After war was declared, these agitators became very violent, and carried on an active campaign against the Selective Service Act. On one occasion they conducted an all-day meeting and picnic at Black Hawk Park, which was nothing but an organization meeting so timed as to interfere with the draft registration. We locked up three men, at which the other members of the two local unions thronged the streets to the jail and demanded the release of the men. We put an additional one hundred and thirty-five members of the I. W. W. in jail, and standing room only was available. Special interurban cars were chartered, eighty persons being removed to adjacent counties. The jail was pretty badly wrecked. The leader of these men got two years imprisonment, it being proved also that he was an alien and subject to deportation. The Immigration Bureau has secured a warrant for his deportation, and he will go abroad permanently at the expiration of his sentence. Federal Judge Landis sentenced one hundred and eleven of these men to one year in the Bridewell at Chicago. This case has been referred to in the report of Mr. Colby, D. J. agent at Chicago, as one of the most important in the Western country. A special agent was sent out by the Department of Justice to Rockford, with the result that an office was established there to carry on the joint work more efficiently.
After Camp Grant was located at Rockford, the A. P. L. had much more work to do. While the buildings were going up, about 50,000 men passed through the employment bureau, from 7,000 to 10,000 being employed in the work. All classes of men were attracted to Rockford, and the local division was busy in keeping watch over them. Thirty-five I. W. W. members were taken from the camp laborers and handled in different ways—always with encouragement to go away and stay away. Two alien enemies were found among the laboring men at Rockford. They had come to America surreptitiously after the war began in Europe and had worked at various cantonments. They finally admitted they were German subjects, and were interned for the war. After the cantonment was completed and the troops began to arrive, the divisional activities of the A. P. L. centered largely in the detection of violations having to do with the morale of the troops. Five operatives were put to work on liquor cases, all working together under cover. Twenty-six men were sentenced for supplying soldiers with liquor, getting an average of ten months’ imprisonment each.
The most notable case handled in Camp Grant, or in any other camp, was that which resulted in the court-martial of twenty-one negro soldiers. Louise S——, a white woman visiting a white soldier at Camp Grant, was set upon and assaulted by fifteen to twenty-one negro soldiers on the night of May 19, the crime being committed on the reservation at Camp Grant. At nine o’clock that evening Major General Charles H. Martin, in command at Camp Grant, telephoned to the local chief to meet him in town. He said his officers had been unable to make any headway on the case, and asked that it be taken up by the Department of Justice. The League put men on the case, and in three days had twenty of the culprits in custody, ultimately securing confessions implicating all the others who were held. All of these men were tried by court-martial; fifteen were convicted and dealt with, five were let go, and one was declared insane. The assistance of the civilian authorities and auxiliaries to the military arm was so distinct in this case that General Martin wrote a frank letter of thanks, in which he said: “I am free to confess that until your entrance into the game, we had not progressed very far, and I wish to make it of record that it was principally due to your able and efficient service that we finally succeeded.”
The nature and extent of the activities of the Rockford division may be seen from the following summary: alien enemy activities, 95; citizens’ disloyalty and sedition, 50; sabotage, 5; anti-military activities, 13; propaganda, 13; miscellaneous cases, 211. The Navy Department asked assistance in 55 cases. Investigations made by the War Department covered 21 for Military Intelligence; 242 under the selective service regulations; 164 slackers; 45 character and loyalty applications; 90 liquor cases; 44 cases of vice and prostitution; 25 cases of desertions, and the collection of over 200 maps and photographs for M. I. D. The Department of State also reaches out as far as Rockford, and the quietly efficient League handled forty-six passport cases alone. The Treasury Department had ten cases under War Risk, and the United States Shipping Board asked for two investigations on character and loyalty.
In the nature of things, the activities of A. P. L. being so wide, so impartial, and at times so energetic and aggressive, friction of social or business sort was sure now and then to arise. The only wonder is that there was not a great deal more of it. Sometimes this grew out of spite work and personal jealousy, and again resulted in clashes of a wider and more distinct sort, resulting in something like community cliques.
Mattoon, Illinois, had this sort of a tempest in a teapot from some such causes. That town has a Merchants’ Association, and this association, for reasons into which it is not necessary to go here, but which perhaps had a personal basis in some measure, saw fit to fine certain members of its body who had contributed money for the organization of A. P. L. This caused considerable hard feeling. The Chief, P. A. Erlach, asked permission to explain the purposes of the League to the Merchants’ Association. This permission was not granted. The Chief held a conference with Judge MacIntyre, who suggested that the members who had been fined by the Merchants’ Association might be subpoenaed and brought to the court room, not for trial, but for the purpose of clearing the situation, which did not seem to be good for the community or the government. The Merchants’ Association hired a lawyer to represent them, and a very warm session was held, out of which, of course, nothing was derivable except hard feeling. In the mutual recriminations, one member of the Merchants’ Association was alleged to have remarked at a certain time: “After this war is over, the Germans will be the aristocrats of the world”—a belief which seems to have lacked confirmation. All these matters, however, did not succeed in destroying the usefulness of the A. P. L. in Mattoon, where it did a great deal of hard and conscientious work.
Probably the most interesting Mattoon investigation is that of one O’H——, son of a wealthy farmer, who claimed exemption on account of agricultural occupation. He was alleged to be living in town and engaged in keeping books. The League went into the history of the family and produced proof that certain other paternal ancestors of O’H—— had been engaged in the so-called Charleston Riots during the civil war, when a band of men known as “Copperheads,” among whom was an ancestor of O’H——, had fired upon several Union soldiers with fatal results in several instances. The Mattoon Chief of A. P. L. submitted to the Adjutant General at Springfield, Illinois, a full brief of the investigation of the case of young O’H——, also transcripts from Government records covering the Charleston riots. Young O’H—— was sent to Camp Zachariah for training.
Pastor Russell had certain followers in Mattoon, religious fanatics of the sect known as Truth-Believers. They did not believe in anything but the Truth, certainly not in Liberty Loans, War Savings Stamps, or any war funds or activities. Two members of the sect were arraigned, but the Federal grand jury did not indict them because one was a woman and the other concluded to go into the employment of the Government at Washington.
Near Mattoon is a settlement of the peculiar sect known as Ammish, whose religion tells them not to bear arms. They opposed the selective draft, and although it was determined to exempt their young men from actual drill, the community preaching became so bad that a stiff investigation was made, after which there was no more trouble.
The secret of the Mattoon fashion of investigation is not told, but a number of case-reports close with the words: “There has been no further complaint from the party.” This covers the case of several citizens who did not buy as many Liberty Bonds as they might, or were too free in their talk about Germany as compared with this country.