The great city of Seattle was no exception. The report of the splendid work it did all through the far Northwest ought by every right to appear in full. We must be content, however, to extract from the Seattle record a couple of interesting incidents of trailing aliens.
The first suspect was a German who had changed the spelling of his name. Outer appearances were in his favor. He resided in a good part of Seattle, in a good bungalow, and showed all the insignia of the Red Cross, Liberty Loans, etc., in his windows. He was unassuming in his manner and openly talked patriotism. However, as the case proceeded, it was found that he associated with a domestic of a citizen, and that this domestic collected Canadian bills and sent them to Canada. Tracing this clue, the suspect C—— was found to have come from Canada where he had been interned. He had made his escape and come to the United States without permission. He had a covert postoffice box in the name of Joe M—— (his real German name was K——), and he had been an alien enemy agent of Germany. He was arrested by an A. P. L. man, brought before Federal officials and later was interned for the period of the war.
In the possession of this man there was found a long list of names of Germans, all of whom were afterwards found to have served in the German Army, but who were now corporals or privates in the American Army. These men were stationed mostly in forts on Puget Sound. Through these men, C—— had a well established system leading into the Navy Yard of Puget Sound and the forts protecting the harbors. There was taken into custody a photographer, T——, who had in his possession photographs of nearly everything in and about Fort Worden. T——, who was associated with C—— in some manner, was given a hearing and released on ten thousand dollars bail. The money was immediately put up by Germans then under suspicion at Fort Townsend. At about this time, T——’s house took fire and burned down. One trunk was saved, of which he quickly took charge when released on bail. There were other arrests made in this case, regarding the final issue of which nothing can be said at this writing. So much at least for the gentle and unassuming Mr. C——, quiet citizen.
Seattle had another case which ended in an internment, that of Gus S——, whose story is succinctly covered in the words of the Seattle Chief:
Early in January, 1918, our organization was requested by the Department of Justice to get a line on one Gus S——, generally believed to be a German who worked along the water front dismantling boats and storing the material, which he afterwards sold for junk. Operatives H—— and B—— were detailed on this case, and confirming the suspicions of the authorities, it was established that S—— had a cache in a remote district of the Sound where he buried the stolen articles until they had accumulated in sufficient quantity that he could sell them wholesale.
It was found that he had four points established on the Sound as headquarters; one of them situated about forty miles north of Seattle where he could dodge in and out among the numerous islands on the Sound and evade the authorities.
On the morning of January 9, 1918, one Dr. W—— voluntarily appeared at the office of the American Protective League, 615 Lyon Building, stating that he was a German and had done considerable intricate work in the Government and that he was anxious to serve our organization. W—— was immediately placed under investigation, and it developed that he was a German alien enemy, and was in the habit of violating his alien enemy permit. It was also discovered that he owned and occupied a houseboat on the East Waterway in the ship-building district, in the prohibited zone on the water front. This place was visited and examined. Our operatives found documents proving that W—— was an alien enemy and a Reserve Officer in the German Army. He had on board the houseboat an extensive chemical laboratory and a complete chemical library in the German language; also technical books on wireless and other matters of military importance. The chemicals were seized, sent to the Immigration Department and examined by a chemist. W—— was placed under arrest, given a hearing, and ordered interned for the duration of the war.
It developed that W—— had communicated with S—— and warned him of his approaching arrest, and that S—— had departed north in his boat. The League officers immediately got in touch with their organization in Skagit County, and operatives were detailed to watch for S——. When he came into the Flats, they apprehended and placed him under arrest and seized his boat. On board was found quite an arsenal of assorted makes of guns. The examination took place at the time an opportunity was being given alien enemies to register as such, and this opportunity was given S—— at the Immigration Station. S——, however, maintained that he was an American citizen; he could not produce papers but his explanation was as follows: That he had filed his declaration to become an American citizen and that, by reason of his activities against the law, he had been arrested and sentenced to serve six years in the penitentiary at Walla Walla; that while he was serving out his sentence, the date for him to appear for examination and acquire his second papers had expired, and that on account of his inability to appear, this automatically made him an American citizen. Therefore, he refused to register as an alien enemy. At the conclusion of the hearing, S—— was ordered interned and sent to Utah.
S—— had, for the previous six weeks, been hovering around the depot tanks of the Standard Oil Company. From the association of W—— and S—— and the facts that were disclosed in the investigation, there is no question in the minds of the officers of the organization but that they were about to cause an explosion at this plant as well as at one of the shipyards.
Yet another good report from the Seattle Chief covers the case of M. J. B——, alias W. J. H——, who apparently was unable to keep all his life as secret as he might wish. We cannot improve upon the report of the Chief as it was written: