The German Spy in America / The Secret Plotting of German Spies in the United States and the Inside Story of the Sinking of the Lusitania

by John Price Jones

CONTENTS

CHAP.		PAGE
I.	—America: The Background of the War	[13]
II.	—Captain Franz von Papen, Director of Germany’s Military Enterprises on the American Front	[27]
III.	—Captain von Papen, Buyer of Passports and Promoter of Sedition	[70]
IV.	—Von Igel and Koenig, Two of the Kaiser’s Faithful Workers	[88]
V.	—Captain Karl Boy-Ed, the Emperor’s Social Dandy and von Tirpitz’s Tool	[113]
VI.	—Captain Franz von Rintelen, German Arch-Plotter	[144]
VII.	—Captain Franz von Rintelen (concluded)	[168]
VIII.	—The Story of the “Lusitania”	[186]
IX.	—Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, Germany’s Bagman and Blockade Runner	[204]
X.	—Ambassador Dumba, Germany’s co-Conspirator	[229]
XI.	—Germany’s Lobby in Congress	[242]
XII.	—Changing the System	[252]

THE GERMAN SPY IN AMERICA

CHAPTER I
AMERICA: THE BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

America has been the great background of the European War. Though far removed from the trenches with the play of artillery and the heroic charges, this country has been the scene of an equally dramatic, though silent struggle—a battle not visible to the eye. It has been a conflict of wits, of statesman pitted against statesman, of secret agent striving to outdo his opponent of a belligerent nation; for in America, agents of Germany have been striving for a two-fold aim. They have sought to enmesh the United States in an international conspiracy and to use this country as the means of a rear attack on the Entente Allies.

And New York has been the centre of it all. In several of the huge office buildings that make the thoroughfares of the city seem like canyons, Germany had, and still has, the headquarters of a vast nerve-like system radiating throughout the country. The nerve coils are composed of thousands of secret agents located in every city and town. These men have worked under orders from Berlin in the execution of a series of campaigns designed to be of service to the Teutonic Allies. Against these men have been pitted agents of the American government, all aiming to detect the schemes and frustrate any plans for the violation of our neutrality laws.

A diplomat, famed for his finesse and grace of manner, was at a reception given to distinguished statesmen, talented business men and attractive women. The conversation was turned to the topic of spies. One woman wished to know if the diplomat had encountered any spies.

“Well,” remarked the diplomat, “I used to stop at the Hotel Grandeur, but Count ——” (mentioning the name of a diplomat of a nation with which his country was at war) “persisted in having my baggage searched every day. So I moved to the Hotel Excellency; but I found things no better there.”

“Didn’t you complain to the management?”

“Ah, no,” answered he gravely, “but every time the Count stops at the Hotel Elaborate, I have his baggage searched, too.”

Perhaps the diplomat was not serious, but in days when the destiny of nations was at stake, it was likely that he was speaking none too lightly of a game that had doubtless cost him many an hour of the keenest anxiety.

Of all the secret service systems, the German is the most elaborate and machine-like. It has been organized not merely to gather information, but to trample upon the laws of the United States, in order to hinder any project of the Entente Allies. Constructed in the hours of peace with the utmost care and foresight, it was easily expanded in the United States at the outbreak of the war into such a vast network that if a representative of the Allies suddenly retraced his steps or halted suddenly when around a corner, he was almost sure to bump the shins of a German spy. Germany, always methodical and thorough, possessing a genius for moulding a multitude of details into an effective whole, had prepared her secret service system with the same efficiency with which through scores of years she had equipped her military forces for battle; indeed, her secret service was a part of her military forces.

The system is based on the principle of “Lass die linke Hand nicht wissen was die rechte tut”—“let not the left hand know what the right is doing.” So thoroughly is this maxim followed that two German spies may be working side by side and not be aware of the fact. Though groups of Germans may engage in some activity with a thorough understanding of the aims of another, still the order of silence is rigorously enforced. The agents hand their information to a superior, who in turn transmits it to somebody higher up. One spy knows only the person or group of persons with whom he directly deals, sending information along devious and hidden routes up to the final assembling point.

Germany’s spy system has been the sword hand of her statesmen and her diplomats. When this war is over and the world learns of the moves, counter-moves, and Machiavellian methods of German diplomats, with their intrigues, secret understandings, and their daring attempts to force this country into dangerous situations, people will realize more clearly than to-day what a marvellous system has been behind many seemingly casual developments in this country. It will be shown how German agents have violated our laws in order to gain secret information for the benefit of Germany; how her secret agents have committed crimes in order to coerce diplomatic negotiations.