MY ADVENTURES AS A GERMAN SECRET AGENT w ~^£jr 1* ' ( >,//- /,»,*,*< m mm 'ir*"v\. iF.SKHKX. BEELIK, €(?. 64 Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, Capt. von der Goltz's first commander, and General Villa .... 88 General Raul Madero 88 A telegram from General Villa to Capt. von der Goltz 112 A group of Constitutional soldiers ...... 124 The six months' leave of absence from the Mexican Army, granted to Capt. von der Goltz at the outbreak of the European War 140 A letter of recommendation given to Capt. von der Goltz by Raul Madero . . . , 140 xi Illustrations FACING PAGE A letter from Dr. Kraske, German vice-consul at New York to "Baron" von der Goltz . . .152 Captain von Papen's letter to the German consuls at Baltimore and St. Paul, asking for their assist- ance in Capt. von der Goltz's enterprise . . . 166 How Capt. von der Goltz secured explosives for his Welland Canal Expedition. Two communica- tions from Capt. Tauscher 178 Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. for "merchandise" furnished Capt. von der Goltz 180 The check which almost cost Capt. von der Goltz his life 196 Safe Deposit receipts for papers which von der Goltz left in Rotterdam 210 The British order for the deportation of Capt. von der Goltz 240 Photograph of the cover of the British white paper containing Capt. von der Goltz's confession . . 256 Xll FOREWORD. have not attempted to write an autobiog- raphy. This book is merely a summary — a sort of galloping summary — of the last ten years of my existence. As such, I venture to write it because my life has been bound up in enterprises in which the world is interested. It has been my fortune to be a witness and some- times an actor in that drama of secret diplomacy which has been going on for so long and which in such a large way has been responsible for this war. There are many scenes from that drama that have no place in this book — many events with which I am familiar that I have not touched upon. My aim has been to describe only those things with which I was personally concerned and which I know to be true. For a full history of the last ten years my readers must go else- where; but it is my hope that these adventures of mine will bring them to a better understand- ing of the forces that have for so long been undermining the peace of the world. 1 Foreword Inevitably there will be some who read this book, who will doubt the truth of many of the statements in it. I cannot, unfortunately, prove all that I tell here. Wherever possible I have offered corroborative evidence of the truth of my statements; at other times I have tried to indicate their credibility by citing well recognized facts which have a direct bearing upon my con- tentions. But for the rest, I can only hope that this book will be accepted as a true record of facts which by their very nature are insusceptible of proof. So far as my connection with the German Government is concerned, I may refer the curious to the British Parliamentary White Papers, Miscellaneous Nos. 6 and 13, which con- tain respectively my confession and a record of the papers found in the possession of Captain von Papen, former military attache to the Ger- man Embassy at Washington, and seized by the British authorities on January 2 and 3, 1916. There are also, in addition to the documents reproduced in this book, various court records of the trial of Captain Hans Tauscher and others in the spring of the same year. Of German activities in the United States, the newspapers bear eloquent testimony. I have been concerned 2 Foreword rather with the motives of the German Govern- ment than with a statement of what has been done. These motives, I believe, you will not doubt. But there is one point which I must ask my readers not to overlook. I have told that I be- came a secret agent through the discovery of a certain letter which contained very serious re- flections upon one of the most important person- ages in the world. I have told, also, how the possession of that letter had an important bear- ing upon the course of my life — how it led me to America, and how in the struggle for its pos- session, I very nearly lost my life. This, I know, will be severely questioned by many. Before rejecting this part of my story, I ask merely that you consider the fate that overtook Koglmeier, the saddler of El Paso, whose only crime was that he had been partially in my confidence. I ask you to recall that another German, Lesser, who had been associated with me at the same time, mysteriously disappeared in 1915, shortly before von Papen left for Europe. No one has been able to prove why these men were treated as they were. And if I did not have in my posses- sion something which the German Government regarded as highly important, why the surprising 8 Foreword actions of that Government, actions none the less astonishing because they are well known and authenticated? Consider these things before you doubt. Finally, let me say that I have taken the liberty of changing or omitting the names of various people who are mentioned in these adventures, merely because I have had no wish to compromise them by disclosing their identity. New York, July 8, 1917. ERRATA Page 5. Chapter I. First line: March 28th, 1917 should read March 29th, 1916. Page 41: Kut el Amerara should read Kut el Amara. Page 140. Last two paragraphs: December 23rd should read December 20th. Page 171. Second paragraph: October 8th should read October 3rd, 1914- My Adventures as a German Secret Agent CHAPTER I I find an old letter, containing a strange bit of scandal — and its contents draw me into the service of the Kaiser, (\N March 28th, 1917, the steamer Finland was warped into its Hudson River dock and I hurried down the gang plank. I was not alone. Agents of the United States Department of Justice had met me at Quarantine; and a man from Scotland Yard was there also — a man who had attended me sedulously since, barely two weeks before, I had been released under rather unusual circumstances from Lewes prison in England; the last of four English prisons in which I had spent fifteen months in solitary con- finement waiting for the day of my execution. My friend from Scotland Yard left me very shortly; soon after, I was testifying for the United States Government against Capt. Hans 5 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Tauscher, husband of Mme. Johanna Gadski, the diva. Tauscher, American agent of the Krupps and of the German Government, was charged with complicity in a plot to blow up the Welland Canal in Canada during the first month of the Great War. During the course of the trial it was shown that von Papen and others (including myself) had entered into a conspiracy to violate the neutrality of die United States. I had led the expedition against the Welland Canal and I was telling everything I knew about it. Doubt- less you remember the newspapers of die day. You will remember how, at that time, the magnitude of the German plot against the neu- trality of the United States became finally ap- parent. You will remember how, in connection with my exposure came the exposure of von Igel, of Rintelen, of the German Consul-General at San Francisco, Bopp, and many others. With all of these men I was familiar. In the activities of some of them I was implicated. It was I, as I have said, who planned the details of the Welland Canal plot. I shall tell the true story of these activities later on. But first let me tell the story of how I became to be concerned in these plots — and to do that I must go back over many years ; I must tell how 6 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent I first became a member of the Kaiser's Secret Diplomatic Force (to give it a name) and in- cidentally I shall describe for the first time the real workings of that force. I have been in and out of the Kaiser's web for ten years. I have served him faithfully in many capacities and in many places — all over Europe, in Mexico, even in the United States. I served the German Government as long as I believed it to be representing the interests of my country- men. But from the moment that I became con- vinced that the men who made up the Govern- ment — the Hohenzollerns, the Junkers and the bureaucrats — were anxious merely to preserve their own power, even at the expense of Germany itself, my attitude toward them changed. That is why I write this book — and why I shall tell what I know of the aims and ambitions of these men — enemies of Germany as well as of the rest of the world. I was not a spy; nor was I a secret service agent. I was, rather, a secret diplomatic agent. Let me add that there is a nice distinction be- tween the three. A secret diplomatic agent is a man who directs spies, who studies their reports, who pieces together various bits of information, 7 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent and who, when he has the fabric complete, per- sonally makes his report to the highest authority or carries that particular plan to its desired con- clusion. His work and his status are of various sorts. Unlike the spy, he is a user, not a getter, of information. He is a free lance, responsible only to the Foreign Office; a plotter; an un- official intermediary in many negotiations; and frequently he differs from an accredited diplo- matic representative, only in that his activities and his office are essentially secret. Obviously men of this type must be highly trained and re- liable; and their constant association with men of authority makes it necessary that they, them- selves, be men of breeding and education. But above all, they must possess the courage that shrinks at no danger, and a devotion, a patriot- ism that knows no scruples. This, then, was the calling into which I found myself plunged, while still a boy, by one of the strangest chances that ever befell me, whose life has been full of strange happenings. As I recall my adolescence I realize that I was a normal boy, vigorous, wilful, fond of sport, of horses, dogs and guns, and I know that but for the chance I speak of, I should have grown up to the traditions of our family — Cadet school— 8 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent the University — later a lieutenancy in the Ger- man Army — and to-day, perhaps, death "some- where in France." And yet, in that boyhood that I am recalling, I can remember that there were other interests which were far greater than the games that I loved, as did all lads of my age. Mental ad- venture, the matching of wits against wits for stakes of reputation and fortune, always ex- ercised an uncanny fascination over my mind. That delight in intrigue was shown by the books I read as a boy. In the library of my father's house there were many novels, books of poems, of biography, travel, philosophy and history; but I passed them by unread. His few volumes of court gossip and so-called "secret history" I seized with avidity. I used to bear off the memoirs of Marechal Richelieu, the Cardinal's nephew, and read them in my room when the rest of the household was asleep. I recall, too, that there was another tendency already developed in me. I see it in my dealings with other boys of that day. It was the impulse to make other people my instruments, not by direct command or appeal, but by leading them to do, apparently for themselves, what I needed of them. 9 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Such was I, when my aunt who had cared for me since the death of my parents some years before, fell ill and later died. I was disconsolate for a time and wandered about through the halls and chambers of the house, seeking amusement. And it was thus that one day I came upon an old chest in the room that had been hers. I remem- bered that chest. There were letters in it — letters that had been written to her by friends made in the old days when she was at court. Often she had read me passages from them — bits of gossip about this or that personage whom she had once known — occasionally, even, mention of the Kaiser. Doubtless, too, I thought, there were passages which she had not seen fit to read to me: some more intimate bits of gossip about those brilliant men and women in Berlin whom I then knew only as names. With the eager curiosity of a boy I sought the key, and in a moment had un- locked the chest. There they lay, those neat, faded bundles, slightly yellow, addressed in a variety of hands. Idly I selected a packet and glanced over the envelopes it contained, lingering, in anticipation of the revelations that might be in them. I must have read a dozen letters before my eye fell upon 10 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent the envelope that so completely changed my life. It lay in a corner of the chest, as if hidden from too curious eyes — a yellow square of paper, distinguished from its fellows by the quality of the stationery alone, and by its appearance of greater age. But I knew, before I had read fifty words of it, that I was holding in my hands a document that was more explosive than dyna- mite! For this letter, written to my aunt years before, by one of the most exalted personages in all of Germany, contained statements which, had they been made by any one else, would have been treason to utter, and which cast the most serious doubts upon the legitimacy of the Kaiser 3 Wilhelm II. I realize fully that what I have written will seem grossly improbable to most of my readers. I know that few persons will believe me- And since I cannot prove what I have said, since the letter is no longer in my possession, I can ask you only to consider the facts and to weigh for yourself the probabilities of my statement. Those of you whose memories go back to the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, will readily recall the notorious ill-feeling that ex- isted between Wilhelm II and his mother, Vic- 1U My Adventures as a German Secret Agent toria, the Dowager Empress Friederich. Stories have too often been told of this enmity, culmin- ating in the virtual banishment from Berlin of the Queen Mother, for me to need do more than mention them. But what is not so generally known is the small esteem in which Victoria was held by the entire German people. During the twenty years of her married life as the wife of the then Crown Prince Friederich, she was treated by Berlin society with the most thinly- veiled hostility. Even Bismarck made no at- tempt to conceal his dislike for her, and accused her — to quote his own words — of having "poison- ed the fountain of Hohenzollern blood at its source.'* Victoria, for her part, although she seems to have had no animosity toward the German people, certainly possessed little love for her eldest son, and did her best to delay his ascension to the Imperial throne as long as she could. When in 1888 Wilhelm I was dying, she tried her utmost to secure the succession to her hus- band, who was then lying dangeously ill at San Remo. "Cancer," the physicians pronounced the trouble, and even the great German specialist, Bergman, agreed with their diagnosis. There is a law that prevents any one with an incurable 12 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent disease, such as cancer, from ascending the Prussian throne; but Victoria knew too well the attitude of her son, Wilhelm, toward herself, not to wish to do everything in her power to prevent him from becoming Emperor so long as she could. In her extremity she appealed to her mother, Queen Victoria of England, who sent Mackenzie, the great English surgeon, to San Remo to report on Friederich's condition. Mackenzie opposed Bergman and said the dis- ease was not cancer; and the physicians inserted a silver tube in Friederich's throat, and in due course he became Emperor Friederich III. But in spite of Mackenzie and the silver tube, Friederich III died after a reign of ninety-eight days — and he died of cancer. Now what was the reason for this hostility be- tween mother and son and between Empress and subjects? There have been many answers given — Victoria's love for England, her collossal lack of tact, her impatient unconventionality. Berlin whispered of a dinner in Holland years before, when Victoria had entertained some English people she met there — people she had never seen before — and had finished her repast by smoking a cigar. That in the days when the sight of a woman smoking horrified the German soul ! And 13 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Berlin hinted at worse unconventionalities than this. As for the animosity of the Kaiser, that was attributed to the fact that he held her responsible for his withered left arm. Plausible reasons, all of these, and possibly true. But consider, if you will, the rumors that followed Victoria all her life — the story of an early attachment to the Count Seckendorf, her husband's associate during the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 — the reports, sometimes denied but generally believed, of her marriage to the Count not long before her death. Consider, too, the dissimilarity between the Kaiser and the other men of his race — big, slow-minded, amiable men — so unlike Wilhelm II, with his aggressive, alert personality, his quick mind and his Pied- montese face. And can you not imagine the attitude of a woman who had been guilty of in- fidelity and yet retained her sense of national lonor — the hesitancy she might feel at seeing the child of this infidelity upon the throne, and so perpetrating a gigantic fraud upon a people and a husband whom she respected if she did not love ? And have not women been known to hate, rather than love, the offspring of a guilty union? True or not, these suppositions — what does it 14 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent matter? You can see, can you not, why I be- lieved that my letter told the truth, and why I knew that here was a plaything which would astound the world, if made public? But what to do with this letter to which I attached so much importance? Something im- pelled me not to speak of it to my family. But who else was there? In my perplexity I did an utterly foolish thing. I put my whole confidence in a man's word. There was, serving at a nearby fortress, a General Major von Dassel, who was in the habit of coming to our house quite regularly. To him I went, and under pledge of silence I told him my story. Of course, he broke the pledge and left immediately for Berlin. All doubts, if I had any, as to the importance of the document vanished with him. And if I had any misgivings concerning my own importance they quickly vanished, too. Back from Berlin, with General Major von Dassel came an agent of the Reichs Kanzler. He did not come to our house ; instead von Dassel sent for me to go to his headquarters in the fortress. I met there a solemn frock-coated personage who, so he said, had come down from Berlin especially to see me. Imagine my elation I I was in my element ; what I had hoped for had 15 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent at last happened. The pages of Richelieu and of my secret histories were coming true. An- other man and I were to lock our wits in a fight to the finish — that pleasure I promised myself. He was a worthy opponent, an official, a pro- fessional intriguer. As I looked into his serious, bearded face, I built romances about him. The agent of the Chancellor wanted my docu- ment and my pledge to keep silent about its con- tents. Through sheer love of combat, I refused him on both points. He tried persuasion and reason. I was adamant. He tried cajolery. "It is plain," he said, in a voice that was caress- ingly agreeable, "that you are an extremely clever young man. I have never before met your like — that is, at your age. A great career will be possible to such a young man if only he shows himself eager to serve his government, eager to meet the wishes of his Chancellor." Of course, I was delighted with this flattery, which I felt was entirely deserved. I began to believe that I was a person of importance. I became stubborn — which always has been one of my best and worst traits. I saw that the gentle- man in the frock-coat was becoming angry; his serious eyes flashed. Apparently much against his will, he tried threats; he suavely pointed out 16 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent that if I persisted in my resolve not to turn over the document, destruction yawned at my feet. The threats touched off the fuse of my romanti- cism. I felt I was leading the life of intrigue of which I had read. "If you will wait here," I told him, "I shall go home and get the document for you." The Chancellor's representative stroked his beard, deliberated a moment and seemed un- certain. "Oh, the Junge will come back all right," put in the General Major von Dassel. But the Junge did not come back. My family had always been excessively liberal with money, and I had enough in my own little "war chest" to buy a railroad ticket, and a considerable amount be- sides. So I promptly ran off to Paris; and to this day I don't know how long the gentleman in the frock-coat waited for me in von Dassel's office. The terrors and thrills and delight of that panic stricken flight still make me smile. No peril I have since been through was half as ex- citing. . . Berlin! . . . Koln! . . . Brussels! It was a race against apprehension. I was happily frightened, much as a colt is, when it shies at its own shadow. Although I was in long 17 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent trousers and looked years older than I was, I had not sense enough to see the affair in its true light ■ — a foolish escapade which was quite certain to have disagreeable consequences. And so I fled from Berlin to Paris. From Paris I fled, too. There, any circum- stance struck my fevered imagination as being suspicious. After a day in the French capital, I scurried south to Nice and from Nice to Monte Carlo. Precocious youngster, indeed, for there I had my first experience with that favored figure of the novelist, the woman secret agent. No novelist, I venture to say, would ever have picked her out of the Riviera crowd as being what she was. She wore no air of mystery; and though attractive enough in a quiet way, she was very far from the siren type in looks or manners. The friendliness that she, a woman of the mid-thirties, showed a lonely boy was perfectly natural. I should never have guessed her to be an agent of the Wilhelmstrasse had she not chosen to let me know it. Of course, the moment she spoke to me of "my document," I knew she had made my acquaintance with a purpose. If the dear old frock-coated agent of the Chancellor had been asleep, the telegraph wires from Berlin to Paris and Nice and Monte Carlo had been quite awake, 18 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent The proof that I was actually watched and waited for thrilled me anew. It also alarmed me when my friend explained how deeply my govern- ment was affronted. Soon the alarm outgrew the thrill and in the end I quite broke down. Then the woman in her, touched with pity, appar- ently displaced the adventuress. We took counsel together and she showed me a way out. "Your document," she said, "has a Russian as well as a German importance. Why not try Petersburg since Berlin is hostile? For the sake of what you bring, Russia might give shelter and protection." Remember, I was very young and she was all kindness. Yes, she discovered for me the avenue of escape and she set my foot upon it in the most motherly way. And I unknowingly took my first humble lesson in the great art of intrigue. For as I learned years afterwards, that woman was not a German agent but a Russian! But at that time I was all innocent gratitude for her kindness. I was thankful enough to pro- ceed to Petersburg by way of Italy, Constanti- nople and Odessa. Of course, she must have designated a man unknown to me to travel with me, and make sure that I reached the Russian capital. To my hotel in Petersburg, just as the 19 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent woman had predicted, came an officer of the political police, who courteously asked me not to leave the building for twenty-four hours. The next day the man from the Okrana came again. This time he had a droshky waiting, with one of those bull-necked, blue corduroy-robed, muscular Russian jehus on the box. We were driven down the Nevsky-Prospect to a palace. Here I soon found myself in the presence of a man I did not then know as Count Witte. He greeted me kindly, merely remarking that he had heard I was in some difficulties, and offering me aid and advice. My letter was not referred to and the interview ended. So began the process of drawing me out. A fortnight later the matter of my information was broached openly and the suggestion was made that if I delivered it to the Russian Government, high officials would be friendly and a career as- sured me in Russia, as I grew up. But by that time Germany had changed her attitude. Her agents also reached me in St. Petersburg. From them I received new assurance of the importance of the document. If I would release it — so the German agent who came to my hotel told me — and keep my tongue still, Berlin would pardon my indiscretion and assure me a career at home. 20 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Russia or Germany? My decision was quickly made. That very night I was smuggled out of Petersburg and whisked across the frontier at Alexandrovna, into Germany; and the letter passed out of my hands — for the time being. CHAPTER II. 2" Impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a treaty. What the treaty contained and how Germany made use of the knowedge. QROSS LICHTERFELDE! As I write, it all comes back to me clearly, in spite of the full years that have passed — this, my first home in Berlin. A huge pile of buildings set in a suburb of the city, grim and military in ap- pearance ; and in fact, as I soon discovered. I was to become a cadet, it seems; and where in Germany could one receive better training than in this same Gross Lichterfelde? At home I had had some small experience with the exactions of the gymnasium; but now I found that this was but so much child's play in comparison to the life at Gross Lichterfelde. We were drilled and dragooned from morning till night: mathematics, history, the languages — they were not taught us, they were literally pounded into us. And the military training! I am not unfamiliar with the curricula of Sand- 22 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent hurst, of St. Cyr, even of West Point, but I honestly believe that the training we had to undergo was fully as arduous and as technical as at any of those schools. And we were only boys. Military strategy and tactics; sanitation; en- gineering; chemistry; in fact, any and every study that could conceivably be of use to these future officers of the German Army; to all of these must we apply ourselves with the utmost diligence. And woe to the student who shirked! Then there was the endless drilling, that left us with sore muscles and minds so worn with the monotony of it that we turned even to our studies with relief. And the supervision! Our very play was regulated. Can you wonder that we hated it and likened the cadet school to a prison? And can you imagine how galling it was to me, who had come to Berlin seeking romance and found drudgery? But we learned. Oh, yes. The war has shown how well we learned. There was one relief from the constant study which was highly prized by all the cadets at Gross Lichterfelde. It was the custom to select from our school a number of youths to act as pages at the Imperial court; and lucky were the ones who were detailed to this service. It meant a 23 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent vacation, at the very least, to say nothing of a change from the Spartan fare of the cadet school. I must have been a student for a full three months before my turn came; long enough, at any rate, for me to receive the news of my selec- tion with the utmost delight. But I had not been on service at the Imperial Palace for more than a few days when a state dinner was given in honor of a guest at court. He was a young prince of a certain grand-ducal house, which by blood was half Russian and half German. I recall the appearance of myself and the other pages, as we were dressed for the function. Ordinarily we wore a simple undress cadet uni- form, but that evening a striking costume was provided : nothing less than a replica of the garb of a mediaeval herald — tabard and all — for Wilhelm II has a flair for the feudal. From my belt hung a capacious pouch, which, pages of longer standing than I assured me, was the most important part of my equipment; since by cus- tom the ladies were expected to keep these pouches comfortably filled with sweetmeats. Candy for a cadet! No wonder every boy wel- comed his turn at page duty, and went back re- luctantly to the asceticism of Gross Lichterfelde. That was my first sight of an Imperial dinner. 24 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent The great banquet hall that overlooks the square on the Uf er, was ablaze with lights. The guests — the men in their uniforms even more than the women — made a brilliant spectacle to the eyes of a youngster from the provinces; but most bril- liant of all was Wilhelm II, resplendent in the full dress uniform of a field marshal. I can recall him as he sat there, lordly, arrogant, yet friendly, but never seeming to forget the monarch in the host. It seemed to me that he loved to disconcert a guest with his remarks; it delighted him to set the table laughing at some one's else expense. By chance, during the banquet, it fell to me to render service to the young prince. Once, as I moved behind his chair, a German Princess ex- claimed, "Oh, doesn't the page resemble his Highness ?" The Kaiser looked at me sharply. "Yes," he agreed, "they might well be twins." Then, impulsively lifting up his glass, he flourished it toward the Russo-German prince and drank to him. That was all there was to the incident — then. I returned to Gross Lichterfelde the next morn- ing, and proceeded to think no more of the matter. Nor did it come to my mind when a few 25 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent weeks later, I was suddenly summoned to Berlin, and driven, with one of my instructors, to a private house in a street I did not know. ( It was the Wilhelmstrasse, and the residence stood next to Number 75, the Foreign Office. It was the house Berlin speaks of as Samuel Meyer's Bude ■ — in other words, the private offices of the Chancellor and His Imperial Majesty.) We entered a room, bare save for a desk or two and a portrait of Wilhelm I., where my escort surrendered me to an official, who silently surveyed me, comparing his observations with a paper he held, which apparently contained my personal measurements. Later a photograph was taken of me, and then I was bidden to wait. I waited for several hours, it seemed to me, be- fore a second official appeared — a large, round- faced man, soldierly despite his stoutness — who greeted my escort politely and, taking a photo- graph from his pocket, proceeded to scrutinize me carefully. After a moment he turned to my escort. "Has he any identifying marks on his body?" he asked. My escort assured him that there were none. "Good!" he exclaimed; and a moment later we were driving back toward Gross Lichterfelde — I 26 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent quite at sea about the whole affair, but not daring to ask questions about it. Idle curiosity was not encouraged among cadets. I was not to remain in ignorance for long, however. A few days later I was ordered to pack my clothing, and with it was transferred to a quiet hotel on the Dorotheen Strasse. The hotel was not far from the War Academy, and there I was placed under the charge of an ex- asperatingly puttering tutor, who strove to per- fect me on but three points. He insisted that my French be impeccable; he made me study the private and detailed history of a certain Russian house ; and he was most particular about the way I walked and ate, about my knowledge of Rus- sian ceremonies and customs — in a word, about my deportment in general. The weeks passed. At last, by dint of much hard work, I became sufficiently expert in my studies to satisfy my tutor. I was taken back to the house on the Wilhelmstrasse, where the round-faced man again inspected me. He talked with me at length in French, made me walk before him and asked me innumerable questions about the family history of the house I had been studying. Finally he drew a photograph from 27 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent his pocket — the same, I fancy, which had figured in our previous interview. "Do you recognize this face?" he inquired, offering me the picture. I started. It might have been my own like- ness. But no! That uniform was never mine. Then in a moment I realized the truth and with the realization the whole mystery of the last few weeks began to be clear to me. The photograph was a portrait of the young Prince Z ; my double, whom I had served at the banquet. "It is a very remarkable likeness," said the round-faced man. "And it will be of good service to the Fatherland." He eyed me for a moment impressively before continuing. "You are to go to Russia," he told me. "Prince Z has been invited to visit his family in St. Petersburg, and he has accepted the invita- tion. But unfortunately Prince Z has dis- covered that he cannot go. You will, therefore become the Prince — for the time being. You will visit your family, note everything that is said to you and report to your tutor, Herr , who will accompany you and give you further instructions. "This is an important mission," he added 28 This photograph, taken outside the Cuartel at Juarez, Mexico, shows von der Goltz (at the right), then a Major in the Mexican Army, and Lieut. Leiva, a Mexican officer later reported killed in battle. My Adventures as a German Secret Agent solemnly, "but I have no doubt that you will com- port yourself satisfactorily. You have been taught everything that is necessary; and you have already shown yourself a young man of spirit and some discretion. We rely upon both of these qualities." He bowed in dismissal of us, but as we turned to go he spoke again. "Remember," he was saying. "From this day you are no longer a cadet. You are a prince. Act accordingly." That was all. We were out of the door and halfway to our hotel before I realized to the full the great adventure I had embarked upon. Em- barked? Shanghaied would be the better term. I had had no choice in the matter, whatsoever. I had not even uttered a word during the interview. At any rate, that night I left for Petrograd — still St. Petersburg at that time — accompanied by my tutor and two newly engaged valets, who did not know the real Prince. Of what was ahead I had no idea, but as my tutor had no doubts of the success of our mission, I wasted little time in speculating upon the future. What the real prince's motive was in agreeing to the masquerade, and where he spent his time while I was in Russia, I have never been able to discover. From what followed, I surmise that 29 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent he was strongly pro-German in his sympathies but distrusted his ability to carry through the task in hand. In St. Petersburg I discovered that my "relatives" — whom I had known to be very exalted personages — were inclined to be more than hospitable to this young kinsman whom they had not seen in a long time. I found myself petted and spoiled to a delightful degree ; indeed I had a truly princely time. The only drawback was that, as the constant admonitions of my tutor reminded me, I could spend my princely wealth only in such ways as my — shall I say, predecessor? — would have done. He, alas, was apparently a graver youth than I. So two weeks passed, while I was beginning to wish that the masquerade would continue in- definitely, when one day my tutor sent for me. "So," he said, "We have had play enough, not so? Now we shall have work." In a few words he explained the situation to me. Russia, it seemed, was about to enter into an agreement with England, regarding what ap- peared to be practically a partitioning of Persia. Already a certain Baron B (let me call him) was preparing to leave St. Petersburg with in- structions to find out under what circumstances 30 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent the British Government would enter into pour- parlers on the subject. Berlin, whose interests in the Near East would be menaced by such an agreement, needed information — and delay. I was to secure both. It was the old trick of using a little instrument to clog the mechanism of a great machine. Let me explain here a feature of the drawing up of international treaties and agreements which, I think, is not generally understood. Most of us who read in the newspapers that such and such a treaty is being arranged between the repre- sentatives of two countries, believe that the terms are even then being decided upon. As a matter of fact these terms have long since been determined by other representatives of the two countries concerned, and the present meeting is merely for the formal and public ratification of a treaty that has already been secretly made. The usual stages in the making of a treaty are three: First, an unofficial inquiry by one government into the willingness or unwilling- ness of the other government to enter into a discussion of the question at issue. This is usually done by a man who has no official standing as a diplomat at the moment, but whose affiliations with officials in the second country 31 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent have given him an influence there which will stand his government in good stead. After a willingness has been expressed by both sides to enter into discussions, official pourparlers are held in which the terms of the agreement are discussed and decided upon. Finally the treaty is formally ratified by the Foreign Ministers or special envoys of the countries involved. This secrecy in the first two stages is necessitated by the fear of meddling on the part of other govern- ments, and also by a desire on the part of any country making overtures to avoid a possible rebuff from the other; and it explains why nego- tiations which are publicly entered into never fail. But to return to my adventures. My Govern- ment had learned of the impending pourparlers between Britain and Russia; it knew that Baron B 's instructions would contain the con- ditions which Russia considered desirable. What was necessary was to secure these instructions. Now, my tutor had, long before this, seen to it that I should be on friendly terms with various members of the baron's household; and he had been especially insistent that I pay a good deal of attention to the young daughter of the house, whom I shall call Nevshka. I had wondered at the time why he should do this ; but I obeyed 32 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent his instructions with alacrity. Nevshka was charming. Now I saw the purpose of this carefully fos- tered friendship. "The baron will spend this evening at the club," I was informed. "He will return, accord- ing to his habit, promptly at twelve. You will visit his house this evening, paying a call upon Nevshka. You will contrive to set back the clock so that his home coming will be in the nature of a surprise to her. The hour will be so late that she, knowing her father's strictness, will contrive to get you out of the house without his seeing you. That is your opportunity! You must slip from the salon into the rear hall — but do not leave the house. And if, young man, with such an opportunity, you cannot discover where these papers are hidden and secure them, you are unworthy of the trust that your government has placed in you." I nodded my comprehension. In other words I was to take advantage of Nevshka's friendship in order to steal from her father — I was to per- form an act from which no gentleman could help shrinking. And I was going to do it with no more qualms of conscience than, in time of war, 33 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent I should have felt about stealing from an enemy- general the plan of an attack. For countries are always at war — diplomati- cally. There is always a conflict between the foreign ambitions of governments; always an attempt on the part of each country to gain its own ends by fair means or foul. Every man engaged in diplomatic work knows this to be true. And he will serve his government without scruple, for well he knows that some seemingly dishonorable act of his may be the means of averting that actual warfare which is only the forlorn hope that governments resort to when diplomatic means of mastery have failed. So I undertook my mission with no hesitation, rather with a thrill of eagerness. I pretended to be violently interested in Nevshka (no difficult task, that) and time sped by so merrily that even had I not turned back the hands of the clock, I doubt if the lateness of the hour would have seriously concerned either of us. Oh, yes, my tutor — who, as you of course have guessed by now, was no mere tutor — had analyzed the situ- ation correctly. As the baron was heard at the door, I drew out my watch. 34 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent "Nevshka, your clock is slow. It is already midnight." Nevshka started. "Come!" she exclaimed. "Father must not see you. He would be furious at your being here at this hour." In a panic she glanced about the salon. "Go out that way." And she pointed to a door at the rear, one that opened on a dimly lit hallway. I went. I heard the baron express his surprise that Nevshka was still awake. I heard her lie — beautifully, I assure you. And I remained hid- den while the baron worked in his library for a while; hardly daring to breathe until I heard him go up the stairs to his bedroom. He was a careless man, the baron. Or perhaps he had been reading Poe, and believed that the most obvious place of concealment was the safest. At any rate, there in a drawer of his desk, pro- tected only by the most defenseless of locks, were the papers — a neat statement of the terms upon which Russia would discuss this Persian matter with England. I returned home with my prize, to find my tutor awaiting me. He said no word of com- mendation when I gave him the papers, but I knew by his expression that he was well pleased 35 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent with my work. And I went to bed, delighted with myself, and dreaming of the great things that were to come. The next day we left Petersburg. A German resident of the city had telephoned my relatives, warning them that a few cases of cholera had appeared. Would it not, he suggested (Oh, it was mere kind thoughtfulness on his part) be best to let the young prince return to Germany until the danger was over? His parents would be worried. Indeed, it would be best, my "relatives" agreed. So with regret they bade leave of me; and in the most natural manner in the world I returned to Berlin. Wilhelmstrasse 76 again! The round-faced man again, but this time less military, less un- bending, in his manner. I had done well, he told me. My exploit had attracted the favorable attention of a very exalted personage. If I could hold my tongue — who knows what might be in store for me ? That was the end of the matter, so far as I was concerned. But in the history of European politics it was only the beginning of the chapter. It might be well, at this point, to recall the political situation in Europe, as it affected Eng- My Adventures as a German Secret Agent land, Russia and Germany at this time. Even two years before — in 1905 — it had become evi- dent to all students of international affairs that the next great conflict, whenever it should come, would be between England and Germany; and England realizing this, had already begun to seek alliances which would stand between her and German ambitions of world dominance. : The Entente with France had been the first step in the formation of protective friendships; and although this friendship had suffered a strain during the Russo-Japanese War, because of the opposing sympathies of the two countries, the end of the war healed all differences. The de- feat of Russia removed all immediate danger of a Slavic menace against India. To England, then, the weakened condition of Russia offered an excellent opportunity for an alliance that would draw still more closely the "iron ring around Germany." Immediately she took the first steps leading toward this alliance. Now, Russia stood badly in need of two things. War-torn and threatened by revolution, the government could rehabilitate itself only by a liberal amount of money. But where to get it? France, her ally, and normally her banker, was slow, in this instance to lend — and it was only 37 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent through England's intervention that the Gzar secured from a group of Paris and London bank- ers the money with which to finance his govern- ment and defeat the revolution. But more than money, Russia needed an ice- free seaport to take the place of Port Arthur, which she had lost; and for this there were only two possible choices: Constantinople or a port on the Persian Gulf. In either of these aims she was opposed by Britain, the traditional enemy of a Russian Constantinople, on the one hand, and the possessor of a considerable "sphere of interest" in the Persian Gulf on the other. So matters stood, when in August, 1907, hut a few weeks after my masquerade. Sir Arthur Nicholson, acting for England, and Alexander Iswolsky, acting for Russia, signed the famous Anglo-Russian Agreement, providing for the distribution of Persia into three strips, the northern and southern of which would be re- spectively Russian and British zones of influ- ence; providing also, in a secret clause, that Russia would give England military aid in the event of a war between Germany and England! Meantime what was Germany doing? She had, you may be sure, no intention of allowing England to best her in the game of 38 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent intrigue. Her interests in the Near East were commercial rather than military; but she could not see them threatened by an Anglo-Russian occupation of Persia, such as the Agreement portended. Then, too, she was bound to con- sider the possible effect on Turkey, in whom she was taking an ever-increasing (and none too altruistic) interest. The details of what followed I can only sur- mise. I know that in the time between my trip to Russia and the signing of that Agreement, on August 31, the Kaiser held two conferences: one on August 3, with the Czar at Swinemunde; the other on August 14, with Edward VII, at the Castle of Wilhelmshohe. And when, on Septem- ber 24th, the terms were published, they were bitterly attacked by a portion of the English press, not so much because of the danger to Persia, as because of the fact that Russia got the best of the bargain!* Had the Kaiser succeeded in having these terms changed? Who knows? Certainly one can trace the hand of German diplomacy in the events of the next seven years, most of which are *You will find an interesting account of the effect of this treaty upon Persia in William Morgan Shuster's valuable book, "The Strangling of Persia." 39 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent a matter of common knowledge. The steady aggressions of Russia in Persia during the troubled years of 1910-1912; the almost open flouting of the terms of the treaty, which ex- pressly guaranteed Persian integrity; the con- stant growth of German influence, culminating in the Persian extension of the German-owned Bagdad Railway; the founding of a German school and a hospital in Teheran, jointly sup- ported by Germany and Persia; and finally, the celebrated Potsdam Agreement of 1910, between Russia and Germany, in which Germany agreed to recognize Russia's claim to Northern Persia as its sphere of influence, which provided for a further rapprochment between the two countries in the matter of railroad construction and com- mercial development generally, and which has been generally supposed to contain a guarantee that neither country would join "any combina- tion of Powers that has any aggressive tendency against the other." And England did not protest, in spite of the fact that the Potsdam Agreement absolutely negatived her own treaty with Russia and made it, in the language of one writer, "a farce and a deception!" Why? Was it because she believed that when war came, as it inevitably must, Russia 40 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent would forget this new alliance in allegiance to the old? England was mistaken, if she believed so. Russia — Imperial Russia — was never so much the friend of Germany as when, neglecting the war on her own Western front, she sent her armies into the Caucasus, persuaded the British to undertake the Dardanelles expedition, and, fol- lowing her own plans of Asiatic expansion, be- trayed England! As I write this the Kut el Amerara muddle is creating a great stir in the allied countries. Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, and the government of India have been severely blamed for sending General Townsend into Mesopotamia with insuf- ficient material, medical supplies and troops. At the time that the move was made the explanation given for it was that it was done in order to pro- tect the oil pipes supplying the British navy in those waters from being destroyed by the enemy. There was no doubt in my mind at that time, in spite of the fact that I was in prison and com- munication with the outside was very meagre, that this was not the real reason. Subsequent developments have shown — and the abandon- ment of the inquiry instituted by the British Gov- ernment about this affair only further supports 41 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent my contention — that Russia intended to use Eng- land's helpless position to secure for herself an access to the Persian Gulf. Grand Duke Nicholas himself abandoned the campaign on the Eastern front to go to die Caucasus. The Gallipoli enter- prise which turned out to be such a monumental failure was undertaken upon his instigation. Do you think for one second that if Imperial Russia had thought England was able to capture Con- stantinople, a city which she herself has been wanting for centuries, she would have invited England to do so? The fact is that the Gallipoli enterprise tied up all of England's available re- serves so that the English could practically do nothing to forestall the Russian movements to the Persian Gulf. The Government of India, realizing die danger, sent General Townsend upon the famous Bagdad campaign rather as a demonstration, than as a military enterprise. I will quote from my diary which I kept while in prison. "Just read in The Times: 'British moving north into Mesopotamia to protect oil pipes and capture Bagdad.' I don't need to read Punch any more, The Times being just as funny. My dear friends, you didn't move up there for that reason. You went up there so as to be able 42 Raul Madero and Staff. Captain von der Goltz is standing the second from the left. A group of recruits who came from the United States to enter Villa's Army. Captain von der Goltz is at the ex- treme left. My Adventures as a German Secret Agent to tell your Russian friends that there was no need to come further south as you were there already." As part of the Russian Army had already ad- vanced as far as Kermansha, General Townsend disregarded all military rules and tactics in his desperate attempt to keep the Russians from going further South, paying very little attention to securing his line of communication, and he was subsequently cut off from his base and forced to surrender to the Turks. In the early part of the war Russia did not try to gain anything at the expense of Germany but consistently applied herself to the task of enrich- ing herself at the expense of England. Imperial Russia as an ally has constantly been fighting England and done the Allied cause more damage than the German army." But Imperial Russia wrote her own death sentence by her treachery. There was a revolu- tion in Russia. . . . But I anticipate. That is the story of my little expedition into Russia — and of what it brought about. As for me, I was sent back to Gross Lichter- felde, where I abruptly ceased to be a young 43 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent prince, and became once more a humble cadet. But only to outside eyes. Dazzled by the success of my first mission, I regarded myself as a super- man among the cadets. Life loomed romantic- ally before me. I told myself that I was to consort with princes and beautiful noblewomen and to spend money lavishly. The future seemed to promise a career that was the merriest, mad- dest, for which a man could hope. I laugh sometimes now when I think of the dreams I had in those days. I was soon to learn that the life which fate had thrust upon me was set with traps and pitfalls which might not easily be escaped. I was to learn many lessons and to know much suffering; and I was to discover that the finding of my "document" was only the be- ginning of a chain of events that were to control my whole life — and that its influence over my career had not ended. But at that time I was all hopes and rosy dreams — of my future, of myself, occasionally of Nevshka. Nevshka. Is she still as charming as ever? CHAPTER III. Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed. I look and talk indiscreetly — and a man dies. \ N spite of my dreams and extreme self-satis- faction, I found the atmosphere of Gross Lichterfelde as drab and monotonous as ever it had been before my masquerade. Discipline sits lightly upon one who is accustomed to it solely, but to me, fresh from a glorious fortnight of intrigue and festivity, it was doubly galling. Yet there was one avenue of escape open to me, that was denied my fellows, for I was required to pay a weekly visit to my tutor in the Wilhelm- strasse, there to continue my studies in the art of diplomatic intrigue. It is a significant comment upon the life at Gross Lichterfelde that I could regard these visits as a kind of relaxation. Surely no drill- master was ever so exacting as this tutor of mine. And yet, despite his dryness and the complete lack of cordiality in his manner, there was some- 45 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent where the gleam of romance about him. To me he seemed, in a strangely inappropriate way, an incarnation of one of those old masters of intrigue who had been my heroes in former days at home ; and my imagination distorted him into a gigantic, shadowy being, mysterious, inflexible and potentially sinister. We studied history together that autumn ; not the dull record of facts that was forced upon us at Gross Lichterfelde, but rather a history of glorious national achievement, of ambitions at- tained and enemies scattered — a history that had the tone of prophecy. And I would sit there in the soft autumn sunlight viewing the Fatherland with new eyes; as a knight in shining armor, beset by foes, but ever triumphing over them by virtue of his righteousness and strength of arm. Then I would return to Gross Lichterfelde and its discipline. Yet even at Gross Lichterfelde, we contrived to amuse ourselves, chiefly by violating regula- tions. That is generally the result of walling any person inside a set of rules; his attention becomes centered on getting outside. Your own cadets at West Point, so I have been told, have their traditional list of deviltries, maintained with admirable persistence in the face of severe penal- 46 My Adventures as a German Secret AgenI ties. At Gross Lichterfelde one proved his man- liness by breaking bounds at least once a week, to drink beer, and flirt with maids none the less divine because they were hopelessly plebian. In the prevailing lawlessness, I bore my share, and in the course of my escapades, I formed an offensive and defensive alliance with a cadet of my own age against that common enemy of all our kind, the Commandant of the school. Willi von Heiden, I will call my chum, because that was not his name. We became close friends. And through our friendship there came an event which I shall remember to my last day. It gave me a glimpse into the terrible pit of secret diplomacy. Often at the present, I find myself living it over in my mind. If I have learned to take a lighter view of life than most men, my attitude dates from that time when a careless word of mine, spoken in innocence, condemned a man to death. I will try to tell very briefly how it came about. The Christmas after my excursion to St. Petersburg I was invited by Willi von Heiden to visit him at his home. His father was a squire- ling of East Prussia, one of the Junkers. He had an estate in that rolling farm land between 47 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Goldap and Tilsit, which was the scene of count- less adventures of Willi's boyhood. Just before we left Gross Lichterfelde — yes, even there they allow you a few days vacation at Christmas — Willi received a letter and came to me with a joyous face. "Good news," he cried, "we are sure to have a lively holiday. Brother Franz is getting a few days' leave, too." I had heard much of Willi's older brother, Franz. He was a young man in the middle twenties, an officer of a famous fighting regiment of foot, one of the Prussian Guards. Willi had dilated upon him in his conversation with me. Franz was his younger brother's hero. From all accounts Franz von Heiden was possessed of a mind of that rare sort which combines unre- mitting industry with cleverness. His future as a soldier seemed brilliant and assured. "Where is Franz?" was Willi's first question when we reached his home. I shall be long forgetting my first impressions of the man. I had been looking for a dry, spectacled student, or a stiff young autocrat of the thoroughly Prussian type, which I, like many other Germans, thoroughly disliked and inwardly laughed at. Instead, I found another chum. 48 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Franz was an engaging young man of slight build but very vigorous and athletic. I found him frank, friendly, unassuming, apparently wholly carefree and full of quiet drollery. From his first greeting any prejudice that I might have formed from hearing my chum, Willi, chant his excellencies, was quite wiped away. And as the days passed I found myself drawn to seek Franz's company constantly. I have no doubt it flattered my vanity — always awake since my exploit in St. Petersburg — to find this older man treating me as a mental equal. It seemed to me that he differentiated between me and Willi, who was quite young in manner as well as years. At times the impulse was very strong for me to confide in Franz, to let him know that I was not a mere cadet, that I had been in Russia for my government. Luckily for myself I sup- pressed that impulse. Luckily for me, but very unluckily for Lieutenant Franz von Heiden — as it turned out. One sunny December morning we were all three going out rabbit shooting. While Willi counted out shells in the gun room, I went to summon Franz from the bedroom he was using as his study. It was characteristic of him that without any assumption of importance, he gave 49 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent a few hours to work early every morning, even while on leave. I found him intent upon some large sheets of paper, but he pushed them aside. "Time to start now?" he asked. "Good! Wait a minute, while I dress." He stepped into the adjoining dressing-room. And then, as if Fate had taken a hand in the moment's activities, I did a thing which I have never ceased to regret. Fate ! Why not ? What is the likelihood that by mere vague chance I, of all the cadets of Gross Lichterfelde, should have become Willi von Heiden's chum and shared his holidays? That by mere chance I should have been an inmate of his home when Franz was there, three days out of the whole year? That by mere chance, I, with my precocious knowledge and thirst for yet more knowledge, should have entered his study when he was occupied with a particular task? Why did I not send the servant to call him ? And why, instead of doing any one of the dozen other things I might have done while I was waiting for Franz to change his clothes, should I have stepped across and looked at the big sheets of paper on his table? I did just that. I did it quite frankly and without a thought of prying. I saw that the sheets were small scale maps. They were the 50 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent maps of a fort and the names upon them were written both in French and in German. The thrill of a great discovery shot all through me. It flashed upon me that I had heard Willi say that during the previous summer Franz had spent a long furlough in the Argonne section of France. He had been fishing and botanizing — so Willi had said. Indeed, only the night before Franz himself had told us stories of the sport there ; and all his family had accepted the stories at their face value. So had I until that moment when I stood beside his desk and saw the plans of a French field fortress. Then I knew the truth. Lieutenant Franz von Heiden was doing important work — so confidential that even his family must be kept in ignorance about it — for the intelligence department of the German General Staff. Like me, he was entitled to the gloriously shameful name of spy! If I had obeyed my natural impulse to rush into Franz's room and exchange fraternal greet- ings with this new colleague of the secret service, so romantically discovered, he might have saved himself. Instead, something made me play the innocent and be the innocent, too, as far as intent was concerned. When Franz returned, dressed for the shoot, I 51 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent was standing looking out of his window, and I said nothing about my discovery. We had our rabbit shoot that day. We crowded all the fun and energy possible into it. It was our last day together and by sundown I felt as close to Franz von Heiden as though he were my own brother. A few days later Willi and I went back to Gross Lichterfelde. Shortly after I returned from my Christmas leave, my tutor sent for me. He even recognized the amenities of the occasion enough to unbend a little and greeted me with a trace of mechanical friendliness. "I trust you had a pleasant holiday," he said, "you told me, did you not, that you were to spend it at the Baron von Heiden's?" That touch of friendliness was the occasion of my tragic error. I remember that I plunged into a boisterous description of my vacation, of the pleasant days in the country, of the shooting, of Franz. As my tutor listened, with a tolerant air, I told him what a splendid fellow Franz was, how cleverly he talked and how diligently he worked. And then, with a rash innocence for which I have never forgiven myself, I told him of what I had seen on that day of the rabbit 52 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent shooting — of the maps on the table. Franz was one of us ! But my tutor was not interested. Abruptly he interrupted my burst of gossip ; and soon after that he plunged me into a quiz in spoken French. My progress in that seemed his only preoccupa- tion. A month later Willi von Heiden staggered into my room. "Franz is dead," he said. The brilliant young lieutenant, Franz von Heiden, had come to a sudden and shocking end. He was shot dead in a duel. His opponent was a brother officer, a Captain von Frentzen. The "Court of honor" of the regiment had approved of the duel and it was reported that the affair was carried out in accordance with the German code. Later I learned the story. Captain von Frent- zen was suddenly attached to the same regiment as Franz. His transfer was a cause of great surprise to the officers and of deep displeasure to them, for the captain had a notorious reputa- tion as a duelist. Naturally the officers, Franz among them, had ignored him, trying to force him out of the regiment. Upon the night of a regimental dance, the situation came to a head. In response to the gesture of a lady's fan Franz crossed the ball room hurriedly. He was 53 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent caught in a sudden swirl of dancers and acci- dentally stepped on Captain von Frentzen's foot. In the presence of the whole company von Frent- zen dealt Franz a stinging slap in the face. "Ap- parently," he sneered, "you compel .me to teach you manners." Franz looked at him, amazed and furious. There was nothing that he had done which warranted von Frentzen's action. It was an outrage — a deadly insult. There was but one thing to do. A duel was arranged. To understand more of this incident you must understand the unyielding code of honor of the German officer. Franz von Heiden's original offense had been so very slight that even had he refused to apologize to Frentzen the conse- quences might not have been serious. But Frentzen's blow given in public was quite a dif- ferent matter. It was a mortal affront. I heard that Franz's captain had been in a rage about it. "My best lieutenant," he had said to the colonel. "An extremely valuable man. To be made to fight a duel with that worthless butcher, von Frentzen. Shameful! God knows that laws are sometimes utterly unreasonable by many of our ideas, as officers are equally senseless. I have racked my brain to find a way out of this dif- 54 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent ficulty, but it seems impossible. Can't you do something to interfere?" The colonel looked at him steadily. "Your honest opinion. Is von Heiden's honor affected by Frentzen's action?" There was nothing Franz's captain could do but reply, "Yes." The duel was held on the pistol practice grounds of the garrison, a smooth, grassy place, surrounded by high bushes; at the lower end there was a shed built of strong boards, in which tools and targets were stored. At daybreak Franz von Heiden and his second dismounted at the shed and fastened their horses by the bridle. They stood side by side, looking down the road, along which a carriage was coming. Captain von Frentzen, his second, and the regimental surgeon got out. Sharp polite greetings were exchanged. On the faces of the seconds there was a singular expression of uneasiness, but Frentzen looked as though he were there for some guilty purpose. The prescribed attempts at reconciliation failed. The surgeon measured off the distance. He was a long-legged man and made the fifteen paces as lengthy as possible. Just at this moment the sun came up fully. Pistols were loaded and given to Franz and 55 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Frentzen. Fifteen paces apart, the two men faced each other. One of the seconds drew out his watch, glanced at it and said, "I shall count; ready, one! then three seconds; two! — and again three seconds; then, stop! Between one and stop the gentlemen may fire." He glanced round once more. The four officers stood motionless in the level light of the dawn. He began to count. Presently Franz von Heiden was stretched out upon the ground, his blue eyes staring up into the new day. He lay still. . . . When I heard that story I ceased to be a boy. My outlook on the future had been that of an irresponsible gamester, undergoing initiation into the gayest and most exciting sports. All at once my eyes were hideously opened and I looked down into the pit that the German secret service had prepared for Franz von Heiden, and knew I was the cause of it. It was terrible! By leaving that map where I could see it Franz von Heiden had been guilty of an unforgivable breach of trust. By his carelessness he had let someone know that the Intelligence Department of the General Staff had procured the plans of a French fortress in the Argonne. Wherefore, according to the iron law of that soulless war machine, Franz von Heiden must die. 56 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent And this is the sinister way it works. Trace it. I innocently betray him to my tutor, an official of the Secret Diplomatic Service. A few days later one of the deadliest pistol shots in the German army is transferred to Franz's regiment. A duel is forced upon him and he is shot down in cold blood. Not long after the news of the duel, my tutor sent for me. "Is it not a curious coincidence," he began, his cold gray eyes boring into mine, "that the last time you were here we spoke of Lieutenant Franz von Heiden? The next time you come to see me he is dead. I understand that certain rumors are in circulation about the way he died. Some of them may have already come to your attention. I caution you to pay no attention whatever to such silly statements. Remember that a Court of Honor of an honor- able regiment of the Prussian Guards has vouched for the fact that Lieutenant von Heiden's quarrel with Captain von Frentzen and the unfortunate duel that followed was conducted in accordance with the officers' code of the Im- perial Army." I hung my head, sick at heart; but he was re- lentless. "Remember also," he said in a pitiless voice, 57 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent "that men of intelligence never indulge in fruit- less gossip, even among themselves. I hope you understand that — by now." He paused a moment, as if he remembered something. "For some time," he went on, in the most casual way, "I have been aware that it will be necessary for me to talk to you seriously, Now is as good a time as any. You know that your training for your future career has been put largely in my hands. I am responsible for your progress. The men who have made me responsi- ble require reports about your development. They have not been wholly satisfied with what I was able to tell them. Your intentions are good. You show a certain amount of natural clever- ness and adaptability, but you have also disap- pointed them by being impulsive and indiscreet. "Now," he said, "I ask you to pay the closest attention to everything I shall say. Your at- titude must be changed if you are to go on, and some day be of service to your government. You must learn to treat your work as a deadly serious business — not as a romantic adventure. We were just speaking of von Heiden. I seem to remem- ber vaguely that the last time you were here you had some sort of a cock-and-bull story to tell me of — what was it? — of seeing some secret maps 58 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent of French fortifications on the unfortunate young man's table. I could hardly refrain from smiling at the time. Such poppycock! You do not imagine for a moment, do you, that if he had proved himself discreet enough to be intrusted with such highly confidential things, he would have been so imprudent as to betray that fact to a mere casual friend of his little brother? I hope you see how absurd such imaginings are." I groaned mentally as he continued. "Remember now," my tutor said icily, "every man in our profession is a man who not only knows very much, but may know too much, unless he can be trusted to keep what he knows to himself. There are three ways in which he can fail to do that — by carelessness, by accident, and by deliberate talking. Never talk — never be careless — never have accidents happen to you. Then you will be safe, and in no other way can you be so safe. Keep that in your mind. You will find it much more profitable and useful than remembering what anybody has to say about Franz von Heiden. It was a commonplace quarrel with Captain von Frentzen which killed him. A court of honor has said so." That night at Gross Lichterfelde, after lights were out, Willi von Heiden came creeping to my 59 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent bed. I was the only intimate friend he had there and he felt the need of talking with some one about the big brother who had been his hero. Need I go into details of how his artless con- fidence made me feel? But human beings are exceedingly selfish and self-centered creatures. I had a heart-felt sorrow for my chum and his family in their tragic bereavement . And, blaming myself as I did for it, I was abased completely. Yet there was another feeling in me at least as deeply rooted as those two emotions. It was dread. Dread was to follow me for many years. I had learned the dangers of the dark secret world in which I lived. Its rules of conduct and its ruthless code had been revealed to me, not merely by precept but by example. And with that realization all the thrill of romance and adven- ture disappeared. For I knew that I, too, might at any time be counted among the men who "knew too much." CHAPTER IV. I am sent to Geneva and learn of a plot. How there are more ways of getting rid of a King than by blowing him up with dynamite. ¥F at any time in this story of my life, I have given the impression that accident did not play a very important part in the work of my- self and other secret agents, I have done so un- intentionally. "If" has been a big word in the history of the world ; and even in my small share of the events of the last ten years, chance has oftentimes been a more able ally than some of the best laid of my plans. If, for instance, I had not happened to be in Geneva in the winter of 1909-10; or if a certain official of the Russian secret police — the Okrana — had not met a well- deserved death at the hands of a committee of "Reds"; or if the German Foreign Office had not been playing a pretty little game of diplo- macy in the Southwestern corner of Europe — why, the world today would be poorer by a King, 61 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent and possibly richer by another combatant in the Great War. And if another King had not kept a diary he might have kept his throne. And if both he and a certain young diplomat, whose name I think it best to forget, had not had a common weakness for pretty faces, Germany would have lost an opportunity to gain some information that was more or less useful to her, an actress whose name you all know would never have be- come internationally famous, and this book would have lost an amusing little comedv of coincidences. All of which sounds like romance and is — merely the truth. I had spent two uneventful years at Gross Lichterfelde at the time the comedy began; two years of study in which I had acquired some knowledge and a great weariness of routine, of hard work unpunctuated by any element of ad- venture. Of late it had almost seemed as if, after all, it was planned that I should become merely one of the vast army of officers that Gross Lichterfelde and similar schools were yearly turning out. For such a fate, as you can imagine, I had little liking. Consequently I was far from displeased when 62 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent one day I received a characteristically brief note from my old tutor, asking me to call upon him. Still more was I elated when, the next day, he informed me that I had enough of books for the time being, and that he thought a little practical experience would be good for me. A vacation, I might call it, if I wished — with a trifle of de- tective work thrown in. H'm. I was not so delighted with that pros- pect, and when the details of the "vacation" were explained to me, I was strongly tempted to say no to the entire proposition. But one does not say no to my old tutor. And so, in the course of a week, I found myself spending my evenings in the Cafe de VEurope in Geneva, bound on a still hunt for Russian revolutionists. Russia, at this time, had not quite recovered from the fright she received in 1905 and 1906, when, as you will remember, popular discontent with the government had assumed very serious proportions. "Bloody Sunday," and the riots and strikes that followed it, were far in the past now, it is true, but they were still well remem- bered. And although most of the known revolu- tionary leaders had been disposed of in one way or another, there were still a few of them, as well as a large number of their followers, wandering My Adventures as a German Secret Agent in odd corners of Europe. These it was thought best to get rid of; and Russian agents promptly began ferreting them out. And Germany — always less unfriendly to the Romanoffs than has appeared on the surface — lent a helping hand. So it happened that on a particular night in December of 1909, I sat in the Cafe de V Europe, bitterly detesting the work I had in hand, yet inconsistently wishing that something would turn up. I had no idea at the moment of what I should do next. Chance rumor had led me to Geneva, and I was largely depending upon chance for further developments. They came. I had been sitting for an hour I suppose, sipping vermouth and lazily regard- ing my neighbors, when the sound of a voice came to my ears. It was the voice of a man speaking French, with the soft accent of the Spaniard; the tone loud and unsteady and full of the boisterous emphasis of a man in his cups. But it was the words he spoke that commanded my attention. "Our two comrades," he was saying, "will soon arrive from the center in Buenos Ayres." "Yes," another voice assented — a harsher voice, this, to whose owner French was obviously also a foreign tongue. "In the spring, we hope." 64- ^O CONSTi TOc/0/ <$?* republic" mexicana i General Brigadier, Jefe. de 13 Brigada Gonzalez Ortega, a nomt»? C Gpal. «o .Jefe de las Operaeiones en ei Estado, Francisco Villa- tmiu*?j&* ea**-~£*Si; .,-fd>iio^ The Brevet promoting Senior Captain von der Goltz to the rank of Major of Cavalry in the Mexican Constitutionalist Army. It will be noted that the commission bears the signa- ture of Raul Madero and General Villa. My Adventures as a German Secret Agent The Spaniard laughed. "An excellent business! So simple. Boom! And our dear Alfonso. ..." Some element of caution must have come over him, for his voice sank so that I could no longer hear his words. But I had heard enough to make me assume a good deal. Some one was to be assassinated! And that some one? It was a guess, of course, but the name and the accent of the speaker were more than enough to lead me to believe that the pro- posed victim must be King Alfonso of Spain. I sat there, undecided for the moment. It was really no affair of mine. I was on another mission, and, after all, my theory was merely a supposition. On the other hand, the situation presented interesting possibilities — and as I happened to know, Alfonso's seemingly pro- German leanings and made him an object of friendly interest at that time to my government. I decided to look into the matter. It had been difficult to keep from stealing a glance at my talkative neighbors but I restrained myself. I must not turn around and yet it was vitally necessary that I see their faces. All I could do was to hope that they would leave be- fore I finished my vermouth ; for I had no mind 65 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent to risk my clear-headedness with more than the glass I had already had. They did leave shortly afterward. As they passed my table I took care to study their faces, and my intention to keep them in sight was im- mensely strengthened. The Spaniard I did not know, but his companion I recognized as a Rus- sian — and one of the very men I was after. I had been in Geneva long enough to know where I could get information when I needed it. It was only a day or two, therefore, before I had in my hands sufficient facts to justify me in reporting the matter to my government. Alfonso was in England at the time and pre- sumably safe ; for I had gathered that no attempt would be made upon his life until he returned to Spain. So I wrote to Berlin reporting what I had learned. A telegram reached me next day. I was ordered to Brussels to communicate my informa- tion to the Spanish Minister there. Mark that: I was ordered to Brussels, al- though there was a Spanish Minister in Switzer- land. But my government knew that there were many factions in Spain, and it had strong reasons to believe that the Spanish Minister to Belgium was absolutely loyal to Alfonso. And 66 " My Adventures as a German Secret Agent in a situation such as this, one takes as few- chances as possible. I followed my instructions. The Spanish Min- ister thanked me. He was more than interested ; and he begged me, since I had no other direct orders, to do him the personal favor of staying a few days longer in the Belgian capital. I did so, of course, and a day or so later received from my government instructions to hold myself at the Spaniard's disposal for the time being. That night, at the minister's request, I met him and we discussed the matter fully. He wished me, he said, to undertake a more thorough investigation of the plot. I was already involved in it, and would be working less in the dark than another. Besides, he hinted, he could not very well employ an agent of his own government. Who knew how far the conspiracy extended? I was not displeased to abandon my chase of the Russian revolutionaries, toward whom I felt some sympathy. So, as a preliminary step, I went up to Paris, where through the good offices of one Carlos de Silva — a young Brazilian free- thinker, who was there ostensibly as a student — I succeeded in gaining admission into one of the righting organizations of radicals there. They were not so communicative as I could have 67 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent wished, but by judicious pumping I soon learned that there was an organized conspiracy against the life of Alfonso, and that the details of the plot were in the hands of a committee in Geneva. Geneva, then, was my objective point. But what to do if I went there? I knew very well that conspirators do not confide their plans to strangers. And I dared not be too inquisitive. Obviously the only course to follow was to em- ploy an agent. Now, Cherchez la femme is as excellent a principle to work on when you are choosing an accomplice, as it is when you are seeking the solution of a crime. I therefore proceeded to seek a lady — and found her in the person of a pretty little black-eyed "revolutionist," who called herself Mira Descartes, and with whom I had already had some dealings. It is here that accident crosses the trail again. For if a certain official of the Ohrana had not been murdered in Moscow three years before, his daughter would never have conceived an intense hatred of all revolutionary movements and I should have been without her invaluable assist- ance in the adventure I am describing. Mira Descartes! She was the kind of woman of whom people like to say that she would have My Adventures as a German Secret Agent made a great actress. Actress? I do not know. But she was an artist at .dissembling. And she had beauty that turned the heads of more than the "Reds" upon whom she spied; and a genius for hatred: a cold hatred that cleared the brain and enabled her to give even her body to men she despised in order the better to betray them. I was fortunate in securing her aid, I told myself; and I did not hesitate to use her services. (For in my profession, as must have been ap- parent to you, scrupulousness must be reserved for use "in one's private capacity as a gentle- man.") So Mile. Descartes went to Geneva, and armed with my previously acquired information and her own charms, she contrived to get into the good graces of the committee there, and sur- prised me a week later by writing to Paris that she had already contracted a liaison with the Spaniard whom I had overheard speaking that night in the Cafe de VEurope. Soon I had full information about the entire plot. It was planned, I learned, to blow up King Alfonso with a bomb upon the day of his return to Madrid. The work was in the hands of two South Americans who were then in Geneva. 69 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent But far more important than this was the in- formation which Mile. Descartes had obtained that a high official of Spain — a member of the Cabinet — was cognizant of the plot and had kept silent about it. Why, I asked myself, should this official — a man who surely had no sympathy with the aims of the revolutionists — lend his aid to them in this plot? The reason was not hard to discover. Alfonso's position at the time was far from secure. His government was unpopular at home; and the pro-Teutonic leanings of many government officials had lost him the moral and political support of the English government and press — a fact of considerable importance. So it seemed possible that Alfonso's reign might not be of long duration. And the new government? It might be radical or conserva- tive; pro-English or pro-German. A man with a career did well to keep on friendly terms with all factions. Thus, I fancied, the Cabinet Minis- ter must have reasoned. At any rate he said nothing of the plot. But I went to Brussels and reported all I had learned — and did not forget to mention the Cabinet Minister's rumored share in the plot.- There my connection with the affair ceased. 70 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent But not long after a little tragi-comedy occurred which was a direct result of my activities. Let me recall it to you. On the evening of May 24, 1910, those of the people of Madrid who were in the neighborhood of that monument which had been raised in mem- ory of the victims of the attempted assassination of Alfonso, four years before, were horrified by a tragedy which they witnessed. There was a sudden commotion in the streets, an explosion, and the confused sound of a crowd in excitement. What had happened? Rumor ran wild through the crowd. The King was expected home that day — he had been assassinated. There had been an attempted revolution. Nobody knew. But the next day everybody knew. A bomb had burst opposite the monument — a bomb that had been intended for the King. One man had been killed ; the man who carried the bomb. But the King had not arrived in Madrid that day after all. The police set to work upon the case and presently identified the dead man as Jose Taso- zelli, who recently arrived in Spain from Buenos Ayres. It was not certain whether he had any accomplices. 71 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent And while the police worked, the King, fol- lowing a secret arrangement which had been made by the Spanish Minister at Belgium, and of which not even the Cabinet had been informed — arrived safely and quietly in Madrid; a day late, but alive. What became of the Cabinet Minister? There are no autocracies now, and not even a King may prosecute without proof. So the Minister escaped for the time being. But it is interesting to remember that this same Minister was as- sassinated, not a great while after. Now there are more ways of getting rid of a king than by blowing him up with dynamite. Foreign Offices are none too squeamish in their methods, but they do balk at assassination, even if the proposed victim is a particularly objection- able opponent of their plans. There is another method which, if it be correctly followed, is every bit as efficacious. . . . Again I must refer you to that excellent French proverb: Cherchez la femme. It would be difficult to estimate properly the part that women have played in the game of foreign politics. As spies they are invaluable: for amourous men are always garrulous. But as 72 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Enslavers of Kings they are of even greater service to men who are interested in effecting a change of dynasty. Even the most loyal of sub- jects dislikes seeing his King made ridiculous; and in countries where the line is not too strictly drawn between the public exchequer and the private resources of the monarch, a discontented faction may see some connection between exces- sive taxes and the jewels that a demi-mondaine wears. Revolutions have occurred for less than that — as every Foreign Office knows. I am not insinuating that all royal scandals are to be laid at the door of international politics. I merely suggest that, given a king who is to be made ridiculous in the eyes of his subjects, it is a simple matter for an interested government to see that he is introduced to a lady who will pro- duce the desired effect. But no diplomat will admit this, of course. Not, that is, until after he has "retired." This brings me to the second act of my comedy. If I were drawing a map of Europe — a diplo- matic map, that is, — as it was in the years of 1908 to 1910, I should use only two colors. Ger- many should be, let us say, black; England red.. But the black of Germany should extend over the surfaces of Austria, Italy and Turkey ; while 73 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent France and Russia should be crimson. The rest of the continent would be of various tints, rang- ing from a discordant combination of red and black, through a pinkish gray, to an innocuous and neutral white. In the race to secure protective alliances against the inevitable conflict, both Germany and England were diligently attempting to color these indeterminate territories with their own particular hue. Not least important among the courted nations were Spain and Portugal. Both were traditionally English in sympathy; both had shown unmistaken signs, at least so far as the ruling classes were concerned, of transferring their friendship to Germany. It was inevitable, therefore, that these two countries should be the scene of a diplomatic conflict which, if not ap- parent to the outsider, was fought with the utmost bitterness by both sides. Somehow, by good fortune rather than any other agency — Spain had managed to avoid a positive alliance with either nation. Alfonso was inclined to be pro-German at that time; but an adroit juggling of the factions in his kingdom had prevented him from using his influence to the advantage of Germany. Portugal was in a different situation. Poorer 74 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent in resources than her neighbor, and hampered by the necessity of keeping up a colonial empire which in size was second only to England's, she had greater need of the protection of one of the Powers. Traditionally — and rightly from a standpoint of self-interest — that Power should have been England. There were but three ob- stacles to the continuance of the friendship that had existed since the Peninsular War — King Manuel, the Queen Mother and the Church. Germany seemed all-powerful in the Peninsula in 1908. Alfonso's friendship was secured, and the boy king of Portugal was completely under the thumb of a pro-German mother and a Church which, as between Germany and England, dis- liked Germany the less. England realized the situation and in approved diplomatic fashion set about regaining her ascendancy. But diplomacy failed. At the end of two years Berlin was more strongly intrenched in Portugal than ever; and England knew that only heroic measures could save her from a serious diplomatic defeat. Then Manuel did a foolish thing. He kept a diary. It was a commonplace diary, as you will re- member if you read the parts of it which were 75 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent published some time after the revolution which dethroned its author. The outpourings of a very undistinguished young man — conceited, self- indulgent, petulant — it gained distinction only as the revelation of an unkingly person's thoughts on himself in particular and women in multi- tudes. But there were portions of it — many of them never published — which expressed unmis- takably Manuel's anti-English feeling and his affection for Germany. Somehow England came into possession of the diary. Perhaps it was the diary's revelation of Manuel's extreme susceptibility to feminine charms, which suggested the next step. That I cannot tell. In any event, not long after the diary became a matter of diplomatic moment, Manuel paid a visit to England, ostensibly in search of a bride. His search was unsuccessful; but in London he met and promptly became in- fatuated with Mile. Hedwig Navratil — better known as Gaby Deslys. They chose well who selected the lovely Bo- hemian as the instrument of Manuel's downfall. Young, charming, she had all the qualities which would appeal to Manuel's nature. Added to that, it had been rumored that not long before 76 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent King Alfonso had shown some interest in her — and Manuel was easily influenced by the ex- ample of his elders. You remember the rest of the story. Manuel's frequent visits to Paris, where Mile. Gaby was playing; the jewels — bought, it was said, with money from the public treasury — which he showered upon her; these were the subjects of countless rumors at the time. Then came re- ports that the lady was domiciled in one of the royal palaces. Finally, in September of 1910, the scandalized and tax-ridden populace of Portugal, learned that Mile. Deslys had been "billed" at the Apollo Theatre in Vienna as the "Mistress of the King of Portugal." On October 5th, this same scandalized and tax- ridden populace joined forces with the revolu- tionary party — and Manuel fled to England, where he attended numerous musical comedies and hoped against hope that the English Govern- ment would live up to that provision of the treaty of 1908 which pledged England to aid the Portuguese throne in the event of a revolution. But England — remembering the diary — wisely forgot its pledge. And a Republican govern- ment in Portugal looked with suspicion upon the diplomatic advances of a nation which had been 77 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent too friendly towards the exiled king — and be- came pro-English, as you know. There ends my comedy. The lady in the case achieved a sudden international fame and eventu- ally came to America, where, I believe, she at- tracted more interest than commendation. But at best, so far as we are concerned, she is of im- portance merely as an illustration of how diplo- macy — or chance, if you prefer — combines politics and the woman for its own purposes. But there is an amusing epilogue to the affair, which was not without its importance to the Wilhelmstrasse, and in which I had a small part. To tell it, I must pass over several months of work of one sort or another, until I come to the following winter — that of 1911. I was on a real vacation this time and had selected Nice as an excellent place in which to spend a few idle but enlivening weeks. The choice was not a highly original one, but as it turned out, chance seemed to have had a hand in it after all. Almost the first person I met there was a man with whom I had been ac- quainted for several years, and who was destined to have' his share in the events which followed. People who have visited Europe many times can hardly have avoided seeing upon one oc- 78 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent casion or another, a famous riding troupe who called themselves the "Bishops." They were five in number — Old Bishop, his daughter and her husband, a man named Merrill, and two others — and their act, which was variously known as "An Afternoon on the Bois de Boulogne," "An After- noon in the Thiergarten," etc. (depending upon the city in which they played), was a feature of many of the famous circuses of seven or eight years ago. At this time they were helping to pay their expenses through the winter, by play- ing in a small circus which was one of the current attractions of Nice. 'I had bought horses from old Bishop in the past and knew him for a man of unusual shrewd- ness, who besides being the father of a charming and beautiful daughter, was in himself excellent company; and I was consequently pleased to run across him and his family at a time when all my friends seemed to be in some other quarter of the earth. We talked of horses together and it was suggested that I might care to inspect an Arab mare, a recent acquisition, of which the old man was immensely proud. That evening I heard of the arrival in Nice of a young British diplomat, an undersecretary of one of the embassies, whom, I remembered I had 79 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent once met at a hotel in Vienna. I called upon him the following day — but I did so, not so much to renew our old acquaintance, as because that very- morning I had received a rambling letter from my chief, commenting upon the imminent arrival of the Englishman and suggesting that I might find him a pleasant companion during my stay on the Riviera. More work, in other words. My chief did not waste time in encouraging purposeless friend- ships. As I read the letter, it was a hint that the Englishman had something which Berlin wanted and I was to get it. It was not difficult to recall myself to the Undersecretary. We became friendly, and pro- ceeded to "do" Nice together; and in the course of our excursions we became occasional visitors at the villa of Maharajah Holkar, who, with his secretary (and his seraglio) lived — and still lives, for all I know — at 56 Promenade des Anglais. The Maharajah was at that time an engaging and eccentric old gentleman, who had been an uncompromising opponent of the English during his youth in India, and was now practically an exile, spending most of his time in planning futile conspiracies against the British Govern- 80 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent ment, which he hated, and making friends with Englishmen toward whom he had no animosity whatever. He was especially well disposed to- ward my diplomatic friend, and the two spent many a riotous evening together over the chess board, at which the Maharajah was invariably successful. Meanwhile I made various plans and culti- vated the acquaintance of the Rajah's secretary. He was a Bengali, who might well have stepped out of Kipling, so far as his manner went. In character the resemblance was not so close. I happened to know that he was paid a comfortable amount yearly by the British Government, to keep them informed of the Bajah's movements; and I also happened to know that the German Government paid him a more comfortable amount for the privilege of deciding just what the British Government should learn. (I have often wondered whether he shared the proceeds with the Maharajah, and whether even he knew for whom he was really working.) The secre- tary, I decided, might be of use to me. As it happened, it was the secretary who un- wittingly suggested the method by which I finally gained my object. It was he who com- mented upon the diplomat's intense interest in 81 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent the Maharajah's seraglio, giving me a clue to the character of the Englishman, which was of distinct service. And it was he who suggested one evening that the three of us — for the Maha- rajah was ill at the time — should attend a per- formance of the circus in which my friends, the Bishops, were playing. You foresee the end, no doubt. The diplomat, with his too susceptible nature, was infatuated by Mile. Bishop's beauty and skill. He wished to meet her, and I, who obligingly confessed that I had had some transactions with her father, undertook to secure the lady's permission to present him to her. I did secure it, of course, although not without considerable opposition on the part of all three of the family ; for circus people are very straight- laced. However, by severely straining my purse and my imagination, I convinced them that they would be doing both a friendly and a profitable act, by participating in the little drama that I had planned. Eventually they consented to aid me in discomfiting the diplomat, whom I repre- sented as having in his possession some legal papers that really belonged to me, although I could not prove my claim to them. You will pardon me if I pass over the events 82 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent of the next few days, and plunge directly into a scene which occurred one night, about a week later, the very night in fact on which the Bishops were to close their engagement with the little circus in which they were playing. It was in the sitting-room of the diplomat's suite at the hotel that the scene took place; dinner a deuce was in progress — and the diplomat's guest was Mile. Bishop, who had indiscreetly accepted the Englishman's invitation. Came a knock at the door. Mademoiselle grew pale. "My husband," she exclaimed. Mademoiselle was right. It was her husband who entered — very cold, very businesslike, and carrying a riding crop in his hand. He glanced at the man and woman in the room. "I suspected something of the sort," he said, in a quiet voice. "You are indiscreet, Madame. You do not conceal your infidelities with care." He took a step toward her, put paused at an exclamation from the Englishman. "Do not fear, Monsieur — " elaborate irony was in his voice as he addressed the diplomat — "I shall not harm you. It is with this — lady — only, that I am concerned. She has, it appears, an inadequate conception of her wifely duty. iT 83 'My Adventures as a German Secret Agent must, therefore, give her a lesson." As he spoke he tapped his boot suggestively with his riding whip. "My only regret," he continued politely, "is that I must detain you as a witness of a painful scene, and possibly cause a disturbance in your room." Again he turned toward his wife, who had sat watching him, with a terrified face. Now as he approached her she burst into tears, and ran to where the Englishman stood. "He is going to beat me," she sobbed. "Help me, for Heaven's sake. Stop him. Give him — give him anything." But the Englishman did not need to be coached. "Look here!" he cried suddenly, interposing himself between the husband and wife. "I'll give you fifty pounds to get out of here quietly. Good God, man, you can't do a thing like this, you know. It's horrible. And you have no cause. I give you my word you have no cause." He was a pitiable mixture of shame and ap- prehension as he spoke. But Merrill looked at him calmly. He was quite unmoved and still polite when he replied: "The word of a gentleman, I suppose. No, 84 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Monsieur, it is useless to try to bribe me. It is a great mistake, in fact. Almost — " he paused for a moment, as if he found it difficult to con- tinue — "almost it makes me angry." He was silent for a space, but when he spoke again it was as if in response to an idea that had come to him. "Yes," he continued. "It does make me angry. Nevertheless, Monsieur, I shall accept your sug- gestion. Madame and I will leave quietly, and in return you shall give us — O, not money — but something that you value very much." He turned to his wife. "Madame. You will go to Monsieur's trunk, which is open in the corner, and remove every article so that I can see it." The Englishman started. For a moment it seemed as if he would attack Merrill, who was the smaller man, but fear of the noise held him back. Meantime, the woman was riffling the trunk, holding up each object for her husband's inspection. The latter stood at the door, his eyes upon both of the others. "We are not interested in Monsieur's cloth- ing," he said calmly. "What else is there in the trunk? Nothing? The desk then. Only some papers? That is a pity. Let me have them, 85 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent however — all of them. And you may give me the portfolio that lies on the bureau." As he took the packet, the rider turned to the diplomat, who stood as if paralyzed, in the corner of the room. "I do not know what is in these papers, Mon- sieur, but I judge from your agitation that they are valuable. I shall take them from you as a warning — a warning to let married women alone in the future. Also I warn you not to try to bribe a man whom you have injured. You have made me very angry to-night by doing so. "Above all," he added, "I warn you not to complain to the police about this matter. This is not a pretty story to tell about a man in your position — and I prepared to tell it. Good night, Monsieur." He did not wait to hear the Englishman's reply. That night, while the two younger members of the Bishop family sped away on the train — to what place I do not know — and old Bishop expressed great mystification over their disap- pearance, I made a little bonfire in my grate of papers which had once been the property of the diplomat, and which I knew would be of no 86 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent interest to my government. There were a few papers which I did not burn — a memorandum or two, and a bulky typewritten copy of Manuel's diary, which I found amusing reading before I took it to Berlin. I called upon my English friend the next day but I did not see him. He had been taken ill, and had been obliged to leave Nice immediately. No, it was impossible to say what the ailment was. Ah, well, I thought, as I returned to my room, he would get over it. It was an em- barrassing loss, but not a fatal one; and doubt- less he could explain it satisfactorily at home. I was sorry for him, I confess. But more than once that day I laughed as I thought of the scene of last night, as Mile. Bishop had described it to me. An old game — but it had worked so easily. But then, wasn't it Solomon who complained about the lack of original material on this globe? The Diary? I took it to Berlin, as I have said, where it was a matter of considerable interest. Subsequently it was published, after discreet editing. But at that time I was engaged upon a matter of considerably more importance. CHAPTER V. Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the United States for her own purposes. The Japanese-Mexican treaty and its share in the downfall of Diaz. IT was in Paris that my next adventure oc- curred. I had gone there following one of those agreeably indefinite conversations with my tutor which always preceded some especial under- taking. "Why not take a rest for a few weeks?" he would say. "You have not seen Paris in some time. You would enjoy visiting the city again — don't you think so?" And I would obligingly agree with him — and in due course would receive whatever instructions were neces- sary. It may seem that such methods are needlessly cumbersome and a little too romantic to be real; but in fact there is an excellent reason for them. Work such as mine is governed too greatly by emergencies to admit of definite planning before- hand. A contingency is foreseen — faintly, and 88 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent as a possibility only — and it is thought advisable to have a man on the scene. But until that con- tingency develops into an assured fact, it would be the sheerest waste of energy to give an agent definite instructions which might have to be changed at any moment. So I had become accustomed to receive my in- structions in hints and stingy morsels, under- standing perfectly that it was part of my task to discover for myself the exact details of the situation which confronted my government. If I were not sufficiently astute to perceive for my- self many things which my superiors would never tell me — well, I was in the wrong profession, and the sooner I discovered it the better. I went to Paris in just that way and put up at the Grand Hotel. So far as I knew I was on genuine leave of absence from all duties and I proceeded to amuse myself. Though under no obligations to report to anyone, I did occasion- ally drop around to the Quai d'Orsay — where most of the embassies and consulates are — to chat with men I knew. One day it was sug- gested to me at the Germany Embassy that I lunch alone the next day at a certain table in the Cafe Americaine. "I would suggest," said one of the secretaries, "that you wear the black derby 89 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent you have on. It is quite becoming," — this with an expressionless face. "I would suggest also that you hang it on the wall behind your table, not checking it. Take note of the precise hook upon which you hang it. It may be that there will be a man at the next table who also will be wearing a black derby hat, which he will hang on the hook next to yours. When you go out be careful to take down his hat instead of your own." I asked no questions. I knew better. Old and well known as it is, the "hat trick" is peren- nially useful. Its very simplicity makes it dif- ficult of detection. It is still the best means of publicly exchanging documents between persons who must not be seen to have any connection with each other. I went to the Cafe Americaine, that cos- mopolitan place on the Boulevard des Italiens near the opera. My man had not yet come, I noticed, and I took my time about ordering luncheon, drank a "bock" and watched the crowd. Near by was a party of Roumanians, offensively boisterous, I thought. An American was lunching with a dancer then prominent at the Folies. Two Englishmen — obviously of- ficers on leave — chatted at another table, and in 90 'My Adventures as a German Secret Agent a corner, a group of French merchants heatedly discussed some business deal. The usual scene .... almost commonplace in its variety. Slowly I finished luncheon, and when I turned to get my hat, I saw, as I expected, that there was another black derby beside it. I took the stranger's derby, and when I reached my room in the Grand Hotel I lifted up the sweat band. There on thin paper were instructions that took my breath away. For the time being I was to be in charge of the "Independent Service" of the German Government in Paris — that is, the Strong Arm Squad. This so-called "Independent Service" is an interesting organization of cut-throats and thieves whose connection with diplomatic under- takings is of a distinctly left-handed sort, and is, incidentally, totally unsuspected by the members of the organization themselves. Composed of the riff-raff of Europe — of men and women who will do anything for a consideration and ask no questions — it is frequently useful when subtler methods have failed and when by violence only can some particular thing be accomplished. As an organization the "Independent Service" does not actually exist: the name is merely a generic one applied for convenience to the large number 91 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent of people in all great cities who are available for such work, and who, if they fail and are arrested or killed, can be spared without risk or sorrow. Naturally in illegal operations the trail must not lead to the embassy; and for that reason all transactions with members of the "Service" are carried on through a person who has no known connection with the Government. To his ac- complices the Government agent is merely a man who has come to them with a profitable sugges- tion. They do not question his motives if his cash be good. My connection with this delightful organiza- tion necessitated a change of personality. I went round to the Quai d'Orsay and paid a few farewell calls to my friends there. I was going home, I said; and that afternoon the Grand Hotel lost one guest and Le Lapin Agile on the hill of Montmartre gained a new one. Acting under instructions I had become a social outcast myself. The place where I had been told to stay had been a tavern for centuries. Once it was called the Cabaret of the Assassins,, then the Cabaret of the Traitor ; then My Country Place and now, after fifty years, it was The Sprightly Rabbit. Andre Gill had painted the sign of the tavern, 92 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent a rabbit which hung in the street above the en- trance. After I had taken my room — being careful to haggle long about the price, and finally securing a reduction of fifty centimes — for one does well to appear poor at Le Lapin Agile — I came down into the cabaret. It was crowded and the air was thick and warm with tobacco smoke. Disreputable couples were sitting around little wooden tables, drinking wretched wine from unlabeled bottles; an occasional shout arose for "tomatoes," a specialty of Frederic, the proprietor, which was, in reality, a vile brew of absinthe and raspberry syrup. There was much shouting and once or twice one of the company burst into song. "Tomatoes," I told the waiter who came for my order. As he went I slipped a franc into his hand. "I want to see The Salmon. Is he in?" He nodded. A moment later a man stood before me. I saw a short, rather thick-set fellow, awkward but wiry, whose face bore somewhere the mark of a forgotten Irish ancestor. He was red-haired. I did not need his words to tell me who he was. "I am The Salmon/' he said. "What do you want?" I studied him carefully before replying, ap- 93 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent praising him as if he were a horse I contemplated buying. It was not tactful or altogether safe, as The Salmon's expression plainly showed; but I wished to be sure of my man. After a moment : "Sit down, my friend," I told him. "I have a business proposition to make. M. Morel sent me to you." He smiled at the name. The fictitious M. Morel had put him in the way of several ex- cellent "business propositions." "It is a pleasure," responded The Salmon, "What does Monsieur wish?" I told him. . . . In order to make you understand the business I was on, it is necessary that I pause here, abandoning The Salmon for the moment, and recall to your memory a few facts about the political situation as it existed in this month of February, 1911. Europe at the time was alull — to outward seeming. As everybody knows now the forces that later brought about the War were then merrily at work, as indeed they had been for many years. But outwardly, save for the ever impending certainty of trouble in the Balkans, the world of Europe was at peace. But in America a storm was brewing. Mexico, which for so many years had been held at peace My Adventures as a German Secret Agent under the iron dictatorship of Diaz, was begin- ning to develop symptoms of organized discon- tent. Madero had taken to the field, and al- though no one at the time believed in the ultimate success of the rebellion, it was evident that many- changes might take place in the country, which would seriously affect the interests of thousands of European investors in Mexican enterprises. Consequently Europe was interested. I do not purpose here to go into the evenxs of those last days of Diaz's rule. That story has already been told, many times and from various angles. I am merely interested in the European aspects of the matter, and particularly in the attitude of Germany. Europe was interested, as I have said. Diaz was growing old and could certainly not last much longer. Then change must come. Was the Golden Age of the foreign investor, which had so long continued in Mexico, to continue still longer? Or would it end with the death of the Dictator? To these questions, which were having their due share of attention in the chancellories as well as in the commercial houses of Europe, came another, less apparent but more troublesome and more insistent than any of these. Japan, it was 95 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent rumored, although very faintly, was seeking to add to its considerable interest in Mexico, by securing a strip of territory on the western coast of that country — an attempt which, if successful, would almost certainly bring about intervention by the United States. My government was especially interested in this movement on the part of Japan. It knew considerably more about the plan than any save the principals, for, as I happened to learn later on, it had carefully encouraged the whole idea — for its own purposes. And it knew that at that very time, the financial minister of Mexico, Jose Yves Limantour, was conducting preliminary negotiations in Paris with representatives of Japan, regarding the terms of a possible treaty. It knew that even then a protocol of this treaty was being drawn up. There was only one thing that my government wanted — a copy of the protocol. It was that which I had been instructed to get! The personality of Limantour is one of the most interesting of our day. Brilliant, incor- ruptible, unquestionably the most able Mexican of his generation, he had for seventeen years been closely associated with the dictator, and for a considerable portion of that period had been 96 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent second only to Diaz in actual power. His pres- ence in Paris at this time was significant. He had left Mexico on the 11th of July, 1910, osten- sibly because of the poor health of his wife, although it had been reported that a serious break had taken place between himself and Diaz. He had spent a certain amount of time in Switzer- land, and had later come to Paris to arrange a loan of more that $100,000,000 with a group of English, French and German bankers. But that task had ben completed in the early part of December, and in view of the unsettled conditions in Mexico, there was no good reason for his con- tinuing in Paris, save one — the negotiations with Japan. It was this man against whom 1 was to fight — this man who had proven himself more than a match for some of the best brains of both con- tinents. The prospect was not reassuring. I knew that already several attempts had been made by our agents to secure the protocol,, with the result that Limantour was sure to be more on his guard than he ordinarily would have been. Yet I must succeed — and it was plain that I could do so only by violence. Violence it should be, then ; and with the assist- ance of my friend The Salmon — to whom, you 97 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent may be sure, I did not confide my real object — I prepared a plan of campaign, which we duly presented to a group of The Salmon's friends, who had been selected to assist us. To these men — Apaches, every one of them — I was pre- sented as a decayed gentleman who for reasons of his own had found it necessary to join the forces of The Salmon. I was a good fellow, The Salmon assured them, and by way of proving my friendship I had shared with him my knowledge of a good "prospect" whom I had discovered. "The man," I said, "always carries lots of money and jewelry." Of course I did not tell them his name was Limantour. I said he always played cards late at the club. "To stick him up," I said, "will be the simplest thing in the world, but we must be careful not to hurt him badly — not enough to set the police hot on our trail." The Apaches fell in with the proposal enthusiastically. We would attempt it the fol- lowing night. Now the instructions which came to me under the sweatband of the black derby in the Cafe Americaine informed me that every night quite late Limantour received at the club a copy of the report of the day's conference with the Japanese envoy. It was prepared and delivered 98 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent to Limantour by his secretary and it was his habit to study it, upon returning home, and plan out his line of attack for the negotiations of the following day. I concluded that Limantour therefore would have it (the report) on his per- son when he left the club. Accordingly I had my Apaches waiting in the shadows. There were five of us. Limantour started to walk home, as I knew he was fre- quently in the habit of doing. We followed and in the first quiet street that he ventured down, he was blackjacked. In his pockets we found a little money and some papers, one glance of which assured me were of no value. My carefully planned coup had failed. You can imagine how I felt about such a fiasco and how very quickly I had to think. Here was my first big chance and I had thoroughly and hope- lessly bungled it. Limantour was already stir- ring. The blow he had received had purposely been made light. If he recovered to find himself robbed merely of an insignificant sum of money and some papers his suspicions would be aroused. T could not hope for another chance at him. I knew that Limantour was too clever not to sense something other than ordinary robbery in such an attack upon him. Furthermore my Apaches 99 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent had to be bluffed and deceived as thoroughly as he was. I had promised them a victim who carried loads of money and at the few coins they had obtained there was much growling. Luckily I had a flash of sense. I resolved to turn the mishap to my advantage. "We hit the wrong night, that's all," I mut- tered. "You take the coins and get away. I am going to try to fool him." Like rats they scurried away. When Limantour came to he found a very solicitous young man concerned with his welfare. "I saw them from down the street," I told him, "they evidently knocked you out, but they cleared out when I came. Did they get any- thing from you? Here seem to be some letters." And from the sidewalk I picked up and restored to him the papers I had taken from his pockets, not two minutes before. Limantour accepted them and I knew that my audacity had triumphed. "They are not of very much importance," said Limantour, "and I had only a few francs on me." Then suddenly, as if he just realized that he was alive and unharmed, Jose Limantour began to thank me for my assistance. I thought of those who had told me he was a cold, hard distant 100 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent man. Limantour flung his arms around my neck. I was hi: savior! I was a very brave young gentleman. If I had not come up so boldly and promptly to his aid, he might have been very badly beaten, perhaps even killed. For all he knew he owed me his life. He must thank me. He must know his preserver. Here was his card. Might he have mine? I had been wise enough to keep some of my old cards when I changed the rest of my personality from the Grand Hotel to Montmartre. I gave him one of them. "A German," he exclaimed, "and a worthy representative of that worthy race." Limantour was enchanted. "And you live at the Grand Hotel?" That was better still. I was only a sojourner in Paris and one might venture to offer me hos- pitality — no? Next day he would send around a formal invitation to come and dine at his house and meet his family. They would be delighted to meet this brave and intrepid hero and would also wish to thank me. In a near! y cafe we had a drink and parted for the night. Next morning of course I had to appear again at the Grand Hotel. On foot I walked away from L,e Lapin Agile, jumping 101 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent into a taxi when I was out of sight. The taxi took me to the Gare du Nord; there I doubled in my tracks and presently, as if just having left a train, I took another taxi and was driven with my luggage to the hotel. I dropped around that afternoon to the Quai d'Orsay and called upon some of my acquaintances, remarking that I had come back for a little holiday. That night I had the pleasure of dining with Limantour. Thereafter I had to lead a double life. By day, I was an habitue of prominent hotels, res- taurants, and clubs. I associated with young diplomats and occasionally took a pretty girl to tea. By night I lived in Le Lapin Agile and consorted with thugs and their ilk. It cost me sleep, but I did not begrudge that in view of the stakes. All this time I was cultivating the acquaintance of Limantour and those around him. Shortly afterward I succeeded in taking one of the members of his household on a rather wild party and when his head was full of champagne he babbled that Limantour and his family were planning to sail for Cuba and Mexico on the following Saturday. I was also informed that on Friday, the day before the sailing, there would be a farewell reception at one of the embassies. 102 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Knowing Limantour's habits of work as I did by this time, I was able to lay my plans with as much certainty as prevails in my profession. After weighing all the possibilities I decided to defer my atempt on him until this last Friday night. I reasoned that he would probably re- ceive a draft of the agreement from his secretary at the club late than night. He would take it home with him and go over it with microscopic care. The next forenoon — Saturday — he would meet the Japanese envoy just long enough to finish the matter and then he would hurry to the steamer. Of course Limantour might have acted in a different way. That was the chance one has to take. Friday night came. In his luxurious limous- ine, Limantour and his family went to the fare- well reception of the embassy. Comparatively early, he said his farewell — leaving Madame to go home later — and in his car he proceeded to the club. I saw him pass through the vestibule after leaving his chauffeur with instructions to wait. My guess as to Limantour's movements had been right, so the plans I had made worked smoothly. I, too, had an automobile waiting near his club. Two of my men sauntered over to Liman- 103 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent tour's car. Under pretence of sociability they invited his chauffeur to have a drink. They led him into a little cafe on a side street near by, the proprietor of which was in with the gang. Limantour's chauffeur had one drink and went to sleep. My men stripped him of his livery, which one of them donned. Presently Liman- tour had a new chauffeur sitting at the wheel of his limousine. An hour later Limantour was seen hurrying out of the club. As a man will, he scarcely noticed his chauffeur but cast a brief "home" to the man at the wheel. His limousine started, following a route through deserted residential streets, in one of which I had the trap ready. Half blocking the road was a large automobile, apparently broken down. It was the automobile in which I had been waiting outside the club. In it were four of my Apaches. Limantour's car was called upon to stop. "Can you lend me a wrench?" one of my men shouted to Limantour's false chauffeur. His limousine stopped. That free masonry which existed in the early days between motorists lent itself nicely to the situation. It was most natural for the chauffeur of Limantour's car to get out and help my stalled motor. Indeed, 104 My Adventures as a, German Secret Agent Limantour himself opened the door of the lim- ousine and half protruding his body, called out with the kindest intentions. To throw a chloroform-soaked towel over his head was the work of an instant. In half a minute he was having dreams — which I trust were pleasant. It was still necessary to keep my own men in the dark, to give these thugs no inkling that this was a diplomatic job. This time I was prepared ; for I had learned of Liman- tour's habits in regard to carrying money on his person. In my right hand overcoat pocket there were gold coins and bank notes. With the leader of the gang, I went through Limantour's clothes. In the darkness of that street, it was a simple matter to seem to extract from them a double fist-full of gold pieces and currency, which I turned over to The Salmon. "Perhaps he has more bank notes," I mut- tered, and I reached for the inner pocket of his coat. There my fingers closed upon a stiff docu- ment that made them tingle. "I'll just grab everything and we can go over it afterwards.'' Out of Limantour's possession into mine came pocket-book, letters, card-case and that heavy familiar feeling paper. Dumping the unconscious Limatour into his 105 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent limousine we cranked up our car and were off, leaving behind us at the worst, plain evidence of a crime common enough in Paris. It was to be corroborated next morning by the discovery of a drunken chauffeur, for we took pains to go back and get him once more into his uniform and full of absinthe. But it did not come to even that much scandal. Limantour, for obvious reasons, did not report the incident to the police. The next morning it was given put that Liman- tour had gone into the country and would not sail for a week. He had had a sudden recrudes- cence of an old throat trouble and must rest and undergo treatment before undertaking the voy- age to Mexico — so the specialist said. This report appeared in Paris newspapers of the day. Of the protocol nothing was said at that time or later — by Senor Limantour. I turned it over to the proper authorities in Berlin, and very soon departed from Mont- martre, leaving behind me a well-contented group of Apaches, who assured me warmly that I was born for their profession. I did not argue the question with them. There the matter might have ended ; but Ger- many had another card to play. On February 27, 1911, Limantour left Paris for New York, 106 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent to confer with members of the Madero family, in order if possible to effect a reconciliation and to end the Madero revolt. He landed in New York on March 7th. On that very day, by an odd coincidence, as one commentator* calls it, the United States mobilized 20,000 troops on the Mexican border! It was no coincidence. The Wilhelmstrasse had read the proposed terms of the treaty with great interest. It had noted the secret clauses which gave Japan the lease of a coaling station, together with manoeuver privileges in Magda- lena Bay, or at some other port on the Mexican coast which the Japanese Government might prefer. It had noted, too, that agreement which, although not expressly stipulating that Japan and Mexico should form an offensive and de- fensive alliance, implied that Japan would see to it that Mexico was protected against aggres- sion. And then Germany — acting always for her own interests — forwarded the treaty to Mexico, where it was placed in the hands of the American Ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson. Mr. Wilson immediately left for Washington with a photograph of portions of the treaty. A *Mr. Edward I. Bell, in his "The Political Shame of Mexico; 107 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Cabinet meeting was held. That night orders were sent out for the mobilization of American troops, the assembling of United States marines in Guantanamo and the patrolling of the west coast of Mexico by warships of the United States. Within a week Mr. Wilson held a conference in New York with Senor Limantour. Limantour left hurriedly for Mexico City, arriving there March 20th. Conferences were held. Japan denied the existence of the treaty and Washing- ton recalled its war vessels and demobilized its troops. But barely seven weeks after Liman- tour arrived in Mexico, Madero, the bankrupt, with his handful of troops "captured" Ciudad Juarez. And shortly after, Diaz, discredited and powerless, resigned from the office he had held for a generation. That is the story of the fall of Diaz so far as Germany was concerned in it. There were other elements involved, of course — but this is not a history of Mexico. Germany had done the United States a service. It is interesting to consider the motives for her action. Those motives may be explained in two words : South America. 108 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Germany, let it be understood, wants South America and has wanted it for many years. Not as a possession — the Wilhelmstrasse is not insane — but as a customer and an ally. Like many other nations, Germany has seen in the countries of Latin America an invaluable market for her own goods and an unequaled producer of raw supplies for her own manufacturers. She has sought to control that market to the best of her abilities. But she has also done what no other European nation has dared to do — she has at- tempted to form alliances with the South Ameri- can countries which, in the event of war between the United States and Germany, would create a diversion in Germany's favor, and effectively tie the hands of the United States so far as any offensive action was concerned. There was just one stumbling block to this plan: the Monroe Doctrine. It was patent to German diplomats that such an alliance could never be secured unless the South American countries were roused to such a degree of hostility against the United States that they would wel- come an opportunity to affront the government which had proclaimed that doctrine. And Ger- many, casting about for a means of making trouble, had encouraged the Japanese-Mexican 109 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent alliance, hoping for intervention in Mexico and the subsequent arousal of fear and ill-feeling toward the United States on the part of the South American countries. And Germany had been so anxious for the United States to intervene in Mexico that she had not only encouraged a treaty which would be inimical to your interests, but had made cer- tain that knowledge of this treaty should come into your government's hands by placing it there herself! The United States did not intervene and Ger- many for the moment failed. But Germany did not give up hope. The intrigue against the United States through Mexico had only begun. It has not ended yet. CHAPTER VI. My letter again. I go to America and become a United States soldier. Sent to Mexico and sentenced to death there. I join Villa's army and gain an undeserved reputation. ¥ MUST leave Europe behind me now and go *■ on to the period embraced in the last five years. A private soldier in your United States Army — the victim of an attempt at assassination in stormy Mexico — major in the Mexican army; once again German secret agent and aide of Franz von Papen, the German Military Attache in Washington ; prisoner under suspicion of espionage, in a British prison, and finally your Government's central witness in the summer of 1916, in a case that was the sensation of its hour — these are the roles I have been called on to play in that brief space of time. In the month of April, 1912, 1 abruptly quitted the service of my government. The reasons which impelled me were very serious. You re- 111 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent member that my active life began with the dis- covery of a document of such personal and politi- cal significance that government agents followed me all over Europe until I drove a bargain with them for it. In the winter of 1912, by a chain of circumstances I must keep to myself, that self- same document came again into my possession. I knew enough then, and was ambitious enough, to determine that this time I would utilize to the full the power which possession of it gave me. But it could not be used in Germany. There- fore I disappeared. There was an immediate search for me, which was most active in Russia. I was not in Russia nor in Europe. After running over in mind all the most unlikely places I could put myself I had found one that seemed ideal. While they were scouring Russia for me I was making my way across the Atlantic Ocean in the capacity of steward in the steerage of the steam- ship Kroonland of the Red Star Line. The Kroonland docked in New York City in May, 1912. I left her as abruptly as I had left a prouder service. Three days later a sorry- looking vagabond, I had applied for enlistment in the United States Army and had been ac- cepted. I was sent to the recruiting camp at 112 < CD *o n u~ n v; o i\» ' 1 o as n 38 o rf 'v© ! j > o o % w ' 1 o m wat, U Ivas- evR jw j-« minut removed to a local undertaking (stab* lishment. Evidencea of a R4ru«;gti>. Despite .the fact that the first blow evidently had been delivered when his back was turned to his murderers, Mr. Koglmeier must have strugglPd before he was beaten down tor the. last time. Trails of blood ran from almost every section of the room, showing that the struggle had been long before the vic- tim was finally compelled to 'succumb from the. blows dealt him with either a dull hatchet or some Iron instrument. Theory of the Crime. The bflict Is that two men called at the hiunej-3 shop a little>«.fter 7 ocloek. They had gone there under Win pl- ot making a purchase. Bridle 1 nesa ahd collars 'hang atippenr", the celling of the plact, .*Af murderers had evldentt''^ horse collar ae t*»p y Photograph of a clipping from the El Paso Herald of December 22, 1913. No motive has ever been discovered for the crime, other than the theory advanced by Captain von der Goltz. 139 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent From the detention camp I went to Kogl- meier's shop in South Santa Fe Street. Both front and rear doors were standing open, and through the back of one I could see Koglmeier's horse, a beast I had often ridden, switching its tail in the yard, which was its stable. I went into the store. "Koglmeier!" I called. "Oh, Koglmeier!" From the side of the shop stepped out a man on whom I had never set eyes before. "Koglmeier ain't here." "But he must be here," I insisted. "I can see his horse out there in the yard." "Yes," said the man, "the horse is here, but Koglmeier ain't. Nor he won't be. It just happens that Koglmeier's dead." "When did he die?" "The 23d of last December," said the man. "But he didn't die. He got murdered." On the night of that 23d of December, Kogl- meier, the quietest, most inoffensive man in El Paso, had been murdered in his shop. It looked, said my informant, "like his head had been beat in with a hatchet, or something." Robbery ap- parently had not been the motive, for his pos- sessions were untouched. If he had made an outcry it had not attracted attention, perhaps 140 *3 o -o 3 •3* (-1 " J 3 = *£| r S S'fl) 3 y - £ 3 •< ^ o ^ r* «. 3 33 rt 3" O g rO n 5 r-c -i Cdo -- h-i -t 3 a, 2^: a " .0*3- o 2 f» -; p On ►3 O o ? c S" * o <« 3}5!n a -2 o - n o n 3 n> - 5T^. & S O ^ O ft S3 CT* 3-^«-i a. S3 C/Q'o ri- 3-1-+ <->■ _. .-t- CT^ 3* a/ 2 . 3 "> 3 c *> rf O r+ rt- <~ w 3-OP 3" N S3 S3 f (u w'rt 2. 3 *— n 3 — • -! 3o o 2 O S3 S3 s c < &■ 3 3 a m i ft si O 3 S3 m ft t/> n "3 o *< 5 o- 3 O rt- 3 3-3 cr3- -j m — • nj 2; Ci° * ? ct-E^£ o n g:- 7^ " P m ft-, S3 o. s w ^ & n> CD X t^ 3 3 3 £*S3 3 o« S2- -■ -.2 3-P My Adventures as a German Secret Agent because a carrousel was going full blast in the vacant lot beside his place of business. The authorities were utterly at sea, and still are. The United States Department of Justice agents told me they could find no motive for the murder. I knew the motive. Koglmeier had kept "my documents" for me; therefore Imperial Germany had willed he die. Koglmeier was the only German in El Paso who was a friend of mine, and knew of the exist- ence of those documents which I had been forced to give up through the agency of Mercado's firing squads. His end subdued the festive spirit in me and I was not sorry when we started back for the interior of Mexico. Torreon was taken by Villa on April 2, 1914, and we settled down there for a brief period of rest and recuperation. Rest! Torreon stands out in my memory as the scene of the most hectic activity I have indulged in. Raul Madero and I have since laughed over the ludicrousness of it. But at the time it was deadly serious. My repu- tation was at stake. I managed to save it barely by the skin of its teeth. Chief Trinidad Rodriguez got twenty machine guns down from the United States and turned 141 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent them over to me. "Train your gun crews and get the platoons ready for field service," he ordered. "You can have three weeks. Then I shall need them." Without a word I saluted and turned on my heel. I could not very well tell my general that I had never in my life touched even the tip of one finger to a machine gun. The guns arrived next day, as promised They had been sent to us bare, just the barrels and tripods. There were no holsters, no pack saddles for either guns or ammunition, not one of the accessories which equip a machine gun company for action. I had to start from the ground, in literal truth. And I had not a soul to advise me how to begin. We loaded the guns onto our wagons, tooK them over to camp and laid them side by side in a long row down the center of an empty ware- house in Torreon. That satisfied me for one afteronon. I wen6 over to Gen. Rodriguez's quarters. "I've got the guns," I reported. "Good!" he cried. "I shall want the platoons ready for action in three weeks. Not a dajr later." 142 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent It was up to me to have them ready. So I got busy at once. My first move was an abduction. There hap- pened to be in Torreon jail at that time a first class bank robber named Jefferson, who was being held for the arrival of extradition papers from Texas. The day after my guns arrived Jefferson escaped, and though the authorities made diligent search they failed to find him. He knew more about machine guns than I did. His profession had made him an excellent mechanic. Furthermore, he had Yankee ingenuity and American "git up and git." We soon had all twenty guns set up in working order. Then came the problem of the gun crews. Our Indians, slow, thick-headed, stubborn and stolid, were no fit material for such highly specialized work. Machine gun manipulation requires special qualifications in every man concerned. Three men compose the crew. One squats behind the shield and pulls the trigger. The second, prone, slides the clips of cartridges into the breach. The third passes up the supply of am- munition. At any moment the gun may heat and jam. Also, at any moment any one of the trio may fall, yet his work must be carried on. I have seen a gunner sit on the dying body of a 143 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent comrade and cooly aim and fire, the action being so hot there was not time to drag the wounded man aside. You cannot take an Indian wild from the hills and in twenty-one days fit him to do such work as that by any course of training. My only resort was to get my gun crews ready made. A brigade not far away from ours possessed machine gun platoons which were the pride of its heart. I looked at them, and broke first the Tenth and then the Eight Commandment. To a wise old sergeant I gave a hundred pesos. "Juan," I told him, "get the men of those machine gun crews drunk in this quarter of Torreon. And encourage them to be noisy." Juan obeyed instructions. Once the beer and mezcal took hold, the men I wanted became boisterous enough to justify our provost guard in running them all in. The rest was simple. The breach of discipline was condoned by Gen. Rodriguez only on condition that the culprits were turned over to him for further discipline. So I got my gun crews. I was beginning to have hopes. The best saddler in the city was making holsters. When I first approached him with an order he had promptly thrown up his 144 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent hands. "There is not a scrap of leather left in Torreon," he said. I instantly thought of chair backs. In Spanish countries furniture upholstered in old carved Cordovan leather is an heirloom. In time of war ruthlessness is a useful quality. I soon pre- sented my saddler with sufficient leather for my purpose and could turn my attention to pack saddles. Not even the sawbuck frames were pro- curable in Torreon, but wood was plenty. And there was a jail filled with idle prisoners. Ten days after the first sight of my guns I was able to report to Gen. Rodriguez that the platoons were coming along. "But I have no mules for them yet," I hinted. He sent a hundred next day, beauties, fat, strong, in the pink of condition. But they had come straight down from the mesa. They could be trusted to kick saddles, guns, tripods, holsters and ammunition cases into nothing at the least provocation. Torreon was celebrating its new Constitution- alism with daily bull rights. Each afternoon, while the fight was on, the plaza before the en- trance to the ring was crowded with public rigs in waiting, all drawn by sorry-looking mules, 145 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent half fed and too worn out to have a single kick left in them. With a squad of troopers I descended on the plaza one day. No cabbie anywhere is markedly shy or retiring, and these were hill-bred mule- teros. But we got the mules in the end. "You are getting the best of the bargain," I assured them. "I am only swapping with you. In the corral I have a hundred fine, strong, new mules worth three times as much as these played- out beasts you are getting rid of. You can have the nice new ones to-morrow." If Gen. Trinidad ever guessed how thoroughly improvised his favorite outfit was — the second in command a bank robber on enforced vacation, the gunners kidnapped, the equipment made by forced labor from commandeered material, and the mules snatched rudely from between the shafts of cabs — he made no comment. He did not live long to enjoy the fruits of my labors. In mid-June, during the ten-day attack which resulted in the fall of Zacatecas, he was mortally wounded. I shall always remember that day, not only for the death of my chief, but for a personal bit of adventure. I was temporarily away from my guns with 146 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent some riflemen in a trench. The enemy fire was very hot and the men became exceedingly restive. Something had to be done to steady them, for there was no cover of any sort on the bullet- swept, shrapnel-searched plain behind us. Re- treat was impossible. There were plenty of horrors in the situation — the blazing sun, the sense of isolation, the cries and curses of the men who were being struck. And there was the cactus. Unless you have been under fire of high-power rifles in a region where the common broad-leaved castus grows you cannot guess its nerve-shaking possibilities. A jacketed bullet can pierce a score of leaves without much diminution of its velocity, and as it goes through the thick, juicy flesh, it lets out a sound like the spitting of some gigantic cat. Ten Mauser bullets piercing cactus can make you believe a whole battalion is concen- trating its fire on your one small but precious person. The men were getting demoralized. If they broke I was done for. If I stayed in the trench alone the Federals would eventually get me and stand me up to the nearest wall. If I retreated with them, nothing was gained. No man can hope to outrun a bullet. 147 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent I stood up, exposing my body from mid-thigh upward to that withering fire, and took out my cigarette case. The nearest men watched side- wise, waiting to see me fall. By some fortune I was not hit, and after a moment looked down at the man beside me. "Hello, Pablo!" I said, "why aren't you smoking, too?" I offered my case to him, but took good care to stretch out my arm quite level. To get at the contents he had to rise to his feet. Habit won. He did not even hesitate, and I held my cigarette, Mexican fashion, for him to take a light. Once committed in that fashion, he was too proud to show the white feather, and he and I smoked our cigarettes out while the bullets flew. It was the longest cigarette, I think, I ever smoked, but it turned the trick. We held on to that trench till darkness put an end to the fire. After the capture of Zacatecas I went to the staff of Gen. Raul Madero, with the rank of Major. The invitation had been extended several times before. Now that Trinidad was dead, there was nothing to hold me back, and I very gladly joined the official family of the brother of the murdered President. Since my first as- sociation with him, before Ojinaga, he had im- 148 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent pressed me as the ablest man I had seen south of the Rio Grande. The closer and constant contact entailed by my becoming a member of his staff confirmed that feeling. Raul Madero has clarity of in- telligence, an encyclopaedic grasp of Mexican affairs, social, religious, political and financial, and a winning personality that masks abundant energy and determination. I was associated with him for only six weeks. On June 28th, 1914, you remember, the Arch- duke Francis Ferdinand of Austria was assassin- ated. All through July the Austrian Govern- ment was formulating its demands on Serbia, which culminated in the ultimatum of July 23. Long before that I had formed my opinion as to which way the wind was to blow. And I had a sufficiently conceited notion of my usefulness as a trained and. experienced agent to believe that when the general European disturbance should break out my days as a soldier of fortune in Mexico would be ended. Toward the end of July a stranger brought me credentials proving him a messenger from Consul Kueck in El Paso. "The Consul," he told me, "wishes to ask you one question, and the answer is a yes or a no. 149 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent This is the question: In case your Government wished your services again, could she expect to receive them?" "In case of war — yes," I answered. It was not very long before I received a tele- gram from Kueck. "Come," was all it said. CHAPTER VII. War. I re-enter the German service and am appointed aide to Captain von Papen. The German conception of neutrality and horn to make use of it. The plot against the Welland Canal. f HE meaning of Kueck's telegram was plain. *■ War had come at last, the war that we had expected and prepared for during so many years. My country was at war and I must leave what- ever I was doing and return to its service. I went to Raul Madero with the telegram. "It has come,' I said. "War. I shall have to go. We had spoken together too often, during the past few weeks, of my duty in the event of hos- tilities, for any long discussion to be necessary now. I asked for and received all that I believed to be necessary — a leave of absence for six months with the privilege of extension. The next day, August 3, 1914, I said good-bye to my troops and to my commander and hastened north to El Paso. 151 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent At the Hotel el Paso del Norte, I met my former enemies, Kueck and his stout secretary. We had dinner together and he gave me letters containing instructions to proceed to New York and to place myself at the disposal of Captain Franz von Papen, the German military attache at Washington. "When will Captain von Papen be in New York?" I asked. "I have just received a communication from Papen," replied Kueck, adding with a gratified smile, "I am keeping him informed of conditions along the border. He will be in New York two weeks from to-day." There was no necessity for haste then, and I remained in El Paso for five days longer, keep- ing my eyes and ears open and learning, among other things, more "facts" about Mexico than I could have acquired in Mexico itself in a life time. "There are lies, damned lies and El Pasograms," some one has said. I collected enough of the last-named to cheer me on my way to Washing- ton and to make me marvel that Rome had ever been called the father of lies. No wonder news- paper correspondents like to report Mexican news from El Paso. Washington was technically on vacation at the 152 3 P d O : o cr i— 1 1 — t ~_ > _-! rt i-h ►i C /\ "^ p 5 - -1 S'§ °- 3 3 W p ?7 p ■< T? -1 O ~t <; P -l 2- — p •<: a n *i M *-t S3 3 p V! n> IT 3 O »-i o a> r H a. 3 ~ r+ N a. O 3 O 1 3« -5- n> o _^ ^ o P n> " a. ' O O 3 «■ -.re 3 i 0. ■< : Oq a. p •< c td P P<< *3 "3 c 1 3' p — 3 "" cr 11 — 1 n- 0) P 1 — } a> 5'? O W B -1 1^ i— im n> £ c, o o re w o_ •-1 re 5" a. N re 3 C W "33 W re 2 re (T) P 1 -t P 3 ,-tdq r-»- p crq o n> O- 5" 3 en ■< 2. CTQ o n - c 3 p Ha S-3 — . P c 3 !2| p 3 P B" » SO D" 2 P "O en' o -. ST < 13 •a CT-3 p t-t- •-t 3 ;? o-n» C^f re 2 " 5 ST™ re q. re > c CO 3 p _. 213 3 == Q- •< «■ P 3* c - •^ gf f- T O ~ 2 "3 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent time, but there was an unwonted air of excite- ment about the city — far greater than formerly- existed when Congress was in full session. At the German Embassy I found only a few clerks ; but letters from Newport, to which the Am- bassador and his staff had gone for the summer, informed me that Captain von Papen would meet me in New York in a fortnight. And then I learned for the first time that it was impossible for me to reach Germany, but that I was to be assigned to work in the United States. I knew what that meant, of course, and I was not wholly unprepared for it. Secret agents could be very useful in a neutral country, and I knew from my acquaintance with German methods in Europe, that plans would already have been made for conserving German interests in the United States. What those plans were I did not know; but my only immediate concern was to remove any possible suspicion from my- self by doing something that on the surface would seem to be absolutely idiotic. I became violently and noisily pro-German. On the train I entered into arguments (as a matter of fact I could not have escaped them if I tried) in which I stoutly defended the invasion of Belgium and prophecied an early victory for 153 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Germany. And when I arrived in New York I registered at the Holland House, where my actions would be more conspicuous than at one of the larger hotels, and proceeded to make my- self as noticeable as possible by spending a great deal more money than I could afford — and talk- ing. In a day or two the reporters were on my trail and I became their obliging prey. What I told them I do not now remember in its entirety, but newspaper clippings of the day assure me that I made many wild and bombastic statements, promising that Paris would be captured in a very few weeks — in a word uttering the most flagrant nonsense. The reporters decided that I was a fool and deftly conveyed that impression to their readers. And in a very brief time I had the satisfaction of learning that I was everywhere regarded as a person of considerably more loquacity than intelligence. That was the very reputation I had attempted to get. I wanted to be known — and widely — as a braggart, a spendthrift, a rattlebrain, for the very excellent reason that in no other way could I so easily divert suspicion from myself later on. I was a German, and consequently under the surveillance of enemy secret agents, with whom — oh, believe me! — the United States was filled. 154 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent It was impossible for me to escape some notice. Since that was the case, the safest course for me to pursue was to comport myself in such a way that all interested persons would report (as I afterwards learned they did report) that I was not worth watching, since no sane government would ever employ me. While I was engaged in achieving this enviable reputation, I had managed to keep in touch with the Imperial German Consulate in New York, and on August 21 I had. received from the Vice- Consul, Dr. Kraske, a note informing me that "the gentleman who is interested in you" — Captain von Papen — "will meet you next morn- ing at the Consulate." That letter was to figure two years later in the trial of Captain Hans Tauscher. I reproduce it here. You might note that it is addressed to "Baron von der Goltz," although my card did not bear that title, and I had registered at the Holland House under my Mexican military title of Major. Upon the following morning I went to that old building at Number Eleven Broadway. There in a little room in the offices of the Imperial German Consulate began a series of meetings that were designed to bear fruit of the greatest consequences to the United States — that would, 155 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent had they been successful, have made American neutrality a lie and would have perhaps drawn the United States into a serious conflict with England, if not into actual war. I remember von Papen's enthusiasm as he outlined the general program to me. "It was merely a question of tying their hands" — that was the burden of his statements, time and again. We could hope for nothing from American neu- trality ; it was a fraud, a deception. Washington could not see the German viewpoint at all. Everything was done to favor England. Why, the entire country was supporting the allies — the government, the press, the people — all of them ! Nowhere was there a good word for Ger- many. And that in spite of the excellent propa- ganda that Germany was conducting. I remem- ber that the failure of German propaganda was an especially sore spot with him. "How about the German- Americans ?" I asked him upon one occasion. He made a sound that was between a grunt and a cough. "I am attending to them," was his reply. I did not understand what he meant until much later. We talked much of American participation in 158 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent the war in those days. Papen was convinced that it would come sooner or later ; and certainly upon the side of the Entente — unless the German- Americans could be brought into line. They were being attended to, he would repeat, but meantime it was necessary for us to decide upon some immediate action. Of course there was Mexico to be considered. It was too bad that Huerta had fallen. What did I think of Villa? Could he be persuaded to cause a diversion if the United States abandoned its neutrality? I told him that I thought it very unlikely. "He is not very friendly toward Germans," I said, "and he appreciates the importance of keeping on good terms with the United States. No, I don't think you can reach him— now. Later on, he may take a different attitude — when we have had a few more victories." Von Papen nodded. I was probably right, he thought. We must show these ignorant people how powerful the Germans were. It would have a great moral effect. But that was for the future. Meantime what did I think of this letter as a suggestion for possible immediate action? "This letter" was from a man named Schu- macher, who lived in Oregon, at Eden Bower Farm. He had written to the Embassy, sug- 157 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent gesting that we secretly fit out motor boats armed with machine guns, and using Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago as bases, make raids upon Canadian cities and towns on the Great Lakes. There were some good features to the plan — its value as a means of terrorizing Canadians, for instance — but it was doubtful whether at that time we could carry it out successfully. Then, too, we could not be sure whether it was not merely a trap for us. Papen had been making inquiries about Schumacher and was not entirely satisfied as to his good faith. There were a number of other schemes which we considered at this time. One was to equip reservists of the German Army, then in the United States, and co-operating with German warships then in the Pacific Ocean to invade Canada from the State of Washington. This plan was abandoned because of the impossibility of securing enough artillery for our purposes. Another plan that we considered more care- fully, involved an expedition against Jamaica. This was a much more feasible scheme than any that had been proposed thus far, and we spent many days over it. Jamaica was none too well de- fended, and it seemed fairly probable that with an army of ragamuffins which I could easily 158 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent recruit in Mexico and Central America, we could make a success of it. Arms were easy to secure; in fact, we had a very well equipped arsenal in Xew York; and filibustering had become so common since the outbreak of the Mexican revo- lution, that it would be easy to obtain what ad- ditional material we needed without disclosing our purpose. On the whole the idea looked promising, and matters had gone so far that von Papen secured my appointment as captain, so that in the event of my being captured on British soil with arms in my hand, I should be treated as a prisoner of war. Then just when we were making final prepara- tions for my departure from New York, von Papen came to me in great excitement and said he had come upon a plan that would serve our purposes to perfection. Canada was, after all, our principal objective; we could strike a telling blow against it, and at the same time create con- sternation throughout America by blowing up the canals which connected the Great Lakes! "It is comparatively simple," said von Papen. "If we blow up the locks of these canals, the main railway lines of Canada and the principal grain elevators will be crippled. Immediately we shall destroy one of England's chief sources 159 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent of food supply as well as hamper the transporta- tion of war materials. Canada will be thrown into a panic and public opinion will demand that her troops be held for home defense. But best of all, it will make the Canadians believe that the thousands of German reservists and the millions of German- Americans in the United States are planning active military operations against the Dominion." I looked at him in surprise. Where had he got such a plan? Papen enlightened me with his next words. Two men — not Germans but violently anti- English — had come to him with the suggestion, he said. It was in a very indefinite form as yet, but the idea was certainly worth careful consider- ation. He wished me to discuss the matter with the two men at my hotel. It did seem a good plan. As I discussed it the next evening with the two men, whom von Papen had sent to me, it seemed entirely practicable and immensely important. Together we went over the maps and diagrams they had brought with them, which showed the vulnerable points of the different canals and railways. After a number of conferences with them and with von Papen, 160 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent the plot took definite shape as a plan to blow up the Welland Canal. "It can be done," I told von Papen one day, and together we discussed the details. Finally von Papen looked up from the notes we had been examining. "I think it will do admirably," he said. "Will you undertake it?" I nodded. "Good," said von Papen. "I shall leave the details to you — but keep me informed of your needs and I shall see that they are taken care of." So began the plot which was literally to carry the war into America. My first need was for men, and for help in getting these I appealed to von Papen, who obligingly furnished me with a letter of introduction — made out in the name of Bridgman H. Taylor — to Mr. Luederitz, the German Consul at Baltimore. There were several German ships interned at that port, and we felt that we should have no difficulty in recruiting our force from them. Before I went to Baltimore, however, I did engage one man, Charles Tucker, alias Tuch- haendler, who had already had some dealings with the two men who originally proposed the scheme. 161 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Tucker accompanied me to Baltimore, and together we paid a visit to Consul Luederitz. The consul glanced at the letter I presented to him. "Captain von Papen requests me to give you all the assistance you may ask for, Major von der Goltz," he said, intimating by the use of my name that he had previously been informed of the enterprise. "I shall be happy to do anything in my power. What is it you wish?" Men, I told him, were my chief need at the moment. He said that there should be no dif- ficulty about securing them. There was a Ger- man ship in the harbor at the time, and we could doubtless make use of part of the crew and an officer, if we desired. He offered me his visiting card, on the back of which he wrote a note of recommendation to the captain of the ship. But while we were talking this man entered the office and we made our preliminary arrangements there. The following day, a Sunday, Tucker and I visited the ship and after dinner selected our men, who were informed of their prospective duties. I also listened to the news that was being received on board by wireless; for the captain was still allowed to receive messages, although the harbor 162 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent authorities had forbidden him to use his ap- paratus for sending purposes. I needed nothing more in Baltimore, so far as my present plans were concerned, but at Consul Luederitz's suggestion, I decided to furnish my- self with a passport, made out in my nom de guerre of Bridgman Taylor. Luederitz was of the opinion that it might be useful at some future time as a means of proving that I was an Ameri- can citizen, and accordingly we had one of the clerks make out an application, which was duly forwarded to Washington; and on August 31st the State Department furnished the non-exist- ent Mr. Bridgman H. Taylor with a very com- forting, although as it turned out, a decidedly dangerous document. One other thing I needed at the moment — a pistol, for my own was out of order. This Mr. Luederitz provided me with, from the effects of an Austrian who had com- mitted suicide in Baltimore, not long before, and whose property, in the absence of an Austrian Consulate in the city, had been turned over to the German Consul. The days immediately following my return to New York were filled with preparations for our coup. I engaged three additional men to act as my lieutenants, acquainted them with the main 163 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent objects of our plan and agreed to pay them daily while in New York, and to add a bonus when our enterprise should succeed. These men had all been well recommended to me, and I knew I could trust them thoroughly. One, Fritzen, who was later captured in Los Angeles, had been a purser on a Russian ship. A second, Busse, was a commercial agent who had lived for many years in England; the third bore the Italian name of Covani. Meantime I saw von Papen frequently, and had on one occasion received from him a check for two hundred dollars, which I needed for the sailors who were coming from Baltimore. That check, which is reproduced in this book, was to prove a singularly disastrous piece of paper, for in order to avoid connecting my name with that of von Papen, it was made out to Bridgman Taylor. I cashed it through a friend, Frederick Stallforth, whose brother, Alberto Stallforth, had been the German Consul at Parral when I was there. He, incidentally, was later implicated in the Rintelen trial and was detained for a time on Ellis Island, from which he was subsequently released. Mr. Stallforth lifted his eyebrows when he saw the name on the check. I smiled. 164 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent "I am Bridgman Taylor," I told him. He laughed, but said nothing, merely getting the check cashed for me at the German Club on Central Park South, of which he was a member. In a few days everything was ready. My men had arrived from Baltimore, my plans were definitely made — I needed but one thing: the explosives. These, von Papen told me, I could obtain through Captain Hans Tauscher, the American agent of the Krupps, which means, in effect, the German Government. It has been asserted many times in the last year that the charges against Capt. Tauscher were utterly unfounded. It is easy to under- stand the motives of this gentleman's defenders. There are many people still in this country whose friendship with the amiable captain would wear a decidedly suspicious look were his complicity in the anti- American plots of the first two years of the war to be proved. I shall not quarrel with these people. But reproduced in this book are four documents, the originals of which are in the possession of the Department of Justice, which tell their own story to the curious and are a fair indication of the way I secured the explosives I needed for my expedition. These documents show: 165 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent First, that on September 5, 1914, Captain Tauscher, American representative of the Krupps, ordered from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Company, 300 pounds of sixty per cent- dynamite to be delivered to bearer, "Mr. Bridg- man Taylor," and to be charged to Captain Tauscher. Second, that on September 11th, the du Pont Company sent Captain Tauscher a bill for the same amount of dynamite delivered to Bridgman man Taylor, New York City, on September 5th; and on September 16th, they sent him a second bill for forty-five feet of fuse delivered to Bridg- man Taylor on September 13th — the total of the two bills amounting to $31.13. Third, that on December 29, 1914, Tauscher sent a bill to Captain von Papen tor a total amount of $503.24. The third item, dated Sep- tember 11th, was for $31.13. Is it difficult to tell of whom I got my ex- plosives or who eventually paid for them? I got the dynamite at any rate, by calling for it myself at one of the company's barges in a motor boat, and taking it away in suitcases. At 146th Street and the Hudson River we left the boat, and, carrying the explosives with us, went to the German Club, where I applied to von Papen for 166 U^HT^jfyko &jL x t/t . /y> «4 Jt-rv^ dh^i ■*> Qtuv, Before going to Baltimore, "Mr. Bridgeman Taylor" — Captain von der Goltz — received this letter from Capt. von Papen. Translated it reads : New York, 27. VIII. 14. I request the Consuls in Baltimore and St. Paul to give the bearer of this letter — Mr. Bridgeman Taylor — all the assistance he may ask for. von Papen, Captain in the General Staff of the Army and Military Attache. My Adventures as a German Secret Agent automatic pistols, batteries, detonators, and wire for expolding the dynamite. Von Papen promised them in two or three days — and he kept his word* Bit by bit, all this material was removed from 1 the German Club — in suitcases and via taxi-cab. They were exciting little rides we took those days, and my heart was often in my mouth when our chauffeur turned corners in approved New York fashion. But luckily there were no accidents and in a day or so all of our materials were stored away; part of them in my apartments — not in the Holland House, alas ! — but in a cheap section of Harlem. For von der Goltz, the spendthrift, the braggart, was seen no longer in the gay places of New York. He had spent all his money, and now, no longer of interest to the newspapers — or to the secret agents of the allies — had taken a two dollar and a half room in Harlem where he could repent his follies — and be as inconspicuous as he pleased. *It is interesting- to remember that Captain von Papen had in the earlier part of the year, while he was still in Mexico, conducted an investigation into the types of ex- plosives used in Mexico for similar enterprises. This investi- gation had been undertaken at the request of the German Ministry of War. Letters regarding this matter were found in Captain von Papen's effects) by the British authorities, and are printed in the British White Papers, Miscellaneous No. 6 (1916). 167 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent So it came about that toward the middle of September we five — Fritzen, Busse, Tucker, Covani and- myself — took train for Buffalo, armed with dynamite, automatic guns, deton- ators and other necessary implements, and pro- ceeded absolutely unmolested, to go to Buffalo. There I engaged rooms at 198 Delaware Avenue and began to reconnoitre the ground. I made a trip or two over the Niagara River via aero- plane, with an aviator who unquestionably thought me mad and charged accordingly; and at the suggestion of von Papen, I secured money for my expenses from a Buffalo lawyer, John Ryan. It had been decided that von Papen should let us know when the Canadian troops were about to leave camp so that we might strike at the psychological moment. A telegram came from him, signed with the non-committal name of Steffens, telling me that Ryan had money and instructions. Ryan gave me the money, as I have stated, but insisted that he had no instruc- tions whatever. Then, after a stay of several days in Niagara, during which we did nothing but exchange futile telegrams with Ryan and "Mr. Steffens" — we learned that the first contingent of Canadian 168 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent troops had left the camp- — and my men and I returned to New York, unsuccessful. Our failure was greater than appears on the surface, for my men and I were a blind. Our equipment, our loud talking, our aggressive pro- Germanism — even our secret preparations, which had not been secret enough — were intended primarily to distract attention from other and far more dangerous activities. We had been watched by United States Secret Service men from the very beginning of our enterprise. During our entire stay in Buffalo and Niagara, we had been under the surveillance of men who were merely waiting for us to make their suspicions a certainty by some positive at- tempt against the peace of the United States. We knew it and wanted it to be so. And while they were waiting for sufficient cause to arrest us, other men, totally unsuspected, were making their way down through Canada, intent upon destroying all of the bridges and canal locks in the lake region! You can see what the effect would have been had our plan succeeded — Canada crippled and terrorized — England robbed of the troops which Canada was even then preparing to send her, but which would have been forced to remain at 169 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent home to defend the border. But far more de- sirable in German eyes, the United States would have been convicted in "the sight of the world of criminal negligence. For my band of men — the obvious perpetrators of one crime had been act- ing suspiciously for weeks. And yet, in spite of that, we wore at liberty. The United States had made no effort to apprehend ns. Good fortune saved the United States from serious international complications at that time. While we were waiting for word from von Papen the Canadian troops had left Valeartier Camp, and were then on their way to England. Part of our object had been removed, and for the rest — well, the plan would keep, we thought. It was a disappointed von Papen whom I met on my return to New York — a rather crest-fallen person, far different from the urbane soldier that Washington knew in those days. We commiserated with each other upon our failure, and talked of the better luck that we should have next time. I did not know that there was to be no next time for me. For it came about that Abteilung III B., the Intelligence Department of the General Staff wished some first-hand information about con- ditions in the United States and in Mexico; and 170 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent I, who knew both countries (and who was the possessor of an American passport bearing an American name) was selected to go. On October 8th, 1914, Bridgman Taylor waved farewell to New York from the deck of an Italian steamer, bound for Genoa. The curious might have been interested to know that in Mr. Taylor's trunk were letters of recom- mendation to various German Consuls in Italy; strangely enough, they bore the name of Horst von der Goltz within them, and the signature of each was "von Papen." I had said goodbye to von Papen the night before, at the German Club. He had asked me to turn over to him all the fire-arms I had, for use again when needed. We talked of the war that night, and of Ger- many, which I had not seen in two years. And we spoke of the United States, and of what I was to tell them "over there." "Say that they need not worry about this country," he told me. "The United States may still join us in the splendid fight we are making. But if they do not it is of small moment. And always remember that if things look bad, for us, something will happen over here" I left him, speculating upon the "something" 171 My Adventures as a German Seeret Agent that would happen; for then I did not know of all the plans that were in my captain's head. I was to learn more about them later on — and I was to know a hitter disgust at the things that men may do in the name of patriotism. But of those things I will speak in their proper place. CHAPTER VIII. / go to Germany on a false passport. Italy in the early days of the war. I meet the Kaiser and talk to him about Mexico and the United States. IT was peaceful sailing. in those early days of * the war, and our ship, the Duca d'Aosta, reached Genoa with no mishap. I had but one moment of trepidation on the voyage, for on the last day the ship was hailed by a British cruiser. Here, I thought, was where I should put my passport to the test, but as it happened, our ship was not searched. An officer came alongside inquiring, among other things, if there were any Germans on board, but he accepted the captain's assurance that there were none — to my great relief. Genoa, like all the rest of the world, was in a state of great excitement in those days. Rumors as to the possible course of the Italian Govern- ment were flying about everywhere, and one could hear in an hour as many conflicting state- 173 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent merits of the Government's intentions as he might wish. The country was a battlefield of the propagandists at the moment. Nearly all of the German consuls, who had been forced to leave Africa at the declaration of war, had taken np their quarters in Italy, and were busily dissemin- ating pro-German literature of all sorts. I was bold, too, that the French Ambassador had already spent large sums of money buying Italian papers, in which to present the Allied cause to the as yet neutral people of Italy. And when I went into the office of the Imperial Ger- man Consul General, von Nerf, I was amused to see a huge pile of copies of — of all papers in the world! — the Berlin Vorwaerts, which had been imported for distribution throughout the country. Here was a pretty comedy! That newspaper, which during its entire existence had been the bitterest foe of German autocracy in the Empire, had become a. propagandist sheet for its former enemy and was now being used as a lure for the hesitating sympathies of the Italian people! In German, French and Italian editions it was spread about the country, carrying the message of Teutonic righteousness to the unin- formed. I found von Nerf to be a large man, with 174 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent whiskers that recalled those of Tirpitz, although without that gentleman's temperament or em- bonpoint. He assured me that Italy would never enter the war; there were too many factions in the country which would oppose such a step. "Why, consider," he bade me, "we have the three most important parties on our side. The Catholics will never consent to a break with Germany; the business men are all our staunch partisans; and the Labor Party is too violently opposed to war ever to consider entering it. Besides," he continued, "laboring men all over the world know that it is in Germany that the Labor Party has reached its greatest strength. Why, then, should they consider taking sides against us?" "But do you think that there is any chance of Italy entering the war on our side?" I asked him. Von Nerf shrugged his shoulders. "It is doubtful," was his reply. "What could they do in their situation?" I had come to von Nerf with von Papen's letter of introduction, to ask for assistance in reaching Germany. Accordingly he arranged for my passage, and soon I was on a train bound for Milan and Kufstein, where I was to change for the train to Munich. At that time the German 175 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent consuls were pajang the passage of thousands of Germans who wished to leave Italy for service in the army. The train on which I traveled was full of these volunteers, who later disembarked at Kufstein, on the Austro-German border, to report to the militaiy authorities there. At Munich we pased some wounded who were being taken from the front — the first real glimpse of the war that I had had. There was little evi- dence of any war-feeling in the Bavarian capital; restaurants were crowded, and everyone was light-hearted and confident of victory. I saw few signs of any hatred there, or elsewhere during my stay in Germany. All that there was was directed against England; France was uni- versally respected, and I heard only expressions of regret that she was in the war. On the train from Munich to Berlin I had the first good meal I had eaten in several weeks. It was good to sit down to something besides miles of spaghetti and indigestible anchovies. And the price was only two marks — for that was long before the days of the Food Controller and $45 ham. Berlin was filled with Austrian officers, some of them belonging to motor batteries — the famous '32's — which had been built before the war in the 176 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Krupp factories, not for Germany — for that would have occasioned additional armaments on the part of France — but by Austria, who could increase her strength without suspicion. The city, always martial in appearance, had changed less than one would have expected. There, too, the restaurants were filled; in particular the Piccadilly, which had been rechristened the Fatherland, and was enjoying an exceptional popularity in consequence. One was wise to go early if he wished to secure a table there; and that fortunate person could see the dining-room filled with happy crowds, eating and drinking, and applauding vociferously when Die Wacht am Rhein or some other patriotic air was played. I had returned to Germany for two purposes ; to fight and to bring full details of conditions in Mexico and the United States to the War Office. One of my first official visits was paid to the Foreign Office, where I found every one busy with routine matters and very little concerned about the success or failure of the German propaganda in Italy — an attitude in marked contrast to that of the General Staff. There the first question asked me related to conditions in Italy. This indifference of the Foreign Office would seem, in the light of after events, to in- 177 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent dicate a false security on the Ministry's part; but in reality the facts are otherwise. Germany had never expected Italy to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers ; she did hope that her former ally would remain neutral, and at that time was doing her utmost to keep her so, both by propaganda and by assuring her of a supply of coal and other commodities, for which Italy had formerly depended upon England, and which Germany now hoped to secure for her from America. But even at the time of my visit the indications of Italy's future course were fairly clear— and the Foreign Office was accepting its failure with as good grace as could be mustered to the occasion. But if the Foreign Office was indifferent to the attitude of Italy, it was intensely interested in that of Turkey, which had not yet entered the war. It seemed to me as if Mannesmann and Com- pany, a house whose interests in the Orient are probably more extensive than those of any other German company, seemed almost to have taken possession of the Colonial Office, so many of its employees were in evidence there : and I had an extended conference with Bergswerkdirektor Steinmann, who had formerly been in charge of the Asia Minor interests of this company. 178 S3 •3 o-c St 1 " ™ Qo ~3 ~.o a. N Et2J * »"«!(-) £ *• Si _ C W § ^Pm 3 ^ 5"g Iris 1 ~ l "d3 wast York ,00 '*•'■, no 2479 E.LDuPoNTDENEMOURSPoWDERCoiViPANY New York City, N.Y., Tr»T is i«fAY,«. V. CITY. DE.TINAT.Of. ' ' "*«f . CU "°""« .O.A-I07I l»0. LOC.WORK .•"■"}»",« WC)» Yf>»K.' "'» cakI"** n>/l£/i4. '•ailed ro». • '*° ^ ' - — " ' J} n ->. , 45 ' Z L'6~3 HCHP FOSE ' . 3 "J0-I9* .13 F09 SES Y»"K. TM I« niSC V1T IN «MK OFFI'f '.'•*"!.? Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Company for explosives delivered to "Bridgeman Taylor" and charged to Captain Tauscher My Adventures as a German Secret Agent in the United Stales. Mexico seemed rather the chief [joint of interest, and Major Kohnemann, to whom I spoke, asked innumerable questions about the attitude of ViJla towards both the United States and Germany; what J thought of his chances of ultimate success, and whether J believed that he, if he succeeded, would be more friendly to Germany than Carranza was at the time. After an hour of such discussion, which more closely resembled a cross-examination, he suddenly rose. "Your information is of great interest, Captain von der Goltz," he said. "J shall ask you to return here at five o'eloek this evening. Wear your heaviest underclothing. You are going to see the Emperor." 1 started. Prussian officers do not joke, as a rule, but for the life of me, I could not see any sane connection between his last two remarks. The major must have noticed my perplexity, for he smiled as he continued. "You are- going to travel by Zeppelin," he explained. "It will be very cold." That night I drove by motor to a point on the outskirts of the city, where a Zeppelin was moored. It was one of those which had formerly been fitted up for passenger service, and was now 181 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent used when quick transportation of a small num- ber of men was necessary. There were several officers of the General Staff whose immediate presence at Coblenz, where the Emperor had stationed himself, was needed; and since speed was essential we were to travel this way. The miles that lay between Berlin and Cob- lenz seemed but so many rods to me, as I sat in the salon of the great airship, resting and talk- ing to my fellow passengers. One would have thought that we had been traveling but a few moments when suddenly there loomed below us in the moonlight, the twin fortresses of Ehren- breitstein and Coblenz, each built upon a high plateau. Between them, in the valley, the lights of the city shone dimly ; in the center of the town was the Schloss, where the Emperor awaited us. But I did not see the Emperor that night. Instead, I was shown to a room in the castle — a room lighted by candle — and there my attendant bade me good-night. At half-past three I was awakened by a knock at the door. "Please dress," said a voice. "His Majesty wishes to see you at four o'clock." It was still dark when at four o'clock I entered that room on the ground floor of the castle where the Emperor of Emperors worked and ate and 182 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent slept. In the dim light I saw him, bent over a table on which was piled correspondence of all kinds. He did not seem to have heard me enter the room, and as he continued to work, signing paper after paper with great rapidity, I looked down and noticed that, in my haste to appear before him on time, I had dressed completely save for one thing. I was in my stocking feet. I coughed to announce my presence. He looked up then, and I saw that he wore a Litewka, that undress military jacket which is used by soldiers for stable duty, and which German of- ficers wear sometimes in their homes. But the face that met mine, startled me almost out of my composure; for it was more like the countenance of Pancho Villa than that of Wilhelm Hohen- zollern. That face, as a rule so majestic in its expression, was drawn and lined; his hair was disarranged and showed numerous bald patches which it ordinarily covered. And his moustaches — for so many years the target of friend and foe and which were always pointed so arrogantly upward — drooped down and gave him a dis- spirited look that I had never seen him wear before. In a word, it was an extremely nervous and not a stolid, Teutonic person who sat before me 183 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent in that room. And it was not an assertive, but merely a very tired human being, who finally addressed me. "I am sorry to have been obliged to call you at this hour," he said, "but I am very busy and it is important that I should see you." And then instead of ordering me to report to him, instead of commanding me to tell him those things which I had been sent to tell him, this autocrat, this so-called man of iron, spoke to me as one man to another, almost as a friend speaks to a friend. I do not remember all that we spoke of in that half hour — the three years that have passed have brought me too much of experience for me to recall clearly more than the general tenor of our conversation. It is his manner that I remember most vividly, and the general impression of the scene. For as I stood before him then, it sud- denly seemed to me that he spoke and looked as a man will who is confronted by a problem that for the moment has staggered him — not because of its immensity but because he sees now that he lias always misunderstood it. Here, I thought, is a man, accustomed to facing all issues with grand words and a show of arrogance; and now at a time when oratory is of 184 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent no avail, he finds himself still indomitable, per- haps, but a trifle lost, a trifle baffled, when he contemplates the work before him. For Wilhelm II had labored for years to prevent, or if that were impossible, to come victoriously through, the crisis which he knew must some day develop, and which he himself had at last precipitated. He had striven constantly to entrench Germany in a position that would command the world; and had sought to concentrate, so far as may be, the trouble spots of the world into one or two, to the end that Germany, when the time came, might extinguish them at a blow. But the time had come, and he knew that despite his efforts, there were not two but many issues that must be faced, and each one separately. He had striven with a sort of perverted altruism, to prepare the world for those things which he believed to be right and which, therefore, must prevail. And now after long years of preparation, of diplomatic intrigue with its record of nations bribed, threatened or cajoled into submision or alliance, he was faced with a condition which gave the lie to his expec- tations and he knew that "failure" must be written across the years. Russia, Japan, were for the moment lost ; Italy was making ready to cast itself loose from that alliance which had been 185 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent so insecurely founded upon distrust. And in America — who could tell? And yet, for all that I read weariness and bewilderment in his every tone, I could find in him no trace of hesitation or uncertainty. Instead, I knew that running through every fibre of the man there was an un- questioning assurance of victory — a victory that must come! While I stood there imagining these things, he spoke of our aims in Europe and in America and of the things that must be done to bring them to success. He bade me tell him the various details of our affairs in Mexico and the United States; and he, like Kohnemann, was chiefly interested in Mexico. It was in fact, almost suspicious, his interest was so great ; and I could explain it only in one way — that he viewed Mexico as the ulti- mate battlefield of Japan and the United States in the next great struggle — the struggle for the mastery of the Pacific. For just as Belgium has been the battlefield of Europe, so must Mexico be the battleground of America in that war which the future seems to be preparing. I remember wondering, as he spoke of what might come to pass, at the tremendous familiarity he displayed with the points of view of th<* peoples and governments of both Americas. I 186 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent had thought myself well acquainted with con- ditions in both continents; but here was a man separated by thousands of miles from the peoples of whom he talked, whose knowledge was, never- theless, more correct, as I saw it, than that of anyone — Dernburg not excepted — whom I had met. It was then, I think, that he told me what Germany wished of me, outlining briefly those things which he thought I could do best. "You can serve us," he said, "in Turkey or in America. In the one you will have an oppor- tunity to fight as thousands of your countrymen are fighting. In the other, you will have chosen a task that is not so pleasant perhaps, and not less dangerous, but which will always be re- garded honorably by your Emperor, because it is work that must be done. Which do you choose ?" I hesitated a moment. "It shall be as your Majesty wishes," I said finally. He looked at me closely before he spoke again. "It is America, then." And then, as I bowed in acquiescence, he spoke once more — for the last time so far as my ears are concerned. 187 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent "I must be ready by 7; my train leaves at 7.10. I may never see you again, but I shall always know that you have done your duty. Good-bye." And so I left him — this man who is a menace to his people, not because he is vicious or from any criminal intent; not, I believe, because his personal ambitions are such that his country must bleed to satisfy them; but merely because his mind is the outcome of a system and an edu- cation so divorced from fact that he could not see the evil of his own position if it were explained to him. For in spite of his remarkable grasp of the facts of Empire, the deeper human realities have passed him by. For years he has had a private clipping bureau for his own information; but he does not know that he has never seen any but the clippings that the Junkers — those who stood to gain by the success of his present course — have wished him to see. He does not know that he lias been shut out from many chapters of the world's real history; or that this insidious censor- ship has kept from him those things, which, I am sure, had he known in the daj r s when his intellect was susceptible to the influence of fact, would have made him a man instead of an Emperor. Here was a man who honestly believed that he 188 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent was doing what was best for his people, but so hopelessly warped by his training and so closely surrounded by satellites that even had the truth borne wings, it could not have reached him. To me it seems that the menace of the Hohen- zollerns lies in this: not that they are worse than other men, not that they mean ill to the world, but that time and experience have left them unaroused by what others know as progress. They stand in the pathway of the world to-day, believing themselves right and regarding them- selves as victims of an oppressive rivalry. They do not know that their viewpoint is as tragically perverted as that of the fox who, feeling that he must lire, steals the farmer's hens. But, like the farmer, the world knows only that it is injured; and just as the farmer realizes that he must rid himself of the fox, so the world knows, to-day, and says that the Hohenzollerns must go! CHAPTER IX. In England — and how I reached there, I am arrested and imprisoned for fifteen months. What von Pa pen's baggage contained. I make a sworn statement. T% ACK in Berlin, I sought out Major Kohne- *-* maim, and together we spent many days in planning my future course of action. It was a war council in effect, for the object toward which we aimed was nothing less than the crip- pling of the United States by a campaign of terrorism and conspiracy. It was not pleasant work that I was to do, but I knew, as every in- formed German did, that it was necessary. Therefore I accepted it. What would you have? Germany was in the Mar to conquer or be conquered. America, the source of supply for the Allies, stood in the way. Knowing these things, we set about the task of preventing America from aiding our enemies, by using whatever means we could. We did not feel either compunction or hostility. It was war 190 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent — diplomatic rather than military, but war none the less. I do not intend to go into the details of our plans at the present moment. Those will have their place in a later chapter. Enough to say that after a brief visit to both the eastern and western fronts I left Germany for England — en route to America with a program that in ruthlessness or efficiency left nothing to be desired. But before going to England it was necessary that I take every possible precaution against ex- posure there. My passport might be sufficient identification, but I knew that since the arrest of Carl Lody and other German spies in England, the British authorities were examining passports with a great deal more care than they had formerly exercised. Accordingly, one morning, Mr. Bridgman Taylor presented himself at the American Embass}^ for financial aid with which to leave Germany. There was good reason for this. To ask a consulate or embassy to vise a passport when that is not necessary, may easily seem suspicious. But the applicant for aid, re- ceives not only additional identification in the form of a record of his movements, but also secures an advantage in that his passport bears an indorsement of his appeal for assistance, in 191 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent my case signed with the name of the Ambassador. At The Hague I again applied for help from the United States Relief Commission. I amused myself on this occasion by making two drafts; one for fifteen dollars on Mr. John F. Ryan of Buffalo, N. Y., and one for thirty dollars on "Mr. Papen" of New York City. I was fairly secure, then, I thought. If sus- picion did fall upon me, it would be simple to prove that I had submitted my passport to a number of American officials, and had conse- quently satisfied them of my good faith as well as that the passport had not been issued to some one other than myself, as in the case of Lody. As a final step I took care to divide my per- sonal papers into two groups: those which were perfectly harmless, such as my Mexican com- mission and leave of absence, and those which would tend to establish my identity as a German agent. These I deposited in two separate safe- deposit vaults in Rotterdam, taking care to re- member in which each group was placed — and that done, with a feeling of personal security, and even a certain amount of zest for the ad- venture, I boarded a channel steamer for Eng- land. I was absolutely safe, I felt. In my con- 192 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent iidence, I went about very freely, ignoring the fact that England was at the moment in the throes of a spy-scare, and even so well-recom- mended a German- American as Mr. Bridgman Taylor, was not likely to escape scrutiny. And yet, I believe that I should not have been caught at all, if I had not stopped one day in front of the Horse Guards and joined the crowd that was watching guard mount. Why I did it, it is impossible for me to say. There was no military advantage to be gained; that is certain. And I had seen guard mount often enough to find no element of novelty in it. Whim, I sup- pose, drew me there; and as luck would have it, it drew into a particularly congested portion of the crowd. And then chance played another card, by causing a small boy to step on my foot. I lost my temper and abused the lad roundly for his carelessness — so roundly in fact that a man standing in front of me turned around and looked into my face. I recognized him at once as an agent of the Russian Government, whom I had once been instrumental in exposing as a spy in Ger- many. I saw him look at me closely for a mo- ment and I could tell by his expression, although he said no word, that he had recognized me also. 193 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Thrusting a penny into the boy's hand, I made haste to get out of the crowd as quickly as I could. Here was a pleasant situation, I thought, as I made my way very quietly to my hotel. I could not doubt that the Russian would report me — but what then? His word against mine would not convict me of anything, but it might lead to au inconvenient period of detention. I sat down to consider the situation. After all, I decided, the situation was serious but not absolutely hopeless. Unquestionably I should be reported to the police; unquestionably a careful investigation would result in the dis- covery that there was no Bridgman II. Taylor at the address in El Paso which I had given to the Relief Commission at the Hague. For the rest, my accent would prove only that I was of German blood ; not that I was a German subject. So far, so bad. But what then? I had, in the safe deposit vaults at Rotterdam, papers proving that I was a Mexican officer on leave. It would be a simple matter to send for these papers, to admit that I was Horst von der Goltz, and to state that I was in England en route from a visit to my family in Germany and now bound for Mexico to resume my services. There remained 194. My Adventures as a German Secret Agent but one matter to explain: why I was using an American passport bearing a name that was not mine. That should not he a difficult task. Huerta had been overthrown barely a week before my leave of absence was issued. Carranza's govern- ment had not yet been recognized, and already my general, Villa, had quarreled with him, so that it was impossible for me to procure a passport from the Mexican Government. In my dilemma, I had taken advantage of the offer of an Ameri- can exporter, who had been kind enough to lend me his passport, which he had secured and found he did not need at the time. As for my name, it was not a particularly good one under whicb to travel in England, so I had naturally been obliged to use the one on my passport. It was a good story and had somewhat the ap- pearance of truth. The question was, would it be believed? Even if it were, it had its disad- vantages; for I should certainly be arrested as an enemy alien, and after a delay fatal to all my plans, I should probably be deported. I decided to try a bolder scheme. In Parliamentary White Paper, Miscellaneous No. 13, (1910), you will find a statement which explains my next step. "Horst von der Goltz," 105 My Adventures as a German Secret dgeni it says, "arrived in England Prom Holland on the fourth of November, 1914. He offered in- formation upon projected air raids, the source whence the Emden derived her information as to British shipping, and hew the Leipsic was ob- taining her coal supply. //<■ offered to go back to Germany to obtain information and all he ashed for in the first instance was his traveling <\vpnisc\w" What is the meaning o( these amazing statements? Simply this. 1 realized thai even it' the story I had concocted were believed it would mean a considerable delay and ultimate deporta- tion, And as I had no mind to submit to either of these things it' 1 could avoid them, I decided to forestall my Russian friend by taking the only possible stop one commendable for its audacity it' for nothing else. Accordingly I walked straight to Downing St root and into the Foreign Office. 1 asked to see Mr. Campbell oi' the Secret Intelligence Department. This was walking into the jaws of the lion with a ven- geance. 1 told Mr, Campbell that T wished to enter the British Secret Service; that 1 was in a position to secure much valuable information, "Upon what subject?*' asked Mr, Campbell. 196 * -1 , i ; '-/ ; / 5 v. '. 4 1 — « - 1 *? ■ ' sr -:-,', 2 - 2 5 - - ,' 2; ' *n ° £ - "' S "'g a» hr) ' C ^ ' ' 3 2 ! f 2 ?* a.' '5' S' STc .' (T - . - / : S3 I My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Zeppelin raids, I told him. I choose that sub- ject first, because it was the least harmful I could think of in case my "traitorous" offer ever reached the ears of Berlin. No one knew better than I how imposible it was to obtain information about Zeppelins. I reasoned that the officers in command of Abteilung III B in the General Staff would know that I was bluffing when I offered to get information upon that subject for the English. They would know that I was not in a position to have or to obtain any such knowledge, for in Germany no topic is so closely guarded as that. Also, I reasoned that it was a topic in which the English were vastly interested. They were. Mr. Campbell was hesitating, so I added two other equally absurd subjects, the movements of the Emden and the Leipsic, about which I knew — and the service chiefs knew that I knew — ab- solutely nothing. Mr. Campbell was plainly puzzled. My inten- tions seemed to be good. At any rate, I had come to him quite openly, and any ulterior motives I might have had were not apparent. Then, too, I had offered him the key of my safe deposit box, teling him what it contained. He considered a moment. 197 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent "We shall have to investigate your story," he said finally. "We shall send to Holland for the papers you say are contained in the vault there; and you will be questioned further. In the meantime I shall have to place you under arrest." I had expected nothing better than this, and went to my jail with a feeling that was relief rather than anything else. My papers would establish my identity and then, if all went well, I should go back to Germany and make my way to America by another route. But all did not go well. Somehow, in spite of my commission and leave of absence — perhaps because my offer seemed too good to be true — the British authorities decided that it would be better to lose the information I had offered them and keep me in England. Whatever their sus- picions, the only charge they could bring against me and prove was that I was an alien enemy who had failed to register. They had no proof what- ever of any connection between me and the Ger- man Government. So on the 13th of November, 1914, they brought me into a London police court to answer the charge of failing to register. I was delighted to do so. It was far more com- fortable than facing a court martial on trial for s My Adventures as a German Secret Agent my life as a spy, as the English newspapers had seemed to expect. Accordingly on the 26th of November I was duly sentenced to six months at hard labor in Pentonville Prison, with a recom- mendation for deportation at the expiration of my sentence. I served five months at Penton- ville — where Roger Casement was hanged — and then my good behavior let me out. Home Secre- tary MacKenna signed the order for my depor- tation. I was free. I was to slip from under the paw of the lion. And then something happened — to this day I don't know what. Instead of being deported I was thrust into Brixton Prison, where Kuepferer hanged himself, strangely enough, just after his troubles seemed over. Kuepferer had driven a bargain with the English. He was to give them information in return for his life and freedom; and then, when he had everything arranged, he committed suicide. In Brixton I was not sen- tenced on any charge, I was simply held in solitary confinement, with occasional diversions in the form of a "third degree." After my first insincere offer to give the English information I kept my mouth shut and made no overtures to them, although I confess that the temptation to tell all I knew was often very great. The Eng- 199 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent lish got nothing- out of me and in September, 1915, I was shifted to another prison. They took me out of Brixton and placed me into Read- ing — the locale of Oscar Wilde's ballad. Con- ditions were less disagreeable there. I was allowed to have newspapers and magazines, and to talk and exereise with my fellow prisoners. You may be sure that all this time the English made attempts to solve my personal identity as well as to learn the reason for my being in Eng- land. They could not shake my story. Time after time I told them: "I am Horst von der Goltz, an officer of the Mexican army on leave. I used the United States passport made out to Bridgman Taylor from necessity — to avoid the suspicion that would be attached to me because of my German descent. "Gentlemen, that is all I can tell you." Over and over again I repeated that meagre statement to the men who questioned me. I would not tell them the truth, and I knew that no lie would help me. And then came an event which changed my viewpoint and made me tell — if not the whole story — at least a considerable part of it. I had, as I have said, managed to secure news- papers in my new quarters. It is difficult to say 200 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent how eagerly I read them after so many months of complete ignorance, or with what anxiety I studied such war news as came into my hands- It was America in which I was chiefly interested, for I knew that after my capture, some other man must have been sent to do the work which I had planned to do. I know now that it was von Rintelen who was selected — that infinitely re- sourceful intriguer who planted his spies through- out the United States, and for a time seemed well on the way to succeeding in the most gigan- tic conspiracy against a peaceful nation that had ever been undertaken. But at the time I could tell nothing of this, although I watched unceas- ingly for reports of strikes, explosions and Ger- man uprisings which would tell me that that work which I had been commanded to do and from which I was only too glad to be spared, was being prosecuted. So several months passed — months in which I had time for meditation and in which I began to see more clearly some things which had been hinted at in Berlin — and of which I shall tell more later on. And then one day I read a dis- patch that caused me to sit very silently for a moment in my cell, and to wonder — and fear a little. 201 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent Yon Papen had boon recalled. I read the story of how he and Captain Boy- Ed had over-reached and finally betrayed them- selves; of the passport frauds thai they had con- ducted; oi' the conspiracies and sedition that they had sought to stir up. I learned that they had been sent home under a safe-eondnet which did not cover any documents they might carry. It was this last fact which caused me uneasiness. Had von Papen. always si> confident oi' his suc- cess, attempted to smuggle through some report oi' his two years oi' plotting? It seemed im- probable, and yet, knowing his tendency to take chances, I was troubled by the possibility. For such a report might contain a record of my connection with him — and I was not protected by a safe-conduct! My fears were well-founded, as yon know. Von Papen carried with him no particular re- ports, but a number of personal papers which were seized when his ship stopped at Falmouth. In my prison 1 read oi' the seizure and was doubly alarmed; increasingly so when the news- papers began publishing reports that they im- plicated literally hundreds of Irish- and German- Americans whoso services von Papen had used in his plots. Then as the days passed, and my, 202 My Adventures an a German Secret A {rent name was riot mentioned in the disclosures, I became relieved. "After all," J thought, "he knows that I am here in prison and that J have kept silent. lie will have been careful. These others- he has had some reason for his incautiousness with them. But, he will not betray me, just as he has be- trayed none of his German associates." Then, on the night of January 30th, 1910, the governor of Reading Prison informed me that I was to go to London the next day. "Where to?" J asked. "To Scotland Yard," he said briefly. "What for?" "I do not know." My heart sank, for I realized at once that something had ocurred which, was of vital import to me. I have faced firing squads in Mexico. I have stood against a wall, waiting for the signal that should bid the soldiers fire. And I have taken other dangerous chances, without, I be- lieve, more fear than another man would have known. But never have I felt more reluctant than that night when T stood outside of Scotland Yard, waiting — for what? T was brought in to the office of the Assistant Commissioner and found myself in the presence 203 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent of four men, who regarded- me gravely and in silence. I had never seen them before, but later I learned their names: Capt. William Hall of the Admiralty Intelligence Department; Mr. Nathan, the Oriental expert of the Foreign Office; Cap- tain Carter of the War Office, and Mr. Basil Thompson, Assistant Commissioner of the Police of London. There was something tomb-like about the at- mosphere of the room, I thought, as I faced these men — and then I changed my opinion, for I saw lying open on the table around which they were seated — a box of cigarettes. I reached forward to take one, forgetting all politeness (for I had not smoked in six weeks) when my eye caught sight of a little pink slip of paper which one of them held in his hand — a slip which, I knew at once, was the cause of my presence there. It was Captain Hall who held the paper toward me. It read: Washington, D. C. September 1, 1914. The Riggs National Bank, Pay to the order of Mr. Bridgman Taylor two himdred dollars. F. VON Papen. 204 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent When I had read it he turned over the cheek so that I could see the endorsement. They were all watching me. The room was very still. I could hear myself breathe. Mr. Nathan of the Foreign Office handed me a pen and paper. "Sign this name, please — Mr. Bridgman Taylor." I knew it would be folly to attempt to disguise my handwriting. I wrote out my name. It corresponded exactly with the endorsement on the back of the check. "Do you know that check?" he asked. "Yes," I admitted, racking my wits for a pos- sible explanation of the affair. "Why was it issued?" I had an inspiration. "Von Papen gave it to me to go to Europe and join the army — but you see I didn't " "Ah! Von Papen gave it to you." I was doing quick thinking. My first fright was over, but I realized that that little check might easily be my death warrant. I knew that von Papen had many reports and instructions bearing my name. I was afraid to admit to myself that after all these months of security, I had at last been discovered. Von Papen's check 205 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent proved that I had received money from a repre- sentative of the German Government. There might be other papers which would prove every thing needed to sentence me to execution. I was groping around for an idea — and then in a flash I realized the truth. It angered and embittered me. There passed across my memory the year and more of solitary confinement, during which I had held my tongue. I swung around on the Englishmen. "Are you the executioners of the German Government?" I asked. "Are you so fond of von Papen that you want to do him a favor? If you shoot me you will be obliging him." The four grave faces looked at me. "We are going to prosecute you on this evidence," was the only answer. "You English pride yourselves," I said, "on not being taken in. Von Papen is a very clevefl man. Are you going to let him use you for Ws own purposes? Do you think he was foolish enough not to realize that those papers would be seized? Do you think" — this part of it was a random shot, and lucky — "do you think it is an accident that the only papers he carried, referring to a live, unsentenced man in England refer 200 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent to me? Just think! Von Papen has been re- called. The United States can investigate his actions now without embarrassment. And he, knowing me to be one of the connecting links in the chain of his activities, and knowing that I am a prisoner liable to extradition, would ask nothing better than to be permanently rid of me. And in the papers he carried he very obligingly fur- nished you with incriminating evidence against me. You can choose for yourselves. Do him this favor if you want to. But I think I'm worth more to you alive than dead. Especially now that I see how very willing my own government is to have me dead." The four men exchanged glances. I had made the appeal as a forlorn hope. Would they accept it and the promise it implied? I could not tell from their next words. "We shall discuss that further, 55 said Captain Carter. "You will return to Reading." The next few days were full of anxiety for me. I could not tell how my appeal had been re- garded, but I knew that it would be only by good fortune that I should escape at least a trial for espionage — for that is what my presence in Eng- land would mean. Finally I received a tentative assurance of immunity if I should tell what I 207 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent knew of the workings of German secret agencies. In spite of any hesitancy I might formerly have felt at such a course, I decided to make a confession. Von Papen's betrayal of me — for that he had intentionally betrayed me, I was, and am, convinced — was too wanton to arouse in me any feeling except a desire for my freedom, which for fifteen months I had been robbed of, merely through the silence which my own sense of honor imposed upon me. But I must be care- ful. I had no desire to injure anyone whom von Papen had not implicated. And I did not wish to betray any secret which I could safely with- hold. I speculated upon what other documents von Papen might have carried. So far as I knew the only one involving me was the check ; but of that I could not be sure, nor did it seem likely. It was more probable that there were other papers which would be used to test the sincerity of my story. My aim was to tell only such things as were already known, or were quite harmless. But how to do that? I needed some inkling as to what I might tell and on what I must be silent. That knowledge was difficult to obtain, but I finally secured it through a rather adroit ques- 208 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent tioning of one of the men who interrogated me at the time. He had shown me much courtesy and no little sympathy; and after some pains I managed to worm out of him a very indefinite but useful idea of what matters the von Papen documents covered. What I learned was sufficient to enable me to exclude from my story any facts implicating men who might be harmed by my disclosures. I told of the Welland Canal plot so far as my part in it was concerned, and I told of von Papen's share in that and other activities. And I took care to incorporate in my confession tne promise of immunity that had been made me tentatively. "I have made these statements," I wrote, "on the distinct understanding that the statements I have made, or should make in the future, will not be used against me; that I am not to be prose- cuted for participation in any enterprise directed against the United Kingdom or her Allies I engaged in at the direction of Captain von Papen or other representatives of the German Govern- ment; and that the promise made to me by Capt. William Hall, Chief of the Intelligence Depart- ment of the Admiralty, in the presence of Mr. Basil Thompson, former Governor of Tonga, and Assistant Commissioner of Police, and in the 209 My Adventures as a German Secret Agent presence of Superintendent Quinn, polit"?al branch of Scotland Yard, that I am not to be extradited or sent to any country where I am liable to punishment for political offences, is made on behalf of His Majesty's Government." It was on February 2nd that I turned in my confession and swore to the truth of it. Affairs went better with me after that. I was sent to Lewes Prison, and there I was content for the remainder of my stay in England. And al- though I was still a prisoner I felt more free than I had felt in many years. I was out of it all — free of the necessity to be always watchful, always secret. And above all, I had cut myself loose from the intriguing that I had once en- joyed, but which in the last two years I had grown to hate more than I hated anything else on earth. And there my own adventures end — so far as this book is concerned. I shall not do more than touch upon my return to the United States on so far different an errand than I had once planned. My testimony in the Grand Jury pro- ceedings against Captain Tauscher, von Igel and other of my onetime fellow conspirators, is a matter of too recent record to deserve more than passing mention. Tauscher, you will remember, 210 R. MEES & ZOONEN ROTTERDAM. SAFE-DEPOSIT. De Ondergeteekende __ %> ' ' o PreservationTechnologie r '£> . A e JSiiisS. .- ^n.^ 1» Thomson Park Drive ^ 8MWX« ^ , £^?£-ni§3. - , ' Cranberry Township. PA 16066 a ^^ (724)779-2111 ,*«?„ ■ ••'•♦ & ^ +~ • • • • ' A? *$►> '•"' A> .4 V^ J ' vv V»c»- .»4fer. %^ y^i£ % + # VV ^Q* V ^, % *•■•■ HECKMAN BINDERY INC. €. NOV 89 If N. MANCHESTER ¥ INDIANA 46962