Part 44

An incident in connection with the arrest of Ruroede is related by French Strother in his story “Fighting German Spies” published in _The World’s Work_. Ruroede “was being urged by the Assistant United States District Attorney to ‘come across’ with the facts about his activities in the passport frauds, and he had stood up pretty well against the persuasions and hints of the attorney and the doubts and fears of his own mind. About eleven o’clock at night, as he was for the many’th time protesting his ignorance and his innocence, another agent of the Bureau of Investigation walked across the far end of the dimly lit room—in one door and out another—accompanied by a fair-haired lad of nineteen.

“‘My God!’ exclaimed Ruroede, ‘have they got my son, too? The boy knows nothing at all about this.’

“This little ghost-walking scene, borrowed from _Hamlet_, broke down Ruroede’s reserve, and he came out with pretty much all the story, ending with the melancholy exclamation ‘I thought I was going to get an Iron Cross; but what they ought to do is to pin a little tin stove on me.’”

A SENSATIONAL CAPTURE

In addition to von Papen, Dr. Albert and Boy-Ed, one of Bernstorff’s effective agents was Wolf von Igel, who was the leader of the dynamite men of the conspiracy. He set up at 60 Wall Street ostensibly in the “advertising” business. Attention was attracted to him by the fact that his visitors during the two years he was undisturbed were Germans who had nothing whatever to do with advertising. Moreover, conspicuous in his office was a large safe bearing the insignia of the German Imperial Government. Suspicions were aroused and by degrees these suspicions were strengthened by circumstances and incidents that indicated von Igel as a German agent. Therefore, as the New York _Times_ reported, one morning in April, 1916, while von Igel was engaged preparing a mass of papers taken from the safe for transfer to Washington, the office was entered by four United States Secret Service agents from the Department of Justice, who made their way past the guardians always on duty, put von Igel under arrest, and undertook to seize the papers. The German was powerful and brave. With the aid of one associate he stubbornly fought the officers, striving to rescue the papers, to close the safe, to get to the telephone and communicate with his superiors. Revolvers were drawn by the Secret Service men. They produced no effect upon the intrepid von Igel.

“This is German territory,” he shouted. “Shoot me and you will bring on war.”

There was no shooting. But after a protracted struggle the defenders were overpowered and the papers seized. The German Embassy at once entered its protest. These were official papers. They were sacrosanct. The diplomatic prerogative of a friendly nation had been overridden and the person of its representative insulted. To this the State Department replied that the invaded premises at 60 Wall Street were described in the contract as a private business office for the carrying on of advertising, and that von Igel had not been formally accredited as a German representative.

When the papers were examined by the Department of Justice the reason for von Igel’s determined fight became apparent. Here, in the form of letters, telegrams, notations, checks, receipts, ledgers, cashbooks, cipher codes, lists of spies, and other memoranda and records were found indications—in some instances of the vaguest nature, in others of the most damning conclusiveness—that the German Imperial Government, through its representatives in a then friendly nation, was concerned with—

Violation of the laws of the United States.

Destruction of lives and property in merchant vessels on the high seas.

Irish revolutionary plots against Great Britain.

Fomenting ill-feeling against the United States in Mexico.

Subornation of American writers and lecturers.

Financing of propaganda.

Maintenance of a spy system under the guise of a commercial investigation bureau.

Subsidizing of a bureau for the purpose of stirring up labor troubles in munition plants.

The bomb industry and other related activities.

One of the most significant papers in the von Igel collection was a letter directly convicting von Papen of paying money to a plotter (Paul Koenig, manager of an alleged Bureau of Investigation established by the Hamburg-American Steamship Company for secret service purposes) designing to blow up merchant ships sailing from the port of New York. Koenig had reported the make of the bombs which it was proposed to use. They were made to look like lumps of coal, to be concealed in the coal laden on steamers of the Allies. By this or other means thirty ships carrying munitions to the Allies were sunk.

MORE BERNSTORFF CRAFT

Closely related to and to some extent under the guidance of von Igel was the German and Austro-Hungarian Labor Information and Relief Bureau, with central headquarters at 136 Liberty Street, New York City, and branches in Cleveland, Detroit, Bridgeport, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The head of the enterprise was Hans Liebau, from whom it took its familiarly accepted name of the “Liebau Employment Agency.” During the trying days which followed the arrest of the Welland Canal conspirators it was unwaveringly asserted that the Liebau concern was a bona fide employment agency and nothing else, with no object other than to secure positions for German, Austrian, or Hungarian workmen seeking employment. That was for publication only. In von Igel’s papers the truth appears, brought out by the refusal of the Austro-Hungarian Embassy to continue its subsidies to the bureau.

That the Austro-Hungarian Embassy had taken official cognizance of the bureau previously, however, is disclosed in the letter written by the Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, which was found in the possession of James F. J. Archibald by the British authorities August 30, 1915. In this letter the Ambassador stated:

“It is my impression that we can disorganize and hold up for months, if not entirely prevent, the manufacture of munitions in Bethlehem and the Middle West, which, in the opinion of the German Military Attaché, is of importance and amply outweighs the comparatively small expenditure of money involved.”

Representations on behalf of the bureau’s efficiency were made, under date of March 24, 1916, in a letter to the German Ambassador, von Bernstorff:

“Engineers and persons in the better class of positions, and who had means of their own, were persuaded by the propaganda of the bureau to leave war material factories.”

The report comments with unconcealed amusement upon the fact that munitions concerns innocently wrote the bureau for workmen (which, of course, were not furnished) and continues in reviewing later conditions in the munitions industry:

“The commercial employment bureaus of the country have no supply of unemployed technicians.... Many disturbances and suspensions which war material factories have had to suffer, and which it was not always possible to remove quickly, but which on the contrary often led to long strikes, may be attributed to the energetic propaganda of the employment bureau.”

The captured documents contained letters and communications that established intimate relations between the German Diplomatic Service and the Irish revolutionary movement. Among others was the letter concerning a Justice of the New York Supreme Court, Daniel F. Cohalan, beginning, “Judge Cohalan requests the transmission of the following remarks.” The remarks are then quoted as follows:

“The revolution in Ireland can only be successful if supported from Germany, otherwise England will be able to suppress it, even though it be only after hard struggles. Therefore help is necessary. This should consist, primarily, of aerial attacks in England and a diversion of the fleet simultaneously with Irish revolution. Then, if possible, a landing of troops, arms, and ammunition in Ireland, and possibly some officers from Zeppelins. This would enable the Irish ports to be closed against England and the establishment of stations for submarines on the Irish coast and the cutting off of the supply of food for England. The services of the revolution may therefore decide the war.”

“He asks that a telegram to this effect be sent to Berlin,” the letter continues. It is but fair to say that Judge Cohalan has denied making the request.

[Illustration: Poster for the Fourth Liberty Loan]

Other documents revealed the German Secret Service dealings with Sir Roger Casement, subsequently executed by the British for treason, but though the Department of Justice had this incriminating evidence, it did not reach the Attorney General until the afternoon following the arrest of Casement. The cause of Casement’s arrest was not, therefore, information furnished by the Department, as was loosely charged at the time.

LANSING’S REVELATION

The most sensational of the revelations of German plotting in the United States was made by Secretary Lansing on September 21, 1916, when he published without comment a telegram written by Ambassador Bernstorff himself and asking his government for $50,000 to be used in influencing Congress. This was not one of the papers taken from von Igel, but was of much later date, and Mr. Lansing stated that the cablegram had not been sent to Germany through the State Department, leaving it to be implied that it went by way of some neutral legation.

There was a veritable storm of excitement in Congress over the imputation of bribery, some Congressmen in the heat of the moment intimating that they knew what members had benefited from the fund. But later it was made evident that Bernstorff had no idea of bribery but of starting a volume of letters and telegrams from various parts of the country to influence Congressmen against a declaration of war. Some time afterwards Secretary Lansing made public the fact that when Bernstorff asked for the $50,000 to influence the American Congress he was already aware that Germany was about to resume her ruthless submarine warfare which she had assured the United States would be abandoned.

THE BOLO PASHA FOLLY

The most amazing instance thus far discovered of the German government’s lavish waste of the German people’s money for useless intrigues in other countries is that revealed after the arrest of Paul Bolo, alias Bolo Pasha, in Paris, Sept. 29, 1917. The following account is taken from the _New York Times Current History_:

“Bolo had long been under suspicion and had been temporarily under arrest several weeks before, but only upon receipt of important evidence from the United States was he imprisoned without bail. He is a Frenchman, born at Marseilles, and, according to an article in the Paris _Matin_, is a brother of an eloquent French prelate of that name. He has had an adventurous career in various countries, including Egypt, and at the beginning of the war he was penniless; but when in Switzerland in March, 1915, he met Abbas Hilmi, former Khédive of Egypt, and apparently concluded an arrangement by which he was to receive $2,500,000 to be used in influencing the French press in favor of a German peace. The plan was approved by Gottlieb von Jagow, German Foreign Minister, who was to pay the money partly through the ex-Khédive and partly through Swiss and American banks.

“In accordance with this arrangement $1,000,000 was paid by roundabout methods through Swiss banks, to avert suspicion. Abbas Hilmi and an associate are said to have collected $50,000 as a commission. After that time Bolo Pasha and Abbas Hilmi seemed to have fallen out, for their relations ceased. At the time of his arrest Bolo was said to have received $8,000,000 from Germany, of which $2,500,000 had been traced to the Deutsche Bank. Large portions of this sum were said to have been paid through an American channel. The actual facts, now proved by the documents, go far toward confirming those original estimates.

“Bolo arrived in New York on February 22, 1916, and left on March 17 following. He had rooms at the Plaza Hotel, and was careful not to be seen in public with German agents. He saw Bernstorff secretly in Washington.

“When the French government got an inkling of his traitorous activities it appealed to Governor Whitman of New York for evidence, and ten days’ work by Merton E. Lewis, the Attorney General of the State, assisted by an expert accountant, resulted in sensational disclosures which were made public on the evening of October 3. The evidence, which included photographic reproductions of many telltale checks, letters, and telegrams, revealed the fact that Count Bernstorff, then German Ambassador at Washington, had eagerly fallen in with Bolo’s proposition to betray France by corrupting the press in favor of a premature peace and had advanced him the enormous sum of $1,683,500 to finance the plot. The State Department and Ambassador Jusserand examined the evidence and attested its genuineness.

[Illustration:

From _Punch_, Sept. 9, 1914.

India for the King

The man on horseback is a Hindu. To his right is a Mohammedan, to his left a Parsee. This cartoon from _Punch_ depicts the loyalty of the natives of India in the World War.]

“Many banks had been used to confuse and hide the transaction, but the persons and agencies who figured knowingly in it are Bolo Pasha, Ambassador von Bernstorff, and two bankers—Hugo Schmidt, former New York agent of the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, who acted as Bernstorff’s financial agent, and Adolph Pavenstedt, former head of the New York banking house of G. Amsinck & Co.

“Of the mass of documents exhibited by Attorney General Lewis, the most important was a letter written by Bolo Pasha to the New York City branch of the Royal Bank of Canada on March 14, 1916, three days before he sailed to return to France. That letter reads:

“‘New York, March 14, 1916.

“‘The Royal Bank of Canada, New York, N. Y.

“‘Gentlemen: You will receive from Messrs. G. Amsinck & Co. deposits for the credit of my account with you, which deposits will reach the aggregate amount of about $1,700,000, which I wish you to utilize in the following manner:

“‘First—Immediately on receipt of the first amount on account of this sum pay to Messrs. J. P. Morgan & Co., New York City, the sum of $170,068.03, to be placed to the credit of the account with them of Senator Charles Humbert, Paris.

“‘Second—Establish on your books a credit of $5,000, good until the 31st of May, in favor of Jules Bois, Biltmore Hotel, this amount to be utilized by him at the debit of my account according to his needs, and the unused balance to be returned to me.

“‘Third—Transfer to the credit of my wife, Mme. Bolo, with agency T of Comptoir National d’Escompte de Paris a sum of about $524,000, to be debited to my account as such transfers are made by you at best rate and by small amounts.

“‘Fourth—You will hold, subject to my instructions, when all payments are complete, a balance of not less than $1,000,000.

“‘Yours truly,

“‘BOLO PASHA.’

“That is how the $1,683,500, which was the exact amount Bernstorff ordered Schmidt to place at the service of Bolo, came into the latter’s actual possession.

BERNSTORFF THE MASTER MIND

“Direct evidence that Count Bernstorff was the master mind behind the plot on this side of the Atlantic came to light in five dispatches that were made public by Secretary Lansing on October 5. These messages were exchanged in the Spring of 1916:

“‘_The Department of State communicates to the press the following telegrams bearing upon the case of Bolo Pasha, exchanged between Count von Bernstorff and Herr von Jagow, German Minister of Foreign Affairs._

* * * * *

“‘Number 679, Feb. 26. I have received direct information from an entirely trustworthy source concerning a political action in one of the enemy countries which would bring peace. One of the leading political personalities of the country in question is seeking a loan of one million seven hundred thousand dollars in New York, for which security will be given. I was forbidden to give his name in writing. The affair seems to me to be of the greatest possible importance. Can the money be provided at once in New York? That the intermediary will keep the matter secret is entirely certain. Request answer by telegram. A verbal report will follow as soon as a trustworthy person can be found to bring it to Germany.

“‘BERNSTORFF.’

* * * * *

“‘Number 150, Feb. 29. Answer to telegram Number 679. Agree to the loan, but only if peace action seems to you a really serious project, as the provision of money in New York is for us at present extraordinarily difficult. If the enemy country is Russia have nothing to do with the business, as the sum of money is too small to have any serious effect in that country. So, too, in the case of Italy, where it would not be worth while to spend so much.

“‘JAGOW.’

* * * * *

“‘Number 685, March 5. Please instruct Deutsche Bank to hold nine million marks at disposal of Hugo Schmidt. The affair is very promising. Further particulars follow.

“‘BERNSTORFF.’

[Illustration:

_Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._

Sergeant William M. Butterfield

_32nd Division, 125th Infantry, Company “G”_

A descendant of the famous Rebel general, Milo J. Butterfield. He was made a corporal and requested to be reduced to the rank of private, in order to get to the front more quickly. He participated in three drives: Château-Thierry, Soissons, and Argonne. He was made a Sergeant in Company “G” as a reward for his splendid fighting in the latter offensive.]

* * * * *

“‘Number 692, March 20. With reference to telegram Number 685, please advise our Minister in Berne that some one will call on him who will give him the passport Sanct Regis and who wishes to establish relations with the Foreign Office. Intermediary further requests that influence may be brought to bear upon our press to pass over the change in the inner political situation in France so far as possible in silence, in order that things may not be spoiled by German approval.

“‘BERNSTORFF.’

* * * * *

“‘Number 206, May 31. The person announced in Telegram 692 of March 20 has not yet reported himself at the legation at Berne. Is there any more news on your side of Bolo?

“‘JAGOW.’

“In France the most sensational feature of the case was Bolo’s payment of $170,000 to Senator Charles Humbert, owner of _Le Journal_. The money was in part payment for 1,100 bonds of that newspaper. Senator Humbert immediately came out with a statement to prove that he was entirely unaware of the treasonable purpose of the purchases. He gave facts showing that Bolo Pasha had used his contract with _Le Journal_ to extract money from Germany. On Oct. 12, the French Military Court appointed a sequestrator for the money advanced to Senator Humbert. It amounted in all to $1,200,000 and was handed over to the care of the Deposit and Consignment office, a section of the Ministry of Finance.

“Whatever the total number of millions extracted from the German government by Bolo Pasha, the utter futility of the expenditure, so far as Germany is concerned, must remain one of the most striking features of the case.”

A CONTINUING EVIL

The exposures of German intrigue and the departure from this country of the official representatives of Germany who had so grossly abused their diplomatic privileges did not by any means put an end to pro-German activities and expenditures. They were uninterrupted though necessarily transferred to channels of less commanding importance. What was true late in 1917, was practically true of the major part of 1918, before the armistice. Societies as well as individuals continued to distribute German money and carry on pro-German or anti-English propaganda. The _New York Times_ said in October, 1917:

“The thing needs no proof. She is paying every man who will accept pay for the same purpose for which, before the war began, she was paying every man who would accept pay to handicap and weaken the arm of the American government.

“How are we to recognize the trail of her money? Before the war she was organizing strikes, blowing up factories, and purchasing the creation of a false public opinion against trading with the Allies. The outbreak of war somewhat altered her aims; there have been no purchased strikes lately and no dynamiting of factories. Her aim, which is always the same—the weakening of the government’s arm—can now be best attained by creating a false public opinion in favor of laying down our arms and consenting to peace before the objects of the war are attained. All her own moves from Berlin are now directed to that end, and when we find a movement in the United States which duplicates the moves from Berlin it is safe to assume that Germany is backing it in the same way in which she backed other movements, to quote von Bernstorff, ‘on former occasions.’

“It makes no difference that some of the men who are engaged in this movement may be merely foolish or deluded and not in receipt of money from Wilhelmstrasse. There are others who are, and these dupes are merely their tools. One and all they are doing the work for which Germany pays those who get the pay and those who do not. The ignorant zealot goes where the paid traitor sends him. That the ignorant zealot does not know the paid traitor is paid does not alter in the slightest the deadly effect of his action, the deadly effect calculated on and purposed by the German paymaster.”

The _New York Tribune_, commenting on the facility of espionage and propaganda by Germans, said:

“Conditions are incredible. These enemy aliens, acting as spies and carriers of information, are everywhere.

“They are going freely to and fro.

“They are in the Army and Navy.

“They occupy hundreds of observation posts.

“They are in possession of hundreds of sources of information of military value.

“They are in factories producing war-materials.

“They are in all the drug and chemical laboratories.

[Illustration:

© _Underwood and Underwood._

Tribitsch Lincoln

The man in the middle, exmember of parliament, is hand-cuffed to a detective. He confessed that he was a spy for the German government.]

“‘If you discharge the Germans,’ says Herman A. Metz, a manufacturer of drugs and chemicals, ‘you will close every chemical plant in the country.’”

ORGANIZED PROPAGANDA

To quote again from _The German Secret Service in America_:

“Many of the peace movements which were set going during the first three years of the war were sincere, many were not. A mass meeting held at Madison Square Garden in 1915 at which Bryan was the chief speaker, was inspired by Germany. In the insincere class falls also the ‘Friends of Peace,’ organized in 1915. Its letterhead bore the invitation: ‘Attend the National Peace Convention, Chicago, Sept. 5 and 6,’ and incidentally betrayed the origin of the society. The letterhead stated that the society represented the American Truth Society (an offshoot of the National German-American Alliance), The American Women of German Descent, the American Fair Play Society, the German-American Alliance of Greater New York, the German Catholic Federation of New York, the United Irish-American Societies and the United Austrian and Hungarian-American Societies. Among the ‘honorable vice-chairmen’ were listed Edmund von Mach, John Devoy, Justices Goff and Cohalan (a trinity of Britonophobes), Colquitt of Texas, ex-Congressman Buchanan (of Labor’s National Peace Council fame), Jeremiah O’Leary (a Sinn Feiner, mentioned in official cables from Zimmermann to Bernstorff as a good intermediary for sabotage), Judge John T. Hylan, Richard Bartholdt (a congressman active in the German political lobby), and divers officers of the Alliance.