The Web

CHAPTER VII
THE STORY OF CLEVELAND

Once more we find occasion to revise the popular estimate of a supposedly well-known American community. No one would think of staid, steady, even-going Cleveland as anything but a place of prosperity and peace. At a rough estimate, before the Cleveland report came in, one would have said that possibly that city might report a total of ten or fifteen thousand cases of A. P. L. investigations. As a matter of fact, the Cleveland total is over sixty thousand! And yet, the Cleveland Chief in his report calls attention to the large amount of war supplies manufactured in his district, and says: “We were a hot-bed of Socialism and pro-Germanism, but not one dollar’s worth of material was lost.”

Cleveland Division was organized in May, 1917, with a personnel of 1,008—Mr. Arch C. Klunph, Chief, six Assistant Chiefs, seven Departmental Inspectors, an office staff and eighteen companies. There were also one women’s company and about five hundred unattached operatives; a total personnel of 1,551.

As the type of A. P. L. service varied in different cities, it may be interesting to other cities to note the character of work the Cleveland division was called upon to do. The list of investigations covers many heads: Failure to register, failure to entrain, and deserters from service, 5,356; failure to submit questionnaire, 2,100; failure to report for physical examination, 3,100; claims for exemption, 2,500; seditious literature, 50; seditious and treasonable utterances or pro-German cases, 7,113; loyalty investigations for Army, Navy, Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., etc., 1,746; wireless outfits, 40; enemy agents or spies, 363; I. W. W., Socialist, W. I. I. U. and Bolsheviki, 1,529; industrial sabotage, 318; Liberty Bond slackers, 500. Total number of men apprehended and examined on slacker raids, estimated, 36,000. Total—60,715.

In addition to the foregoing, the Cleveland division has rendered a large amount of service in investigating cases of violations of food, fuel, electric light and gasless Sunday regulations; cases for the National Council of Defense; registration of male and female enemy aliens (approximately 5,000); work of U. S. Marshal’s office; work of Naturalization Bureau by secret investigations of applicants for citizenship; Red Cross overseas work; Socialist cases; details for War Work plants. There also were regular weekly details of volunteer workers with automobiles to assist the Police Department.

As to definite preventive measures, the Chief points out several instances: the stopping of manufacture of a fountain pen which would explode on being opened; the choking off of the establishment of a high-power wireless plant on the shore of Lake Erie; the discharge of countless German workmen in factories producing food for the Army; the confiscation of models and plans of American battleships and submarines, and literature found in the hands of German propagandists.

In May, 1918, an express company notified Cleveland A. P. L. that they were called upon to issue money orders to an unusual number of Germans, who claimed that they were returning to their homes in Russia. The League captured twenty-three men, all claiming to live in Russia, although plainly German in appearance, and speaking that language in talking with one another. Three men left for Chicago, but were apprehended by wire at the railroad terminal in Chicago. This was a concerted movement to get as many Germans as possible back into Russia.

Cleveland, being one of the largest cities of the United States, and having also one of the largest percentages of foreign population, naturally indeed was a hot-bed for Socialism, I. W. W. work and Bolshevism, although such had not been the general reputation of the city. These organizations held regular meetings, often with speeches of the most dangerous character. At most of them, there was an A. P. L. operative noting all that was done and said.

Cleveland Division covered a population of over a million, and that in one of the four largest war working centers in the nation. It is a very proud claim to say that not one dollar was lost to the nation. The Chief points out that this statement is the more astonishing because there were made in Cleveland a long list of military supplies: Air-planes, wings and parts; ammunitions, clothing, trucks, and the hundred other materials for use in the Army and Navy. There were three hundred and eighty-six plants in Cuyahoga County engaged in ordnance work, and there were employed in these plants 1,218 workmen. These ordnance plants had contracts amounting to $175,000,000. Motor transportation plants, making trucks, trailers, axles, forms, etc., had a series of contracts totaling $88,000,000. There were fifty plants engaged in air-craft production, and twenty making clothing, not to mention three large shipyards, all busy practically day and night. That means work! Figures like this are serious. It is no cheap flattery to say to the men who are responsible for the safety of these vast industrial concerns that their record is a more than marvelous one. It is no wonder that there is the best of feeling between Cleveland Division and the Department of Justice, Police Department and all the allied administrations of the law. It is not necessary to print the letters of appreciation from any of these.

The Chief says that the most of the active work covered a period of about fifteen months. The cases handled monthly approximated four thousand. Obviously it is impossible to report sixty thousand, or four thousand, or one thousand cases, but some of the Cleveland specials are too interesting to leave aside. It is regrettable that they must be abbreviated.

On December 1, 1917, Dorothy A——, a nice Cleveland girl, was selling Liberty Bonds for the Y. W. C. A. on a partial payment basis, which did not seem quite right. Dorothy was hard to find, but she admitted, when found, that she was selling these bonds because she needed the money herself. The mortgage on the old home was about to be foreclosed, and she had taken this method of getting what money she could. It was in truth the case of a young girl driven desperate by circumstances. The A. P. L. first got her a good position; second, advanced the money to pay off the mortgage on the home, she to pay them back in monthly installments; and third, found the people to whom she had sold the bonds, and returned the money of which she had fraudulently deprived them. This girl remained clean and straight, and as a culmination of the case she married a young soldier, whom she met through the A. P. L., who later did his bit in France. We do not know of a prettier bit in the history of the A. P. L. than this.

On March 2, 1918, A. P. L. ran down another one of those cruel rumors against the Red Cross which have been started by pro-German women for the most part. This rumor was first circulated by a young woman, and is of a nature which can not be put into print. The girl, when found, confessed that she was guilty. She also confessed that she was hitting the high spots in the city, having left a country home to get acquainted with the bright lights. The A. P. L. did not kick this woman down and out, either, but gave her a hand-up. Two weeks later she came to the Division Office with tears in her eyes, apologized for the false rumors which she had set going, and implored that she might be allowed to do something for the office of the division.

A war plant making aeroplane parts kept turning out defective work. The A. P. L. put a woman operative in the factory. She chanced to be a young woman of a wealthy family, accustomed to the luxury of a beautiful home, but she took to the overalls and dirty work as a duck does to water. She was in the factory three weeks, located the trouble, and it was adjusted.

A telephone call reported that a house was being burglarized. An A. P. L. man at the phone remembered that a deserter had been sought for at that number. In thirty minutes the house was surrounded. They did not catch the deserter, but they did get the burglar.

A dangerous type of service was the raiding of I. W. W. headquarters. Sometimes these were boarding houses where thirty or forty of these people would be gathered together. When such a place was surrounded, the suspects would pour out of the windows into the arms of the operatives. This meant occasional fights, and there was danger in the work, but there was no case where loss of life was experienced.

An interesting fact of Cleveland war work was that developed by examination of the draughting rooms in the large plants. In some of these plants the entire draughting force was not only German by descent but pro-German in sentiment. It has often been said that part of German propaganda was to get men in factories where they could get blue-prints of all of our machinery. In November, 1917, the League was advised that a draughtsman of a ship-building company was very pro-German, and it was said that the foreman in charge would hire only Germans. Constant surveillance was ordered, but it was as late as June, 1918, before this man was found making derogatory remarks about our Army. He was found to have been an officer in the German Reserves. He was jailed. Many letters were found on him sufficient to warrant his internment.

As though I. W. W.’s were not sufficiently dangerous, operatives were once asked to arrest a colored slacker who worked for a lion-tamer. The latter, a woman, gave the operatives a tip that her assistant ought to be looked into. He was finally caught at the time when he was transferring the lions from the performing ring to their traveling cages, but that did not stop the operatives. After he got the doors locked he was taken to the Federal Building and inducted into the Service, where his courage will be put to good service.

Here are some familiar pro-German statements, this time uttered by one A. C——, who was running an advertising agency. At one time he said that “the war would be ended by January 1, because German training was better than ours—that we should not believe the lies about Germans killing babies—everyone knows that America is going to lose the war—that this is no war for Democracy—that there is no Democracy in America.” Indicted. Guilty. Interned. A. P. L.

Cleveland had its own troubles with evaders and slackers, and it took many cleverly laid plans to catch some of them. These are some of the methods. After locating where a suspect lived who was hard to find, a man would appear next day as one of the solicitors of the City Directory whose business it was to get the name of every man in each house. The solicitor was usually a very old looking man. This usually worked. If it did not, a messenger boy would show up with a message saying that it must be delivered at once. If this failed, there would come a letter from some prominent institution, sent in an unsealed envelope, addressed to the man offering him a job at an unusually high wage. One or the other of these devices would usually establish touch with the man wanted. It was like changing baits in a trap.

An interesting case was that of Harry W——, who was brother of another Mr. W—— sentenced to the workhouse for violation of the Espionage Act. Harry did not register, but was picked up in the City Council Chamber. He desperately tried to convince the A. P. L. men that he was too old, but the operatives got his birth record and proved that he had wilfully evaded registration. Indicted and sentenced to one year in the workhouse.

A deserter from Camp Sherman, in December, 1917, was located wearing civilian clothes as late as September, 1918. He was hidden by a certain woman, who had secreted his uniform and who had supplied him with liquor repeatedly. We learned that this was an illicit relation. The woman had furnished the man with money from time to time. The A. P. L. took her case up with the District Attorney. The woman is awaiting indictment of a charge of furnishing liquor to a soldier and harboring a deserter. Her lover is back in camp.

The division had a good case on certain German sympathizers believed to be sending certain information to the enemy. A dictaphone was installed in a hotel room which they occupied, and the place was watched day and night for a week. Just at the time when it seemed that some information was going to be reported, a parrot which the people had in the room started to chatter and beat them into the dictaphone. Nothing was discovered at that time and the Chief reports, “I regret we cannot print what came over the dictaphone by the parrot.”

Adolph R——, a German of the Germans, was within the draft, but resisted in every possible way, and said he would kill any members of the League who came after him. He even called up individual members and told them he was going to shoot them. When an order came he told the A. P. L. man that he would pay no attention. A detail was sent after him and he was escorted like a little lamb to the barracks. He has been a good German ever since.

The League found that it had in its ranks as an operative a resident of the city of Cleveland, who had been there all his life but was a German alien and not registered. This fellow was arrested and interned for a short period, though soon paroled.

The Cleveland division of A. P. L. took a very prominent part in the Debs case, and furnished abundant men and machines on the Sunday that Debs was arrested in Cleveland. It also helped to assemble the evidence on which Debs was indicted.

Washington was on the hunt for a dangerous enemy alien by the name of Henry H——. Information came that he was working for a photographic concern in Cleveland, but he could not be located. Four months later a complaint of pro-Germanism came in against a man of the same name working for a city directory company. He had changed his occupation but not his nature, and hence was arrested.

The printed page was another form of propaganda in Cleveland. An alien enemy editor of a German paper was allowed at large with restrictions. He abused his privilege and was interned at Fort Oglethorpe. Indictments and convictions were found against members of the staff of a German daily. Yet another editor refused to print articles on food conservation, and he also was indicted and convicted. Sabotage was threatened and planned in many cases. In one instance a tip got out that a big war plant was to be blown up on one of two given nights. The League got on the job and found the plant to be insufficiently guarded. The guard was increased and no damage was done.

Gottlieb K——, an alien enemy, was caught out of his zone without his permit. Operatives went to his home and found two Mauser rifles, a peck of shells, a dagger, a blackjack and several maps of Canada, the United States and Mexico. Gottlieb was thought to be more fit for Fort Oglethorpe than Cleveland.

Mr. A. L. H——, a member of the Cleveland Board of Education, had his own idea about education. In the home of a socialist he remarked that the Liberty Bonds would never be paid, and that the working class for generations would have to work to support these bonds. He stated that the Russian Committee, headed by Elihu Root, who went to Russia to investigate the conditions there, had their report written and signed before they left America. He frequently said that the bonds of the United States were not worth the paper they were written on. Affidavits resulted in the indictment of Mr. H——, and he was sentenced to ten years in the Atlanta Penitentiary, the conviction automatically removing him from the Board of Education.

A mail carrier in Cleveland fell heir to $60,000, but being a socialist, would not subscribe to Liberty Bonds. He was called to the headquarters of the A. P. L. and reasoned with. The next day his son came into headquarters literally running over with Liberty Bonds. He had $10,000 worth, all in $100 denominations! They sent him home with a guard.

The A. P. L. was responsible for obtaining the evidence that secured the conviction of the State Secretary of the Socialist Party and two others. All of these men publicly made speeches against the draft, and were actually instrumental in preventing certain men from complying with the Selective Service Act. All sentenced to one year of peace in the Canton workhouse by the Federal Court.

A gentleman by the name of Joseph Freiheit—Freiheit means “freedom” in German—said that if sent to the army he would not shoot at the Germans. He advised his friends to do the same. He was brought to headquarters and reprimanded. The next day he committed suicide. Case closed.

A man who owned a garage was reported hostile to Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps. A certain operative went to talk over with him the question of Thrift Stamps. The question was asked, “How many do you want me to buy?” The solicitor said he thought about a thousand dollars worth. He bought a thousand dollars worth in cash, then and there. Almost persuaded.

A very elusive draft dodger was Geo. F——, who was chased from pillar to post, but not come up with. He was discovered to have an intrigue with a waitress, Jennie M——, who also would change her name once in a while, leave her place of employment and be gone a day or two. The question was, where did she go? The operatives on the case took Jennie down to the Federal Building, where she told so many conflicting stories that she was locked up. Meantime, the Post Office Department advised that certain letters were sent back from Elyria, Ohio, addressed to “F. J. P——.” The return card brought the trail around to one of the original dwelling-places of the suspect. The operative now went to this address and found the owner of the home and threatened to arrest him for abetting a deserter from the United States Army. These letters were opened and it was discovered that the man desired was getting mail at the post office at Monroe, Michigan. So the operative went to Jennie in jail and said, “Well, we have got George over in Michigan.” “Is that so?” said the girl; “how did you get him?” The operative declined to tell, and said the only thing he wondered about was what name George was going under in Monroe. The girl finally admitted that his name there was “F. J. P——.” It took patience and shrewdness to follow the trail in Monroe. However, a name was found written in two places in a register of a workingmen’s hotel there. The initials were the same as for F. J. P——, one of the many alias names. The landlady was found, and a picture of Jennie was shown her. She said it was the same picture that “F. J. P——” had in the back of his watch. The rest was rather simple. The operator hired a taxicab and started out in search of his man, who then was engaged as night watchman on some road work. A steam roller was found in the middle of the road, displaying a red lantern, with a man fast asleep on top. The operative awakened him, and identified him as the much wanted Geo. F——, alias Ed. D——, alias Geo. W——, alias F. J. P——, alias F. J. P——. The man was handcuffed and the party started back for Monroe. In due time, the suspect was taken to the Department of Justice, and on December 14 the long trail ended for him. The details of this pursuit are among the most interesting of those which have been turned in for any case on the Cleveland records.

One operative had what he took to be a regular Conan Doyle novel, all spread out before him. It involved what was known as “The House of Mystery,” where all kinds of mysterious goings and comings and every sort of dark, secret midnight interview took place. After a long, long time the house of mystery was closed. The inspector was able from other information to tell the operatives what was the matter with his case—which is not reported in full. The inspector said: “Your elderly woman there is the mother of the younger woman, who is married to a worthless scamp, from whom she is seeking a divorce. They have a beautiful home in the mountains of the West, and that is where they go on the mysterious trips you have been noticing so long. Their trunks are filled with valuable papers, and when they finished discussing these, they put them back in the trunks. The little child is the son of the young woman. The reason they rented this isolated house and made a prisoner out of the child was because the father has been trying to kidnap the child. The mysterious chauffeur is the secretary of the ladies. When he enlisted for the war they found cause to weep on that account.” The operative had been working on an ordinary society detective story instead of a plot against the United States.

Perhaps these very few random cases may serve to show the variety of the sixty thousand handled in Cleveland. What did it all mean for the safety and security of the United States? Who can measure it? That is a thing impossible. But that the good citizens of Cleveland appreciated what the A. P. L. has done may be seen from abundant local evidence. Under date of December 24 the Cleveland newspapers came out in open condemnation of the wave of crime then threatening the city. The Plain Dealer said very plainly:

The Cleveland Press headed one of its editorials: “Chief, call out the A. P. L.!” In answer, the Chief of the Cleveland Police did call on the A. P. L. once more, although this was six weeks after hostilities had ceased. All of the following Saturday night and Sunday there were A. P. L. men patrolling the streets of Cleveland in motor cars in company with the police.

The disbanding of the A. P. L. was openly deplored in Cleveland. What is going to be the future condition of the United States in these days following the war? One thing is sure, the thinking men of the country are uneasy. There is reason to feel concern, in a city like Cleveland, over bolshevism and labor troubles. There do not lack those who predict for all America the wave of disregard for property and life which quite often ensues at the close of a great war—and this war was the greatest upheaval of human institutions and human values the world has ever seen. But matters in Cleveland might have been worse—much worse.