On Friday, November 8, two men of the League, in trying to locate a suspect, found two colored men in military uniform whom they followed. These gave up the whereabouts of two of their companions who were in a certain house. When found, these men claimed they had been drugged and robbed by some colored women there. It had been their present plan to wait there in the darkness until the women came back and then to kill them. The whole scene was in a tough part of town where the uniform of the United States does not belong.
Out of these proceedings the operatives got the address of four other men, one of these Porto Rico, who were supposed to be in the habit of robbing colored soldiers and other men in uniform. A certain saloon was visited by the operatives, and a few minutes after they appeared, a burly negro entered and was accosted as “Porto Rico” by the owner. The two operatives were C. H. Keelor of the League and Mr. Sprague of the Department of Justice. Keelor tapped Porto Rico on the arm and asked him for his card. The man got into action at once, kicked Keelor in the leg and struck Sprague, knocking him down. He made a leap to the open and pulled a heavy revolver, starting to retreat northeast on Lombard Street.
Operative Logan was on the opposite side of the street, and he now closed in. There was a shot fired, perhaps by a friend of Porto Rico. The latter raised his revolver and took aim at Sprague. Sprague was armed with a heavy holster gun and beat the negro to the shot, killing him with a bullet through the heart. Porto Rico fell, his revolver dropping from his hand, and such was his vitality that for a long time he struggled to reach the gun as it lay close by him. Sprague was cleared in court, as he shot obviously in self-defense. Charles Seamore, alias John E. Manuel, alias Porto Rico, was a notorious gun man. Beside his revolver he carried a razor and a number of 38-calibre cartridges. His registration card showed that he had registered under a false name. In almost the same place a little while later a Philadelphia policeman was shot by a negro, who in turn was killed by a lieutenant of the police department.
In May, 1918, Major C. N. Green, U. S. Engineers, came into the League Headquarters of the Philadelphia Division and said he wanted assistance in organizing secret service work for plant protection and that he had been directed to the A. P. L. offices. Out of this later grew the connection of the A. P. L. with the Woodbury Bag Loading Plant.
At first there were about one hundred buildings on the 1,800 acres of unfenced land, about two hundred men being engaged in guarding the place. An organization of proved men had been made, which went directly into Government service. Five strikes were settled and no serious labor trouble resulted. It seemed marvelous that no disaster occurred in this plant. Time and again enemies attached time bombs to powder cars on their way to the munition plant. These cars were all stopped on an outside siding and searched, sometimes as many as thirty in one night. One time a bomb was found and two sticks of dynamite. A great deal of oily waste was found, which was no doubt attached in the hope that it might be set afire and so cause destruction of the car. There were two hundred and ten arrests made under charge of disorderly conduct, and one hundred under charge of trespassing. In each of these cases a conviction was secured. About two hundred violators of the Selective Service Act were put under arrest, and, as has been stated, thirty-five members of the I. W. W. were removed from the premises. More than one hundred and ten Austrians and Hungarians were discharged, and about two hundred aliens sent to the Department of Justice for examination. Over 1,500 investigations of suspects were made by the League, largely of men whose names seemed to proclaim them of German extraction. The record of this plant is unique, it probably being the only plant that has had so low a record of fires, explosions and accidents in all the history of our war work.
Guards often found people endeavoring to do damage. One such man had piled up scrap lumber and rags and was touching it off when fired upon by the guard. Two other attempts were made to destroy another one of the buildings. Not content with protecting the property from without, the A. P. L. even protected it from within. Charges were made of extravagant prices paid by the Government, a fact which strongly indicated graft somewhere. A corporation had made a bid to furnish boxes at $450 each, delivered. This bid was refused. Volunteer workers were called on to make these boxes. The work was done on Sunday, double time being paid—each man receiving $14 a day—and even with such labor charges, it was found the boxes could be turned out at $17.25! This particular expenditure of money was stopped by the artless Ordnance Department. One or two chiefs were dismissed on the strength of reports from the A. P. L. of inefficiency, graft and irregularities.
This, then, all too briefly and lamely done in review, is the story of Philadelphia, which operated one of the very best amateur detective agencies the world has ever seen and which was a credit not only to Philadelphia itself but to every operative of the A. P. L. wherever he was located in the United States.
It only remains to say that in the monthly report for December, 1918, the Philadelphia Division turns in forty-eight bootleggers additional, two hold-up men, and nine soldiers absent without leave. It furnished D. J. in that month six hundred and forty-five men and sixty-five cars, investigated in that month two hundred and fifty-two draft evaders, seven hundred and forty-three cases from D. J. and various branches of the A. P. L., and 1,812 office assignments and Washington investigations. The Division closed the month of December, after the Armistice, going strong, with a membership of 3,438.
On the last day of the year, and after Philadelphia had finished all its reports for the year, there was a bomb outrage in that city in which lawless persons blew up the homes of three citizens. A call to the City Hall brought out every available detective and policeman, and houses of other prominent men were placed under guard for that night. Once more the drag-net was put out to take in the lawless and all those of Bolshevik tendencies. The outrage was of such a nature that the Philadelphia papers carried editorials almost appealing to the American Protective League not to disband. Truly it will be missed in that city and in many another city of America. In this bomb outrage the lives of women and children were endangered. What are we to think of America for the future if at will the superintendent of police, a judge of the court, and a president of a chamber of commerce are to have their houses blown up as an act of vengeance of wholly irresponsible people such as no doubt committed this crime!
Early in January, 1919, Mr. Frank H. Gaskill, Assistant Chief, was promoted to be Chief of the Philadelphia Division for its closing days, Mr. Mahlon R. Kline resigning in his favor. The demobilization banquet of Philadelphia Division A. P. L. was held on the night of February 5, 1919, and it was as fine and ship-shape as all the other activities of the Division. It was hard for these men to say good-bye. Indeed, it is quite probable that many of the old Philadelphia A. P. L. members will organize, under another name, for purposes somewhat similar.