob +to the churchyard of old St. John's where Patrick Henry hurled his famous +defiance at the British and in the same spirit--"Give me liberty or give +me death"--they fought until they could fight no longer. + +As we drove through East Franklin Street I was startled to see a German +flag flying over the honoured home of Robert E. Lee and a German sentry +on guard before the door. I was told that prominent citizens of Richmond +were held here as hostages, among these being Governor Richard Evelyn +Byrd, John K. Branch, Oliver J. Sands, William H. White, Bishop R. A. +Gibson, Bishop O'Connell, Samuel Cohen and Mayor Jacob Umlauf who, in +spite of his German descent, had proved himself a loyal American. + +I finished the afternoon at a Red Cross bazaar held in the large +auditorium on Gary Street under the patronage of Mrs. Norman B. Randolph, +Mrs. B. B. Valentine, Miss Jane Rutherford and other prominent Richmond +ladies. I made several purchases, including a cane made from a plank of +Libby prison and a stone paper weight from Edgar Allan Poe's boyhood home +on Fifth Street. + +Leaving the bazaar, I turned aimlessly into a quiet shaded avenue and was +wondering what progress Ryerson might be making with his investigations, +when I suddenly saw the man himself on the other side of the way, talking +earnestly with a young woman of striking beauty and of foreign +appearance. She might have been a Russian or an Austrian. + +There was something in this unexpected meeting that filled me with a +vague alarm. Who was this woman? Why was Ryerson spending time with her +that was needed for our urgent business? I felt indignant at this lack of +seriousness on his part and, unobserved, I followed the couple as they +climbed a hill leading to a little park overlooking the river, where they +seated themselves on a bench and continued their conversation. + +Presently I passed so close to them that Ryerson could not fail to see me +and, pausing at a short distance, I looked back at him. He immediately +excused himself to his fair companion and joined me. He was evidently +annoyed. + +"Wait here," he whispered. "I'll be back." + +With that he rejoined the lady and immediately escorted her down the +hill. It was fully an hour before he returned and I saw he had regained +his composure. + +"I suppose you are wondering who that lady was?" he began lightly. + +"Well, yes, just a little. Is she the woman you told me about--the +countess?" + +"No, no! But she's a very remarkable person," he explained. "She is known +in every capital of Europe. They say the German government pays her fifty +thousand dollars a year." + +"She's quite a beauty," said I. + +He looked at me sharply. "I suppose she is, but that's not the point. +She's at the head of the German secret service work in America. She knows +all about Edison." + +"Oh!" + +"She has told me where he is. That's why we came up here. Do you see that +building?" + +I followed his gesture across the valley and on a hill opposite saw a +massive brick structure with many small windows, and around it a high +white painted wall. + +"Well?" + +"That's the state penitentiary. Edison is there in the cell that was once +occupied by Aaron Burr--you remember--when he was tried for treason?" + +All this was said in so straightforward a manner that I felt ashamed of +my doubts and congratulated my friend warmly on his zeal and success. + +"Just the same, you didn't like it when you saw me with that woman--did +you?" he laughed. + +I acknowledged my uneasiness and, as we walked back to the hotel, spoke +earnestly with Ryerson about the grave responsibility that rested upon +us, upon me equally with him. I begged him to justify his sister's faith +and love and to rise now with all his might to this supreme duty and +opportunity. + +He seemed moved by my words and assured me that he would do the right +thing, but when I pressed him to outline our immediate course of action, +he became evasive and irritable and declared that he was tired and needed +a night's rest before going into these details. + +As I left him at the door of his bedroom I noticed a bulky and strongly +corded package on the table and asked what it was, whereupon, in a flash +of anger, he burst into a tirade of reproach, saying that I did not trust +him and was prying into his personal affairs, all of which increased my +suspicions. + +"I must insist on knowing what is in that package," I said quietly. "You +needn't tell me now, because you're not yourself, but in the morning we +will take up this whole affair. Goodnight." + +"Goodnight," he answered sullenly. + +Here was a bad situation, and for hours I did not sleep, asking myself if +I had made a ghastly mistake in trusting Ryerson. Was his sister's +sacrifice to be in vain? Was the man a traitor still, in spite of +everything? + +Towards three o'clock I fell into fear-haunted dreams, but was presently +awakened by a quick knocking at my door and, opening, I came face to face +with my companion, who stood there fully dressed. + +"For God's sake let me come in." He looked about the room nervously. +"Have you anything to drink?" + +I produced a flask of Scotch whiskey and he filled half a glass and +gulped it down. Then he drew a massive iron key from his pocket and threw +it on the bed. + +"Whatever happens, keep that. Don't let me have it." + +I picked up the key and looked at it curiously. It was about four inches +long and very heavy. + +"Why don't you want me to let you have it?" + +"Because it unlocks a door that would lead me to--hell," he cried +fiercely. Then he reached for the flask. + +"No, no! You've had enough," I said, and drew the bottle out of his +reach. "Randolph, you know I'm your friend, don't you? Look at me! Now +what's the matter? What door are you talking about?" + +"The door to a wing of the prison where Edison is." + +"You said he was in Aaron Burr's cell." + +"He's been moved to another part of the building. That woman arranged +it." + +"Why?" + +He looked at me in a silence of shame, then he forced himself to speak. + +"So I could carry out my orders" + +"Orders? Not--not German orders?" + +He nodded stolidly. + +"I'm under her orders--it's the same thing. I can't help it. I can't +stand against her." + +"Then she _is_ the countess?" + +He bowed his head slowly. + +"Yes. I meant to play fair. I would have played fair, but--the +Germans put this woman on our trail when we left Chicago--they +mistrusted something and--" with a gesture of despair, "she found me +in Pittsburg--she--she's got me. I don't care for anything in the world +but that woman." + +"Randolph!" + +"It's true. I don't want to live--without her. You needn't cock up your +eyes like that. I'd go back to her now--yes, by God, I'd do this thing +now, if I could." + +He had worked himself into a frenzy of rage and pain, and I sat still +until he grew calm again. + +"What thing? What is it she wants you to do?" + +"Get rid of you to begin with," he snapped out. "It's easy enough. We go +to the prison--this key lets us in. I leave you in the cell with Edison +and--you saw that package in my room? It's a bomb. I explode it under the +cell and--there you are!" + +"You promised to do this?" + +"Yes! I'm to get five thousand dollars." + +"But you didn't do it, you stopped in time," I said soothingly. "You've +told me the truth now and--we'll see what we can do about it." + +He scowled at me. + +"You're crazy. We can't do anything about it. The Germans are in control +of Richmond. They're watching this hotel." + +Ryerson glanced at his watch. + +"Half-past three. I have four hours to live." + +"What!" + +"They'll come for me at seven o'clock when they find I haven't carried +out my orders, and I'll be taken to the prison yard and--shot or--hanged. +It's the best thing that can happen to me, but--I'm sorry for you." + +"See here, Ryerson," I broke in. "If you're such a rotten coward and liar +and sneak as you say you are, what are you doing here? Why didn't you go +ahead with your bomb business?" + +He sat rocking back and forth on the side of the bed, with his head bent +forward, his eyes closed and his lips moving in a sort of thick mumbling. + +"I've tried to, but--it's my sister. God! She won't leave me alone. She +said she'd be praying for me and--all night I've seen her face. I've seen +her when we were kids together, playing around in the old home--with +Mother there and--oh, Christ!" + +I pass over a desperate hour that followed. Ryerson tried to kill himself +and, when I took the weapon from him, he begged me to put an end to his +sufferings. Never until now had I realised how hard is the way of the +transgressor. + +I have often wondered how this terrible night would have ended had not +Providence suddenly intervened. The city hall clock had just tolled five +when there came a volley of shots from the direction of Monument Avenue. + +"What's that?" cried my poor friend, his haggard face lighting. + +We rushed to the window, where the pink and purple lights of dawn were +spreading over the spires and gardens of the sleeping city. + +The shots grew in volume and presently we heard the dull boom of a siege +gun, then another and another. + +"It's a battle! They're bombarding the city. Look!" He pointed towards +Capitol Square. "They've struck the tower of the city hall. And over +there! The gas works!" He swept his arm towards an angry red glow that +showed where another shell had found its target. + +I shall not attempt to describe the burning of Richmond (for the third +time in its history) on this fateful day, January 20th, 1922, nor to +detail the horrors that attended the destruction of the enemy's force of +occupation. Historians are agreed that the Germans must be held blameless +for firing on the city, since they naturally supposed this daybreak +attack upon their own lines to be an effort of the American army and +retaliated, as best they could, with their heavy guns. + +It was days before the whole truth was known, although I cabled the +London _Times_ that night, explaining that the American army had nothing +to do with this attack, which was the work of an unorganised and +irresponsible band of ten or twelve thousand mountaineers gathered from +the wilds of Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky and Tennessee. +They were moon-shiners, feudists, hilly-billies, small farmers and +basket-makers, men of lean and saturnine appearance, some of them horse +thieves, pirates of the forest who cared little for the laws of God or +man and fought as naturally as they breathed. + +These men came without flags, without officers, without uniforms. They +crawled on their bellies and carried logs as shields. They knew and cared +nothing for military tactics and their strategy was that of the wild +Indian. They fought to kill and they took no prisoners. It seems that a +Virginia mountain girl had been wronged by a German officer and that was +enough. + +For weeks the mountaineers had been advancing stealthily through the +wilderness, pushing on by night, hiding in the hills and forests by day; +and they had come the last fifty miles on foot, leaving their horses back +in the hills. They were armed with Winchester rifles, with old-time +squirrel rifles, with muzzle loaders having long octagonal barrels and +fired by cups. Some carried shot guns and cartridges stuffed with +buckshot and some poured in buckshot by the handful. They had no +artillery and they needed none. + +The skill in marksmanship of these men is beyond belief, there is nothing +like it in the world. With a rifle they will shoot off a turkey's head at +a hundred yards (this is a common amusement) and as boys, when they go +after squirrels, they are taught to hit the animals' noses only so as not +to spoil the skins. It was such natural fighters as these that George +Washington led against the French and the Indians, when he saved the +wreck of Braddock's army. + +The Germans were beaten before they began to fight. They were surrounded +on two sides before they had the least idea that an enemy was near. Their +sentries were shot down before they could give the alarm and the first +warning of danger to the sleeping Teutons was the furious rush of ten +thousand wild men who came on and came on and came on, never asking +quarter and never giving it. + +When the Germans tried to charge, the mountaineers threw themselves flat +on the ground and fought with the craft of Indians, dodging from tree to +tree, from rock to rock, but always advancing. When the Germans sent up +two of their scouting aeroplanes to report the number of the enemy's +forces, the enemy picked off the German pilots before the machines were +over the tree tops. Here was a mixture of native savagery and efficiency, +plus the lynching spirit, plus the pre-revolutionary American spirit and +against which, with unequal numbers and complete surprise, no +mathematically trained European force had the slightest chance. + +The attack began at five o'clock and at eight everything was over; the +Germans had been driven into the slough of Chickahominy swamp to the +northeast of Richmond (where McClellan lost an army) and slaughtered here +to the last man; whereupon the mountaineers, having done what they came +to do, started back to their mountains. + +Meantime Richmond was burning, and my poor friend Ryerson and I were +facing new dangers. + +"Come on!" he cried with new hope in his eyes. "We've got a chance, half +a chance." + +Our one thought now was to reach the prison before it was too late, and +we ran as fast as we could through streets that were filled with +terrified and scantily clad citizens who were as ignorant as we were of +what was really happening. A German guard at the prison gates recognised +Ryerson, and we passed inside just as a shell struck one of the tobacco +factories along the river below us with a violent explosion. A moment +later another shell struck the railway station and set fire to it. + +Screams of terror arose from all parts of the prison, many of the inmates +being negroes, and in the general confusion, we were able to reach the +unused wing where Edison was confined. + +"Give me that big key--quick," whispered Ryerson. "Wait here." + +I obeyed and a few minutes later he beckoned to me excitedly from a +passageway that led into a central court yard, and I saw a white-faced +figure bundled in a long coat hurrying after him. It was Thomas A. +Edison. + +Just then there came a rush of footsteps behind us with German shouts and +curses. + +"They're after us," panted Randolph. "I've got two guns and I'll hold 'em +while you two make a break for it. Take this key. It opens a red door at +the end of this passage after you turn to the right. Run and--tell my +sister I--made good--at the last." + +I clasped his hand with a hurried "God bless you" and darted ahead. It +was our only chance and, even as we turned the corner of the passage, +Ryerson began to fire at our pursuers. I heard afterwards that he wounded +five and killed two of them. I don't know whether that was the count, but +I know he held them until we made our escape out into the blazing city. +And I know he gave his life there with a fierce joy, realising that the +end of it, at least, was brave and useful. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + +RIOTS IN CHICAGO AND GERMAN PLOT TO RESCUE THE CROWN PRINCE + +The first weeks of January, 1922, brought increasing difficulties and +perplexities for the German forces of occupation in America. With +comparative ease the enemy had conquered our Atlantic seaboard, but now +they faced the harder problem of holding it against a large and +intelligent and totally unreconciled population. What was to be done with +ten million people who, having been deprived of their arms, their cities +and their liberties, had kept their hatred? + +The Germans had suffered heavy losses. The disaster to von Hindenburg's +army in the battle of the Susquehanna had cost them over a hundred +thousand men. The revolt of Boston, the massacre of Richmond, had +weakened the Teuton prestige and had set American patriotism boiling, +seething, from Maine to Texas, from Long Island to the Golden Gate. There +were rumours of strange plots and counter-plots, also of a new great army +of invasion that was about to set sail from Kiel. Evidently the Germans +must have more men if they were to ride safely on this furious American +avalanche that they had set in motion, if they were to tame the fiery +American volcano that was smouldering beneath them. + +In this connection I must speak of the famous woman's plot that resulted +in the death of several hundred German officers and soldiers and that +would have caused the death of thousands but for unforeseen developments. +This plot was originated by women leaders of the militant suffrage party +in New York and Pennsylvania (the faction led by Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont +not approving) and soon grew to nation-wide importance with an enrolled +body of twenty thousand militant young women, each one of whom was +pledged to accomplish the destruction of one of the enemy on a certain +Saturday night between the hours of sunset and sunrise. + +By a miracle these women kept their vow of secrecy until the fatal +evening, but at eight o'clock the plot was revealed to Germans in +Philadelphia through the confession of a young Quakeress who, after +playing her part for weeks, had fallen genuinely in love with a Prussian +lieutenant and simply could not bring herself to kill him when the time +came. + +I come now to a sensational happening that I witnessed in Chicago, to +which city I had journeyed after the Richmond affair for very personal +reasons. If this were a romance and not a plain recital of facts I should +dwell upon my meeting with Mary Ryerson and our mutual joy in each +finding that the other had escaped unharmed from the perils of our recent +adventures. + +Miss Ryerson, it appeared, after the discovery of her daring disguise had +been released on parole by order of General Langthorne, who believed her +story that she had taken this desperate chance as the only means of +saving Thomas A. Edison. Mary had heard the story of her brother's heroic +death and to still her grief, had thrown herself into work for the Red +Cross fund under Miss Boardman and Mrs. C.C. Rumsey. She had hit upon a +charming way of raising money by having little girls dressed in white +with American flags for sashes, lead white lambs through the streets, the +lambs bearing Red Cross contribution boxes on their backs. By this means +thousands of dollars had been secured. + +On the evening following my arrival in Chicago, I had arranged to take +Miss Ryerson to a great recruiting rally in the huge lake-front +auditorium building, but when I called at her boarding-house on Wabash +Avenue, I found her much disturbed over a strange warning that she had +just received. + +"Something terrible is going to happen tonight," she said. "There will be +riots all over Chicago." + +I asked how she knew this and she explained that a deaf and dumb man +named Stephen, who took care of the furnace, a man in whose rather +pathetic case she had interested herself, had told her. It seems he also +took care of the furnace in a neighbouring house which was occupied by a +queer German club, really a gathering place of German spies. + +"He overheard things there and told me," she said seriously, whereupon I +burst out laughing. + +"What? A deaf and dumb man?" + +"You know what I mean. He reads the lips and I know the sign language." + +The main point was that this furnace man had begged Miss Ryerson not to +leave her boardinghouse until he returned. He had gone back to the German +club, where he hoped to get definite information of an impending +catastrophe. + +"It's some big coup they are planning for tonight," she said. "We must +wait here." + +So we waited and presently, along Wabash Avenue, with crashing bands and +a roar of angry voices, came an anti-militarist socialist parade with +floats and banners presenting fire-brand sentiments that called forth +jeers and hisses from crowds along the sidewalks or again enthusiastic +cheers from other crowds of contrary mind. + +"You see, there's going to be trouble," trembled the girl, clutching my +arm. "Read that!" + +A huge float was rolling past bearing this pledge in great red letters: + +"I refuse to kill your father. I refuse to slay your mother's son. I +refuse to plunge a bayonet into the breast of your sweetheart's brother. +I refuse to assassinate you and then hide my stained fists in the folds +of any flag. I refuse to be flattered into hell's nightmare by a class of +well-fed snobs, crooks and cowards who despise our class socially, rob +our class economically and betray our class politically." + +At this the hostile crowds roared their approval and disapproval. Also at +another float that paraded these words: + +"What is war? For working-class wives--heartache. For working-class +mothers--loneliness. For working-class children--orphanage. For +peace--defeat. For death--a harvest. For nations--debts. For +bankers--bonds, interest. For preachers on both sides--ferocious prayers +for victory. For big manufacturers--business profits. For 'Thou Shalt +Not Kill'--boisterous laughter. For Christ--contempt." + +I saw that my companion was deeply moved. + +"It's all true, what they say, isn't it?" she murmured. + +"Yes, it's true, but--we can't change the world, we can't give up our +country, our independence. Hello!" + +A white-faced man had rushed into the parlour, gesticulating violently +and making distressing guttural sounds. It was Stephen. + +Uncomprehending, I watched his swift signs. + +"What is it? What is he trying to say?" + +"Wait!" + +Her hands flew in eager questions and the man answered her. + +"Oh!" she cried. "The riots are a blind to draw away the police and the +troops. They're marching against the Blackstone Hotel now--a thousand +German spies--with rifles." + +The Blackstone Hotel! I realised in a moment what that meant. The German +Crown Prince was still a prisoner at the Blackstone, in charge of General +Langhorne. It was a serious handicap to the enemy that we held in our +power the heir to the German throne. They dared not resort to reprisals +against America lest Frederick William suffer. + +"They mean to rescue the Crown Prince?" + +"Yes." + +I rushed to the telephone to call up police headquarters, but the wires +were dead--German spies had seen to that. + +"Come!" I said, seizing her arm. "We must hustle over to the auditorium." + +Fortunately the great recruiting hall was only a few blocks distant and +as we hurried there Miss Ryerson explained that the furnace man, Stephen, +before coming to us, had run to McCormick College, the Chicago home for +deaf students, and given the alarm. + +"What good will that do?" + +"What good! These McCormick boys have military drill. They are splendid +shots. Stephen says fifty of them will hold the Germans until our troops +get there." + +"I hope so." + +I need not detail our experiences in the enormous and rather disorderly +crowd that packed the auditorium building except to say that ten minutes +later we left there followed by eighty members of the Camp Fire Club +(they had organised this appeal for recruits), formidable hunters of big +game who came on the run carrying the high power rifles that they had +used against elephants and tigers in India and against moose and +grizzlies in this country. Among them were Ernest Thompson Seton, Dan +Beard, Edward Seymour, Belmore Brown, Edward H. Litchfield and his son, +Herbert. + +Under the command of their president, George D. Pratt, these splendid +shots proceeded with all speed to the Blackstone Hotel, where they found +a company of deaf riflemen, under the command of J. Frederick Meagher, +about seventy in all, guarding the doors and windows. Not a moment too +soon did they arrive for, as they entered the hotel, hoarse cries were +heard outside and presently a bomb exploded at the main entrance, +shattering the heavy doors and killing nine of the defenders, including +Melvin Davidson, Jack Seipp and John Clarke, the Blackfoot Indian, famous +for his wood carvings and his unerring marksmanship. + +Meantime messengers had been sent in all directions, through the rioting +city, calling for troops and police and in twenty minutes, with the +arrival of strong reinforcements, the danger passed. + +But those twenty minutes! Again and again the Germans came forward in +furious assaults with rifles and machine guns. The Crown Prince must be +rescued. At any cost he must be rescued. + +No! The Crown Prince was not rescued. The defenders of the Hotel +Blackstone had their way, a hundred and fifty against a thousand, but +they paid the price. Before help came forty members of the Camp Fire Club +and fifty of those brave deaf American students gave up their lives, as +is recorded on a bronze tablet in the hotel corridor that bears witness +to their heroism. + +I must now make my last contribution to this chapter of our history, +which has to do with motives that presently influenced the Crown Prince +towards a startling decision. I came into possession of this knowledge as +a consequence of the part I played in rescuing Thomas A. Edison after his +abduction by the Germans. + +One of the first questions Mr. Edison asked me as we escaped in a swift +automobile from the burning and shell-wrecked Virginia capital, had a +direct bearing on the ending of the war. + +"Mr. Langston," he asked, "did the Committee of Twenty-one receive my +wireless about the airship expedition?" + +"Yes, sir, they got it," I replied, and then explained the line of +reasoning that had led the Committee to, disregard Mr. Edison's warning. + +[Illustration: "MY FRIENDS, THEY SAY PATRIOTISM IS DEAD IN THIS LAND. +THEY SAY WE ARE EATEN UP WITH LOVE OF HONEY, TAINTED WITH A YELLOW STREAK +THAT MAKES US AFRAID TO FIGHT. IT'S A LIE! I AM SIXTY YEARS OLD, BUT I'LL +FIGHT IN THE TRENCHES WITH MY FOUR SONS BESIDE ME. AND YOU MEN WILL DO +THE SAME. AM I RIGHT?"] + +He listened, frowning. + +"Huh! That sounds like Elihu Root." + +"It was," I admitted. + +For hours as we rushed along, my distinguished companion sat silent and I +did not venture to break in upon his meditations, although there were +questions that I longed to ask him. I wondered if it was Widding's sudden +death in the Richmond prison that had saddened him. + +It was not until late that afternoon, when we were far back in the Blue +Ridge Mountains, that Mr. Edison's face cleared and he spoke with some +freedom of his plans for helping the military situation. + +"There's one thing that troubles me," he reflected as we finished an +excellent meal at the Allegheny Hotel in Staunton, Virginia. "I wonder +if--let's see! You have met the Crown Prince, you interviewed him, didn't +you?" + +"Twice," said I. + +"Is he intelligent--_really _intelligent? A big open-minded man or--is he +only a prince?" + +"He's more than a prince," I said, "he's brilliant, but--I don't know how +open-minded he is." + +Edison drummed nervously on the table. + +"If we were only dealing with a Bismarck or a von Moltke! Anyhow, unless +he's absolutely narrow and obstinate--" + +"Oh, no." + +"Good! Where are the Committee of Twenty-one? In Chicago?" + +"Yes." + +"And the Crown Prince too?" + +"Yes." + +"We'll be there to-morrow and--listen! We can destroy the German fleet. +Widding's invention will do it. Poor Widding! It broke his heart to see +America conquered when he knew that he could save the nation if somebody +would only listen to him. But nobody would." Edison's deep eyes burned +with anger. "Thank God, I listened." + +It seemed like presumption to question Mr. Edison's statement, yet I +ventured to remind him that several distinguished scientists had declared +that the airship _America_ could not fail to destroy the German fleet. + +"Pooh!" he answered. "I said the _America_ expedition would fail. The +radio-control of torpedoes is uncertain at the best because of +difficulties in following the guide lights. They may be miles away, shut +off by fog or waves; but this thing of Widding's is sure." + +"Has it been tried?" + +"Heavens! No! If it had been tried the whole world would be using it. +After we destroy the German fleet the whole world will use it." + +"Is it some new principle? Some unknown agency?" + +He shook his head. "There's nothing new about it. It's just a sure way to +make an ordinary Whitehead torpedo hit a battleship." + +Although I was consumed with curiosity I did not press for details at +this time and my companion presently relapsed into one of his long +silences. + +We reached Chicago the next afternoon and, as the great inventor left me +to lay his plans before the Committee of Twenty-one, he thanked me +earnestly for what I had done and asked if he could serve me in any way. + +"I suppose you know what I would like?" I laughed. + +He smiled encouragingly. + +"Still game? Well, Mr. Langston, if the Committee approves my plan, and I +think they will, you can get ready for another big experience. Take a +comfortable room at the University Club and wait." + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + +DECISIVE BATTLE BETWEEN GERMAN FLEET AND AMERICAN SEAPLANES CARRYING +TORPEDOES + +I did as he bade me and was rewarded a week later for my faith and +patience. I subsequently learned that this week (the time of my wonderful +experience with Mary Ryerson) was spent by the Committee of Twenty-one in +explaining to the Crown Prince exactly what the Widding-Edison invention +was. Models and blue prints were shown and American and German experts +were called in to explain and discuss all debatable points. And the +conclusion, established beyond reasonable doubt, was that German warships +could not hope to defend themselves against the Widding-Edison method of +torpedo attack. This was admitted by Field Marshal von Hindenburg and by +Professor Hugo Muensterberg, who were allowed to bring scientists of their +own choosing for an absolutely impartial opinion. Unless terms were made +the German fleet faced almost certain destruction. + +The Crown Prince was torn by the hazards of this emergency. He could not +disregard such a weight of evidence. He knew that, without the support of +her fleet, Germany must abandon her whole campaign in the United States +and withdraw her forces from the soil of America. This meant failure and +humiliation, perhaps revolution at home. The fate of the Hohenzollern +dynasty might hang upon his decision. + +"Gentlemen," he concluded haughtily, "I refuse to yield. If I cable the +Imperial Government in Berlin it will be a strong expression of my wish +that our new army of invasion, under convoy of the German fleet, sail +from Kiel, as arranged, and join in the invasion of America at the +earliest possible moment." + +And so it befell. On January 24th a first section of the new German +expedition, numbering 150,000 men, sailed for America. On January 29th +our advance fleet of swift scouting aeroplanes, equipped with wireless +and provisioned for a three days' cruise, flew forth from Grand Island in +the Niagara River, and, following the St. Lawrence, swept out over the +Atlantic in search of the advancing Teutons. + +Two days later wireless messages received in Buffalo informed us that +German transports, with accompanying battleships, had been located off +the banks of Newfoundland and on February 1st our main fleet of +aeroboats, a hundred huge seaplanes, equipped with Widding-Edison +torpedoes, sailed away over Lake Erie in line of battle, flying towards +the northeast at the height of half a mile, ready for the struggle that +was to settle the fate of the United States. The prayers of a hundred +million Americans went with them. + +And now Mr. Edison kept his promise generously by securing for me the +privilege of accompanying him in a great 900-horse-power seaplane from +which, with General Wood, he proposed to witness our attack upon the +enemy. + +"We may have another passenger," said the General mysteriously as we +stamped about in our heavy coats on the departure field, for it was a +cold morning. + +"All aboard," called out the pilot presently from his glass-sheltered +seat and I had just taken my place in the right hand cabin when the sound +of several swiftly arriving motors drew my attention and, looking out, I +was surprised to see the Crown Prince alighting from a yellow car about +which stood a formal military escort. General Wood stepped forward +quickly to receive His Imperial Highness, who was clad in aviator +costume. + +"Our fourth passenger!" whispered Edison. + +"You don't mean that the Crown Prince is going with us?" + +The inventor nodded. + +I learned afterwards that only at the eleventh hour did the imperial +prisoner decide to accept General Wood's invitation to join this +memorable expedition. + +"I have come, General," said the Prince, saluting gravely, "because I +feel that my presence here with you may enable me to serve my country." + +"I am convinced Your Imperial Highness has decided wisely," answered the +commander-in-chief, returning the salute. + +An hour later, at the head of one of the aerial squadrons that stretched +behind us in a great V, we were flying over snow-covered fields at eighty +miles an hour, headed for the Atlantic and the German fleet. Our +seaplanes, the most powerful yet built of the Curtiss-Wright 1922 model, +carried eight men, including three that I have not mentioned, a wireless +operator, an assistant pilot and a general utility man who also served as +cook. Two cabins offered surprisingly comfortable accommodations, +considering the limited space, and we ate our first meal with keen +relish. + +"We have provisions for how many days?" asked the Crown Prince. + +"For six days," said General Wood. + +"But, surely not oil for six days!" + +"We have oil for only forty-eight hours of continuous flying, but Your +Imperial Highness must understand that our seaplanes float perfectly on +the ocean, so we can wait for the German fleet as long as is necessary +and then rise again." + +The Prince frowned at this and twisted his sandy moustache into sharper +upright points. + +"When do you expect to sight the German fleet?" + +"About noon the day after to-morrow. We shall go out to sea sometime in +the night and most of to-morrow we will spend in ocean manoeuvres. Your +Imperial Highness will be interested." + +In spite of roaring propellers and my cramped bunk I slept excellently +that night and did not waken until a sudden stopping of the two engines +and a new motion of the seaplane brought me to consciousness. The day was +breaking over a waste of white-capped ocean and we learned that Commodore +Tower, who was in command of our main air squadron, fearing a storm, had +ordered manoeuvres to begin at once so as to anticipate the gale. We were +planing down in great circles, preparing to rest on the water, and, as I +looked to right and left, I saw the sea strangely covered with the great +winged creatures of our fleet, mottle-coloured, that rose and fell as the +green waves tossed them. + +I should explain that these seaplanes were constructed like catamarans +with twin bodies, enabling them to ride on any sea, and between these +bodies the torpedoes were swung, one for each seaplane, with a simple +lowering and releasing device that could be made to function by the touch +of a lever. The torpedo could be fired from the seaplane either as it +rested on the water or as it skimmed over the water, say at a height of +ten feet, and the released projectile darted straight ahead in the line +of the seaplane's flight. + +With great interest we watched the manoeuvres which consisted chiefly in +the practice of signals, in rising from the ocean and alighting again and +in flying in various formations. + +"From how great a distance do you propose to fire your torpedoes?" the +Crown Prince asked Mr. Edison, speaking through a head-piece to overcome +the noise. + +"We'll run our seaplanes pretty close up," answered the inventor, "so as +to take no chance of missing. I guess we'll begin discharging torpedoes +at about 1,200 yards." + +"But your seaplanes will be shot to pieces by the fire of our +battleships." + +"Some will be, but not many. Our attack will be too swift and sudden. +It's hard to hit an aeroplane going a mile in a minute and, before your +gunners can get the ranges, the thing will be over." + +"Besides," put in General Wood, "every man in our fleet is an American +who has volunteered for duty involving extreme risk. Every man will give +his life gladly." + +About ten o'clock in the morning on February 3rd our front line flyers, +miles ahead of us, wirelessed back word that they had sighted the German +fleet, and, a few minutes later, we saw smoke columns rising on the far +eastern horizon. I shall never forget the air of quiet authority with +which General Wood addressed his prisoner at this critical moment. + +"I must inform Your Imperial Highness that I have sent a wireless message +to the admiral of the German fleet informing him of your presence here as +a voluntary passenger. This seaplane is identified by its signal flags +and by the fact that it carries no torpedo. We shall do everything to +protect Your Imperial Highness from danger." + +"I thank you, sir," the prince answered stiffly. + +General Wood withdrew to his place in the observation chamber beside Mr. +Edison. + +Swiftly we flew nearer to the enemy's battleships, which were advancing +in two columns, led by two super-dreadnoughts, the _Kaiser Friedrich_ and +the _Moltke_, with the admiral's flag at her forepeak and flanked by +lines of destroyers that belched black smoke from their squat funnels. +With our binoculars we saw that there was much confusion on the German +decks as they hastily cleared for action. Our attack had evidently taken +them completely by surprise and they had no flyers ready to dispute our +mastery of the air. + +Presently General Wood re-entered the cabin. + +"I have a wireless from Commodore Tower saying that everything is ready. +Before it is too late I appeal to Your Imperial Highness to prevent the +destruction of these splendid ships and a horrible loss of life. Will +Your Highness say the word?" + +"No!" answered the Crown Prince harshly. + +General Wood turned to the cabin window and nodded to the assistant +pilot, who dropped overboard a signal smoke ball that left behind, as it +fell, a greenish spiral trail. Straightway, the Commodore's seaplane, a +mile distant, broke out a line of flags whereupon six flyers from six +different points leaped ahead like sky hounds on the scent, shooting +forward and downward towards their mighty prey. The remainder of the sky +fleet circled away at safe distances of three, four or five miles, +waiting the result of this first blow, confident that the _Moltke_ was +doomed. + +Doomed she was. In vain the great battleship turned her guns, big and +little, against these snarling, swooping creatures of the air that came +at her like darting vultures all at once from many sides, but swerved at +the twelve hundred yard line and took her broadside on with their +torpedoes, fired them and were gone. + +Six white paths streaked the ocean beneath us marking the course of six +torpedoes and three of them found their target. Three of them missed, but +that was because the gunners were excited. There is no more excuse for a +torpedo missing a dreadnought at a thousand yards than there is for a +pistol missing a barn door at twenty feet! + +The _Moltke_ began to sink almost immediately. Through our glasses we +watched her putting off life boats and we saw that scarcely half of them +had been launched when she lurched violently to starboard and went down +by the head. Her boats, led by one flying the admiral's flag, made for +the sister dreadnought, but had not covered a hundred yards when +Commodore Tower signalled again and six other seaplanes darted into +action and, by the same swift manosuvres, sank the _Kaiser Friedrich_. + +In this action we lost two seaplanes. + +Now General Wood, white-faced, re-entered the cabin. + +"Has Your Imperial Highness anything to say?" asked the American +commander. + +Silent and rigid sat the heir to the German throne, his hands clenched, +his nostrils dilating, his lips hard shut. + +"If not," continued General Wood, "I shall, with great regret, signal +Commodore Tower to sink that transport, which means, I fear, the loss of +many thousands of German lives." He pointed to an immense dark grey +vessel of about the tonnage of the _Vaterland_. + +The Crown Prince neither answered nor stirred and again the American +Commander nodded to the assistant pilot. Once more the smoke ball fell, +the signal of attack was given and a third group of seaplanes sped +forward on their deadly mission. The men aboard this enormous transport +equalled in numbers the entire male population of fighting age in a city +like New Haven and of these not twenty were saved. And we lost two more +seaplanes. + +We had now used eighteen of our hundred available torpedoes and had sunk +three ships of the enemy. + +At this moment the sun's glory burst through a rift in the dull sky, +whereupon our fleet, welcoming the omen, threw forth the stars and +stripes from every flyer and sailed nearer the stricken fleet hungry for +further victories. I counted twenty transports and half a dozen +battleships. Proudly we circled over them, knowing that our power of +destruction meant safety and honour for America. + +In the observation chamber General Wood watched, frowning while the +wireless crackled out another message from Commodore Tower. Where should +we strike next? + +In the cabin sat the Crown Prince, his face like marble and the anguish +of death in his heart. + +Suddenly, a little thing happened that turned Frederick William towards a +decision which practically ended the war. The little thing was a burst of +music from the _Koenig Albert_, steaming at the head of the nearer +battleship column two miles distant. On she came, shouldering great waves +from her bows while hundreds of blue-jackets lined her rails as if to +salute or defy the tragic fate hanging over them. + +As General Wood appeared once more before his tortured prisoner, there +floated over the sea the strains of "Die Wacht Am Rhein," whereupon up on +his feet came the Crown Prince and, head bared, stood listening to this +great hymn of the Fatherland, while tears streamed down his face. + +"I yield," he said in broken tones. "I cannot stand out any longer. I +will do as you wish, sir." + +"My terms are unconditional surrender," said the American commander, "to +be followed by a truce for peace negotiations. Does Your Imperial +Highness agree to unconditional surrender?" + +"Those are harsh terms. In our talk at Chicago Your Excellency only asked +that I prevent this expedition from sailing. I am ready to order the +expedition back to Germany." + +General Wood shook his head. + +"Conditions are different now. Your Imperial Highness refused my Chicago +suggestion and chose the issue of battle which has turned in our favour. +To the victors belong the spoils. These battleships are our prizes of +war. These German soldiers in the troopships are our prisoners." + +"Impossible!" protested the Prince. "Do you think five hundred men in +aeroplanes can make prisoners of a hundred and fifty thousand in +battleships?" + +"I do, sir," declared General Wood with grim finality. "There's a +perfectly safe prison--down below." He glanced into the green abyss above +which we were soaring. "I must ask Your Imperial Highness to decide +quickly. The Commodore is waiting." + +Every schoolboy knows what happened then, how the Prince, in this crisis, +turned from grief to defiance, how he dared General Wood to do his worst, +how the American commander sank the _Koenig Albert_ and two more +transports in the next half hour with a loss of five seaplanes, and how, +finally, Frederick William, seeing that the entire German expedition +would be annihilated, surrendered absolutely and ran up the stars and +stripes above German dreadnoughts, transports and destroyers. For the +first time in history an insignificant air force had conquered a great +fleet. The Widding-Edison invention had made good. + + * * * * * + +I need not dwell upon details of the German-American Peace Conference +which occupied the month of February, 1922. These are matters of familiar +record. The country went from one surprise to another as Germany yielded +point after point of her original demands. Under no circumstances would +she withdraw her armies from the soil of America unless she received a +huge indemnity, but at the end of a week she agreed to withdraw without +any indemnity. Firmly she insisted that the United States must abrogate +the Monroe Doctrine, but she presently waived this demand and agreed that +the Monroe Doctrine might stand. Above all she stood out for the +neutralisation of the Panama Canal. Here she would not yield, but at the +close of the conference she did yield and on February 22nd, 1922, Germany +signed the treaty of Pittsburg which gave her only one advantage, namely, +the repossession of her captured fleet. + +It was not until a fortnight later, after the invading transports had +sailed for home and the last German soldier had left America, that we +understood why the enemy had dealt with us so graciously. On March 4th, +1922, the news burst upon the world that France and Russia, smarting +under the inconclusive results of the Great War, had struck again at the +Central Empires, and we saw that Germany had abandoned her invasion of +America not because of our air victory, but because she found herself +involved in another European war. She was glad to leave the United States +on any terms. + +A few weeks later in Washington (now happily restored as the national +capital) I was privileged to hear General Wood's great speech before a +joint committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The +discussion was on national preparedness and I thrilled as the general +rose to answer various Western statesmen who opposed a defence plan +calling for large appropriations on the ground that, in the present war +with Germany and in her previous wars, America had always managed to get +through creditably without a great military establishment and always +would. + +"Gentlemen," replied General Wood, "let us be honest with ourselves in +regard to these American wars that we speak of so complacently, these +wars that are presented in our school books as great and glorious. How +great were they? How glorious were they? Let us have the truth. + +"Take our War of the Revolution. Does any one seriously maintain that +this was a great war? It was not a war at all. It was a series of +skirmishes. It was the blunder of a stupid English king, who never had +the support of the English people. Our revolutionary armies decreased +each year and, but for the interposition of the French, our cause, in all +probability, would have been lost. + +"And the war of 1812? Was that great and glorious? Why did we win? +Because we were isolated by the Atlantic Ocean (which in these days of +steam no longer isolates us) and because England was occupied in a death +struggle with Napoleon. + +"In our Civil War both North and South were totally unprepared. If either +side at the start had had an efficient army of 100,000 men that side +would have won overwhelmingly in the first six months. + +"Our war with Spain in 1898 was a joke, a pitiful exhibition of +incompetency and unreadiness in every department. We only won because +Spain was more unprepared than we were. And as to our great naval +victory, the truth is that the Spanish fleet destroyed itself. + +"Gentlemen, we have never had a real war in America. This invasion by +Germany was the beginning of a real war, but that has now been +marvellously averted. Through extraordinary good fortune we have been +delivered from this peril, just as, by extraordinary good fortune, we +gained some successes over the Germans, like the battle of the +Susquehanna and our recent seaplane victory, successes that were largely +accidental and could never be repeated. + +"I assure you, gentlemen, it is madness for us to count upon continued +deliverance from the war peril because in the past we have been lucky, +because in the past wide seas have guarded us, because in the past our +enemies have quarrelled among themselves, or because American +resourcefulness and ingenuity have been equal to sudden emergencies. To +permanently base our hopes of national safety and integrity upon such +grounds is to choose the course adopted by China and to invite for our +descendants the humiliating fate that finally overwhelmed China, which +nation has now had a practical suzerainty forced upon her by a much +smaller power. + +"There is only one way for America to be safe from invasion and that is +for America to be ready for it. We are not ready today, we never have +been ready, yet war may smite us at any time with all its hideous +slaughter and devastation. Our vast possessions constitute the richest, +the most tempting prize on earth, and no words can measure the envy and +hatred that less rich and less favoured nations feel against us." + +"Gentlemen, our duty is plain and urgent. We must be prepared against +aggression. We must save from danger this land that we love, this great +nation built by our fathers. We must have, what we now notoriously lack, +a sufficient army, a satisfactory system of military training, +battleships, aeroplanes, submarines, munition plants, all that is +necessary to uphold the national honour so that when an unscrupulous +enemy strikes at us and our children he will find us ready. If we are +strong we shall, in all probability, avoid war, since the choice between +war and arbitration will then be ours." + +Scenes of wild enthusiasm followed this appeal of the veteran commander, +not only at the Capitol, but all over the land when his words were made +public. At last America had learned her bitter lesson touching the folly +of unpreparedness, the iron had entered her soul and now, in 1922, the +people's representatives were quick to perform a sacred duty that had +been vainly urged upon them in 1916. Almost unanimously (even Senators +William Jennings Bryan and Henry Ford refused to vote against +preparedness) both houses of Congress declared for the fullest measure of +national defence. It was voted that we have a strong and fully manned +navy with 48 dreadnoughts and battle cruisers in proportion. It was voted +that we have scout destroyers and sea-going submarines in numbers +sufficient to balance the capital fleet. It was voted that we have an +aerial fleet second to none in the world. It was voted that we have a +standing army of 200,000 men with 45,000 officers, backed by a national +force of citizens trained in arms under a universal and obligatory +one-year military system. It was voted, finally, that we have adequate +munition plants in various parts of the country, all under government +control and partly subsidised under conditions assuring ample munitions +at any time, but absolutely preventing private monopolies or excessive +profits in the munition manufacturing business. + +This was declared to be--and God grant it prove to be--America's +insurance against future wars of invasion, against alien arrogance and +injustice, against a foreign flag over this land. + + +FINIS + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Conquest of America, by Cleveland Moffett + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA *** + +***** This file should be named 8684.txt or 8684.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/6/8/8684/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Beginners Projects, Mary Meehan +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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