There did not seem to be much to start with in this case which originated in Northern New Jersey, nor indeed was there much left of the case by the time it was finished. Yet the case itself had the makings of quite a big affair. A report came in that Otto B——, starter for the X. Y. Z. Transit Company, was pro-German. Such reports came in all the time, so that there were usually fifty or sixty cases in the zone. Two days later came in more facts from operative C-123. He had gotten pretty thick with Herr B—— by saying that Germany seemed to be gaining, and that this news would please his wife, who was German herself. Herr B—— was much pleased to learn this, and went on to unbosom himself. Several such meetings enabled C-123 to learn pretty much everything he desired.
Herr B—— wanted to do something for the Fatherland and the Kaiser. He was sure he could do something if he had some help. The one danger was that, in talking to almost anybody, Herr B—— might be talking not to a representative of the Kaiser but to some one who would report him to the United States Secret Service. Operative C-123 agreed with him as to this, and gravely told him he ought to be very careful. But he said he knew a man that could be trusted, and he would bring him around so that they could talk it over, and perhaps the two of them could do something for the Kaiser.
The name of this new man was Schultz. He had been in Mexico organizing the United States Germans who had fled to Mexico. He had been a member of the Dantzig Dragoons, and had traveled all through Germany, and his experiences in the Army there had gotten him his place as German propagandist of Mexico. He was a member of the Imperial German Espionage System—and he had his Wilhelmstrasse card to show it. He always carried it pinned to his underclothing. It was a great day for Otto, the train dispatcher. At last he had some trusted fellow-Germans in whom he could confide! He and Schultz talked bombs and that sort of thing until midnight. Herr B—— told Schultz: “You can depend on me—I am the real stuff—I can get a thousand men back of me since I know I have got a man from the German Government here.”
Talks between these three gentlemen were going on in fine shape at the time the Armistice was signed. As a matter of fact, Otto B—— is still flagging trains at the old railroad crossing, and the League is recommending his prosecution and the revocation of his citizenship, because it certainly had proof of his unfitness to live in the United States. It hardly seems necessary to add that “Schultz” was an A. P. L. operative also. His “credentials” were made in the United States and not in Germany, having been copied from those captured on a real agent of the Kaiser.
There was another near-case, one which almost became a real one, in Northern New Jersey Division, which, at the first, looked like scores that had preceded it and scores that followed it. It had to do with one K——, reported rabid against America, although employed in doing essential Government work. This might have been a spite case, or a case of remarks made before we went into the war, or still more possibly something said before the amended Espionage Act was passed. However, member C-891 went out on the case to see what he could find about K——.
The latter had a factory of his own, and when found, seemed to be disposed to talk. The operative speaks a perfect German, and has a German look. The two got on handsomely. The operative was surprised to find that K—— talked so freely and to a stranger. Another member of the League, C-1378, also of German parentage, went with C-891 a few days later to visit K—— again. That gentleman was more bitter than ever against America. He said, among other things, that if he heard that President Wilson had been shot, he would be so glad that he would celebrate it by getting too drunk to see. And there was very much more talk of that nature.
A few days later, K—— had cause to regret his disposition to talk. He was brought before a United States Commissioner on a warrant, and spent a good night in jail before he could find bail. The next day, he being a man of means, he engaged a lawyer. The Armistice ended these activities, as it did so many others. The hearing was held on the morning of November 7—the first news of the Armistice, later confirmed. Since that time, A. P. L. of Northern New Jersey has heard nothing about Mr. K——. With a couple million others, he has been allowed to sink back to our citizenship—just as poisonous, just as unregenerate, just as little fit to remain in this country. It was understood that D. J. laid down a rule that testimony secured in conversations such as the foregoing was not a basis of prosecution. Perhaps it would have been better to wait until Mr. K—— had really shot somebody or blown up a ship or so.
Of active sympathizers with the enemy, Northern New Jersey did not lack. A thousand cases could be given. One will serve. In July, 1918, the office learned of suspicious activities on the part of some of these sympathizers. A Mr. E—— was told by Miss G——, a young woman of foreign birth, that the people she lived with had active connections with the enemy. Especially was this true in the case of one S——, who had Central and South American relations. This latter man was found to be of American birth and German parentage—which, in a good many cases, would leave him German. He had been a traveler, and a son of his had been born in Kingston, Jamaica, although this son was at present in the U. S. Army. This Mr. S—— was found to be identified with a New York concern which had sent him to Jamaica to get the release there of a man jailed by the English authorities for alleged implication in the coaling of German raiders at sea. That did not look any too good for Mr. S—— of itself. He also had in his employ a stenographer whose husband, a Mr. W——, had been employed in an alleged poisoning of the reservoir at Kingston, Jamaica.
These things led up to the case of the subject, who will be called P——. This man had lived with S—— for a time. P—— came to this country from Germany in 1907, and applied for his first naturalization papers—please note the date—August 1, 1914. He was thirty-five years of age, well educated, unmarried, and without dependents. He had served in the German Army, but was not a reservist. In his alien enemy questionnaire, he left out the name of one of his previous employers, which was found to have been an importing concern with a German name, with connections in Kingston, Jamaica, doing business in Central and South America. This German concern had many different names. Some of its personnel were interned at Panama. A member of the concern had been interned in the United States for alleged provisioning of German raiders at sea. This made the stage set for a rather interesting investigation. Operatives discovered that the principal men of this concern were at large, and were doing business under yet another name. They also discovered that this Mr. S—— was affiliated with the work in a downtown office building in New York City.
During 1912, or earlier, Mr. S—— had introduced Mr. P—— to the President of an iron and steel concern, who took him into employ as Treasurer and gave him a block of shares. The alien enemy P—— seemed to get along pretty well for a time, but got in wrong with the firm through a transaction which they did not approve. The Secretary of the firm was very friendly to the alien enemy P——. This Secretary was found to be connected by marriage with one of the foremost electrical inventors of the age, who had been very active in the development of devices for our Army and Navy. Observe that this man was a particular confidant of the unnaturalized German P——, formerly of the German Army.