Lexington, Kentucky, as might easily be expected, reports in American fashion: “The sentiment of our entire population is hard against the Germans and their allies. Our people are almost unanimous in their opposition to showing Germany any consideration, even with furnishing them food after their defeat. The one sentiment is that Germany could feed herself while in war; now let her feed herself since she is out of war.”
The work of the Lexington Division was mostly concerned with the local and district boards. It handled 405 cases of this sort. There were only thirty cases of disloyalty and sedition investigated, and forty cases of word-of-mouth propaganda.
Marion, Kentucky, says: “We are glad to report that our county has been so patriotic that little of any importance is required to be done. We had to caution a few of our citizens as to the bad results of opposition to the United States in the war. We have no foreign element. Our citizens come from Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, and are of old families. We rarely see anyone of foreign descent in this section except traveling men who make trips through the county.”
Somerset, Kentucky, had a bad man—a deserter who escaped from Fort Oglethorpe once or twice, the last time taking along his rifle and pistol. He barricaded himself in an old house at Helenwood, Tennessee. The A. P. L. took him all right, in spite of his threats. He is in Fort Leavenworth for twenty years. From far off Livingston, Montana, came a request to Somerset Division to arrest one Willie McK——, a professional evader. He was found attending church. The Chief says: “We walked in and gave him a tap on the shoulder, and told him to come out. Just as we started for the door, the choir began to sing, ‘God be with you till we meet again.’ It is going to be some time.” Somerset concludes: “We did not stop when the Armistice was signed, but kept watching everything and giving the Government the best that was in us!” Isn’t that fine?
TENNESSEE
The A. P. L. work in the beautiful and historic old city of Nashville was somewhat circumscribed because of the activities of other agencies already in existence. The division did its share in the routine work of war activities, apprehending evaders, conducting numerous investigations, and vigilantly keeping tab on the comings and goings in the Old Hickory Powder Plant.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, did its bit and did it well. Ten prisoners who escaped from the local War Prison were apprehended by division operatives, and brought back for reinternment. One member of the division discovered an extensive system of graft in connection with the Government construction work on the Nitrate Plant at Sheffield, Ala. Report of this was furnished to a Special Agent, who was detailed by the Government to conduct an investigation. The Chief comments: “Just what can be proven in this case remains to be seen.”
Some of the most amusing Chattanooga investigations were those of the religious sect known as the “Holy Rollers.” Several of these preachers had preached sermons in which they condemned the Red Cross and the Government generally. These men were apprehended, and members of their congregations testified at local headquarters. Some of these preachers were moved by the “spirit” in their testimony, but after they remained in jail a short time, they saw the Scriptures in a different light, and very few of them offended a second time.
Another Chattanooga case had in it the possibilities of great mischief. A large amount of mail to an illiterate mountaineer caused an A. P. L. operative and a Special Agent of the Department of Justice to go to the top of Sand Mountain, and in a dirty log cabin they found a wagon load of I. W. W. literature and correspondence in which were letters from Emma Goldman and other leading lights of socialistic faith. The man himself was working in a foundry turning out Government orders; he was organizing a strike at the time he was taken into custody.
Clarksville, Tennessee, is in the loyal Southern country, and is very free from alien population. There were only twenty-five investigations for disloyalty and sedition, and propaganda was almost negligible. As this is the tobacco producing section, there was considerable property investigated under the Trading with the Enemy Act, and some helpful reports were made to the Alien Property Custodian. The League members were active in all the war work.