It was imperative that the vast protective agencies of the national Government should focus here at the gateway to the Atlantic. Military Intelligence, Naval Intelligence, Cable Censorship, Mail Censorship, the Department of Justice, War Trade Intelligence—each of these and all the various war boards and branches of war activities must center in the metropolis inevitably. The machinery for protecting the invaluable shipping of men and munitions was as elaborate and perfect as the Government could make it. Every force was rushed to the danger line in New York.
In so complicated and overburdened a series of Government enterprises it early became obvious that there was need for an auxiliary such as the American Protective League. The organization was duly made and widely extended. It was natural none the less that it should be very much overshadowed by the greater volume and greater importance of the agencies of the Government’s judicial and war work, which were massed in the great city. But the A. P. L. was there, active as elsewhere, and perhaps more useful than in any other city in the country, because it had to do there with larger risks than offered in any other city.
In the period of its work in New York up to the time of the Armistice, the A. P. L. division was thought to have covered some 300,000 cases in all, which is far and away the record for America. Such figures as these mean, of course, that to single out any one case or a few cases would be only to repeat cases the like of which already have been described for other points; and besides, it would not in any sense give an idea of the extent of the data handed over to the United States departments on A. P. L. initiative or on government request. It seems wiser to let the great national or international cases, which have become publicly prominent through Government activity, stand for the minor story of New York.
These causes celébrès have in great part been made public in the newspapers,—and in a great many instances made yet more public by the testimony of the witnesses of the Federal Attorneys before the Overman Senate Committee in Washington. It certainly could be said of the great city that she produced more sensations in espionage than all the rest of the country combined. A. P. L. was not concerned in all these matters, although in some of them it played its part.
The first chief of the New York Division was a lawyer, John H. Hendrick, who had charge of the small beginnings in April, 1917, but who in the following month, was succeeded by Richmond Levering, special agent of the Department of Justice. Mr. Bielaski, Chief of the U. S. Bureau of Investigation, approved this appointment, Mr. Levering later becoming Major in the U. S. Army. In early June, Mr. E. S. Underhill, an Agent of the Department of Justice, was detailed to take charge. The work now began to grow somewhat. In October, 1917, League affairs were placed in the hands of an operating committee. On January 3, 1918, the committee was abolished, and Mr. E. H. Rushmore was appointed Acting Chief. In May, 1918, Mr. Rushmore became Chief of the Division.
New York Division, like others, at first was organized along trade lines, which was found to be impracticable. Then the Southern and Eastern Federal Districts of New York were divided into zones. The Borough of Manhattan contained eight zones, each under an inspector. The Borough of the Bronx was placed in charge of a deputy chief, and was divided into nine sub-divisions. The Borough of Brooklyn and Long Island was also in charge of a deputy chief, and subdivided into eight districts, each in charge of an inspector. The outlying districts were formed into zones, using county lines as boundaries, and each of these zones also was under the charge of an inspector. All the inspectors appointed a sufficient number of captains, who had under them lieutenants in charge of squads.
It will be seen that this is rather a complicated organization, and indeed it could not be swung as a unit in the matter of its records, because of the diverse reporting system required.
The work of the Division Headquarters on Nassau Street was efficiently handled by twenty volunteer members who acted as Bureau Chiefs in the matter of assignment of work. Headquarters had about fifty file clerks and stenographers in its force, and in addition operated six zone offices, all of which were used exclusively for these zone workers, and all of them fully equipped with office facilities and help. The Division expended something over $75,000, all of which was raised by individual subscriptions of members of the League and their friends.
A. P. L. in New York had all sorts of cases. Chief Rushmore thinks about the most important was that concerned with A. L——, intimate friend of Jeremiah O’Leary, on trial for treason. This case was turned over to the League by Division Superintendent DeWoody of D. J., who asked the covering of all railroad stations, ferries and steamship lines or other possible means of entry into New York in order that L—— might be apprehended. A rather meagre description of the suspect was given. Information had reached the Department that L—— had left New York when O’Leary forfeited his trial bond and did not appear in court for trial on charge of treason. L—— was thought to be on his way back to New York. A. P. L. put out about one hundred operatives on this case, and stopped hundreds of passengers who might have resembled him and asked them to identify themselves. This came to nothing. Other operatives interviewed the man’s wife and were convinced L—— was in town. An operative of A. P. L., accompanied by a D. J. man, therefore shadowed one of L——’s intimate friends, with the result that L—— himself finally was located in Brooklyn and apprehended. He was taken to the New York office of the Department of Justice and there gave information as to O’Leary’s whereabouts. The latter man, who had jumped his bail bond, was immediately apprehended in the West and brought on to New York, where, at the last writing, he was waiting trial on the charge of treason.
The A. P. L. shadow work in the foregoing case was so good as to elicit a letter of praise from D. J. in Washington to Mr. DeWoody. The latter disclaimed the credit and gave it to the A. P. L. operative “who performed a remarkable feat in a continued and difficult shadow.”