America entangled; the secret plotting of German spies in the United States and the inside story of the sinking of the Lusitania

Front matter

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I America ; The Background of the War . 13 II Captain Franz Von Papen, Director of Germany's Military Enterprises on the American Front . . .25

III Captain von Papen, Buyer of Passports

Introduction

WHEN the German note announcing that the Imperial German Government intended to resume with greater vigor its ruthless submarine warfare was handed to the Secretary of State of the United States, a crisis in the affairs of this Nation was abruptly precipitated. The President met that crisis with courage, with promptness and in a way that merits, and has, the unqualified support of every American who is proud of his citizenship.

After the receipt of such an insulting note it was unthinkable that the United States could longer remain on friendly terms with a Nation that deliberately returned to wanton murder of innocent non-combatants, including women and helpless children.

The conduct of the Imperial German Government in striving to win a war by means (which barbarians would hesitate to use) begun by that Government without just cause and pursued by riding rough-shod over a much smaller and much weaker Nation, has been condemned by every civilized country, and it will be many years before the German people recover from the shame and degradation into which they have been plunged.

Germany will have to repent in sackcloth and ashes for a long, long time before it is received again into the Family of Nations.

In prosecuting the war, Germany and her allies have proceeded from the beginning upon the theory that "the end justifies the means" and acting upon that theory have held in supreme contempt the rights of neutral nations.

From the beginning of the war, subjects of Germany, resident in the United States, have continuously violated our laws in the most outrageous and flagrant manner.

At the very threshhold, they sought to use the United States as a base from which to supply the German raiders in the

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South Atlantic and to that end, by fraud, obtained from the collectors at various ports of the United States legal clearances, thus subjecting every ship which lawfully cleared from any United States port to seizure by the Allies.

Next, they sought and obtained, by fraud, and false swearing, passports to be used by German reservists in returning to Germany, traveling under the guise of American citizens; thus placing in danger the lives and liberty of honest Americans traveling with legitimate passports and entitled to the protection of this Government.

Because the Allies were able to purchase in the United States munitions of war, foodstuffs and all other supplies they might need and were able to transport them and because the United States did not at the behest of the Imperial German Government, stop the sale and transportation of the supplies, which its citizens had a perfect right to sell and transport, German residents devised the inhuman scheme of making chemical fire bombs and infernal machines to be placed on ships carrying passengers and supplies, with the deliberate intent and purpose that the ships should be crippled or sunk in mid-ocean — it mattered not to them that all on board might find a watery grave.

Numerous attempts have been made to equip men of the most desperate character with necessary explosives and other implements of death and destruction and have them go from the United States into Canada, our friendly and respected neighbor, to destroy railroads, canals, ships, warehouses and factories without regard to human life.

Agents have been sent to the United States with unlimited money at their command to engage gunmen and thugs to blow up our munition plants and factories — many explosions have occurred — many lives have been lost — much damage has been done — I cannot say who caused such wholesale murder to be committed, but I have the right as you have, to suspect.

It is a matter of record that the German Military Attach^, Captain Franz von Papen and the German Naval Attache,

Captain Boy-Ed, knew of and sanctioned some of the conspiracies above referred to — perhaps the German Ambassador did not know of them; but it will be hard to convince a hardheaded, common-sense American citizen that he did not know what his right hand and his left hand were doing in such a crucial period.

Murder has followed murder on the high seas, one crime came fast upon another in the United States, and now we are told that this Government must do as the Imperial German Government directs; or murder on a more colossal scale will be the result. The people of the United States have not taken orders from any Government since 1776 and the German murderers ought to have known we would take none now, least of all from a Government that had forfeited its right to the respect of any civilized nation.

The President and his * advisers have been patient, most patient — realizing, no doubt, that "War is Hell." The American people have approved all that Mr. Wilson has done and to-day they are with him to the last man — if there is to be war, so be it — better war than the cold blooded murder of any more of our citizens.

"America Entangled" will give you some small conception of what the Germans in the United States have been doing since August 1, 1914. Its Author has followed their nefarious plots very closely and he has an intimate knowledge of his subject.

Its purpose is to let the American people know the danger that lurks within; to sound the alarm so that every man may be on his guard; to show the grave necessity for preparedness against a foreign foe, and particularly numerous alien enemies within our borders.

If it serves in a small measure to accomplish its high aim, its author will be amply repaid because he will have rendered a great service to humanity and above all to our Country, which we love more than all else, save God.

Koger B. Wood.

Foreword

THERE have been two kinds of German propaganda. One, devoted to setting before the American people Germany's side of the war, may be classed as legitimate. The other has been illegal and criminal. While both are set forth in this narrative, the greater space has been devoted to illegal activities.

The author claims for this book no other distinction than a plain unvarnished statement of facts — vital, dramatic, absorbing facts of the manner in which secret agents of the Teutonic governments, acting under orders of authorized directors, have attacked the very integrity of our national life, commercial, social and politic. It contains facts arranged from an American viewpoint by an American who considers it his duty to present them to his fellow Americans.

These facts were obtained by the writer as a reporter on The New York Sun who devoted a year to no other work. They were derived by a pains-taking investigation and where flat statements are made they are based on knowledge obtained by the author from various authorities and from the examination of documents some of which have never been published. Th^y show how German agents sought to subvert the aims of our government to the advantage of the Central Powers. They furnish a glimpse of the manner in which these men and women sought to make America the hinterland for the European War; how they planned and executed bribery, arson, felonious assaults; how they plotted destruction of property and even murder on American territory.

These facts emphasize the need of a new kind of preparedness. They prove that not only does the nation need preparedness in arms on both land and sea against a foreign foe but also defense against those within our bounds, who are eager to betray us. No true American, whether he be pro-Ally, pro-

German, or strictly neutral, can read this book without realizing the thoroughness and the perfection of the German espionage system and, being convinced of the way in which Germany's spies have overrun the entire country, and must appreciate the necessity for preparedness to cope with these men and this system in a different guise in the event of still graver issues.

John Pkice Jones.

January 1, 1917.

Chapter I America: The Background Of The War

AMERICA has been the great background of the European War. Though far removed from the trenches with the play of artillery and the heroic charges, this country has been the scene of an equally dramatic, though silent struggle — a battle not visible to the eye. It has been a conflict of wits, of statesman pitted against statesman, of secret agent striving to outdo his opponent of a belligerent nation; for in America, agents of Germany have been striving for a twofold aim. They have sought to enmesh the United States in an international conspiracy and to use this country as the means of a rear attack on the Entente Allies.

And New York has been the center of it all. In several of the huge office buildings that make the thoroughfares of the city seem like canyons, Germany had, and still has, the headquarters of a vast nerve-like system radiating throughout the country. The nerve coils are composed of thousands of secret agents located in every city and town. These men have worked under orders from Berlin in the execution of a series of campaigns designed to be of service to the Teutonic Allies. Against these men have been pitted agents of the American government, all aiming to detect the schemes and frustrate any plans for the violation of our neutrality laws.

A diplomat, famed for his finesse and grace of manner, was at a reception given to distinguished statesmen, talented business men and attractive women. The conversation was turned to the topic of spies. One woman wished to know if the diplomat had encountered any spies.

"Well," remarked the diplomat, "I used to

stop at the Hotel Grandeur, but Count "

(mentioning the name of a diplomat of a nation with which his country was at war) "persisted in having my baggage searched every day. So I moved to the Hotel Excellency; but I found things no better there."

"Didn't you complain to the management?" "Ah, no," answered he gravely, "but every time the Count stops at the Hotel Elaborate, I have his baggage searched, too."

Perhaps the diplomat was not serious, but in days when the destiny of nations was at stake, it was likely that he was speaking none too lightly of a game that had doubtless cost him many an hour of the keenest anxiety.

Of all secret service systems, the most elaborate and machine-like is Germany's. It has been organized not merely to gather information, but to trample upon the laws of the United States, to do anything to hinder any project of the enemy's. Constructed in the hours of peace with the utmost care and foresight, it was easily expanded in the United States at the outbreak of the war into such a vast network that if a representative of the Allies suddenly retraced his steps or halted suddenly when around a corner, he was almost sure to bump the shins of a German spy. Germany, always methodical and thorough, possessing a genius for moulding a multitude of details into an effective whole, had prepared her secret service system with the same efficiency with which through scores of years she had equipped her military forces for battle; indeed, her secret service was a part of her military forces.

The system is based on the principle of "Lass die linke Hand nicht wissen was die rechte tut" — "let not the left hand know what the right is doing." So thoroughly is this maxim followed that two German spies may be working side by side and not be aware of the fact. Though groups of Germans may engage in some activity with a thorough understanding of the aims of another, still the order of silence is rigorously enforced. The agents hand their information to a superior, who in turn transmits it to somebody higher up. One spy knows only the person or group of persons with whom he directly deals, sending information along devious and hidden routes up to the final assembling point.

Germany's spy system has been the sword hand of her statesmen and her diplomats. When this war is over and the world learns of the moves, counter-moves, and Machiavellian methods of German diplomats, with their intrigues, secret understandings, and their daring attempts to force this country into dangerous situations, people will realize more clearly than to-day what a marvelous system has been behind many seemingly casual developments in this country. It will be shown how German agents have violated our laws to gain secret information for Germany's good; how her secret agents have committed crimes in order to coerce diplomatic negotiations.

RAMIFICATIONS OF UNDERGROUND PLOTS

So perfectly organized and so responsive to the slightest suggestion from Berlin is the American branch of the Kaiser's secret service that vast undertakings — some legitimate, many in violation of American laws — were carried out.

The magician, who invented the wireless, enabled the German General War Staff to move to New York. The splash and splutter of electricity over oceans and continents virtually transported Germany's leading statesmen, tacticians, and scientists at will to hold sessions in Manhattan on matters arising in America and bearing on the battle-front in the many theatres of actual warfare. For instance, how many people know that the secretary to one of the generals on the

Western Line was a brother to one of the most notorious woman plotters in America? Germany had foreseen the possibilities of the wireless in war and had developed secret methods of sending code messages by radiogram, when apparently only ordinary messages were being transmitted, and she had also, some way or other, got possession of the code ciphers of other nations. Every night messages have been sent out from Germany, apparently blindly, addressed to no one and have been picked up by hidden receiving stations in America and other countries.

While Germany calls her spy system "a bureau of intelligence," its purpose is confined not merely to the gathering of information, but to the carrying out of any campaign that will be harmful to the enemy. In the United States, Germans — reservists, army officers, representatives of the German Government — have been indicted for crimes against Federal laws. These violations were committed without doubt in a self-sacrificing spirit with the aim of helping the Fatherland. Germans, or German influences, have been behind schemes in violation of neutrality laws and restraint of trade. They have attempted arson, bribery, forgery, engaged in military enterprises, caused explosions in ships and factories, resulting in many deaths, and have set fires in ships and factories.

They have participated in plots against Canada, Ireland and India, all developed in the

United States under the supervision of the German representatives of Berlin, though often ostensibly carried out by anarchist tools. The activities of the German agents, multitudinous in detail and variety, all have been designed to hinder the Allies in their prosecution of the war, to cause a breach between the Allies and the United States, to embroil this country in a war and to accomplish other secret aims of the General War Staff. In all the propaganda, German secret agents and official representatives of the German Government have had no regard for the laws of America, but, in fact, have sought to place the United States in a position of being secretly unneutral.

But the German Government has officially denied that she ordered any of her subjects to undertake any act in violation of American laws. Shortly after President Wilson in his message to Congress bitterly attacked the activities of Germans and German- Americans in America, accusing the latter of treason, the German Government authorized the statement that it:

"Naturally has never knowingly accepted the support of any person, group of persons, society or organization seeking to promote the cause of Germany in the United States by illegal acts, by counsels of violence, by contravention of law, or by any means whatever that could offend the American people in the pride of their own authority. If it should be alleged that improper acts have been committed by representatives of the German Government they could be easily dealt with. To any complaints upon proof as may be submitted by the American Government suitable response will be duly made. * * * Apparently the enemies of Germany have succeeded in creating the impression that the German Government is in some way, morally or otherwise, responsible for what Mr. Wilson has characterized as anti- American activities, comprehending attacks upon property in violation of the rules which the American Government has seen jit to impose upon the course of neutral trade. This the German Government absolutely denies. It cannot specifically repudiate acts committed by individuals over whom it has no control, and of whose movements and intentions it is neither officially or unofficially informed."*

To this official disavowal of German propaganda in America, there are two answers that stand out with dramatic force. First, the extent to which the subjects of Germany are expected to go in war time is shown by excerpts from Germany's War Book of instructions to officers, which says in part:

"Bribery of the enemy's subjects with the object of obtaining military advantages, acceptances of offers of treachery, reception of deserters, utilization of the discontented elements in the population, support of the pretenders and the like are permissible; indeed, international law is in no way opposed to the exploitation of the

♦Berlin despatch in the New York Sun, Dec. 19, 1915. 19 crimes of third parties (assassination, incendiarism, robbery and the like) to the prejudice of the enemy. Considerations of chivalry, generosity and honor may denounce in such cases a hasty and unsparing exploitation of such advantages as indecent and dishonorable, but law, which is less touchy, allows it. The ugly and inherently immoral aspect of such methods cannot affect the recognition of their lawfulness. The necessary aim of war gives the belligerent the right and imposes upon him, according to circumstances, the duty not to let slip the important, it may be decisive, advantages to be gained by such means. 33 *

Secondly, since Germany sent out that semi-official proclamation from Berlin concerning propagandists, many steps have been taken by the American Government, both administrative and judicial, which belies Germany's contention. Captains von Papen and Boy-Ed, military and naval attaches respectively, have been dismissed from this country for "improper activities in military and naval affairs."

There was no favoritism in the German secret service. Every German, high or low, was open to assignment, disagreeable and dishonorable, in getting information, and to orders to commit crimes — for Germany stops at no crime — that may be necessary to circumvent the enemy.

Captain von Papen showed his feeling keenly

*The War Book of the German General Staff, translated by J. H. Morgan, M.A. pp. 113-114.

one night at a dinner of a few men where the wine flowed freely.

"My God, I would give everything in the world," he exclaimed," to be in the trenches where I could do the work of a gentleman." In his work, there was no public reward for work well performed according to the war code. That man's sentiments were echoed by von Rintelen, who, when among friends,* fairly shook with emotion at the thought of ihe work in which he was engaged.

"How loathsome I feel," he said. "How this dirty work sticks to me ! When this war ends, I shall take a bath in carbolic acid."

THREE EXECUTIVES IN THE UNITED STATES

Over all the thousands of reservists, trained agents, and other spies were the men in charge of the centers of information to whom they made their report; and the three or four chief lieutenants in charge of the various and distinct line of activities into which these matters of war, finance and commerce automatically were divided. There were practically, outside of the Chief Spy, three important executives in this country, supervising respectively the commercial, military and naval lines of information and activity. Each one of these men was surrounded by a group of experts who had charge of a sub-division of the work. All had their legal advisors, their bankers, and every sort of an expert that their special work required. Upon them fell the task of sifting and analyzing the mass of facts gathered by the spies and making reports to Berlin. Upon each one of them also fell the duty of carrying out any orders that might come from the General War Staff in Germany.

First and foremost of the three lieutenants was Dr. Heinrich F. Albert, Privy Counselor to the German Embassy in America and Fiscal Agent of the German Empire. He directed the gathering of a huge mass of information of value to Germany concerning the financial, industrial and commercial activities of this country, and was the chief instrument through whom money reached the army of spies. Though he was the director of many activities, nothing criminal, it must be asserted in justice to him, has been traced to him.

The military agent was Captain Franz von Papen, the attache of the German Embassy. His work was confined specifically to the procuring of information that would be of aid to the Imperial German army and to the military tasks that might be peculiarly helpful to the army.

The naval expert was Captain Karl Boy-Ed, another attache of the German Embassy. He had under him experts who made a specialty of various lines of naval matters, fortifications, coast defenses and explosives.

The headquarters of the entire system were and are yet in New York. Dr. Albert had his offices in the Hamburg- American Steamship Company's building, and he utilized at times a good part of the Hamburg- American Company's staff — a concern in which the Kaiser himself owns a large percentage of the stock. In the same building was the office of Paul Koenig, the business manager of part of Germany's spy system in America, though nominally the Superintendent of Police for the Hamburg- American line. Captain Boy-Ed had his headquarters in Room 801 of 11 Broadway, and Captain von Papen had his on the twenty-fifth floor of 60 Wall Street.

This narrative seeks to show as definitely as possible the work of these three agents of Germany in America and of others co-operating with them. It sets forth the enterprises that they plotted and the ramifications of their organization. It reveals how countless agents, unaware that they were parts of a vast system and often innocent of any intentional wrongdoing, acted their parts. It shows how that part of the machinery engaged in legitimate propaganda was linked at places with the machinery executing illegal acts.

While the conspiracy has been manipulated, the American Government has been very active. To the skill of the United States secret service, headed by Chief William J. Flynn, always alert and apparently unruffled in the most trying crises, and to A. Bruce Bielaski, head of the special agents of the Department of Justice, and William M. Offley, Superintendent of the New York Bureau of the special agents, has fallen the task of seeing that the representatives of the different countries followed the American maxim, "Play fair; play according to the rules of international law and the laws of this country." Upon Police Commissioner Woods, his deputy, Guy Scull, of New York, and his enthusiastic and clever aid, Police Captain Thomas J. Tunney, has devolved also the hazardous and difficult task of combatting the schemes of those spies. Those men, by courageous and skilful detective work have unearthed and foiled some of the most daring bomb plots of the Germans.

To Messrs. Flynn and Bielaski, at times, have come secrets of intrigue and conspiracy that must have made them, even as it has the President, almost tremble with the import of impending events that had to be forestalled.

Chapter II

CAPTAIN FRANZ VON PAPEN, DIRECTOR OF GERMANY'S MILI- TARY 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 attache 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 attache 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 attache 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 Harbor, 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 dissentors. 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 atti-

'27 tude, energetic in speech, and lightning-like in the development of bold plans. He has the strong forehead, the long, firm nose, and the heavy under jaw 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 they supposedly 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 attache of the German Embassy, Captain von Papen was under orders, not of Count von BernstorfT, 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 attache of a foreign government, namely, to make a study of the army of the nation to which he is accredited.