“Wait a minute,” said Aucher, and tore open the envelope in the presence of Ruroede’s son, and, so that the other special agents could see him do it, counted out ten $10 bills, $100 in all. As he was counting them, the operative who had followed Ruroede’s son to the bank came in and shouldered the boy to one side and then stood right by him while the money was being counted. Aucher went on to impress on Ruroede’s son that business was business and that the best of friends sometimes fell out over money matters; that his father might have unintentionally counted out $80 or $90 instead of the full $100 and it was safer to take some precautions than to take a chance of creating bad blood between them. He then invited Ruroede’s son to have a drink with him, which he did, both of them taking the strongest Prussian drink—milk. When they were about to part on Whitehall Street Aucher told Ruroede’s son to tell his father he would be down the next morning with the other two passports he had mentioned to him, and again impressed on the boy the importance of accuracy in money matters. Aucher then returned to headquarters with the other special agents and listed the distinguishing marks on the bills and marked them for future identification.
GERMAN AGENTS WHO DEALT IN FRAUDULENT PASSPORTS
H. A. Von Wedell Carl Ruroede
AMERICANS HIRED TO BLOW UP SHIPS AND FACTORIES
C. C. Crowley Lewis J. Smith
The next morning Aucher telephoned to Ruroede and told him he had been able to get only one of the two passports he wanted, giving as the excuse for his failure to get the other the story that it had been promised to him by a man working on a job in Long Island and that this man had met with an accident and was in the hospital; that it would take a day or two to go out there to get a written order from him to a brother who would turn the passport over to Aucher. Ruroede accepted an invitation to take luncheon with Aucher at Davidson’s restaurant at the corner of Broad and Bridge streets.