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Class. 
 Book.. 
 Copyright^ 
 
 ° 
 
 COFIRiGHT DEPOSITS 
 
America Entangled 
 
 By JOHN PRICE JONES 
 
 Introduction by 
 
 ROGER B. WOOD 
 
 (Former U. S. Assistant Attorney in New York) 
 
 Price 50 Cents 
 
432 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
 Office of 
 Theodore Roosevelt 
 
 February 27, 191 7. 
 My dear Mr. Jones: 
 
 I have read the galley proofs of your book, and I wish to 
 say, with all emphasis and heartiness, that you are doing this 
 country a great service in publishing it. 
 
 Your statements are evidently for the most part based on 
 official Government records, happening in the course of prose- 
 cuting the various criminals, who by the direct instigation of 
 the German Government, have for the last two and one-half 
 years been using this country as a base for war against the 
 Allies, and more than this, have in effect been waging war 
 on us within our own boundaries, no less than on the high 
 seas. Our people need to know certain of the facts that you 
 set forth. They need to understand that Germany has waged 
 war upon us, and has waged war against our property, and 
 has waged war against the lives of non-combatants, including 
 women and children, and therefore a far more evil war than 
 one waged openly. Our people also need to understand what 
 you so clearly set forth that very much of the pacifist move- 
 ment has been directly instigated by German intrigues, and 
 paid for by German money, and that the entire pacifist move- 
 ment in this country, during the past" two and a half years, 
 has really been in the interest of German militarism against 
 the rights of small nations, and against our own honor and 
 vital national 'interests. 
 
 You have 'done a capital work, and I wish it could be put 
 in the hands of all good Americans. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 
 
 Mr. John Price Jones, 
 "The Sun," 
 New York. 
 
America Entangled 
 
 The Secret Plotting of German Spies in 
 
 the United States and the Inside 
 
 Story of the Sinking of 
 
 the Lusitania 
 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN PRICE JONES 
 
 With Introduction by 
 
 ROGER B. WOOD 
 
 Former U. S. Assistant Attorney in New York 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 A. C. LAUT 
 
 286 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
A 
 
 f 
 
 Copyright, 1917 
 
 BY 
 
 John Price Jones 
 Agnes C. Laut 
 
 , 
 
 MAR 101917 
 
 >CLA457438 
 
 THE WILLIAM G. HEWITT PRESS 
 Brooklyn, New York 
 
 
$ 
 
 TO 
 
 F. S. J. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I America ; The Background of the War . 13 
 II Captain Franz Von Papen, Director of 
 Germany's Military Enterprises on 
 the American Front . . .25 
 
 III Captain von Papen, Buyer of Passports 
 
 and Promoter of Sedition . . 62 
 
 IV Von Igel and Koenig, Two of the 
 
 Kaiser's Faithful Workers . . 77 
 
 V Captain Karl Boy-Ed, The Emperor's 
 
 Social Dandy and von Tirpitz's Jackal 99 
 VI Captain Franz von Rintelen, German 
 
 Arch-Plotter .... 126 
 
 VII Captain Franz von Rintelen (concluded) 147 
 
 VIII HOW THE LUSITANIA WAS SUNK . .163 
 
 IX Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, Germany's Bag- 
 man and Blockade Runner . . 179 
 X Ambassador Dumba, Germany's Co-Con- 
 spirator ...... 201 
 
 XI Germany's Lobby in Congress . . 212 
 
 XII Changing the System .... 221 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 WHEN the German note announcing that the Imperial 
 German Government intended to resume with greater 
 vigor its ruthless submarine warfare was handed to 
 the Secretary of State of the United States, a crisis in the 
 affairs of this Nation was abruptly precipitated. The President 
 met that crisis with courage, with promptness and in a way that 
 merits, and has, the unqualified support of every American who 
 is proud of his citizenship. 
 
 After the receipt of such an insulting note it was unthinkable 
 that the United States could longer remain on friendly terms 
 with a Nation that deliberately returned to wanton murder of 
 innocent non-combatants, including women and helpless chil- 
 dren. 
 
 The conduct of the Imperial German Government in striv- 
 ing to win a war by means (which barbarians would hesitate to 
 use) begun by that Government without just cause and pursued 
 by riding rough-shod over a much smaller and much weaker 
 Nation, has been condemned by every civilized country, and it 
 will be many years before the German people recover from the 
 shame and degradation into which they have been plunged. 
 
 Germany will have to repent in sackcloth and ashes for 
 a long, long time before it is received again into the Family of 
 Nations. 
 
 In prosecuting the war, Germany and her allies have pro- 
 ceeded from the beginning upon the theory that "the end 
 justifies the means" and acting upon that theory have held 
 in supreme contempt the rights of neutral nations. 
 
 From the beginning of the war, subjects of Germany, resi- 
 dent in the United States, have continuously violated our laws 
 in the most outrageous and flagrant manner. 
 
 At the very threshhold, they sought to use the United States 
 as a base from which to supply the German raiders in the 
 
 vii 
 
South Atlantic and to that end, by fraud, obtained from the 
 collectors at various ports of the United States legal clearances, 
 thus subjecting every ship which lawfully cleared from any 
 United States port to seizure by the Allies. 
 
 Next, they sought and obtained, by fraud, and false swearing, 
 passports to be used by German reservists in returning to Ger- 
 many, traveling under the guise of American citizens; thus 
 placing in danger the lives and liberty of honest Americans 
 traveling with legitimate passports and entitled to the protec- 
 tion of this Government. 
 
 Because the Allies were able to purchase in the United 
 States munitions of war, foodstuffs and all other supplies they 
 might need and were able to transport them and because the 
 United States did not at the behest of the Imperial German 
 Government, stop the sale and transportation of the supplies, 
 which its citizens had a perfect right to sell and transport, 
 German residents devised the inhuman scheme of making 
 chemical fire bombs and infernal machines to be placed on 
 ships carrying passengers and supplies, with the deliberate 
 intent and purpose that the ships should be crippled or sunk 
 in mid-ocean — it mattered not to them that all on board might 
 find a watery grave. 
 
 Numerous attempts have been made to equip men of the 
 most desperate character with necessary explosives and other 
 implements of death and destruction and have them go from 
 the United States into Canada, our friendly and respected 
 neighbor, to destroy railroads, canals, ships, warehouses and 
 factories without regard to human life. 
 
 Agents have been sent to the United States with unlimited 
 money at their command to engage gunmen and thugs to 
 blow up our munition plants and factories — many explosions 
 have occurred — many lives have been lost — much damage has 
 been done — I cannot say who caused such wholesale murder to 
 be committed, but I have the right as you have, to suspect. 
 
 It is a matter of record that the German Military Attach^, 
 Captain Franz von Papen and the German Naval Attache, 
 
Captain Boy-Ed, knew of and sanctioned some of the con- 
 spiracies above referred to — perhaps the German Ambassador 
 did not know of them; but it will be hard to convince a hard- 
 headed, common-sense American citizen that he did not know 
 what his right hand and his left hand were doing in such a 
 crucial period. 
 
 Murder has followed murder on the high seas, one crime 
 came fast upon another in the United States, and now we are 
 told that this Government must do as the Imperial German 
 Government directs; or murder on a more colossal scale will 
 be the result. The people of the United States have not taken 
 orders from any Government since 1776 and the German 
 murderers ought to have known we would take none now, least 
 of all from a Government that had forfeited its right to the 
 respect of any civilized nation. 
 
 The President and his * advisers have been patient, most 
 patient — realizing, no doubt, that "War is Hell." The American 
 people have approved all that Mr. Wilson has done and to-day 
 they are with him to the last man — if there is to be war, so 
 be it — better war than the cold blooded murder of any more 
 of our citizens. 
 
 "America Entangled" will give you some small conception 
 of what the Germans in the United States have been doing 
 since August 1, 1914. Its Author has followed their nefarious 
 plots very closely and he has an intimate knowledge of his 
 subject. 
 
 Its purpose is to let the American people know the danger 
 that lurks within; to sound the alarm so that every man may 
 be on his guard; to show the grave necessity for preparedness 
 against a foreign foe, and particularly numerous alien enemies 
 within our borders. 
 
 If it serves in a small measure to accomplish its high aim, 
 its author will be amply repaid because he will have rendered 
 a great service to humanity and above all to our Country, 
 which we love more than all else, save God. 
 
 Koger B. Wood. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 THERE have been two kinds of German propaganda. One, 
 devoted to setting before the American people Germany's 
 side of the war, may be classed as legitimate. The other 
 has been illegal and criminal. While both are set forth in this 
 narrative, the greater space has been devoted to illegal activities. 
 
 The author claims for this book no other distinction than 
 a plain unvarnished statement of facts — vital, dramatic, absorb- 
 ing facts of the manner in which secret agents of the Teutonic 
 governments, acting under orders of authorized directors, have 
 attacked the very integrity of our national life, commercial, 
 social and politic. It contains facts arranged from an Ameri- 
 can viewpoint by an American who considers it his duty to 
 present them to his fellow Americans. 
 
 These facts were obtained by the writer as a reporter on 
 The New York Sun who devoted a year to no other work. 
 They were derived by a pains-taking investigation and where 
 flat statements are made they are based on knowledge obtained 
 by the author from various authorities and from the examination 
 of documents some of which have never been published. Th^y 
 show how German agents sought to subvert the aims of our 
 government to the advantage of the Central Powers. They 
 furnish a glimpse of the manner in which these men and 
 women sought to make America the hinterland for the European 
 War; how they planned and executed bribery, arson, felonious 
 assaults; how they plotted destruction of property and even 
 murder on American territory. 
 
 These facts emphasize the need of a new kind of prepared- 
 ness. They prove that not only does the nation need prepared- 
 ness in arms on both land and sea against a foreign foe but 
 also defense against those within our bounds, who are eager 
 to betray us. No true American, whether he be pro-Ally, pro- 
 
German, or strictly neutral, can read this book without realizing 
 the thoroughness and the perfection of the German espionage 
 system and, being convinced of the way in which Germany's 
 spies have overrun the entire country, and must appreciate the 
 necessity for preparedness to cope with these men and this 
 system in a different guise in the event of still graver issues. 
 
 John Pkice Jones. 
 January 1, 1917. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 AMERICA: THE BACKGROUND 
 OF THE WAR 
 
 AMERICA has been the great background 
 of the European War. Though far 
 removed from the trenches with the play 
 of artillery and the heroic charges, this country 
 has been the scene of an equally dramatic, though 
 silent struggle — a battle not visible to the eye. 
 It has been a conflict of wits, of statesman pitted 
 against statesman, of secret agent striving to 
 outdo his opponent of a belligerent nation; for 
 in America, agents of Germany have been striv- 
 ing for a twofold aim. They have sought to 
 enmesh the United States in an international con- 
 spiracy and to use this country as the means of 
 a rear attack on the Entente Allies. 
 
 And New York has been the center of it all. 
 In several of the huge office buildings that make 
 the thoroughfares of the city seem like canyons, 
 Germany had, and still has, the headquarters of 
 a vast nerve-like system radiating throughout 
 the country. The nerve coils are composed of 
 thousands of secret agents located in every city 
 and town. These men have worked under orders 
 from Berlin in the execution of a series of cam- 
 
 13 
 
paigns designed to be of service to the Teutonic 
 Allies. Against these men have been pitted 
 agents of the American government, all aiming 
 to detect the schemes and frustrate any plans for 
 the violation of our neutrality laws. 
 
 A diplomat, famed for his finesse and grace of 
 manner, was at a reception given to distinguished 
 statesmen, talented business men and attractive 
 women. The conversation was turned to the 
 topic of spies. One woman wished to know if 
 the diplomat had encountered any spies. 
 
 "Well," remarked the diplomat, "I used to 
 
 stop at the Hotel Grandeur, but Count " 
 
 (mentioning the name of a diplomat of a nation 
 with which his country was at war) "persisted 
 in having my baggage searched every day. So 
 I moved to the Hotel Excellency; but I found 
 things no better there." 
 
 "Didn't you complain to the management?" 
 "Ah, no," answered he gravely, "but every 
 time the Count stops at the Hotel Elaborate, I 
 have his baggage searched, too." 
 
 Perhaps the diplomat was not serious, but in 
 days when the destiny of nations was at stake, 
 it was likely that he was speaking none too lightly 
 of a game that had doubtless cost him many an 
 hour of the keenest anxiety. 
 
 Of all secret service systems, the most elaborate 
 and machine-like is Germany's. It has been or- 
 ganized not merely to gather information, but 
 to trample upon the laws of the United States, 
 
 14 
 
to do anything to hinder any project of the 
 enemy's. Constructed in the hours of peace with 
 the utmost care and foresight, it was easily ex- 
 panded in the United States at the outbreak of 
 the war into such a vast network that if a repre- 
 sentative of the Allies suddenly retraced his steps 
 or halted suddenly when around a corner, he was 
 almost sure to bump the shins of a German spy. 
 Germany, always methodical and thorough, pos- 
 sessing a genius for moulding a multitude of 
 details into an effective whole, had prepared her 
 secret service system with the same efficiency with 
 which through scores of years she had equipped 
 her military forces for battle; indeed, her secret 
 service was a part of her military forces. 
 
 The system is based on the principle of "Lass 
 die linke Hand nicht wissen was die rechte tut" — 
 "let not the left hand know what the right is 
 doing." So thoroughly is this maxim followed 
 that two German spies may be working side by 
 side and not be aware of the fact. Though groups 
 of Germans may engage in some activity with a 
 thorough understanding of the aims of another, 
 still the order of silence is rigorously enforced. 
 The agents hand their information to a superior, 
 who in turn transmits it to somebody higher up. 
 One spy knows only the person or group of 
 persons with whom he directly deals, sending 
 information along devious and hidden routes up 
 to the final assembling point. 
 
 Germany's spy system has been the sword hand 
 
 15 
 
of her statesmen and her diplomats. When this 
 war is over and the world learns of the moves, 
 counter-moves, and Machiavellian methods of 
 German diplomats, with their intrigues, secret 
 understandings, and their daring attempts to 
 force this country into dangerous situations, 
 people will realize more clearly than to-day what 
 a marvelous system has been behind many seem- 
 ingly casual developments in this country. It 
 will be shown how German agents have violated 
 our laws to gain secret information for Ger- 
 many's good; how her secret agents have com- 
 mitted crimes in order to coerce diplomatic 
 negotiations. 
 
 RAMIFICATIONS OF UNDERGROUND PLOTS 
 
 So perfectly organized and so responsive to 
 the slightest suggestion from Berlin is the Amer- 
 ican branch of the Kaiser's secret service that vast 
 undertakings — some legitimate, many in viola- 
 tion of American laws — were carried out. 
 
 The magician, who invented the wireless, 
 enabled the German General War Staff to move 
 to New York. The splash and splutter of elec- 
 tricity over oceans and continents virtually trans- 
 ported Germany's leading statesmen, tacticians, 
 and scientists at will to hold sessions in Manhat- 
 tan on matters arising in America and bearing 
 on the battle-front in the many theatres of actual 
 warfare. For instance, how many people know 
 that the secretary to one of the generals on the 
 
 16 
 
Western Line was a brother to one of the most 
 notorious woman plotters in America? Germany 
 had foreseen the possibilities of the wireless in 
 war and had developed secret methods of sending 
 code messages by radiogram, when apparently 
 only ordinary messages were being transmitted, 
 and she had also, some way or other, got possession 
 of the code ciphers of other nations. Every night 
 messages have been sent out from Germany, 
 apparently blindly, addressed to no one and have 
 been picked up by hidden receiving stations in 
 America and other countries. 
 
 While Germany calls her spy system "a bureau 
 of intelligence," its purpose is confined not merely 
 to the gathering of information, but to the carry- 
 ing out of any campaign that will be harmful to 
 the enemy. In the United States, Germans — 
 reservists, army officers, representatives of the 
 German Government — have been indicted for 
 crimes against Federal laws. These violations 
 were committed without doubt in a self-sacrific- 
 ing spirit with the aim of helping the Fatherland. 
 Germans, or German influences, have been behind 
 schemes in violation of neutrality laws and re- 
 straint of trade. They have attempted arson, 
 bribery, forgery, engaged in military enterprises, 
 caused explosions in ships and factories, resulting 
 in many deaths, and have set fires in ships and 
 factories. 
 
 They have participated in plots against Can- 
 ada, Ireland and India, all developed in the 
 
 17 
 
United States under the supervision of the Ger- 
 man representatives of Berlin, though often 
 ostensibly carried out by anarchist tools. The 
 activities of the German agents, multitudinous in 
 detail and variety, all have been designed to 
 hinder the Allies in their prosecution of the war, 
 to cause a breach between the Allies and the 
 United States, to embroil this country in a war 
 and to accomplish other secret aims of the Gen- 
 eral War Staff. In all the propaganda, German 
 secret agents and official representatives of the 
 German Government have had no regard for the 
 laws of America, but, in fact, have sought to 
 place the United States in a position of being 
 secretly unneutral. 
 
 But the German Government has officially 
 denied that she ordered any of her subjects to 
 undertake any act in violation of American laws. 
 Shortly after President Wilson in his message to 
 Congress bitterly attacked the activities of Ger- 
 mans and German- Americans in America, accus- 
 ing the latter of treason, the German Govern- 
 ment authorized the statement that it: 
 
 "Naturally has never knowingly accepted the 
 support of any person, group of persons, society 
 or organization seeking to promote the cause of 
 Germany in the United States by illegal acts, by 
 counsels of violence, by contravention of law, or 
 by any means whatever that could offend the 
 American people in the pride of their own 
 authority. If it should be alleged that improper 
 
 18 
 
acts have been committed by representatives of 
 the German Government they could be easily 
 dealt with. To any complaints upon proof as 
 may be submitted by the American Government 
 suitable response will be duly made. * * * Ap- 
 parently the enemies of Germany have succeeded 
 in creating the impression that the German Gov- 
 ernment is in some way, morally or otherwise, 
 responsible for what Mr. Wilson has character- 
 ized as anti- American activities, comprehending 
 attacks upon property in violation of the rules 
 which the American Government has seen jit to 
 impose upon the course of neutral trade. This 
 the German Government absolutely denies. It 
 cannot specifically repudiate acts committed by 
 individuals over whom it has no control, and of 
 whose movements and intentions it is neither 
 officially or unofficially informed."* 
 
 To this official disavowal of German propa- 
 ganda in America, there are two answers that 
 stand out with dramatic force. First, the ex- 
 tent to which the subjects of Germany are ex- 
 pected to go in war time is shown by excerpts 
 from Germany's War Book of instructions to 
 officers, which says in part: 
 
 "Bribery of the enemy's subjects with the 
 object of obtaining military advantages, ac- 
 ceptances of offers of treachery, reception of 
 deserters, utilization of the discontented elements 
 in the population, support of the pretenders and 
 the like are permissible; indeed, international law 
 is in no way opposed to the exploitation of the 
 
 ♦Berlin despatch in the New York Sun, Dec. 19, 1915. 
 19 
 
crimes of third parties (assassination, incendiar- 
 ism, robbery and the like) to the prejudice of the 
 enemy. Considerations of chivalry, generosity 
 and honor may denounce in such cases a hasty 
 and unsparing exploitation of such advantages 
 as indecent and dishonorable, but law, which is 
 less touchy, allows it. The ugly and inherently 
 immoral aspect of such methods cannot affect 
 the recognition of their lawfulness. The neces- 
 sary aim of war gives the belligerent the right 
 and imposes upon him, according to circum- 
 stances, the duty not to let slip the important, it 
 may be decisive, advantages to be gained by such 
 means. 33 * 
 
 Secondly, since Germany sent out that semi- 
 official proclamation from Berlin concerning 
 propagandists, many steps have been taken by 
 the American Government, both administrative 
 and judicial, which belies Germany's contention. 
 Captains von Papen and Boy-Ed, military and 
 naval attaches respectively, have been dismissed 
 from this country for "improper activities in 
 military and naval affairs." 
 
 There was no favoritism in the German secret 
 service. Every German, high or low, was open 
 to assignment, disagreeable and dishonorable, 
 in getting information, and to orders to com- 
 mit crimes — for Germany stops at no crime 
 — that may be necessary to circumvent the 
 enemy. 
 
 Captain von Papen showed his feeling keenly 
 
 *The War Book of the German General Staff, translated by J. H. 
 Morgan, M.A. pp. 113-114. 
 
 20 
 
one night at a dinner of a few men where the 
 wine flowed freely. 
 
 "My God, I would give everything in the 
 world," he exclaimed," to be in the trenches where 
 I could do the work of a gentleman." In his 
 work, there was no public reward for work well 
 performed according to the war code. That 
 man's sentiments were echoed by von Rintelen, 
 who, when among friends,* fairly shook with 
 emotion at the thought of ihe work in which he 
 was engaged. 
 
 "How loathsome I feel," he said. "How this 
 dirty work sticks to me ! When this war ends, I 
 shall take a bath in carbolic acid." 
 
 THREE EXECUTIVES IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Over all the thousands of reservists, trained 
 agents, and other spies were the men in charge 
 of the centers of information to whom they made 
 their report; and the three or four chief lieuten- 
 ants in charge of the various and distinct line of 
 activities into which these matters of war, finance 
 and commerce automatically were divided. There 
 were practically, outside of the Chief Spy, three 
 important executives in this country, supervising 
 respectively the commercial, military and naval 
 lines of information and activity. Each one of 
 these men was surrounded by a group of experts 
 who had charge of a sub-division of the work. 
 All had their legal advisors, their bankers, and 
 every sort of an expert that their special work 
 
 21 
 
required. Upon them fell the task of sifting and 
 analyzing the mass of facts gathered by the spies 
 and making reports to Berlin. Upon each one 
 of them also fell the duty of carrying out any 
 orders that might come from the General War 
 Staff in Germany. 
 
 First and foremost of the three lieutenants was 
 Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, Privy Counselor to the 
 German Embassy in America and Fiscal Agent 
 of the German Empire. He directed the gather- 
 ing of a huge mass of information of value to 
 Germany concerning the financial, industrial and 
 commercial activities of this country, and was 
 the chief instrument through whom money 
 reached the army of spies. Though he was the 
 director of many activities, nothing criminal, it 
 must be asserted in justice to him, has been traced 
 to him. 
 
 The military agent was Captain Franz von 
 Papen, the attache of the German Embassy. 
 His work was confined specifically to the pro- 
 curing of information that would be of aid to 
 the Imperial German army and to the military 
 tasks that might be peculiarly helpful to the 
 army. 
 
 The naval expert was Captain Karl Boy-Ed, 
 another attache of the German Embassy. He 
 had under him experts who made a specialty of 
 various lines of naval matters, fortifications, 
 coast defenses and explosives. 
 
 The headquarters of the entire system were 
 
and are yet in New York. Dr. Albert had his 
 offices in the Hamburg- American Steamship 
 Company's building, and he utilized at times a 
 good part of the Hamburg- American Company's 
 staff — a concern in which the Kaiser himself 
 owns a large percentage of the stock. In the 
 same building was the office of Paul Koenig, the 
 business manager of part of Germany's spy sys- 
 tem in America, though nominally the Superin- 
 tendent of Police for the Hamburg- American 
 line. Captain Boy-Ed had his headquarters in 
 Room 801 of 11 Broadway, and Captain von 
 Papen had his on the twenty-fifth floor of 60 
 Wall Street. 
 
 This narrative seeks to show as definitely as 
 possible the work of these three agents of Ger- 
 many in America and of others co-operating 
 with them. It sets forth the enterprises that they 
 plotted and the ramifications of their organiza- 
 tion. It reveals how countless agents, unaware 
 that they were parts of a vast system and often 
 innocent of any intentional wrongdoing, acted 
 their parts. It shows how that part of the ma- 
 chinery engaged in legitimate propaganda was 
 linked at places with the machinery executing 
 illegal acts. 
 
 While the conspiracy has been manipulated, 
 the American Government has been very active. 
 To the skill of the United States secret service, 
 headed by Chief William J. Flynn, always alert 
 and apparently unruffled in the most trying 
 
crises, and to A. Bruce Bielaski, head of the 
 special agents of the Department of Justice, and 
 William M. Offley, Superintendent of the New 
 York Bureau of the special agents, has fallen 
 the task of seeing that the representatives of the 
 different countries followed the American maxim, 
 "Play fair; play according to the rules of inter- 
 national law and the laws of this country." Upon 
 Police Commissioner Woods, his deputy, Guy 
 Scull, of New York, and his enthusiastic and 
 clever aid, Police Captain Thomas J. Tunney, 
 has devolved also the hazardous and difficult task 
 of combatting the schemes of those spies. Those 
 men, by courageous and skilful detective work 
 have unearthed and foiled some of the most 
 daring bomb plots of the Germans. 
 
 To Messrs. Flynn and Bielaski, at times, have 
 come secrets of intrigue and conspiracy that 
 must have made them, even as it has the Presi- 
 dent, almost tremble with the import of impend- 
 ing events that had to be forestalled. 
 
 24 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 CAPTAIN FRANZ VON PAPEN, 
 DIRECTOR OF GERMANY'S MILI- 
 TARY ENTERPRISES ON THE 
 AMERICAN FRONT 
 
 I ALWAYS say to these idiotic Yankees 
 they had better hold their tongues," 
 So wrote Captain Franz von Papen, 
 German military attache in America, to his wife 
 in Germany — a letter which he entrusted to Cap- 
 tain James F. J. Archibald, American newspaper 
 correspondent and bearer of secret and confiden- 
 tial messages from Teutonic representatives. 
 The German word which the Captain used was 
 "bloedsinnig," meaning silly, stupid, idiotic. It 
 has a sneering ring, truly typical of the Prussian 
 warrior's contempt for Americans. It suggests 
 the disdainful feeling which the military attache 
 had for the loyalty of Americans. One can imag- 
 ine his sly laugh as he handed to an American 
 that letter and code messages to the War Staff. 
 With a similar feeling of contempt for the Brit- 
 ish, when dismissed from this country and as- 
 sured of safe conduct as to person, he carried on 
 board the Steamer Noordam a portfolio of papers 
 from friends reflecting the same disgust for 
 
 25 
 
America and outlining his own unlawful and 
 criminal acts in America. But in both instances 
 his arrogant self-confidence brought exposure. 
 
 This attitude of arrogance was Captain von 
 Papen's chief characteristic. Joined to it was the 
 brother trait, bluntness. He believed that the 
 American people were not only stupid but also 
 weak-sighted and that he could do anything he 
 wanted without detection. So he put his heart 
 and soul into military and criminal enterprises 
 upon American soil. The Captain apparently 
 thought that the American authorities would not 
 suspect his machinations, for, unlike Captain Boy- 
 Ed, he made comparatively few efforts to cover 
 up the trails of his activities. That carelessness 
 proved his scorn for American detective methods, 
 for with all his haughtiness and bravado he had 
 been trained in a school of craft. He had been 
 drilled under instructors who placed a prize on 
 cunning, deceit, intrigue, reckless disregard of 
 the rights of others, and the destiny of Prussia 
 as a conqueror. The Captain presumably be- 
 lieved that craft and cunning were not necessary 
 in America. 
 
 CONTEMPT FOR DEMOCRACY 
 
 Confident that he was eluding the watchful eye 
 of the United States authorities with more skill 
 than his associates, he sent a telegram one day to 
 Captain Boy-Ed, warning him to be more care- 
 ful. Whereupon the latter, smiling cheerfully to 
 
himself, wrote this letter: "Dear Papen: A 
 secret agent who returned from Washington this 
 evening, made the following statement: 'The 
 Washington people are very much excited about 
 von Papen and are having a constant watch kept 
 on him. They are in possession of a whole heap 
 of incriminating evidence against him. They have 
 no evidence against Count B. and Captain B.- 
 E. (!)'" Boy-Ed, a little too optimistically, 
 added : "In this connection I would suggest with 
 due diffidence that perhaps the first part of your 
 telegram is worded rather too emphatically." 
 
 Wrapped in that sense of contempt the mili- 
 tary attache began immediately upon the out- 
 break of war, even as he had planned before it, 
 to make the United States "the hinterland' ' of 
 the European battlefield. In the Embassy at 
 Washington, the German consulate in New York, 
 the Hamburg- American Building, an office in 
 60 Wall street — which he secretly leased — and on 
 board German merchantmen tied up in New 
 York Harbor, he gathered about him German 
 officials and German reservists, outlining plots in 
 violation of American law, all designed to injure 
 the Allies and help the cause of Germany. In 
 those conferences, his arrogant disregard of 
 America and his determination overruled the hesi- 
 tating dissentors. His was the Prussian spirit 
 of aggression. In those gatherings, he was both 
 the dominating and the domineering factor: tall 
 and broad-shouldered, with a commanding atti- 
 
 '27 
 
tude, energetic in speech, and lightning-like in 
 the development of bold plans. He has the strong 
 forehead, the long, firm nose, and the heavy un- 
 der jaw of a commander, but the large ears that 
 denote recklessness and eyes blue and hard as 
 steel. 
 
 UNDER ORDERS FROM BERLIN 
 
 He had been selected in his youth for secret 
 work because of an aptness which he early dis- 
 played. He had been trained especially for the 
 work which he undertook in other countries under 
 direction of the German General Staff and for 
 the tasks that devolved upon him in America both 
 before and after the war. As a young officer he 
 was sent out from Germany, travelling as a civil- 
 ian, making special studies of the sentiment of the 
 people, the topography of the country, and get- 
 ting in touch with other secret workers. One of 
 the countries which he studied with remarkable 
 care was Ireland. He tramped and rode every 
 foot of the land and knew it thoroughly. He 
 displayed something of the knowledge he had 
 acquired when riding in Central Park, one day 
 after the war started, he stopped to chat with an 
 acquaintance who had bought a mare. Waxing 
 enthusiastic over the animal he quickly showed 
 his acquaintance with Ireland by giving the breed 
 of the mare and telling exactly the counties in 
 Ireland where that breed could be found. 
 
 How well he disguised himself in those various 
 
expeditions when he rode horseback simply as a 
 sightseer, is indicated by his horsemanship. 
 Though he was trained in a riding school at Han- 
 over, where they supposedly teach the French 
 method, nevertheless in Central Park, where 
 many a morning he could be observed, he dis- 
 played perfect English form. They say that when 
 one learns the French style, one invariably clings 
 to it above all others. Naturally, a horseman 
 travelling through Ireland revealing every char- 
 acteristic of the French school would attract at- 
 tention. 
 
 As the military attache of the German Em- 
 bassy, Captain von Papen was under orders, not 
 of Count von BernstorfT, but of the military head 
 in Germany. Appointed personally by the 
 Kaiser as the representative of the German 
 Army in America and Mexico, he had the com- 
 mission that falls to every military attache of 
 a foreign government, namely, to make a study 
 of the army of the nation to which he is ac- 
 credited. 
 
 Captain von Papen, always striving for praise 
 and preferment from the Kaiser, was a most 
 enthusiastic gatherer of military information. 
 Knowing that no phase of military activity 
 throughout the world escapes the watchful eye 
 of the Chief Spy or the German General Staff, 
 von Papen was always on the alert for any in- 
 vention, new method of warfare, or germ of an 
 idea that might be developed into an important 
 
element for Germany's advantages; just as the 
 War Staff got their suggestion for the modern 
 trench warfare from the Indians and later from 
 the Civil War. For instance, shortly before the 
 great war started, Captain von Papen, addressed 
 as "Royal Prussian Captain on the General Staff 
 of the Army," was directed by R. von Wild, of 
 the Ministry of War's office, to proceed to Mexico 
 and there investigate the attacks on railroad 
 trains by means of mines and explosives. He 
 made a thorough investigation and though he 
 reported : "I consider it out of the question that 
 explosions prepared in this way would have to 
 be reckoned with in a European war," he never- 
 theless sought to utilize that method in blowing 
 up tunnels and railroads in Canada. 
 
 AT WORK IN MEXICO 
 
 How well von Papen, as an organizer and mili- 
 tary investigator, acquitted himself in the interest 
 of the Kaiser is set forth in Rear Admiral von 
 Hintze's own language in a report which he made 
 from Mexico to the Imperial Chancellor recom- 
 mending von Papen for a decoration. That letter 
 is striking; for it suggests the work which von 
 Papen did afterward in America, if he had not 
 already made the arrangements for it prior to the 
 outbreak of the European conflict. The admiral 
 wrote that von Papen "showed special industry 
 in organizing the German colony for purposes 
 of self-defense and out of this shy and factious 
 
 80 
 
material, unwilling to undertake any mili- 
 tary activity, he obtained what there was to 
 be got." 
 
 While von Papen had a staff of experts and 
 of secret agents prior to the war, he did not then 
 have the perfectly developed system at his com- 
 mand which he used afterward. That he had his 
 plans well mapped out for any contingency and 
 that he knew the situation thoroughly is vividly 
 illustrated in a draft of a cable message which 
 he sent to Captain Boy-Ed from Mexico City on 
 July 29, 1914, saying: 
 
 "If necessary arrange business for me too with 
 Pavenstedt. Then inform Lersner. The Rus- 
 sian attache ordered back to Washington by tele- 
 graph. On outbreak of war have intermediaries 
 located by detective where Russian and French 
 intelligence office." The latter part of the mes- 
 sage, referring to intermediaries, is open to two 
 interpretations: first, that Boy-Ed was to have 
 detectives locate the Russian and French intelli- 
 gence offices ; second, Boy-Ed, was to place spies 
 in the Russian and French intelligence bureaus. 
 
 Hurrying to Washington, the military attache 
 immediately took charge of the military part of 
 Germany's spy system. He began to weld to- 
 gether into a vast organization scientists, experts, 
 secret agents and German reservists who would 
 gather information for him and who would be 
 ready at the command of the General War Staff, 
 to undertake any military enterprise. The en- 
 
 31 
 
tire organization of German consuls and repre- 
 sentatives in America work in unity in war as 
 in peace. How quickly von Papen got his staff 
 together is shown in a statement made by Franz 
 Wachendorf, alias Horst von der Goltz, alias 
 Bridgeman Taylor, who became one of Papen's 
 aids in spy work and military enterprises. 
 Wachendorf, who was a major in the Mexican 
 army at the outbreak of war, said under oath: 
 "The 3d of August, 1914 ; license was given me 
 by my commanding officer to separate myself 
 from the service of the brigade for the term of six 
 months. I left directly for El Paso, Texas, where 
 I was told by Mr. Kuck, German consul at Chi- 
 huahua, Mexico, who stayed there, to put myself 
 at the disposition of Captain von Papen." 
 
 CALLING RESERVISTS 
 
 The military attache also had help from Ger- 
 many and from German reservists coming from 
 other countries. The War Office in Berlin sent 
 him men. Captain Hans Tauscher, the husband 
 of Mme. Gadski, was in Germany when war was 
 declared. A reserve officer of the German Army, 
 he immediately offered himself for duty. His 
 order was to return to America at once and 
 report to Captain von Papen. Likewise, soldiers 
 and secret agents with special equipment, who 
 were in different parts of the world and who had 
 no definite work, were ordered by wireless or 
 through secret channels to hasten to Captain von 
 
 32 
 
Papen's assistance. After a time, the Chief Spy 
 in Germany detailed some of his aids to America 
 to help in the upbuilding of a still more effective 
 system of espionage. 
 
 Though remarkably skilled and trained to a 
 high degree in a number of different lines, Cap- 
 tain von Papen made it his business to gather 
 around him experts on every phase of military 
 affairs, giving definite assignments to each and 
 thus dividing the work so that greater speed 
 and efficiency were obtained. He chose Captain 
 Tauscher, agent of the Krupps and other big 
 and small gun manufacturers in Germany and 
 Austria, as one of his aids in gathering informa- 
 tion. Captain Tauscher is an expert on ordnance 
 and as such he was of invaluable assistance to 
 Captain von Papen in obtaining fects regard- 
 ing the manufacture of heavy ordnance and 
 explosives for the Allies. Tauscher was on most 
 friendly terms with U. $. Ordnance officers. 
 
 Von Papen selected George von Skal, a Ger- 
 man journalist and former Commissioner of Ac- 
 counts of New York, as a paid assistant in his 
 office; and as a matter of fact every one of the 
 big German agents in America had on his staff 
 at least one trained newspaper man. He took 
 as his secretary Wolf von Igel, a young man of 
 distinguished appearance, and through him se- 
 cretly rented a suite of offices in Wall street "for 
 advertising purposes." 
 
 Another man upon whom he could call for help 
 
 33 
 
was Paul Koenig, lent by the Hamburg- Ameri- 
 can Steamship Company. Through Koenig, von 
 Papen could reach out to countless Germans and 
 select men for any sort of task. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, von Papen met with a refusal. He asked 
 Captain Tauscher to perform a certain piece of 
 work of questionable character and received in 
 substance this answer: "I am ready to do any- 
 thing within the law but I will not attempt this 
 task." Experts in the chemistry of explosives; 
 scientists of various sorts; lawyers and other ad- 
 visers were on the military attache's staff, all hav- 
 ing special tasks and all working for the Kaiser 
 with or without pay. 
 
 FOREIGN ARMY ON U. S. SOIL 
 
 Von Papen sought to protect his Wall street 
 suite of offices from public investigation by 
 installing therein a safe bearing the seal of the 
 Imperial German Government. That safe, pro- 
 tected by timelocks and by electrical devices 
 against the curiosity of other secret agents or the 
 prying eyes of policemen, is said to have contained 
 the plans of the military phases of German propa- 
 ganda. When the Federal agents, suddenly de- 
 scended upon the office one day to arrest von Igel, 
 they found the safe open and the documents neatly 
 laid out on the table preparatory to shipment to 
 Washington. From those papers the State De- 
 partment and the Attorney- General have learned 
 much of the history of von Papen's activities — 
 
 34 
 
the inner workings of the German spy system. 
 In that office von Papen kept the full list of his 
 various secret agents, German and American, 
 working for him, their addresses and telephone 
 numbers; various code books for the deciphering 
 of messages sent to him and for sending word to 
 agents in this country or making reports. 
 
 Accordingly, when von Papen's plan for es- 
 pionage was perfected, he had not only a staff 
 of experts at his elbow, but thousands of re- 
 servists, the help of German and Austra-Hun- 
 garian consuls and channels of information. He 
 had men at his disposal for dangerous and del- 
 icate missions to other countries. The ramifica- 
 tions of this fact — collecting agency and of activi- 
 ties which he supervised for the good of the Fath- 
 erland were so finely organized and so compre- 
 hensive that von Papen in reality was the head 
 of the military division of the German spy sys- 
 tem of the entire world, outside of the countries 
 belted by the Allies with a ring of steel. 
 
 Facts to prove the details of von Papen's or- 
 ganization and deeds were obtained from the von 
 Igel papers, from the letters and secret documents 
 taken from Captain Archibald; from documents 
 and check stubs found in von Papen's possession 
 when searched at Falmouth, England; from von 
 der Goltz's confession; from scores of witnesses 
 and from facts dug up by the Secret Service and 
 the Department of Justice. The trials of various 
 offenders against neutrality laws have given the 
 
 35 
 
public more evidence. United States District- 
 Attorney, H. Snowden Marshall, in New York, 
 his assistants, Roger B. Wood, in charge of the 
 criminal division; Raymond H. Sarfaty, John C. 
 Knox, and Harold A. Content, all set forth be- 
 fore the public many phases of the ingenious, 
 underground methods of spying and violating 
 the law. Upon the evidence found by those of- 
 ficials and by United States District- Attorney 
 Preston, of San Francisco, the following facts 
 are presented: 
 
 Once the spies were selected and assigned to 
 their duties, von Papen sought first, to glean in- 
 formation bearing on the great war. He was 
 interested, naturally, in the amount of shrapnel 
 shells and high explosives which the Allies were 
 purchasing. He was eager to ascertain what 
 American Army officers were learning about the 
 military operations on the continent and what the 
 American Government was doing to develop its 
 army to cope with the new problems arising from 
 the war. He was watching the officers of the 
 Allies in this country. He was seeking lines of 
 communication with the racial elements in 
 America that were allied with the insurrection 
 forces in the colonies of the Entente powers. The 
 varied results of his investigations are shown by 
 extracts from reports which he sent to Berlin by 
 Captain Archibald. One letter told, for instance, 
 that the Norwegian and Holland governments 
 were in the market for war materials. Von Papen 
 
asked if there were any objection by Germany to 
 the sale to those governments of war products 
 purchased by him in America, adding : 
 
 "I could probably dump on the Norwegian 
 Government a great part of the Lehigh Coke 
 Company's toluol which is lying around useless." 
 
 In a cipher despatch to the chief of the General 
 Staff in Berlin, he noted a conversation overheard 
 in Philadelphia between two Englishmen. One 
 British army officer, he said, was explaining a 
 method for conveying military information by 
 photographs. Likewise he gathered news of the 
 Spanish government seeking supplies and sifted 
 the facts assembled from factories, banking 
 houses, diplomatic sources, and transportation of- 
 fices about the Allied war orders. 
 
 SECRET AGENTS BLOCK OUT AMERICA 
 
 Captain von Papen's checks and his stub book 
 are a veritable diary of some of his criminal — or 
 if you please, military — activities in America. 
 They give the names and the aliases of his secret 
 agents ; and day after day are recorded therein 
 the payments made by von Papen to the persons 
 working for or with him. The check stubs tell 
 the story of the purpose of the payment and by 
 means of the endorsements on the checks one can 
 gather in skeleton form the story of a part — but 
 not all — of the propaganda which the military 
 attache supervised. The stubs show the receipt 
 of money, almost immediately after the beginning 
 
 37 
 
of the war marked for "War Intelligence Office." 
 The interesting thing is that money for war in- 
 telligence work came from von Bernstorff and 
 that funds for salary and expenses came from 
 Dr. Fr. Adler, the Ambassador's secretary. To 
 the fact that Captain von Papen kept such an 
 accurate diary — an instance of German efficiency 
 — is due in part the exposure of his varied ac- 
 tivities in this country. 
 
 To Anton Kuepf erle, another German spy cap- 
 tured in England and suspected after a confession 
 to have shot himself, he gave $100. To Wachen- 
 dorf he gave funds that the latter might 
 go both to Berlin and England in the 
 service of the Kaiser. To Paul Koenig, he handed 
 many accounts for secret service work, paying also 
 the expenses of Koenig's agents on trips to Mon- 
 treal and Quebec in hunting information about 
 enlistments of soldiers in Canada and the ship- 
 ments of supplies from Canadian ports. The 
 stub book also shows that he sent agents to in- 
 vestigate ammunition factories in different parts 
 of the country and that he paid the expenses of 
 von Skal in getting "photographs for the War 
 Intelligence Office." He constantly was sending 
 checks to consuls in various parts of the country 
 to pay the expenses of reservists and agents. 
 
 TO INVADE CANADA 
 
 The diary, too, tells you of Captain von 
 Papen's plan to invade Canada. Scarcely had he 
 
 38 
 
arrived in this country from Mexico, a few days 
 after the Germans had invaded Belgium than, as 
 general in chief of the German reservists, he be- 
 gan to mobilize his forces for a military enterprise 
 in Canada. If you look at the Captain's diary 
 you see these entries — "September 1, 1914, Mr. 
 Bridgeman Taylor, $200;" "September 16, for 
 Buffalo, Taylor, Ryan, $200;" "September 22, 
 for Ryan, Buffalo, $200;" "October 14, for Frit- 
 Ben and Busse, Buffalo, $40.00." 
 
 These are the earmarks of an unsuccessful 
 military enterprise; for just as soon as Cap- 
 tain von Papen saw reservists gather in New 
 York and assembling in other points he laid 
 his plans for a concerted move on Canada. He 
 discussed the details with his majors, captains and 
 lieutenants assembling in New York. He met 
 them in secret at night in the German Club and 
 with maps and other detailed plans he set forth 
 his mode of attack. 
 
 Captain von Papen s scheme — as they talked 
 it over at the German Club — was to create such 
 a reign of terror among Canadians that the pro- 
 vincial governments would deem it absolutely 
 necessary to keep all the troops in Canada for 
 defense rather than hurry them to the European 
 battlefront. The plan, while it entailed explosions 
 and fighting, was largely for psychological effect. 
 One part of the scheme was to send an expedition 
 to blow up the Welland Canal, a waterway that 
 runs around Niagara Falls on the Canadian side 
 
and is a most important avenue of transportation 
 for freight and passengers. The second part was 
 to have an invasion by German reservists upon 
 various parts of the Canadian border. 
 
 Captain von Papen aimed to create a panic 
 among the Canadians, to put such fear into them 
 that they would say to England, "We need our 
 troops for self -protection against the Germans in 
 the United States" — thereby putting the United 
 States in a position of being unable to preserve 
 its neutrality. The destruction of the canal by a 
 tremendous explosion, or the detonation of a car- 
 load of dynamite on some railroad, or any sort 
 of explosion in the Dominion, believed to have 
 been supervised by Germans, would have had a 
 tremendous effect upon the people. Doubtless 
 this was what Captain von Papen sought; for 
 that was the way he outlined the scheme to his 
 assistants. 
 
 One of the men whom von Papen gathered 
 for secret conference in the German Club, it is 
 charged, was Wachendorf. "Von der Goltz" in 
 a confession made to the Federal authorities said 
 that he was asked to give his opinion about a 
 proposal made to the German Embassy, the 
 writer of which, a certain Schumacher, had asked 
 for financial support in order to carry out a 
 scheme by which he would be able to make raids 
 on towns situated on the coast of the Great Lakes. 
 He proposed to use motor-boats armed with ma- 
 chine-guns. Though the proposal was rejected 
 
 40 
 
on account of the Embassy receiving unfavorable 
 information about the writer, "von der Goltz," 
 next was requested to aid in a scheme of invasion 
 of Canada with a small armed force recruited 
 from the reservists in the United States. The 
 scheme, which was proposed by von Papen and 
 Boy-Ed, was abandoned as objections to it were 
 made by Count von BernstorfL "Von der Goltz" 
 says he was told so by Captain von Papen. 
 
 BLOWING UP CANALS 
 
 Captain von Papen next asked "von der Goltz" 
 to see at his hotel two Irishmen, prominent mem- 
 bers of Irish associations, both of whom had 
 fought in the Irish rebellion and who had pro- 
 posed to Captain von Papen to blow up the locks 
 of the canals connecting the Great Lakes, main 
 railway junctions and grain elevators. "Von der 
 Goltz" says he received the gentlemen at his hotel, 
 the men bringing with them a letter of introduc- 
 tion written by Captain von Papen. After hav- 
 ing taken them to his room he got further details 
 of the matter, maps and diagrams evidently cut 
 out of books. 
 
 "Von der Goltz" also tells of going to Balti- 
 more to enlist a number of German reservists 
 who were staying on a German vessel there. In 
 that scheme, he says, he had the aid of Karl A. 
 Luederitz, German consul. He brought them 
 to New York but believing that his movements 
 were being watched by Federal agents, he sent 
 
 41 
 
them back. Continuing his story of the con- 
 spiracy, von der Goltz writes : 
 
 "I saw Mr. Tauscher and he gave me a letter 
 of introduction to the Dupont Powder Company, 
 recommending B. H. Taylor, and the company 
 supplied me with an order to the bargeman in 
 charge of the dynamite barges lying on the New 
 Jersey side near the Statue of Liberty. Cap- 
 tain Tauscher told me he would send the automa- 
 tic pistols by messenger to Hoboken, to be de- 
 livered there to one of my agents at a certain 
 restaurant, as he would be liable to punishment 
 if he delivered them in New York without having 
 seen my permit. The reasons why I did not apply 
 to the police for a permit are obvious. 
 
 SCATTERING DYNAMITE 
 
 "In order to get the dynamite it was necessary 
 for me to hire a motor-boat at a place near 146th 
 Street, Harlem, and to put the dynamite on board 
 in suit-cases. After returning to the dock, where 
 I had hired the boat, I went in a taxicab, having 
 two suit-cases with me, to the German Club to 
 see von Papen, who told me to call for the genera- 
 tors and then wire again at the club. I took the 
 dynamite to my rooms, where I kept also a por- 
 tion of the arms packed in small portmanteaus 
 ready to be moved, the rest of the dynamite and 
 arms being in the keeping of two of my agents, 
 one of which was Mr. Fritzen, discharged from 
 a Russian steamer, where he had acted in the 
 
capacity of purser ; the other one being Mr. Busse, 
 a commercial agent, who had lived for some time 
 in England ; the only other agent I employed be- 
 sides C. Covani, who attended to me personally, 
 Tucker not being entrusted with any of those 
 things." 
 
 Going to Buffalo with his men and equipment, 
 'Von der Goltz" was unable for some reason to 
 receive definite instructions from von Papen, who 
 was supposed to communicate with him under the 
 name of "Steffens." He says: 
 
 "Being thrown on my own discretion, I deter- 
 mined to reconnoitre the terrain where I wanted to 
 act first, but to do nothing further till I should 
 receive orders. 
 
 "On 25th September received notice from Ryan 
 to come to Buffalo. Having meantime received 
 private information that the 1st Canadian Con- 
 tingent had left Valcartier Camp, I knew that I 
 should be recalled, the object of the enterprise be- 
 ing removed. I received from Ryan the telegram 
 agreed upon in that case, but as I had spent most 
 of the money furnished to me I asked whether 
 Ryan had not received money to enable me to pay 
 off the men. Ryan said he had not, but gave me 
 some of his own initiative, and said he would wire 
 'Steffens.' On the 26th September I received tele- 
 gram from 'Steffens' telling me to do what I 
 thought best, and asking whether I had received 
 the $200. Thinking it best to return to New York, 
 all the more as funds were insufficient, I dis- 
 
 43 
 
charged Busse and Fritzen, who went to Buffalo, 
 left dynamite and other materials in the keeping 
 of an aviator who was manager of a restaurant at 
 Niagara Falls, to be used again when necessary, 
 and left with Covani for New York by way of 
 Buffalo." 
 
 The trial of Captain Tauscher on the indict- 
 ment charging him with conspiring with von 
 Papen, von Igel and others to blow up the Wel- 
 land Canal resulted in the acquittal of the Ger- 
 man reservist ; but it was admitted that von Papen 
 and von der Goltz had developed a plot to destroy 
 the Canal. 
 
 The evidence presented by Prosecutor Wood 
 made a case, corroborated by details of testimony 
 and documents, that delighted legal experts. The 
 jurors, several of whom were of foreign birth ac- 
 quitted the captain apparently on the theory that, 
 though he had furnished the dynamite, fuses and 
 automatic revolvers to von der Goltz, he knew 
 nothing about the plot, but simply had followed 
 the orders given him by his superior officer, Cap- 
 tain von Papen. 
 
 OBEDIENCE IN AMERICA EXACTED 
 
 Captain Tauscher, on the witness stand, testi- 
 fied that he was in Germany at the outbreak of 
 the war; that he had proffered his services as a 
 reservist officer and that he had been directed to 
 return to America and report to Captain von 
 Papen. He said he knew von Papen as the head 
 
 44 
 
of the German secret service and that he was 
 compelled to obey him. He protested, however, 
 that he had exacted a promise from von Papen 
 to the effect that he would not be asked to do any- 
 thing contrary to American laws. He said he 
 was an ordnance expert under von Papen. 
 
 Many documents, revealing the manner in 
 which von Papen and his assitahts worked, had 
 been taken from von IgeFs office, formerly von 
 Papen's New York headquarters and were pre- 
 sented as evidence by Prosecutor Wood. One 
 document was a piece of paper in von Papen's 
 own handwriting directing that a check in pay- 
 ment of the ammunition, pistols and dynamite, 
 be drawn in favor of Captain Tauscher and that 
 the same be charged to the account of William 
 G. Sichols. Still another document was a 
 copy of a letter written to a preacher in March, 
 1916, saying that Tucker, one of the witnesses in 
 the Canal expedition, must be sent away for a 
 time and remain quiet. The amount, $100 was 
 enclosed for that purpose. Tucker was arrested 
 in Texas. Although Captain Tauscher was freed, 
 practically every charge of the prosecution was 
 admitted except that Captain Tauscher had any 
 knowledge of von Papen's criminal intentions. 
 
 RECKLESS ADVENTURERS HIRED 
 
 Without doubt, according to facts gathered by 
 the Federal authorities and developed in Canada, 
 Captain von Papen and reservist German army 
 
 45 
 
officers in the country did plan a mobilization of 
 German reservists to attack Canadian points. 
 Hundreds of thousands of rifles and hundreds of 
 thousands of rounds of ammunition that were to 
 be available for German reservists were stored 
 in New York, in Chicago, and different places 
 along the border. While the Canadian and the 
 American officials developed evidence concerning 
 this plan of invasion, Max Lynar Louden, known 
 to the Federal authorities as "Count Louden," 
 a man of nondescript reputation, who had secret 
 communications with the Germans in the early 
 part of the war, has confessed that he was party 
 to the scheme for quick mobilization and equip- 
 ment of an army of German reservists. While 
 many persons insist that Louden is a fabricator, 
 nevertheless his secret activities were of such a 
 character that he was under suspicion by the 
 Federal authorities. At one time, he succeeded 
 in getting himself invited to a Government House 
 Ball, when the Duke of Connaught was the host. 
 His bizarre costume attracted attention. The 
 moment it was rumored that he was supposed 
 to have two or three wives, a State investigation 
 was commenced which resulted in the imprison- 
 ment of Louden. His story therefore is inter- 
 esting. 
 
 Through German- American interests the plans 
 were made in 1914, he said, and a fund of $10,- 
 000,000 was subscribed to carry out the details. 
 Secret meetings were held in New York, Buffalo, 
 
 46 
 
Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, and other large 
 cities, and at these meetings, Loudon asserted, it 
 was agreed that a force of 150,000 men, German 
 reservists, was available to seize and hold the 
 Wetland Canal, other stragetic points and muni- 
 tions centres. 
 
 "We had it arranged," said Louden, "to send 
 our men from large cities following announce- 
 ments of feasts and conventions ; and I think we 
 could have obtained enough to carry out our plans 
 had it not been for my arrest on the charge of 
 bigamy. The troops were to have been divided 
 into four divisions, with sioo sections. The first 
 two sections were to have assembled at Silver- 
 creek, Michigan. The first was to have seized the 
 Wetland Canal. The second was to have taken 
 Wind Mill Point. The third was to have gone 
 from Wilson, N. Y ., to Port Hope, Canada. The 
 fourth was to have proceeded from Watertown, 
 N. Y ., to Kingston, Canada. The fifth was to 
 have assembled near Detroit and land near Wind- 
 sor. The sixth section was to leave Cornwall and 
 take possession of Ottawa." 
 
 After the enterprise on the Welland Canal 
 failed and Count von Bernstorff, according to 
 von der Goltz, disapproved of the Canadian in- 
 vasion, there was a lull in any concerted move 
 upon Canada. 
 
 By referring again to Captain von Papen's 
 diary it is evident that he had other matters to 
 absorb his attention. The stubs of the check book 
 
 47 
 
record payments such as the following payment 
 dated July 10, 1915, "H. Tauscher (Preleuther's 
 bill for 'Res. Picric Acid') $68. The busy at- 
 tache, fighting here in the interests of the Father- 
 land had other plans. 
 
 BUYS UP EXPLOSIVES 
 
 Captain von Papen was keenly alive to the 
 production of explosives in America for sale to 
 the Allies. He was watching closely the product 
 of the different ammunition factories. He was 
 locating the source of the ingredients for such 
 explosives and he was naturally concerned in any 
 method for preventing the export of arms and 
 ammunition to the Allies. He possessed an un- 
 usual mind for economic data — a quality which 
 aroused the admiration of Dr. Albert. The two 
 men were much in conference over industrial 
 matters that might be managed in the interest of 
 the Teutonic Allies. Under Dr. Albert's guidance 
 he took up the project of acquiring a monopoly 
 in toluol, a constituent of the deadly explosive T. 
 N. T., and for buying picric acid, and liquid 
 chlorine. 
 
 How he made recommendations on these 
 things to Dr. Albert was shown in connec- 
 tion with the fiscal agent's activities. Other secret 
 letters and reports prove that he and his associates 
 had control of the Lehigh Coke Company, which 
 turned out a large amount of toluol and that he 
 was studying to control the supply of picric acid 
 
 48 
 
in this country. Still further, he devoted much 
 time to the Bridgeport Projectile Company in 
 Bridgeport, Connecticut. This company was or- 
 ganized shortly after the outbreak of the war 
 and its promoters were prevailed upon to sell out 
 to German interests who, after an expose of their 
 activities, disposed of their holdings to still an- 
 other group. Carl Heynen, an able German or- 
 ganizer and expert in Mexican affairs, had charge 
 of the plant and supervised construction work 
 and the placing of contracts for steel, ammuni- 
 tion, and presses. The money was furnished by 
 Hugo Schmidt, and Dr. Albert. 
 
 Von Papen, Heynen, Dr. Albert, frequently in 
 conference, planned, as excerpts from memoran- 
 dum prepared by them prove, to use the concern 
 in several ways: (1) to turn out supplies that 
 could be used by Germany and her Allies, or by 
 countries planning to make trouble for the United 
 States; (2) to take the Allies' orders and fail to 
 fill them; (3) to use the company as a means of 
 getting information from the War Department. 
 
 One of Captain von Papen's own letters re- 
 veals the importance of these enterprises. Writ- 
 ing to his wife about the so-called Albert papers, 
 he says : 
 
 "Unfortunately they stole a fat portfolio from 
 our good friend, Dr. Albert in the elevated. The 
 English secret service, of course. Unfortunately, 
 there were some very important things from my 
 report, among them such as buying up liquid 
 
chlorine and about the Bridgeport Projectile 
 Company, as well as documents regarding the 
 buying up of phenol and the acquisition of 
 Wright's Aeroplane patent. But things like that 
 must occur. I send you Albert's reply, for you 
 to see how we protect ourselves. We composed 
 the document to-day." 
 
 STOPPING SHIPMENTS FROM AMERICA 
 
 This search for information of military value 
 and these plans for acquiring monopolies on cer- 
 tain ingredients for high explosives, carried on 
 during the winter and spring of 1914-15, were 
 but preliminary to a much more extensive cam- 
 paign in which, as will be shown later on, Dr. 
 C. T. Dumba, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassa- 
 dor, assisted by von Papen and Boy-Ed; worked 
 with the idea, first, of controlling the arms and 
 ammunition factories in this country, and next, 
 of preventing the shipment of such products from 
 America. 
 
 Naturally, during the winter and spring, Cap- 
 tain von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed, Dr. Albert, 
 Count von BernstorfT, all along various lines, had 
 been struggling to help the Fatherland, each 
 eagerly hoping for success and some preferment 
 extended by the Kaiser as a reward for tasks well 
 performed. 
 
 Attacks were planned upon the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway in the east, the Welland Canal, 
 the St. Clair tunnel, running under the Detroit 
 
 50 
 
River from Port Huron, Michigan, to Sarnia, 
 Ontario, and tunnels of the Canadian Pacific 
 Railroad in the Selkirk mountains. It is charged 
 also in indictments handed down by a Federal 
 Grand Jury in San Francisco that the conspira- 
 tors in the West planned also to blow up trains 
 carrying munitions of war, horses, arms and the 
 like, and also to attack trains carrying soldiers. 
 By a study on the map of the points thus men- 
 tioned it will be observed that these enterprises 
 were planned with the utmost care to break into 
 sections of the Canadian transcontinental rail- 
 way system and to paralyze it absolutely. It can 
 be seen at a glance that such plots, if carried out, 
 would have prevented soldiers and munitions of 
 war from travelling East to ship for the 
 western front, or from going West to cross the 
 Pacific, thence through Siberia to the eastern 
 front. To this land scheme was added the addi- 
 tional plots of destroying docks by incendiarism, 
 ships by explosions and fire. Furthermore, agents 
 on land under the direction of other men were 
 studying the munition factories in the western 
 part of the United States preparatory to causing 
 explosions and fires. 
 
 For the execution of these campaigns against 
 munition industries and railroads in the West 
 and Northwest, Captain von Papen had special 
 lieutenants. The persons who have been convicted 
 in San Francisco on the charge of conspiring to 
 blow up railroads and to wreck the transcontin- 
 
 51 
 
ental railway system in Canada are: Franz Bopp, 
 German consul in San Francisco; Baron Eckhart 
 H. von Schack, German vice-consul; Lieutenant 
 Wilhelm von Bricken, attache of German consu- 
 late; Charles C. Crowley, detective for German 
 consul; and Mrs. Margaret W. Cornell, secretary 
 to Crowley. They were sentenced to two years 
 imprisonment each. 
 
 The question may justly he asked: "Why is it 
 charged that von Papen was behind and directed 
 all these enterprises?" The Federal authorities 
 have established a connection between von 
 Papen's headquarters in 60 Wall street, and the 
 German Consulate in San Francisco, whence, ac- 
 cording to United States District-Attorney 
 Preston of that city, ramifications led out to the 
 different angles of the conspiracy in the West. 
 So strong is the evidence that the San Francisco 
 officials have accused the defendants of using the 
 mails to incite murder, arson and assassination. 
 It is charged that the defendants planned to de- 
 stroy munition works at Aenta, Indiana, at 
 Ishpeming, Michigan, and at Gary and other 
 places in the West. Among the evidence is one 
 letter among several which has to do with the 
 question of the price which would be paid for the 
 destruction of a powder plant at Pinole, Cali- 
 fornia, and in it reference was made to "P." The 
 letter follows: 
 
 "Dear S. : Your last letter with clipping to-day, 
 and note what you have to say. I have taken it 
 
 59 
 
up with them and 'B.' (which the Federal officials 
 say stands for Franz Bopp, German Consul) is 
 awaiting decision of 'P.' in New York, so cannot 
 advise you yet, and will do so as soon as I get 
 word from you. You might size up the situation 
 in the meantime." 
 
 While this and other letters show, in the opinion 
 of the Government officials, that von Papen was 
 concerned with the defendants mentioned in the 
 western indictment, still other facts have been 
 gathered against von Papen. He has been traced 
 from Washington and New York to a number of 
 points in the United States, his visits coinciding 
 with remarkable closeness to the time that meet- 
 ings of the alleged conspirators were being held. 
 Captain von Papen sauntered from the Ritz-Carl- 
 ton Hotel in New York one afternoon about 3.30, 
 down Madison avenue to 42d street, where he 
 wavered for a moment as if deciding whether he 
 would turn over for a jaunt on Fifth avenue or 
 drop into the Grand Central Station to buy a 
 magazine. 
 
 After a moment he walked slowly into the 
 station, glancing casually at his watch, mov- 
 ing just before the gate closed toward the 
 entrance to the track where stood the Twentieth 
 Century Limited and he was soon safely on board. 
 The next day he was observed in Chicago, where 
 he announced that he was on his way to Yellow- 
 stone National Park — and he disappeared. For 
 several weeks he was lost to the sight of the zeal- 
 
 53 
 
ous agents who were hunting him; but one day 
 he was observed sauntering through the lobby of 
 the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. In the course 
 of his absence, he is said to have swung down 
 along the Mexican border, where he caught up 
 with Captain Boy-Ed, conferred with a number 
 of secret agents from Mexico, with spies scattered 
 throughout the country and then hurried up to 
 San Francisco where he was busy before the 
 agents of the Department of Justice picked him 
 up again. 
 
 CONSPIRACIES ON LAND AND SEA 
 
 One indictment against the five defendants, 
 phrased in legal terms, is vivid and forcible 
 though barren of details. It accuses the German 
 representatives and their hirelings of plotting to 
 blow up railway tunnels, railroads, railroad trains, 
 and bridges, already mentioned. Over this vast 
 system of transportation, the indictment explains, 
 there were being shipped supplies westward for 
 transportation on the ships Talthybius and Hazel 
 Dollar. The defendants, it is charged, hired Smith 
 to help them gain information about the sailings 
 and the cargoes of ships leaving Tacoma bound 
 for Vladivostok; that after Smith went to Ta- 
 coma, Crowley sent him money. Crowley and 
 Smith came to New York where they had confer- 
 ence with Germans who were in touch with von 
 Papen. They next went to Detroit, where they 
 
 54 
 
were working out plans for the blowing up of the 
 tunnel when they were arrested. Smith, who was 
 working on the shipping and the tunnel end of 
 the scheme, confessed, while van Koolbergen also 
 has made a statement to the authorities which is 
 of great interest, showing the workings of the 
 defendants. 
 
 "On different occasions in his room," says van 
 Koolbergen, "von Brincken showed me maps and 
 information about Canada, and pointed out to 
 me where he wanted the act to be done. This was 
 to be between Revelstoke and Vancouver on the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway, and I was to get 
 $3,000 in case of a successful blowing up of a 
 military train, or bridge, or tunnel. 
 
 "There are many tunnels and bridges there, 
 and military trains pass every three or four days ; 
 he also knew when a cargo of dynamite would 
 pass. He then explained to me how I could get 
 hold of dynamite, and explained to me that on 
 the other side of the river on which the Canadian 
 Pacific ran (I believe it was the Fraser River) 
 the Canadian Northern Railway was in course of 
 construction, and they had at intervals powder 
 and dynamite magazines and that it would be 
 very easy to steal some of the dynamite." 
 
 Several ships were blown up on the Pacific; 
 others were disabled under circumstances that' 
 suggested conspiracies. There were schemes also 
 to destroy docks on the Pacific coast. In view 
 of these plots, it is striking to observe in von 
 
 65 
 
Papen's check stubs this entry: "May 11, 1915, 
 German Consulate, Seattle (for Schulenberg) 
 $500." An explosion in Seattle Harbor occurred 
 on May 30, 1915. 
 
 Another excerpt from the check stub is dated 
 February 2d, 1915, recording the payment of 
 $1,300 to the Seattle, Washington, German Con- 
 sulate marked "C. Angelegenheit," a very vague 
 word for "affair." He also paid to A. Kalschmidt, 
 of Detroit who is accused by the Canadian 
 authorities of plotting to blow up armories and 
 factories in Canada, $1,000 on March 27, 1915, 
 and $1,976 on July 10, 1915. 
 
 While this enterprise was being mapped out in 
 the West, a second project against the Welland 
 Canal was in the making in New York. Paul 
 Koenig, the intermediary between von Papen and 
 reservists and others, had charge, it is alleged, of 
 selecting assistants who would carry dynamite, 
 fuses, and other equipment to the Canadian water- 
 way. Koenig selected as his assistants Richard 
 Emil Leyendecker, retailer of art woods, a 
 naturalized German-American, Fred Metzler, 
 Koenig's stenographer, George Fuchs, a Ger- 
 man who after a quarrel with Koenig turned 
 State's evidence; as also did Metzler, and one 
 or two other men. The party went to Buffalo 
 and to Niagara Falls, being trailed all the 
 time by agents under direction by William M. 
 Offley, chief of the Federal investigators of 
 New York. 
 
 56 
 
EXPLOSIONS IN FACTORIES 
 
 While these plots in the West were developed 
 in vain and some of the culprits have been con- 
 victed, still other enterprises were conceived and 
 set in motion in the East. A great number of 
 explosions and fires have occurred in factories in 
 the eastern part of the country. Though many 
 of them were due to natural causes, yet suspicions 
 seem to show that bombs were manufactured and 
 placed in various plants and that incendiary 
 bombs were hidden in other factories. The men 
 believed to have committed the crime have been 
 traced. They invariably proved to be Germans 
 who, under assumed names had obtained work in 
 the factory; and then, shortly after the fire or 
 explosion, they disappeared. But Federal agents 
 following them learned that they had hurried 
 back to Germany or skipped away to Mexico or 
 South America. Bombs for their purposes were 
 manufactured in various places in New York 
 and Brooklyn; and in fact the authorities have 
 obtained statements from men who made the 
 bombs, but thus far they have not located the 
 chief man. A German officer skilled in the manu- 
 facture of explosives spent a number of months 
 in New York, living on board one of the Ger- 
 man merchantmen and conferring frequently with 
 Germans. He disappeared one day and was not 
 heard of until a wireless message announced his 
 arrival in Berlin. 
 
 Into this general scheme for preventing sup- 
 
 57 
 
plies from going to the Allies fits the conspiracy 
 of Robert Fay and his associates. Fay, a tall, 
 military-looking man who has told many stories, 
 some of which are true, some of which are lies, 
 fought in the trenches for Germany and then ob- 
 tained leave of absence and a passport to come 
 to America. He had an inventive bent, and he 
 conceived the idea of manufacturing high explo- 
 sive mines which could be attached to the rudder 
 posts of ships, and which would be so regulated 
 by a detonating device that explosions would 
 occur far out at sea. Fay says that he sought 
 to blow off the rudder, disable the ship, but not 
 to sink the vessel or injure her passengers. 
 
 His aim was to frighten steamship owners, and 
 insurance underwriters so that the insurance on 
 munition ships would be raised to an almost pro- 
 hibitive rate. Experts, however, have testified 
 that so great was the amount of high explosive in 
 the mines that it would have blown off the stern 
 of the ship, and detonated the cargo of explosives. 
 In other words, had Fay's scheme worked, 
 nothing of the cargo and ship would have re- 
 mained but a few chips floating upon the waves. 
 But through the vigilance of Chief Flynn, of the 
 secret service, and Captain Tunney, of the bomb 
 squad of the New York Police Department, 
 Fay's plan was detected and John C. Knox, 
 Assistant United States District Attorney, pre- 
 sented the evidence so thoroughly that Fay and 
 his brother-in-law, Walter Scholz, and Paul 
 Daeche, a German reservist, were found guilty. 
 
They were sentenced respectively to eight, four 
 and two years in the penitentiary. Fay admitted 
 on the witness stand that he laid his plan before 
 Captain von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed, that he 
 had more than one conference with Captain von 
 Papen; but he asserted that both men warned 
 him not to undertake the scheme. It will be 
 remembered that Fay escaped from the Atlanta 
 Penitentiary within a short time after his sen- 
 tence, and he is believed to be either in Mexico 
 or back in the trenches. He undoubtedly secured 
 aid from German sympathizers. 
 
 FIRE BOMBS 
 
 Another part of this vast conspiracy against 
 the export of arms and ammunition was the 
 scheme to manufacture the so-called fire bombs, 
 which could be placed in the holds of ships and 
 which, exploding after a certain time, would set 
 fire to the cargoes. By this means, thirty-three 
 ships were stealthily attacked, with New York 
 as a basis of operation, and damage of $10,000- 
 000 was done. Vessels sailing not only from 
 New York but from Boston, Galveston, and even 
 from the Pacific ports, carried these bombs 
 stowed away in their holds. Sugar ships espe- 
 cially were an object of attack, for sugar forms 
 an ingredient of a certain explosive. These ships 
 especially were adapted to this method, because 
 once a fire started, the bomb itself would be de- 
 stroyed, and as water had to be poured into the 
 hold, the sugar would be destroyed. 
 
Several bombs would be placed in the same 
 hold, as has been shown by the fact that one fire 
 was started in a vessel before she had left port. 
 The fire was extinguished and more sugar loaded 
 on the boat. Scarcely had the boat got out of 
 port when another fire started. Among the ships 
 attacked by bombs were La Touraine, of the 
 French line, the Minnehaha, of the Atlantic 
 Transport Line, the Rochambeau, the Euterpe, 
 Strathtay, Devon City, Lord Erne, Lord Or- 
 monde, Tennyson and many others. 
 
 The man accused of having charge of these 
 bombs is a chemist, named Dr. Walter T. Scheele, 
 formerly of Brooklyn, later of Hoboken, and 
 still later a resident of some foreign country 
 whither he fled. He developed — or it was sug- 
 gested to him by German officers — a scheme for 
 taking a small metal container divided into two 
 parts. Into one part would be put sulphuric 
 acid; into another part, chlorate of potash. The 
 sulphuric acid eating through the partition be- 
 tween the two sections made of aluminum, would 
 unite with the chlorate of potash, causing com- 
 bustion. Thus started, a fire so intense would be 
 created that the container made of lead would be 
 destroyed, and the cargo would be set on fire. 
 Dr. Scheele, it is charged, made hundreds of 
 these bombs, and received a large amount of 
 money from German sources. One story is that 
 von Rintelen paid him $10,000. Another story 
 is that Wolf von Igel, von Papen's assistant, paid 
 him money after von Papen left the country. 
 
 60 
 
Still further, Captain Otto Wolpert, Pier Super- 
 intendent of the Atlas Line, is charged with hav- 
 ing received some of these bombs. The metal 
 containers were manufactured on board the 
 steamship Friedrich der Grosse, tied up in the 
 North German Lloyd pier in Hoboken. The 
 chief engineer, Carl Schmidt, who spent part 
 time in collecting money for a monument to com- 
 memorate the part Germans have taken in the 
 present war, is said to have been directed by a 
 German officer to turn over the work shop of the 
 ship as a bomb factory. At any rate, Ernst 
 Becker, chief electrician, who has turned State's 
 evidence, and three assistant engineers have been 
 arrested as co-conspirators in this ship plot. Dr. 
 Scheele's assistant, Captain Charles von Kleist, 
 also has been arrested. It was through informa- 
 tion unwittingly supplied by him that Captain 
 Tunney and Detective George Barnitz, assisted 
 by extremely keen members of the bomb squad, 
 unearthed the whole conspiracy. 
 
 Captain von Papen, as an organizer of a part 
 of Germany's secret service in America, as the 
 schemer who sought to control a monopoly in 
 certain high explosives and as a director of 
 military enterprises — has been revealed by the 
 Federal authorities as an extremely able servant 
 of the Kaiser. These activities, however, were 
 only a part of the task assigned to him by the 
 German General Staff. He had still other plans 
 which will be set forth in the following chapter. 
 
 61 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CAPTAIN VON PAPEN, 
 
 BUYER OF PASSPORTS AND 
 
 PROMOTER OF SEDITION 
 
 THREE other phases of Captain von 
 Papen's campaigns against the Allies 
 upon American territory as a base of 
 operations remain to be set forth. They are his 
 supervision of a bureau for obtaining fraudulent 
 passports for German reservists ordered home to 
 fight for the Fatherland, the fomentation of in- 
 surrections in the colonies of the Allies and of 
 war between Mexico and the United States. 
 
 PASSPORT FORGERIES 
 
 The passport bureau is a striking instance of 
 Germany's disregard of the rights and laws in 
 a neutral country. With the sending of Great 
 Britain's ultimatum to Germany, the cable be- 
 tween Germany and the United States had been 
 cut. The United States forbade the use of 
 wireless for the transmission of messages in code 
 to Germany, or the use of the cable for cipher 
 dispatches to the warring countries. The Allies' 
 war vessels began at once to search all passenger 
 ships for German citizens, taking them off and 
 
sending them to concentration camps. Mean- 
 time, von Papen, Boy-Ed and the other German 
 officials realized the utmost necessity of transmit- 
 ting to their respective home offices information 
 concerning the developments in America. They 
 knew also the vital necessity of sending back to 
 Berlin, army and naval officers who had been 
 selected and trained for special commissions in 
 the event of war. 
 
 But they had been taught in their early days 
 the value of fraudulent passports, and to these 
 they turned at once. The Germans had at 
 first no regular passport bureau for the aid 
 of German reservists. Every German, left to his 
 own resources, did the best he could under the 
 circumstances. Carl A. Luederitz, German con- 
 sul in Baltimore, has been indicted on a charge 
 of conspiracy in connection with obtaining a 
 fraudulent passport for Horst von der Goltz 
 under the name of Bridgeman Taylor. The 
 young German has confessed that with the aid 
 of Herr Luederitz he applied for a passport, 
 and on August 31, 1914, obtained one bearing 
 the signature of William J. Bryan, then Secre- 
 tary of State. To get that document von der 
 Goltz took an oath that he was born in San 
 Francisco. 
 
 But this method was rather loose, and upon 
 Captain von Papen devolved the necessity of 
 establishing a regular system. The military 
 attache, always resourceful and daring, selected 
 
for the work Lieutenant Hans von Wedell. Von 
 Wedell had been a newspaper reporter in New 
 York, later a lawyer ; but when he received orders 
 from Captain von Papen, he gladly undertook 
 the work in New York, bureaus being started in 
 other cities. He opened an office in Bridge 
 Street, New York, and began to send out 
 emissaries to Germans in Hoboken, directing 
 them to apply for passports. He sent others to 
 the haunts of hoboes on the Bowery, to the cheap 
 hotels, and other gathering places of the downs- 
 and-outs, offering ten, fifteen and twenty dollars 
 to men who would apply for passports. He spent 
 much time at the Deutscher Verein, at the Elks 
 clubhouse, where he would meet his agents, give 
 them instructions and receive passports. His 
 bills were paid by Captain von Papen, as revealed 
 by the attache's checks and check stubs. These 
 show that on November 24, 1914, von Papen paid 
 him $500 ; that on December 5, he gave him $500 
 and then $300, the latter being for journey 
 money; that he paid von WedelFs bills at the 
 Deutscher Verein, amounting in November, 
 1914, to $38.05. Meantime, he was using Mrs. 
 von Wedell as a courier, sending her with mes- 
 sages to Germany. On December 22, 1914, he 
 paid Mrs. von Wedell, by his own account, $800. 
 
 BUYING PASSPORTS WHOLESALE 
 
 The passports which von Wedell, and later on 
 his successor Carl Ruroede, Sr., obtained, were 
 
 64 
 
used for the benefit of German officers whom the 
 General Staff had ordered back to Berlin. Amer- 
 ican passports, then Mexican, Swiss, Norwegian 
 and the passports of South American countries, 
 were seized eagerly by various reservists bound 
 for the front. Stories were told in New York of 
 Germans and Austrians, who had been captured 
 by the Russians, sent to Siberia as prisoners of 
 war, escaping therefrom, and making their way 
 by caravan through China, embarking on vessels 
 bound for America, arriving in New York and 
 thence shipping for neutral countries. Among 
 them was an Austrian officer, an expert observer 
 in aeroplane reconnaissance, who lost both his feet 
 in Siberia, but who escaped to this country. He 
 was ordered home because of his extreme value 
 in reconnoitering. The British learned of him, 
 however, and took him off a ship at Falmouth 
 to spend the remainder of the war in a prison 
 camp. 
 
 Captain von Papen used the passport bureau 
 to obtain passports for spies whom he wished to 
 send to England, France, Italy and Russia. 
 Among these men were Kuepferle and von Bree- 
 chow, both of whom were captured in England, 
 having in their possession fraudulent passports. 
 Kuepferle and von Breechow both confessed. 
 
 But so reckless was von Wedell's and 
 Ruroede's work that the authorities soon dis- 
 covered the practice. Two hangers-on at the 
 Mills Hotel called upon the writer one day and 
 
 65 
 
told him of von Wedell's practices, related how 
 they had blackmailed him out of $50, gave his 
 private telephone numbers and set forth his 
 haunts. As a result of this and other informa- 
 tion reaching the Department of Justice, Albert 
 G. Adams, a clever agent, started out one day, 
 got into the confidence of Ruroede and offered 
 to get passports for him for $50 each. Mean- 
 time, von Wedell had gone on a trip to Cuba, 
 apparently on passport matters, and Adams, 
 posing as a pro-German got into the inner ring 
 of the passport-buyers. He was informed by 
 Ruroede as to what was wanted. 
 
 CHANGING OFFICIAL STAMPS 
 
 Though in the early days of the war it had not 
 been necessary for the applicant to give to the 
 Federal authorities anything more than a general 
 description of himself, the reports of German 
 spies in the Allies' countries became so insistent 
 that the Government directed that the document, 
 bearing the United States seal, must have the pic- 
 ure of the person to whom it was issued. The 
 Germans, however, were not worried. It was a 
 simple matter to give a general description of a 
 man's eyes, color of hair, age and so forth, that 
 would fit the man who was actually to use the 
 document and then forward the picture of the 
 applicant, who, getting the passport, would sell 
 it. Even though the official stamp was placed 
 on the picture, the Germans were not dismayed. 
 
Federal Agent Adams rushed into Ruroede 's 
 office one day waving five passports which had 
 been issued to him in a batch by Uncle Sam. 
 Adams seemed proud of his work. Ruroede was 
 delighted. 
 
 "I knew I could get these passports easily," 
 boasted Ruroede. "Why, if Lieutenant Hans 
 von Wedell had kept on here, he never could have 
 done this. He always was getting into a muddle." 
 
 "But how can you use these passports with 
 these pictures on them?" asked the agent, 
 curiously. 
 
 "Oh, that's easy," answered Ruroede. "Come 
 into the back room and I'll show you." The 
 agent followed the German, who immediately 
 soaked one of the passports with a damp cloth 
 and with adhesive paste fastened a photograph 
 of another man over the original upon which 
 the imprint of the United States seal had 
 been made. 
 
 "We wet the photograph," said Ruroede, "and 
 then we affix the picture of the man who is to 
 use it. The new photograph also is dampened, 
 but when it is fastened to the passport, there still 
 remains a sort of vacuum in spots between the 
 new picture and the old, because of ridges made 
 by the seal. Well, turn the passport upside down, 
 place it on a soft ground made with a silk hand- 
 kerchief, and then, taking a paper cutter with a 
 dull point, just trace the letters on the seal. The 
 result is that the new photograph looks exactly 
 
 67 
 
as if it had been stamped by Uncle Sam. You 
 can't tell the difference." 
 
 Through the work of Adams, four Germans, 
 one of them an officer of the German re- 
 serves, were arrested on the Norwegian- America 
 liner Bergensfjord, outward bound to Bergen, 
 Norway. They had passports issued to them 
 through Ruroede's bureau under the American 
 names of Howard Paul Wright, Herbert S. Wil- 
 son, Peter Hansen and Stanley F. Martin. Their 
 real names were Arthur Sachse, Pelham Heights, 
 N. Y., who was returning to Germany to become 
 a lieutenant in the German Army ; Walter Miller, 
 August R. Meyer, and Herman Wegener, who 
 had come to New York from Chile, on their way 
 to the Fatherland Ruroede pleaded guilty and 
 was sentenced to three years in Atlanta, Ga., 
 prison. The four Germans, pleading guilty, 
 protested they had taken the passports out of 
 patriotism and were fined $200 each. 
 
 Von Wedell, himself, was a passenger on the 
 steamer Bergensfjord, but when he was lined up 
 with the other passengers, the Federal agents, 
 who did not have a description of him, were de- 
 ceived, and let the vessel proceed. He was taken 
 off the ship by the British and placed in prison. 
 
 The arrest of Ruroede exposed the New York 
 bureau, and made it necessary for the Germans 
 to shift their base of operations ; but it did not put 
 an end to the fraudulent passport conspiracies, 
 as will be shown. In the face of the exposures, 
 
so daring were the German agents that they con- 
 tinued to commit fraud upon the United States, 
 and to put in danger every honest American 
 traveling in Europe with an American passport. 
 
 FOMENTING REVOLTS 
 
 Captain von Papen was a superviser and a 
 promoter of sedition. His headquarters in Wall 
 Street were the center of lines running out to 
 British and French colonies, where Germany 
 planned at critical moments to start revolutions, 
 if it would help her interests. 
 
 One of the enterprises which Captain von 
 Papen, acting under orders from Berlin, super- 
 vised in the United States, was a revolt against 
 British rule in India. Preparations for this 
 insurrection had been in the making for years, 
 and, in the course of all of them, German agents 
 were working with the Hindus and also with 
 the German-Irish in America, the latter organiza- 
 tion being really headquarters for many Hindus 
 traveling from Germany to England, then to 
 United States, on their way back to India. There 
 has been for years a sort of understanding be- 
 tween pro-German Irish and certain members of 
 an American society interested in India. In this 
 organization, prior to the war, were men who 
 were plotting a revolution in India, who were in 
 touch with German agents and who received 
 German money. 
 
 Immediately after the outbreak of the war, 
 
 69 
 
von Papen and his agents poured more money 
 into Hindu pockets, and made arrangements to 
 supply arms and ammunition to Hindus. For 
 the promotion of this German-Hindu conspiracy, 
 two other centers were established. One was 
 fathered by Germans in San Francisco, and an- 
 other was at Shanghai, China. Confessions by 
 men, who were active in the enterprise, tell how 
 Hindus in sympathy with the sedition plots con- 
 ferred with certain German officials in Berlin, 
 that they came to New York — this in the course 
 of the war — where they met certain pro-German- 
 Irishmen and were aided financially. From New 
 York they journeyed to Chicago, where more 
 money was handed to them, and then to San 
 Francisco, where they had talks with Hindu 
 revolutionists — whose openly avowed aim is in 
 rousing the people of India to celebrate the year 
 1917, "the diamond jubilee of the mutiny of 
 1857," by a general and universal rising against 
 British rule in India. 
 
 HINDUS LAUNCH BOMB CAMPAIGN 
 
 Many Hindus, who were assembled in the 
 West, also had an opportunity to study the fine 
 art of explosive and bomb making at a bomb 
 factory up in the state of Washington. On sev- 
 eral occasions groups of Hindus equipped with 
 money and carrying secretly arms with them 
 sailed from San Francisco for the Philippines, 
 planning thence to go to India. Furthermore, 
 
 70 
 
ships were chartered by German agencies to carry 
 arms and ammunition to India and Ceylon. The 
 American schooner Annie Larsen and the ship 
 Maverick, both owned by a man named Fred 
 Jebsen, a German naval officer, were chartered 
 on the Pacific coast to sail for India in June, 
 1915. The Annie Larsen was seized by the 
 United States officials at Hoquiam, Washington, 
 and on board was found a cargo of rifles and 
 ammunition. The Maverick, however, got away 
 also equipped with rifles and cartridges, carrying 
 a number of Hindus. The good ship had a most 
 eventful voyage, the sailors and the passengers 
 suffering many hardships, and finally reached 
 Batavia where she was seized by the Dutch 
 authorities. 
 
 In the early stages of his plans, Captain von 
 Papen had an opportunity to send a rather de- 
 tailed report of events in India to the secret office 
 in Berlin. The chance came through Captain 
 Archibald, who was about to sail from this coun- 
 try, and Captain von Papen, accordingly, prepar- 
 ed in code a long message. This document, which 
 has been translated, is illuminating. Here it is : 
 
 "Since October, 1914, there have been various 
 local mutinies of Mohammedan native troops, 
 one practically succeeding the other. From the 
 last reports, it appears that the Hindu troops are 
 going to join the mutineers. 
 
 "The Afghan army is ready to attack India. 
 The army holds the position on one side of the 
 
 71 
 
Utak River. The British army is reported to 
 hold the other side of the said river. The three 
 bridges connecting both sides have been blown 
 up by the British. 
 
 "In the garrison located on the Kathiawar 
 Peninsula, Indian mutineers stormed the arsenal. 
 Railroad and wireless station have been destroyed. 
 The Sikh troops have been removed from Belu- 
 chistan ; only English, Mohammedans and Hindu 
 troops remain there. 
 
 "The Twenty-third Cavalry Regiment at La- 
 hore revolted ; the police station and Town House 
 were stormed. The Indian troops in Somaliland 
 in Labakoran are trying to effect a junction with 
 the Senussi. All Burmah is ready to revolt. 
 
 "In Calcutta, unrest is reported with street 
 fighting; in Lahore, a bank was robbed; every 
 week at least two Englishmen are killed; in the 
 northwestern district many Englishmen killed, 
 munitions and other material taken, railroads 
 destroyed ; a relief train was repulsed. 
 
 "Everywhere great unrest, in Benares a bank 
 has been stormed. 
 
 "Revolts in Chitral very serious; barracks and 
 Government buildings destroyed. The Hurti 
 Mardin Brigade, under General Sir E. Wood, 
 has been ordered there. Deputy Commissioner 
 of Lahore wounded by a bomb in the Anakali 
 Bazaar. 
 
 "Mohammedan squadron of the cavalry regi- 
 ment in Nowschera deserted over Chang, south- 
 west Beshawar. Soldiers threw bombs against 
 the family of the Maharajah of Mysore. One 
 child and two servants killed, his wife mortally 
 wounded. 
 
 "In Ceylon a state of war has been declared." 
 
 73 
 
THE REVOLT IN IRELAND 
 
 The extensive conspiracy on the part of Ger- 
 many to start a revolt in Ireland has been 
 thoroughly set forth in the public prints in con- 
 nection with the arrest and trial of Sir Roger 
 Casement as a rebel. Sir Roger worked openly 
 among the Irish prisoners in Germany, traveling 
 back and forward between Ireland and Germany 
 by means of a German submarine. Nevertheless, 
 a very large and important American phase of 
 this whole revolution occupied von Papen's atten- 
 tion prior to his recall. German agents here were 
 in touch with the Irishmen in America, who were 
 actively co-operating with Patrick H. Pearse. 
 
 German funds were poured into Irish hands in 
 America, the money being used for the purchase 
 of arms and the printing of seditious papers and 
 leaflets. More than $100,000 was collected in 
 America for Ireland between September, 1914, 
 and April, 1915. Plans also were worked out 
 with the aid of Germans in America to ship arms 
 and supplies to the Irish rebels. 
 
 There also have been vague reports of dramatic 
 schemes in America to arm the Arabs in northern 
 Africa and start an uprising against British rule. 
 There have been signs of dramatic plottings to 
 stir up trouble in Afghanistan and in Egypt. It 
 is a fact that various attempts have been made 
 to ship rifles and cartridges from the United 
 States to South America and then from South 
 America to Africa. Some of these have proved 
 
 73 
 
successful. In other cases, the shipments have 
 been stopped. 
 
 FORCING WAR IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Throughout all the crises arising between the 
 United States and Germany over the submarine 
 campaign,, German agents constantly kept in 
 view the possibility of a war between their coun- 
 try and this nation. They prepared for it. 
 
 "Before I left New York," confesses von der 
 Goltz, "I had some conversation with Captain 
 von Papen about the war, and while speaking 
 of the end of the war Captain von Papen said: 
 'Should things start to look bad for us, there will 
 be something happen over here/ In connection 
 with other statements of his, he speculated on 
 America joining Germany or on a possible up- 
 rising." The significance of that remark was 
 shown two years and a half later when on January 
 31, 1917, three days before the break between the 
 United States and Germany an order went forth 
 from the German Embassy in Washington. Im- 
 mediately the machinery of every German mer- 
 chantman interned in American ports was 
 wrecked. The damage was $30,000,000. 
 
 Here again Captain von Papen's and Captain 
 Boy-Ed's advice and orders were involved. It 
 devolved upon Captain von Papen not only to 
 keep in thorough touch with the development of 
 American military affairs, but also to study con- 
 stantly the topography of the United States, the 
 
 7i 
 
•plan of cities and their surroundings from a mil- 
 itary viewpoint. Upon him fell the task of sta- 
 tioning German reservists in the various cities 
 and towns where, in case of hostilities, they would 
 be valuable to the German cause. German effi- 
 ciency and foresight came to the front in connec- 
 tion with these plans. There was under considera- 
 tion at one time when the crises between the 
 United States and Germany were acute, military 
 plans to start a reign of terror in America. 
 
 First of all, Captain von Papen and Captain 
 Boy-Ed supervised the purchase of ground near 
 New York and Boston, which was to be used for 
 the construction of concrete bases for big guns 
 in the same manner in which the Germans pre- 
 pared in Belgium, England and France prior to 
 the war. There is absolute proof that German 
 representatives spent money for this purpose, 
 and that they caused to be built foundations that 
 could be used for big guns for the purpose of 
 making an attack upon New York City, for in- 
 stance. But that was only a part of the scheme. 
 
 When von Papen and his colleague Boy-Ed 
 were recalled, it was announced by the State De- 
 partment that the reason was "improper activities 
 in military and naval affairs. " A brief summary 
 of Captain von Papen's activities shows that he 
 violated the courtesies extended to him as a diplo- 
 matic agent in secretly sending code messages by 
 couriers; that he handed out money for fraud- 
 ulent passports; that he schemed in military en- 
 
 75 
 
terprises against Canada; that he plotted with 
 Ambassador Dumba to start strikes in American 
 factories; that he plotted in connection with 
 other criminal activities in this country, such 
 as blowing up factories; that he was a promoter 
 of seditious enterprises; and that he and his as- 
 sociates schemed to start war between the United 
 States and Mexico. 
 
 When he set foot upon the gangplank of the 
 steamship Noordam, homeward bound, he said: 
 "I leave my post without any feeling of bitter- 
 ness, because I know full well that when history 
 is once written it will establish our clean record, 
 despite all the misrepresentations spread broad- 
 cast." But at the moment he handed out that 
 statement he was carrying under his arm a port- 
 folio which was a veritable diary of his payments 
 to law-breakers. Again he gave proof of his ex- 
 pression about "stupid Americans," because he 
 thought he could make those "stupid Americans" 
 believe him, and that he could sneak the proofs of 
 his law-breaking past the British at Falmouth. 
 Again the stupidity was on his side. 
 
 76 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 VON IGEL AND KOENIG, 
 
 TWO OF THE KAISER'S FAITHFUL 
 
 WORKERS 
 
 WOLF VON IGEL, von Papen's man 
 Friday and custodian of his secret 
 documents, was hustling about his 
 private office on the twenty-fifth floor of 60 Wall 
 street on the morning of April 19, 1916. He was 
 hurried. His full, grey eyes glistened with ex- 
 citement and he curled his stubby moustache as 
 he glanced upon heaps of papers carefully ar- 
 ranged on the long council table and on the floor. 
 Then squaring his stocky shoulders, he turned 
 again to the big safe, bearing the seal of the Im- 
 perial German Government, and swinging back 
 the heavy doors, extracted another bundle of pa- 
 pers which he ranged among the other sheets with 
 military precision. 
 
 "It's 11 o'clock and Koenig should be here 
 now," he said in German to another employe of 
 von Papen's who was with him. "These papers 
 must be packed up at once." 
 
 He paused and then began a mental inventory 
 of each stack of papers to make sure none was 
 missing. All these documents — there were hun- 
 
 77 
 
dreds of them and their weight, as revealed by a 
 government agent, was seventy pounds — had be- 
 longed to von Papen. They revealed the inner 
 workings of the German spy system in America 
 and a great part of the world. They told many 
 of the details. Those papers, connecting the 
 German Government with violators of law in 
 America, were a vast responsibility for any officer 
 of von Igel's age. Naturally, the young man 
 was keyed to a high pitch of excitement; for 
 hitherto they had come from the safe only piece- 
 meal, and to permit daylight to reach so many 
 at one time was almost a little more than von 
 Igel's nerve could stand. 
 
 Perhaps he had a presentiment. In fact, secret 
 agencies had been at work to instill in him a feel- 
 ing of uneasiness. Von Igel, stopping again and 
 again to twirl his moustache, knew that von 
 Papen and Captain Tauscher had been indicted 
 on a charge of plotting to blow up Welland 
 Canal. Word also had come to him that still 
 more ominous events were portending and the 
 idea — by stealthy prearrangement — had been 
 given to him to ship all the documents to Wash- 
 ington, where they would be absolutely safe. 
 Therefore von Igel was both busy with his pack- 
 ing and intensely perturbed. 
 
 "A man to see you, Herr von Igel," announced 
 a stout German attendant. "He refuses to tell 
 his business except that it is important." 
 
 Von Igel was gruffly directing his agent to 
 
 78 
 
make the stranger specify his name and mission 
 when the door was flung open. In dashed Joseph 
 A. Baker, of the Department of Justice, in charge 
 of Federal Agents Storck, Underhill, and 
 Grgurevich. 
 
 "I have a warrant for your arrest!" shouted 
 Baker, who had a warrant charging the German 
 with complicity in the Welland Canal enterprise. 
 Von Igel eyed the intruders for the fraction of a 
 second. With one spring he reached the safe, 
 and swinging the doors shut, was turning the 
 combination when Baker leaped upon him bear- 
 ing him to the floor. Then followed a battle 
 of four Americans against two Germans, the 
 attendant having been quieted by the flash of 
 revolvers. 
 
 "This means war," yelled von Igel. "This is 
 a part of the German Embassy and is German 
 territory. You've no right here." 
 
 "You're under arrest," said Baker soothingly, 
 as he pulled a revolver. 
 
 "You shoot and there'll be war," answered von 
 Igel, while Storck and Underhill grappled with 
 a third. "I'm connected with the Embassy and 
 you can't arrest me." The first skirmish was 
 quickly ended by von Igel, realizing the import- 
 ance of the documents entrusted to his care and 
 straining every resource to outwit his captors, he 
 fought again and again, facing revolvers and 
 braving fists to reach the telephone to call for the 
 help of the German Ambassador and prevent the 
 
 79 
 
officers from gathering up the documents. But 
 he was unsuccessful. As the agents led him from 
 the office, they met Koenig, von Igel's associate, 
 and von Papen's agent in many enterprises just 
 entering. Koenig, who was already facing three 
 charges growing out of his activities, was rendered 
 speechless by the sight of von Igel in custody and 
 some of his documents in possession of the gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The mass of documents — it makes no difference 
 whether the Secretary of State, for reasons of State 
 or of law, orders their return — not only set forth 
 the secrets of Germany's activities in this country ; 
 but they also told what part von Igel and Koenig 
 played in the invisible war in America. They 
 show how both men were errand boys, carriers 
 of cash and of messages for von Papen and 
 Boy-Ed. 
 
 WHO WAS VON IGEL? 
 
 Concerning young von Igel there is much 
 mystery. At the outbreak of the war, he was 
 reported to be wandering around looking for a 
 job, willing to work for any wages. Then von 
 Papen picked him up, paying him a salary of 
 $238 a month. There is a rumor, too, that he is 
 a grandson of Graf von Waldersee, one time Ger- 
 many's Chief of Staff. That he is a man of im- 
 portance is indicated by the manner in which he 
 was trusted by von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Dr. 
 Albert. When in an automobile ride from Cap- 
 
 80 
 
tain Tauscher's home on Long Island with von 
 Papen and Dr. Albert, he met with an injury, 
 he was hurried secretly to a hospital. Every ef- 
 fort was made to hide his identity ; but Dr. Albert 
 and von Papen visited him frequently. Von 
 Papen paid the hospital bills and charged them 
 up to "War Intelligence." 
 
 Almost immediately upon beginning service 
 under von Papen, he leased the offices in Wall 
 street, putting down in the contract "advertising" 
 as the purpose to which the rooms were to be 
 devoted and never making any statement as to 
 his connection with the German Embassy. He 
 quickly gave von Papen every reason to trust 
 him fully and won the respect of the reckless 
 attache. Though he did not begin work for von 
 Papen until September, 1914, he had, it is 
 charged, a hand in the first Welland Canal enter- 
 prise. 
 
 HANDLING MONEY FOR EVIL ENDS 
 
 Von Igel also handled money for von Papen. 
 For instance, on March 27, 1915, the latter gave 
 to his secretary a check payable to his order for 
 $1,000 and on the counterfoil of his check book he 
 wrote "for A. Kaltschmidt, Detroit," who since 
 has been accused by the Canadian authorities as 
 an accomplice in the project against Canadian 
 armories and munition factories. It was von Igel, 
 furthermore, who cashed many checks for von 
 Papen, the proceeds of which were to go to secret 
 
 8% 
 
agents starting on missions to the enemy's coun- 
 try. He carried confidential messages which von 
 Papen would not put in writing. He handled 
 the code books in compiling and deciphering mes- 
 sages. He carried orders to Koenig, conferring 
 with him and directing him when to meet von 
 Papen. 
 
 When von Papen was preparing to leave the 
 country at the request of President Wilson, he 
 began to turn over his documents to von Igel for 
 safe keeping. He gave him instructions as to the 
 custody of the papers and the cleaning up of work 
 left undone. In his regard, he undoubtedly 
 followed Dr. Albert's instructions put in a letter 
 from San Francisco: "If you should leave New 
 York before my return, we must try to come 
 to some agreement about pending questions 
 by writing. Please instruct Mr. Amanuensis 
 Igel as precisely as possible. You will then 
 receive in Germany the long-intended report of 
 the expenses paid through my account on your 
 behalf." 
 
 So von Igel, as a trusted clerk, took unto him- 
 self the duties of confidential man for von Papen 
 and for other big Germans who began but were 
 obliged to leave unfinished certain projects in 
 this country. There were many lines of informa- 
 tion and activities converging to von Papen, af- 
 terward to von Igel. After von Rintelen left this 
 country part of his schemes were entrusted to 
 von Igel, who saw men with whom von Rintelen 
 
 82 
 
or his assistants had dealt. For instance, he has 
 been indicted jointly with Dr. Scheele, Captain 
 Gustave Steinberg, von Kintelen's aid, for com- 
 plicity in a plan to ship articles abroad under 
 fraudulent manifests and thus deceive the Allies. 
 One of these schemes was to export lubricating 
 oil much needed in Germany, to Sweden as 
 fertilizer. Some of the payments for this pur- 
 pose were made after von Rintelen sailed for 
 home. 
 
 With von Papen gone and Koenig arrested, 
 von Igel became a somewhat important person, 
 taking upon himself the attache's prestige and a 
 lot of Koenig's work after the latter's arrest. 
 Many, many checks were cashed by von Igel in 
 the four months intervening between the attache's 
 departure and the former's arrest. He carried on 
 von Papen's work in a miniature way, conferring 
 with many secret agents, giving orders and pre- 
 paring reports in code for despatching to Ger- 
 many. 
 
 While von Igel, in point of family, education 
 and confidential association with the big German 
 agents in America, is an important link in the 
 Teutonic spy chain, Paul Koenig, ("P. K.",) is 
 more striking because of his rough activities, his 
 underground connections and his associations with 
 law-breakers. He was a sort of business manager 
 of Germany's secret service in the eastern part 
 of America. 
 
 83 
 
"P. X." 
 
 "P. K.," as his hirelings called him, was a sort 
 of boss, an unmerciful autocrat in the lower world, 
 physically fearless, trusting no man and driving 
 every man to work by the use of violent abusive 
 language, boastful of his skill, physical prowess 
 and his craft. In appearance, he gives this im- 
 pression. A tall, broad-shouldered man, he has 
 bony fingers and arms long and powerful reach- 
 ing almost to his knees. His dark, sharp eyes dart 
 suspiciously at you from beneath black, arching 
 eyebrows, showing defiance and yet a certain 
 caution. A truly typical person he is for the 
 work for which he was selected and though per- 
 haps a little too boastful, such supreme confidence 
 undoubtedly is a necessary attribute of any man 
 who would acquire any degree of success in such 
 undertakings. 
 
 Koenig is another product of the Hamburg- 
 American Steamship Line — the Kaiser's very 
 own. Prior to the war he was superintendent of 
 the company's police, having a half -score men 
 under him and keeping tab on the pier workers 
 or investigating complaints received by the man- 
 agement. He had grown to that task from similar 
 training in the Atlas Service, a subsidiary cor- 
 poration. He had spent years among 'longshore- 
 men, bossing them and cursing them. He knew 
 wharf rats, water-front crooks, and was thor- 
 oughly acquainted with their schemes — as 
 
 84 
 
naturally such a man would be. He under- 
 stood thoroughly how to handle men of the rough 
 type. 
 
 When the war started and von Papen was 
 searching for an assistant organizer, he found in 
 Koenig's little police force a splendid nucleus of 
 just what he needed. At his request the Ham- 
 burg-American Line quickly put Koenig at von 
 Papen's disposal and straightway von Papen be- 
 gan to link up to Koenig's police a number of 
 channels of information, to supply him with re- 
 servists for special assignments, to suggest to him 
 how to spread out and instal spies in various places 
 to gather important facts. Koenig accordingly 
 became the business manager of a part of Ger- 
 many's secret service, not only gathering informa- 
 tion but acting as a link in the labyrinth system 
 employed by von Papen in communicating with 
 the reservist or agent selected to do certain work 
 in behalf of the Fatherland. 
 
 How varied and steady was his work for von 
 Papen is revealed by the latter's checks. Here 
 are a few excerpts : "March 29, 1915, Paul Koenig 
 (Secret Service bill) $509.11; * * * April 18, 
 Paul Koenig (Secret Service bill) $90.94; * * * 
 May 11, Paul Koenig (Secret Service) $66.71; 
 * * * July 16, Paul Koenig (compensation for 
 F. J. Busse) $150; * * * August 4, Paul 
 Koenig (5 bills Secret Service) $118.92," and 
 so on. Remember also that von Papen only 
 paid from his check account for a part of 
 
 85 
 
Koenig's expenses, other German officials who 
 employed him receiving a bill for the special 
 work. 
 
 KEEPING TAB ON SPIES 
 
 "P. K." also kept a most carefully prepared 
 note book of his spies and of persons in New 
 York, Boston and other cities who were useful 
 in furnishing him information. In another book 
 he kept a complete record of the assignments on 
 which he sent his men, the purpose and the cost. 
 In this book of names were several hundred per- 
 sons — German reservists, German- Americans 
 and Americans clerks, scientists and city and Fed- 
 eral employes — showing that his district was very 
 large and that his range for picking facts and for 
 supervising other pro-German propaganda was 
 broad. For his own hirelings or reservists, over 
 whom he domineered, he had specially worked out 
 a system of numbers and initials to be used in 
 communicating with them. These numbers were 
 changed at regular intervals and a system of pro- 
 gression was devised by which the agent would 
 know when his number changed. He also em- 
 ployed suitable aliases for his workers. These men 
 likewise had codes for writing letters and for 
 telephone communication and they knew that on 
 fixed days these codes changed. 
 
 Always alert for a listening ear or a watchful 
 eye — because playing the eavesdropper was his 
 job — he looked for spies on himself. He be- 
 
 86 
 
lieved that his telephone wire was tapped and 
 that he was overheard when he spoke over the 
 telephone. Accordingly, he instructed his men 
 in various code words. For instance, if he told 
 an agent to meet him at 5 o'clock at South Ferry 
 that meant: "Meet me at 7 o'clock at Forty- 
 second street and Broadway." 
 
 His wire was not tapped but P. K. kept the 
 men who were spying on him exceeding busy and 
 worried. He would receive a call on the telephone 
 and would direct the man at the other end of the 
 wire to meet him in fifteen minutes at Pabst's, 
 Harlem. Now from Koenig's office in the Ham- 
 burg-American Building to 125th street, it is 
 practically impossible to make the journey in a 
 quarter of an hour ; but his watchers learned that 
 Pabst's Harlem, meant Borough Hall, Brooklyn. 
 Just as he eluded espionage for days and months, 
 this man, skilled in shadowing others and in doing 
 the vanishing act whenever necessary, boasted that 
 the Federal authorities or the police never would 
 get him. "They did get Dr. Albert's portfolio," 
 he said one day, "but they never will get mine 
 for I won't carry one." 
 
 SHADOWS FOLLOWING SHADOWS 
 
 He sought likewise to elude Americans trailing 
 him. He never went out in the daytime that 
 he did not have one or two of his agents trailing 
 him to see whether he was being shadowed. He 
 used to turn a corner suddenly and stand still 
 
 87 
 
so that a detective following came unexpectedly 
 face to face with him and betrayed his identity. 
 Koenig would laugh heartily and pass on. He 
 loved to jibe the American authorities and oft- 
 times he would dodge around a corner and then 
 reappear to confront the detective with a merry 
 jest and pass on. By that means he came to 
 know many agents of the Department of Justice 
 and many New York detectives. When he started 
 out at night he used to have three of his own 
 men follow him and by a prearranged system of 
 signals inform him if any strangers were follow- 
 ing him. 
 
 The task, consequently, of keeping watch of 
 Koenig' s movements was most difficult and re- 
 quired clever guessing and keen-headed work on 
 the part of the New York police. So elusive did 
 Koenig become that it was necessary for Captain 
 Tunney to evolve a new system for shadowing 
 Koenig and yet not betray to him the fact that 
 he was under surveillance. One detective, ac- 
 cordingly, would be stationed several blocks away 
 and would start out ahead of Koenig. The "front 
 shadow" was kept informed by a series of signals 
 whenever Koenig turned a corner so that the man 
 in front might dart down the street beyond and 
 by a series of manoeuvres again get ahead of him. 
 If Koenig boarded a street car, the man ahead 
 would hail the car several blocks beyond, thus 
 avoiding any suspicion from Koenig. In other 
 instances, detectives, guessing that he was about 
 
to take a car would board it several blocks before 
 it got abreast of Koenig. Because of his alert- 
 ness, he kept Detectives Barnitz, Coy, Terra and 
 Corell always on the edge; but they finally ran 
 him down. 
 
 It was never possible to overhear any conversa- 
 tion between Koenig and any man to whom he 
 was giving instructions. Koenig always made it 
 a point to meet his agents — some of his workers 
 he never permitted to meet him at all — in the 
 open, in parks in broad daylight, in the Penn- 
 sylvania Station, or the Grand Central Station. 
 There, as he talked to them, he could make sure 
 that nobody was eavesdropping. In the open he 
 met many a man for the first time, talked with 
 him and then said : 
 
 "Be at Third avenue and Fifty-ninth street at 
 2:30 to-morrow afternoon beside a public tele- 
 phone booth there. When the telephone rings, 
 you answer it." 
 
 The man would obey the request. Promptly at 
 the minute named, the telephone rang and the 
 man answered the telephone. A strange voice 
 spoke to him and told him to do certain things, 
 perhaps to be at a similar place on the following 
 day and receive a message, or he would receive in- 
 structions as to what he should do and where he 
 should go to meet another man, who would give 
 him money and instructions as to what he should 
 do. The voice at the other end of the wire was 
 speaking from a public telephone booth and was 
 
thus reasonably sure also that the wire was not 
 tapped. 
 
 Koenig trusted no man. He never sent an 
 agent out on a job without detailing another man 
 to follow that man and report back to him the 
 movements of the agent and the person whom that 
 man met. He was severe with his men when they 
 made their reports to him, and always insisted that 
 they do exactly what he told them and never per- 
 mitted them to use their own initiative. So stub- 
 born was he in sticking to his own ideas that some 
 of his men used to call him "the Westphalian, 
 bull-headed Dutchman." 
 
 As to the outline of Koenig's activities, his book 
 of spies, the great mass of information gained by 
 trailing him, and by study of the documents seized 
 in his office, show that he had spies along the water 
 front on every big steamship pier. He had eaves- 
 droppers in hotels, telephone switchboards, among 
 porters, window-cleaners, among bank clerks, cor- 
 poration employes and in the Police Department. 
 
 To Roger B. Wood, formerly assistant United 
 States District- Attorney in New York, is due the 
 credit for the unfolding of the intricate and varied 
 schemes charged against Koenig. He studied the 
 evidence for months as it was developed by Fed- 
 eral agents under Superintendent Offley of the 
 New York office and Captain Tunney, and 
 prepared for trial the cases against the German 
 agent. 
 
 One of Koenig's spies was listed in his book as 
 
 90 
 
"Special Agent A. S.," namely Otto F. Mottola, 
 a detective in the warrant squad of the New York 
 police force whom he paid for special work. The 
 note book revealed Mottola as Antonio Marino, 
 afterward changed to Antonio Salvatore. Evi- 
 dence was produced at Mottola's trial at Police 
 Headquarters that Koenig paid him for investi- 
 gating a passenger who sailed on the Bergens- 
 fjord; that he often call up Mottola, asked ques- 
 tions and received answers which Koenig's sten- 
 ographer took down in short-hand. In other 
 words, Koenig sought to keep closely informed as 
 to the developments at Police Headquarters, and 
 to be advised, perhaps, of the inquiry being made 
 by the police into the activities of the Germans. 
 Mottola was dismissed from the force because of 
 false statements made to his superiors when asked 
 about Koenig. 
 
 STARTING TROUBLE IN CANADA 
 
 "P. K." also despatched men to Canada to gain 
 information concerning the Canadian prepara- 
 tions for war, and facts that could be used by the 
 Germans here in planning attacks upon munition 
 factories, railroads and transportation facilities 
 in the Dominion. An Irish employe of the Atlas 
 Line has been arrested on a charge of planning 
 with Koenig to start a "military enterprise" 
 against the Dominion. The employe, named Jus- 
 tice, is accused of going to Quebec to ascertain the 
 number of troops which were being transported 
 
 91 
 
by the Dominion of Canada to ports in France 
 and Great Britain; the names of the steamships 
 on which said troops were being transported ; the 
 kind and quantity of supplies which were being 
 shipped from the Dominion to France and Great 
 Britain, and other information which would or 
 might be of value to the German Government, 
 and which would assist the military operations of 
 the German Government. 
 
 The complaint charges that the undertaking 
 was one of hazard, and came within the purview 
 of the statute forbidding the undertaking of any 
 military venture with this country as a basis of 
 operation. It says further that Justice and Metz- 
 ler, Koenig's secretary, left New York on Sep- 
 tember 15, 1914, and went to Quebec; that 
 Koenig left New York on September 18 and met 
 Metzler in Portland, Me., and that he went to 
 Burlington, Vt., where on September 25 he con- 
 ferred with Justice. The authorities also say that 
 Metzler and Justice gained a varied assortment 
 of information in Quebec ; that they inspected the 
 fortifications there, went to the training camps, 
 observed the number of men, the condition of the 
 men and estimated the time when they would be 
 sent to the front. 
 
 VARIOUS ALIASES 
 
 In his meetings with various persons who had 
 been picked for some daring enterprise, Koenig 
 is accused of having employed various names. 
 
 92 
 
The Federal authorities give him at least thirteen, 
 among which are Wegenkamp, Wegener, Kelly, 
 Winter, Perkins, Stemler, Rectorberg, Boehm, 
 Kennedy, James, Smith, Murphy and W. T. 
 Munday. 
 
 After indictments had been returned against 
 some of the Hamburg- American officials for con- 
 spiring to defraud the United States of legal 
 clearance papers, Koenig, assisted by a private 
 detective in the pay of Captain Boy-Ed, de- 
 veloped a scheme to get affidavits from tugboat 
 captains to the effect that they had supplied Eng- 
 lish war vessels patrolling off Sandy Hook with 
 provisions. 
 
 The plan was to turn sentiment against the 
 British hy proving that the British were doing 
 the same thing that had been charged to the Ger- 
 mans, Accordingly, Koenig called a number of 
 tugboat captains to a room in the Great Eastern 
 Hotel, New York, and offered them a contract to 
 haul provisions to the English cruisers. He told 
 them that the captains were extremely suspicious 
 of boats approaching the war vessels, and the 
 affidavits were necessary to allay their fears that 
 the tugboats might have a few Germans with 
 bombs on board. So, in return for sworn state- 
 ments from them to the effect that they already 
 had been carrying supplies out to other English 
 cruisers, he, Koenig, was to give them a monthly 
 contract to do the work. Many of the tugboat 
 captains signed the affidavits ; but the scheme was 
 
 91 
 
exposed before the Germans really made any use 
 of the documents. So carefully did Koenig work 
 that he made the stenographers who took the 
 statements transcribe the notes in his presence, 
 give him the shorthand notes and he immediately 
 destroyed them. 
 
 SPIES IN BANKS 
 
 Through the arrest of Koenig and the facts 
 obtained thereby, one of the mysteries concerning 
 the Germans' method of getting information 
 about the shipment of munitions of war to the 
 Allies was cleared. They knew the number of 
 the freight car rushing to the Atlantic seaboard 
 and its exact contents. They knew the ship's 
 hold into which that product was to be placed; 
 but how they got this data was a mystery until 
 Koenig was caught. Then Metzler, Koenig's 
 secretary, made a confession that cleared the 
 mystery. Agent Adams got the confession. 
 
 Besides having spies in some of the factories 
 throughout the country, the Germans had one 
 great fountain of information in the foreign de- 
 partment of the National City Bank, an institu- 
 tion that has carried hundreds of millions of dol- 
 lars in financing the purchase of supplies for the 
 Entente Powers. That source was Frederick 
 Schleindl, a German who has since been con- 
 victed of selling stolen information and sen- 
 tenced to three years in a New York State prison. 
 
 Schleindl, only 23 years old, came to this coun- 
 
 94 
 
try from Germany several years ago, obtained 
 work with a private banking firm, and after the 
 war started was shifted to the National City 
 Bank. He had influence to get the position , and, 
 incidentally, it may be said, that for years prior 
 to the war German agents, trained financiers, 
 have been stationed in New York, making friends 
 and learning conditions, so that at the critical 
 time they could, by underground means, succeed 
 in getting positions for such men as Schleindl 
 who would bertay their trust. 
 
 SECRET INFORMATION ON BANKS 
 
 When the war started Schleindl registered 
 with the German Consul, giving his address and 
 his place of business. One day word reached him 
 that a German wished to see him, and going to 
 the Hotel Manhattan he was approached by a 
 man who introduced himself as Koenig. The 
 latter sounded him thoroughly as to his senti- 
 ments on the war, and then outlined the scheme 
 by which Schleindl was to help Germany and 
 make $25 a week. Schleindl was to keep his 
 eyes open for all letters and cable messages bear- 
 ing on the deposits of the Allies with the bank, 
 the payments of orders and other facts bearing 
 on the war. 
 
 The bank clerk succumbed, either through 
 patriotism or love of money. And Koenig had 
 placed his finger on exactly the right spot; so 
 accurate was he that there seems no doubt that 
 
he received guidance from a master spy higher 
 up, who knew banking operations thoroughly, 
 and where to go for information. It quickly de- 
 veloped that Schleindl could obtain information 
 of two very important kinds. 
 
 First, he received in his department cable mes- 
 sages bearing on war orders and deposits by the 
 Allies. The day he was arrested he had in his 
 pocket certain messages and letters addressed to 
 the National City Bank. One had come from the 
 Ban que Beige Pour Etr angers in regard to a 
 shipment of 2,000,000 rifles that was being 
 handled through the Hudson Trust Company. 
 Another message that he picked up and handed 
 over to Koenig had come from the Russian Gov- 
 ernment, directing the bank to place at the dis- 
 posal of Colonel Golejewski, a Russian naval 
 attache, a large amount of money for the pur- 
 chase of war materials. 
 
 Secondly, the bank paid for orders of goods as 
 soon as they had been inspected and delivered on 
 board ships at the seaboard. The manufacturers 
 sent their bills of lading to the bank, showing the 
 carload shipments and the vessel to which they 
 were consigned. Thus accurate information was 
 obtained as to every item, the railroad route of 
 shipment and the name of the vessel. All this 
 information was turned over to Koenig, 
 who passed it along for dissemination to the 
 proper persons. Consequently, the Germans 
 knew exactly what ships to attack; in whai 
 
vessels to place their fire bombs or other 
 explosives. 
 
 Schleindl was accustomed to meet Koenig al- 
 most every night and hand him papers. Some- 
 times he would go to Koenig's office, where "P. 
 K.," Metzler and Schleindl would spend many 
 hours copying the documents. Other times 
 Schleindl would give the papers to Koenig and 
 receive them on his way to work, so that they 
 would be in their proper place the moment any 
 bank official desired them. Koenig pleaded 
 guilty in the Court of Special Sessions to an in- 
 formation charging him with having corrupted 
 the boy to sell such information. Koenig was set 
 free on a suspended sentence. 
 
 The National City Bank leak is only one of a 
 hundred channels through which Koenig and his 
 agents received information. Koenig compiled it 
 with the aid of his secretary, conferred with von 
 Papen or Boy-Ed. He would spend a few weeks 
 gathering facts, and then he would pack hundreds 
 of papers into a trunk and run down to Wash- 
 ington. Arriving there he would take a taxi to a 
 rooming house, where he would unpack his trunk, 
 and put the contents into another trunk in an 
 adjoining room. 
 
 As weeks went by and Koenig believed he was 
 escaping police and Federal espionage, he grew 
 bolder, more defiant of the authorities, and louder 
 in his talk. He treated his employes with less 
 consideration. He always followed a principle 
 
 97 
 
of never hiring the same reservist for a second 
 job. Then he quarreled with George Fuchs, a 
 relative whom he had employed to go to Buffalo 
 with him. The police heard of that quarrel, and 
 quickly got into the confidence of Fuchs, obtained 
 his confession, and enough information on which 
 to arrest Koenig. He has been indicted by the 
 Federal authorities twice on charges that may net 
 him six years, if convicted. 
 
 The two men were active workers for a time. 
 Koenig continues in New York but von Igel 
 sailed with Count Bernstorff when the latter was 
 dismissed from this country. 
 
 98 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CAPTAIN KARL BOY-ED, 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S SOCIAL DANDY 
 
 AND VON TIRPITZ'S TOOL 
 
 IN the days before the Kaiser booted his spur 
 through the treaties of Europe, you could 
 observe, almost any afternoon, a faultlessly 
 attired man — well built, his big, round head rest- 
 ing firmly on a powerful neck — sauntering down 
 Connecticut Avenue, the Rotten Row or Fifth 
 Avenue of Washington. Jauntily swinging his 
 cane and puffing at his inevitable cigarette, he 
 would bow gracefully in greeting the members of 
 the capitol's smart set. He could be seen later at 
 tea at the Chevy Chase Club, then among govern- 
 ment officials and diplomats at the Metropolitan 
 Club, or a guest at the Army and Navy Club. He 
 was much desired at the most brilliant functions 
 in New York in the winter, or at the resorts where, 
 in the summer, the wealthiest and most exclusive 
 Manhattanites gathered. One always found him 
 graceful, suave, clever at repartee, effervescing 
 natural humor — the object of admiration on the 
 part of matchmaking mothers, and the reported 
 seeker after an American heiress — but always 
 mingling with the persons in official, diplomatic 
 
 99 
 
and navy circles who knew the innermost govern- 
 ment secrets. 
 
 He was Germany's Beau Brummel, Captain 
 Karl Boy-Ed, the Kaiser's naval attache, seem- 
 ingly more interested in the frills, foibles and 
 gayeties of society than in the supremacy of the 
 German Navy. Very much like an American in 
 appearance, Oriental in his sense of luxury, and 
 possessing the French quality of subtlety in 
 rapid-fire wit, he lacked apparently every vestige 
 of the much vaunted Teutonic efficiency. He 
 would occasionally, however, drop out of the 
 scenes of beauty and charm, traveling about the 
 country, visiting warships, tramping over coast 
 country, scrutinizing fortifications, or places 
 where Uncle Sam would have coast defences until 
 finally it began to be whispered that Captain 
 Boy-Ed knew as much about the American Navy 
 and coast forts as did the naval officers them- 
 selves. Under the veneer of lightness and grace- 
 ful ease, the naval attache hid with the craft to 
 which that Turkish part of his ancestry made him 
 heir, the persistent methodical thoroughness of 
 his German ancestry. 
 
 And, when the Kaiser set the dogs of war 
 loose, Boy-Ed shunted aside the cloak of frivolity, 
 disappeared almost entirely from festive gather- 
 ings, settled down by day to room 801, No. 11 
 Broadway, New York, receiving code messages 
 as "Nordmann," and by night to his suite in the 
 German Club, where he delved into records, con- 
 
 100 
 
ferred with associates and elaborated plans for 
 activities on the seven seas. From a hale, jolly 
 fellow he became — as if by the shift of the magic 
 wand of a Turkish sorcerer — a veritable machine, 
 mind and body, working for the Kaiser. A man 
 of great brain power, erudite, fertile in schemes, 
 for long an aid to Admiral von Tirpitz, he as- 
 sumed charge in America of all enterprises deal- 
 ing with the naval phases of the Teutonic warfare 
 in this country and in or near American waters. 
 These were activities which, despite his boast: 
 "They haven't got any evidence against B. E.," 
 caused his dismissal from America by President 
 Wilson. 
 
 boy-ed's career 
 
 Born of a Turkish father and German mother 
 — the latter, Ida Boy-Ed, a novelist much loved 
 in Germany — he possessed an unusual combina- 
 tion of traits, a mingling of Oriental subtlety, the 
 brutal frankness of the Prussian, and the artistic 
 genius of his mother. He elected for the navy, 
 and early displayed qualities that attracted von 
 Tirpitz's attention. The admiral took him up 
 and made him one of his "Big Six," young Ger- 
 man officers who were admitted to the naval lord's 
 most secret councils and trained for just such 
 executive work and such emergencies as the great 
 war produced. Having both a literary and con- 
 structive ability, in addition to unusual qualities 
 as a tactician and naval officer, he was selected by 
 
 101 
 
Grand Admiral von Tirpitz as his chief lieuten- 
 ant, and was made the head of the news division. 
 As such, he had charge of propaganda enlighten- 
 ing the German people and arousing a demand 
 for a bigger navy. He prepared articles for the 
 newspapers and compiled pamphlets arguing for 
 many battleships, in all of which he cleverly in- 
 stilled a distrust of England. Prior to each 
 appropriation for an increase in the German 
 fleet, Boy-Ed carried on a press campaign 
 designed to educate the public as to the urgent 
 necessity for more dreadnoughts and subma- 
 rines. By this means, an appropriation equal 
 to a hundred million dollars was obtained in 
 1910. 
 
 For five years, prior to his arrival in Wash- 
 ington in 1911 as the Kaiser's naval representa- 
 tive, he served under von Tirpitz, making trips 
 around the world, observing and working out the 
 details of Germany's plans for breaking Great 
 Britain's sea power. Because of the work which 
 he performed, the unusual ability which he dis- 
 played, and because Germany was seeking to sur- 
 pass the naval power of the United States, then 
 the second only to Great Britain, he was sent to 
 this country. When he arrived here, he impressed 
 Americans by his knowledge of America and 
 American ideas. With ample tact and keen in- 
 sight into American customs, he began immedi- 
 ately to make himself almost an American. 
 Speaking English fluently and possessing an un- 
 
 102 
 
usually attractive personality, he made himself 
 extremely popular. 
 
 NAVAL STUDENT IN TIMES OF PEACE 
 
 His duties in peace times, naturally, were to 
 study the American Navy and gain whatever 
 facts he could about American war vessels, the 
 personnel of the navy, the government's plans for 
 increasing the fleet's power and building up coast 
 defenses; also to pick up whatever he could, 
 openly or stealthily, about the secret plans of 
 America in the use of her battle-fleet. When the 
 war started, a thousand and one more tasks de- 
 volved upon him. As von Papen was in Mexico, 
 he had for a time to look after the military 
 attache's secret service, and, after being relieved 
 of that, he devoted himself to the manifold details 
 peculiar to naval intelligence. Like von Papen, 
 he, too, had a staff of experts. They began, under 
 his direction, delving into every phase of Amer- 
 ican naval activities, seeking information about 
 the naval plans of the Allies, striving to exert 
 their influence to prevent the shipment of arms 
 and ammunition from this country. Boy-Ed's 
 work lay also in supervising the registration 
 of naval reservists with the German consuls, 
 providing for the return of as many as pos- 
 sible of them to the Fatherland, assign- 
 ing spies to the country's enemies, and collect- 
 ing all naval information bearing upon the 
 war. 
 
 103 
 
WATCHING BRITISH VESSELS 
 
 Seated in his room 801, Captain Boy-Ed 
 gathered a great mass of facts of value to Ger- 
 many from enemy sources and from neutral na- 
 tions. From his room, which was stacked with 
 maps of the sea and steamer routes, he sent direc- 
 tions to his spies. He forwarded information 
 about ships — English merchantmen and British 
 warships — that could be utilized by the German 
 Government in raids on Allied commerce. He 
 also gave directions for provisioning the German 
 raiders scouring the Seven Seas for enemy ships 
 — an enterprise just as romantic — though in vio- 
 lation of American laws — as the spectacular 
 dashes of the Karlsruhe, Emden and the Prince 
 Eitel Friedrich. 
 
 Here was a project in which before the war and 
 in preparation for it, the German Admiralty and 
 the Hamburg- American Steamship Company 
 participated; and after hostilities began, it was 
 simply necessary for the captain through his staff 
 of assistants or in person to issue orders. The 
 Atlantic phase of the enterprise, its financing, its 
 spectacular features and its illegality were pre- 
 sented to a Federal court in New York by Roger 
 B. Wood, the Assistant United States Attorney, 
 at the trial and conviction of several Hamburg- 
 American Line officials: Dr. Karl Buenz, its gen- 
 eral representative in America ; George Koetter, 
 supervising engineer; Adolf Hachmeister, pur- 
 chasing agent; Joseph Poeppinghaus, second 
 
 104 
 
officer and supercargo ; on the charge of conspir- 
 ing to obtain from the collectors of the ports false 
 clearances for ships in connection with the coal- 
 ing and provisioning of raiders. The Pacific 
 phase of the scheme has been unearthed by 
 United States District Attorney Preston in San 
 Francisco. 
 
 SMUGGLING SUPPLIES TO RAIDERS 
 
 Two years before Germany sent a declaration 
 of war to England, and just when a crisis in 
 European affairs was impending, Dr. Karl 
 Buenz, who never before had engaged in steam- 
 ship business, came to New York as the American 
 head of the Hamburg- American Line. Prior to 
 that he had been a judge in Germany, a consul in 
 Chicago and New York, and a minister to 
 Mexico. One of the first things which came to 
 his attention was the completion of a contract 
 between the Admiralty Division of the German 
 Government and the steamship company for the 
 provisioning, during war, of German warships at 
 sea from America as a base. Arrangement also 
 was made for communication between these ships 
 and the company by the Admiralty's code. The 
 documents dealing with this agreement were kept 
 locked up in the Germany Embassy in Washing- 
 ton, and the Hamburg- American officials de- 
 clined to produce them at the trial, "because in 
 that agreement," Prosecutor Wood asserted, "I 
 venture to say the whole plan whereby false clear- 
 
 105 
 
ances should be obtained is worked out in 
 detail." 
 
 When Germany stood on the brink of war 
 and England stood ready to pen her in by a 
 blockade, the Admiralty Division sent its orders 
 to make ready to provision the raiders. Dr. 
 Buenz himself on July 31, 1914 — before the war 
 — received a cable which he read, and then at once 
 sent to the German Embassy for safe-keeping. 
 Straightway Boy-Ed was in and out of Dr. 
 Buenz's office, giving directions as to the war- 
 ships needing supplies and whither the provision 
 ships should proceed by routes outside the regular 
 freight lines. He kept urging upon Dr. Buenz 
 the necessity of haste, and even before the Ger- 
 man Government advanced the cash, the ships 
 were chartered — others purchased — under bonds 
 that guaranteed payment to the owners in the 
 event of seizure. Twelve or more ships in all 
 set forth from Atlantic ports, carrying coal and 
 food supplies bought with Hamburg- American 
 cash. 
 
 The steamship Berwind, which had been char- 
 tered and loaded in a hurry, was the first to sail. 
 When some of the conspirators met in Dr. 
 Buenz's office, there was hesitancy as to who 
 should apply for clearance papers — documents of 
 which Dr. Buenz testified he knew nothing. 
 They finally told G. B. Kulenkampf, a banker 
 and exporter, that the Berwind was loaded with 
 coal — she had coal and provisions — and told him 
 
 106 
 
to get the clearance papers. He did so, swearing 
 to a false manifest, as he afterward admitted. In 
 getting such clearance papers, Germany's agents 
 aimed to prevent the Allies from learning about 
 the supply ships. Germany desired, naturally, 
 to carry on this work secretly in order to deceive 
 her enemies and prevent her adversaries from 
 knowing where the German cruisers were. 
 
 Such a ruse may be a legitimate trick in war, 
 but the German Government or her agents had no 
 right to use the American Government in such 
 an enterprise. So men employed by the Ham- 
 burg-American Line went to the collector of 
 the ports from which these ships sailed, making 
 affidavits as to the cargo — generally false — and 
 the destination for which they sailed — also false, 
 On board these ships — the Berwind and the Lo- 
 renzo j sailing from New York presumably for 
 Buenos Aires on August 5 and 6, 1914, respec- 
 tively; the Thor from Newport News for Fray 
 Bentos, Uruguay; the Heina from Philadelphia 
 in August, for La Guayra ; the Mowinckle, Nepos 
 and others — the officials put supercargoes bearing 
 secret instructions. These men had authority to 
 give sailing orders to the captains once they were 
 outside the three-mile limit. They knew that the 
 ships were not bound for the ports designated, 
 but to lonely spots on the high seas, where they 
 would lie in wait for the arrival of the German 
 cruisers whose captains, would receive the "tip" 
 by wireless. 
 
 107 
 
RISKY WORK FOR SKIPPERS 
 
 Very few of the supercargoes, however, accom- 
 plished their aims. The Berwind reached a point 
 near Trinidad where Supercargo Poeppinghaus 
 directed the ship to lie to. Presently five Ger- 
 man ships, the Cap Trafalgar, Pontus, Elinor 
 Woerman, Santa Lucia and Eber appeared, and 
 after the task of transferring the supplies to them 
 was begun, the British converted cruiser Car- 
 mania came up. A brisk fight ensued between 
 the Carmania and the Cap Trafalgar, lasting for 
 two hours, and ending when the German ship 
 sank. 
 
 One representative of the Hamburg- American 
 Line sought to use bribery to effect his purpose. 
 One of the ships chartered was the JJnita, in 
 charge of Eno Olsen, a Canadian citizen of Nor- 
 wegian birth. The German supercargo made a 
 mistake in thinking that Olsen was friendly to 
 Germany. When, however, the supercargo ex- 
 plained to him after they had got out to sea, what 
 the purpose of the cruise was, Captain Olsen 
 balked. 
 
 ' 'Nothing doing,' I told the supercargo," Cap- 
 tain Olsen testified, with a Norwegian twist to 
 his pronunciation. "So the supercargo offered 
 me $500 to change my course. 'Nothing doing — 
 nothing doing for a million dollars,' I told him. 
 
 "The third day out he offered me $10,000. 
 'Nothing doing.' So," concluded Captain Olsen 
 with finality, "I showed him my citizenship 
 
 108 
 
paper. I said the Unita cleared for Cadiz; and 
 to Cadiz she goes. After we got there I sold the 
 cargo and looked up the British Consul." 
 
 The provisions for each ship were ordered 
 under directions from the Hamburg- American 
 officials who eventually provided the money. The 
 Hamburg- American Company received three 
 payments of $500,000 each from the Deutsche 
 Bank in Berlin. In addition, $750,000 was sent 
 to Boy-Ed by exchange through Kulenkampf s 
 firm, Wessels, Kulenkampf & Company, from 
 the Deutsche Bank, making $2,225,000 in all. 
 Telling of the receipt of the money, Kulenkampf 
 testified : 
 
 "Some time after that, Captain Boy-Ed came 
 to me and asked if I had received money from 
 Berlin. I said, 'Yes/ and he told me that it was 
 for him. I asked him to obtain instructions, and 
 a little later I was telephoned to hold the money 
 at the disposal of Boy-Ed. I followed the in- 
 structions of Captain Boy-Ed. He instructed 
 me at different times to pay over certain amounts, 
 either to banks or to firms. I transferred $350,- 
 000 to the Nevada National Bank in San Fran- 
 cisco, $150,000 to the North German Lloyd, $63,- 
 000 to the North German Lloyd. That left a 
 balance of approximately $160,000 which was 
 placed to the credit of the Deutsche Bank with 
 Gontard & Company, successors of my former 
 firm. That amount was reduced to about $57,000 
 by payments drawn by Captain Boy-Ed's request 
 
 109 
 
to the order of the Hamburg- American Steam- 
 ship Company/' 
 
 MONEY SPENT FREELY 
 
 How part of the money was spent is shown by 
 the following account of payments through the 
 Hamburg- A merican Line : 
 
 Steamer Total Payment 
 
 Thor $113,879.72 
 
 Berwind 73,221.85 
 
 Lorenzo 430,182.59 
 
 Heina 288,142.06 
 
 Nepos 119,037.60 
 
 Mowinckel 113,867.18 
 
 Unita 67,766.44 
 
 So'mmerstad 45,826.75 
 
 Fram 55,053.23 
 
 Graecia 29,143.59 
 
 Macedonia 39,139.98 
 
 Navarra 44,133.50 
 
 Total $1,419,394.49 
 
 But Boy-Ed's supervision of supplies to the 
 raiders covered both the Atlantic and the Pacific 
 oceans. While the Hamburg- American took 
 charge of handling the supplies in the North 
 and South Atlantic, another German agency is 
 accused of doing similar work on the Pacific. 
 That accounts for Boy-Ed's transfer of money 
 to the West, where his cash also was used in the 
 purchase of at least one ship. Boy-Ed's funds, 
 amounting to more than $600,000 have been 
 traced to the Pacific. In following these pay- 
 ments it is important to observe how differently 
 and more cleverly Boy-Ed handled his money 
 than von Papen. Unlike the military attache, 
 
 no 
 
he paid out little money by personal check; but 
 he had accounts with various commercial firms 
 to whom he gave orders for payments. Working 
 with the ingenuity of an adept in covering up his 
 tracks, he caused money in large amounts to be 
 shifted from one bank to another, from one firm 
 to another, through various cities until after 
 myriad devious turnings and twisting it finally 
 reached its destination. He used various com- 
 mercial concerns as his bankers. 
 
 Out on the Pacific Coast, Boy-Ed employed 
 members of the German consulate to distribute 
 the money and supervise provisioning. Two 
 indictments returned against Germans and others 
 in San Francisco charge that an effort was made 
 to employ that port as a "naval base" for pro- 
 visioning the German raiders ; that false manifests 
 were filed for the succoring of merchantmen ; that 
 supplies were transferred to the German raiders. 
 More than $150,000, it is specifically charged, 
 was paid out for this purpose by the German 
 consulate. 
 
 The outfitting of the steamships Sacramento, 
 Olsen and Mahoney, Mazatlan and the bark 
 Retriever are said to be charged to the defend- 
 ants. One device employed in San Francisco 
 Bay to outwit the Government officers watching 
 for violations of the neutrality laws was to fill the 
 Retriever with coal, and then announce that the 
 vessel would be used for an expedition on the 
 high seas to take movie pictures of a stirring sea 
 
 ill 
 
drama. But the officials were not hoodwinked. 
 The steamer Sacramento, formerly the German- 
 owned Alexandria, which, after the war started, 
 was bought by the Northern and Southern 
 Steamship Company and which flew the Amer- 
 ican flag, left port piled high with supplies of 
 all sorts, including sauerkraut and beer, and 
 reached Valparaiso, Chile, empty. All her sup- 
 plies were transferred to German cruisers and a 
 German supply ship at Masefuero Island, near 
 the Chilean coast. 
 
 Captain Fred Jebsen, a lieutenant in the Ger- 
 man naval reserve, took a cargo of coal south on 
 his boat, the Mazatlan, for delivery at Guaymas, 
 Sonora, Mexico. He transferred it to lighters, 
 which carried it to the German cruiser Leipzig. 
 Jebsen also is said to have planned to pilot a ship 
 to India, and being frustrated, made his way in 
 disguise to Germany, where he is reported to have 
 been drowned by the sinking of a submarine. 
 The Olson and Mahony, sl steam schooner, was 
 loaded with supplies, but after considerable con- 
 troversy with customs officials was unloaded. In 
 the early days of the war, the cruisers Leipzig 
 and Number g lay off San Francisco. The 
 Leipzig put to port for supplies which were 
 granted in quantities permissible under interna- 
 tional law. Efforts to supply still further quan- 
 tities are alleged by the Government. 
 
 One of the picturesque incidents of the pro- 
 visioning, which reveals how minutely Captain 
 
 112 
 
Boy-Ed looked after finances and sets forth other 
 phases of his work on the high seas, as directed 
 from No. 11 Broadway, is revealed in the piratical 
 cruise of the good ship Gladstone, rechristened 
 under German auspices Marina Quezada. Her 
 owner, when she bobbed into the view of Captain 
 Boy-Ed, was a Norwegian syndicate; but what 
 money was behind that group it has not been 
 possible to learn. Under the name of Gladstone, 
 the ship had plied between Canada and Australia ; 
 but shortly after the outbreak of the war she put 
 into Newport News. Then Captain Hans Suhren, 
 a sturdy German formerly of the Pacific coast, 
 appeared in New York, called upon Captain 
 Boy-Ed, who took most kindly interest in him, 
 and then departed for Newport News. Here he 
 assumed charge of the Gladstone, 
 
 "I paid $280,000 in cash for her," he told First 
 Officer Bentzen. After making arrangements 
 for his crew, he flitted back to New York, where 
 he received messages in care of "Nordmann, 
 Room 801, 11 Broadway, N. Y. C." Meantime, 
 in consultation with Captain Boy-Ed, the captain 
 received instructions to erect a wireless plant on 
 his ship — the equipment having already been 
 shipped to the Marina Quezada — and to hire a 
 wireless operator. Boy-Ed handed Suhren a 
 German naval code book, gave him a map with 
 routes marked out and sailing instructions that 
 would take him to the South Seas, there to await 
 German cruisers. Food supplies, ordered for a 
 
 in 
 
steamer which had been unable to sail, were wait- 
 ing on the piers at Newport News and Captain 
 Boy-Ed ordered them put on the Marina 
 Quezada. Two cases of revolvers also were sent 
 to the boat. In a like manner, it may be observed, 
 ships on the Pacific had been equipped secretly 
 with arms and wireless. 
 
 Again Suhren went back to his boat, kept the 
 wireless operators busy, hurried the loading of 
 the cargo, which was under the supervision of an 
 employee of the North German Lloyd, and need- 
 ing more money before sailing in December, 1914, 
 he drew a draft for $1,000 on the Hamburg- 
 American Line .wiring Hachmeister, the purchas- 
 ing agent, to communicate with "Room 801, 11 
 Broadway," the office of our friend Boy-Ed. 
 
 Prior to his departure, the skipper had diffi- 
 culty with the registration of his ship. Though 
 he insisted he owned her, a corporation in New 
 York whose stockholders were Costa Ricans were 
 laying claim to ownership, for they really chris- 
 tened her, and got provisional registration for 
 her from the Costa Rican minister in Washing- 
 ton. It was necessary, however, in order for the 
 ship to get permanent registration, to go to Port 
 Limon, Costa Rica, and register there. So haul- 
 ing down the Norwegian flag, that had fluttered 
 over the ship as the Gladstone, Captain Suhren 
 ran up the Costa Rican emblem. Then, having 
 loaded his ship and having obtained false clear- 
 ance papers stating his destination as Valparaiso s 
 
 114 
 
based upon a false manifest, sailed for Port 
 Limon. But the Costa Rican authorities declined 
 to give Suhren permanent papers, and, accord- 
 ingly, being without authority to fly any flag 
 and in such status not permitted under interna- 
 tional law to leave port, Suhren was in a plight. 
 He waited, however, until a heavy storm came 
 up one night, then quietly slipping his anchor, he 
 sped out into the high seas, a veritable pirate. 
 Finally, as he neared Pernambuco, he ran up the 
 Norwegian flag, put into port and got into such 
 difficulties with the authorities that his ship was 
 interned. His supplies never reached the raiders, 
 and Boy-Ed, at No. 11 Broadway, learned from 
 Suhren of another fiasco. Suhren is supposed to 
 have been taken prisoner to Canada. 
 
 Had the Hamburg- American officials carried 
 out their part of the enterprise by means of the 
 false clearance papers — and the same applies to 
 Boy-Ed — a guest of the nation — to others en- 
 gaged in the project — they would have put the 
 American Government in the position of officially 
 endorsing their work of deceit and stealth. "Is 
 it a nice thing," asked Prosecutor Wood, "to have 
 this Government endorse the lies of these defen- 
 dants?" 
 
 Boy-Ed, furthermore, violated the clause of 
 The Hague conference of 1907 which says: "Bel- 
 ligerents are forbidden to use neutral ports and 
 waters as a base of naval operation against their 
 adversaries" 
 
 in 
 
QUEER WIRELESS CODES 
 
 Another operation that appealed to Captain 
 Boy-Ed's ingenuity was the use of the wireless 
 to frustrate the enemy. He had given implicit 
 instructions to Skipper Suhren in regard to the 
 use of the wireless. Members of the crew of the 
 Sacramento are accused of breaking the Govern- 
 ment seal and using the radio plant. The Govern- 
 ment officials also found such extended misuse of 
 the German-owned wireless plants in America 
 that they were obliged either to close them down 
 or take them over. The Sayville, Long Island, 
 plant, finally was taken over and operated by the 
 government. 
 
 CUTTING IN ON MESSAGES 
 
 But Boy-Ed delighted in circumventing the 
 Federal authorities. A few instances have been 
 published but there remain hundreds of cases 
 which the Federal radio inspectors have uncov- 
 ered. To Chief Flynn of the Secret Service and 
 Charles E. Apgar, an inventor, much credit is 
 due for detecting one ingenious method used by 
 Boy-Ed and others for sending out wireless mes- 
 sages. Apgar, an enthusiastic wireless operator, 
 spent much time "listening in" to the messages 
 sent every night from the wireless plants at Say- 
 ville, Long Island, to Germany. Finally he hit 
 upon the scheme of recording the splash and 
 splutter of the radio in a phonograph. After 
 perfecting his device he be^an to "can" the Berlin 
 
 116 
 
messages — coming and going — every night. 
 Then reeling off these messages on his phono- 
 graph, he would study again and again the dots 
 and dashes of each word. He observed that mes- 
 sages had been repeated by the Sayville operator, 
 that numbers were thrown in at intervals and 
 finally that between words there were gaps of 
 varying lengths — all means undoubtedly of send- 
 ing mesages in code — a new language of science 
 invented by the Germans. Many messages were 
 sent by Boy-Ed, himself. It was after a thor- 
 ough study of these canned messages that the 
 government began to operate the Sayville plant 
 itself. 
 
 FRAUDULENT PASSPORTS 
 
 Like von Papen, Boy-Ed was under orders to 
 send spies to the adversaries' countries, to make 
 arrangements for naval reservists to return to 
 Germany, all of which required the use of fraudu- 
 lent passports. While there have been charges 
 that Germany had a factory for forging pass- 
 ports and while the New York World charged, 
 at the time of Boy-Ed's recall, that he had deal- 
 ings with a gang of forgers and counterfeiters, 
 who made passports, there is evidence that the 
 naval attache did pay money to German reser- 
 vists, who procured passports fraudulently. One 
 of these men was Richard Peter Stegler, a Prus- 
 sian, 33 years old, who had served in the German 
 Navy and afterward came to this country to 
 
 117 
 
start on his life work. Before the war, he had 
 applied for his first citizenship papers; but his 
 name had not been removed from the German 
 naval reserve list. 
 
 "After the war started," says Stegler, a well- 
 dressed young man with rather stern features, 
 "I received orders to return home. I was told 
 that everything was in readiness for me. I was 
 assigned to the naval station at Cuxhaven. My 
 uniform, my cap, my boots and my locker were all 
 set aside for me, and I was told just where to 
 go and what to do. But I could not get back at 
 that time and I kept on with my work." 
 
 Stegler then became a member of the German 
 secret service in New York. "There is not a 
 ship that leaves the harbor, not a cargo that is 
 loaded or unloaded, but that some member of 
 this secret organization watches and reports every 
 detail," he said afterward. "All this information 
 is transmitted in code to the German Govern- 
 ment." In January, 1915, if not earlier, Stegler 
 was sent to Boy-Ed's office, and there he received 
 instructions to get a passport and make arrange- 
 ments to go to England as a spy. Boy-Ed paid 
 him $178, which he admits, but denies that it was 
 to buy a passport. Stegler immediately got in 
 touch with Gustave Cook and Richard Madden, 
 of Hoboken, and made use of Madden's birth 
 certificate and citizenship in obtaining a passport 
 from the American Government. Stegler has 
 pleaded guilty to the charge and the two men 
 
 us 
 
were convicted of conspiracy in connection with 
 the project. Stegler paid $100 for the document. 
 Stegler, Cook and Madden each served a term 
 on BlackwelFs Island. 
 
 "I was told to make the voyage to England 
 on the Lusitania" continued Stegler. "My in- 
 structions were as follows: 'Stop at Liverpool, 
 examine the Mersey River, obtain the names, ex- 
 act locations and all possible information con- 
 cerning warships around Liverpool, ascertain the 
 amount of munitions of war being unloaded on 
 the Liverpool docks from the United States, as- 
 certain their ultimate destination, and obtain a 
 detailed list of all the maritime ships in the 
 harbor. 
 
 NEW YORK, THE CENTRE FOR SPIES 
 
 "I was to make constant, though guarded in- 
 quiries, of the location of the dreadnought squad- 
 ron which the Germans in New York understand 
 was anchored somewhere near St. George's Chan- 
 nel. I was to appear as an American citizen 
 soliciting trade. Captain Boy-Ed advised me to 
 get letters of introduction to business firms. He 
 made arrangements so that I received such letters 
 and in *one letter were enclosed some rare stamps 
 which were to be a proof to certain persons in 
 England that I was working for the Germans. 
 
 "After having studied Liverpool, I was to go 
 to London and make an investigation of the 
 Thames and its shipping. From there, I was to 
 
 119 
 
proceed to Holland and work my way to the 
 German border. While my passport did not in- 
 clude Germany, I was to give the captain of the 
 nearest regiment a secret number which would 
 indicate to him that I was a reservist on spy duty. 
 By that means, I was to hurry to Eisendal, head 
 of the secret service in Berlin." 
 
 Stegler did not make the trip because his wife 
 learned of the enterprise and begged him not to 
 go. He also had been detected by Federal Agent 
 Adams and was placed under arrest in February, 
 1915, shortly after he decided to stay at home. In 
 his possession were all the letters and telegrams 
 exchanged between him and Boy-Ed, none of 
 which, however, said anything about passports. 
 There was one telegram from "Winko," who was 
 Captain Boy-Ed's servant. 
 
 LODY SENT TO DEATH 
 
 Stegler also said that he had been told that 
 Boy-Ed previously had sent to England Karl 
 Hans Lody, the German who in November, 1915, 
 had been put to death as a spy in the Tower of 
 London. Lody also had been in the navy, had 
 served on the Kaiser's yacht and then had come 
 to this country and worked as an agent for the 
 Hamburg- American Line, going from one place 
 to another. 
 
 Still another man who had a fraudulent Ger- 
 men passport was a German naval reservist, who 
 had shipped as a hand on the freighter Evelyn 
 
 120 
 
carrying horses to Bermuda. On one trip that 
 he took, practically all of the horses were poisoned 
 and were lost. He, however, was arrested by 
 Federal authorities on the charge of using the 
 name of a dead man in order to get an American 
 passport. 
 
 In passport matters and the handling of spies, 
 Captain Boy-Ed was more acute and more subtle 
 than his colleague, von Papen. Nevertheless, the 
 Government officials succeeded in getting a clear 
 outline of his activities. It seems quite likely that 
 after the arrest of Ruroede in December, 1914, 
 when suspicion was directed to von Papen as the 
 superintendent of the passport bureau, the man- 
 agement thereof was switched to Boy-Ed. The 
 exposure of Boy-Ed's connection with Stegler 
 made it necessary for the German Government to 
 change its system once more. 
 
 Boy-Ed, as has been shown, had supervision 
 of naval affairs and matters pertaining to the sea. 
 He issued information to the press bearing on 
 Germany's conduct of her naval warfare. He 
 made pleas for an embargo on the export of arms 
 and ammunition. He received from Count von 
 Bernstorff all information which the Ambassador 
 obtained bearing on that question and, on one 
 occasion, the Count sent him a list of the coun- 
 tries which had forbidden the export of war 
 supplies. 
 
 The conviction throughout the country has been 
 steadily growing, since the exposure of von 
 
 121 
 
Papen's methods, that Boy-Ed was not an inno- 
 cent associate of the military attache. The Fed- 
 eral authorities, in fact, have unearthed a large 
 amount of evidence to show active participation 
 by Boy-Ed in these enterprises, for to him they 
 simply were a part of the war of Germany on 
 her enemies. Colonel Boosevelt, who has made 
 a special study of Germany's crimes on neutral 
 territories, has expressed the sentiment of Ameri- 
 cans in a speech at the Academy of Music, 
 Brooklyn, on January 30, 1916, in these words: 
 
 "The German and Austrian governments 
 through their accredited representatives in the 
 embassies here have carried on a campaign of 
 bomb and torch against our industries. The ac- 
 tion our government should have taken in view of 
 this campaign was not action against Dumba, 
 von Papen and Boy-Ed but the holding of the 
 German and Austrian governments themselves 
 responsible for every munition plant that was 
 blown up or damaged." 
 
 The roll of Boy-Ed's associates, as indicating 
 his knowledge of plots of violence, is illuminating. 
 He employed Paul Koenig for a series of secret 
 activities. He was said to have known Captain 
 Eno Bode, dock superintendent of the Hamburg- 
 American Steamship Line in Hoboken, and Cap- 
 tain Otto Wolpert, another dock superintendent, 
 both of whom, it is charged, were involved in a 
 bond conspiracy. 
 
 Boy -Ed and von Papen, in many secret confer- 
 va 
 
ences on board the Vaterland in Hoboken, where 
 they were sure of no eavesdroppers, developed 
 details of their war on America and the campaign 
 of violence on land and on sea to stop the carry- 
 ing of munitions of war to England, France and 
 Russia. Von Papen superintended the cam- 
 paigns on land and projected his work upon the 
 seas. The moment, however, the schemes, as 
 papers found in von Igel's possession prove, had 
 anything to do with the sea, he consulted Boy-Ed. 
 
 SHOVING UNCLE SAM IN THE MEXICAN MUDDLE 
 
 One of the causes for the summary dismissal 
 of both Boy-Ed and his confrere, von Papen, 
 from America, was their schemes to involve this 
 nation in a conflict with Mexico, to bring about 
 American intervention in that country and thus 
 provide a different use than against Germany for 
 America's supply of explosives and rifles. Boy- 
 Ed, prior to the war, had opposed the suggestion 
 of intervention, but he changed his mind when he 
 began to appreciate the fact that America in arms 
 would take the powder, high explosives and rifles 
 that Europe was buying. He always was a warm 
 supporter of General Huerta for, when von 
 Papen was in Mexico, getting acquainted with 
 Huerta, Boy-Ed, addressing his colleague there, 
 wrote: "I was especially pleased by what you 
 wrote about Huerta, the only strong man in 
 Mexico. In my opinion, Admiral von Hintze 
 was not quite right in his estimate of him. For 
 
 123 
 
Huerta can scarcely be such a drunken ruffian 
 as Hintze often implies, if only because a chronic 
 drunkard could hardly have kept so uncertain a 
 position under such uncommonly difficult circum- 
 stances. I met a number of people in Mexico 
 City who were in close touch with Huerta, and 
 without exception they all spoke very highly of 
 the President's patriotism, capacity and energy." 
 
 PLANNING WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Of Boy-Ed's schemes to do his share in pre- 
 paring, from a naval standpoint, for war between 
 Germany and the United States, of the plots 
 to create disorganization in the American sea- 
 ports and to render the German merchantmen 
 useless to Americans, much evidence has been 
 gathered by Federal investigators. Of his 
 methods in getting information secretly from the 
 Navy Department and from battleships, of his 
 placing spies, ready for any deed of daring, on 
 the warships, a greater amount of information has 
 been learned than ever will be made public by the 
 Government. Suffice it to say, precautions al- 
 ready have been taken against those schemes. All 
 these formed the basis for the decision to hand 
 Boy-Ed his passport. Summing up Boy-Ed's 
 work for the Kaiser in America, accordingly, you 
 have his supervision of the shipment of supplies 
 to the German raiders, his activities in fraudulent 
 passports, his cooperation with Dr. Dumba, 
 When President Wilson requested the Kaiser to 
 
 124 
 
recall his military and naval representatives, he 
 caused the announcement that his action was due 
 to "their improper activities in military and naval 
 affairs," a double-barrelled assertion applying to 
 both men. 
 
 Captain Boy-Ed, on his return home received 
 from the Kaiser the decoration of the Order of 
 the Red Eagle, third class, with sword, in "re- 
 cognition of his services in the United States." 
 He would undoubtedly, for "those services," ex- 
 cept for the immunity granted him as a member 
 of a diplomat's official family, be facing prison 
 in the United States with Dr. Karl Buenz and 
 other officials of the Kaiser's own steamship line. 
 
 125 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 CAPTAIN FRANZ VON RINTELEN, 
 GERMAN ARCH-PLOTTER 
 
 WHEN the German spy system was work- 
 ing smoothly and giving gleeful satis- 
 faction to its builders, the War Staff 
 in Berlin sent to America a masterly schemer who 
 threw sand into the machinery. He was Franz 
 von Rintelen, a finished product of the Prussian 
 war-mould. He had been born with a supreme 
 confidence in the conquering destiny of Germany. 
 He had been trained for his work in that order 
 of things and he had subordinated to the needs 
 of the Empire, his business, wealth, brains, en- 
 ergy — yes, his very soul. He had been ordered 
 here to undertake, with the aid of Germany's 
 agents, the enormous task of isolating commercial 
 and financial America, as a base of war supplies, 
 from Europe. In trying to accomplish his aim 
 he sought to wreck American institutions and to 
 use the United States as a battlefield in a rear 
 attack on the Allies. 
 
 Highly imaginative, keen of foresight, a master 
 of detail, a superb organizer, and conscienceless 
 in the execution of his plans, he seemed like a 
 man so perfectly trained for the emergencies of 
 
war that under no circumstances would he lose 
 his poise. And yet when put face to face with 
 his own mis judgments and forced to take meas- 
 ures to retrieve himself, he lost the very quality 
 which his training was meant to insure — a care- 
 fully calculating eye and a cool head. His stra- 
 tegic moves consequently proved to be ridiculous 
 errors that led to his own confusion. 
 
 In a brief sojourn in America he moved in the 
 shadows of mystery, employing the vast network 
 of German spies, hiring Americans, using thugs 
 and setting in motion manifold plans for gigantic 
 enterprises that involved the entire governmental, 
 industrial and financial organizations of the coun- 
 try. When he went away, his work unfinished 
 and his aims unaccomplished, a large amount of 
 money wasted, there remained a multitude of 
 trails, isolated facts and incidents suggesting his 
 activities. Seizing these clues, Federal agents 
 under A. Bruce Bielaski and William M. Offley, 
 began to dig up von Rintelen's associates, to get 
 their stories and to obtain proof of the nobleman's 
 doings — his letters and telegrams, his agents' 
 speeches and the instructions which they tried to 
 carry out. Taking these facts, Raymond H. Sar- 
 faty, then Assistant United States Attorney in 
 New York, working with patience and skill, fitted 
 the details together into a series of great mosaics 
 — depicting conspiracy, fraud, purchases of 
 strikes, bribery, perjury, forgery, sedition, almost 
 treason, Those pictures show how hidden forces 
 
 127 
 
— Americans and Germans working in secret — 
 during von Rintelen's presence in this country, 
 plotted to cause commotions in political, industrial 
 and financial spheres, and all to aid Germany in 
 derogation of our rights. 
 
 PICTURES OF VON RINTELEN 
 
 In every one of them, von Rintelen looms as 
 the audacious plotter, man of mystery, user of 
 a hundred aliases, supreme egotist, a vaunted aid 
 to the Kaiser and a Teutonic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. 
 Hyde. In one picture, you see him in exclusive 
 homes on Fifth avenue, a "mould of form" — 
 scarcely thirty-eight years old, slim and upstand- 
 ing, with stalwart shoulders, the bearing of an 
 aristocrat, short stubborn hair, a moustache with 
 a like independent twist, and greenish-grey eyes 
 that sparkled defiance. He garbed himself in the 
 cut of London's most artistic tailors and selected 
 the colors of his ties, his shirts and his socks with 
 a view to perfect harmony. He was the "glass 
 of fashion" on the tip-toe of courtesy, beguiling 
 with his gallant quips and charming his hearers 
 by his fascinating stories and comments. 
 
 Other pictures show him under an assumed 
 name, in conference with conspirators. He might 
 meet them secretly in offices, or in hotels, or he 
 might pick them up in an automobile, whizzing 
 along at full speed and handing gold to hirelings 
 who for a price were ready to undertake some 
 criminal job. He might be seen, dining j n one 
 
 128 
 
of Broadway's most alluring cabarets, ordering 
 the rarest of wines and boasting of his schemes to 
 accomplish in America what would be equivalent 
 to Germany's capture of Paris. 
 
 YON RINTELEN'S VALUE 
 
 And who is this man? He is so important that 
 when made a prisoner in England, the Kaiser 
 offered to exchange for the nobleman any ten 
 British prisoners that King George might select. 
 He is so esteemed in Germany that large amounts 
 of gold were placed at the disposal of Americans 
 to go to England and by hook or creek effect his 
 escape. Rumor has sought to make him a relative 
 of the Hohenzollerns. Another report has put 
 him down actually as the Duke of Mecklenburg- 
 Schwerin. But persons, who knew him well in 
 Berlin, saw him in the United States and at the 
 prison camp in England, say he is von Bintelen. 
 He is said to be the son of a former member of 
 the Kaiser's Cabinet ; but the German "Wer Ist's" 
 does not credit that man with a son. Still, von 
 Rintelen married into one of the wealthiest famil- 
 ies in Berlin, his wife being a member of the von 
 Kaufmann family, and he had a commanding 
 social position in Germany. 
 
 He is wealthy in his own name, his fortune 
 being estimated at $15,000,000. He is a director 
 of the Deutsche Bank and the National Bank fur 
 Deutschland. He is, or was, a member of the 
 big financial group of Germany and as such was 
 
 119 
 
one of the Emperor's financial advisers. His 
 knowledge and advisory sphere included Eng- 
 land, the United States and Mexico; and of the 
 financial and industrial resources of these coun- 
 tries he was supposed to have a broad and com- 
 prehensive knowledge. He had influence also 
 because he was a friend of the Kaiser and a close 
 associate of the Crown Prince. 
 
 A SECRET AGENT'S TRAINING 
 
 Von Rintelen's work was cut out for him in 
 his early youth. His qualifications were consid- 
 ered and he was assigned to studies in preparation 
 for the tasks he gave promise of performing most 
 efficiently. At the gymnasium and the university, 
 he divided his time between economics and fi- 
 nance. In addition, he spent considerable time in 
 the navy, finally became a Captain-Lieutenant, 
 and as such qualified for the General Navy Staff. 
 He, too, was one of von Tirpitz's young men 
 chosen for definite lines of naval secret service and 
 financial campaigns that would be of value to the 
 further development of the navy. 
 
 Finance may have been a mere cloak for the 
 real nature of von Rintelen's naval assignments 
 abroad, or his secret service training may have 
 been a necessary part of his training for a high 
 place in the Teutonic financial world. Graduat- 
 ing from the university and finishing the pre- 
 scribed part of his tutelage under von Tirpitz, 
 he went to London where he obtained employment 
 
 180 
 
in a banking house. While there, he was learning 
 not only finance but he was a part of that branch 
 of Germany's spy system that radiated through 
 banking institutions to the various concerns allied 
 therewith. Under the guidance of wise heads in 
 Berlin, he grasped far more facts about banking 
 conditions than ever were suspected by his Eng- 
 lish associates. 
 
 Next he came to America. He entered the 
 banking house of Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co., 
 spending a short time there and then moving to 
 other banking institutions, some of which were 
 branches of English and Canadian banks. He 
 obtained letters of introduction from big bankers 
 to bankers scattered throughout the United 
 States. He grew in knowledge, learned Ameri- 
 can banking methods, the connections of banks 
 with big industries, and sought to make affilia- 
 tions of benefit to German institutions. He served, 
 meantime, as Germany's naval representative at 
 the exercises in commemoration of John Paul 
 Jones. His entrance into New York's society 
 was paved for him through the German Em- 
 bassy's friends. He was a guest at social func- 
 tions where only the most favored were invited. 
 He was accepted as a member of the New York 
 Yacht Club. He was entertained at Newport. 
 He made friends among the biggest men in New 
 York ; for he was attractive, a remarkable cosmop- 
 olite, extremely learned, versed in international 
 questions, speaking English, French and Spanish 
 
 131 
 
fluently, and above all he was an inimitable racon- 
 teur. He showed himself at all times an ardent 
 pro- German, arguing for a union of Germany 
 and the United States in the event of war. 
 
 Through his wide acquaintanceship and in- 
 numerable avenues open to him, he gained in- 
 formation about America such as only the most 
 favored businessmen in America possess. He 
 left this country finally, saying he would go to 
 Mexico to investigate conditions there, hoping 
 that eventually he might be able to open Mexican 
 and South American branches of a German bank. 
 But before going, he had acquired insight not 
 only into American banking connections with 
 Canada but also with Mexico. He knew the big 
 financial groups interested in the development 
 of the natural resources of those countries and 
 he knew thoroughly America's actual and indus- 
 trial preparedness for war. 
 
 BACK TO GERMANY 
 
 So, returning to Berlin in 1909, he again took 
 up his banking business and continued his close 
 affiliation with von Tirpitz and the Big Navy 
 crowd, setting forth the facts he obtained and 
 making recommendations for the development of 
 Germany's secret service in America. He became 
 more prominent socially than ever, making it a 
 point to entertain Americans. When his Ameri- 
 can acquaintances turned up in Berlin, they in- 
 variably found von Kintelen a most cordial and 
 
 133 
 
extravagant host. He obtained introductions at 
 court for some; and he introduced others to the 
 Crown Prince. When the war started, Americans 
 who besought von Bintelen for help in the ex- 
 citing days, found him most obliging. 
 
 But before circumstances that brought von 
 Bintelen to this country arose, he received sev- 
 eral Americans. One was a wealthy American 
 manufacturer who owns a large factory in France. 
 Being on intimate terms with von Bintelen, he 
 called upon him and explained how the plant 
 had been closed down with the invasion of the 
 Germans, causing a big financial loss. He ap- 
 pealed for von Bintelen's intercession to have the 
 concern continue business. He got von Bintelen's 
 promise of aid but returned to the United States 
 before any definite action was taken as von Bin- 
 telen was too crafty to make any move before he 
 was ready to ask his compensation. 
 
 Von Bintelen was ordered, in January, 1915, 
 by the General War Staff to come to America. 
 It had become necessary to send a man here to 
 buy supplies of copper, rubber and cotton and to 
 take extensive precautionary measures against 
 the Allies getting war munitions from America. 
 He was scornful of American facilities for filling 
 Allies' orders and backed by the authority of the 
 War Staff and a group of Berlin's ablest bankers, 
 he made arrangements for his trip. Knowing 
 he must elude the English, he obtained the Swiss 
 passport of his sister Emily V. Gasche, who was 
 
 138 
 
with her husband in Switzerland. He erased the 
 "y" of Emily and had the passport altered in 
 other ways to suit his needs, travelling as Emil 
 V. Gasche, a Swiss citizen. As he bade good- 
 bye to his wife and two little daughters, he 
 talked arrogantly of a quick trip to America 
 past English spies, promised big accomplish- 
 ments for the Emperor and an early return 
 home. 
 
 Von Rintelen, confident and daring, is said to 
 have gone first to England. After gathering 
 facts about the manufacture and importation of 
 munitions of war and England's method of in- 
 creasing the supply, he disappeared suddenly and 
 is believed to have gone to Norway. When he 
 was on the high seas due to arrive in New York 
 on April 3 he sent a wireless message to the 
 American owner of the factory in France, ask- 
 ing an interview at the pier. Von Rintelen, act- 
 ing at what was the time best suitable to himself, 
 had succeeded in having the American's factory 
 opened. He wished, on landing, to give him this 
 information and in return get help in the plans 
 that he wished to put into effect. As the Ameri- 
 can did not go to the pier, the nobleman, always 
 alert and suspicious, hired a detective who spent 
 a week investigating. He finally met this man, 
 told him in part the purpose of his trip to 
 America, and used him as a means of getting in- 
 troductions to men who would prove valuable to 
 him. 
 
 134 
 
JEKYLL AND HYDE 
 
 Herr von Rintelen, having dropped the guise 
 of E. V. Gasche, immediately began to play Dr. 
 Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll, visiting the 
 Yacht Club and calling upon wealthy friends, 
 proved a more charming, more delightful von 
 Rintelen than ever, meeting influential business 
 men who were selling supplies to the Allies. He 
 was presented to society matrons and debutantes, 
 whom, by flattery and subtlety, he sought to use 
 to further his purposes. To these, he was Herr 
 von Rintelen in America on an important finan- 
 cial mission. But occasionally, he made wild 
 boasts of plans. As a typical Mr. Hyde he sought 
 information from von Bernstorff, von Papen, 
 Boy-Ed, about the production of war supplies. 
 Astounded by what he learned from them and 
 corroborated from other sources, he began to 
 realize how utterly he had misjudged America's 
 potential resources and what a blunder he had 
 made in his statement to the General War Staff. 
 
 Within a brief time von Rintelen realized, with 
 a vividness that chilled him, the capacity of 
 America to hand war materials to the Allies and 
 her rapidly increasing facilities to turn out still 
 more ammunition and bullets. The facts which 
 he obtained struck him with triple force because 
 of the knowledge he had about the war moves. 
 It is upon a basis of the supplies of munitions 
 in the Allied countries , particularly Russia, as 
 von Rintelen knew them, that his acts are best 
 
 135 
 
judged and upon this basis only can sane motives 
 be assigned to the rash projects which he launched. 
 
 He understood these three striking facts thor- 
 oughly : ( 1 ) that the German drive on Paris had 
 failed because in two months the Germans had 
 used up ammunition they confidently expected 
 to last a half a year; (2) that the English and 
 French in the west could not take up the offen- 
 sive because ammunition was not being turned 
 out fast enough; and (3) that the Russian drive 
 on Germany and Austria would soon fail for lack 
 of arms and bullets. 
 
 In the winter and spring of 1915 the Russians 
 had made a drive into Galicia and Austria, hurl- 
 ing the Austrians and Germans back. In May 
 they had advanced victoriously through the first 
 range of the Carpathian mountains. Meantime 
 the German General Staff, as von Rintelen knew, 
 was preparing for a big offensive against the 
 Russians. The War Staff knew of Russia's 
 limited capacity to produce arms and ammuni- 
 tion, knew that during the winter with the port 
 of Archangel closed by ice, her only source for 
 new supplies lay in the single-track Siberian rail- 
 way, bringing material from Japan. He realized 
 that by spring the Russian resources would well 
 nigh be exhausted and that with the beginning of 
 the projected Austro-German offensive the cru- 
 cial necessity lay in shutting off supplies from 
 Russia. He knew that England and France could 
 not help her and therefore, the American source 
 
 136 
 
must be cut off absolutely. But spring had al- 
 ready come, ships were sailing for Archangel 
 laden with American explosives, shells, and cart- 
 ridges. 
 
 A PLOTTER AT WORK 
 
 Von Rintelen, startled by his mistaken esti- 
 mate of American industrial preparedness, and 
 frantically determined that Russia's supplies must 
 be crippled, that the cargoes going to France and 
 England must be held back, began mapping out 
 his gigantic enterprises. These conditions were 
 the big compelling motive; for the nobleman's 
 reputation was at stake. The work for which he 
 had been so carefully trained was bound to fail 
 unless he acted quickly. Desperate measures were 
 necessary. With that situation in view he ex- 
 changed many wireless communications with his 
 superiors in Berlin — messages that looked like 
 harmless expressions between his wife and him- 
 self in which the names of Americans who had 
 been in Berlin were used both as code words and 
 as means to impress upon the American censor 
 their genuineness. He obtained as a result still 
 greater authority than he had received on the eve 
 of his departure from Germany. 
 
 In his quick fashion, he often boasted, and 
 there is foundation for part of what he said, that 
 he had been sent to America by the General Staff, 
 backed by $50,000,000 to $100,000,000; that he 
 was an agent plenipotentiary and extraordinary, 
 
 137 
 
ready to take any measure on land and sea to 
 stop the making of munitions, and to halt their 
 transportation at the factory or at the seaboard. 
 
 He mapped out a campaign, remarkable for 
 detail, scope, recklessness and utter disregard of 
 American laws. These plots proved von Rin- 
 telen, or the German General Staff, a master of 
 thoroughness and ingenuity, for he took into con- 
 sideration the psychology, the customs, habits, 
 and reported weaknesses of Americans. 
 
 His schemes in brief were ( 1 ) the purchase of 
 war materials for Germany as a means of boost- 
 ing prices; {2) the fomenting of war between the 
 United States and Mexico as a means of com- 
 pelling the American Government to seize all 
 available war munitions; (3)' a campaign of pub- 
 licity and the arousing of public sentiment to 
 bring about an embargo on arms shipments; (4) 
 strikes in American industries; and (5) a series 
 of acts of violence against factories and munition- 
 carrying vessels. 
 
 Von Rintelen rapidly mobilized his forces of 
 money and men. He went first to the Trans- 
 Atlantic Trust Company, where he was known 
 by his right name and where he arranged his 
 finances. Money was transferred from Berlin 
 through the usual German channels — large cor- 
 porations with German affiliations — and placed 
 to his credit in various banking institutions. He 
 deposited large amounts in the Trans-Atlantic 
 Trust Company and large amounts, totaling mil- 
 
 188 
 
lions, in other banks. He next rented an office 
 on the eighth floor of the same building that 
 housed the trust company and had a telephone 
 running to it through the switchboard of the 
 banking institution. He registered with the 
 county clerk as the E. V. Gibbon Company, 
 a purchaser of supplies, signing his name to the 
 document as "Francis von Bintelen." 
 
 Using the name of Fred Hansen, he received 
 persons in that office. There he summoned to his 
 help a part of the German espionage system. He 
 did not hesitate to call upon any German for 
 assistance, and thousands of willing workers were 
 at his disposal. If he wished a naval reservist, 
 he knew where to get him; if a member of the 
 landsturm was needed for any detail, he was 
 called. From Boy-Ed, he received data about 
 the sailings of ships ; from von Papen, facts about 
 munition factories. He met Koenig and assigned 
 numerous tasks to him, particularly the location 
 of munition factories, their products and exports. 
 
 His first task, merely incidental in importance 
 compared with his other aim, was the succoring 
 of the Fatherland and the blocking of the Allies 
 through purchases. He participated with in- 
 fluential Germans in the scheme of buying the 
 leading munition factories. He attempted the 
 running of the British blockade. Dr. Albert also 
 was buying goods, but von Rintelen, working on 
 a much larger scale, commensurate with his fertile 
 imagination, and employing a staff of agents, 
 
took charge of the shipments of raw products and 
 food. Carrying on these purchases through E. V. 
 Gibbon Company, using the name of Gibbon and 
 Hansen, he had as aid Captain Steinberg a Ger- 
 man naval officer. Through him, von Rintelen 
 chartered ships, purchased materials, caused false 
 manifests to be made for the cargoes, and ar- 
 ranged for shipment to Italy and the Scandi- 
 navian countries, whence they were trans-shipped. 
 
 IN THE MAZE 
 
 This officer, it is charged, had dealings with Dr. 
 Walter T. Scheele, the alleged manufacturer of 
 fire bombs, and arranged with him to mix lubri- 
 cating oil, so urgently needed in Germany, with 
 fertilizer, and ship the oil as "commercial fertil- 
 izer." The oil was to be extracted by a chemical 
 process in Germany. Von Rintelen, through 
 Steinberg, importuned Dr. Scheele to ship muni- 
 tions as farming implements, giving him $20,000 
 for that purpose. Dr. Scheele did bill the ship- 
 ment as requested, but he did not lie because he 
 shipped farming machinery, taking a fat commis- 
 sion. Again von Rintelen was hoodwinked. The 
 officer, von Igel and Dr. Scheele have been in- 
 dicted on a charge of conspiring to defraud the 
 United States by false manifests. 
 
 "The British blockade," von Rintelen used to 
 boast with purring pride, "is a myth. I can send 
 to Germany all the goods that I wish" 
 
 So skilfully did he plan — he was a master of 
 
 140 
 
detail and a consummate artist in concealing his 
 movements — and so many different aliases did 
 he employ, that at first he attracted no attention, 
 and after a time his doings were credited to a 
 German Red Cross lecturer. Because of the 
 German method of switching agents to cause 
 confusion to the enemy's spies, it is probable that 
 some Red Cross agents did figure in the pur- 
 chases. The investigations of the Federal authori- 
 ties, however, have laid to von Rintelen the 
 schemes carried on from April to June, 1915. 
 
 Von Rintelen boasted that he bought provi- 
 sions, amounting to $2,000 ,000 a week, for ship- 
 ment to Germany through Denmark. More than 
 $25,000,000 was consumed by von Rintelen in 
 his blockade — running, many of the boats being 
 seized by British warships. 
 
 Von Rintelen also took a flier at the most 
 elusive and puzzling diversions of war-brokers, 
 namely the purchase of the 350,000 Krag-J or gen- 
 sen rifles which the United States Government 
 had condemned just prior to the outbreak of the 
 war. Around those rifles was centered more 
 intrigue and deceitful scheming than was incited 
 by almost any other single article connected with 
 the war. Even after the Government had an- 
 nounced emphatically that they were not for sale, 
 and President Wilson had told one banker: "You 
 will get those rifles only over my dead body," 
 every belligerent tried to get them. 
 
 Von Rintelen heard that by bribing Govern- 
 
 141 
 
merit officials he could obtain the guns. He was 
 stirred; for if an official would accept money for 
 one thing, he could be influenced to do other 
 things to help Germany. Sending out agents, he 
 offered to purchase the rifles. He encountered a 
 man who put a price of $17,826,000 on them, part 
 of the amount being intended, von Rintelen was 
 told, as bribes of several millions of dollars for 
 Government officials. 
 
 Things looked bright to von Rintelen. "So 
 close am I to the President" said the agent who 
 promised to deliver them, "that two days after 
 you deposit the money in the bank you can dangle 
 his grandchild on your knee" But von Rintelen 
 apparently came to realize that he was dealing 
 with the secret agent of another government, who 
 was laying a trap for him, and he quickly with- 
 drew. 
 
 THE LUSITANIA GOES DOWN 
 
 Then the Lusitania was torpedoed. Americans 
 who were connected with von Rintelen's schemes 
 to ship supplies to Denmark and to buy the 
 Krags, became alarmed over the prospect of war 
 with Germany. They cut off negotiations with 
 him and fearing possible government investiga- 
 tions, they began to talk. Part of the activities 
 of a mysterious German of the name of Meyer 
 and Hansen reached both the Government 
 officials and newspapers. A reporter on the New 
 York Tribune who got a "tip" of the real facts 
 
 142 
 
and who hunted for von Rintelen, frightened the 
 German agents from the office of the E. V. Gib- 
 bon Company. Steinberg skipped back to Ger- 
 many disguised as a woman carrying a trunk 
 full of reports showing the necessity of concerted 
 action to prevent the Allies from getting Amer- 
 ican war materials. 
 
 Von Rintelen slipped away to an office in the 
 Woolworth Building. On disclosing something 
 of his schemes to men there, he was quickly 
 ordered out. He moved to the offices, in the 
 Liberty Tower, of Andrew M. Meloy, who had 
 gone to Germany hoping to interest the German 
 authorities in a scheme having the same purpose 
 as von Rintelen's. In Meloy's office he posed as 
 E. V. Gates — still retaining the initials of E. V. 
 G. So effective was von Rintelen's "getaway," 
 that he was reported to have gone abroad as a 
 secretary. Those newspaper stories again gave 
 von Rintelen cause to chuckle over his cleverness 
 and his elusiveness, and encouraged him to still 
 more reckless projects. He was reporting mean- 
 time to Berlin by means of apparently innocuous 
 commercial messages sent by wireless, and also 
 by cablegrams via England and Holland, 
 
 Von Rintelen, always scheming to prevent 
 arms and ammunition from going to the Allies, 
 reached into Mexico to use that country as an- 
 other angle from which to harass the United 
 States. He planned — and this project was a part 
 of his vast campaign — to embroil Mexico and 
 
 143 
 
this country in war, or to cause such a jumble of 
 revolutions within the Mexican borders that the 
 United States would be compelled to intervene. 
 He pictured this country in war with Mexico, 
 a mobilization of the regular army and the militia, 
 an assembling of the American fleet. That would 
 require a large part of the output of the munition 
 factories. The horses that were being shipped to 
 the Allies, the arms, the clothing for soldiers, the 
 shoes and the hundreds of other things which 
 American factories were busily turning out, 
 would be required for a large American army 
 moving south of the Rio Grande. 
 
 STIRRING UP MEXICO 
 
 He seized, therefore, upon President Wilson's 
 opposition to General Huerta, and he planned to 
 start a revolution in Mexico with the aim of re- 
 turning Huerta to power and thus placing the 
 United States in a position where it would be 
 compelled to go into Mexico and restore order. 
 The United States would not be in a position 
 then to dictate terms for the settlement of the 
 Lusitania controversy, would seize the war sup- 
 plies going to the Allies, and, incidentally, would 
 be hampered for the remainder of the European 
 war. 
 
 Ensconced in Meloy's office, von Bintelen had 
 as his daily associate a man of his own age and 
 of much the same appearance, tall, slender, 
 splendidly dressed, namely, a Mexican of Ger- 
 
 144 
 
man ancestry and a banker of Parral. These two 
 had known each other for years, and the two met 
 in New York. The banker was versed in Mex- 
 ican affairs, and the young German-Mexican 
 knew some of von Rintelen's plans which had 
 been set in operation before the latter's arrival 
 in America. 
 
 German agents had been sent to Barcelona, 
 Spain, to confer with General Victoriano Huerta, 
 former dictator of Mexico, and dazzle him with 
 the prospect of returning to power. VonRintelen 
 appreciated keenly the fact that Huerta in 
 Mexico virtually meant a declaration of war by 
 the United States, and, therefore, he wanted to 
 put him there. 
 
 Having coaxed the old warrior to the United 
 States, the agile-witted nobleman got Boy-Ed 
 and von Papen to map out Huerta's plans. The 
 two attaches, with vonRintelen standing, invisible, 
 far in the background and pulling the strings, 
 had many secret conferences in New York hotels, 
 overheard by Federal agents. They developed 
 the plans for Huerta's dash into Mexico, and the 
 uprising of Mexicans to support him. Von 
 Rintelen, Boy-Ed and von Papen made trips 
 along the Mexican border, arranged for the 
 mobilization of Mexicans, for the storing of sup- 
 plies and ammunition and for furnishing funds. 
 Von Rintelen deposited in Cuban banks and in 
 banks in Mexico City more than $800,000 for 
 Huerta's use, When the aged general, stealing 
 
 143 
 
away from New York, reached Texas he was 
 nipped, while attempting to jump the interna- 
 tional horder. 
 
 While the Huertista faction was amply 
 financed, it was only one of seven groups, five of 
 which were in Mexico, to which von Rintelen 
 passed out money. Striving to stir up trouble 
 and still more trouble for the United States, he 
 poured gold upon gold into Mexico, hoping that 
 President Wilson, nervous and harassed, would 
 raise a big army for a march. 
 
 Next, as an English banker making a special 
 study of Mexican railway securities, he called 
 one day upon Villa's representative in New York, 
 and discussed the Mexican situation with him, 
 and afterwards he sent money to Villa. He gave 
 support to Carranza. He financed Zapata, and 
 he started two other small revolutions in Mexico. 
 He gave $350,000 to one agent who hurriedly 
 left the country carrying the cash with him. He 
 sent $400,000 traveling through devious channels 
 to help one of the revolutionary parties ; but that 
 money was recovered by von Rintelen's superiors 
 after a most exciting scramble. The reckless 
 agent is reported to have expended $10,000,000 
 in his Mexican enterprises, and airily he said he 
 would spend $50,000,000 if necessary. 
 
 1*6 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 CAPTAIN FRANZ VON RINTELEN, 
 GERMAN ARCH-PLOTTER 
 
 BUT von Rintelen had still bigger projects 
 afoot. While his precise, swiftly moving 
 mind supervised the Mexican conspiracy, 
 and carefully watched over shipments of supplies 
 to the Fatherland, he was launching a series of 
 concerted conspiracies designed to cut of this 
 country almost entirely from Europe. His vivid 
 imagination had led him to picture a Utopian 
 fantasy wherein Americans who believed so ab- 
 solutely in universal peace — despite the war rag- 
 ing abroad — that the laborers would refuse to 
 make munitions of war, the farmers would de- 
 cline to sell food to warring nations, and the Gov- 
 ernment would take over all the war factories. 
 Von Rintelen, accordingly, determined to bring 
 such a dream into real life, not for altruistic pur- 
 poses, but to help Germany conquer the Allies. 
 He had made his plans before he left Germany, 
 and he had sent ahead for information concerning 
 Americans as his aids, who were skilled in finesse 
 and underground work. He wanted men who, 
 while men of brains, might be led by lust for gold 
 or hatred of England to espouse the criminal 
 
 147 
 
schemes which he had originated. He sought 
 leaders whose logic and oratory could sway the 
 rank and file. The man of whom he had heard 
 while in Berlin as a likely assistant was David 
 Lamar, now serving a term of imprisonment for 
 having impersonated a Congressman, whose 
 craftiness and ingenious methods in using poli- 
 ticians in his stock operations had won him the 
 title of "The Wolf of Wall Street." The two 
 men were brought together. 
 
 One can see von Rintelen, enthusiastically 
 speaking in millions of dollars, as he outlined his 
 schemes to Lamar, his equal in grace of manner 
 and deceit, and Lamar cloaking his avarice with 
 smiles and soft words. Of course, Lamar, his 
 dark eyes sparkling at von Rintelen's boast, "I 
 have millions to spend," echoed the nobleman's 
 sentiments. 
 
 BEFUDDLING THE PACIFISTS 
 
 Von Rintelen s first step, as he outlined it to 
 Lamar, was to use the horrors of the European 
 War as an appeal for universal peace, and to 
 enlist the laboring men and the farmers of Amer- 
 ica in raising their united voice against the ex- 
 ports of arms and ammunition. And thus a great 
 labor peace propaganda was originated by a 
 German whose patriotism had driven away his 
 scruples, and an American who had gone money- 
 mad. The details of the organization were set 
 forth, and soon von Rintelen had a staff of work- 
 
 1481 
 
ers at his command, though they all may not have 
 known he was paying their salaries. His agents, 
 in secret interviews with labor leaders, were 
 soliciting their aid, flashing rolls of gold-tinted 
 certificates. The men who guiltily handled the 
 money which von Rintelen drew from the bank 
 had only one complaint, namely, that the de- 
 nominations of the bills were entirely too large. 
 
 Two of von Rintelen s agents following Samuel 
 Gompers, president of the National Federation 
 of Labor, to Atlantic City one day, offered him 
 $500,000 for his services in indorsing the peace 
 propaganda and participating in the work. Mr. 
 Gompers scorned the offer. Other big labor 
 leaders, whose aid was solicited, began immedi- 
 ately to warn their associates against the anti- 
 American activities of German agents. 
 
 By June, 1915, von Rintelen's schemes were 
 moving apace. A big advertising campaign had 
 been started in the early spring with von Rin- 
 telen's cash. Newspaper propaganda picturing 
 the glories of universal peace began to appear. 
 
 By the aid of Lamar, who kept von Rintelen 
 in the background, the German soon had many 
 persons working and talking in the interest of 
 universal peace. It is charged that the services 
 of Frank Buchanan, Representative in Congress 
 and former labor leader, and of H. Robert Fow- 
 ler, ex-Congressman, were obtained. Whether 
 they were aware of von Rintelen and his motives 
 is a question for a jury to answer, for they have 
 
 149 
 
been indicted in connection with the alleged 
 activities of the Labor's National Peace 
 Council. 
 
 Within a short time, thousands of invitations 
 were scattering throughout the country to labor 
 leaders, small and large, and to heads of farmers' 
 granges, to attend the national convention of the 
 peace propaganda at the expense of the organiza- 
 tion. All railroad fares, hotel expenses and a 
 liberal allowance for spending money were 
 promised. 
 
 Under the fostering financial auspices of von 
 Rintelen, who hovered conveniently near the New 
 Willard Hotel, the members of a peace move- 
 ment gathered in Washington, expenses paid. 
 They adopted resolutions saying they desired "to 
 promote peace." The resolutions demanded the 
 enactment of laws that would enable the Govern- 
 ment to take over as exclusive government busi- 
 ness the manufacture of all arms, instruments and 
 munitions of war; demanded an immediate em- 
 bargo upon shipments of war supplies to the 
 belligerents; denounced the maintenance of mili- 
 tary and naval forces, and called for a special 
 session of Congress to promote "peace universal/' 
 The executive board went immediately into execu- 
 tive session. 
 
 PAYING THE HIRELINGS 
 
 "How is this movement to be financed?" one 
 of the newly elected executive board asked an- 
 
 150 
 
other. He and one of the vice-presidents waited 
 for an answer. They got none, he says, and the 
 question was repeated by another. Then one of 
 the officers answered: 
 
 "This thing is big enough, so that I do not 
 care where the money comes from to finance 
 it." 
 
 Another member asked : 
 
 "What, after all, does this council want to do?" 
 
 "We want," was the answer, "to stop the ex- 
 portation of munitions to the Allies. Germany 
 can manufacture all the munitions she wants." 
 
 Von Rintelen's deposit in the Trans-Atlantic 
 Trust Company meantime was growing smaller 
 by jumps of $100,000, which was drawn on checks 
 payable to cash, placed in another bank, quickly 
 withdrawn, and on one occasion the money in 
 bills was taken to the headquarters of a peace 
 organization in a suit-case. Bank accounts of 
 von Rintelens peace propagandists began to 
 jump. 
 
 The executive board was busy. One of the 
 first moves was a statement filed with Secretary 
 of State Lansing alleging that nine ships in 
 various American ports were taking on cargoes 
 of ammunition in violation of the neutrality laws. 
 That charge, undoubtedly prepared with von 
 Rintelen's aid upon information gathered by 
 German spies, showed an accurate knowledge of 
 the merchantmen loading with supplies for the 
 Allies. There was, however, no violation of law, 
 
 151 
 
because the vessels were officered and manned by 
 ordinary seamen who had no connection with the 
 Allied governments. 
 
 The second step was the preparation of a com- 
 plaint charging as a violation of law the issuance 
 of Federal Reserve notes by national banks on 
 the ground the New York banks had lent money 
 to the Allies which was being used in payment for 
 war supplies; that some of those banks had re- 
 discounted notes with the Federal Reserve Bank. 
 Here again was displayed a remarkably detailed 
 knowledge of the business of the Federal Reserve 
 Banks. This charge also fell flat, 
 
 A third move was against Dudley Field Ma- 
 lone, Collector of the Port of New York. Reso- 
 lutions were adopted accusing him of exceeding 
 his authority in having granted clearance papers 
 to the steamship Lusitania when that vessel was 
 ladened with munitions, and authorizing an action 
 to be started against him. No suit, however, was 
 begun. In this connection, it may be mentioned 
 that one member of the peace committee was at- 
 torney for a woman of Chicago, who, months 
 afterwards, started suit for $40,000 against Col- 
 lector Malone and Captain Turner, of the Lust- 
 tania, on the ground that the ship illegally carried 
 explosives. 
 
 •-> 
 
 CONSPIRACY GROWS BOLDER 
 
 These public acts mentioned above, however, 
 are charged by the Federal Government to have 
 
 10 
 
been merely a cloak, covering a more extensive 
 conspiracy financed by von Rintelen. By a series 
 of strikes in munition factories, humming with 
 the Allies' war orders ; on railroads carrying the 
 articles to the seaboard; and on steamships, von 
 Rintelen, it is alleged, sought to cut off commerce 
 among the United States and the Allied coun- 
 tries. Von Rintelen and several others are ac- 
 cused in the Federal indictment of doing six 
 different acts in a conspiracy in restraint of 
 foreign commerce. They are charged with con- 
 spiring to use "solicitation, persuasion and ex- 
 hortation" to influence the workers to go on strike 
 or to quit work, to bribe officers of labor unions 
 to get the men to strike, and "by divers other 
 means and methods not specifically determined 
 upon by the defendants, but to be decided as the 
 
 occasion arose." 
 
 Von Rintelen was busy now jumping from 
 town to town, sending orders under one name, 
 then another, and paying out mone}^. There took 
 place in June and July, 1915, many strikes which, 
 the national labor leaders of the respective trades 
 said, were absolutely unauthorized by the national 
 bodies. The German agent was delighted to read 
 in the newspapers of strikes at the Standard Oil 
 plant in Bayonne, N. J. ; of strikes at the Rem- 
 ington Arms Company in Bridgeport, Conn., 
 and in the General Electric Plant in Schenectady, 
 N. Y. His agents would approach him gleefully 
 with the newspapers containing these accounts, 
 
 118 
 
and immediately would receive another bundle of 
 bills with the exhortation, "That is fine. Go out 
 and start some more." 
 
 Another projected strike in connection with 
 which Germans were mentioned in correspon- 
 dence, but in which von Rintelen is not named, 
 is presented here because it fits in the general 
 scheme of the German plotting. That is the con- 
 spiracy on part of moneyed representatives of 
 Germany in May and June, 1915, to start a strike 
 simultaneously among the 23,000 'longshoremen 
 on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Such a walk- 
 out would absolutely have paralyzed American 
 shipping, completely stopped the movement of 
 explosives to the Allies at a most critical moment, 
 A leader of the big 'Longshoremen's Union told 
 Chief William J. Flynn, of the United States 
 Secret Service, that $1,035,000, or $45 for every 
 man, was offered to keep the men out on strike 
 for four weeks. After the sinking of the Lusi- 
 tania, the man who approached the 'longshore- 
 men wrote under the name of "Mike Foley," ask- 
 ing if an "S." (strike) was to be called, that be- 
 cause of the "L. (Lusitania) affair," his people 
 were not going to do anything at present, and be- 
 cause the "Big Man" (who preceded von Rin- 
 telen) was going away. It will be recalled that 
 after the sinking of the Lusitania, Dernburg was 
 dismissed from the country because of his com- 
 ments concerning the attitude of Germany 
 toward submarine warfare. 
 
 154 
 
CRIMINALS SET TO WORK 
 
 While von Rintelen was reaching out in so 
 many directions in his frantic endeavor to build 
 a barrier between the United States and the 
 Entente Powers, he did not hesitate to resort to 
 criminals. Keeping his quick eyes on the prog- 
 ress of the peace propaganda, he had schemes 
 which, while distinctly separated from that or- 
 ganization, were designed to work in harmony 
 with the developments in the strike propa- 
 ganda. Von Rintelen planned by aid of reservists 
 and crooks to take other measures in munition 
 factories to stop, delay, injure the production 
 of materials destined for the Allies battle 
 fronts. 
 
 He sent trained German reservists to get 
 employment in factories with orders to collect 
 information and do what they could to cause 
 trouble. Resorting again to the well-developed 
 system of German secret agents in New York, 
 under new aliases, he got in touch with organized 
 bands of criminals in New York, and, the authori- 
 ties say, hired them to start depredations on the 
 ships being loaded with supplies for the Allies in 
 New York harbor. To von Rintelen or some 
 other person associated with him is attributed the 
 origin of a plot for widespread attacks by thieves 
 on cargoes being lightered from railroad piers to 
 merchantmen. These thefts of sugar, automobile 
 tires and magnetos have amounted to millions of 
 dollars. For instance, one of the sugar thieves 
 
 155 
 
stealing bags of sugar from a lighter said to a 
 comrade: 
 
 "Take some more bags. The ship won't ever 
 reach the other side anyway, and nobody will 
 know." 
 
 To the persons who doubt these varied, reck- 
 less and extensive activities of von Rintelen, it 
 may be suggested that von Rintelen asserted fre- 
 quently to his associates that he had come to 
 America to take every step, including peaceful or 
 violent measures, to stop the shipment of muni- 
 tions. 
 
 The doubter must not overlook the supervision 
 which von Rintelen exercised over the manu- 
 facturer of fire bombs which German reservists 
 are accused of hiding on the Allies' merchantmen, 
 and the fact that von Rintelen's aid visited a 
 bomb man in his Hoboken laboratory frequently; 
 that on one occasion he scored him roughly be- 
 cause the fire bombs were not proving effective. 
 Furthermore, Fay, after his arrest, and long 
 before the indictment of the bomb plotters, told 
 Captain Tunney of a wealthy German, then a 
 prisoner of war in England, who had paid $10,000 
 to a Hoboken chemist to make fire bombs. 
 
 Though von Rintelen, during the months of 
 June and July, was exuberant over the reports 
 — most of them false — which were carried to him 
 concerning the progress of peace, the strikes and 
 other schemes, and though he was kept drawing 
 money from the bank until the $800,000 in the 
 
 156 
 
Trans- Atlantic Trust Company was reduced to 
 $40,000, he began to have doubts about Lamar 
 and about the effectiveness of the latter's manage- 
 ment of some of the projects. He knew that 
 Lamar and his associates were planning for a 
 second rousing meeting in Washington, but, be- 
 coming suspicious, he suddenly cut off the money. 
 He had received estimates of activities that re- 
 quired more money. After deliberation he finally 
 decided to slip away to Berlin, get away from 
 Lamar entirely and after making a report to the 
 War Office return to America to broaden his 
 scope of work. 
 
 All told, von Rintelen had failed to perceive 
 any falling off in the exports to the Allies. They 
 were in fact rapidly increasing and von Rintelen's 
 schemes thus far had proved ineffective, though 
 he still was optimistic that eventually he would 
 have all his forces working in unison and thus 
 accomplish his aims. 
 
 He did not go to Washington when a second 
 peace convention was in session, and the word 
 had slipped out to some of the workers that von 
 Rintelen was about to sail. Still the meeting with 
 the members claiming a representation of 8,000,- 
 000 voters, was more denunciatory, enthusiastic 
 over its aims, than ever. There were attacks on 
 President Wilson and demands for an embargo 
 on war munitions. There was an intense pro- 
 German feeling. 
 
 Differences, meantime, began to arise among 
 
 1ST 
 
the members of the executive board. One of the 
 vice-presidents resigned just before the second 
 session convened, saying emphatically that the 
 financing of the organization was under suspicion. 
 Another quietly quit, not making the fact public 
 until weeks afterward. Lamar flitted away to a 
 magnificent country home which he had bought 
 in Pittsfield, Mass. There was no money left. 
 The propaganda died. 
 
 EXIT VON RINTELEN 
 
 Von Rintelen was on the high seas. He had 
 left $40,000 in the bank in charge of his friends, 
 and some of the plotters tried to get that on the 
 strength of a promise to stop the Anglo-French 
 bond sale of $500,000,000. Before sailing he 
 had applied for a passport as an American citizen 
 named Edward V. Gates of Millersville, Penn- 
 sylvania. But whisperings concerning von Rin- 
 telen's activities had reached the White House 
 from society folk who had heard von Rintelen's 
 rash talk and who knew of some of the unscrupu- 
 lous things he had attempted. The State De- 
 partment ordered an investigation and finally 
 sent his passport on to New York the day before 
 the sailing of the Noordam, in care of Federal 
 agents; but von Rintelen did not claim it. 
 Though he had bought a ticket on the boat under 
 the name of Gates, and had obtained drafts pay- 
 able on that name, he did not occupy the Gates 
 cabin but at the last minute engaged passage un- 
 
 158 
 
der the name of Emil V. Gasche, a Swiss citizen. 
 On board 'ship, he set to work preparing for 
 the close scrutiny of British naval officers when 
 the ship neared Falmouth. He handed over many 
 of his documents to Andrew D. Meloy, his travel- 
 ling companion and Meloy's secretary. He dic- 
 tated a long document about financial conditions 
 of Mexican railways purporting to be the report 
 of himself as commissioner for a group of Eng- 
 lish bondholders. He sought to make it appear 
 that he had been sent to the United States as 
 a representative of the bondholders' committee 
 of Mexican railways. When the British officers 
 came on board and searched him, von Rintelen 
 put up a skillful bluff but finally surrendered as a 
 prisoner of war. Meloy, who had aided von Rin- 
 telen in his application for the American pass- 
 port, was sent back to this country by the British 
 authorities. 
 
 A VALUABLE PRISONER 
 
 While von Rintelen, after his strenuous days 
 in America, was resting comfortably in a lux- 
 urious prison camp at Donington Hall, England, 
 the American authorities were busily delving 
 into his record. Mr. Sarfaty presented wit- 
 ness after witness and thousands of documents to 
 the Federal Grand Jury. Von Rintelen and 
 Meloy were indicted, first, for the fraudulent 
 passport conspiracy; and Meloy finally made a 
 confession to the Government authorities. Von 
 
 159 
 
Rintelen's agent, called before the Grand Jury 
 and refusing to answer, was adjudged in con- 
 tempt of court and spent a night in the Tombs 
 prison. Another agent, summoned before the 
 Grand Jury and asked about his dealings with 
 von Rintelen, refused to answer on the ground 
 that it might tend to degrade and incriminate 
 him, but he afterward was arrested on a fire- 
 bomb charge. 
 
 Von Rintelen was indicted on the charge of 
 forgery on the passport application, and upon 
 that as a basis, application was made to the Eng- 
 lish authorities for his extradition. After months 
 of investigation, indictments finally were filed 
 against von Rintelen, Lamar, and his associates 
 on a charge of conspiring to restrain foreign 
 trade. 
 
 The moment a United States District- Attor- 
 ney, equipped with a mass of documentary evi- 
 dence, telegrams, letters, minutes of secret meet- 
 ings, and the statements of hundreds of witnesses, 
 laid facts before the Grand Jury who brought 
 an indictment against a Congressman, the House 
 of Representatives, without waiting for the trial 
 of the defendant, immediately ordered an inquiry 
 which in substance amounted to a fishing expedi- 
 tion by the sub-committee to ascertain just what 
 evidence Mr. Marshall and Mr. Sarfaty had dug 
 up against one of their members. Congress did 
 not take any action and finally, after a spectacular 
 play decided to let the matter drop, 
 
 im 
 
A COSTLY FAILURE 
 
 From the viewpoint of picturesqueness, fan- 
 tastic conceptions, recklessness, extravagance, and 
 a remarkable mastery of detail, von Rintelen 
 stands forth as the most extraordinary German 
 agent sent to America. Boy-Ed and von Papen 
 are now telling their friends in Berlin that their 
 recall was due not to what they did but to what 
 von Rintelen did and said. 
 
 The energetic nobleman had hoped to cause an 
 absolute cessation of exports from this country 
 to the Allies and to create a political situation 
 where the United States would be powerless to 
 make any protest on Germany's submarine war- 
 fare. To bring these conditions about he had not 
 hesitated to try to foment war between the United 
 States and Mexico, to violate various American 
 neutrality laws, to attack American institutions 
 and American ideals with the aim of causing an 
 industrial stagnation. Yet how little he actually 
 accomplished ! 
 
 His Mexican plans were a failure. His schemes 
 to influence legislation came to naught. While 
 a few strikes were started and quickly settled, the 
 activity of the Germans proved hurtful to the 
 workingmen. Von Rintelen did get a few sup- 
 plies over to Germany; but many of his ships 
 were seized by the English. His enterprises are 
 said to have cost many millions of dollars and the 
 supplies which he shipped are about the only thing 
 that Germany got out of his gigantic schemes. 
 
 161 
 
U. S. Attorney Marshall has a passport issued to 
 Edward V. Gates which von Rintelen can have 
 any time he wishes to come and get it. Should 
 he ever step upon American shores, he will face 
 charges which upon conviction furnish a total 
 sentence of anywhere from fifty to sixty years. 
 Never did Germany aim through one man to 
 accomplish so much yet effect so little as through 
 Franz von Rintelen, the Crown Prince's friend. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 THE STORY OF THE LUSITANIA 
 
 THE Lusitania was, in the eyes of the Ger- 
 man Admiralty, the symbol of Great Bri- 
 tain's supremacy on the seas. The big, 
 graceful vessel, unsurpassed in speed, had defied 
 the German raiders that lurked in the Atlantic 
 hoping to capture her and had eluded the sub- 
 marines that tried to find her course. Time and 
 time again, the Germans had planned and plotted 
 to "get" the Lusitania and every time the ocean 
 greyhound had slipped away from them — every 
 time save when the plot was developed on Ameri- 
 can territory. 
 
 To sink the Lusitania, the German admiralty 
 had argued, was to lower England's prestige and 
 to hoist the black eagle of the Hohenzollerns above 
 the Union Jack. Her destruction, they fondly 
 hoped, would strike terror to the hearts of the 
 British; for it would prove the inability of the 
 English navy to protect her merchantmen. It 
 would prove to the world that von Tirpitz was 
 on a fair way of carrying out his threat to isolate 
 the British Isles and starve the British people into 
 submission to Germany. It would be a last warn- 
 ing to neutrals to keep off the Allies' merchant- 
 
 163 
 
men and would help stop the shipment of arms 
 and ammunition to the Allies from America. It 
 would — as a certain royal personage boasted — 
 shake the world's foundations. 
 
 Gloating over their project and forgetting the 
 rights of neutrals, the mad war lords did not 
 think of the innocent persons on board, the men, 
 the women and babies. The lives of these neutrals 
 were as nothing compared with the shouts of 
 triumph that would resound through Germany at 
 the announcement of the torpedoing of the big 
 British ship, symbol of sea power. The attitude 
 was truly expressed by Captain von Papen who 
 on receiving news of the sinking of the Lusitania 
 remarked: "Well, your General Sherman said 
 it: 'War is Hell.'" 
 
 So the war lords schemed and the plots which 
 resulted in the sinking of the Lusitania on May 
 7, 1915, bringing death to 113 American citizens, 
 were developed and executed in America, through 
 orders from Berlin. 
 
 The agents in America put their heads to- 
 gether in a room in the German Club, New York, 
 or in a high-powered limousine tearing through 
 the dark. These men, who had worked out the 
 plot, on the night of the successful execution had 
 assembled in a club and in high glee touched their 
 glasses and shouted their devotion to the Kaiser. 
 One boasted afterward that he received an Iron 
 Cross for his share in the work. 
 
 On the night of the tragedy, one of the con- 
 
 164 
 
spirators remarked to a tamily where he was din- 
 ing — a family whose son was on the Lusitania 
 — when word came of the many deaths on 
 the ship: "I did not think she would sink so 
 quickly. I had two good men on board." 
 
 WARRIORS AT WORK IN AMERICA 
 
 In their secret conferences the conspirators 
 worked their way round obstacles and set their 
 scheme in operation. Hired spies had made 
 numerous trips on the Lusitania and had carefully 
 studied her course to and from England, and her 
 convoy through the dangerous zone where sub- 
 marines might be lurking. These spies had ob- 
 served the precautions taken against a submarine 
 attack. They knew the fearful speed by which 
 the big ship had eluded pursurers in February. 
 They also had considered the feasibility of send- 
 ing a wireless message to a friend in England — 
 a message apparently of greeting that might be 
 picked up by the wireless on a German submarine 
 and give its commander a hint as to the ship's 
 course. In fact, they did attempt this plan. Spies 
 were on board early in the year when the Lusi- 
 tania ran dangerously near a submarine, dodged 
 a torpedo and then quickly eclipsed her German 
 pursuer. 
 
 Spies also had brought reports concerning per- 
 sons connected with the Lusitania and had given 
 suggestions as to how to place men on board in 
 spite of the scrutiny of British agents. All these 
 
 161 
 
reports were considered carefully and the con- 
 clusion was that no submarine was fast enough 
 to chase and get the Lusitania; that it was prac- 
 tically impossible to have the U-boats stationed 
 along every half mile of the British coast, but 
 that the simplest problem was to send the Lusi- 
 tania on a course where the U-boats would be 
 in waiting and could torpedo her. The scheme 
 was, in substance, as follows : 
 
 "Captain Turner, approaching the English 
 coast, sends a wireless to the British Admiralty 
 asking for instructions as to his course and con- 
 voy. He gets a reply in code telling him in what 
 direction to steer and where his convoy will meet 
 him. First, we must get a copy of the Admiralty 
 Code and we must prepare a message in cipher 
 giving directions as to his course. This mes- 
 sage will go to him by wireless as though 
 from the Admiralty. We must make arrange- 
 ments to see that the genuine message from 
 the British Admiralty never reaches Captain 
 Turner." 
 
 That was the plan which the conspirators, aided 
 and directed by Berlin, chose. Upon it the 
 shrewdest minds in the German secret service 
 were set to work. As for the British Admiralty 
 Code, the Germans had that at the outbreak of 
 the war and were using it at advantageous mo- 
 ments. How they got it, has not been made 
 known; but they got it and they used it, just as 
 the Germans have obtained copies of the codes 
 
 166 
 
used by the American State Department and have 
 had copies of the codes used in our Army and 
 Navy. While the codes used by the British of- 
 ficials change almost daily, such is not the case 
 with merchant vessels on long voyages. 
 
 The next step of the conspirators was to ar- 
 range for the substitution of the fake message 
 for the genuine one. Germany's spy machine 
 has a wonderful faculty for seeking out the weak 
 characters holding responsible positions among 
 the enemy or for sending agents to get and hold 
 positions among their foes. It is now charged 
 that a man on the Lusitania was deceived or 
 duped. Whether he was a German sympathizer 
 sent out by the Fatherland to get the position and 
 be ready for the task, or whether he was induced 
 for pay to play the part he did — has not been told. 
 Neither is his fate known. 
 
 Communication between New York and the 
 German capital, ingenious, intricate and superbly 
 arranged, was just as easy almost as tele- 
 phoning from the Battery to Harlem. Berlin 
 was kept informed of every move in New York 
 and in fact selected the ill-fated course for the 
 Lusitania s last voyage in English waters. Berlin 
 picked out the place where the Lusitania was to 
 sink. 
 
 Berlin chose the deep, sea graves for more 
 than 100 Americans. Berlin assigned two sub- 
 marines to a point ten miles south by west off Old 
 Head of Kinsale, near the entrance of St. 
 
 1OT 
 
George's Channel. Berlin chose the commander 
 of the U-boats for the most damnable sea-crime 
 in history. 
 
 Just here, there is a rumor among U-boat men 
 in Europe that the man for the crime was sent 
 from Kiel with sealed instructions not to be 
 opened till at the spot chosen. With him went 
 "a shadow" charged with a death warrant if the 
 U-boat commander "balked" at the last mo- 
 ment. 
 
 BERLIN GIVES WARNING 
 
 The German officials in Berlin looking ahead 
 — and the Kaiser's statement have a wonderful 
 faculty of foresight — sought to prearrange a 
 palliative for their crime. Their plan, which in 
 itself shows clearly how carefully the Ger- 
 mans plotted the destruction of the Lusitania, 
 was to warn Americans not to sail on the 
 vessel. 
 
 While the German Embassy in Washington 
 was kept clear of the plot and Ambassador von 
 Bernstorff had argued and fought with all his 
 strength against the designs of the Berlin auth- 
 orities, he, nevertheless, received orders to publish 
 an advertisement warning neutrals not to sail on 
 the Allies' merchantmen. Acting under instruc- 
 tions, this advertisement was inserted in news- 
 papers in a column adjoining the Cunard's ad- 
 vertisement of the sailing of the Lusi- 
 tania: 
 
NOTICE! 
 
 Travelers intending to embark on 
 the Atlantic voyage are reminded that 
 a state of war exists between Germany 
 and her Allies and Great Britain and her 
 Allies; that the zone of war includes the 
 waters adjacent to the British Isles ; that, 
 in accordance with formal notice given 
 by the Imperial German Government, 
 vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or 
 any of her Allies are liable to destruction 
 in these waters and that travelers sailing 
 in the war zone on ships of Great Britain 
 or her Allies do so at their own risk. 
 
 Imperial German Embassy 
 
 Washington, D. C, April 2 2d, 1915 
 
 Germans in New York, who had knowledge 
 that German submarines were lying in wait off 
 the Irish coast to "get" the Lusitania sent intima- 
 tions to friends before the sailing of the ship. 
 
 The "New York Sun 3 was told of the plot and 
 warned Captain Turner by wireless after the ship 
 sailed. The German secret service in New York 
 also sent warnings to Americans booked on the 
 Lusitania. One of the persons to receive such a 
 message signed "morte" was Alfred Gwynne 
 Vanderbilt. Many other passengers got the same 
 warning that the ship was to be topedoed; but 
 they all laughed at it. They knew she had outrun 
 submarines on a previous voyage and tricked them 
 on another voyage. Besides, before the horrors 
 of this war, optimistic Americans firmly believed 
 the world was a civilized place. It was only after 
 the destruction of the Lusitania that many neu- 
 
tral Americans could credit the atrocity stories of 
 Belgium. 
 
 FATEFUL MAY 1, 1915 
 
 So when the Lusitania backed from her pier in 
 the North River on the morning of May 1, 1915, 
 there was more than the average levity that makes 
 the sailing of an ocean liner so absorbing. On 
 the pier were anxious friends somewhat per- 
 turbed by the mysterious whisperings of impend- 
 ing danger. Mingling among them also were 
 men who knew what that danger was, and who 
 had just delivered final instructions to German 
 hirelings on board. On the deck of the great 
 vessel, as she swung her nose down-stream toward 
 Sandy Hook, was not only the man who had 
 promised to see that the false message in code 
 reached Captain Turner, but there also were 
 those two friends, good and true, of von Rin- 
 telen's — men who, in the event that the Lusitania 
 should run into the appointed place at night, 
 would flash lights from port holes to give a clear 
 aim to the captain of the stealthy submarines. 
 
 On board the vessel swinging out past Sandy 
 Hook into the ocean lane were a notable group of 
 passengers, many of them representative Amer- 
 icans of inestimable value to this country. Be- 
 sides Mr. Vanderbilt, there was Charles Froh- 
 man, a talented theatrical producer, who had fur- 
 nished by his artistic shows genuine amusement to 
 millions ; Elbert Hubbard, talented and inspiring 
 
 170 
 
writer; Charles Klein, writer of absorbing plays; 
 Justus Miles Forman, novelist, and Lindon W. 
 Bates, Jr., whose family had befriended von Rin- 
 telen. Merchants, clergymen, lawyers, society 
 women, a large list of useful men and women in 
 the 1,254 passengers. 
 
 These, added to the crew of 800, made more 
 than 2,000 lives under the care of the staunch, 
 blue-eyed captain. Of that number, 1,214 were 
 being rushed over the waves to doom. And as 
 the ship sped eastward, submarines leaving their 
 bases at Cuxhaven and Heligoland clipped their 
 prows under the waves, and made for Old Head 
 of Kinsale on the south coast of Ireland, where 
 they were instructed to pause, upon sealed in- 
 structions and obey them to the letter. 
 
 Meantime, Berlin, counting almost to the hour 
 when the Lusitania would near the British Isles, 
 prepared the exact wording for the false instruc- 
 tions to Captain Turner. This was sent to New 
 York by wireless, where it was put into British 
 code. The next step was to have this message 
 substituted for the British Admiralty's instruc- 
 tions to the Lusitania. The inside details of how 
 this substitution was effected — can only be sur- 
 mised. This secret is buried with the British 
 Admiralty and with the Bureau in Berlin. 
 
 Berlin's deliberations 
 
 For such intricate action Germany had been 
 preparing with infinite patience both before and 
 
 171 
 
after the war began. Prior to the outbreak, rep- 
 resentatives of Germany had started the building 
 of the wireless plant at Sayville, Long Island, 
 by which aerial communication was established 
 with Berlin. After the war began, the equipment 
 of the station was increased, and instead of 35 
 kilowatt transmitters, 100 kilowatt transmitters 
 were installed, the machinery for tripling the 
 efficiency of the plant having been shipped 
 from Germany via Holland to this country. 
 Wireless experts, members of the German navy, 
 also slipped away from Germany to direct the 
 work of handling messages between the two 
 countries. 
 
 Everything was in readiness at Sayville, con- 
 sequently, to catch the directions that were flashed 
 through the air. There was an operator specially 
 trained to take the message coded for the decep- 
 tion of Captain Turner, and send it crackling 
 f atef ully through the air. Everything was ready 
 and only the request of the operator on the 
 Lusitania for directions south of Ireland was 
 needed. All this was in violation not only of our 
 neutrality laws,, but also in disregard of Amer- 
 ican statutes governing wireless stations. 
 
 Meantime, the vessel had reached the edge of 
 the war zone decreed by Germany in violation of 
 international law, and Captain Turner sent out 
 his call for instructions. Presently the order came. 
 It was hurried to Captain Turner's stateroom. 
 
 Captain Turner, carefully decoding the mes- 
 
 172 
 
sage by means of a cipher book which he had 
 guarded so jealously, read orders to proceed to a 
 point ten miles south of Old Head of Kinsale, 
 and run into St. George's Channel, making the 
 bar at Liverpool at midnight. He carefully cal- 
 culated the distance and his running time, and 
 adjusted his speed accordingly. He felt assured, 
 because he relied on the assumption that the 
 waters over which he was sailing were being 
 thoroughly scoured by English cruisers and swift 
 torpedo boats in search of German submarines. 
 
 THE EXPLOSION THAT ROCKED THE WORLD 
 
 The British Admiralty also received his wire- 
 less message — just as the Sayville operator had 
 snatched it from the air, and despatched an 
 answer. The order from the head of the Ad- 
 miralty directed the English captain to proceed 
 to a point some 70 or 80 miles south of Old Head 
 of Kinsale and there meet his convoy, which would 
 guard him on the way to port. But Captain Tur- 
 ner never got that message, and the British con- 
 voy waited in vain for the Lusitania to appear 
 on the horizon. 
 
 The Lusitania headed northeast, going far 
 away from the vessels that would have protected 
 her. Swiftly she slipped through the waves on 
 the afternoon of May 7. Unsuspecting, the ship 
 moved directly toward certain death. The proud, 
 swift liner steered straight between two sub- 
 marines, lying in wait. 
 
 173 
 
The details of what happened after the torpedo 
 blew out the side of the great ship have been 
 told — told so fully, vividly, so terribly that they 
 need not be repeated here. As Captain Turner 
 heard the explosion of the torpedo he instantly 
 knew that there had been treachery. He knew 
 he had been decoyed away from the warships that 
 were to escort him to his pier. 
 
 The manner in which the captain had been 
 lured to the waiting submarines was made clear 
 at the secret session of the Board of Inquiry that 
 investigated the sinking of the ship. Captain 
 Turner told at the Corner's inquest how he had 
 been warned, supposedly by the British Ad- 
 miralty, of submarines off the Irish coast, and 
 that he had received special instructions as to 
 course. Asked if he made application for a con- 
 voy, he said: 
 
 "No, I left that to them. It is their business, 
 not mine. I simply had to carry out my orders 
 to go, and I would do it again." 
 
 At the official inquiry, the captain produced the 
 orders which he had received, directing him to 
 proceed southwest of Old Head of Kinsale. The 
 British Admiralty produced its message which 
 had directed Captain Turner to go by an utterly 
 different course. It produced also orders which 
 had been issued to the convoy to meet the Lus~ 
 itania. The orders did not jibe. They showed 
 treachery, and further investigation pointed to 
 Sayville. 
 
 174 
 
AMERICA REVOLTED AND APPALLED 
 
 The indignation and the revulsion of Amer- 
 icans against Germany because of the destruction 
 of the Lusitania with the appalling loss of life 
 was a surprise to the Kaiser and his war staff. 
 They apparently had believed that the warning 
 contained in the official announcement of Ger- 
 many, declaring the waters about the British 
 Islands a war zone, and the advertisement pub- 
 lished would be sufficient excuse, and that their 
 act would be accepted calmly by America. They 
 were not prepared for Colonel Roosevelt's invec- 
 tive stigmatizing the act as piracy or the editorial 
 denunciation throughout the country. Their 
 effrontery was displayed by one of their agents, 
 who announced that American ships also would 
 be sunk. But this agent's removal from the 
 country and mob violence threatened other agents 
 was emphatic proof of America's state of mind. 
 
 Immediately Germany turned as a defense to 
 the argument that the Lusitania carried muni- 
 tions of war and other contraband in violation of 
 the United States Federal statute. But the Amer- 
 ican laws were quoted to Ambassador von Bern- 
 stoff to prove to him that cartridges could be 
 transported in a passenger ship. That argument 
 proved of no avail. 
 
 Secretary Bryan's note, written by President 
 Wilson, and forwarded to Berlin, demanded a 
 disavowal of the sinking of the Lusitania, an 
 apology and reparation for the lives lost. But 
 
 171 
 
Germany sought to parley with a reply that 
 would lay the blame on Great Britain, charg- 
 ing that the Lusitania had been an armed aux- 
 iliary cruiser, requested an investigation of these 
 alleged facts, and refused to stop her submarine 
 warfare until England changed her trade policy. 
 But this note again aroused the wrath of Amer- 
 icans. 
 
 LIES AND DECEIT 
 
 German secret agents began to manufacture 
 evidence to support the Kaiser's contentions. 
 Here a hireling of Boy-Ed looms as an obedient 
 servant of the naval attache, whether he knew all 
 the facts or not. It was Koenig, who, using the 
 alias of Stemler, obtained from Gustave Stahl an 
 affidavit to the effect that he had seen four fifteen- 
 centimeter guns on the decks of the Lusitania 
 before she left port on her ill-fated voyage. There 
 were three other supporting affidavits. All these 
 documents were handed to Boy-Ed on June 1, 
 1915, and the following day were in the hands 
 of von Bernstorff, who turned them over to the 
 State Department in Washington. 
 
 It required but little work on the part of 
 Federal agents to establish the untruth of Stahl's 
 affidavit. Stahl, a German reservist, appeared 
 before the Federal Grand Jury where he again 
 repeated his lies. He was indicted for perjury 
 and upon a plea of guilty was sent to the Federal 
 prison at Atlanta., 
 
 176 
 
It was Koenig who had hidden Stahl away 
 after the latter had made his affidavit, and it was 
 Koenig who, at the command of the Federal 
 authorities, produced him. 
 
 So here again Germany's efforts to deceive 
 and to palliate her piratical act came to naught, 
 and left her even more damned before the 
 world. Time came within a few days for Presi- 
 dent Wilson to reject forcibly the flimsy de- 
 fense made by Germany, but before that note 
 was drafted, the United States authorities by a 
 thorough investigation of Sayville, and a scrutiny 
 of the German naval officers employed there, dis- 
 covered that the fake code message that drove the 
 Lusitania to her grave in the sea had been flashed 
 out from neutral territory; that the conspiracy 
 had been developed in America, though the de- 
 tails were not obtainable at that time as they are 
 presented here. 
 
 President Wilson was determined to demand 
 the absolute safety for Americans at sea. Though 
 Bryan resigned, Mr. Wilson sent a note, as- 
 serting that the Lusitania was not armed, and 
 had not carried cargo in violation either of Amer- 
 ican or international law. The action of Bryan 
 weakened the position of America in demanding 
 a cessation of Germany's submarine warfare. It 
 gave encouragement to Austria, after Germany 
 had promised to obey international law, to try a 
 series of similar evasions. It gave impetus to 
 Germany's plans to make a settlement of the 
 
 177 
 
submarine controversy and to try to divide Con- 
 gress on the issue. 
 
 The loss to America was 113 lives and a great 
 amount of prestige; to Germany, a tremendous 
 amount of sympathy. But through it all stand 
 out the pictures of secret agents, boasters, schem- 
 ers and reckless adventurers, one of whom, hav- 
 ing aided in the sinking of the Lusitania and the 
 drowning of hundreds of her passengers and 
 crew, had still the audacity to dine on the evening 
 of this ghastly triumph at the home of an Amer- 
 ican victim. One agent high in international 
 affairs, overcome by the force of the tragedy done 
 in answer to the Kaiser's bidding, had still 
 enough decency left to remark : 
 
 "Oh, what foul work!" 
 
 if® 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 DR. HEINRICH F. ALBERT, 
 GERMANY'S BAGMAN AND BLOCK- 
 ADE RUNNER 
 
 A 
 
 ND tell him that the struggle on the 
 American front is sometimes very 
 hard."— Dr. Albert. 
 
 To outwit John Bull on the high seas by run- 
 ning his blockade is a big task. To compete 
 against the combined commercial generals of 
 England, Russia, France and Italy in seeking 
 trade in the Americas is a still larger undertak- 
 ing. But for one man to attempt both, while 
 incidentally keeping tab on the industrial growth 
 of the United States and being a big factor in 
 Germany's spy system, seems like a pygmy grap- 
 pling with a Hercules. The qualities requisite 
 for the man who would accept such a battle are 
 diplomatic finesse of the highest degree, strength 
 compared to one of America's kings of industry, 
 a vast economic knowledge, the shrewdness of a 
 Yankee and the cleverness of the Kaiser's ablest 
 strategist. Yet the responsibilities of such a mani- 
 fold enterprise, romantic in its infinite details 
 and its bigness, were assumed by one German. 
 
 179 
 
You could find him almost any day until the 
 break with Germany in a small office in the Ham- 
 burg-American Building, the Kaiser's beehive of 
 secret agents, at No. 45 Broadway, New York. 
 He was a tall, slender man, wonderfully supple- 
 looking in spite of the conventional frock coat and 
 the dignified dress of a European business man. 
 His clear, blue eyes, his smooth face, thoughtful 
 and refined, his blonde hair, and his regular fea- 
 tures suggested a man of 38, or even younger, 
 though you would look for a middle-aged or 
 older man as selected for a position requiring so 
 many nice decisions. When you entered his 
 room — and few persons gained admission — 
 he would rise and bow low and most courteously, 
 speak in a soft, melodious voice, was delib- 
 erate in the choice of his words and encouraged 
 conversation rather than make it. He was the 
 quintessence of politeness, and, in fact, in 
 marked contrast to the clear-cut, energetic, 
 brusque, American business man — a smooth pol- 
 ished cog in the steel machinery of Prussian 
 militarism. 
 
 Yet this man was the center of Germany's 
 business activities in America. Upon him has 
 rested the task of spending between $2,000,000 
 and $3,000,000 a week for the German Govern- 
 ment in the purchase of supplies and in propa- 
 ganda. His expenditures in furthering the cause 
 has cost him thirty millions of dollars outside 
 the vast amounts spent in the purchase of sup- 
 
 180 
 
plies, and he admits he wasted a half-million or 
 more dollars. 
 
 He was Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, privy coun- 
 cilor to the German Embassy and fiscal agent in 
 America for the German Government. He was 
 the source of the funds used by the representa- 
 tives of Germany, her secret diplomatic and con- 
 sular agents. He was the channel through whom 
 money flowed from the Imperial exchequer — 
 unwittingly it may have been on his part — to men 
 who, in the interest of Germany, have violated 
 American laws. 
 
 His job was a big one because this war has 
 demanded the help of industry, as no other pre- 
 vious war. Just as it has resolved itself into an 
 enormous race between the industries of the com- 
 bating nations in turning out shells and arms, 
 so Geheimrath Albert's duties became all the more 
 multitudinous, really a part of the great conflict 
 itself. 
 
 Dr. Albert had just as important work as his 
 colleagues, the military and naval attaches, but 
 in a different field. With industrial prepared- 
 ness of greater importance in this than in any 
 other war it is natural that the commercial at- 
 tache and his staff of agents should prove a most 
 important asset to Germany's secret service in 
 America. Geheimrath Albert's duties in the 
 economic field have been bound inextricably with 
 the aims of the Fatherland's secret service. While 
 directing and financing the collection of data 
 
 181 
 
for use in the preparation of reports to the home 
 government, he has also worked side by side with 
 the other representatives of his Government. 
 
 THE EQUIPMENT OF A COLOSSUS 
 
 Albert was equipped for the gigantic task, as 
 few men in the world have been equipped. He 
 knew finance, the economy of industry, the finesse 
 of diplomacy and the odd, yet scientific twists of 
 the inventor's mind. He had been trained in the 
 things that interested kings and the problems that 
 appealed to the laboring man. His field of knowl- 
 edge was broad, for in preparation for his tasks 
 he had to seek the best commercial, banking, 
 industrial methods and inventions of the world 
 to help Germany. So successful was he that 
 his friends have termed him "The German 
 Yankee." 
 
 Around no German official in America has 
 there hovered so much mystery. A great bul- 
 wark of Germany's propaganda — though no par- 
 ticipator in any illegal or criminal acts — has been 
 charged against him, he might have remained 
 the greater part of the war under cover had it not 
 been for the activity of secret service agents and 
 for a little nap which Geheimrath Albert, the 
 courteous and overworked, took upon an elevated 
 train one day. When he awoke, his dossier was 
 gone. That portfolio contained a mass of won- 
 derfully illuminating documents, so many and 
 so varied that if the privy councilor is accus- 
 
 182 
 
tomed to take up in one day so many diverse 
 matters it almost staggers the imagination to try 
 to conceive of the tasks which this war brought 
 him. Through them public and official attention 
 was fastened upon him, serving to deepen the 
 folds of mystery about him. Through them the 
 public in America first learned of the vastness of 
 German propaganda. Dr. Albert lost his port- 
 folio in August, 1915. 
 
 In the quietness of his little office above hum- 
 ming Broadway and within calling distance of 
 the gold-lined Wall Street into which he so con- 
 stantly pried, Geheimrath Albert discussed mo- 
 mentous economic problems with Germany's other 
 big men. In the German Club in the evenings 
 he continued those consulations. In trips to 
 Washington and Chicago and New Orleans and 
 San Francisco, and he and his agents conferred 
 with big German business men. 
 
 His close confidant was Count von Bernstorff, 
 with whom he had a joint account of several mil- 
 lions of dollars in the Chase National Bank, New 
 York. His two active colleagues were Captain 
 von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed. The associa- 
 tion with these men must have been very close 
 and keen; for on von Papen's recall Dr. Albert 
 wrote him: "I shall feel your departure most 
 keenly; our work together was excellent and was 
 always a great pleasure to me. I hope that in 
 the Fatherland you will have an opportunity for 
 making use of your extraordinary talent in deal- 
 in 
 
ing with economic questions. When I think of 
 your and Boy-Ed's departure and that I alone 
 remain behind in New York, I could — well, better 
 not!" 
 
 Dr. Albert learned the output of the steel in- 
 dustries and the financial connections of the big 
 corporations. He had accurate information 
 about the electrical manufacturing concerns in 
 this country, their output, their inventions, the 
 ability and the accomplishments of the engineers 
 at the head of those plants, their training and 
 personal history. He knew all about America's 
 transportation systems, their financial strength 
 and the real mechanical and constructive ability 
 of the scientific men connected with those systems. 
 His information was as broad as his American ac- 
 tivities. Suffice it to say that it was Dr. Albert's 
 business to get these facts — and he did so. 
 
 HIS VIEW OF THE FUTURE 
 
 How Dr. Albert looked to the future is set forth 
 in a report which was prepared for him on June 
 3, 1915, by a trade representative in the German 
 General Consulate, New York, on the effect of 
 the British embargo. This document, compiled 
 by a scientist, was undoubtedly only one of hun- 
 dreds of such instruments worked out by Ger- 
 mans in this country for the help of the Father- 
 land. In this paper the writer, name(l Waetzoldt, 
 says: 
 
 "There can be no doubt that the British Gov- 
 
 184 
 
ernment will bring into play all power and pres- 
 sure possible in order to complete the total block- 
 ade of Germany from her foreign markets, and 
 that the Government of the United States will 
 not make a strenuous effort to maintain its trade 
 with Germany. * * * 
 
 "It has been positively demonstrated during 
 this time that the falling off of imports caused 
 by the war in Europe will in the future be prin- 
 cipally covered by American industry. * * * 
 
 "The complete stopping of importation of Ger- 
 man products will, in truth, to a limited extent, 
 especially in the first part of the blockade, help 
 the sale of English or French products, but the 
 damage which will be done to us in this way will 
 not be great. * * * 
 
 "The Lusitania case did, in fact, give the Eng- 
 lish efforts in this direction a new and powerful 
 impetus, and at first the vehemence with which 
 the anti- German movement began anew awak- 
 ened serious misgivings, but this case also will 
 have a lasting effect, which, unless fresh complica- 
 tions arise, we may be able to turn to the advan- 
 tage of the sale of German goods. * * * 
 
 "The war will certainly have this effect, that 
 the American business world will devote all its 
 energy toward making itself independent of the 
 importation of foreign products as far as pos- 
 sible. * * * 
 
 "If the decision is again brought home to Ger- 
 man industry it should not be forgotten what 
 position the United States took with reference to 
 Germany in this war. Above all, it should not 
 be forgotten that the 'ultimate ratio' of the 
 United States is not the war with arms, but a 
 complete prohibition of trade with Germany, and, 
 
 185 
 
in fact, through legislation. That was brought 
 out very clearly and sharply in connection with 
 the still pending negotiations regarding the 
 Lusitania case." 
 
 Dr. Albert received among many reports one 
 giving an analysis of the trade here in war ma- 
 terials : 
 
 "The large war orders, as the professional 
 journals also print, have become the great means 
 of saving American business institutions from 
 idleness and financial ruin." 
 
 "The fact that institutions of the size and inter- 
 national influence of those mentioned could not 
 find sufficient regular business to keep them to 
 some extent occupied, throws a harsh light upon 
 the sad condition in which American business 
 would have found itself had it not been for the 
 war orders. The ground which induced these 
 large interests to accept war orders rests entirely 
 upon an economical basis and can be explained 
 by the above-mentioned conditions which were 
 produced by the lack of regular business. * * * 
 These difficulties resulting from the dividing up 
 of the contracts are held to have been augmented, 
 as stated in business circles, by the fact that 
 certain agents working in German interest suc- 
 ceeded in further delaying and making worse 
 American deliveries. * * * 
 
 "So many contracts for the production of 
 picric acid have been placed that they can only 
 be filled to a very small part." 
 
 A MAN OF MYSTERY 
 
 Naturally one of the most vital problems that 
 stirred Dr. Albert was the British Order in Coun- 
 
 180 
 
cil in regard to the blockade of Germany from 
 which resulted the seizure of meat and food sup- 
 plies and cotton by British war vessels. He was 
 always on the alert for information as to what 
 was the attitude of the Administration and the 
 people of the United States toward the blockade. 
 That he used secret and perhaps devious means 
 to get it is revealed by a confidential report which 
 he received under most mysterious circumstances 
 concerning an interview by a man referred to as 
 "M. P." with President Wilson and Secre- 
 tary Lansing. "M. P.," according to the 
 conversation, claimed to have received from 
 the President "a candid, confidential statement 
 in order to make clear not only his own po- 
 sition but also necessarily the political op- 
 portunity." A striking part of this conver- 
 sation follows: 
 
 "L. advises regarding a conference with M. P. 
 Thereafter M. P. saw Lansing as well as Wilson. 
 He informed both of them that an American 
 syndicate had approached him which had strong 
 German relations. This syndicate wishes to buy 
 up cotton for Germany in great style, thereby to 
 relieve the cotton situation, and at the same time 
 to provide Germany with cotton. The relations 
 of the American syndicate with Germany are 
 very strong, so that they might even possibly be 
 able to influence the position of Germany in the 
 general political question. M. P. therefore asked 
 for a candid, confidential statement in order to 
 make clear not. only ins own position, but also 
 
 187 
 
necessarily the political opportunity. The result 
 of the conversation was as follows : 
 
 "1. The note of protest to England will go in 
 any event whether Germany answers satisfac- 
 torily or not. 
 
 "2. Should it be possible to settle satisfac- 
 torily the JLusitania case, the President will bind 
 himself to carry the protest against England 
 through to the uttermost. 
 
 "3. The continuance of the difference with 
 Germany over the Lusitania case is 'embarrass- 
 ing' for the President in carrying out the protest 
 against England. * * * 
 
 "4. A contemplated English proposal to buy 
 cotton in great style and invest the proceeds in 
 America would not satisfy the President as an 
 answer to the protest. * * * 
 
 "5. The President, in order to ascertain from 
 Mr. M. P. how strong the German influence of 
 this syndicate is, would like to have the trend of 
 the German note before the note is officially sent, 
 and declares himself ready, before the answer is 
 drafted, to discuss it with M. P., and eventually 
 to so influence it that there will be an agreement 
 for its reception, and also to be ready to influence 
 the press through a wink. 
 
 "6. As far as the note itself is concerned, 
 which he awaits, so he awaits another expression 
 of regret, which was not followed in the last note. 
 Regret together with the statement that nobody 
 had expected that human lives would be lost and 
 that the ship would sink so quickly. 
 
 "The President is said to have openly declared 
 that he could hardly hope for a positive statement 
 that the submarine warfare would be discon- 
 tinued." 
 
 188 
 
WHAT HIS SECRET CORRESPONDENCE REVEALED 
 
 Dr. Albert also was in close communication 
 with the American branches of German indus- 
 tries. This fact is apparent from secret corre- 
 spondence found in his dossier, showing how after 
 much deliberation and consultation a group of 
 German representatives in America forbade the 
 American branch of a German firm to fill a Rus- 
 sian war order. This correspondence shows that 
 the American branch first sought information as 
 to whether or not it should fill the order either as 
 a means of making money or secondly as a means 
 of delaying the Russian Government in getting 
 the material. One of the Embassy staff wrote 
 suggesting that the Ambassador approve of the 
 acceptance of the order as a means of hindering 
 the Allies. After a conference it was reported : 
 
 "In my opinion it would be hazardous for your 
 firm to ship locomotives, cars, or wheels to Russia. 
 All these transportation means would lighten the 
 transport of troops, ammunition and provisions 
 for the Russian Government, and your firm 
 would, within the meaning of Paragraph 89 of 
 the (German) Penal Code, be rendering aid to 
 the enemy thereby. * * * That you are in a 
 position to delay the delivery of the order to the 
 prejudice of the hostile country ordering them 
 will in no measure relieve you from liability." 
 
 GERMANY IN THE STOCK MARKET 
 
 When it appeared that the Kaiser would not 
 yield to demands made by the President, the 
 
 189 
 
prices of stocks went down and Germans bought 
 stocks cheaply. After they loaded up a liberal 
 supply, word would come that Germany was 
 yielding and the stock market would become 
 buoyant, thus allowing the German group to sell 
 hundreds of thousands of shares on a substantial 
 profit. There is absolutely no doubt that as a 
 result of every crisis the German Government 
 realized millions of dollars in the market. 
 
 An instance of how Dr. Albert had opportunity 
 to get into the market is revealed in a secret letter 
 written to Dr. Albert on July 8, 1915, by a well- 
 known Board of Trade German in Chicago, and 
 associated with a group of German traders. In 
 this letter he refers to Dr. Albert's "principal," 
 presumed to be no other than the German Gov- 
 ernment or the Kaiser himself. His letter says : 
 
 "Provisions have been horribly depressed by 
 severe liquidation. We firmly believe that pur- 
 chase of September lard will make your principal 
 a great deal of money. September lard closes to- 
 night at $8.65. This, with high freight added, 
 will cost under 10 cents delivered Hamburg, 
 where actual prices are around 35 cents per 
 pound. 
 
 "I do not want to appear overpersistent, but 
 there never was a better proposition than buying 
 this cheap lard for September delivery." 
 
 One of Dr. Albert's functions was to sift this 
 commercial information and make recommenda- 
 tions to Berlin. He would confer with his co- 
 
 190 
 
workers on all military and naval matters having a 
 commercial phase. That he did so is proved by the 
 reports which they made and which went to Dr. 
 Albert for his consideration and further recom- 
 mendation. Captain von Papen, on July 7, 1915, 
 submitted to Dr. Albert a memorandum headed, 
 "Steps Taken to Prevent the Exportation of 
 Liquid Chlorine" in which he tells of the efforts 
 made by England and France to buy that chemi- 
 cal in America, tells of the output here, and the 
 firms turning it out. 
 
 THE SHIP PLOTS 
 
 Another matter of importance to which he gave 
 thought was the problem which had been in every 
 German mind and mouth since the beginning of 
 the war, namely the prevention of the shipment 
 of war supplies to the Allies. A letter mailed 
 to Dr. Albert from Chicago under date of July 
 22, 1915, sets forth how zealously his agent was 
 working on an embargo conference with the aim 
 of arousing sentiment in this country against the 
 export of arms and ammunition. The letter says 
 that he had obtained the co-operation of a United 
 States Senator, a Congressman and other Ameri- 
 cans in this project. 
 
 One letter from Albert's agent runs thus : 
 
 "I must refrain from communicating the above 
 facts in my report to the Ambassador, as the mat- 
 ter could be too easily compromised thereby. 
 Perhaps you will find an opportunity to inform 
 
 191 
 
Count von Bernstorff verbally. As soon as the 
 matter has first gained more headway, I believe 
 Mr. von Alvensleben, who has taken part in the 
 whole development here, will come to New York 
 in order to inform the Ambassador fully regard- 
 ing prevailing frame of mind here as well as re- 
 garding the movement, provided, however, that 
 is desired." .. ■■ 
 
 Letters from Detroit suggested a plan for a 
 general strike of the automobile workers in that 
 city as a mighty protest against shipment of arms 
 The strike would cost about $50,000. 
 
 NEWSPAPER PROPAGANDA 
 
 To Dr. Albert also was assigned the task ot 
 studying sentiment in this country regarding the 
 war and taking steps to influence it in favor of 
 Germany — in other words, highly paid press 
 work. Through Dr. Albert arrangements also 
 were made for many German professors, either 
 in Germany or connected with American institu- 
 tions, to give up their occupations as teachers and 
 devote themselves in America exclusively to lec- 
 tures before high-class audiences. In these talks 
 the speakers devoted themselves to showing the 
 friendly relations between Germany and the 
 United States, the similar aims of both countries 
 in industry and international affairs, and to argue 
 for the cordial support of Germany's cause. 
 
 A complete organization was tabulated of jour- 
 nalists throughout the country who were sym- 
 pathetic with the German cause. These men re- 
 
 192 
 
ceived news for publication in various papers, also 
 instructions. By the aid of these men a vast 
 amount of information was gathered and shunted 
 along to Dr. Albert. In addition Dr. Albert gave 
 consideration to still more elaborate plans for tht 
 purchase of newspapers, the starting of news 
 syndicates and information bureaus which, ap- 
 parently neutral, should be secretly allied with the 
 German cause and supported by German money. 
 These facts were shown by a number of papers 
 bearing on publicity and methods of acquiring 
 it which were found in his dossier. The papers 
 show that in one instance he was subsidizing a 
 weekly paper and that in return he demanded a 
 certain policy. 
 
 The following letter throws some light on the 
 subject: 
 
 "I request the proposal of a suitable person 
 who can ascertain accurately and prove the 
 financial condition of your paper. From the mo- 
 ment when we guarantee you a regular advance, 
 I must — 
 
 "1. Have a new statement of the condition of 
 your paper. 
 
 "2. Practice a control over the financial man- 
 agement. 
 
 "In addition to this, we must have an under- 
 standing regarding the course in politics which 
 you will pursue, which we have not asked here- 
 tofore. Perhaps you will be so kind as to talk 
 the matter over, on the basis of this letter 
 with ." 
 
 193 
 
Plans for the purchase of an English daily in 
 New York which would support the German 
 cause were worked over at length by Dr. Albert 
 and his assistants. Proof also that Dr. Albert 
 and his associates contemplated the creation of 
 news bureaus in New York and Berlin which 
 would furnish and disseminate throughout the 
 United States news favorable to the German 
 Government is given in the memorandum pre- 
 pared apparently by an expert newspaper man, 
 outlining the plan and cost of organization and 
 giving certain suggestions. 
 
 Dr. Albert gave consideration to the sugges- 
 tion of paying the expenses of American news- 
 paper men who would go to Germany and send 
 back articles favorable to the German cause. He 
 did so under orders from von Bethmann-Holl- 
 weg, the German Imperial Chancellor, who 
 caused one of his aids to write to the German 
 Ambassador a letter suggesting that certain jour- 
 nalists be invited to visit Germany. 
 
 EFFORTS TO OUTWIT THE BRITISH BLOCKADE 
 
 Varied and important as were these various 
 duties, already mentioned, still the paramount 
 task to which Dr. Albert devoted himself was a 
 scheme to outwit England's blockade of Ger- 
 many. This tall, silent man, working in his little 
 office was concerned with the purchase of millions 
 and millions of dollars worth of supplies— cargo 
 after cargo— for shipment to Germany, direct or 
 
 194. 
 
through neutral countries. In this campaign he 
 used every means of deceiving the enemy that 
 were in his power. 
 
 Let it be said that this is meant as no reflection 
 on Dr. Albert. In war one nation may establish 
 a blockade and the other nation will attempt to 
 run it. International lawyers agree that one na- 
 tion has a right to establish such a blockade. If 
 the ship owner obtains ingress to the port he 
 makes big profits by the sale of his goods but if 
 he is caught by the other belligerent he loses his 
 ship and cargo. It is a gamble. 
 
 It has already been established as a part of in- 
 ternational law, through decisions of Lord Stowell 
 in England more than a century ago and of the 
 United States Supreme Court during the Civil 
 War, that if it can be shown that shipments of 
 supplies to a neutral country are really de- 
 signed for transshipment to a belligerent, then 
 the enemy has a right to seize and confiscate those 
 goods. 
 
 After the Orders in Council were issued by 
 England, Dr. Albert sought first to make the 
 embargo unpopular in America. Letters and 
 other documents in his dossier show that plans 
 were submitted to him for stirring up sentiment 
 in this country against what was denounced by 
 pro-Germans as arbitrary seizures on the part of 
 Great Britain. For instance, Edward D. Adams 
 of 71 Broadway, New York, who for many years 
 was a representative in that city of the Deutsche 
 
 195 
 
Bank, sent a letter to Dr. Albert in which he 
 makes the following suggestion : 
 
 "The South politically is of very great impor- 
 tance to the Democratic Party and to the re- 
 election of its representatives at our next Presi- 
 dential election. The Cabinet and Congress have 
 represented in them Southern men to a consider- 
 able number who are keenly alive to the impor- 
 tance of keeping the Democratic Administration 
 in close touch with the Southern voters, and it 
 takes such action from time to time as will secure 
 their sympathy and support." 
 
 Likewise plans were worked out for the arous- 
 ing of the meat packers in Chicago to protest to 
 Washington over the seizure of meat ships bound 
 for Germany by way of neutral ports. 
 
 German representatives studying public senti- 
 ment in this country also suggested to Dr. Albert 
 that indignation against Great Britain could be 
 aroused by making it appear as if the British 
 blockade was hurting America in preventing the 
 receipt here of various non-contraband articles 
 from Germany. One associate wrote to Dr. 
 Albert: 
 
 "From a German standpoint, the pressure on 
 the American Government can be strengthened 
 by the interruption of deliveries from Germany 
 even if the British Government should permit ex- 
 ception. Those shipments especially should be 
 interrupted which the American industries so 
 badly require ; withholding of goods is the surest 
 means of occasioning the placing before the Ad- 
 ministration in Washington of American inter- 
 
 196 
 
ests. Those protests have the most weight which 
 come from American industries which employ 
 many workmen." 
 
 In the early months of the war Dr. Albert was 
 a buyer of enormous supplies of cotton, wheat, 
 copper, lubricating oil and other articles needed 
 by Germany for the prosecution of the war. He 
 signed contracts for meat and other supplies 
 amounting to millions of dollars and he made 
 payment the moment the ships were loaded here 
 so that the American seller got his money regard- 
 less of what happened to the cargo while on the 
 high seas. Of course, after the German Govern- 
 ment seized all food supplies, the British Govern- 
 ment took the attitude that all food supplies 
 bound for Germany were intended for the Gov- 
 ernment and were therefore contraband. In the 
 next pl#ce all purchases of food or other material 
 by Dr. Albert as the official representative of the 
 German Government made them Government 
 supplies and therefore contraband of war. The 
 moment the British Government discovered that 
 these articles were purchased by Albert, no matter 
 whether they were bound for neutral countries, 
 or not, England argued she was justified in seiz- 
 ing the ships and confiscating them. But as a fact, 
 England paid the American shippers in most 
 instances. 
 
 All the facts in the vast scheme mapped out by 
 Dr. Albert for outwitting John Bull's blockade, 
 have been developed by the Attorney-General of 
 
 197 
 
England and set forth in the prize courts there. 
 It has been shown that Albert backed the pur- 
 chase of cotton by the shipload, that he acquired 
 vessels under neutral flags for carrying these 
 cargoes to neutral countries. He spent millions 
 of dollars in the purchase of meat. For instance, 
 Dr. C. T. Dumba, Austro-Hungarian Ambas- 
 sador, writing to Baron Burian from New York, 
 tells of an interview in Chicago with a beef 
 packer. 
 
 "No fewer than thirty-one ships, with meat 
 and bacon shipments from his firm to Sweden 
 with a value of $19,000,000 have been detained," 
 he says, "in British ports for months under sus- 
 picion of being ultimately intended for Germany. 
 The negotiations have been long drawn out, be- 
 cause Mr. Meagher and his companion will not 
 accept a lame compromise, but insist on full com- 
 pensation or release of the consignments in which 
 the bacon may still remain sound." 
 
 A TWO-FACED PROPAGANDIST 
 
 Dr. Albert issued a statement which purports 
 to be a complete reply to the charges in regard 
 to a secret German propaganda in the United 
 States. He said that the purchase of ammuni- 
 tion plants in this country was justifiable, argued 
 for an embargo on arms and ammunition, charged 
 Great Britain with piracy on the high seas, de- 
 nied that the German Government financed press 
 agents, and asserted that the German Govern- 
 
 198 
 
ment had not started any undercover newspaper 
 campaign in this country. He said it was in- 
 evitable that all sorts of wild and irresponsible 
 offers, proposals and suggestions should be ad- 
 dressed from every conceivable quarter to one 
 holding the official position in which he was placed 
 as an accredited agent of one of the great nations 
 engaged in this unfortunate world-wide war. He 
 referred to the strike letters as junk and said that 
 he should not be held responsible for every crank 
 that wrote him a letter. 
 
 That statement was for the American public. 
 Dr. Albert's real sentiments are shown vividly 
 in a letter which he wrote to Captain von Papen 
 from San Francisco after the announcement of 
 the President's decision to send the military at- 
 tache out of the country. Here is part of it: 
 
 "Well, then ! How I wish I were in New York 
 and could discuss the situation with you and 
 B. E.! Many thanks for the telegram. The 
 'Patron' also telegraphed that I was to continue 
 the journey. So we shall not see each other for 
 the present. Shall we at all before you leave ? It 
 would be my most anxious wish; but my hope is 
 small. For this time, I suppose, matters will 
 move more quickly than in Dumba's case. I 
 wonder whether our Government will respond in 
 a suitable manner! In my opinion, it need no 
 longer take public opinion so much into considera- 
 tion, in spite of its being artifically and intention- 
 ally agitated by the press and the legal proceed- 
 ings, so that a somewhat 'stiffer' attitude would 
 be desirable, naturally quiet and dignified! 
 
 W9 
 
"If you should leave New York before my re- 
 turn, we must try to come to some agreement 
 about pending questions by writing. Please in- 
 struct Mr. Amanuensis Igel as precisely as pos- 
 sible. You will receive then in Germany the 
 long-intended report of the expenses paid through 
 my account on your behalf. I would be very 
 thankful to you if you would then support the 
 question of a monetary advance which you know 
 of, although I know that I was mistaken in my 
 opinion, that I acted as your representative and 
 according to your wishes." 
 
 When all the work of Dr. Albert is summed 
 up and taken into consideration with his propa- 
 ganda in association with Captain von Papen and 
 Captain Boy-Ed, the impression remains that he, 
 a guest of the United States, was immersed in 
 plans that were aimed at the honor and integrity 
 of this republic. 
 
 300 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 AMBASSADOR DUMBA, GERMANY'S 
 CO-CONSPIRATOR 
 
 U TFI wanted to flatter the American people, 
 I would make a statement before my de- 
 parture, but I say nothing." 
 
 This was the sentiment of Dr. Constantin 
 Theodor Dumba, veteran diplomat and Austro- 
 Hungarian Ambassador at Washington, just 
 after he had received his passports from Secretary 
 of State Lansing. He was dismissed from this 
 country in September, 1915, because of his pro- 
 Teutonic activities, which were adjudged by the 
 State Department to amount to interference with 
 the internal affairs of the nation. 
 
 The diplomat, regarded at the time as the 
 ablest in Washington, did not relish the notoriety 
 of being the ninth diplomat to be expelled from 
 America; and, when questioned by reporters on 
 the eve of his departure, he revealed the acrid 
 feeling regarding Americans which his wonted 
 suavity and self-control hitherto had enabled him 
 to conceal. The next day, however, he did un- 
 bend to the extent of saying something about 
 "wonderful United States" — and then sailed 
 away. 
 
 201 
 
Dumba, master of intrigue and remorseless in 
 the attempted execution of any scheme that he re- 
 garded as beneficial to the welfare of his country, 
 had been the supervising authority of the Austro- 
 Hungarian espionage system in America, which 
 was linked almost chain for chain with the Ger- 
 man machinery. The joint activity of the Ger- 
 man and the Austrian organizations was aimed 
 at the same end as those described in connection 
 with the duties of the German agents and their 
 executives. He had as his active assistants, Baron 
 Erich Zwiedinek von Sudenhorst, counsellor to 
 the Austrian Embassy, and after the dismissal of 
 Dumba, Charge d' Affaires; Dr. Alexander Nu- 
 ber von Pereked, Consul-General in New York, 
 and several other Austrian consuls throughout 
 the country. He is said to have been the originat- 
 ing genius of many of the ideas which the German 
 agents tried to put into effect. 
 
 The charges against him are based on a series 
 of exposures concerning the secret propaganda 
 in which Dr. Dumba participated and concern- 
 ing which evidence was gathered by the Secret 
 Service and the Department of Justice. They 
 rest on secret diplomatic messages which Dr. 
 Dumba wrote and entrusted to Captain James F. 
 J. Archibald, an American, travelling in August, 
 1915, on the steamship Rotterdam for Holland, 
 whence he expected to confer with the Foreign 
 Offices of both Germany and Austro-Hungary. 
 Those documents were captured by the British 
 
 202 
 
and turned over to the American authorities. 
 They expose much the same sort of illicit activity 
 as set forth in German documents. 
 
 MORE PASSPORT FRAUDS 
 
 Attorney- General Gregory caused a thorough 
 investigation of these documents and also of von 
 Nuber's office in New York. Many consular 
 employes were taken before the Grand Jury and 
 practically every member of the Consulate, ex- 
 cepting von Nuber and his immediate associates, 
 was rounded up one night in the office of Super- 
 intendent Offley in New York. They were ques- 
 tioned, and they gave much information. 
 
 Baron Zwiedinek was a busy person at the 
 summer Embassy at Manchester-by-the-Sea after 
 the outbreak of the war. Hundreds of Austro- 
 Hungarian reservists were bobbing up at various 
 consulates and registering, eager for directions 
 and for means of getting back to their country. 
 Evidently, these matters came under his jurisdic- 
 tion, for he wrote the following letter to von 
 Nuber : 
 
 "Manchester, A. M., 24 August, 1914. 
 
 "To the Imperial and Royal Consulate General 
 in New York: 
 "On the 21st inst. the Imperial and Royal 
 Embassy received the following telegram from 
 the Imperial and Royal Consulate in San Fran- 
 cisco : 
 
 ' 'Nine employes arrived here on the steamer 
 
 203 
 
Yokohama seek transportation New York at ex- 
 pense of State. Beg for telegraphic instruction 
 whether Consulate should pay traveling expenses. 
 Stay here would cause embarrassment.' 
 
 "The Embassy has instructed the Consular 
 office mentioned to send these employes to New 
 York. Thereupon the following telegram of the 
 22d arrived: 
 
 " 'Attache Hanenschild, Interpreter Nanter- 
 natz, Embassy, Tokio, as well as six employes 
 journeyed onward.' 
 
 "Since the Imperial and Royal Embassy is of 
 the opinion that it is a patriotic duty of the 
 reservists to do their utmost to reach the mon- 
 archy, will the Imperial and Royal Consulate 
 please make all efforts in this connection to dis- 
 cover the proper transportation facilities for 
 these employes who are shortly to arrive. Per- 
 haps it would be possible also to produce suitable 
 passports of neutral countries at comparatively 
 slight expense. 
 
 "Concerning that which is done in this connec- 
 tion please report in due time. 
 
 "For the Imperial and Royal Embassy, 
 
 "Zwiedinek." 
 
 When that letter was shown to Baron Zwie- 
 dinek by Secretary of State Lansing, he admitted 
 the authenticity of the signature, but denied he 
 remembered anything of its contents. He ex- 
 plained that it was probably dictated by a clerk, 
 and that in his haste he signed it without reading 
 it. He also disclaimed any responsibility for it 
 
 204 
 
on the ground that Dr. Dumba was at the date of 
 the letter the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador. 
 
 MUNITION PLOTS 
 
 Part of the schemes considered and recom- 
 mended by Ambassador Dumba to prevent the 
 exportation of war munitions from the United 
 States is set forth in the secret communications 
 which he gave to Captain Archibald to carry to 
 Baron Burian, Austrian Foreign Minister. The 
 first document discusses the diplomatic efforts 
 that have been made toward that end, deprecates 
 the arguments put forth by the State Depart- 
 ment in declining to take any action to forbid 
 the export of war munitions. 
 
 "The true ground for the discouraging attitude 
 of the President," wrote Dumba, "lies, as his con- 
 fidant, Colonel House, already informed me in 
 January, and has now repeated, in the fact that 
 authoritative circles are convinced that the United 
 States in any serious crisis would have to rely on 
 foreign neutral countries for all their war ma- 
 terial. At no price, and in no case, will President 
 Wilson allow this source to dry up. 
 
 "For this reason I am of the opinion that to 
 return to the question whether by a reply from 
 Your Excellency or by a semi-official conversa- 
 tion between myself and the Secretary of State 
 would not only be useless, but even, having re- 
 gard for the somewhat self-willed temperament 
 of the President, would be harmful." 
 
 Dr. Dumba's plans for causing strikes in muni- 
 
 205 
 
tion factories in the United States are related by 
 himself in the following official document which 
 he sent to Baron Burian: 
 
 "New York, August 20. 
 
 "Your Excellency: Yesterday evening Consul 
 General von Nuber received the enclosed aide 
 memoire from the chief editor of the local in- 
 fluential paper Szabadsag, after a previous con- 
 versation with me in pursuance of his verbal pro- 
 posals to arrange for strikes at Bethlehem in 
 Schwab's steel and munitions factory and also in 
 the Middle West. 
 
 "Archibald, who is well known to your Ex- 
 cellency, leaves to-day at 12 o'clock on board the 
 Rotterdam for Berlin and Vienna. I take this 
 rare and safe opportunity of warmly recommend- 
 ing these proposals to your Excellency's favor- 
 able consideration. It is my impression that we 
 can disorganize and hold up for months, if not 
 entirely prevent, the manufacture of munitions 
 in Bethlehem and the Middle West, which, in the 
 opinion of the German military attache, is of 
 great importance and amply outweighs the com- 
 paratively small expenditure of money involved. 
 
 "But even if strikes do not come off it is prob- 
 able that we should extort under pressure more 
 favorable conditions of labor for our poorly 
 downtrodden fellow countrymen in Bethlehem. 
 These white slaves are now working twelve hours 
 a day, seven days a week. All weak persons suc- 
 cumb and become consumptive. So far as Ger- 
 man workmen are found among the skilled hands 
 means of leaving will be provided immediately 
 for them. Besides this, a private German regis- 
 try office has been established which provides em- 
 
 206 
 
ployment for persons who voluntarily have given 
 up their places. It already is working well. We 
 shall also join in and the widest support is as- 
 surred us. 
 
 "I beg your Excellency to be so good as to 
 inform me with reference to this letter by wire- 
 less. Reply whether you agree. I remain, with 
 great haste and respect, 
 
 "DUMBA." 
 PLANS FOR STRIKES 
 
 The enclosure, or "aide memoire' 3 written in 
 Hungarian outlines the scheme which the diplo- 
 mat recommended. 
 
 "I must divide the matter into two parts, 
 Bethlehem and the Middle West business" (says 
 this paper), "but the point of the departure is 
 common in both, viz., press agitation, which is of 
 the greatest importance as regards our Hun- 
 garian-American workmen. It means a press 
 through which we can reach both in Bethlehem 
 and in the West. In my opinion we must start a 
 very strong agitation on this question in Free- 
 dom (Szabadsag), the leading organ, in respect 
 to the Bethlehem works and the conditions there. 
 This can be done in two ways and both must be 
 utilized. 
 
 "In the first place, the regular daily section 
 must be devoted to the conditions obtaining there, 
 and a campaign must be regularly conducted 
 against these indescribably degrading conditions. 
 Freedom already has done something similar in 
 the recent past, when the strike movement began 
 at Bridgeport. It must necessarily take the form 
 
 207 
 
of strong, deliberate, decided and courageous 
 action. 
 
 "Secondly, the writer of these lines would be- 
 gin a labor novel in that newspaper much on the 
 lines of Sinclair's celebrated story. This might 
 be published in other local Hungarian, Slovak 
 and German newspapers. The Nepszava (Word 
 of the People) will undoubtedly be compelled 
 willingly or unwillingly to follow the movement 
 initiated by Freedom, for it is pleasing the entire 
 Hungarian element in America, and is an abso- 
 lutely patriotic act to which that open journal, 
 the Nepszava, could not adopt a hostile attitude. 
 Of course, it would be another question to what 
 extent and with what energy and devotion that 
 newspaper would adhere to this course of action 
 without regard to other influences, just as it is 
 questionable to what extent other local patriotic 
 papers would go. There is a great reason why, in 
 spite of their patriotism, American-Hungarian 
 papers hitherto have shrunk from initiating such 
 action." 
 
 "In these circumstances the first necessity is 
 money. 
 
 "Bethlehem must be sent as many reliable 
 Hungarian and German workmen as we can lay 
 our hands on, who will join the factories and be- 
 gin their work in secret among their fellow work- 
 men. For this purpose I have my men, roll- 
 turners and steel workers. We must send an or- 
 ganizer who in the interests of the union will 
 begin the business in his own way. We must 
 also send so-called 'soapbox' orators who will 
 know how to start a useful agitation. We shall 
 want money for popular meetings, possibly for 
 
organizing picnics. In general, the same applies 
 to the Middle West. I am thinking of Pittsburg 
 and Cleveland in the first instance, as to which T 
 could give details only if I were to return and 
 spend at least a few days there. I already have 
 shown that much can be done with the news- 
 papers. We must stir up the men's feelings in 
 Bethlehem. A sensation was caused by the ar- 
 ticles which appeared at the time of the strike at 
 Bridgeport. They brought Bethlehem into the 
 affair. 
 
 "It is evident that the start of a movement 
 from which serious results are to be expected re- 
 quires a sufficiency of money at the very start. 
 The extent of subsequent expenditure for the 
 most part depends on the work effected. For 
 example, the newspapers must not receive the 
 whole sum intended for them all at once, but only 
 half. To union agitators only a certain amount 
 should be given at first, and a larger sum in case 
 of success or of a serious strike on the formation 
 of the union. It is my opinion that for the special 
 object of starting the Bethlehem business and the 
 Bethlehem and Western newspapers campaign 
 $15,000 to $20,000 must be at our disposal, but 
 it is not possible to reckon how much ultimately 
 will be required. 
 
 "When a beginning has been made, it will be 
 possible to see how things develop and where and 
 how much it will be worth while to spend. The 
 above mentioned preliminary sum would suffice 
 partially to satisfy the demands of the necessary 
 newspapers and to a considerable extent those of 
 the Bethlehem campaign. If circumstances are 
 lucky and leadership is good, we can arrive at 
 positive results in the West comparatively 
 
 209 
 
cheaply, whereas Bethlehem is one of the most 
 difficult jobs. 
 
 "I will telephone at 8 A. M. ? and request you 
 then to let me know where and when I can learn 
 your opinion of my proposal, which requires a 
 considerable amount of verbal exposition. Fi- 
 nally, I make bold to point out the fact that 
 hitherto I have said nothing on the subject to 
 any one connected with the newspapers, and am 
 in the fortunate position that in the case of giving 
 effect to the plan I can make use of names in 
 case of necessity, for I have already in other mat- 
 ters made payments through other individuals. 
 In any event, in the case of the newspapers the 
 greatest circumspection is necessary. No one but 
 the proprietor must know that money is coming 
 to the undertaking from any source." 
 
 EXIT DUMBA 
 
 Following the receipt of those documents by 
 the State Department, Dr. Dumba and Secre- 
 tary Lansing were in conference. The Ambas- 
 sador admitted he had written the letter, and had 
 consigned it to the care of Captain Archibald. 
 He defended his course on the ground that he was 
 under orders from his home government, and that 
 he wished to prevent Austro-Hungarian work- 
 men from committing high treason by helping 
 turn out munitions for the Allies. President 
 Wilson, however, insisted on the Ambassador's 
 recall, and Secretary Lansing, in his note to 
 Austro-Hungary, made these charges against 
 Dr. Dumba: 
 
 "By reason of the admitted purpose and intent 
 210 
 
of Mr. Dumba to conspire to cripple legitimate 
 industries of the United States and to interrupt 
 their legitimate trade, and by reason of the flag- 
 rant violation of diplomatic propriety in employ- 
 ing an American citizen, protected by an Amer- 
 ican passport, as a secret bearer of official 
 despatches through the lines of the enemy of Aus- 
 tria-Hungary, the President directs us to inform 
 your Excellency that Mr. Dumba is no longer 
 acceptable to the Government of the United 
 States as the Ambassador of his Imperial Maj- 
 esty at Washington." 
 
 After the departure of Dr. Dumba, Baron 
 Zwiedinek and von Nuber began a series of ad- 
 vertisements in racial newspapers, calling the 
 subjects of Austro-Hungary out of the munition 
 factories. If any workman wrote him regarding 
 the matter, he sent a reply in which he said: "It 
 is demanded that patriotism, no less than the fear 
 of punishment, should cause every one to quit 
 his work immediately." 
 
 211 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 GERMANY'S LOBBY IN CONGRESS 
 
 P 
 
 RESIDENT WILSON said in part in 
 his Flag Day address in June, 1916: 
 
 "There is disloyalty in the United States, and 
 it must be absolutely crushed. It proceeds from 
 a minority, a very small minority, but a very 
 active and subtle minority. * * * If you could 
 have gone with me through the space of the last 
 two years and could have felt the subtle impact 
 of intrigue and sedition, and have realized with 
 me that those to whom you have entrusted au- 
 thority are trustees not only of the power but 
 also of the very spirit and purpose of the United 
 States, you would realize with me the solemnity 
 with which I look upon the sublime symbol of our 
 unity and power." 
 
 The President in those few words summed up 
 the conspiracies of the Teutonic Powers aimed at 
 the integrity of the United States. When he 
 made his charge, he had back of him a vast amount 
 of evidence which never has been and never will 
 he made public. He had as proof the details 
 of Germany's scheme to control the Congress of 
 this nation and to manipulate it in a manner that 
 would have rendered not only the legislative 
 bodies an absolute check to the administrative 
 
 212 
 
functions of the Government but "would have dic- 
 tated the course of the Republic in international 
 affairs just as if the United States were a depen- 
 dency of the Fatherland. 
 
 DISLOYAL CITIZENS 
 
 "The subtle and active minority" to which the 
 President made such a sensational reference is 
 a group of Americans — German- Americans 
 swayed by sentiment for Germany and Americans 
 influenced by gold — who have been following the 
 dictation of Teutonic agents in America. They 
 have received orders and sought to carry them 
 out. They have been puppets that worked and 
 argued in the interest of the Central Powers when 
 certain men pulled the strings. They have been 
 active workers in carrying out clever political 
 policies and agitations that were part of schemes 
 devised in Berlin to benefit Germany against her 
 enemy. True, there have been faithful American 
 citizens who have sided with Germany's argu- 
 ments — and their loyalty cannot be questioned — 
 but there have been citizens who knowingly 
 worked with German agents against the best in- 
 terests of the nation. When a man strives and 
 schemes with foreign agents against the honest 
 endeavors of an American official, who is seeking 
 to execute the law, he is guilty not only of dis- 
 loyalty but of sedition. 
 
 From the outset of the war Teutonic agents 
 intrigued to get their clutches upon the Federal 
 
 218 
 
legislative body. They schemed to use it as an 
 obstacle to any move by the President. They 
 sought legislation that would prevent the ship- 
 ment of muntions from this country, that would 
 have prevented the Allies from floating any war 
 bonds in America, and that would have stopped 
 Americans from sailing on passenger vessels of 
 Allied merchantmen. Their aim was to make 
 Congress vote and the President act just as the 
 Emperor of Germany deemed most suitable to 
 the interests of the Fatherland. 
 
 To that end they tried to manipulate sentiment 
 among the voters by means of insidious propa- 
 ganda. They hired lobbyists to work among 
 Representatives and Senators at the National 
 Capitol and so thoroughly and accurately did 
 these men do their work that the line-up of the 
 House of Representatives and of the Senate was 
 reported almost daily to Berlin on any important 
 legislation bearing on Germany's interests in the 
 war. They reported the change from day to day 
 of any Congressman's attitude and the reason 
 therefor. They strove to create a sentiment 
 among the voters so that appeals would pour in 
 upon Congressmen, filling them with fear of 
 defeat at the polls if they did not obey what 
 amounted to the Kaiser's dictation. 
 
 At the start of the European War there began 
 in Congress a vehement debate over the question 
 of imposing a legislative embargo on the ship- 
 ments of arms and ammunition to the Allies. 
 
 214 
 
In these debates men participated who undoubt- 
 edly were sincere in the convictions they ex- 
 pressed. Nevertheless, they were button-holed by 
 Americans working for German agents but all 
 the flowery oratory in favor of "universal peace" 
 proved unavailing. 
 
 In the late winter and early spring of 1915, 
 a hireling of the Germans began to seek secret 
 conferences with Congressmen in a Washington 
 hotel and to outline to them plans for compelling 
 an embargo on muntions. Money was mentioned 
 and offers were made to seven or eight different 
 Congressmen. It is charged by Government of- 
 ficials that a large amount of money was spent — 
 but the project was in vain. 
 
 UNDERGROUND DIPLOMACY 
 
 Meantime, Count von Bernstorff and Dr. 
 Dumba were seeking by diplomatic means to 
 effect a stoppage of the flow of war equipment 
 to the Allies. Each addressed appeals to the Sec- 
 retary of State and each presented notes from 
 his respective Government protesting against the 
 shipment of munitions as unneutral. Their pro- 
 tests were unavailing and the answers of the Sec- 
 retary of State were so clear and determined that 
 it became clear to the Teutonic agents that their 
 efforts along such a channel would be without 
 success. Dr. Dumba ascribes the failure of Con- 
 gress to shut off the export of munitions and the 
 decision of the Administration against the Teu- 
 
 915 
 
tonic Powers, to the President, for in one of his 
 letters to Burian he said in August, 1915 : 
 
 "As last autumn, he (President Wilson) can 
 always, through his personal influence, either 
 force the House of Representatives to take his 
 point of view against their better judgment, or, 
 on the other hand, in the Senate can overthrow 
 the resolution already voted in favor of prohibit- 
 ing the export of guns and munitions. In these 
 circumstances any attempt to persuade individual 
 States to vote parallel resolutions through their 
 legislative bodies would offer no advantages apart 
 from the internal difficulties which the execution 
 of this plan presents." 
 
 With that letter Dr. Dumba enclosed a memor- 
 andum adroitly suggesting the use of England's 
 seizure of ships as a means of inciting Americans 
 to support embargo legislation. 
 
 "President Wilson" (he wrote) "will not hear 
 of Congress laying an embargo, for the reason, 
 as he clearly explains, that to do so would be un- 
 neutral. The result of this is to stultify all at- 
 tempts at agitation based on embargo. This is 
 a matter entirely in President Wilson's hands. 
 It is, of course, always possible that, despite the 
 President's declaration, a resolution might be laid 
 before Congress contemplating the prohibition of 
 the export of munitions as a measure of reprisal 
 against England for her illegal seizure of Amer- 
 ican ships; but we should indulge in no illusions 
 as to the success likely to attend such an enter- 
 prise." 
 
 216 
 
HOLDING THE CLUB TO CONGRESS 
 
 The German agents, as has been told, did not 
 cease their efforts to arouse the sentiment of the 
 country, hoping to force Congress and the Presi- 
 dent to take steps in the direction that the Ger- 
 mans wished. 
 
 The fear which a Representative in Congress 
 has of displeasing his constituents was a factor 
 carefully taken into account by the German 
 agents. Every means of impressing upon a Rep- 
 resentative the belief that the men who voted 
 for him wanted an embargo were used. These 
 were the motives behind a plan for holding an 
 embargo conference in the Middle West in the 
 summer of 1915. The details were carefully de- 
 veloped and the conference would have been held 
 had not the secret workings been divulged through 
 the publication of the Albert papers. One letter 
 addressed to Dr. Albert by Herr P. Reiswitz, in 
 Chicago, reveals the scheme in detail and shows 
 that Count von BernstorfY was aware of the inner 
 organization. The letter, dated July 22, 1915, 
 says in part : 
 
 "Everything else concerning the proposed em- 
 bargo conference you will find in the inclosed 
 copy of the report to the Ambassador. A change 
 has, however, come up, as the mass meeting will 
 have to be postponed on account of there being 
 insufficient time for the necessary preparations. 
 It will probably be held here in about two weeks. 
 
 "H seemed to be very strong for the 
 
 217 
 
plan. He told our representative at a conference 
 in Omaha: 'If this matter is organized in the right 
 way you will sweep the United States.' 
 
 "For your confidential information, I would 
 further inform you that the leadership of the 
 movement thus far lies in the hands of two gentle- 
 men (one in Detroit and one in Chicago), who 
 are firmly resolved to work toward the end that 
 the German community, which, of course, will be 
 with us without further urging, shall above all 
 things remain in the background, and that the 
 movement, to all outward appearances, shall have 
 a purely American character. I have known both 
 the gentlemen very well for a long time, and 
 know that personal interest does not count with 
 them; the results will bring their own reward." 
 
 PULLING WIRES BEHIND SCENES 
 
 Germans made it a point to get behind resolu- 
 tions presented to Congress in the early part of 
 1916 bearing on the submarine controversy. 
 These measures, regardless of the aims of the 
 legislators, had features that would be helpful to 
 Germany in her desire to sink merchantmen on 
 the high seas. 
 
 Senator Gore introduced a resolution "to pro- 
 hibit the issuance of passports for use on vessels 
 of a belligerent country," and another bill "to 
 prohibit a belligerent vessel from transporting 
 American citizens as passengers to or from ports 
 in the United States and to prohibit American 
 and neutral vessels from transporting American 
 citizens as passengers and contraband of war at 
 
 218 
 
one and the same time." Representative Stephens 
 of Nebraska and Representative McLemore also 
 introduced bills and resolutions of similar char- 
 acter. 
 
 This lobbying and other secret propaganda in 
 Congress was designed to render the President 
 powerless in his demands upon Germany to cease 
 torpedoing passenger ships. The Germans almost 
 succeeded in getting Congress to enact resolu- 
 tions, forbidding Americans to travel on such 
 passenger vessels. While this legislation was 
 under discussion, Berlin was kept accurately in- 
 formed concerning the attitude of both the House 
 and the Senate on those measures. The schemes 
 of the Germans, however, fell through and Presi- 
 dent Wilson was upheld in his policy. 
 
 After President Wilson had sent his ultimatum 
 to Germany, insisting that the attacks on pas- 
 senger ships and merchantmen, in violation of 
 the rules of international law cease, the entire 
 horde of German propagandists, German spies 
 and German sympathizers were lined up in a 
 countrywide appeal to Congress to maintain di- 
 plomatic relations with Germany, no matter what 
 her answer to America's note might be. By a 
 systematic scheme put into operation throughout 
 the country, thousands of telegrams were sent to 
 members of Congress and of the Senate beseech- 
 ing harmonious relations with Germany. In the 
 majority of instances these telegrams were ac- 
 cording to formula and all the sender had to do 
 
 919 
 
was to sign his name to it. The telegraph charges 
 were paid by an organization financed by German 
 agents. 
 
 But their pleas were not needed, for Germany, 
 facing at last — after many months of exchange 
 of notes — the anger of the American people, 
 finally yielded on the submarine question and the 
 Lusitania controversy. All of Germany's legisla- 
 tive propaganda and secret work had been futile. 
 The exposure of the activities of her agents re- 
 sulted only in causing many neutral Americans 
 to revolt against her. 
 
 220 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 CHANGING THE SYSTEM 
 
 AFTER all the ramifications of the Teu- 
 tonic system in America had been un- 
 earthed through the work of the Federal 
 authorities, an order went forth to the spies to 
 cease activities that were in violation of the laws. 
 Meantime, the Chief Spy in Berlin began im- 
 mediately to construct an entirely new system of 
 espionage, for use in an emergency. The remnant 
 of the old system, however, was kept at hand for 
 the furthering of propaganda and such activities 
 as could not arouse the objection of the Govern- 
 ment, even though detected. 
 
 Count von Bernstorff, German Ambassador, 
 took steps following the seizure of the von Igel 
 papers, rather the papers showing the director- 
 ship of the system in America, to issue a warning 
 to all Germans of the necessity of leading a 
 purely and righteously neutral life. He sent forth 
 a statement, which had been prepared by an at- 
 torney in New York, to all German consuls in the 
 country, and took care to see that the State De- 
 partment obtained a copy of this notice. The 
 notice, dated sometime in the early spring of 
 1916, said: 
 
 221 
 
"In consequence of cases which have occurred 
 of late, German Ambassador Bernstorff sent in- 
 structions to all German Consuls in the United 
 States to strongly impress on German citizens 
 living in their districts that it is their duty scrup- 
 ulously to obey the laws of the states in which 
 they reside." 
 
 That notice, however, was simply a subterfuge 
 employed by the Chief Spy in Berlin to throw 
 Americans off his trail. In December, 1915, fol- 
 lowing the arrest of Paul Koenig and other Ger- 
 man agents, a formal notice was sent forth from 
 Berlin asserting that no citizen of Germany ever 
 had been asked to disobey any laws. But that 
 statement had proved merely a blind to cover 
 other activities in the United States. With the 
 seizure of the von Igel-von Papen papers, how- 
 ever, it had become necessary to make a strategic 
 retreat, so to speak, and to rebuild' the spy 
 system.* 
 
 The necessity of such a move is clear because 
 of the fact that the papers, documents and other 
 evidence developed by the Secret Service and 
 other Federal agents proved that the warriors 
 and statesmen of Germany had, at the outset of 
 the war, decided upon a campaign in America to 
 injure the Allies and to weaken the American 
 Government. The General War Staff had at 
 their disposal in America a vast army of German 
 reservists and secret agents, and straightway set 
 
 •How a new system was devised and how Americans were employed 
 to gather information about the Allies is now coming to light. Still more 
 startling revelations of plans for attacks upon the United States will 
 shortly be unfolded. 
 
 222 
 
them to work upon plans in violation of American 
 laws. 
 
 TWO AND A HALF YEARS OF HIGH TREASON 
 
 Go back over the events since 1914, and study 
 them in the light of the moves made by Germany 
 or by her secret agents here, and you will realize 
 how, in America, Germany has had a hand in 
 practically every domestic or foreign event of 
 any importance. Her agents sought to control 
 the Congress. They planned trouble between 
 the United States and Meooico with the aim of 
 stopping the shipment of war supplies to the 
 Allies, and of getting this country so absorbed in 
 other matters that we could not call Germany 
 to account for her murderous submarine warfare. 
 They fomented trouble among laboring men. 
 They schemed to bring about seditious uprisings 
 in Cuba, and in the dependencies of the Allies, 
 using this country as a base of operations. 
 
 By means of this secret organization, Germany 
 carried on the scheme of buying fraudulent pass- 
 ports for the use of her reservists, developed a 
 scheme for the illegal provisioning of the German 
 cruisers, set on foot various military enterprises 
 from the United States against Canada, schemed 
 to destroy munition factories in America, to blow 
 up merchantmen of the Allies sailing from Amer- 
 ican ports — and planned crimes of bribery, arson 
 and assault. 
 
 But the alertness of the American Secret 
 
 223 
 
Service and the Bureau of Investigation of the 
 Department of Justice prevented the consumma- 
 tion of these plans. There was need for a shifting 
 of the Germanic spies. Immediately after the 
 publication of Count von Bernstorff's warning, 
 an exodus of known spies to South America be- 
 gan, and the development of an effective system 
 of espionage in every country in South America 
 is now under way. 
 
 America's vital question 
 
 The great question that confronts the Amer- 
 ican people is one of preparedness against this 
 or a like system. Any foreign government that 
 knows the moves of the United States before they 
 are made is in a position to do the country much 
 harm in peace, and tremendously greater harm in 
 war. In view of the crimes perpetrated by Ger- 
 mans and Austrians in America in 1914, 1915 
 and 1916, it behooves the American Government 
 to take steps to destroy the system, root and 
 branch; to see to it that no nation ever builds up 
 a similar system in these United States. 
 
 This Government must take such steps as 
 will insure it against treachery from within. The 
 citizens of the United States must stand in time 
 of danger as one man in defense of our lives, our 
 liberties, our rights on land and sea, our homes 
 and our national honor. 
 
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