The Web

CHAPTER XIII
THE STORY OF MINNEAPOLIS

The great city of Minneapolis is one of the foci of the agricultural and industrial realm of the vast Northwestern country for which the Twin Cities make the gateway. It was not to be supposed that its staid and sober population would cause any great amount of trouble. None the less, trouble did develop in Minneapolis as elsewhere, and A. P. L. cases and figures mounted steadily upward, just as they did in other large centers of industry the country over.

Alien enemy cases for the Department of Justice ran 127; disloyalty and sedition, 1,222; sabotage, 17; interference with draft, 44; propaganda, 392; I. W. W. and other radicals, 70. War Department cases had 5,725 investigations under the selective draft: 997 slackers; 507 work-or-fight cases; character and loyalty, 337 cases; liquor, vice and prostitution, 593 cases. The Treasury Department had 1,129 cases on war risk and allowance grounds. The Fuel Administration turned over 2,356 cases for investigation; the gasoline work, 427. The grand total of cases handled by Minneapolis division men, November 26, 1917, to December 16, 1918, was 15,415.

Minneapolis had a very thorough organization, and has reported the results in so thorough and explicit a fashion as to leave small option in matter of handling the report. It could not well be amended or improved upon, and is given in substance in the following pages.

Entries on the case cards include every conceivable offense against the wartime laws and orders of the Federal Government. Each card contains the condensed history of an investigation important in the prosecution of the war, and, collectively, the 15,415 cards represent uncountable hours, days and nights of devoted service to the Government during a period of thirteen months. They record adventures as thrilling as any of the detective stories of Monsieur Lecocq or Sherlock Holmes, although these form a minority of the experiences encountered.

The Minneapolis Division of the American Protective League entered upon active service November 27, 1917. An organization with a limited membership had been effected in Minneapolis previously, but its members served principally as observers, and it was not until Charles G. Davis, a Minneapolis contractor, had been induced by H. M. Gardner, Vice-President of the Civic & Commerce Association, in charge of war activities, to accept the position as Chief of the Minneapolis Division, that the American Protective League became an active local agent for the apprehension of anti-war activities. Mr. Davis entirely abandoned his private business to enter upon this important Government service. After having established relations with Mr. T. E. Campbell, Chief Special Agent in charge of the Bureau of Investigation U. S. Department of Justice in the Northwest, he opened headquarters and immediately began recruiting a force of operatives. He continued in this position through the thirteen months without salary.

Under the plan of organization, a captain was appointed in each district and operatives assigned in the numbers required to meet the conditions encountered. Lieutenants also were provided, each having charge of groups of operatives up to ten men. Headquarters held each captain responsible for all operations in his district.

The jurisdiction of the Minneapolis Division extended throughout Hennepin County. In the principal county centers outside of Minneapolis, special operatives were appointed to take instruction direct from headquarters. Another group of picked operatives composed a headquarters squad operated directly under the chief and handling emergency cases.

Because of the importance and confidential nature of the business entrusted to the League, extreme care was exercised in the selection of the operatives. They were men of proved loyalty as well as of ability and influence. As the work of the division increased, the personnel was enlarged until a total of more than four hundred operatives from all lines of business, trades and professions had finally been called to service. All served without pay or expense allowances. Some of them gave practically their entire time to the work of the League. Most of them definitely pledged and gave from six to twenty hours of service every week.

The total members sworn in numbered 491 on November 30, 1918. The active list at that date included 326 officers and operatives and sixty members of the so-called “Eye and Ear” division, consisting of men not able to render continuous service, but so situated that they were in a position to communicate to headquarters reports of anti-American activities and other Federal offenses. Among the active members were scores who had tried in vain to enter the Army or Navy, and who, failing to find any other essential war service open to them, found an outlet for their patriotic energy in the ranks of the American Protective League. Notwithstanding this, the League report shows that twenty-four members resigned during the thirteen months to go into the army; five to enter the overseas service of the Y. M. C. A. or Red Cross; and eighteen to accept other Government service.

In the pursuit of their duties, operatives and officials of the Minneapolis Division, A. P. L., arrested several well-known criminals, and encountered scores of desperate offenders of various kinds. It is a tribute to their courage and efficiency that there was not a single case of extreme violence. Men who were recognized everywhere as dangerous were apprehended as easily as persons who had offended unwittingly. In its work, the League employed all of the scientific as well as the ordinary devices utilized in the detection and conviction of violators and evaders of the law. Dictaphones and disguises were used, and miles were covered and hours spent in skillful “shadowing.”

While the files of the Minneapolis Division contain records of many cases of extreme importance, including participation in two investigations which led to the internment of alien enemies, the conviction of eleven offenders against the espionage laws, the capture and conviction of numerous deserters and the successful prosecution of other offenders, Chief Davis and his associates take greater pride in the results of constructive work of another type. This included the re-establishment with their boards of 4,479 delinquents under the selective service regulations, and the apologies and promises to mend their ways obtained from men and women who, in some cases, had deliberately, but in most instances unwittingly, extended aid and comfort to the enemy. It is estimated that at least two hundred men and women, who had been guilty of spreading false reports or of other conduct of an unfriendly nature, were shown the fallacy of their actions in such a manner that they voluntarily surrendered their previous ideas and embraced Americanism with more—or less—zeal.

For the protection of active members, who frequently encountered emergencies requiring authoritative action, and often were obliged to make immediate arrests to insure the detention of persons guilty of serious offenses, an arrangement was made whereby a large percentage of the operatives were formally deputized as special officers of the Minnesota Public Safety Commission. This gave them sufficient police authority to cope with any situation which arose. But for this, it would not have been possible for the organization to make its record of important arrests. This authority permitted the carrying of arms for protection, and although instances where “gun play” was required were few, the U. S. Department of Justice and the Minnesota Public Safety Commission had no occasion to regret the authority and responsibility conferred upon these men. They were enabled, by virtue of this authority, to enter many places, which otherwise might have been closed to them, in time to correct conditions which, if neglected, would have given rise to serious difficulties.

The Minneapolis Division American Protective League was the first local division to attempt a large-scale slacker round-up. The results and experience of the Minneapolis raids were responsible for similar activities in other cities, which put into the Army hundreds of men who otherwise might have evaded military service. The first organized slacker “raid” in Minneapolis took place on March 26, 1917. One hundred and twenty operatives were employed in hauling the drag-net through the cheaper hotels in the Gateway lodging house district. Approximately one hundred men were taken to the temporary detention place, and twenty-one men—deserters, unregistered enemy aliens and men whose draft status could not be determined—were sent to the county jail.

On April 6, two hundred and fifty operatives, with two hundred National Guard escorts, visited saloons, cafés, pool rooms and dance halls, starting at 8:00 p. m. and continuing until 10:00 p. m., and picked up 1,150 men in various places. The Chief and a corps of assistants conducted the questioning throughout the night. There were still two hundred men in custody when breakfast was served Sunday morning. Long distance telephone and the telegraph were employed to determine the status of the non-residents. Twenty-seven men were locked up. Other less extensive raids were conducted through the spring and summer of 1918 and at different periods, squads of operatives being stationed at the various railroad stations to search for draft evaders. As many as twenty prisoners were taken in these stations in a single day, and it was seldom that a day passed which did not yield two or more deserters or delinquents.

One morning a dapper individual who arrived at one station was asked if he had his draft card.

“Certainly,” he replied, reaching confidently into his pocket. The smile gradually disappeared from his face and he delved into pocket after pocket without finding the necessary credentials. Finally he gave up in despair and admitted he did not have his card. He was an exception to the rule, however, and did not become indignant. He said, “Take me along—I deserve it.” At headquarters he proved to be “Chick” Evans of Chicago, national open golf champion of the United States. He had come to Minneapolis to participate in a golf foursome for the benefit of the Red Cross! He waited fully two hours until a telegram was received from his Board in Chicago stating that he was in good standing.

Another spectacular raid conducted by the Minneapolis Division was on the show lot of the Ringling Circus. Thirty men were taken into custody on charges of draft irregularities, and nearly all of these were inducted into the army. It was reported that resistance might be offered, and precautions had been taken in the arrangements for the raid. No difficulty was encountered, however, and later in the day the proprietor of the circus complimented us on the manner in which the round-up had been conducted.

A different type of raid was undertaken at the request of commandants of the various Army detachments in and near Minneapolis. They complained that a number of imposters in army uniforms were bringing discredit to the soldiery and requested that these be apprehended. There were so many soldiers on leave in Minneapolis at all hours that it had been found extremely difficult to identify the imposters, and so it was decided that with the coöperation of the various commandants a literal drag-net process should be resorted to on a given evening. Forces of operatives were stationed at opposite extremes of the central business district. More than two hundred men participated, squads being formed, and one squad being stationed at each end of each street. The operatives stopped every uniformed man who was encountered and demanded his pass. An even dozen uniformed men who did not have passes were picked up and turned over to Army and Navy authorities, who attended in automobiles. For a long time there was an entire absence of reports of offenses on the part of imposters in service uniforms.

Early in the summer a system of nightly A. P. L. patrols was established in the down-town section of Minneapolis. Operatives worked in squads of two or three men, some of them giving attention to draft evaders, others to the work-or-fight order, and others to bootleggers. Scarcely a night passed without a record of one or more important arrests, and the entire personnel of the League became intimately acquainted with the down-town business and social structures.

In the conduct of these nightly patrols a special headquarters was established in a down-town public building. The captain in charge directed operations from this place. Not only was he able to keep the railroad stations, hotels, cafés, saloons and other public places under continuous surveillance for slackers, but he also had forces constantly available to meet any emergencies which arose during the evenings. Squads frequently were dispatched from this headquarters to various points of the city to give attention to special cases.

One of the first draft evasion cases investigated by the Minneapolis Division is a great short story ready-made. It concerned a young man prominent in labor circles. He had been an avowed opponent of all the national war measures, and was particularly bitter in his condemnation of the Selective Service Act. It was reported on good authority that although he was within the draft age he had declined to register and intended to resort to any device necessary to evade service.

The first inquiry was made at the Board of Health, where it was ascertained that no record of his birth was on file. Attention was next called to the poll books, and it was found that the age he had given when registering as a voter placed him safely within the provisions of the draft act. His school enrollment record was investigated and it was found that the ages given in the various grades made him amenable to the draft. He had three insurance policies, and the original applications which he had signed showed him to have been less than thirty-one years old on June 5, 1917. The last step was to search for the marriage record of his father and mother. They were found to have been married in a small town near Minneapolis in November, 1885.

When the young man was summoned to headquarters he admitted the authenticity of all these records, but insisted that he knew he was past thirty-one on June 5, 1917. He refused to state on what information he based this assertion, and was held for prosecution. One final attempt was made to clear his status, and with considerable effort his mother, who had divorced his father more than twenty-five years before, was located. At the end of an unsatisfactory interview lasting nearly an hour she finally broke down and in tears admitted the boy had been born out of wedlock and that she had been responsible for the falsification of the records in order to indicate his legitimacy. She said that she had withheld this secret even from the subject, not divulging to him until a few days before the day of registration and then only because he seemed so bitter over the fact that he must register. Her appearance was so venerable and her determination to assist him so emphatic that there appeared little chance of successful prosecution, so the man was released. Headquarters never received any further reports of un-American activities on his part.

A later case of interest involved an admitted deserter, both from the German and the United States Army. Whether he is guilty of other offenses has not yet been determined. On September 12, 1918, the day of registration for men up to forty-six years of age, two operatives on duty were struck by the peculiar actions of a man who appeared to register. They managed to get near him without attracting suspicion. In stating his occupation he said he was an iron moulder. They noticed that his hands were soft and white. When he left the registration place, one of the operatives followed him. The other telephoned to the plant where the man had said he was employed and learned that he was not known there. The individual was “shadowed” to a lodging house, but had departed while the first operative was telephoning. The house was put under surveillance, and after a period of five days the operative gained entrance and searched his room. Among his effects were blank checks from banks in various cities, photographs in German army uniforms of a man recognizable as the subject, and various letters and pamphlets in German, some of which were suspicious. Under the carpet in the room was an official United States Army discharge blank.

The fact that this paper had been so carefully hidden caused further suspicion, and the watch was maintained for another five days, when a man appeared at the house seeking to rent the room which had been occupied by the subject. He described the particular room. On instructions from the operatives, the landlady let him have it. When he entered the room he started packing the effects of the subject, and shortly afterwards left the house with the subject’s two suitcases. He was stopped outside and questioned. He said a man had given him $5.00 to go to that lodging house, to rent that particular room, to get his belongings and to meet him at a certain place the following morning, where he agreed to give him $50. This man was held over night and was sent out the next day to make the appointment arranged by the subject. The subject was there and was taken into custody. After a gruelling examination he admitted being a deserter from the United States Army. He later confessed that he was a German alien and said he also had deserted from the army in Germany. He would not account for his activities in the months which had elapsed between his desertion from the Army and his capture in Minneapolis. He had a considerable sum of money, but could not prove he had done any work. He was turned over to the military authorities.

Topping all other humorous experiences was that encountered by one of the most efficient of the Minneapolis District A. P. L. Captains. He had orders to arrest a deserter who bore a Polish name ending in “-ski.” After a long search he was informed that this man lived in one of the slum sections, working all day and arriving at his lodging place generally about 1:00 a. m. He could not learn where the man worked and so was compelled to locate him at his room. Going there to make inquiries one night, he was told that the man was there. Having been informed that the fellow was dangerous and fearing that he would become alarmed and flee if he was not taken into custody immediately, the captain went into his room. Asking if he were “So-and-so-ski,” the man said he was. He was told to get up and dress and come along. Although he was surly he showed no resistance and accompanied the captain outside. The captain felt, however, that this docility might be assumed, and thought he would take no chances. The place was about a mile from the jail. The captain had an automobile, but did not feel it would be safe to take the prisoner in the seat with him. He therefore compelled him to straddle the hood on the car, and on this ungainly perch, with the temperature 20° below, the unfortunate suspect was driven to the court house. Arriving there, the prisoner scratched his head and asked:

“What yuh bringin’ me down here for?”

“Why, because you didn’t register for the draft. You know what.”

“Didn’t register for the draft? I guess I did! Here is my blue card and my classification card.”

Explanation followed. This man’s name ended with the Polish “-ski” and was otherwise almost identical to the name of the culprit who was sought. When he was asked if he was “So-and-so-ski,” it sounded so much like his own name that he admitted it. He was taken back to his lodgings in the seat beside the captain and proper apologies were made.

In most cases where humor existed, there was sometimes a mixture of tragedy. There was one man, a motor truck driver, who had made himself exceedingly popular with a number of women by wearing a uniform of an infantryman without having gone through the formality of enlistment. He was captured one day while paying a call on one of his admirers. Operatives burst in upon the imposter and told him he must straightway doff the uniform.

“But this is the only suit of clothes I have,” he protested. One operative went to his truck and found an oil-stained suit of overalls. He was taken behind the screen and forced to get into these and give up his military raiment.

Another incident of this kind involved a young man who was subject to draft and who said he was ready to respond when called. He could not wait the Government issue of clothes, however. He went to a tailor and equipped himself with a suit of khaki which fitted perfectly and further adorned himself with the insignia of the Artillery Service and an officer’s sleeve braid. When he was summoned to headquarters, he explained that he intended to take this uniform to camp to wear when “he went to town.” His readiness to wear the uniform was communicated to his draft board by telephone and brought orders for immediate induction. Although he had sold all of his civilian clothes, one suit was recovered from the second-hand dealer who had purchased them, and he went to camp in it.

One Saturday night a young man of stentorian voice, wearing classical shell-rimmed glasses, appeared at a prominent down-town corner, mounted a soap-box and shouted, “Step closer, gentlemen. I have no bombs, no T. N. T., no lyddite, no dynamite or powder explosives of any kind. Step closer though and I’ll treat you to some talk-bombs.” In the vanguard of those who stepped closer were two A. P. L. operatives. Five minutes later the orator, Herbert Blank, alias Herbert C——, deserter from the British army, was registered at the county jail. The shell-rimmed glasses and his predilection to Bolsheviki oratory had proved his downfall. They had been mentioned in a bulletin asking his apprehension, sent out from Chicago headquarters of the Department of Justice and received that morning in Minneapolis headquarters.

The leading man of the theatrical company which scored the biggest hit of any troupe playing Minneapolis last winter applied his cold cream and other theatrical embellishments for his Saturday matinee performance under the eyes of an A. P. L. operative whilst he confessed to the operative that it was quite possible that he should have registered for the draft, although he had not. At the request of the New York A. P. L. headquarters, this man was examined, and although he carried with him a sworn statement from his father to the effect that he had been born prior to June 5, 1886, coöperation with the Toledo A. P. L. had developed evidence that this was not true. Before the interview was concluded, ample evidence was secured to warrant the arrest of the actor, but his role was so prominent and there was such a certainty that the company would be compelled to cancel all of its engagements with distinct losses to all its members, that mercy was shown and he was allowed to continue the performance until such a time as his draft status could be adjusted. For several weeks, during the travels of the company, he was compelled to report daily at the offices of the U. S. Department of Justice in the various cities visited.

One night a squad of operatives, led by the Chief, visited an apartment in a down-town building to investigate a report that liquor was being served to soldiers and sailors. When they gained entrance they found no uniformed men upon the premises, but one of the operatives who had lived in San Francisco recognized the unmistakable odor of opium smoke. He said, “Hop, Chief!” A search was made and a large quantity of opium was found secreted in various nooks of the apartment. Further search revealed twenty-three sticks of dynamite, a complete kit of burglar’s tools, a supply of saws and other devices used by crooks. A bolt of silk and other new merchandise, afterwards identified as property stolen from stores, also was uncovered. Five men and a woman were taken to jail.

One of the most interesting cases was that of a German who left Germany fifty-six years ago, at the age of six years. He went to South Dakota, where he prospered greatly, and moved to Minneapolis about fifteen years ago. At the outbreak of the war his remarks were such that his business associates and social acquaintances practically ostracized him, and the members of his lodge preferred charges of disloyalty against him. The man was brought to headquarters. Members of his lodge were invited to be present, and he was given twenty minutes seeing himself as others saw him. His attitude at first was stubborn and defiant. The Chief then began to dwell on the suffering of his children; said they were refused admittance to fraternities, were not invited to parties and that his boy departed for the mobilization camp brokenhearted and in tears over the fact that none of his family were at the station to bid him good-bye at the most important milestone in his career. This line of talk seemed to soften the subject. He broke down and said, with tears: “I never was talked to like this before in my life, but I never had anything said to me that did me so much good. Will you please shake hands with me?” After that his fellow lodge members affected a reconciliation on the spot. This man’s future conduct was above reproach after this incident, and he became one of the most active workers for the Red Cross and Liberty Loan.

A well known clairvoyant and spiritualist medium of Minneapolis was brought into the office by one of the District Captains. She was told that she had been talking sedition, and waxed indignant at the idea of anybody accusing her of sedition when she was a woman so far removed from ordinary planes, who could see into vast rounds of space. Her complacency was seriously jarred when informed that one of our operatives had crawled into her basement through the coal chute and listened to her seditious talk. Her inability to see into the basement caused her to have renewed faith in the long arm of Uncle Sam.

A bond salesman earning $10,000 a year was only two weeks under thirty-one years of age on the 5th of June, 1917. A report came in from a former sweetheart who had been jilted. Operatives found where the subject had made application for two insurance policies, taken out two or three years previous, in another city, which gave his age and place of birth. When brought into the office, the man stated that no authentic birth record was in existence, and that his birth was recorded in the family Bible in a Southern city, in the custody of his mother. Not having the address of his mother, that angle not having been covered, we anticipated that he would attempt to communicate with his mother. The wires were covered and a message was picked up about thirty minutes after subject had left the office instructing the mother to destroy the family birth record page in the Bible and to send him an affidavit that he was born a year earlier than he was. Needless to say, the local operatives in that district where his mother lived secured the necessary legal data. We hope that this young man has done more for his country during the months he has been in France than he did previously as far as being a patriotic American is concerned. Incidentally, he felt so secure in his position that during the spring months of 1918 he had married.

A man and woman occupying a small cottage in the outskirts of the city were reported as acting in a very suspicious manner, keeping the windows carefully covered, not allowing anyone to come into the house, and not even allowing the meter readers to get in until after considerable delay. Boxes of glass of a small size were delivered very often, and investigation at the glass house showed that they always paid cash, would not give any name, and always received the supplies at the front porch, and that the same practice was indulged in about the delivery of hardware, small orders of lumber, and other materials. The house was carefully watched for a couple of weeks, and many attempts were made to get in. The sound of machinery could be heard and one of the operatives who finally got in as a meter reader reported a small electric motor in the basement which seemed to be some sort of a work shop. The man and woman who lived there kept so close to his heels that he was not able to do much without exciting suspicion. At regular intervals the couple visited the post office, where they shipped packages to different addresses throughout the Northwest. These packages were registered, and they seemed to be very careful in their handling of them. It was decided that we had best pick them up on the street and bring the couple to the office when they had these packages in their possession, and the operative would follow. Examination of the packages in the office disclosed the fact that there were small framed pictures which this man and woman were manufacturing and sending to the woman’s husband, who was on the road selling them. This satisfactorily explained the mysterious packages which were thought to be infernal machines. The queerness of this woman in always carrying a small leather traveling bag prompted us to examine the contents of the bag, which proved to be a large amount of money which this woman was carrying openly through the street of Minneapolis, part of it in coins. When reprimanded for this matter of taking the money around with her, she explained that they were Danish and did not understand American customs very well. While living in Chicago they had deposited the savings of several years in a private bank which failed, and ever since that time they had kept their savings constantly on their persons. We explained the banking system to them and sent them to a fellow countryman, who is the vice-president of one of our large banks. They left their money in his custody, except a considerable portion which they invested in Liberty Bonds.