Queer people

It was not to be expected that the Germans would do no recruiting among Americans as long as the United States remained neutral. American journalists were travelling to all the belligerent countries, and were allowed to see much that could not properly be shown to private citizens. I believe that all the reputable American newspapers were very careful in the selection of their foreign correspondents during the War, and it is, perhaps, for that reason that there was no cause for suspicion until late in 1916. About that time two so-called American journalists, B—— and R—— arrived in Europe. The former had spent several weeks in England before he applied, on 20th September 1916, for permission to travel to Rotterdam as European representative of the Central Press of New York. Before leaving he told the people in his hotel that he was going to a certain hotel in Rotterdam which was known to us as being the resort of German spies, and he wrote a letter to a person in Amsterdam named D——, against whom there was already suspicion, about the production of a cinema play. It was noticed that the letter contained a number of underlined words. In the meantime he had left for Holland. All that could be done was to keep observation upon him in that country, and it soon became known that his only associates were two Americans, one of whom, R——, was marked down for arrest if ever he came to this country. B—— did appear to have made a few inquiries from film dealers, but that was all. On 3rd November he landed at Gravesend and, probably to disarm the suspicions of the port authorities, he volunteered a statement that while in Amsterdam a Dutchman had tried to pump him for information, but he had indignantly refused to have anything to do with him. His luggage was searched, but not in a way that would allow him to think that he was under suspicion. He stayed in London for a few hours and then left for Worcestershire. He travelled about the country for a month, sending occasional articles to New York; then he left for Ireland and visited Dublin, Cork, Killarney, and Belfast. At that time the Germans were specially anxious to receive news from Ireland subsequent to the Rebellion, because they were being pressed to furnish a fresh supply of munitions together with German troops.

Meanwhile, careful inquiries had been made in Holland regarding the man D——, to whom B—— had written when he was last in England, and it was found that he was a German, and that he consorted with persons who were known to be in the Secret Service of the enemy. On this a letter was written to B—— asking him to call at Scotland Yard, and he crossed from Dublin on the night of 8th December. He could give no satisfactory explanation as to why he had underlined certain words in his letter to D——, and he professed the greatest astonishment when he heard that D—— himself was suspected of being a German spy. A search of B——’s effects produced the usual ball-pointed pen, unglazed notepaper, and a bottle of mixture which could be used as invisible ink. Moreover, he was in possession of a draft for £200 issued to him on 19th October. It was found that he had attempted to obliterate the address of D—— in his note-book, and he had the name and address of a certain person in Rotterdam, who had been known to us for months as an enemy agent.

Now it chanced that our authorities in New York were in full possession of the details of the new German conspiracy to flood this country with journalists. The spies were recruited by a man who passed under the name of Sanders, who was believed to be closely in touch with the disaffected Irishmen in America. For this reason the spies were to take an opportunity of visiting Ireland, and after gathering all the information that they could they were to go to Holland, impart it to the German agents there and receive the wages of their hire. They had instructions also to get into touch with wounded officers lately returned from the Front and obtain their views on the morale of the troops.

Now B—— had done all these things: he had visited Ireland, he had made friends with a wounded officer, and had even suggested to him that they should make a trip to Scotland together; he had gone to Holland and had upon him a draft for £200, the equivalent of the 1000 dollars which was always given for preliminary expenses. This man had heard that B—— had been provided with a wonderful new invisible ink disguised as a medical mixture, which could be used only on unglazed paper with a ball-pointed pen. There was also a statement that an American journalist whose name began with ‘R’ was already doing good work for the Germans in London.

While B—— was under detention he received a letter from R—— in Holland: ‘Wish old “C” had been here to help me read the letter.’ Why should R—— require any help in reading a letter unless it was written cryptographically? So far, the case was one of suspicion, but on 3rd February 1917 B—— wrote from Brixton Prison, asking that he might be visited by some one in authority to whom he was prepared to make an important statement. A senior officer was sent to Brixton, and to him B—— made a full confession. He had formerly been the New York publicity agent for a well-known firm of film producers. One day he received a telephone message from a man with a foreign accent, asking whether he would care to go to Europe. He said that it was for very special work, for which he would be well paid. The voice directed him to call at an office in New York, where he would meet a man named Davis. Davis was a pseudonym for Charles Winnenberg, who told him frankly that the special work was to obtain information which would be useful to the German Government. The Germans wanted particulars about our anti-aircraft defences, the movements and the morale of our troops, and the actual position of British squadrons in Scottish waters, together with anything he might be able to glean about our new battleships. Not unnaturally, B—— referred to the danger of such a service, but Winnenberg treated this with great scorn, saying, ‘They have only caught two or three, and they were all fools. There will be no suspicion against you. We will pay you £25 a week and give you liberal expenses.’

Then, according to B——, Winnenberg became confidential and said that he intended to go himself to London, whence one of his agents, known as Robert W—— had already sent him useful reports. He gave him particulars of the people in Holland with whom he was to communicate, and added that there were three or four Americans in that country who would relay his messages if necessary. When B—— pointed out that the Censor would probably intercept his messages, Winnenberg said, ‘As soon as you have got your passport I will give you the secret of fooling the Censor.’ On this B—— called on the Central Press and told them that as he was going to Europe on business he would be prepared to collect war pictures for them on commission, and in this they acquiesced. Thus he had a business cover for his journey, and no difficulty was made about his passport. He then called on Winnenberg again, who was much pleased with the energy he had displayed. ‘Have you got a pair of black woollen socks?’ he asked. B—— had not. ‘Well, go and buy a pair at once.’ When this was done Winnenberg produced a collapsible tube, from which he squeezed a thick brown liquid. This he smeared all round the top of the socks. ‘There,’ he said, ‘that is a secret ink which the English will never discover. All you have to do is to soak these socks in water and use the fluid as an ink. You must use a ball-pointed pen and a rough paper, on which the ink will not run. You must mark all your reports “M,” which will stand for “Marina, Antwerp.” That is the only place which knows the secret of developing the ink.’ B—— was given a thousand-dollar bill for preliminary expenses, and was told that if he got good information he would be treated very liberally. He explained his visit to Worcestershire by saying that the wounded officer whose acquaintance he had made had asked him down there, and he tried to excuse himself with the usual plea that he had not intended to give the Germans anything of value, but merely to draw money from them. As a matter of fact, when he went to Holland he was nearly at the end of his resources, and probably it was in the hope of obtaining a draft for £200 that he went.

It became clear from subsequent investigations that B—— was trying to spread his net wide. His wounded officer friend was nominally to be made a representative of a big shipping firm in America, but actually of another German agent who was to use him without his knowledge. B—— was also suggesting to a girl acquaintance that she should obtain a post in the Censorship.

B—— was tried by court-martial on 17th March 1917. His counsel stated that he could trace his descent back to 1644, that his ancestor had fled to America after the battle of Marston Moor, and that his mother’s ancestors had fled from France at the time of the Edict of Nantes. He was said to be a Bachelor of Arts in the United States, but the only defence put forward was that he had yielded to a sudden temptation to make money. He was sentenced to death by hanging.

Fortunately for B—— the United States was about to enter the War, and his value as a witness against the numerous persons who were being arrested was realised. It was decided to send him over to New York under arrest. On his arrival he was charged with a breach of neutrality laws, and sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a day, for the sentence pronounced by the British court-martial could not, of course, run in America. While imprisoned in the United States he gave evidence against the German master spies, and he seems to have greatly recovered his spirits, if we may judge from a letter that he wrote to a friend in England, asking him to try and forward the balance of the money which he had received from his German paymasters.

Winnenberg, alias Davis, and Sanders were arrested and convicted. The former made a full confession, which contained, no doubt, a good deal of romance, for he tried to inculpate many other foreign representatives besides Germans. According to his story R—— entered England as an American journalist sent to write articles on the food situation in Europe for publication in American newspapers. He lost little time in communicating with a certain Cookery School organisation which was employed by the Government for instructional purposes. R—— made frequent trips to and from Holland, and then, having run what he thought was more than his share of risk, he persuaded the Germans to allow him to remain in Holland as one of their chief agents to deal with any American journalists who might come after him. Arrangements were made to arrest him as soon as he set foot again in this country, but that moment never came. Even when he communicated articles to the British Press on the International Food question he was careful to arrange that payment should be sent to him in Holland. After the articles had been published it was brought to the notice of the editor that the writer was under strong suspicion. Payment was withheld. R—— then wrote asking for a cheque, and received the reply that if he would come to England the money should be paid, but he never came, and it is not known what became of him.

Two other American journalists who were believed to be agents of Winnenberg were stopped, but since the evidence was insufficient for bringing them to trial they were sent back to America with a strong caution against returning to England. It must be understood that the vast body of American correspondents was quite above suspicion. These spies were needy free lances who were on the outskirts of the profession.