World's War Events Volume II Part 38

Dr. Chakrabarty, recently arrested in New York City, received, all in all, according to his own admission, some $60,000 from von Igel. He claims that the greater portion of this money was used for defraying the expenses of the Indian revolutionary propaganda in this country and, as he says, for educational purposes. While this is in itself true, it is not all that was done by the revolutionists. They have sent representatives to the Far East to stir up trouble in India, and they have attempted to s.h.i.+p arms and ammunition to India. These expeditions have failed. The German Emba.s.sy also employed Ernest T. Euphrat to carry instructions and information between Berlin and Was.h.i.+ngton under an American pa.s.sport.

[Sidenote 2: Germans on parole escaped.]

II. Officers of interned German wars.h.i.+ps have violated their word of honor and escaped. In one instance the German Consul at Richmond furnished the money to purchase a boat to enable six warrant officers of the steamer Kronprinz Wilhelm to escape after breaking their parole.

[Sidenote 3: Fraudulent pa.s.sports secured.]

III. Under the supervision of Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel, Hans von Wedell and, subsequently, Carl Ruroede maintained a regular office for the procurement of fraudulent pa.s.sports for German reservists. These operations were directed and financed in part by Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel. Indictments were returned, Carl Ruroede sentenced to the penitentiary, and a number of German officers fined. Von Wedell escaped and has apparently been drowned at sea. Von Wedell's operations were also known to high officials in Germany. When von Wedell became suspicious that forgeries committed by him on a pa.s.sport application had become known, he conferred with Captain von Papen and obtained money from him wherewith to make his escape.

[Sidenote: American pa.s.sport covers unneutral activities.]

IV. James J. F. Archibald, under cover of an American pa.s.sport and in the pay of the German Government through Amba.s.sador Bernstorff, carried dispatches for Amba.s.sador Dumba and otherwise engaged in unneutral activities.

[Sidenote: Spies sent to England.]

V. Albert O. Sander, Charles Wunnenberg, and others, German agents in this country, were engaged, among other activities, in sending spies to England, equipped with American pa.s.sports, for the purpose of securing military information. Several such men have been sent. Sander and Wunnenberg have pleaded guilty to indictments brought against them in New York City, as has George Voux Bacon, one of the men sent abroad by them.

[Sidenote: American pa.s.sports counterfeited.]

VI. American pa.s.sports have been counterfeited and counterfeits found on German agents. Baron von Cupenberg, a German agent, when arrested abroad, bore a counterfeit of an American pa.s.sport issued to Gustav C.

Roeder; Irving Guy Ries received an American pa.s.sport, went to Germany, where the police retained his pa.s.sports for twenty-four hours. Later a German spy named Carl Paul Julius Hensel was arrested in London with a counterfeit of the Ries pa.s.sport in his possession.

[Sidenote: Coaling German wars.h.i.+ps.]

VII. Prominent officials of the Hamburg-American Line, who, under the direction of Captain Boy-Ed, endeavored to provide German wars.h.i.+ps at sea with coal and other supplies in violation of the statutes of the United States, have been tried and convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary. Some twelve or more vessels were involved in this plan.

[Sidenote: Indictments returned.]

VIII. Under the direction of Captain Boy-Ed and the German Consulate at San Francisco, and in violation of our law, the steams.h.i.+ps _Sacramento_ and _Mazatlan_ carried supplies from San Francisco to German war vessels. The _Olsen_ and _Mahoney_, which were engaged in a similar enterprise, were detained. The money for these ventures was furnished by Captain Boy-Ed. Indictments have been returned in connection with these matters against a large number of persons.

[Sidenote: The case of Werner Horn.]

IX. Werner Horn, a Lieutenant in the German reserve, was furnished funds by Captain Franz von Papen and sent, with dynamite, under orders to blow up the International Bridge at Vanceboro, Maine. He was partially successful. He is now under indictment for the unlawful transportation of dynamite on pa.s.senger trains and is in jail awaiting trial following the dismissal of his appeal by the Supreme Court.

[Sidenote: Plot to blow up factory.]

X. Captain von Papen furnished funds to Albert Kaltschmidt of Detroit, who is involved in a plot to blow up a factory at Walkerville, Canada, and the armory at Windsor, Canada.

[Sidenote: Bombs on s.h.i.+ps.]

XI. Robert Fay, Walter Scholtz, and Paul Doeche have been convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary and three others are under indictment for conspiracy to prepare bombs and attach them to allied s.h.i.+ps leaving New York Harbor. Fay, who was the princ.i.p.al in this scheme, was a German soldier. He testified that he received finances from a German secret agent in Brussels, and told Von Papen of his plans, who advised him that his device was not practicable, but that he should go ahead with it, and if he could make it work he would consider it.

[Sidenote: Incendiary bombs on allied vessels.]

XII. Under the direction of Captain von Papen and Wolf von Igel, Dr.

Walter T. Scheele, Captain von Kleist, Captain Wolpert of the Atlas Steams.h.i.+p Company, and Captain Rode of the Hamburg-American Line manufactured incendiary bombs and placed them on board allied vessels.

The sh.e.l.ls in which the chemicals were placed were made on board the steams.h.i.+p _Friedrich der Grosse_. Scheele was furnished $1,000 by von Igel wherewith to become a fugitive from justice.

[Sidenote: Rintelen's plots.]

XIII. Captain Franz Rintelen, a reserve officer in the German Navy, came to this country secretly for the purpose of preventing the exportation of munitions of war to the Allies and of getting to Germany needed supplies. He organized and financed Labor's National Peace Council in an effort to bring about an embargo on the s.h.i.+pment of munitions of war, tried to bring about strikes, &c.

[Sidenote: Conspiracy to wreck vessels and blow up railroad tunnels.]

XIV. Consul General Bopp, at San Francisco, Vice Consul General von Schaick, Baron George Wilhelm von Brincken (an employe of the consulate), Charles C. Crowley, and Mrs. Margaret W. Cornell (secret agents of the German Consulate at San Francisco) have been convicted of conspiracy to send agents into Canada to blow up railroad tunnels and bridges, and to wreck vessels sailing from Pacific Coast ports with war material for Russia and j.a.pan.

[Sidenote: Spies sent to Canada.]

XV. Paul Koenig, head of the secret service work of the Hamburg-American Line, by direction of his superior officers, largely augmented his organization and under the direction of von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Albert carried on secret work for the German Government. He secured and sent spies to Canada to gather information concerning the Welland Ca.n.a.l, the movements of Canadian troops to England, bribed an employe of a bank for information concerning s.h.i.+pments to the Allies, sent spies to Europe on American pa.s.sports to secure military information, and was involved with Captain von Papen in plans to place bombs on s.h.i.+ps of the Allies leaving New York Harbor, &c. Von Papen, Boy-Ed, and Albert had frequent conferences with Koenig in his office, at theirs, and at outside places.

Koenig and certain of his a.s.sociates are under indictment.

[Sidenote: Attempt on Welland Ca.n.a.l.]

XVI. Captain von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, Wolf von Igel, and a number of German reservists organized an expedition to go into Canada, destroy the Welland Ca.n.a.l, and endeavor to terrorize Canadians in order to delay the sending of troops from Canada to Europe. Indictments have been returned against these persons. Wolf von Igel furnished Fritzen, one of the conspirators in this case, money on which to flee from New York City, Fritzen is now in jail in New York City.

[Sidenote: Revolt in India plotted.]

XVII. With money furnished by official German representatives in this country, a cargo of arms and ammunition was purchased and s.h.i.+pped on board the schooner _Annie La.r.s.en_. Through the activities of German official representatives in this country and other Germans a number of Indians were procured to form an expedition to go on the steams.h.i.+p _Maverick_, meet the _Annie La.r.s.en_, take over her cargo, and endeavor to bring about a revolution in India. This plan involved the sending of a German officer to drill Indian recruits and the entire plan was managed and directed by Captain von Papen, Captain Hans Tauscher, and other official German representatives in this country.

[Sidenote: False affidavit about the _Lusitania_.]

XVIII. Gustav Stahl, a German reservist, made an affidavit which he admitted was false, regarding the armament of the _Lusitania_, which affidavit was forwarded to the State Department by Amba.s.sador von Bernstorff. He plead guilty to an indictment charging perjury, and was sentenced to the penitentiary. Koenig, herein mentioned, was active in securing this affidavit.

[Sidenote: Interference with manufacturers.]

XIX. The German Emba.s.sy organized, directed, and financed the Hans Libau Employment Agency, through which extended efforts were made to induce employes of manufacturers engaged in supplying various kinds of material to the Allies to give up their positions in an effort to interfere with the output of such manufacturers. Von Papen indorsed this organization as a military measure, and it was hoped through its propaganda to cripple munition factories.

[Sidenote: Newspapers financed.]

XX. The German Government has a.s.sisted financially a number of newspapers in this country in return for pro-German propaganda.

[Sidenote: Mexican difficulties increased.]

XXI. Many facts have been secured indicating that Germans have aided and encouraged financially and otherwise the activities of one or the other faction in Mexico, the purpose being to keep the United States occupied along its borders and to prevent the exportation of munitions of war to the Allies; see, in this connection, the activities of Rintelen, Stallforth, Kopf, the German Consul at Chihuahua; Krum-h.e.l.len, Felix Somerfeld (Villa's representative at New York), Carl Heynen, Gustav Steinberg, and many others.

[Sidenote: Relief s.h.i.+ps plainly marked.]

When the Commission for Relief in Belgium began its work in October, 1914, it received from the German authorities, through the various Governments concerned, definite written a.s.surances that s.h.i.+ps engaged in carrying cargoes for the relief of the civil population of Belgium and Northern France should be immune from attack. In order that there may be no room for attacks upon these s.h.i.+ps through misunderstanding, each s.h.i.+p is given a safe conduct by the German diplomatic representative in the country from which it sails, and, in addition, bears conspicuously upon its sides markings which have been agreed upon with the German authorities; furthermore, similar markings are painted upon the decks of the s.h.i.+ps in order that they may be readily recognized by airplanes.

Upon the rupture of relations with Germany the commission was definitely a.s.sured by the German Government that its s.h.i.+ps would be immune from attack by following certain prescribed courses and conforming to the arrangements previously made.

[Sidenote: Unwarranted attacks.]

Despite these solemn a.s.surances there have been several unwarranted attacks upon s.h.i.+ps under charter to the commission.

On March 7 or 8 the Norwegian s.h.i.+p _Storstad_, carrying 10,000 tons of corn from Buenos Aires to Rotterdam for the commission was sunk in broad daylight by a German submarine despite the conspicuous markings of the commission which the submarine could not help observing. The _Storstad_ was repeatedly sh.e.l.led without warning and finally torpedoed.

[Sidenote: Men killed on torpedoed relief s.h.i.+ps.]