There were also cases of men who were in business which made it necessary to go into zones not mentioned in their permits. Many other odd cases, too numerous to mention, were found. All were taken up separately with the Marshal, and where the League records showed that the alien was trying to obey the regulations, necessary permits were issued.
There were found by American Protective League operatives aliens who wanted to become citizens but who did not know what to do. Others had tried to pass examinations in court, but failed. All these were sent to citizenship schools and now are on the road to becoming desirable citizens. The work of the Bureau has been such that many aliens now have a different opinion of what it means to live in a country where all men who behave themselves have an equal chance. In one day, after citizenship schools were opened in Cincinnati, the Enemy Alien Bureau issued over two hundred permits to aliens who desired to gain knowledge which would permit them to apply for the necessary papers.
This close supervision also forestalled attempts by agents of the Kaiser to induce aliens to commit acts against this Government, if they were so inclined. No meetings could be held without an American Protective League member hearing of it, as they visited the alien at his home and place of employment at irregular intervals, and never less than once a month.
After the war, there will be many, now classed as enemy aliens, who will thank Cincinnati Division for having helped them at a critical time when they were floundering about under regulations which they did not understand, and feared to ask anyone how to become loyal citizens of this country. Of the many curious cases Cincinnati handled, we may report at least one, which shows how well the A. P. L. sometimes took care of a man who didn’t deserve it.
An emergency telephone call came to the office of the American Protective League from an official of one of the largest trust companies in the city, to send an operative to the bank as quickly as possible. The two men who answered the call found they had what appeared to be a German agent in prospect.
During the afternoon a telegram came to the bank from the Empire Trust Company, New York, authorizing it to place $25,000 to the credit of Frank K——. K——, on his arrival at the bank, seemed to be a man about fifty-five years of age, typically German, with all the Hindenburg ear-marks. An over-anxiety to display his naturalization papers in proving his identity led the bank officials to put him off until they had been able to communicate with the League. He had given his room number at the Gibson Hotel, and with this information in hand and a code message to the New York Division to investigate at that end, the scene shifted to the hotel.
His room was searched but absolutely nothing was found that could possibly throw light on the use he intended to make of the money, or the purpose of his visit to Cincinnati. He was “covered” that night by operatives of the League, and on the following day was taken to the office of the Special Agent in charge, and there questioned for two hours, without his disclosing anything of importance. K—— finally told his story, and from this point on the plot quickly unravels.
He was born near Hanover, Germany, emigrated to America at the age of sixteen, settled in New York, married, and was naturalized at the age of twenty-two. Three children blessed his union. He was a stone-mason by trade for ten years after his marriage; then he entered the contracting line and continued in it for some eighteen years, later removing to East Orange, N. J., where for some five years he operated a saloon and road house, later retiring from business and removing to West Hoboken, N. J.
After a severe siege of rheumatism, he was ordered by his physician to Mount Clemens, Michigan, early in the spring of 1918. At that resort he came in contact with two very affable gentlemen, “Fred B. Grant” and “Jack Connel.” They made a lavish display of wealth and finally were successful in getting him to ask where these large amounts came from, whereupon Grant, who was the spokesman of the two, told K—— he was a wealthy coal operator of West Virginia and that he had a special system of playing the races. After taking K—— behind one of the buildings at Mount Clemens, he swore him to secrecy, and “let him in” on his get-rich-quick plan.
The party left Mount Clemens and went to the Vendome Hotel, Newport, Ky. They took K—— to a supposed pool-room and in less than a week he had won upwards of twenty-five thousand dollars in bets, whereupon the proprietor of the pool-room told him that he could not withdraw this money, under the laws of the State of Kentucky, unless he had an equal amount on deposit in the State. K—— told his daughter in Hoboken that he must have twenty-five thousand dollars to complete a business deal. He put up some of the money himself, and she secured the rest by a loan from the Empire Trust Co. Again the shuttle moved back to Cincinnati, where he arrived on Monday, August 5, 1918, and the League came to his rescue. K—— was now convinced that he was marked for a victim, and he did all he could to help land his supposed friends. All these were taken and the prisoners were held in $15,000 bond. They were notorious confidence men!