CHAPTER II
CAPTAIN FRANZ VON PAPEN, DIRECTOR OF GERMANY’S MILITARY ENTERPRISES ON THE AMERICAN FRONT
“I always say to these idiotic Yankees they had better hold their tongues.”
So wrote Captain Franz von Papen, German military attaché in America, to his wife in Germany—a letter which he entrusted to Captain James F. J. Archibald, American newspaper correspondent and bearer of secret and confidential messages from Teutonic representatives. The German word which the Captain used was “bloedsinnig,” meaning silly, stupid, idiotic. It has a sneering ring, truly typical of the Prussian warrior’s contempt for Americans. It suggests the disdainful feeling which the military attaché had for the loyalty of Americans. One can imagine his sly laugh as he handed to an American that letter and code messages to the War Staff. With a similar feeling of contempt for the British, when dismissed from this country and assured of safe conduct as to person, he carried on board the steamer Noordam a portfolio of papers from friends reflecting the same disgust for America and outlining his own unlawful and criminal acts in America. But in both instances his arrogant self-confidence brought exposure.
This attitude of arrogance was Captain von Papen’s chief characteristic. Joined to it was the brother trait, bluntness. He believed that the American people were not only stupid but also weak-sighted and that he could do anything he wanted without detection. So he put his heart and soul into military and criminal enterprises upon American soil. The Captain apparently thought that the American authorities would not suspect his machinations, for, unlike Captain Boy-Ed, he made comparatively few efforts to cover up the trails of his activities. That carelessness proved his scorn for American detective methods, for with all his haughtiness and bravado he had been trained in a school of craft. He had been drilled under instructors who placed a prize on cunning, deceit, intrigue, reckless disregard of the rights of others, and the destiny of Prussia as a conqueror. The Captain presumably believed that craft and cunning were not necessary in America.
CONTEMPT FOR DEMOCRACY
Confident that he was eluding the watchful eye of the United States authorities with more skill than his associates, he sent a telegram one day to Captain Boy-Ed, warning him to be more careful. Whereupon the latter, smiling cheerfully to himself, wrote this letter: “Dear Papen: A secret agent who returned from Washington this evening, made the following statement: ‘The Washington people are very much excited about von Papen and are having a constant watch kept on him. They are in possession of a whole heap of incriminating evidence against him. They have no evidence against Count B. and Captain B.-E. (!)’” Boy-Ed, a little too optimistically, added: “In this connection I would suggest with due diffidence that perhaps the first part of your telegram is worded rather too emphatically.”
Wrapped in that sense of contempt the military attaché began immediately upon the outbreak of war, even as he had planned before it, to make the United States “the hinterland” of the European battlefield. In the Embassy at Washington, the German consulate in New York, the Hamburg-American Building, an office in 60, Wall Street—which he secretly leased—and on board German merchantmen tied up in New York Harbour, he gathered about him German officials and German reservists, outlining plots in violation of American law, all designed to injure the Allies and help the cause of Germany. In those conferences, his arrogant disregard of America and his determination overruled the hesitating dissenters. His was the Prussian spirit of aggression. In those gatherings, he was both the dominating and the domineering factor: tall and broad-shouldered, with a commanding attitude, energetic in speech, and lightning-like in the development of bold plans. He has the strong forehead, the long, firm nose, and the heavy underjaw of a commander, but the large ears that denote recklessness and eyes blue and hard as steel.
UNDER ORDERS FROM BERLIN
He had been selected in his youth for secret work because of an aptness which he early displayed. He had been trained especially for the work which he undertook in other countries under direction of the German General Staff and for the tasks that devolved upon him in America both before and after the war. As a young officer he was sent out from Germany, travelling as a civilian, making special studies of the sentiment of the people, the topography of the country, and getting in touch with other secret workers. One of the countries which he studied with remarkable care was Ireland. He tramped and rode every foot of the land and knew it thoroughly. He displayed something of the knowledge he had acquired when riding in Central Park, one day after the war started, he stopped to chat with an acquaintance who had bought a mare. Waxing enthusiastic over the animal he quickly showed his acquaintance with Ireland by giving the breed of the mare and telling exactly the counties in Ireland where that breed could be found.
How well he disguised himself in those various expeditions when he rode horseback simply as a sightseer, is indicated by his horsemanship. Though he was trained in a riding school at Hanover, where ostensibly they teach the French method, nevertheless in Central Park, where many a morning he could be observed, he displayed perfect English form. They say that when one learns the French style, one invariably clings to it above all others. Naturally, a horseman travelling through Ireland revealing every characteristic of the French school would attract attention.
As the military attaché of the German Embassy, Captain von Papen was under orders, not of Count von Bernstorff, but of the military head in Germany. Appointed personally by the Kaiser as the representative of the German Army in America and Mexico, he had the commission that falls to every military attaché of a foreign government, namely, to make a study of the army of the nation to which he is accredited.
Captain von Papen, always striving for praise and preferment from the Kaiser, was a most enthusiastic gatherer of military information. Knowing that no phase of military activity throughout the world escapes the watchful eye of the Chief Spy or the German General Staff, von Papen was always on the alert for any invention, new method of warfare, or germ of an idea that might be developed into an important advantage for Germany; just as the War Staff got their suggestion for the modern trench warfare from the Indians and later from the Civil War. For instance, shortly before the great war started, Captain von Papen, addressed as “Royal Prussian Captain on the General Staff of the Army,” was directed by R. von Wild, of the Ministry of War’s office, to proceed to Mexico and there investigate the attacks on railroad trains by means of mines and explosives. He made a thorough investigation and though he reported: “I consider it out of the question that explosions prepared in this way would have to be reckoned with in a European war,” he nevertheless sought to utilize that method in blowing up tunnels and railroads in Canada.
AT WORK IN MEXICO
How well von Papen, as an organizer and military investigator, acquitted himself in the interest of the Kaiser is set forth in Rear Admiral von Hintze’s own language in a report which he made from Mexico to the Imperial Chancellor recommending von Papen for a decoration. That letter is striking; for it suggests the work which von Papen afterwards did in America, if he had not already made the arrangements for it prior to the outbreak of the European conflict. The admiral wrote that von Papen “showed special industry in organizing the German colony for purposes of self-defence and out of this shy and factious material, unwilling to undertake any military activity, he obtained what there was to be got.”
While von Papen had a staff of experts and of secret agents prior to the war, he did not then have the perfectly developed system at his command which he used afterwards. That he had his plans well mapped out for any contingency and that he knew the situation thoroughly is vividly illustrated in a draft of a cable message which he sent to Captain Boy-Ed from Mexico City on July 29, 1914, saying:
“If necessary, arrange business for me too with Pavenstedt. Then inform Lersner. The Russian attaché ordered back to Washington by telegraph. On outbreak of war have intermediaries located by detective where Russian and French intelligence office.” The latter part of the message, referring to intermediaries, is open to two interpretations: first, that Boy-Ed was to have detectives locate the Russian and French intelligence offices; second, Boy-Ed was to place spies in the Russian and French intelligence bureaus.
Hurrying to Washington, the military attaché immediately took charge of the military part of Germany’s spy system. He began to weld together into a vast organization scientists, experts, secret agents and German reservists who would gather information for him and who would be ready at the command of the General War Staff, to undertake any military enterprise. The entire organization of German consuls and representatives in America work in unity in war as in peace. How quickly von Papen got his staff together is shown in a statement made by Franz Wachendorf, alias Horst von der Goltz, alias Bridgeman Taylor, who became one of Papen’s aids in spy work and military enterprises. Wachendorf, who was a major in the Mexican army at the outbreak of war, said under oath: “The 3rd of August, 1914; licence was given me by my commanding officer to separate myself from the service of the brigade for the term of six months. I left directly for El Paso, Texas, where I was told by Mr. Kuck, German consul at Chihuahua, Mexico, who stayed there, to put myself at the disposition of Captain von Papen.”
CALLING RESERVISTS
The military attaché also had help from Germany and from German reservists coming from other countries. The War Office in Berlin sent him men. Captain Hans Tauscher, the husband of Mme. Gadski, was in Germany when war was declared. A reserve officer of the German Army, he immediately offered himself for duty. His order was to return to America at once and report to Captain von Papen. Likewise, soldiers and secret agents with special equipment, who were in different parts of the world and who had no definite work, were ordered by wireless or through secret channels to hasten to Captain von Papen’s assistance. After a time, the Chief Spy in Germany detailed some of his aids to America to help in the upbuilding of a still more effective system of espionage.
Though remarkably skilled and trained to a high degree in a number of different lines, Captain von Papen made it his business to gather around him experts on every phase of military affairs, giving definite assignments to each and thus dividing the work so that greater speed and efficiency were obtained. He chose Captain Tauscher, agent of the Krupps and other big and small gun manufacturers in Germany and Austria, as one of his aids in gathering information. Captain Tauscher is an expert on ordnance and as such he was of invaluable assistance to Captain von Papen in obtaining facts regarding the manufacture of heavy ordnance and explosives for the Allies. Tauscher was on most friendly terms with U.S. Ordnance officers.
Von Papen selected George von Skal, a German journalist and former Commissioner of Accounts of New York, as a paid assistant in his office; and as a matter of fact every one of the big German agents in America had on his staff at least one trained newspaper man. He took as his secretary Wolf von Igel, a young man of distinguished appearance, and through him secretly rented a suite of offices in Wall Street “for advertising purposes.”
Another man upon whom he could call for help was Paul Koenig, lent by the Hamburg-American Steamship Company. Through Koenig, von Papen could reach out to countless Germans and select men for any sort of task. Sometimes, however, von Papen met with a refusal. He asked Captain Tauscher to perform a certain piece of work of questionable character and received in substance this answer: “I am ready to do anything within the law but I will not attempt this task.” Experts in the chemistry of explosives, scientists of various sorts, lawyers and other advisers were on the military attaché’s staff, all having special tasks and all working for the Kaiser with or without pay.
FOREIGN ARMY ON U.S. SOIL
Von Papen sought to protect his Wall Street suite of offices from public investigation by installing therein a safe bearing the seal of the Imperial German Government. That safe, protected by time-locks and by electrical devices against the curiosity of other secret agents or the prying eyes of policemen, is said to have contained the plans of the military phases of German propaganda. When the Federal agents suddenly descended upon the office one day to arrest von Igel, they found the safe open and the documents neatly laid out on the table preparatory to shipment to Washington. From those papers the State Department and the Attorney-General have learned much of the history of von Papen’s activities—the inner workings of the German spy system. In that office von Papen kept the full list of his various secret agents, German and American, working for him, their addresses and telephone numbers; various code books for the deciphering of messages sent to him and for sending word to agents in this country or making reports.
Accordingly, when von Papen’s plan for espionage was perfected, he had not only a staff of experts at his elbow, but thousands of reservists and the help of German and Austro-Hungarian consuls and channels of information. He had men at his disposal for dangerous and delicate missions to other countries. The ramifications of the system, the collecting agency and activities which he supervised for the good of the Fatherland were so finely organized and so comprehensive that von Papen in reality was the head of the military division of the German spy system of the entire world, outside of the countries belted by the Allies with a ring of steel.
Facts to prove the details of von Papen’s organization and deeds were obtained from the von Igel papers, from the letters and secret documents taken from Captain Archibald; from documents and check stubs found in von Papen’s possession when searched at Falmouth, England; from von der Goltz’s confession; from scores of witnesses and from facts dug up by the Secret Service and the Department of Justice. The trials of various offenders against neutrality laws have given the public more evidence. United States District-Attorney H. Snowden Marshall, in New York, his assistants, Roger B. Wood, in charge of the criminal division; Raymond H. Sarfaty, John C. Knox, and Harold A. Content, all set forth before the public many phases of the ingenious underground methods of spying and violating the law. Upon the evidence found by those officials and by United States District-Attorney Preston, of San Francisco, the following facts are presented:
Once the spies were selected and assigned to their duties, von Papen sought first, to glean information bearing on the great war. He was interested, naturally, in the amount of shrapnel shells and high explosives which the Allies were purchasing. He was eager to ascertain what American Army officers were learning about the military operations on the Continent and what the American Government was doing to develop its army to cope with the new problems arising from the war. He was watching the officers of the Allies in this country. He was seeking lines of communication with the racial elements in America that were allied with the insurrection forces in the colonies of the Entente Powers. The varied results of his investigations are shown by extracts from reports which he sent to Berlin by Captain Archibald. One letter told, for instance, that the Norwegian and Dutch governments were in the market for war materials. Von Papen asked if there were any objection by Germany to the sale to those governments of war products purchased by him in America, adding:
“I could probably dump on the Norwegian Government a great part of the Lehigh Coke Company’s toluol which is lying around useless.”
In a cipher despatch to the chief of the General Staff in Berlin, he noted a conversation overheard in Philadelphia between two Englishmen. One British army officer, he said, was explaining a method for conveying military information by photographs. Likewise he gathered news of the Spanish Government seeking supplies, and sifted the facts assembled from factories, banking houses, diplomatic sources and transportation offices about the Allied war orders.
SECRET AGENTS BLOCK OUT AMERICA
Captain von Papen’s cheque counterfoils are a veritable diary of some of his criminal—or if you please, military—activities in America. They give the names and the aliases of his secret agents; and day after day are recorded therein the payments made by von Papen to the persons working for or with him. The counterfoils tell the story of the purpose of the payment and by means of the endorsements on the cheques one can gather in skeleton form the story of a part—but not all—of the propaganda which the military attaché supervised. The stubs show the receipt of money, almost immediately after the beginning of the war marked for “War Intelligence Office.” The interesting thing is that money for war intelligence work came from von Bernstorff and that funds for salary and expenses came from Dr. Fr. Adler, the Ambassador’s secretary. To the fact that Captain von Papen kept such an accurate diary—an instance of German efficiency—is due in part the exposure of his varied activities in this country.
To Anton Kuepferle, another German spy captured in England and suspected after a confession to have shot himself, he gave $100. To Wachendorf he gave funds that the latter might go both to Berlin and England in the service of the Kaiser. To Paul Koenig, he handed many accounts for secret service work, paying also the expenses of Koenig’s agents on trips to Montreal and Quebec in hunting information about enlistments of soldiers in Canada and the shipments of supplies from Canadian ports. The stub book also shows that he sent agents to investigate ammunition factories in different parts of the country, and that he paid the expenses of von Skal in getting “photographs for the War Intelligence Office.” He constantly was sending cheques to consuls in various parts of the country to pay the expenses of reservists and agents.
TO INVADE CANADA
The diary, too, tells us of Captain von Papen’s plan to invade Canada. Scarcely had he arrived in this country from Mexico, a few days after the Germans had invaded Belgium, than, as general-in-chief of the German reservists, he began to mobilize his forces for a military enterprise in Canada. If you look at the Captain’s diary you see these entries: “September 1, 1914, Mr. Bridgeman Taylor, $200;” “September 16, for Buffalo, Taylor, Ryan, $200;” “September 22, for Ryan, Buffalo, $200;” “October 14, for Fritzen and Busse, Buffalo, $40,00.”
These are the earmarks of an unsuccessful military enterprise; for just as soon as Captain von Papen saw reservists gather in New York and assembling in other points he laid his plans for a concerted move on Canada. He discussed the details with his majors, captains and lieutenants assembling in New York. He met them in secret at night in the German Club and with maps and other detailed plans he set forth his mode of attack.
Captain von Papen’s scheme—as they talked it over at the German Club—was to create such a reign of terror among Canadians that the provincial governments would deem it absolutely necessary to keep all the troops in Canada for defence rather than hurry them to the European battle-front. The plan, while it entailed explosions and fighting, was largely for psychological effect. One part of the scheme was to send an expedition to blow up the Welland Canal, a waterway that runs around Niagara Falls on the Canadian side and is a most important avenue of transportation for freight and passengers. The second part was to have an invasion by German reservists upon various parts of the Canadian border.
Captain von Papen aimed to create a panic among the Canadians, to put such fear into them that they would say to England, “We need our troops for self-protection against the Germans in the United States”—thereby putting the United States in a position of being unable to preserve its neutrality. The destruction of the canal by a tremendous explosion, or the detonation of a carload of dynamite on some railroad, or any sort of explosion in the Dominion, believed to have been supervised by Germans, would have had a tremendous effect upon the people. Doubtless this was what Captain von Papen sought; for that was the way he outlined the scheme to his assistants.
It has been stated that Wachendorf was one of the men whom von Papen gathered for secret conference in the German Club. “Von der Goltz” in a confession made to the Federal authorities said that he was asked to give his opinion about a proposal made to the German Embassy, the writer of which, a certain Schumacher, had asked for financial support in order to carry out a scheme by which he would be able to make raids on towns situated on the coast of the Great Lakes. He proposed to use motor-boats armed with machine-guns. Though the proposal was rejected on account of the Embassy receiving unfavourable information about the writer, “von der Goltz” next was requested to aid in a scheme of invasion of Canada with a small armed force recruited from the reservists in the United States. The scheme, which was proposed by von Papen and Boy-Ed, was abandoned as objections to it were made by Count von Bernstorff. “Von der Goltz” says he was told so by Captain von Papen.
BLOWING UP CANALS
Captain von Papen next asked “von der Goltz” to see at his hotel two Irishmen, prominent members of Irish associations, both of whom had fought in the Irish rebellion and who had proposed to Captain von Papen to blow up the locks of the canals connecting the Great Lakes, main railway junctions and grain elevators. “Von der Goltz” says he received the gentlemen at his hotel, the men bringing with them a letter of introduction written by Captain von Papen. After having taken them to his room he got further details of the matter, maps and diagrams evidently cut out of books.
“Von der Goltz” also tells of going to Baltimore to enlist a number of German reservists who were staying on a German vessel there. In that scheme, he says, he had the aid of Karl A. Luederitz, German consul. He brought them to New York, but believing that his movements were being watched by Federal agents, he sent them back. Continuing his story of the conspiracy, von der Goltz writes:
“I saw Mr. Tauscher and he gave me a letter of introduction to the Dupont Powder Company, recommending B. H. Taylor, and the company supplied me with an order to the bargeman in charge of the dynamite barges lying on the New Jersey side near the Statue of Liberty. Captain Tauscher told me he would send the automatic pistols by messenger to Hoboken, to be delivered there to one of my agents at a certain restaurant, as he would be liable to punishment if he delivered them in New York without having seen my permit. The reasons why I did not apply to the police for a permit are obvious.”
SCATTERING DYNAMITE
“In order to get the dynamite it was necessary for me to hire a motor-boat at a place near 146th Street, Harlem, and to put the dynamite on board in suit-cases. After returning to the dock, where I had hired the boat, I went in a taxicab, having two suit-cases with me, to the German Club to see von Papen, who told me to call for the generators and then wire again at the club. I took the dynamite to my rooms, where I kept also a portion of the arms packed in small portmanteaus ready to be moved, the rest of the dynamite and arms being in the keeping of two of my agents, one of whom was Mr. Fritzen, discharged from a Russian steamer, where he had acted in the capacity of purser; the other one being Mr. Busse, a commercial agent, who had lived for some time in England. The only other agent I employed was C. Covani, who attended to me personally, Tucker not being entrusted with any of those things.”
Going to Buffalo with his men and equipment, “von der Goltz” was unable for some reason to receive definite instructions from von Papen, who was supposed to communicate with him under the name of “Steffens.” He says:
“Being thrown on my own discretion, I determined to reconnoitre the terrain where I wanted to act first, but to do nothing further till I should receive orders.
“On 25th September received notice from Ryan to come to Buffalo. Having meantime received private information that the 1st Canadian Contingent had left Valcartier Camp, I knew that I should be recalled, the object of the enterprise being removed. I received from Ryan the telegram agreed upon in that case, but as I had spent most of the money furnished to me I asked whether Ryan had not received money to enable me to pay off the men. Ryan said he had not, but gave me some of his own initiative, and said he would wire ‘Steffens.’ On the 26th September I received telegram from ‘Steffens’ telling me to do what I thought best, and asking whether I had received the $200. Thinking it best to return to New York, all the more as funds were insufficient, I discharged Busse and Fritzen, who went to Buffalo, left dynamite and other materials in the keeping of an aviator who was manager of a restaurant at Niagara Falls, to be used again when necessary, and left with Covani for New York by way of Buffalo.”
The trial of Captain Tauscher on the indictment charging him with conspiring with von Papen, von Igel and others to blow up the Welland Canal resulted in the acquittal of the German reservist; but it was admitted that von Papen and von der Goltz had developed a plot to destroy the Canal.
The evidence presented by Prosecutor Wood made a case, corroborated by details of testimony and documents, that delighted legal experts. The jurors, several of whom were of foreign birth, acquitted the captain apparently on the theory that, though he had furnished the dynamite, fuses and automatic revolvers to von der Goltz, he knew nothing about the plot, but simply had followed the orders given him by his superior officer, Captain von Papen.
OBEDIENCE IN AMERICA EXACTED
Captain Tauscher, in the witness-box, testified that he was in Germany at the outbreak of the war; that he had proffered his services as a reservist officer and that he had been directed to return to America and report to Captain von Papen. He said he knew von Papen as the head of the German secret service and that he was compelled to obey him. He protested, however, that he had exacted a promise from von Papen to the effect that he would not be asked to do anything contrary to American laws. He said he was an ordnance expert under von Papen.
Many documents, revealing the manner in which von Papen and his assistants worked, had been taken from von Igel’s office, formerly von Papen’s New York headquarters, and were presented as evidence by Prosecutor Wood. One document was a piece of paper in von Papen’s own handwriting directing that a cheque in payment of the ammunition, pistols and dynamite, be drawn in favour of Captain Tauscher and that the same be charged to the account of William G. Sichols. Still another document was a copy of a letter written to a preacher in March, 1916, saying that Tucker, one of the witnesses in the Canal expedition, must be sent away for a time and remain quiet. The amount, $100, was enclosed for that purpose. Tucker was arrested in Texas. Although Captain Tauscher was freed, practically every charge of the prosecution was admitted except that Captain Tauscher had any knowledge of von Papen’s criminal intentions.
RECKLESS ADVENTURERS HIRED
Without doubt, according to facts gathered by the Federal authorities and developed in Canada, Captain von Papen and reservist German army officers in the country did plan a mobilization of German reservists to attack Canadian points. Hundreds of thousands of rifles and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition that were to be available for German reservists were stored in New York, in Chicago, and different places along the border. While the Canadian and the American officials developed evidence concerning this plan of invasion, Max Lynar Louden, known to the Federal authorities as “Count Louden,” a man of nondescript reputation, who had secret communications with the Germans in the early part of the war, has confessed that he was party to the scheme for quick mobilization and equipment of an army of German reservists. Many persons insist that Louden is a fabricator, nevertheless his secret activities were of such a character that he was under suspicion by the Federal authorities. At one time, he succeeded in getting himself invited to a Government House Ball, when the Duke of Connaught was the host. His bizarre costume attracted attention. The moment it was rumoured that he was supposed to have two or three wives, a State investigation was commenced, which resulted in the imprisonment of Louden. His story, therefore, is interesting.
Through German-American interests the plans were made in 1914, he said, and a fund of $10,000,000 was subscribed to carry out the details. Secret meetings were held in New York, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, and other large cities, and at these meetings, Louden asserted, it was agreed that a force of 150,000 men, German reservists, was available to seize and hold the Welland Canal, other strategic points and munitions centres.
“We had it arranged,” said Louden, “to send our men from large cities following announcements of feasts and conventions; and I think we could have obtained enough to carry out our plans had it not been for my arrest on the charge of bigamy. The troops were to have been divided into four divisions, with six sections. The first two sections were to have assembled at Silvercreek, Michigan. The first was to have seized the Welland Canal. The second was to have taken Wind Mill Point. The third was to have gone from Wilson, N.Y., to Port Hope, Canada. The fourth was to have proceeded from Watertown, N.Y., to Kingston, Canada. The fifth was to have assembled near Detroit and land near Windsor. The sixth section was to leave Cornwall and take possession of Ottawa.”
After the enterprise on the Welland Canal failed and Count von Bernstorff, according to von der Goltz, disapproved of the Canadian invasion, there was a lull in any concerted move upon Canada.
By referring again to Captain von Papen’s diary it is evident that he had other matters to absorb his attention. The counterfoils of the cheque-book record payments such as the following payment dated July 10, 1915, “H. Tauscher (Preleuther’s bill for ‘Res. Picric Acid’) $68.” The busy attaché, fighting here in the interests of the Fatherland had other plans.
BUYS UP EXPLOSIVES
Captain von Papen was keenly alive to the production of explosives in America for sale to the Allies. He was watching closely the product of the different ammunition factories. He was locating the source of the ingredients for such explosives, and he was naturally concerned in any method for preventing the export of arms and ammunition to the Allies. He possessed an unusual mind for economic data—a quality which aroused the admiration of Dr. Albert. The two men were much in conference over industrial matters that might be managed in the interest of the Teutonic Allies. Under Dr Albert’s guidance he took up the project of acquiring a monopoly in toluol, a constituent of the deadly explosive T. N. T., and for buying picric acid, and liquid chlorine.
How he made recommendations on these things to Dr. Albert was shown in connection with the fiscal agent’s activities. Other secret letters and reports prove that he and his associates had control of the Lehigh Coke Company, which turned out a large amount of toluol, and that he was studying to control the supply of picric acid in this country. Still further, he devoted much time to the Bridgeport Projectile Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This company was organized shortly after the outbreak of the war, and its promoters were prevailed upon to sell out to German buyers who, after an exposé of their activities, disposed of their holdings to still another group. Carl Heynen, an able German organizer and expert in Mexican affairs, had charge of the plant and supervised construction work and the placing of contracts for steel, ammunition and presses. The money was furnished by Hugo Schmidt and Dr. Albert.
Von Papen, Heynen, Dr. Albert, frequently in conference, planned, as excerpts from memorandum prepared by them prove, to utilize the company in several ways: (1) to turn out supplies that could be used by Germany and her Allies, or by countries planning to make trouble for the United States; (2) to take the Allies’ orders and fail to fill them; (3) to use the company as a means of getting information from the War Department.
One of Captain von Papen’s own letters reveals the importance of these enterprises. Writing to his wife about the so-called Albert papers, he says:
“Unfortunately they stole a fat portfolio from our good friend, Dr. Albert, in the elevated. The English secret service, of course. Unfortunately, there were some very important things from my report, among them such as buying up liquid chlorine and about the Bridgeport Projectile Company, as well as documents regarding the buying up of phenol and the acquisition of Wright’s aeroplane patent. But things like that must occur. I send you Albert’s reply, for you to see how we protect ourselves. We composed the document to-day.”
STOPPING SHIPMENTS FROM AMERICA
This search for information of military value and these plans for acquiring monopolies on certain ingredients for high explosives, carried on during the winter and spring of 1914–15, were but preliminary to a much more extensive campaign in which, as will be shown later on, Dr. C. T. Dumba, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, assisted by von Papen and Boy-Ed, worked with the idea, first, of controlling the arms and ammunition factories in this country, and next, of preventing the shipment of such products from America.
Naturally, during the winter and spring, Captain von Papen, Captain Boy-Ed, Dr. Albert and Count von Bernstorff, all along various lines, had been struggling to help the Fatherland, each eagerly hoping for success and some preferment extended by the Kaiser as a reward for tasks well performed.
Attacks were planned upon the Canadian Pacific Railway in the east, the Welland Canal, the St. Clair tunnel, running under the Detroit River from Port Huron, Michigan, to Sarnia, Ontario, and tunnels of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in the Selkirk mountains. It is also stated in indictments handed down by a Federal Grand Jury in San Francisco that the conspirators in the West planned also to blow up trains carrying munitions of war, horses, arms and the like, and also to attack trains carrying soldiers. By a study on the map of the points thus mentioned it will be observed that these enterprises were planned with the utmost care to break into sections of the Canadian transcontinental railway system and to paralyse it absolutely. It can be seen at a glance that such plots, if carried out, would have prevented soldiers and munitions of war from travelling East to ship for the Western front, or from going West to cross the Pacific, thence through Siberia to the Eastern front. To this land scheme was added the additional plots of destroying docks by incendiarism, ships by explosions and fire. Furthermore, agents on land under the direction of other men were studying the munition factories in the western part of the United States preparatory to causing explosions and fires.
For the execution of these campaigns against munition industries and railroads in the West and North-west, Captain von Papen had special lieutenants. The persons who have been convicted in San Francisco on the charge of conspiring to blow up railroads and to wreck the transcontinental railway system in Canada are: Franz Bopp, German consul in San Francisco; Baron Eckhart H. von Schack, German vice-consul; Lieutenant Wilhelm von Brincken, attaché of German consulate; Charles C. Crowley, detective for German consul; and Mrs. Margaret W. Cornell, secretary to Crowley. They were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment each.
The question may justly be asked: “Why is it asserted that von Papen was behind and directed all these enterprises?” The Federal authorities have established a connection between von Papen’s headquarters in 60, Wall Street, and the German Consulate in San Francisco, whence, according to United States District-Attorney Preston of that city, ramifications led out to the different angles of the conspiracy in the West. So strong is the evidence that the San Francisco officials have accused the defendants of using the mails to incite murder, arson and assassination. It is stated that the defendants planned to destroy munition works at Aenta, Indiana, at Ishpeming, Michigan, and at Gary and other places in the West. Among the evidence is one letter among several which has to do with the question of the price which would be paid for the destruction of a powder plant at Pinole, California, and in it reference was made to “P.” The letter follows:
“Dear S.,—Your last letter with clipping to-day, and note what you have to say. I have taken it up with them and ‘B.’ (which the Federal officials say stands for Franz Bopp, German Consul) is awaiting decision of ‘P.’ in New York, so cannot advise you yet, and will do so as soon as I get word from you. You might size up the situation in the meantime.”
While this and other letters show, in the opinion of the Government officials, that von Papen was concerned with the defendants mentioned in the western indictment, still other facts have been gathered against von Papen. He has been traced from Washington and New York to a number of points in the United States, his visits coinciding with remarkable closeness to the time that meetings of the alleged conspirators were being held. Captain von Papen sauntered from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York one afternoon about 3.30, down Madison Avenue to 42nd Street, where he wavered for a moment as if deciding whether he would turn over for a jaunt on Fifth Avenue or drop into the Grand Central Station to buy a magazine.
After a moment he walked slowly into the station, glancing casually at his watch, and moving just before the gate closed toward the entrance to the track where stood the Twentieth Century Limited, was soon safely on board. The next day he was observed in Chicago, where he announced that he was on his way to Yellowstone National Park—and he disappeared. For several weeks he was lost to the sight of the zealous agents who were hunting him; but one day he was observed sauntering through the lobby of the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. In the course of his absence, he is said to have swung down along the Mexican border, where he caught up with Captain Boy-Ed, conferred with a number of secret agents from Mexico, with spies scattered throughout the country, and then hurried up to San Francisco, where he was busy before the agents of the Department of Justice picked him up again.
CONSPIRACIES ON LAND AND SEA
One indictment against the five defendants, phrased in legal terms, is vivid and forcible though barren of details. It accuses the German representatives and their hirelings of plotting to blow up railway tunnels, railroads, railroad trains, and bridges, already mentioned. Over this vast system of transportation, the indictment explains, supplies were being shipped westward for transportation on the ships Talthybius and Hazel Dollar. The defendants, it is stated, hired Smith to help them gain information about the sailings and the cargoes of ships leaving Tacoma bound for Vladivostok; that after Smith went to Tacoma, Crowley sent him money. Crowley and Smith came to New York, where they had conference with Germans who were in touch with von Papen. They next went to Detroit, where they were working out plans for the blowing up of the tunnel when they were arrested. Smith, who was working on the shipping and the tunnel end of the scheme, confessed, while van Koolbergen also has made a statement to the authorities which is of great interest, showing the workings of the defendants.
“On different occasions in his room,” says van Koolbergen, “von Brincken showed me maps and information about Canada, and pointed out to me where he wanted the act to be done. This was to be between Revelstoke and Vancouver on the Canadian Pacific Railway, and I was to get $3,000 in case of a successful blowing up of a military train, or bridge, or tunnel.
“There are many tunnels and bridges there, and military trains pass every three or four days; he also knew when a cargo of dynamite would pass. He then informed me how I could get hold of dynamite, and explained to me that on the other side of the river on which the Canadian Pacific ran (I believe it was the Fraser River) the Canadian Northern Railway was in course of construction, and they had at intervals powder and dynamite magazines and that it would be very easy to steal some of the dynamite.”
Several ships were blown up on the Pacific; others were disabled under circumstances that suggested conspiracies. There were schemes also to destroy docks on the Pacific coast. In view of these plots, it is striking to observe in von Papen’s cheque counterfoils this entry: “May 11, 1915, German Consulate, Seattle (for Schulenberg), $500.” An explosion in Seattle Harbour occurred on May 30, 1915.
Another excerpt from the counterfoil is dated February 2nd, 1915, recording the payment of $1,300 to the Seattle, Washington, German Consulate marked “C. Angelegenheit,” a very vague word for “affair.” He also paid to A. Kalschmidt, of Detroit, who is accused by the Canadian authorities of plotting to blow up armouries and factories in Canada, $1,000 on March 27, 1915, and $1,976 on July 10, 1915.
While this enterprise was being mapped out in the West, a second project against the Welland Canal was in the making in New York. Paul Koenig, the intermediary between von Papen and reservists and others, had charge, it is alleged, of selecting assistants who would carry dynamite, fuses, and other equipment to the Canadian waterway. Koenig selected as his assistants Richard Emil Leyendecker, retailer of art woods, a naturalized German-American, Fred Metzler, Koenig’s stenographer, George Fuchs, a German, who after a quarrel with Koenig turned State’s evidence; as also did Metzler, and one or two other men. The party went to Buffalo and to Niagara Falls, being trailed all the time by agents under direction by William M. Offley, chief of the Federal investigators of New York.
EXPLOSIONS IN FACTORIES
While these plots in the West were developed in vain and some of the culprits have been convicted, still other enterprises were conceived and set in motion in the East. A great number of explosions and fires have occurred in factories in the eastern part of the country. Though many of them were due to natural causes, yet suspicions seem to show that bombs were manufactured and placed in various plants and that incendiary bombs were hidden in other factories. The men believed to have committed the crime have been traced. They invariably proved to be Germans who, under assumed names, had obtained work in the factory; and then, shortly after the fire or explosion, had disappeared. But Federal agents following them learned that they had hurried back to Germany or skipped away to Mexico or South America. Bombs for their purposes were manufactured in various places in New York and Brooklyn; and in fact the authorities have obtained statements from men who made the bombs, but thus far they have not located the chief man. A German officer skilled in the manufacture of explosives spent a number of months in New York, living on board one of the German merchantmen and conferring frequently with Germans. He disappeared one day and was not heard of until a wireless message announced his arrival in Berlin.
Into this general scheme for preventing supplies from going to the Allies fits the conspiracy of Robert Fay and his associates. Fay, a tall, military-looking man, who has told many stories, some of which are true, some of which are lies, fought in the trenches for Germany and then obtained leave of absence and a passport to come to America. He had an inventive bent, and he conceived the idea of manufacturing high explosive mines which could be attached to the rudder posts of ships, and which would be so regulated by a detonating device that explosions would occur far out at sea. Fay says that he sought to blow off the rudder, disable the ship, but not to sink the vessel or injure her passengers.
His aim was to frighten steamship owners, and insurance underwriters, so that the insurance on munition ships would be raised to an almost prohibitive rate. Experts, however, have testified that so great was the amount of high explosive in the mines, that it would have blown off the stern of the ship, and detonated the cargo of explosives. In other words, had Fay’s scheme worked, nothing of the cargo and ship would have remained but a few chips floating upon the waves. But through the vigilance of Chief Flynn, of the secret service, and Captain Tunney, of the bomb squad of the New York Police Department, Fay’s plan was detected and John C. Knox, Assistant United States District Attorney, presented the evidence so thoroughly that Fay and his brother-in-law, Walter Scholz, and Paul Daeche, a German reservist, were found guilty. They were sentenced respectively to eight, four and two years in the penitentiary. Fay admitted on the witness stand that he laid his plan before Captain von Papen and Captain Boy-Ed, that he had more than one conference with Captain von Papen; but he asserted that both men warned him not to undertake the scheme. It will be remembered that Fay escaped from the Atlanta Penitentiary within a short time after his sentence, and he is believed to be either in Mexico or back in the trenches. He undoubtedly secured aid from German sympathizers.
FIRE BOMBS
Another part of this vast conspiracy against the export of arms and ammunition was the scheme to manufacture the so-called fire bombs, which could be placed in the holds of ships and which, exploding after a certain time, would set fire to the cargoes. By this means, thirty-three ships were stealthily attacked, with New York as a basis of operation, and damage of $10,000,000 was done. Vessels sailing not only from New York, but from Boston, Galveston, and even from Pacific ports, carried these bombs stowed away in their holds. Sugar ships especially were an object of attack, for sugar forms an ingredient of a certain explosive. These ships especially were adapted to this method, because once a fire started, the bomb itself would be destroyed, and as water had to be poured into the hold, the sugar would be destroyed.
Several bombs would be placed in the same hold, as has been shown by the fact that one fire was started in a vessel before she had left port. The fire was extinguished and more sugar loaded on the boat. Scarcely had the boat got out of port when another fire started. Among the ships attacked by bombs were La Touraine, of the French line, the Minnehaha, of the Atlantic Transport Line, the Rochambeau, the Euterpe, Strathtay, Devon City, Lord Erne, Lord Ormonde, Tennyson and many others.
The man accused of having charge of these bombs is a chemist, named Dr. Walter T. Scheele, formerly of Brooklyn, later of Hoboken, and still later a resident of some foreign country, whither he fled. He developed—or it was suggested to him by German officers—a scheme for taking a small metal container divided into two parts. Into one part would be put sulphuric acid; into another part, chlorate of potash. The sulphuric acid eating through the partition between the two sections made of aluminium, would unite with the chlorate of potash, causing combustion. Thus started, a fire so intense would be created that the container made of lead would be destroyed, and the cargo would be set on fire. Dr. Scheele, it is charged, made hundreds of these bombs, and received a large amount of money from German sources. One story is that von Rintelen paid him $10,000. Another story is that Wolf von Igel, von Papen’s assistant, paid him money after von Papen left the country. Still further, Captain Otto Wolpert, Pier Superintendent of the Atlas Line, is charged with having received some of these bombs. The metal containers were manufactured on board the steamship Friedrich der Grosse, tied up in the North German Lloyd pier in Hoboken. The chief engineer, Carl Schmidt, who spent some time in collecting money for a monument to commemorate the part Germans have taken in the present war, is said to have been directed by a German officer to turn over the workshop of the ship as a bomb factory. At any rate, Ernst Becker, chief electrician, who has turned State’s evidence, and three assistant engineers have been arrested as co-conspirators in this ship plot. Dr. Scheele’s assistant, Captain Charles von Kleist, also has been arrested. It was through information unwittingly supplied by him that Captain Tunney and Detective George Barnitz, assisted by extremely keen members of the bomb squad, unearthed the whole conspiracy.
Captain von Papen, as an organizer of a part of Germany’s secret service in America, as the schemer who sought to control a monopoly in certain high explosives and as a director of military enterprises—has been revealed by the Federal authorities as an extremely able servant of the Kaiser. These activities, however, were only a part of the task assigned to him by the German General Staff. He had still other plans which will be set forth in the following chapter.