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diff --git a/75931-0.txt b/75931-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..778494b --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6322 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75931 *** + + + + + +MY ADVENTURES AS A GERMAN SECRET AGENT + + + + +[Illustration: The Bridgeman H. Taylor passport upon which von der Goltz +returned to Germany and later went to England. In the upper right hand +corner is the visé of the American Embassy at Berlin.] + + + + + My Adventures + AS A + German Secret Agent + + BY + CAPT. HORST VON DER GOLTZ + FORMERLY MAJOR IN THE MEXICAN CONSTITUTIONAL ARMY. + SOMETIME CONFIDENTIAL AIDE TO CAPTAIN VON PAPEN, + RECALLED MILITARY ATTACHÉ TO THE IMPERIAL + GERMAN EMBASSY AT WASHINGTON, + GERMAN SECRET AGENT. + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + NEW YORK + ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY + 1917 + + Copyright, 1917 + by + ROBERT M. MCBRIDE & COMPANY + + Published, 1917 + + + + +“One must at times separate a gentleman and a diplomat from his official +acts performed under orders from his home government, otherwise great +confusion and injustice will occur. Some governments have a little way of +telling those who represent them abroad ... to get such and such a thing +done, and done it must be. Nor would those high Government officials at +home care often to hear painful details of the successful execution of +many such orders which are given.” + + from _“The Strangling of Persia,” by W. Morgan Shuster_. + + + + + TO THE + UNITED STATES OF GERMANY—WHENEVER + THEY MAY COME TO BE—I + DEDICATE THIS BOOK AND MY HOPES. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + Foreword 1 + + I—I find an old letter, containing a strange bit of scandal—and + its contents draw me into the service of the Kaiser 5 + + II—I Impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a treaty. What the + treaty contained and how Germany made use of the knowledge 22 + + III—Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed. I look + and talk indiscreetly—and a man dies 45 + + IV—I am sent to Geneva and learn of a plot. How there are more + ways of getting rid of a King than by blowing him up with + dynamite 61 + + V—Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the United + States for her own purposes. The Japanese-Mexican treaty + and its share in the downfall of Diaz 88 + + VI—My letter again. I go to America and become a United States + soldier. Sent to Mexico and sentenced to death there. I + join Villa’s army and gain an undeserved reputation 111 + + VII—War. I re-enter the German service and am appointed aide to + Captain von Papen. The German conception of neutrality and + how to make use of it. The plot against the Welland Canal 151 + + VIII—I go to Germany on a false passport. Italy in the early + days of the war. I meet the Kaiser and talk to him about + Mexico and the United States 173 + + IX—In England—and how I reached there. I am arrested and + imprisoned for fifteen months. What von Papen’s baggage + contained. I make a sworn statement 190 + + X—The German intrigue against the United States. Von Papen, + Boy-Ed and von Rintelen, and the work they did. How the + German-Americans were used and how they were betrayed 212 + + XI—More about the German intrigue against the United States. + German aims in Latin America. Japan and Germany in Mexico. + What happened in Cuba? 236 + + XII—The last stand of German intrigue. Germany’s spy system in + America. What is coming? 264 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + The false passport upon which Capt. von der Goltz went to + England FRONTISPIECE + + FACING PAGE + + Photograph of Capt. von der Goltz taken outside the Cuartel at + Juarez 28 + + Raul Madero and his staff 42 + + A group of recruits in Villa’s Army 42 + + Von der Goltz’s commission as Major in the Mexican + Constitutional Army 64 + + Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, Capt. von der Goltz’s first + commander, and General Villa 88 + + General Raul Madero 88 + + A telegram from General Villa to Capt. von der Goltz 112 + + A group of Constitutional soldiers 124 + + The six months’ leave of absence from the Mexican Army, granted + to Capt. von der Goltz at the outbreak of the European War 140 + + A letter of recommendation given to Capt. von der Goltz by Raul + Madero 140 + + A letter from Dr. Kraske, German vice-consul at New York to + “Baron” von der Goltz 152 + + Captain von Papen’s letter to the German consuls at Baltimore + and St. Paul, asking for their assistance in Capt. von der + Goltz’s enterprise 166 + + How Capt. von der Goltz secured explosives for his Welland + Canal Expedition. Two communications from Capt. Tauscher 178 + + Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. for “merchandise” + furnished Capt. von der Goltz 180 + + The check which almost cost Capt. von der Goltz his life 196 + + Safe Deposit receipts for papers which von der Goltz left in + Rotterdam 210 + + The British order for the deportation of Capt. von der Goltz 240 + + Photograph of the cover of the British white paper containing + Capt. von der Goltz’s confession 256 + + + + +FOREWORD. + + +I have not attempted to write an autobiography. This book is merely +a summary—a sort of galloping summary—of the last ten years of my +existence. As such, I venture to write it because my life has been bound +up in enterprises in which the world is interested. It has been my +fortune to be a witness and sometimes an actor in that drama of secret +diplomacy which has been going on for so long and which in such a large +way has been responsible for this war. + +There are many scenes from that drama that have no place in this +book—many events with which I am familiar that I have not touched upon. +My aim has been to describe only those things with which I was personally +concerned and which I know to be true. For a full history of the last +ten years my readers must go elsewhere; but it is my hope that these +adventures of mine will bring them to a better understanding of the +forces that have for so long been undermining the peace of the world. + +Inevitably there will be some who read this book, who will doubt the +truth of many of the statements in it. I cannot, unfortunately, prove all +that I tell here. Wherever possible I have offered corroborative evidence +of the truth of my statements; at other times I have tried to indicate +their credibility by citing well recognized facts which have a direct +bearing upon my contentions. But for the rest, I can only hope that this +book will be accepted as a true record of facts which by their very +nature are insusceptible of proof. + +So far as my connection with the German Government is concerned, I +may refer the curious to the British Parliamentary White Papers, +Miscellaneous Nos. 6 and 13, which contain respectively my confession +and a record of the papers found in the possession of Captain von Papen, +former military attaché to the German Embassy at Washington, and seized +by the British authorities on January 2 and 3, 1916. There are also, in +addition to the documents reproduced in this book, various court records +of the trial of Captain Hans Tauscher and others in the spring of the +same year. Of German activities in the United States, the newspapers bear +eloquent testimony. I have been concerned rather with the motives of +the German Government than with a statement of what has been done. These +motives, I believe, you will not doubt. + +But there is one point which I must ask my readers not to overlook. I +have told that I became a secret agent through the discovery of a certain +letter which contained very serious reflections upon one of the most +important personages in the world. I have told, also, how the possession +of that letter had an important bearing upon the course of my life—how +it led me to America, and how in the struggle for its possession, I very +nearly lost my life. This, I know, will be severely questioned by many. +Before rejecting this part of my story, I ask merely that you consider +the fate that overtook Koglmeier, the saddler of El Paso, whose only +crime was that he had been partially in my confidence. I ask you to +recall that another German, Lesser, who had been associated with me at +the same time, mysteriously disappeared in 1915, shortly before von Papen +left for Europe. No one has been able to prove why these men were treated +as they were. And if I did not have in my possession _something_ which +the German Government regarded as highly important, why the surprising +actions of that Government, actions none the less astonishing because +they are well known and authenticated? Consider these things before you +doubt. + +Finally, let me say that I have taken the liberty of changing or omitting +the names of various people who are mentioned in these adventures, +merely because I have had no wish to compromise them by disclosing their +identity. + +[Illustration: H. von der Goltz] + +New York, July 8, 1917. + + + + +_ERRATA_ + + +_Page 5. Chapter I. First line_: March 28th, 1917 should read March 29th, +1916. + +_Page 41_: Kut el Amerara should read Kut el Amara. + +_Page 140. Last two paragraphs_: December 23rd should read December 20th. + +_Page 171. Second paragraph_: October 8th should read October 3rd, 1914. + +=Transcriber’s Note:= The errata have been corrected. + + + + +My Adventures as a German Secret Agent + + + + +CHAPTER I + + _I find an old letter, containing a strange bit of scandal—and + its contents draw me into the service of the Kaiser._ + + +On March 29th, 1916, the steamer _Finland_ was warped into its Hudson +River dock and I hurried down the gang plank. I was not alone. Agents +of the United States Department of Justice had met me at Quarantine; +and a man from Scotland Yard was there also—a man who had attended me +sedulously since, barely two weeks before, I had been released under +rather unusual circumstances from Lewes prison in England; the last of +four English prisons in which I had spent fifteen months in solitary +confinement waiting for the day of my execution. + +My friend from Scotland Yard left me very shortly; soon after, I was +testifying for the United States Government against Capt. Hans Tauscher, +husband of Mme. Johanna Gadski, the diva. Tauscher, American agent of +the Krupps and of the German Government, was charged with complicity in +a plot to blow up the Welland Canal in Canada during the first month of +the Great War. During the course of the trial it was shown that von Papen +and others (including myself) had entered into a conspiracy to violate +the neutrality of the United States. I had led the expedition against the +Welland Canal and I was telling everything I knew about it. Doubtless you +remember the newspapers of the day. + +You will remember how, at that time, the magnitude of the German plot +against the neutrality of the United States became finally apparent. You +will remember how, in connection with my exposure came the exposure of +von Igel, of Rintelen, of the German Consul-General at San Francisco, +Bopp, and many others. With all of these men I was familiar. In the +activities of some of them I was implicated. It was I, as I have said, +who planned the details of the Welland Canal plot. I shall tell the true +story of these activities later on. + +But first let me tell the story of how I became to be concerned in these +plots—and to do that I must go back over many years; I must tell how I +first became a member of the Kaiser’s Secret Diplomatic Force (to give +it a name) and incidentally I shall describe for the first time the real +workings of that force. + + * * * * * + +I have been in and out of the Kaiser’s web for ten years. I have served +him faithfully in many capacities and in many places—all over Europe, +in Mexico, even in the United States. I served the German Government as +long as I believed it to be representing the interests of my countrymen. +But from the moment that I became convinced that the men who made up +the Government—the Hohenzollerns, the Junkers and the bureaucrats—were +anxious merely to preserve their own power, even at the expense of +Germany itself, my attitude toward them changed. That is why I write this +book—and why I shall tell what I know of the aims and ambitions of these +men—enemies of Germany as well as of the rest of the world. + +I was not a spy; nor was I a secret service agent. I was, rather, a +secret diplomatic agent. Let me add that there is a nice distinction +between the three. A secret diplomatic agent is a man who directs +spies, who studies their reports, who pieces together various bits of +information, and who, when he has the fabric complete, personally makes +his report to the highest authority or carries that particular plan to +its desired conclusion. His work and his status are of various sorts. +Unlike the spy, he is a user, not a getter, of information. He is a free +lance, responsible only to the Foreign Office; a plotter; an unofficial +intermediary in many negotiations; and frequently he differs from an +accredited diplomatic representative, only in that his activities and +his office are essentially secret. Obviously men of this type must be +highly trained and reliable; and their constant association with men of +authority makes it necessary that they, themselves, be men of breeding +and education. But above all, they must possess the courage that shrinks +at no danger, and a devotion, a patriotism that knows no scruples. + +This, then, was the calling into which I found myself plunged, while +still a boy, by one of the strangest chances that ever befell me, whose +life has been full of strange happenings. + +As I recall my adolescence I realize that I was a normal boy, vigorous, +wilful, fond of sport, of horses, dogs and guns, and I know that but for +the chance I speak of, I should have grown up to the traditions of our +family—Cadet school—the University—later a lieutenancy in the German +Army—and to-day, perhaps, death “somewhere in France.” + +And yet, in that boyhood that I am recalling, I can remember that there +were other interests which were far greater than the games that I loved, +as did all lads of my age. Mental adventure, the matching of wits against +wits for stakes of reputation and fortune, always exercised an uncanny +fascination over my mind. That delight in intrigue was shown by the books +I read as a boy. In the library of my father’s house there were many +novels, books of poems, of biography, travel, philosophy and history; but +I passed them by unread. His few volumes of court gossip and so-called +“secret history” I seized with avidity. I used to bear off the memoirs of +Maréchal Richelieu, the Cardinal’s nephew, and read them in my room when +the rest of the household was asleep. + +I recall, too, that there was another tendency already developed in me. I +see it in my dealings with other boys of that day. It was the impulse to +make other people my instruments, not by direct command or appeal, but by +leading them to do, apparently for themselves, what I needed of them. + +Such was I, when my aunt who had cared for me since the death of my +parents some years before, fell ill and later died. I was disconsolate +for a time and wandered about through the halls and chambers of the +house, seeking amusement. And it was thus that one day I came upon an +old chest in the room that had been hers. I remembered that chest. There +were letters in it—letters that had been written to her by friends made +in the old days when she was at court. Often she had read me passages +from them—bits of gossip about this or that personage whom she had once +known—occasionally, even, mention of the Kaiser. + +Doubtless, too, I thought, there were passages which she had not seen fit +to read to me: some more intimate bits of gossip about those brilliant +men and women in Berlin whom I then knew only as names. With the eager +curiosity of a boy I sought the key, and in a moment had unlocked the +chest. + +There they lay, those neat, faded bundles, slightly yellow, addressed +in a variety of hands. Idly I selected a packet and glanced over the +envelopes it contained, lingering, in anticipation of the revelations +that might be in them. I must have read a dozen letters before my eye +fell upon the envelope that so completely changed my life. + +It lay in a corner of the chest, as if hidden from too curious eyes—a +yellow square of paper, distinguished from its fellows by the quality of +the stationery alone, and by its appearance of greater age. But I knew, +before I had read fifty words of it, that I was holding in my hands a +document that was more explosive than dynamite! + +For this letter, written to my aunt years before, by one of the most +exalted personages in all of Germany, contained statements which, had +they been made by any one else, would have been treason to utter, and +_which cast the most serious doubts upon the legitimacy of the Kaiser, +Wilhelm II_. + +I realize fully that what I have written will seem grossly improbable to +most of my readers. I know that few persons will believe me. And since +I cannot prove what I have said, since the letter is no longer in my +possession, I can ask you only to consider the facts and to weigh for +yourself the probabilities of my statement. + +Those of you whose memories go back to the last twenty years of the +nineteenth century, will readily recall the notorious ill-feeling that +existed between Wilhelm II and his mother, Victoria, the Dowager Empress +Friederich. Stories have too often been told of this enmity, culminating +in the virtual banishment from Berlin of the Queen Mother, for me to +need do more than mention them. But what is not so generally known is +the small esteem in which Victoria was held by the entire German people. +During the twenty years of her married life as the wife of the then +Crown Prince Friederich, she was treated by Berlin society with the +most thinly-veiled hostility. Even Bismarck made no attempt to conceal +his dislike for her, and accused her—to quote his own words—of having +“poisoned the fountain of Hohenzollern blood at its source.” + +Victoria, for her part, although she seems to have had no animosity +toward the German people, certainly possessed little love for her eldest +son, and did her best to delay his ascension to the Imperial throne as +long as she could. When in 1888 Wilhelm I was dying, she tried her utmost +to secure the succession to her husband, who was then lying dangerously +ill at San Remo. “Cancer,” the physicians pronounced the trouble, and +even the great German specialist, Bergman, agreed with their diagnosis. +There is a law that prevents any one with an incurable disease, such +as cancer, from ascending the Prussian throne; but Victoria knew too +well the attitude of her son, Wilhelm, toward herself, not to wish to do +everything in her power to prevent him from becoming Emperor so long as +she could. In her extremity she appealed to her mother, Queen Victoria of +England, who sent Mackenzie, the great English surgeon, to San Remo to +report on Friederich’s condition. Mackenzie opposed Bergman and said the +disease was _not_ cancer; and the physicians inserted a silver tube in +Friederich’s throat, and in due course he became Emperor Friederich III. + +But in spite of Mackenzie and the silver tube, Friederich III died after +a reign of ninety-eight days—and he died of cancer. + +Now what was the reason for this hostility between mother and son +and between Empress and subjects? There have been many answers +given—Victoria’s love for England, her colossal lack of tact, her +impatient unconventionality. Berlin whispered of a dinner in Holland +years before, when Victoria had entertained some English people she +met there—people she had never seen before—and had finished her +repast by smoking a cigar. That in the days when the sight of a +woman smoking horrified the German soul! And Berlin hinted at worse +unconventionalities than this. + +As for the animosity of the Kaiser, that was attributed to the fact that +he held her responsible for his withered left arm. + +Plausible reasons, all of these, and possibly true. But consider, if +you will, the rumors that followed Victoria all her life—the story of +an early attachment to the Count Seckendorf, her husband’s associate +during the Seven Weeks’ War of 1866—the reports, sometimes denied but +generally believed, of her marriage to the Count not long before her +death. Consider, too, the dissimilarity between the Kaiser and the other +men of his race—big, slow-minded, amiable men—so unlike Wilhelm II, with +his aggressive, alert personality, his quick mind and his Piedmontese +face. And can you not imagine the attitude of a woman who had been guilty +of infidelity and yet retained her sense of national honor—the hesitancy +she might feel at seeing the child of this infidelity upon the throne, +and so perpetrating a gigantic fraud upon a people and a husband whom she +respected if she did not love? And have not women been known to hate, +rather than love, the offspring of a guilty union? + +True or not, these suppositions—what does it matter? You can see, can +you not, why I believed that my letter told the truth, and why I knew +that here was a plaything which would astound the world, if made public? + +But what to do with this letter to which I attached so much importance? +Something impelled me not to speak of it to my family. But who else was +there? + +In my perplexity I did an utterly foolish thing. I put my whole +confidence in a man’s word. There was, serving at a nearby fortress, a +General Major von Dassel, who was in the habit of coming to our house +quite regularly. To him I went, and under pledge of silence I told him my +story. Of course, he broke the pledge and left immediately for Berlin. +All doubts, if I had any, as to the importance of the document vanished +with him. And if I had any misgivings concerning my own importance they +quickly vanished, too. Back from Berlin, with General Major von Dassel +came an agent of the _Reichs Kanzler_. He did not come to our house; +instead von Dassel sent for me to go to his headquarters in the fortress. +I met there a solemn frock-coated personage who, so he said, had come +down from Berlin especially to see me. Imagine my elation! I was in +my element; what I had hoped for had at last happened. The pages of +Richelieu and of my secret histories were coming true. Another man and I +were to lock our wits in a fight to the finish—that pleasure I promised +myself. He was a worthy opponent, an official, a professional intriguer. +As I looked into his serious, bearded face, I built romances about him. + +The agent of the Chancellor wanted my document and my pledge to keep +silent about its contents. Through sheer love of combat, I refused him +on both points. He tried persuasion and reason. I was adamant. He tried +cajolery. + +“It is plain,” he said, in a voice that was caressingly agreeable, “that +you are an extremely clever young man. I have never before met your +like—that is, at your age. A great career will be possible to such a +young man if only he shows himself eager to serve his government, eager +to meet the wishes of his Chancellor.” + +Of course, I was delighted with this flattery, which I felt was entirely +deserved. I began to believe that I was a person of importance. I became +stubborn—which always has been one of my best and worst traits. I saw +that the gentleman in the frock-coat was becoming angry; his serious eyes +flashed. Apparently much against his will, he tried threats; he suavely +pointed out that if I persisted in my resolve not to turn over the +document, destruction yawned at my feet. The threats touched off the fuse +of my romanticism. I felt I was leading the life of intrigue of which I +had read. + +“If you will wait here,” I told him, “I shall go home and get the +document for you.” + +The Chancellor’s representative stroked his beard, deliberated a moment +and seemed uncertain. + +“Oh, the Junge will come back all right,” put in the General Major von +Dassel. But the Junge did not come back. My family had always been +excessively liberal with money, and I had enough in my own little “war +chest” to buy a railroad ticket, and a considerable amount besides. So +I promptly ran off to Paris; and to this day I don’t know how long the +gentleman in the frock-coat waited for me in von Dassel’s office. + +The terrors and thrills and delight of that panic stricken flight +still make me smile. No peril I have since been through was half as +exciting.... Berlin!... Köln!... Brussels! It was a race against +apprehension. I was happily frightened, much as a colt is, when it shies +at its own shadow. Although I was in long trousers and looked years +older than I was, I had not sense enough to see the affair in its true +light—a foolish escapade which was quite certain to have disagreeable +consequences. And so I fled from Berlin to Paris. + +From Paris I fled, too. There, any circumstance struck my fevered +imagination as being suspicious. After a day in the French capital, +I scurried south to Nice and from Nice to Monte Carlo. Precocious +youngster, indeed, for there I had my first experience with that favored +figure of the novelist, the woman secret agent. No novelist, I venture to +say, would ever have picked her out of the Riviera crowd as being what +she was. She wore no air of mystery; and though attractive enough in a +quiet way, she was very far from the siren type in looks or manners. The +friendliness that she, a woman of the mid-thirties, showed a lonely boy +was perfectly natural. I should never have guessed her to be an agent +of the Wilhelmstrasse had she not chosen to let me know it. Of course, +the moment she spoke to me of “my document,” I knew she had made my +acquaintance with a purpose. If the dear old frock-coated agent of the +Chancellor had been asleep, the telegraph wires from Berlin to Paris and +Nice and Monte Carlo had been quite awake. + +The proof that I was actually watched and waited for thrilled me anew. +It also alarmed me when my friend explained how deeply my government was +affronted. Soon the alarm outgrew the thrill and in the end I quite broke +down. Then the woman in her, touched with pity, apparently displaced the +adventuress. We took counsel together and she showed me a way out. + +“Your document,” she said, “has a Russian as well as a German importance. +Why not try Petersburg since Berlin is hostile? For the sake of what you +bring, Russia might give shelter and protection.” + +Remember, I was very young and she was all kindness. Yes, she discovered +for me the avenue of escape and she set my foot upon it in the most +motherly way. And I unknowingly took my first humble lesson in the great +art of intrigue. For as I learned years afterwards, that woman was not a +German agent but a Russian! + +But at that time I was all innocent gratitude for her kindness. I was +thankful enough to proceed to Petersburg by way of Italy, Constantinople +and Odessa. Of course, she must have designated a man unknown to me to +travel with me, and make sure that I reached the Russian capital. To my +hotel in Petersburg, just as the woman had predicted, came an officer of +the political police, who courteously asked me not to leave the building +for twenty-four hours. The next day the man from the _Okrana_ came again. +This time he had a droshky waiting, with one of those bull-necked, blue +corduroy-robed, muscular Russian jehus on the box. We were driven down +the Nevsky-Prospect to a palace. Here I soon found myself in the presence +of a man I did not then know as Count Witte. He greeted me kindly, merely +remarking that he had heard I was in some difficulties, and offering me +aid and advice. My letter was not referred to and the interview ended. + +So began the process of drawing me out. A fortnight later the matter of +my information was broached openly and the suggestion was made that if I +delivered it to the Russian Government, high officials would be friendly +and a career assured me in Russia, as I grew up. But by that time Germany +had changed her attitude. Her agents also reached me in St. Petersburg. +From them I received new assurance of the importance of the document. If +I would release it—so the German agent who came to my hotel told me—and +keep my tongue still, Berlin would pardon my indiscretion and assure +me a career at home. Russia or Germany? My decision was quickly made. +That very night I was smuggled out of Petersburg and whisked across the +frontier at Alexandrovna, into Germany; and the letter passed out of my +hands—for the time being. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + _I Impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a treaty. What the + treaty contained and how Germany made use of the knowledge._ + + +Gross Lichterfelde! As I write, it all comes back to me clearly, in spite +of the full years that have passed—this, my first home in Berlin. A huge +pile of buildings set in a suburb of the city, grim and military in +appearance; and in fact, as I soon discovered. + +I was to become a cadet, it seems; and where in Germany could one receive +better training than in this same Gross Lichterfelde? + +At home I had had some small experience with the exactions of the +_gymnasium_; but now I found that this was but so much child’s play +in comparison to the life at Gross Lichterfelde. We were drilled +and dragooned from morning till night: mathematics, history, the +languages—they were not taught us, they were literally pounded into us. +And the military training! I am not unfamiliar with the curricula of +Sandhurst, of St. Cyr, even of West Point, but I honestly believe that +the training we had to undergo was fully as arduous and as technical as +at any of those schools. And we were only boys. + +Military strategy and tactics; sanitation; engineering; chemistry; in +fact, any and every study that could conceivably be of use to these +future officers of the German Army; to all of these must we apply +ourselves with the utmost diligence. And woe to the student who shirked! + +Then there was the endless drilling, that left us with sore muscles and +minds so worn with the monotony of it that we turned even to our studies +with relief. And the supervision! Our very play was regulated. + +Can you wonder that we hated it and likened the cadet school to a prison? +And can you imagine how galling it was to me, who had come to Berlin +seeking romance and found drudgery? + +But we learned. Oh, yes. The war has shown how well we learned. + +There was one relief from the constant study which was highly prized by +all the cadets at Gross Lichterfelde. It was the custom to select from +our school a number of youths to act as pages at the Imperial court; +and lucky were the ones who were detailed to this service. It meant a +vacation, at the very least, to say nothing of a change from the Spartan +fare of the cadet school. + +I must have been a student for a full three months before my turn came; +long enough, at any rate, for me to receive the news of my selection +with the utmost delight. But I had not been on service at the Imperial +Palace for more than a few days when a state dinner was given in honor +of a guest at court. He was a young prince of a certain grand-ducal +house, which by blood was half Russian and half German. I recall the +appearance of myself and the other pages, as we were dressed for the +function. Ordinarily we wore a simple undress cadet uniform, but that +evening a striking costume was provided: nothing less than a replica +of the garb of a mediaeval herald—tabard and all—for Wilhelm II has a +flair for the feudal. From my belt hung a capacious pouch, which, pages +of longer standing than I assured me, was the most important part of my +equipment; since by custom the ladies were expected to keep these pouches +comfortably filled with sweetmeats. Candy for a cadet! No wonder every +boy welcomed his turn at page duty, and went back reluctantly to the +asceticism of Gross Lichterfelde. + +That was my first sight of an Imperial dinner. The great banquet +hall that overlooks the square on the Ufer, was ablaze with lights. +The guests—the men in their uniforms even more than the women—made a +brilliant spectacle to the eyes of a youngster from the provinces; but +most brilliant of all was Wilhelm II, resplendent in the full dress +uniform of a field marshal. I can recall him as he sat there, lordly, +arrogant, yet friendly, but never seeming to forget the monarch in the +host. It seemed to me that he loved to disconcert a guest with his +remarks; it delighted him to set the table laughing at some one’s else +expense. + +By chance, during the banquet, it fell to me to render service to the +young prince. Once, as I moved behind his chair, a German Princess +exclaimed, “Oh, doesn’t the page resemble his Highness?” + +The Kaiser looked at me sharply. + +“Yes,” he agreed, “they might well be twins.” Then, impulsively lifting +up his glass, he flourished it toward the Russo-German prince and drank +to him. + +That was all there was to the incident—then. I returned to Gross +Lichterfelde the next morning, and proceeded to think no more of the +matter. Nor did it come to my mind when a few weeks later, I was +suddenly summoned to Berlin, and driven, with one of my instructors, to +a private house in a street I did not know. (It was the Wilhelmstrasse, +and the residence stood next to Number 75, the Foreign Office. It was +the house Berlin speaks of as Samuel Meyer’s _Bude_—in other words, the +private offices of the Chancellor and His Imperial Majesty.) + +We entered a room, bare save for a desk or two and a portrait of Wilhelm +I, where my escort surrendered me to an official, who silently surveyed +me, comparing his observations with a paper he held, which apparently +contained my personal measurements. Later a photograph was taken of me, +and then I was bidden to wait. I waited for several hours, it seemed to +me, before a second official appeared—a large, round-faced man, soldierly +despite his stoutness—who greeted my escort politely and, taking a +photograph from his pocket, proceeded to scrutinize me carefully. After a +moment he turned to my escort. + +“Has he any identifying marks on his body?” he asked. + +My escort assured him that there were none. + +“Good!” he exclaimed; and a moment later we were driving back toward +Gross Lichterfelde—I quite at sea about the whole affair, but not daring +to ask questions about it. Idle curiosity was not encouraged among cadets. + +I was not to remain in ignorance for long, however. A few days later I +was ordered to pack my clothing, and with it was transferred to a quiet +hotel on the Dorotheen Strasse. The hotel was not far from the War +Academy, and there I was placed under the charge of an exasperatingly +puttering tutor, who strove to perfect me on but three points. He +insisted that my French be impeccable; he made me study the private and +detailed history of a certain Russian house; and he was most particular +about the way I walked and ate, about my knowledge of Russian ceremonies +and customs—in a word, about my deportment in general. + +The weeks passed. At last, by dint of much hard work, I became +sufficiently expert in my studies to satisfy my tutor. I was taken back +to the house on the Wilhelmstrasse, where the round-faced man again +inspected me. He talked with me at length in French, made me walk before +him and asked me innumerable questions about the family history of +the house I had been studying. Finally he drew a photograph from his +pocket—the same, I fancy, which had figured in our previous interview. + +“Do you recognize this face?” he inquired, offering me the picture. + +I started. It might have been my own likeness. But no! That uniform +was never mine. Then in a moment I realized the truth and with the +realization the whole mystery of the last few weeks began to be clear to +me. The photograph was a portrait of the young Prince Z——; my double, +whom I had served at the banquet. + +“It is a very remarkable likeness,” said the round-faced man. “And it +will be of good service to the Fatherland.” + +He eyed me for a moment impressively before continuing. + +“You are to go to Russia,” he told me. “Prince Z—— has been invited to +visit his family in St. Petersburg, and he has accepted the invitation. +But unfortunately Prince Z—— has discovered that he cannot go. You will, +therefore become the Prince—for the time being. You will visit your +family, note everything that is said to you and report to your tutor, +Herr ——, who will accompany you and give you further instructions. + +“This is an important mission,” he added solemnly, “but I have no doubt +that you will comport yourself satisfactorily. You have been taught +everything that is necessary; and you have already shown yourself a young +man of spirit and some discretion. We rely upon both of these qualities.” +He bowed in dismissal of us, but as we turned to go he spoke again. + +[Illustration: This photograph, taken outside the Cuartel at Juarez, +Mexico, shows von der Goltz (at the right), then a Major in the Mexican +Army, and Lieut. Leiva, a Mexican officer later reported killed in +battle.] + +“Remember,” he was saying. “From this day you are no longer a cadet. You +are a prince. Act accordingly.” + +That was all. We were out of the door and halfway to our hotel before I +realized to the full the great adventure I had embarked upon. Embarked? +Shanghaied would be the better term. I had had no choice in the matter, +whatsoever. I had not even uttered a word during the interview. + +At any rate, that night I left for Petrograd—still St. Petersburg at that +time—accompanied by my tutor and two newly engaged valets, who did not +know the real Prince. Of what was ahead I had no idea, but as my tutor +had no doubts of the success of our mission, I wasted little time in +speculating upon the future. + +What the real prince’s motive was in agreeing to the masquerade, and +where he spent his time while I was in Russia, I have never been able to +discover. From what followed, I surmise that he was strongly pro-German +in his sympathies but distrusted his ability to carry through the task in +hand. + +In St. Petersburg I discovered that my “relatives”—whom I had known to +be very exalted personages—were inclined to be more than hospitable to +this young kinsman whom they had not seen in a long time. I found myself +petted and spoiled to a delightful degree; indeed I had a truly princely +time. The only drawback was that, as the constant admonitions of my +tutor reminded me, I could spend my princely wealth only in such ways as +my—shall I say, predecessor?—would have done. He, alas, was apparently a +graver youth than I. + +So two weeks passed, while I was beginning to wish that the masquerade +would continue indefinitely, when one day my tutor sent for me. + +“So,” he said, “We have had play enough, not so? Now we shall have work.” + +In a few words he explained the situation to me. Russia, it seemed, was +about to enter into an agreement with England, regarding what appeared +to be practically a partitioning of Persia. Already a certain Baron B—— +(let me call him) was preparing to leave St. Petersburg with instructions +to find out under what circumstances the British Government would enter +into pourparlers on the subject. Berlin, whose interests in the Near East +would be menaced by such an agreement, needed information—and delay. I +was to secure both. It was the old trick of using a little instrument to +clog the mechanism of a great machine. + +Let me explain here a feature of the drawing up of international treaties +and agreements which, I think, is not generally understood. Most of us +who read in the newspapers that such and such a treaty is being arranged +between the representatives of two countries, believe that the terms +are even then being decided upon. As a matter of fact these terms have +long since been determined by other representatives of the two countries +concerned, and the present meeting is merely for the formal and public +ratification of a treaty that has already been secretly made. The usual +stages in the making of a treaty are three: First, an unofficial inquiry +by one government into the willingness or unwillingness of the other +government to enter into a discussion of the question at issue. This is +usually done by a man who has no official standing as a diplomat at the +moment, but whose affiliations with officials in the second country have +given him an influence there which will stand his government in good +stead. After a willingness has been expressed by both sides to enter into +discussions, official pourparlers are held in which the terms of the +agreement are discussed and decided upon. Finally the treaty is formally +ratified by the Foreign Ministers or special envoys of the countries +involved. This secrecy in the first two stages is necessitated by the +fear of meddling on the part of other governments, and also by a desire +on the part of any country making overtures to avoid a possible rebuff +from the other; and it explains why negotiations which are publicly +entered into never fail. + +But to return to my adventures. My Government had learned of the +impending pourparlers between Britain and Russia; it knew that Baron +B——’s instructions would contain the conditions which Russia considered +desirable. What was necessary was to secure these instructions. + +Now, my tutor had, long before this, seen to it that I should be on +friendly terms with various members of the baron’s household; and he had +been especially insistent that I pay a good deal of attention to the +young daughter of the house, whom I shall call Nevshka. I had wondered +at the time why he should do this; but I obeyed his instructions with +alacrity. Nevshka was charming. + +Now I saw the purpose of this carefully fostered friendship. + +“The baron will spend this evening at the club,” I was informed. “He +will return, according to his habit, promptly at twelve. You will visit +his house this evening, paying a call upon Nevshka. You will contrive +to set back the clock so that his home coming will be in the nature +of a surprise to her. The hour will be so late that she, knowing her +father’s strictness, will contrive to get you out of the house without +his seeing you. That is your opportunity! You must slip from the salon +into the rear hall—but do not leave the house. And if, young man, with +such an opportunity, you cannot discover where these papers are hidden +_and secure them_, you are unworthy of the trust that your government has +placed in you.” + +I nodded my comprehension. In other words I was to take advantage of +Nevshka’s friendship in order to steal from her father—I was to perform +an act from which no gentleman could help shrinking. And I was going to +do it with no more qualms of conscience than, in time of war, I should +have felt about stealing from an enemy general the plan of an attack. + +For countries are always at war—diplomatically. There is always a +conflict between the foreign ambitions of governments; always an attempt +on the part of each country to gain its own ends by fair means or foul. +Every man engaged in diplomatic work knows this to be true. And he +will serve his government without scruple, for well he knows that some +seemingly dishonorable act of his may be the means of averting that +actual warfare which is only the forlorn hope that governments resort to +when diplomatic means of mastery have failed. + +So I undertook my mission with no hesitation, rather with a thrill +of eagerness. I pretended to be violently interested in Nevshka (no +difficult task, that) and time sped by so merrily that even had I not +turned back the hands of the clock, I doubt if the lateness of the hour +would have seriously concerned either of us. Oh, yes, my tutor—who, as +you of course have guessed by now, was no mere tutor—had analyzed the +situation correctly. + +As the baron was heard at the door, I drew out my watch. + +“Nevshka, your clock is slow. It is already midnight.” + +Nevshka started. + +“Come!” she exclaimed. “Father must not see you. He would be furious at +your being here at this hour.” In a panic she glanced about the salon. +“Go out that way.” And she pointed to a door at the rear, one that opened +on a dimly lit hallway. + +I went. I heard the baron express his surprise that Nevshka was still +awake. I heard her lie—beautifully, I assure you. And I remained hidden +while the baron worked in his library for a while; hardly daring to +breathe until I heard him go up the stairs to his bedroom. + +He was a careless man, the baron. Or perhaps he had been reading Poe, +and believed that the most obvious place of concealment was the safest. +At any rate, there in a drawer of his desk, protected only by the most +defenseless of locks, were the papers—a neat statement of the terms upon +which Russia would discuss this Persian matter with England. + +I returned home with my prize, to find my tutor awaiting me. He said +no word of commendation when I gave him the papers, but I knew by his +expression that he was well pleased with my work. And I went to bed, +delighted with myself, and dreaming of the great things that were to come. + +The next day we left Petersburg. A German resident of the city had +telephoned my relatives, warning them that a few cases of cholera had +appeared. Would it not, he suggested (Oh, it was mere kind thoughtfulness +on his part) be best to let the young prince return to Germany until the +danger was over? His parents would be worried. Indeed, it would be best, +my “relatives” agreed. So with regret they bade leave of me; and in the +most natural manner in the world I returned to Berlin. + +Wilhelmstrasse 76 again! The round-faced man again, but this time less +military, less unbending, in his manner. I had done well, he told me. +My exploit had attracted the favorable attention of a very exalted +personage. If I could hold my tongue—who knows what might be in store for +me? + + * * * * * + +That was the end of the matter, so far as I was concerned. But in the +history of European politics it was only the beginning of the chapter. + +It might be well, at this point, to recall the political situation +in Europe, as it affected England, Russia and Germany at this time. +Even two years before—in 1905—it had become evident to all students of +international affairs that the next great conflict, whenever it should +come, would be between England and Germany; and England realizing this, +had already begun to seek alliances which would stand between her and +German ambitions of world dominance. The Entente with France had been +the first step in the formation of protective friendships; and although +this friendship had suffered a strain during the Russo-Japanese War, +because of the opposing sympathies of the two countries, the end of the +war healed all differences. The defeat of Russia removed all immediate +danger of a Slavic menace against India. To England, then, the weakened +condition of Russia offered an excellent opportunity for an alliance that +would draw still more closely the “iron ring around Germany.” Immediately +she took the first steps leading toward this alliance. + +Now, Russia stood badly in need of two things. War-torn and threatened by +revolution, the government could rehabilitate itself only by a liberal +amount of money. But where to get it? France, her ally, and normally +her banker, was slow, in this instance to lend—and it was only through +England’s intervention that the Czar secured from a group of Paris and +London bankers the money with which to finance his government and defeat +the revolution. + +But more than money, Russia needed an ice-free seaport to take the +place of Port Arthur, which she had lost; and for this there were only +two possible choices: Constantinople or a port on the Persian Gulf. In +either of these aims she was opposed by Britain, the traditional enemy +of a Russian Constantinople, on the one hand, and the possessor of a +considerable “sphere of interest” in the Persian Gulf on the other. + +So matters stood, when in August, 1907, _but a few weeks after my +masquerade_, Sir Arthur Nicholson, acting for England, and Alexander +Iswolsky, acting for Russia, signed the famous Anglo-Russian Agreement, +providing for the distribution of Persia into three strips, the northern +and southern of which would be respectively Russian and British zones of +influence; providing also, in a secret clause, that _Russia would give +England military aid in the event of a war between Germany and England_! + +Meantime what was Germany doing? + +She had, you may be sure, no intention of allowing England to best her +in the game of intrigue. Her interests in the Near East were commercial +rather than military; but she could not see them threatened by an +Anglo-Russian occupation of Persia, such as the Agreement portended. +Then, too, she was bound to consider the possible effect on Turkey, in +whom she was taking an ever-increasing (and none too altruistic) interest. + +The details of what followed I can only surmise. I know that in the time +between my trip to Russia and the signing of that Agreement, on August +31, the Kaiser held two conferences: one on August 3, with the Czar at +Swinemunde; the other on August 14, with Edward VII, at the Castle of +Wilhelmshohe. And when, on September 24th, the terms were published, they +were bitterly attacked by a portion of the English press, not so much +because of the danger to Persia, as because of the fact that Russia got +the best of the bargain![1] + +Had the Kaiser succeeded in having these terms changed? Who knows? +Certainly one can trace the hand of German diplomacy in the events of +the next seven years, most of which are a matter of common knowledge. +The steady aggressions of Russia in Persia during the troubled years of +1910-1912; the almost open flouting of the terms of the treaty, which +expressly guaranteed Persian integrity; the constant growth of German +influence, culminating in the Persian extension of the German-owned +Bagdad Railway; the founding of a German school and a hospital in +Teheran, jointly supported by Germany and Persia; and finally, the +celebrated Potsdam Agreement of 1910, between Russia and Germany, in +which Germany agreed to recognize Russia’s claim to Northern Persia as +its sphere of influence, which provided for a further rapprochement +between the two countries in the matter of railroad construction and +commercial development generally, and which has been generally supposed +to contain a guarantee that neither country would join “any combination +of Powers that has any aggressive tendency against the other.” + +And England did not protest, in spite of the fact that the Potsdam +Agreement absolutely negatived her own treaty with Russia and made it, +in the language of one writer, “a farce and a deception!” Why? Was it +because she believed that when war came, as it inevitably must, Russia +would forget this new alliance in allegiance to the old? + +England was mistaken, if she believed so. Russia—Imperial Russia—was +never so much the friend of Germany as when, neglecting the war on her +own Western front, she sent her armies into the Caucasus, persuaded the +British to undertake the Dardanelles expedition, and, following her own +plans of Asiatic expansion, betrayed England! + +As I write this the Kut el Amara muddle is creating a great stir in the +allied countries. Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, and the government +of India have been severely blamed for sending General Townsend into +Mesopotamia with insufficient material, medical supplies and troops. At +the time that the move was made the explanation given for it was that it +was done in order to protect the oil pipes supplying the British navy +in those waters from being destroyed by the enemy. There was no doubt +in my mind at that time, in spite of the fact that I was in prison and +communication with the outside was very meagre, that this was not the +real reason. Subsequent developments have shown—and the abandonment of +the inquiry instituted by the British Government about this affair only +further supports my contention—that Russia intended to use England’s +helpless position to secure for herself an access to the Persian Gulf. +Grand Duke Nicholas himself abandoned the campaign on the Eastern front +to go to the Caucasus. The Gallipoli enterprise which turned out to be +such a monumental failure was undertaken upon his instigation. Do you +think for one second that if Imperial Russia had thought England was able +to capture Constantinople, a city which she herself has been wanting for +centuries, she would have invited England to do so? The fact is that +the Gallipoli enterprise tied up all of England’s available reserves so +that the English could practically do nothing to forestall the Russian +movements to the Persian Gulf. The Government of India, realizing the +danger, sent General Townsend upon the famous Bagdad campaign rather as a +demonstration, than as a military enterprise. I will quote from my diary +which I kept while in prison. + +“Just read in _The Times_: ‘British moving north into Mesopotamia to +protect oil pipes and capture Bagdad.’ I don’t need to read _Punch_ any +more, _The Times_ being just as funny. My dear friends, you didn’t move +up there for that reason. You went up there so as to be able to tell +your Russian friends that there was no need to come further south as you +were there already.” + +[Illustration: Raul Madero and Staff. Captain von der Goltz is standing +the second from the left.] + +[Illustration: A group of recruits who came from the United States to +enter Villa’s Army. Captain von der Goltz is at the extreme left.] + +As part of the Russian Army had already advanced as far as Kermansha, +General Townsend disregarded all military rules and tactics in his +desperate attempt to keep the Russians from going further South, paying +very little attention to securing his line of communication, and he was +subsequently cut off from his base and forced to surrender to the Turks. + +In the early part of the war Russia did not try to gain anything at +the expense of Germany but consistently applied herself to the task of +enriching herself at the expense of England. Imperial Russia as an ally +has constantly been fighting England and done the Allied cause more +damage than the German army. + +But Imperial Russia wrote her own death sentence by her treachery. There +was a revolution in Russia ... + +But I anticipate. + + * * * * * + +That is the story of my little expedition into Russia—and of what it +brought about. + +As for me, I was sent back to Gross Lichterfelde, where I abruptly ceased +to be a young prince, and became once more a humble cadet. But only to +outside eyes. Dazzled by the success of my first mission, I regarded +myself as a superman among the cadets. Life loomed romantically before +me. I told myself that I was to consort with princes and beautiful +noblewomen and to spend money lavishly. The future seemed to promise a +career that was the merriest, maddest, for which a man could hope. + +I laugh sometimes now when I think of the dreams I had in those days. I +was soon to learn that the life which fate had thrust upon me was set +with traps and pitfalls which might not easily be escaped. I was to learn +many lessons and to know much suffering; and I was to discover that the +finding of my “document” was only the beginning of a chain of events that +were to control my whole life—and that its influence over my career had +not ended. + +But at that time I was all hopes and rosy dreams—of my future, of myself, +occasionally of Nevshka. + +Nevshka. Is she still as charming as ever? + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + _Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed. I look and + talk indiscreetly—and a man dies._ + + +In spite of my dreams and extreme self-satisfaction, I found the +atmosphere of Gross Lichterfelde as drab and monotonous as ever it had +been before my masquerade. Discipline sits lightly upon one who is +accustomed to it solely, but to me, fresh from a glorious fortnight of +intrigue and festivity, it was doubly galling. Yet there was one avenue +of escape open to me, that was denied my fellows, for I was required to +pay a weekly visit to my tutor in the Wilhelmstrasse, there to continue +my studies in the art of diplomatic intrigue. + +It is a significant comment upon the life at Gross Lichterfelde that I +could regard these visits as a kind of relaxation. Surely no drill-master +was ever so exacting as this tutor of mine. And yet, despite his dryness +and the complete lack of cordiality in his manner, there was somewhere +the gleam of romance about him. To me he seemed, in a strangely +inappropriate way, an incarnation of one of those old masters of intrigue +who had been my heroes in former days at home; and my imagination +distorted him into a gigantic, shadowy being, mysterious, inflexible and +potentially sinister. + +We studied history together that autumn; not the dull record of facts +that was forced upon us at Gross Lichterfelde, but rather a history +of glorious national achievement, of ambitions attained and enemies +scattered—a history that had the tone of prophecy. And I would sit there +in the soft autumn sunlight viewing the Fatherland with new eyes; as a +knight in shining armor, beset by foes, but ever triumphing over them by +virtue of his righteousness and strength of arm. + +Then I would return to Gross Lichterfelde and its discipline. + +Yet even at Gross Lichterfelde, we contrived to amuse ourselves, chiefly +by violating regulations. That is generally the result of walling any +person inside a set of rules; his attention becomes centered on getting +outside. Your own cadets at West Point, so I have been told, have their +traditional list of deviltries, maintained with admirable persistence +in the face of severe penalties. At Gross Lichterfelde one proved his +manliness by breaking bounds at least once a week, to drink beer, and +flirt with maids none the less divine because they were hopelessly +plebian. + +In the prevailing lawlessness, I bore my share, and in the course of my +escapades, I formed an offensive and defensive alliance with a cadet of +my own age against that common enemy of all our kind, the Commandant of +the school, Willi von Heiden, I will call my chum, because that was not +his name. We became close friends. And through our friendship there came +an event which I shall remember to my last day. It gave me a glimpse into +the terrible pit of secret diplomacy. + +Often at the present, I find myself living it over in my mind. If I +have learned to take a lighter view of life than most men, my attitude +dates from that time when a careless word of mine, spoken in innocence, +condemned a man to death. I will try to tell very briefly how it came +about. + +The Christmas after my excursion to St. Petersburg I was invited by Willi +von Heiden to visit him at his home. His father was a squireling of East +Prussia, one of the _Junkers_. He had an estate in that rolling farm land +between Goldap and Tilsit, which was the scene of countless adventures +of Willi’s boyhood. + +Just before we left Gross Lichterfelde—yes, even there they allow you a +few days vacation at Christmas—Willi received a letter and came to me +with a joyous face. + +“Good news,” he cried, “we are sure to have a lively holiday. Brother +Franz is getting a few days’ leave, too.” + +I had heard much of Willi’s older brother, Franz. He was a young man +in the middle twenties, an officer of a famous fighting regiment of +foot, one of the Prussian Guards. Willi had dilated upon him in his +conversation with me. Franz was his younger brother’s hero. From all +accounts Franz von Heiden was possessed of a mind of that rare sort which +combines unremitting industry with cleverness. His future as a soldier +seemed brilliant and assured. + +“Where is Franz?” was Willi’s first question when we reached his home. + +I shall be long forgetting my first impressions of the man. I had been +looking for a dry, spectacled student, or a stiff young autocrat of the +thoroughly Prussian type, which I, like many other Germans, thoroughly +disliked and inwardly laughed at. Instead, I found another chum. Franz +was an engaging young man of slight build but very vigorous and athletic. +I found him frank, friendly, unassuming, apparently wholly carefree and +full of quiet drollery. From his first greeting any prejudice that I +might have formed from hearing my chum, Willi, chant his excellencies, +was quite wiped away. And as the days passed I found myself drawn to seek +Franz’s company constantly. I have no doubt it flattered my vanity—always +awake since my exploit in St. Petersburg—to find this older man treating +me as a mental equal. It seemed to me that he differentiated between me +and Willi, who was quite young in manner as well as years. At times the +impulse was very strong for me to confide in Franz, to let him know that +I was not a mere cadet, that I had been in Russia for my government. +Luckily for myself I suppressed that impulse. Luckily for me, but very +unluckily for Lieutenant Franz von Heiden—as it turned out. + +One sunny December morning we were all three going out rabbit shooting. +While Willi counted out shells in the gun room, I went to summon Franz +from the bedroom he was using as his study. It was characteristic of him +that without any assumption of importance, he gave a few hours to work +early every morning, even while on leave. I found him intent upon some +large sheets of paper, but he pushed them aside. + +“Time to start now?” he asked. “Good! Wait a minute, while I dress.” He +stepped into the adjoining dressing-room. + +And then, as if Fate had taken a hand in the moment’s activities, I did +a thing which I have never ceased to regret. Fate! Why not? What is +the likelihood that by mere vague chance I, of all the cadets of Gross +Lichterfelde, should have become Willi von Heiden’s chum and shared +his holidays? That by mere chance I should have been an inmate of his +home when Franz was there, three days out of the whole year? That by +mere chance, I, with my precocious knowledge and thirst for yet more +knowledge, should have entered his study when he was occupied with a +particular task? Why did I not send the servant to call him? And why, +instead of doing any one of the dozen other things I might have done +while I was waiting for Franz to change his clothes, should I have +stepped across and looked at the big sheets of paper on his table? + +I did just that. I did it quite frankly and without a thought of prying. +I saw that the sheets were small scale maps. They were the maps of a +fort and the names upon them were written both in French and in German. +The thrill of a great discovery shot all through me. It flashed upon +me that I had heard Willi say that during the previous summer Franz +had spent a long furlough in the Argonne section of France. He had +been fishing and botanizing—so Willi had said. Indeed, only the night +before Franz himself had told us stories of the sport there; and all +his family had accepted the stories at their face value. So had I until +that moment when I stood beside his desk and saw the plans of a French +field fortress. Then I knew the truth. Lieutenant Franz von Heiden was +doing important work—so confidential that even his family must be kept in +ignorance about it—for the intelligence department of the German General +Staff. Like me, he was entitled to the gloriously shameful name of spy! + +If I had obeyed my natural impulse to rush into Franz’s room and exchange +fraternal greetings with this new colleague of the secret service, so +romantically discovered, he might have saved himself. Instead, something +made me play the innocent and be the innocent, too, as far as intent was +concerned. + +When Franz returned, dressed for the shoot, I was standing looking out +of his window, and I said nothing about my discovery. + +We had our rabbit shoot that day. We crowded all the fun and energy +possible into it. It was our last day together and by sundown I felt as +close to Franz von Heiden as though he were my own brother. A few days +later Willi and I went back to Gross Lichterfelde. + +Shortly after I returned from my Christmas leave, my tutor sent for me. +He even recognized the amenities of the occasion enough to unbend a +little and greeted me with a trace of mechanical friendliness. + +“I trust you had a pleasant holiday,” he said, “you told me, did you not, +that you were to spend it at the Baron von Heiden’s?” + +That touch of friendliness was the occasion of my tragic error. I +remember that I plunged into a boisterous description of my vacation, of +the pleasant days in the country, of the shooting, of Franz. As my tutor +listened, with a tolerant air, I told him what a splendid fellow Franz +was, how cleverly he talked and how diligently he worked. And then, with +a rash innocence for which I have never forgiven myself, I told him of +what I had seen on that day of the rabbit shooting—of the maps on the +table. Franz was one of us! + +But my tutor was not interested. Abruptly he interrupted my burst of +gossip; and soon after that he plunged me into a quiz in spoken French. +My progress in that seemed his only preoccupation. + +A month later Willi von Heiden staggered into my room. “Franz is dead,” +he said. + +The brilliant young lieutenant, Franz von Heiden, had come to a sudden +and shocking end. He was shot dead in a duel. His opponent was a brother +officer, a Captain von Frentzen. The “Court of honor” of the regiment had +approved of the duel and it was reported that the affair was carried out +in accordance with the German code. + +Later I learned the story. Captain von Frentzen was suddenly attached to +the same regiment as Franz. His transfer was a cause of great surprise +to the officers and of deep displeasure to them, for the captain had a +notorious reputation as a duelist. Naturally the officers, Franz among +them, had ignored him, trying to force him out of the regiment. Upon the +night of a regimental dance, the situation came to a head. + +In response to the gesture of a lady’s fan Franz crossed the ball room +hurriedly. He was caught in a sudden swirl of dancers and accidentally +stepped on Captain von Frentzen’s foot. In the presence of the +whole company von Frentzen dealt Franz a stinging slap in the face. +“Apparently,” he sneered, “you compel me to teach you manners.” Franz +looked at him, amazed and furious. There was nothing that he had done +which warranted von Frentzen’s action. It was an outrage—a deadly insult. +There was but one thing to do. A duel was arranged. + +To understand more of this incident you must understand the unyielding +code of honor of the German officer. Franz von Heiden’s original offense +had been so very slight that even had he refused to apologize to Frentzen +the consequences might not have been serious. But Frentzen’s blow given +in public was quite a different matter. It was a mortal affront. I heard +that Franz’s captain had been in a rage about it. + +“My best lieutenant,” he had said to the colonel. “An extremely +valuable man. To be made to fight a duel with that worthless butcher, +von Frentzen. Shameful! God knows that laws are sometimes utterly +unreasonable by many of our ideas, as officers are equally senseless. I +have racked my brain to find a way out of this difficulty, but it seems +impossible. Can’t you do something to interfere?” + +The colonel looked at him steadily. “Your honest opinion. Is von Heiden’s +honor affected by Frentzen’s action?” + +There was nothing Franz’s captain could do but reply, “Yes.” + +The duel was held on the pistol practice grounds of the garrison, a +smooth, grassy place, surrounded by high bushes; at the lower end there +was a shed built of strong boards, in which tools and targets were +stored. At daybreak Franz von Heiden and his second dismounted at the +shed and fastened their horses by the bridle. They stood side by side, +looking down the road, along which a carriage was coming. Captain von +Frentzen, his second, and the regimental surgeon got out. Sharp polite +greetings were exchanged. On the faces of the seconds there was a +singular expression of uneasiness, but Frentzen looked as though he were +there for some guilty purpose. The prescribed attempts at reconciliation +failed. The surgeon measured off the distance. He was a long-legged man +and made the fifteen paces as lengthy as possible. + +Just at this moment the sun came up fully. Pistols were loaded and given +to Franz and Frentzen. Fifteen paces apart, the two men faced each +other. One of the seconds drew out his watch, glanced at it and said, +“I shall count; ready, one! then three seconds; two!—and again three +seconds; then, stop! Between one and stop the gentlemen may fire.” He +glanced round once more. The four officers stood motionless in the level +light of the dawn. He began to count. Presently Franz von Heiden was +stretched out upon the ground, his blue eyes staring up into the new day. +He lay still.... + +When I heard that story I ceased to be a boy. My outlook on the future +had been that of an irresponsible gamester, undergoing initiation into +the gayest and most exciting sports. All at once my eyes were hideously +opened and I looked down into the pit that the German secret service +had prepared for Franz von Heiden, and knew I _was the cause of it_. It +was terrible! By leaving that map where I could see it Franz von Heiden +had been guilty of an unforgivable breach of trust. By his carelessness +he had let someone know that the Intelligence Department of the General +Staff had procured the plans of a French fortress in the Argonne. +Wherefore, according to the iron law of that soulless war machine, Franz +von Heiden must die. + +And this is the sinister way it works. Trace it. I innocently betray him +to my tutor, an official of the Secret Diplomatic Service. A few days +later one of the deadliest pistol shots in the German army is transferred +to Franz’s regiment. A duel is forced upon him and he is shot down in +cold blood. + +Not long after the news of the duel, my tutor sent for me. “Is it not +a curious coincidence,” he began, his cold gray eyes boring into mine, +“that the last time you were here we spoke of Lieutenant Franz von +Heiden? The next time you come to see me he is dead. I understand that +certain rumors are in circulation about the way he died. Some of them may +have already come to your attention. I caution you to pay no attention +whatever to such silly statements. Remember that a Court of Honor of +an honorable regiment of the Prussian Guards has vouched for the fact +that Lieutenant von Heiden’s quarrel with Captain von Frentzen and the +unfortunate duel that followed was conducted in accordance with the +officers’ code of the Imperial Army.” + +I hung my head, sick at heart; but he was relentless. + +“Remember also,” he said in a pitiless voice, “that men of intelligence +never indulge in fruitless gossip, even among themselves. I hope you +understand that—by now.” He paused a moment, as if he remembered +something. + +“For some time,” he went on, in the most casual way, “I have been aware +that it will be necessary for me to talk to you seriously. Now is as good +a time as any. You know that your training for your future career has +been put largely in my hands. I am responsible for your progress. The men +who have made me responsible require reports about your development. They +have not been wholly satisfied with what I was able to tell them. Your +intentions are good. You show a certain amount of natural cleverness and +adaptability, but you have also disappointed them by being impulsive and +indiscreet. + +“Now,” he said, “I ask you to pay the closest attention to everything I +shall say. Your attitude must be changed if you are to go on, and some +day be of service to your government. You must learn to treat your work +as a deadly serious business—not as a romantic adventure. We were just +speaking of von Heiden. I seem to remember vaguely that the last time you +were here you had some sort of a cock-and-bull story to tell me of—what +was it?—of seeing some secret maps of French fortifications on the +unfortunate young man’s table. I could hardly refrain from smiling at the +time. Such poppycock! You do not imagine for a moment, do you, that if +he had proved himself discreet enough to be intrusted with such highly +confidential things, he would have been so imprudent as to betray that +fact to a mere casual friend of his little brother? I hope you see how +absurd such imaginings are.” + +I groaned mentally as he continued. + +“Remember now,” my tutor said icily, “every man in our profession is a +man who not only knows very much, but may know too much, unless he can be +trusted to keep what he knows to himself. There are three ways in which +he can fail to do that—by carelessness, by accident, and by deliberate +talking. Never talk—never be careless—never have accidents happen to +you. Then you will be safe, and in no other way can you be so safe. Keep +that in your mind. You will find it much more profitable and useful than +remembering what anybody has to say about Franz von Heiden. It was a +commonplace quarrel with Captain von Frentzen which killed him. A court +of honor has said so.” + +That night at Gross Lichterfelde, after lights were out, Willi von Heiden +came creeping to my bed. I was the only intimate friend he had there +and he felt the need of talking with some one about the big brother who +had been his hero. Need I go into details of how his artless confidence +made me feel? But human beings are exceedingly selfish and self-centered +creatures. I had a heart-felt sorrow for my chum and his family in their +tragic bereavement. And, blaming myself as I did for it, I was abased +completely. Yet there was another feeling in me at least as deeply rooted +as those two emotions. It was dread. + +Dread was to follow me for many years. I had learned the dangers of the +dark secret world in which I lived. Its rules of conduct and its ruthless +code had been revealed to me, not merely by precept but by example. +And with that realization all the thrill of romance and adventure +disappeared. For I knew that I, too, might at any time be counted among +the men who “knew too much.” + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + _I am sent to Geneva and learn of a plot. How there are more + ways of getting rid of a King than by blowing him up with + dynamite._ + + +If at any time in this story of my life, I have given the impression +that accident did not play a very important part in the work of myself +and other secret agents, I have done so unintentionally. “If” has been +a big word in the history of the world; and even in my small share of +the events of the last ten years, chance has oftentimes been a more +able ally than some of the best laid of my plans. If, for instance, +I had not happened to be in Geneva in the winter of 1909-10; or if a +certain official of the Russian secret police—the _Okrana_—had not met +a well-deserved death at the hands of a committee of “Reds”; or if the +German Foreign Office had not been playing a pretty little game of +diplomacy in the Southwestern corner of Europe—why, the world to-day +would be poorer by a King, and possibly richer by another combatant in +the Great War. + +And if another King had not kept a diary he might have kept his throne. +And if both he and a certain young diplomat, whose name I think it best +to forget, had not had a common weakness for pretty faces, Germany would +have lost an opportunity to gain some information that was more or less +useful to her, an actress whose name you all know would never have become +internationally famous, and this book would have lost an amusing little +comedy of coincidences. + +All of which sounds like romance and is—merely the truth. + +I had spent two uneventful years at Gross Lichterfelde at the time the +comedy began; two years of study in which I had acquired some knowledge +and a great weariness of routine, of hard work unpunctuated by any +element of adventure. Of late it had almost seemed as if, after all, it +was planned that I should become merely one of the vast army of officers +that Gross Lichterfelde and similar schools were yearly turning out. For +such a fate, as you can imagine, I had little liking. + +Consequently I was far from displeased when one day I received a +characteristically brief note from my old tutor, asking me to call upon +him. Still more was I elated when, the next day, he informed me that I +had enough of books for the time being, and that he thought a little +practical experience would be good for me. A vacation, I might call it, +if I wished—with a trifle of detective work thrown in. + +H’m. I was not so delighted with that prospect, and when the details of +the “vacation” were explained to me, I was strongly tempted to say no to +the entire proposition. But one does not say no to my old tutor. And so, +in the course of a week, I found myself spending my evenings in the _Café +de l’Europe_ in Geneva, bound on a still hunt for Russian revolutionists. + +Russia, at this time, had not quite recovered from the fright she +received in 1905 and 1906, when, as you will remember, popular discontent +with the government had assumed very serious proportions. “Bloody +Sunday,” and the riots and strikes that followed it, were far in the +past now, it is true, but they were still well remembered. And although +most of the known revolutionary leaders had been disposed of in one way +or another, there were still a few of them, as well as a large number +of their followers, wandering in odd corners of Europe. These it was +thought best to get rid of; and Russian agents promptly began ferreting +them out. And Germany—always less unfriendly to the Romanoffs than has +appeared on the surface—lent a helping hand. + +So it happened that on a particular night in December of 1909, I sat in +the _Café de l’Europe_, bitterly detesting the work I had in hand, yet +inconsistently wishing that something would turn up. I had no idea at the +moment of what I should do next. Chance rumor had led me to Geneva, and I +was largely depending upon chance for further developments. + +They came. I had been sitting for an hour I suppose, sipping vermouth and +lazily regarding my neighbors, when the sound of a voice came to my ears. +It was the voice of a man speaking French, with the soft accent of the +Spaniard; the tone loud and unsteady and full of the boisterous emphasis +of a man in his cups. But it was the words he spoke that commanded my +attention. + +“Our two comrades,” he was saying, “will soon arrive from the center in +Buenos Ayres.” + +“Yes,” another voice assented—a harsher voice, this, to whose owner +French was obviously also a foreign tongue. “In the spring, we hope.” + +[Illustration: The Brevet promoting Senior Captain von der Goltz to the +rank of Major of Cavalry in the Mexican Constitutionalist Army. It will +be noted that the commission bears the signature of Raul Madero and +General Villa.] + +The Spaniard laughed. + +“An excellent business! So simple. _Boom!_ And our dear Alfonso....” + +Some element of caution must have come over him, for his voice sank so +that I could no longer hear his words. But I had heard enough to make me +assume a good deal. + +Some one was to be assassinated! And that some one? It was a guess, of +course, but the name and the accent of the speaker were more than enough +to lead me to believe that the proposed victim must be King Alfonso of +Spain. + +I sat there, undecided for the moment. It was really no affair of +mine. I was on another mission, and, after all, my theory was merely +a supposition. On the other hand, the situation presented interesting +possibilities—and as I happened to know, Alfonso’s seemingly pro-German +leanings and made him an object of friendly interest at that time to my +government. + +I decided to look into the matter. + +It had been difficult to keep from stealing a glance at my talkative +neighbors but I restrained myself. I must not turn around and yet it was +vitally necessary that I see their faces. All I could do was to hope that +they would leave before I finished my vermouth; for I had no mind to +risk my clear-headedness with more than the glass I had already had. + +They did leave shortly afterward. As they passed my table I took care to +study their faces, and my intention to keep them in sight was immensely +strengthened. The Spaniard I did not know, but his companion I recognized +as a Russian—_and one of the very men I was after_. + +I had been in Geneva long enough to know where I could get information +when I needed it. It was only a day or two, therefore, before I had in +my hands sufficient facts to justify me in reporting the matter to my +government. + +Alfonso was in England at the time and presumably safe; for I had +gathered that no attempt would be made upon his life until he returned to +Spain. So I wrote to Berlin reporting what I had learned. + +A telegram reached me next day. I was ordered to Brussels to communicate +my information to the Spanish Minister there. + +Mark that: I was ordered to Brussels, although there was a Spanish +Minister in Switzerland. But my government knew that there were many +factions in Spain, and it had strong reasons to believe that the Spanish +Minister to Belgium was absolutely loyal to Alfonso. And in a situation +such as this, one takes as few chances as possible. + +I followed my instructions. The Spanish Minister thanked me. He was more +than interested; and he begged me, since I had no other direct orders, +to do him the personal favor of staying a few days longer in the Belgian +capital. I did so, of course, and a day or so later received from my +government instructions to hold myself at the Spaniard’s disposal for the +time being. + +That night, at the minister’s request, I met him and we discussed the +matter fully. He wished me, he said, to undertake a more thorough +investigation of the plot. I was already involved in it, and would be +working less in the dark than another. Besides, he hinted, he could not +very well employ an agent of his own government. Who knew how far the +conspiracy extended? + +I was not displeased to abandon my chase of the Russian revolutionaries, +toward whom I felt some sympathy. So, as a preliminary step, I went up +to Paris, where through the good offices of one Carlos de Silva—a young +Brazilian free-thinker, who was there ostensibly as a student—I succeeded +in gaining admission into one of the fighting organizations of radicals +there. They were not so communicative as I could have wished, but by +judicious pumping I soon learned that there was an organized conspiracy +against the life of Alfonso, and that the details of the plot were in the +hands of a committee in Geneva. + +Geneva, then, was my objective point. But what to do if I went there? I +knew very well that conspirators do not confide their plans to strangers. +And I dared not be too inquisitive. Obviously the only course to follow +was to employ an agent. + +Now, _Cherchez la femme_ is as excellent a principle to work on when you +are choosing an accomplice, as it is when you are seeking the solution of +a crime. I therefore proceeded to seek a lady—and found her in the person +of a pretty little black-eyed “revolutionist,” who called herself Mira +Descartes, and with whom I had already had some dealings. + +It is here that accident crosses the trail again. For if a certain +official of the _Okrana_ had not been murdered in Moscow three years +before, his daughter would never have conceived an intense hatred of all +revolutionary movements and I should have been without her invaluable +assistance in the adventure I am describing. + +Mira Descartes! She was the kind of woman of whom people like to say that +she would have made a great actress. Actress? I do not know. But she was +an artist at dissembling. And she had beauty that turned the heads of +more than the “Reds” upon whom she spied; and a genius for hatred: a cold +hatred that cleared the brain and enabled her to give even her body to +men she despised in order the better to betray them. + +I was fortunate in securing her aid, I told myself; and I did not +hesitate to use her services. (For in my profession, as must have been +apparent to you, scrupulousness must be reserved for use “in one’s +private capacity as a gentleman.”) + +So Mlle. Descartes went to Geneva, and armed with my previously acquired +information and her own charms, she contrived to get into the good graces +of the committee there, and surprised me a week later by writing to Paris +that she had already contracted a liaison with the Spaniard whom I had +overheard speaking that night in the _Café de l’Europe_. + +Soon I had full information about the entire plot. It was planned, I +learned, to blow up King Alfonso with a bomb upon the day of his return +to Madrid. The work was in the hands of two South Americans who were then +in Geneva. + +But far more important than this was the information which Mlle. +Descartes had obtained that a high official of Spain—a member of the +Cabinet—was cognizant of the plot and had kept silent about it. + +Why, I asked myself, should this official—a man who surely had no +sympathy with the aims of the revolutionists—lend his aid to them in +this plot? The reason was not hard to discover. Alfonso’s position at +the time was far from secure. His government was unpopular at home; and +the pro-Teutonic leanings of many government officials had lost him the +moral and political support of the English government and press—a fact of +considerable importance. + +So it seemed possible that Alfonso’s reign might not be of long duration. +And the new government? It might be radical or conservative; pro-English +or pro-German. A man with a career did well to keep on friendly terms +with all factions. Thus, I fancied, the Cabinet Minister must have +reasoned. At any rate he said nothing of the plot. + +But I went to Brussels and reported all I had learned—and did not forget +to mention the Cabinet Minister’s rumored share in the plot. + +There my connection with the affair ceased. But not long after a little +tragi-comedy occurred which was a direct result of my activities. Let me +recall it to you. + +On the evening of May 24, 1910, those of the people of Madrid who were +in the neighborhood of that monument which had been raised in memory of +the victims of the attempted assassination of Alfonso, four years before, +were horrified by a tragedy which they witnessed. + +There was a sudden commotion in the streets, an explosion, and the +confused sound of a crowd in excitement. + +What had happened? Rumor ran wild through the crowd. The King was +expected home that day—he had been assassinated. There had been an +attempted revolution. Nobody knew. + +But the next day everybody knew. A bomb had burst opposite the monument—a +bomb that had been intended for the King. One man had been killed; the +man who carried the bomb. But the King had not arrived in Madrid that day +after all. + +The police set to work upon the case and presently identified the dead +man as Jose Tasozelli, who recently arrived in Spain from Buenos Ayres. +It was not certain whether he had any accomplices. + +And while the police worked, the King, following a secret arrangement +which had been made by the Spanish Minister at Belgium, and of which not +even the Cabinet had been informed—arrived safely and quietly in Madrid; +a day late, but alive. + +What became of the Cabinet Minister? There are no autocracies now, and +not even a King may prosecute without proof. So the Minister escaped for +the time being. But it is interesting to remember that this same Minister +was assassinated, not a great while after. + + * * * * * + +Now there are more ways of getting rid of a king than by blowing him +up with dynamite. Foreign Offices are none too squeamish in their +methods, but they do balk at assassination, even if the proposed +victim is a particularly objectionable opponent of their plans. There +is another method which, if it be correctly followed, is every bit as +efficacious.... Again I must refer you to that excellent French proverb: +_Cherchez la femme_. + +It would be difficult to estimate properly the part that women have +played in the game of foreign politics. As spies they are invaluable: for +amourous men are always garrulous. But as Enslavers of Kings they are of +even greater service to men who are interested in effecting a change of +dynasty. Even the most loyal of subjects dislikes seeing his King made +ridiculous; and in countries where the line is not too strictly drawn +between the public exchequer and the private resources of the monarch, a +discontented faction may see some connection between excessive taxes and +the jewels that a demi-mondaine wears. Revolutions have occurred for less +than that—as every Foreign Office knows. + +I am not insinuating that all royal scandals are to be laid at the door +of international politics. I merely suggest that, given a king who is to +be made ridiculous in the eyes of his subjects, it is a simple matter for +an interested government to see that he is introduced to a lady who will +produce the desired effect. But no diplomat will admit this, of course. +Not, that is, until after he has “retired.” + +This brings me to the second act of my comedy. + +If I were drawing a map of Europe—a diplomatic map, that is,—as it was in +the years of 1908 to 1910, I should use only two colors, Germany should +be, let us say, black; England red. But the black of Germany should +extend over the surfaces of Austria, Italy and Turkey; while France and +Russia should be crimson. The rest of the continent would be of various +tints, ranging from a discordant combination of red and black, through a +pinkish gray, to an innocuous and neutral white. + +In the race to secure protective alliances against the inevitable +conflict, both Germany and England were diligently attempting to color +these indeterminate territories with their own particular hue. Not least +important among the courted nations were Spain and Portugal. Both were +traditionally English in sympathy; both had shown unmistaken signs, +at least so far as the ruling classes were concerned, of transferring +their friendship to Germany. It was inevitable, therefore, that these +two countries should be the scene of a diplomatic conflict which, if not +apparent to the outsider, was fought with the utmost bitterness by both +sides. + +Somehow, by good fortune rather than any other agency—Spain had managed +to avoid a positive alliance with either nation. Alfonso was inclined to +be pro-German at that time; but an adroit juggling of the factions in his +kingdom had prevented him from using his influence to the advantage of +Germany. + +Portugal was in a different situation. Poorer in resources than her +neighbor, and hampered by the necessity of keeping up a colonial empire +which in size was second only to England’s, she had greater need of +the protection of one of the Powers. Traditionally—and rightly from a +standpoint of self-interest—that Power should have been England. There +were but three obstacles to the continuance of the friendship that had +existed since the Peninsular War—King Manuel, the Queen Mother and the +Church. + +Germany seemed all-powerful in the Peninsula in 1908. Alfonso’s +friendship was secured, and the boy king of Portugal was completely under +the thumb of a pro-German mother and a Church which, as between Germany +and England, disliked Germany the less. England realized the situation +and in approved diplomatic fashion set about regaining her ascendancy. + +But diplomacy failed. At the end of two years Berlin was more strongly +intrenched in Portugal than ever; and England knew that only heroic +measures could save her from a serious diplomatic defeat. + +Then Manuel did a foolish thing. He kept a diary. + +It was a commonplace diary, as you will remember if you read the parts +of it which were published some time after the revolution which +dethroned its author. The outpourings of a very undistinguished young +man—conceited, self-indulgent, petulant—it gained distinction only as the +revelation of an unkingly person’s thoughts on himself in particular and +women in multitudes. But there were portions of it—many of them never +published—which expressed unmistakably Manuel’s anti-English feeling and +his affection for Germany. + +_Somehow England came into possession of the diary._ + +Perhaps it was the diary’s revelation of Manuel’s extreme susceptibility +to feminine charms, which suggested the next step. That I cannot tell. +In any event, not long after the diary became a matter of diplomatic +moment, Manuel paid a visit to England, ostensibly in search of a bride. +His search was unsuccessful; but in London he met and promptly became +infatuated with Mlle. Hedwig Navratil—better known as Gaby Deslys. + +They chose well who selected the lovely Bohemian as the instrument of +Manuel’s downfall. Young, charming, she had all the qualities which would +appeal to Manuel’s nature. Added to that, it had been rumored that not +long before King Alfonso had shown some interest in her—and Manuel was +easily influenced by the example of his elders. + +You remember the rest of the story. Manuel’s frequent visits to Paris, +where Mlle. Gaby was playing; the jewels—bought, it was said, with money +from the public treasury—which he showered upon her; these were the +subjects of countless rumors at the time. Then came reports that the lady +was domiciled in one of the royal palaces. Finally, in September of 1910, +the scandalized and tax-ridden populace of Portugal, learned that Mlle. +Deslys had been “billed” at the Apollo Theatre in Vienna as the “Mistress +of the King of Portugal.” + +On October 5th, this same scandalized and tax-ridden populace joined +forces with the revolutionary party—and Manuel fled to England, where +he attended numerous musical comedies and hoped against hope that the +English Government would live up to that provision of the treaty of 1908 +which pledged England to aid the Portuguese throne in the event of a +revolution. + +But England—remembering the diary—wisely forgot its pledge. And a +Republican government in Portugal looked with suspicion upon the +diplomatic advances of a nation which had been too friendly towards the +exiled king—and became pro-English, as you know. + +There ends my comedy. The lady in the case achieved a sudden +international fame and eventually came to America, where, I believe, +she attracted more interest than commendation. But at best, so far as +we are concerned, she is of importance merely as an illustration of how +diplomacy—or chance, if you prefer—combines politics and the woman for +its own purposes. + +But there is an amusing epilogue to the affair, which was not without its +importance to the Wilhelmstrasse, and in which I had a small part. To +tell it, I must pass over several months of work of one sort or another, +until I come to the following winter—that of 1911. + +I was on a real vacation this time and had selected Nice as an excellent +place in which to spend a few idle but enlivening weeks. The choice was +not a highly original one, but as it turned out, chance seemed to have +had a hand in it after all. Almost the first person I met there was a man +with whom I had been acquainted for several years, and who was destined +to have his share in the events which followed. + +People who have visited Europe many times can hardly have avoided +seeing upon one occasion or another, a famous riding troupe who called +themselves the “Bishops.” They were five in number—Old Bishop, his +daughter and her husband, a man named Merrill, and two others—and their +act, which was variously known as “An Afternoon on the Bois de Boulogne,” +“An Afternoon in the Thiergarten,” etc. (depending upon the city in which +they played), was a feature of many of the famous circuses of seven or +eight years ago. At this time they were helping to pay their expenses +through the winter, by playing in a small circus which was one of the +current attractions of Nice. + +I had bought horses from old Bishop in the past and knew him for a +man of unusual shrewdness, who besides being the father of a charming +and beautiful daughter, was in himself excellent company; and I was +consequently pleased to run across him and his family at a time when all +my friends seemed to be in some other quarter of the earth. We talked of +horses together and it was suggested that I might care to inspect an Arab +mare, a recent acquisition, of which the old man was immensely proud. + +That evening I heard of the arrival in Nice of a young British diplomat, +an undersecretary of one of the embassies, whom, I remembered I had +once met at a hotel in Vienna. I called upon him the following day—but I +did so, not so much to renew our old acquaintance, as because that very +morning I had received a rambling letter from my chief, commenting upon +the imminent arrival of the Englishman and suggesting that I might find +him a pleasant companion during my stay on the Riviera. + +More work, in other words. My chief did not waste time in encouraging +purposeless friendships. As I read the letter, it was a hint that the +Englishman had something which Berlin wanted and I was to get it. + +It was not difficult to recall myself to the Undersecretary. We became +friendly, and proceeded to “do” Nice together; and in the course of +our excursions we became occasional visitors at the villa of Maharajah +Holkar, who, with his secretary (and his seraglio) lived—and still lives, +for all I know—at 56 Promenade des Anglais. + +The Maharajah was at that time an engaging and eccentric old gentleman, +who had been an uncompromising opponent of the English during his youth +in India, and was now practically an exile, spending most of his time in +planning futile conspiracies against the British Government, which he +hated, and making friends with Englishmen toward whom he had no animosity +whatever. He was especially well disposed toward my diplomatic friend, +and the two spent many a riotous evening together over the chess board, +at which the Maharajah was invariably successful. + +Meanwhile I made various plans and cultivated the acquaintance of the +Rajah’s secretary. He was a Bengali, who might well have stepped out of +Kipling, so far as his manner went. In character the resemblance was +not so close. I happened to know that he was paid a comfortable amount +yearly by the British Government, to keep them informed of the Rajah’s +movements; and I also happened to know that the German Government paid +him a more comfortable amount for the privilege of deciding just what the +British Government should learn. (I have often wondered whether he shared +the proceeds with the Maharajah, and whether even he knew for whom he was +really working.) The secretary, I decided, might be of use to me. + +As it happened, it was the secretary who unwittingly suggested the method +by which I finally gained my object. It was he who commented upon the +diplomat’s intense interest in the Maharajah’s seraglio, giving me a +clue to the character of the Englishman, which was of distinct service. +And it was he who suggested one evening that the three of us—for the +Maharajah was ill at the time—should attend a performance of the circus +in which my friends, the Bishops, were playing. + +You foresee the end, no doubt. The diplomat, with his too susceptible +nature, was infatuated by Mlle. Bishop’s beauty and skill. He wished +to meet her, and I, who obligingly confessed that I had had some +transactions with her father, undertook to secure the lady’s permission +to present him to her. + +I did secure it, of course, although not without considerable opposition +on the part of all three of the family; for circus people are very +straight-laced. However, by severely straining my purse and my +imagination, I convinced them that they would be doing both a friendly +and a profitable act, by participating in the little drama that I +had planned. Eventually they consented to aid me in discomfiting the +diplomat, whom I represented as having in his possession some legal +papers that really belonged to me, although I could not prove my claim to +them. + +You will pardon me if I pass over the events of the next few days, and +plunge directly into a scene which occurred one night, about a week +later, the very night in fact on which the Bishops were to close their +engagement with the little circus in which they were playing. It was in +the sitting-room of the diplomat’s suite at the hotel that the scene took +place; dinner _a deux_ was in progress—and the diplomat’s guest was Mlle. +Bishop, who had indiscreetly accepted the Englishman’s invitation. + +Came a knock at the door. Mademoiselle grew pale. + +“My husband,” she exclaimed. + +Mademoiselle was right. It was her husband who entered—very cold, very +businesslike, and carrying a riding crop in his hand. He glanced at the +man and woman in the room. + +“I suspected something of the sort,” he said, in a quiet voice. “You are +indiscreet, Madame. You do not conceal your infidelities with care.” He +took a step toward her, put paused at an exclamation from the Englishman. + +“Do not fear, Monsieur—” elaborate irony was in his voice as he addressed +the diplomat—“I shall not harm you. It is with this—lady—only, that I am +concerned. She has, it appears, an inadequate conception of her wifely +duty. I must, therefore, give her a lesson.” As he spoke he tapped his +boot suggestively with his riding whip. + +“My only regret,” he continued politely, “is that I must detain you as +a witness of a painful scene, and possibly cause a disturbance in your +room.” + +Again he turned toward his wife, who had sat watching him, with a +terrified face. Now as he approached her she burst into tears, and ran to +where the Englishman stood. + +“He is going to beat me,” she sobbed. “Help me, for Heaven’s sake. Stop +him. Give him—give him anything.” + +But the Englishman did not need to be coached. + +“Look here!” he cried suddenly, interposing himself between the husband +and wife. “I’ll give you fifty pounds to get out of here quietly. Good +God, man, you can’t do a thing like this, you know. It’s horrible. And +you have no cause. I give you my word you have no cause.” + +He was a pitiable mixture of shame and apprehension as he spoke. But +Merrill looked at him calmly. He was quite unmoved and still polite when +he replied: + +“The word of a gentleman, I suppose. No, Monsieur, it is useless to +try to bribe me. It is a great mistake, in fact. Almost—” he paused for +a moment, as if he found it difficult to continue—“almost it makes me +angry.” + +He was silent for a space, but when he spoke again it was as if in +response to an idea that had come to him. + +“Yes,” he continued. “It does make me angry. Nevertheless, Monsieur, I +shall accept your suggestion. Madame and I will leave quietly, and in +return you shall give us—O, not money—but something that you value very +much.” + +He turned to his wife. + +“Madame. You will go to Monsieur’s trunk, which is open in the corner, +and remove every article so that I can see it.” + +The Englishman started. For a moment it seemed as if he would attack +Merrill, who was the smaller man, but fear of the noise held him back. +Meantime, the woman was riffling the trunk, holding up each object for +her husband’s inspection. The latter stood at the door, his eyes upon +both of the others. + +“We are not interested in Monsieur’s clothing,” he said calmly. “What +else is there in the trunk? Nothing? The desk then. Only some papers? +That is a pity. Let me have them, however—all of them. And you may give +me the portfolio that lies on the bureau.” + +As he took the packet, the rider turned to the diplomat, who stood as if +paralyzed, in the corner of the room. + +“I do not know what is in these papers, Monsieur, but I judge from +your agitation that they are valuable. I shall take them from you as a +warning—a warning to let married women alone in the future. Also I warn +you not to try to bribe a man whom you have injured. You have made me +very angry to-night by doing so. + +“Above all,” he added, “I warn you not to complain to the police about +this matter. This is not a pretty story to tell about a man in your +position—and I prepared to tell it. Good night, Monsieur.” + +He did not wait to hear the Englishman’s reply. + + * * * * * + +That night, while the two younger members of the Bishop family sped away +on the train—to what place I do not know—and old Bishop expressed great +mystification over their disappearance, I made a little bonfire in my +grate of papers which had once been the property of the diplomat, and +which I knew would be of no interest to my government. There were a few +papers which I did not burn—a memorandum or two, and a bulky typewritten +copy of Manuel’s diary, which I found amusing reading before I took it to +Berlin. + +I called upon my English friend the next day but I did not see him. He +had been taken ill, and had been obliged to leave Nice immediately. No, +it was impossible to say what the ailment was. + +Ah, well, I thought, as I returned to my room, he would get over it. It +was an embarrassing loss, but not a fatal one; and doubtless he could +explain it satisfactorily at home. + +I was sorry for him, I confess. But more than once that day I laughed as +I thought of the scene of last night, as Mlle. Bishop had described it to +me. An old game—but it had worked so easily. + +But then, wasn’t it Solomon who complained about the lack of original +material on this globe? + +The Diary? I took it to Berlin, as I have said, where it was a matter +of considerable interest. Subsequently it was published, after discreet +editing. + +But at that time I was engaged upon a matter of considerably more +importance. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + _Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the United + States for her own purposes. The Japanese-Mexican treaty and + its share in the downfall of Diaz._ + + +It was in Paris that my next adventure occurred. I had gone there +following one of those agreeably indefinite conversations with my tutor +which always preceded some especial undertaking. “Why not take a rest +for a few weeks?” he would say. “You have not seen Paris in some time. +You would enjoy visiting the city again—don’t you think so?” And I would +obligingly agree with him—and in due course would receive whatever +instructions were necessary. + +It may seem that such methods are needlessly cumbersome and a little too +romantic to be real; but in fact there is an excellent reason for them. +Work such as mine is governed too greatly by emergencies to admit of +definite planning beforehand. A contingency is foreseen—faintly, and +as a possibility only—and it is thought advisable to have a man on the +scene. But until that contingency develops into an assured fact, it would +be the sheerest waste of energy to give an agent definite instructions +which might have to be changed at any moment. + +[Illustration: General Villa and Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, von der +Goltz’s commanding officer.] + +[Illustration: General Raul Madero, the brother of the murdered President +of Mexico.] + +So I had become accustomed to receive my instructions in hints and stingy +morsels, understanding perfectly that it was part of my task to discover +for myself the exact details of the situation which confronted my +government. If I were not sufficiently astute to perceive for myself many +things which my superiors would never tell me—well, I was in the wrong +profession, and the sooner I discovered it the better. + +I went to Paris in just that way and put up at the Grand Hotel. So far as +I knew I was on genuine leave of absence from all duties and I proceeded +to amuse myself. Though under no obligations to report to anyone, I did +occasionally drop around to the Quai d’Orsay—where most of the embassies +and consulates are—to chat with men I knew. One day it was suggested +to me at the Germany Embassy that I lunch alone the next day at a +certain table in the Café Americaine. “I would suggest,” said one of the +secretaries, “that you wear the black derby you have on. It is quite +becoming,”—this with an expressionless face. “I would suggest also that +you hang it on the wall behind your table, not checking it. Take note of +the precise hook upon which you hang it. It may be that there will be a +man at the next table who also will be wearing a black derby hat, which +he will hang on the hook next to yours. When you go out be careful to +take down his hat instead of your own.” + +I asked no questions. I knew better. Old and well known as it is, the +“hat trick” is perennially useful. Its very simplicity makes it difficult +of detection. It is still the best means of publicly exchanging documents +between persons who must not be seen to have any connection with each +other. + +I went to the Café Americaine, that cosmopolitan place on the Boulevard +des Italiens near the opera. My man had not yet come, I noticed, and I +took my time about ordering luncheon, drank a “bock” and watched the +crowd. Near by was a party of Roumanians, offensively boisterous, I +thought. An American was lunching with a dancer then prominent at the +Folies. Two Englishmen—obviously officers on leave—chatted at another +table, and in a corner, a group of French merchants heatedly discussed +some business deal. The usual scene ... almost commonplace in its variety. + +Slowly I finished luncheon, and when I turned to get my hat, I saw, as +I expected, that there was another black derby beside it. I took the +stranger’s derby, and when I reached my room in the Grand Hotel I lifted +up the sweatband. There on thin paper were instructions that took my +breath away. For the time being I was to be in charge of the “Independent +Service” of the German Government in Paris—that is, the Strong Arm Squad. + +This so-called “Independent Service” is an interesting organization of +cut-throats and thieves whose connection with diplomatic undertakings +is of a distinctly left-handed sort, and is, incidentally, totally +unsuspected by the members of the organization themselves. Composed of +the riff-raff of Europe—of men and women who will do anything for a +consideration and ask no questions—it is frequently useful when subtler +methods have failed and when by violence only can some particular thing +be accomplished. As an organization the “Independent Service” does not +actually exist: the name is merely a generic one applied for convenience +to the large number of people in all great cities who are available +for such work, and who, if they fail and are arrested or killed, can be +spared without risk or sorrow. + +Naturally in illegal operations the trail must not lead to the embassy; +and for that reason all transactions with members of the “Service” +are carried on through a person who has no known connection with the +Government. To his accomplices the Government agent is merely a man who +has come to them with a profitable suggestion. They do not question his +motives if his cash be good. + +My connection with this delightful organization necessitated a change of +personality. I went round to the Quai d’Orsay and paid a few farewell +calls to my friends there. I was going home, I said; and that afternoon +the Grand Hotel lost one guest and _Le Lapin Agile_ on the hill of +Montmartre gained a new one. Acting under instructions I had become a +social outcast myself. + +The place where I had been told to stay had been a tavern for centuries. +Once it was called the _Cabaret of the Assassins_, then the _Cabaret of +the Traitor_, then _My Country Place_ and now, after fifty years, it was +_The Sprightly Rabbit_. André Gill had painted the sign of the tavern, a +rabbit which hung in the street above the entrance. After I had taken my +room—being careful to haggle long about the price, and finally securing a +reduction of fifty centimes—for one does well to appear poor at _Le Lapin +Agile_—I came down into the cabaret. It was crowded and the air was thick +and warm with tobacco smoke. Disreputable couples were sitting around +little wooden tables, drinking wretched wine from unlabeled bottles; +an occasional shout arose for “tomatoes,” a specialty of Frederic, the +proprietor, which was, in reality, a vile brew of absinthe and raspberry +syrup. There was much shouting and once or twice one of the company burst +into song. + +“Tomatoes,” I told the waiter who came for my order. As he went I slipped +a franc into his hand. “I want to see _The Salmon_. Is he in?” + +He nodded. + +A moment later a man stood before me. I saw a short, rather thick-set +fellow, awkward but wiry, whose face bore somewhere the mark of a +forgotten Irish ancestor. He was red-haired. I did not need his words to +tell me who he was. + +“I am _The Salmon_,” he said. “What do you want?” + +I studied him carefully before replying, appraising him as if he were a +horse I contemplated buying. It was not tactful or altogether safe, as +_The Salmon’s_ expression plainly showed; but I wished to be sure of my +man. After a moment: + +“Sit down, my friend,” I told him. “I have a business proposition to +make. M. Morel sent me to you.” + +He smiled at the name. The fictitious M. Morel had put him in the way of +several excellent “business propositions.” + +“It is a pleasure,” responded _The Salmon_. “What does Monsieur wish?” + +I told him.... + +In order to make you understand the business I was on, it is necessary +that I pause here, abandoning _The Salmon_ for the moment, and recall to +your memory a few facts about the political situation as it existed in +this month of February, 1911. Europe at the time was alull—to outward +seeming. As everybody knows now the forces that later brought about the +War were then merrily at work, as indeed they had been for many years. +But outwardly, save for the ever impending certainty of trouble in the +Balkans, the world of Europe was at peace. + +But in America a storm was brewing. Mexico, which for so many years had +been held at peace under the iron dictatorship of Diaz, was beginning +to develop symptoms of organized discontent. Madero had taken to the +field, and although no one at the time believed in the ultimate success +of the rebellion, it was evident that many changes might take place in +the country, which would seriously affect the interests of thousands +of European investors in Mexican enterprises. Consequently Europe was +interested. + +I do not purpose here to go into the events of those last days of Diaz’s +rule. That story has already been told, many times and from various +angles. I am merely interested in the European aspects of the matter, and +particularly in the attitude of Germany. + +Europe was interested, as I have said. Diaz was growing old and could +certainly not last much longer. Then change must come. Was the Golden +Age of the foreign investor, which had so long continued in Mexico, to +continue still longer? Or would it end with the death of the Dictator? + +To these questions, which were having their due share of attention in +the chancellories as well as in the commercial houses of Europe, came +another, less apparent but more troublesome and more insistent than any +of these. Japan, it was rumored, although very faintly, was seeking +to add to its considerable interest in Mexico, by securing a strip of +territory on the western coast of that country—an attempt which, if +successful, would almost certainly bring about intervention by the United +States. + +My government was especially interested in this movement on the part +of Japan. It knew considerably more about the plan than any save the +principals, for, as I happened to learn later on, it had carefully +encouraged the whole idea—for its own purposes. And it knew that at that +very time, the financial minister of Mexico, Jose Yves Limantour, was +conducting preliminary negotiations in Paris with representatives of +Japan, regarding the terms of a possible treaty. It knew that even then a +protocol of this treaty was being drawn up. + +There was only one thing that my government wanted—a copy of the +protocol. It was that which I had been instructed to get! + +The personality of Limantour is one of the most interesting of our day. +Brilliant, incorruptible, unquestionably the most able Mexican of his +generation, he had for seventeen years been closely associated with the +dictator, and for a considerable portion of that period had been second +only to Diaz in actual power. His presence in Paris at this time was +significant. He had left Mexico on the 11th of July, 1910, ostensibly +because of the poor health of his wife, although it had been reported +that a serious break had taken place between himself and Diaz. He had +spent a certain amount of time in Switzerland, and had later come to +Paris to arrange a loan of more that $100,000,000 with a group of +English, French and German bankers. But that task had been completed +in the early part of December, and in view of the unsettled conditions +in Mexico, there was no good reason for his continuing in Paris, save +one—the negotiations with Japan. + +It was this man against whom I was to fight—this man who had proven +himself more than a match for some of the best brains of both continents. +The prospect was not reassuring. I knew that already several attempts +had been made by our agents to secure the protocol, with the result that +Limantour was sure to be more on his guard than he ordinarily would have +been. Yet I _must_ succeed—and it was plain that I could do so only by +violence. + +Violence it should be, then; and with the assistance of my friend _The +Salmon_—to whom, you may be sure, I did not confide my real object—I +prepared a plan of campaign, which we duly presented to a group of +_The Salmon’s_ friends, who had been selected to assist us. To these +men—Apaches, every one of them—I was presented as a decayed gentleman +who for reasons of his own had found it necessary to join the forces of +_The Salmon_. I was a good fellow, _The Salmon_ assured them, and by way +of proving my friendship I had shared with him my knowledge of a good +“prospect” whom I had discovered. + +“The man,” I said, “always carries lots of money and jewelry.” Of course +I did not tell them his name was Limantour. I said he always played cards +late at the club. “To stick him up,” I said, “will be the simplest thing +in the world, but we must be careful not to hurt him badly—not enough to +set the police hot on our trail.” The Apaches fell in with the proposal +enthusiastically. We would attempt it the following night. + +Now the instructions which came to me under the sweatband of the +black derby in the Café Americaine informed me that every night quite +late Limantour received at the club a copy of the report of the day’s +conference with the Japanese envoy. It was prepared and delivered +to Limantour by his secretary and it was his habit to study it, upon +returning home, and plan out his line of attack for the negotiations of +the following day. I concluded that Limantour therefore would have it +(the report) on his person when he left the club. + +Accordingly I had my Apaches waiting in the shadows. There were five +of us. Limantour started to walk home, as I knew he was frequently in +the habit of doing. We followed and in the first quiet street that he +ventured down, he was blackjacked. In his pockets we found a little money +and some papers, one glance of which assured me were of no value. + +My carefully planned _coup_ had failed. You can imagine how I felt about +such a fiasco and how very quickly I had to think. Here was my first big +chance and I had thoroughly and hopelessly bungled it. Limantour was +already stirring. The blow he had received had purposely been made light. +If he recovered to find himself robbed merely of an insignificant sum of +money and some papers his suspicions would be aroused. I could not hope +for another chance at him. I knew that Limantour was too clever not to +sense something other than ordinary robbery in such an attack upon him. +Furthermore my Apaches had to be bluffed and deceived as thoroughly as +he was. I had promised them a victim who carried loads of money and at +the few coins they had obtained there was much growling. Luckily I had a +flash of sense. I resolved to turn the mishap to my advantage. + +“We hit the wrong night, that’s all,” I muttered. “You take the coins and +get away. I am going to try to fool him.” Like rats they scurried away. +When Limantour came to he found a very solicitous young man concerned +with his welfare. + +“I saw them from down the street,” I told him, “they evidently knocked +you out, but they cleared out when I came. Did they get anything from +you? Here seem to be some letters.” And from the sidewalk I picked up and +restored to him the papers I had taken from his pockets, not two minutes +before. + +Limantour accepted them and I knew that my audacity had triumphed. + +“They are not of very much importance,” said Limantour, “and I had only a +few francs on me.” + +Then suddenly, as if he just realized that he was alive and unharmed, +Jose Limantour began to thank me for my assistance. I thought of those +who had told me he was a cold, hard distant man. Limantour flung +his arms around my neck. I was his savior! I was a very brave young +gentleman. If I had not come up so boldly and promptly to his aid, he +might have been very badly beaten, perhaps even killed. For all he knew +he owed me his life. He must thank me. He must know his preserver. Here +was his card. Might he have mine? I had been wise enough to keep some of +my old cards when I changed the rest of my personality from the Grand +Hotel to Montmartre. I gave him one of them. + +“A German,” he exclaimed, “and a worthy representative of that worthy +race.” Limantour was enchanted. “And you live at the Grand Hotel?” + +That was better still. I was only a sojourner in Paris and one might +venture to offer me hospitality—no? Next day he would send around a +formal invitation to come and dine at his house and meet his family. They +would be delighted to meet this brave and intrepid hero and would also +wish to thank me. + +In a nearby café we had a drink and parted for the night. Next morning of +course I had to appear again at the Grand Hotel. On foot I walked away +from _Le Lapin Agile_, jumping into a taxi when I was out of sight. The +taxi took me to the _Gare du Nord_; there I doubled in my tracks and +presently, as if just having left a train, I took another taxi and was +driven with my luggage to the hotel. I dropped around that afternoon to +the Quai d’Orsay and called upon some of my acquaintances, remarking that +I had come back for a little holiday. That night I had the pleasure of +dining with Limantour. + +Thereafter I had to lead a double life. By day, I was an habitue of +prominent hotels, restaurants, and clubs. I associated with young +diplomats and occasionally took a pretty girl to tea. By night I lived +in _Le Lapin Agile_ and consorted with thugs and their ilk. It cost me +sleep, but I did not begrudge that in view of the stakes. All this time I +was cultivating the acquaintance of Limantour and those around him. + +Shortly afterward I succeeded in taking one of the members of his +household on a rather wild party and when his head was full of champagne +he babbled that Limantour and his family were planning to sail for Cuba +and Mexico on the following Saturday. I was also informed that on Friday, +the day before the sailing, there would be a farewell reception at one +of the embassies. Knowing Limantour’s habits of work as I did by this +time, I was able to lay my plans with as much certainty as prevails in +my profession. After weighing all the possibilities I decided to defer +my attempt on him until this last Friday night. I reasoned that he would +probably receive a draft of the agreement from his secretary at the club +late than night. He would take it home with him and go over it with +microscopic care. The next forenoon—Saturday—he would meet the Japanese +envoy just long enough to finish the matter and then he would hurry to +the steamer. Of course Limantour might have acted in a different way. +That was the chance one has to take. + +Friday night came. In his luxurious limousine, Limantour and his family +went to the farewell reception of the embassy. Comparatively early, he +said his farewell—leaving Madame to go home later—and in his car he +proceeded to the club. I saw him pass through the vestibule after leaving +his chauffeur with instructions to wait. My guess as to Limantour’s +movements had been right, so the plans I had made worked smoothly. + +I, too, had an automobile waiting near his club. Two of my men sauntered +over to Limantour’s car. Under pretence of sociability they invited his +chauffeur to have a drink. They led him into a little café on a side +street near by, the proprietor of which was in with the gang. Limantour’s +chauffeur had one drink and went to sleep. My men stripped him of his +livery, which one of them donned. Presently Limantour had a new chauffeur +sitting at the wheel of his limousine. + +An hour later Limantour was seen hurrying out of the club. As a man will, +he scarcely noticed his chauffeur but cast a brief “home” to the man at +the wheel. His limousine started, following a route through deserted +residential streets, in one of which I had the trap ready. Half blocking +the road was a large automobile, apparently broken down. It was the +automobile in which I had been waiting outside the club. In it were four +of my Apaches. Limantour’s car was called upon to stop. + +“Can you lend me a wrench?” one of my men shouted to Limantour’s false +chauffeur. + +His limousine stopped. That free masonry which existed in the early +days between motorists lent itself nicely to the situation. It was +most natural for the chauffeur of Limantour’s car to get out and help +my stalled motor. Indeed, Limantour himself opened the door of the +limousine and half protruding his body, called out with the kindest +intentions. + +To throw a chloroform-soaked towel over his head was the work of an +instant. In half a minute he was having dreams—which I trust were +pleasant. It was still necessary to keep my own men in the dark, to +give these thugs no inkling that this was a diplomatic job. This time +I was prepared; for I had learned of Limantour’s habits in regard to +carrying money on his person. In my right hand overcoat pocket there were +gold coins and bank notes. With the leader of the gang, I went through +Limantour’s clothes. In the darkness of that street, it was a simple +matter to seem to extract from them a double fist-full of gold pieces and +currency, which I turned over to _The Salmon_. + +“Perhaps he has more bank notes,” I muttered, and I reached for the +inner pocket of his coat. There my fingers closed upon a stiff document +that made them tingle. “I’ll just grab everything and we can go over it +afterwards.” Out of Limantour’s possession into mine came pocket-book, +letters, card-case and that heavy familiar feeling paper. + +Dumping the unconscious Limantour into his limousine we cranked up our +car and were off, leaving behind us at the worst, plain evidence of a +crime common enough in Paris. It was to be corroborated next morning by +the discovery of a drunken chauffeur, for we took pains to go back and +get him once more into his uniform and full of absinthe. But it did not +come to even that much scandal. Limantour, for obvious reasons, did not +report the incident to the police. The next morning it was given out +that Limantour had gone into the country and would not sail for a week. +He had had a sudden recrudescence of an old throat trouble and must rest +and undergo treatment before undertaking the voyage to Mexico—so the +specialist said. This report appeared in Paris newspapers of the day. Of +the protocol nothing was said at that time or later—by Señor Limantour. + +I turned it over to the proper authorities in Berlin, and very soon +departed from Montmartre, leaving behind me a well-contented group of +Apaches, who assured me warmly that I was born for their profession. I +did not argue the question with them. + +There the matter might have ended; but Germany had another card to play. +On February 27, 1911, Limantour left Paris for New York, to confer +with members of the Madero family, in order if possible to effect a +reconciliation and to end the Madero revolt. He landed in New York on +March 7th. On that very day, by an odd coincidence, as one commentator[2] +calls it, the United States mobilized 20,000 troops on the Mexican border! + +It was no coincidence. The Wilhelmstrasse had read the proposed terms of +the treaty with great interest. It had noted the secret clauses which +gave Japan the lease of a coaling station, together with manoeuver +privileges in Magdalena Bay, or at some other port on the Mexican coast +which the Japanese Government might prefer. It had noted, too, that +agreement which, although not expressly stipulating that Japan and Mexico +should form an offensive and defensive alliance, implied that Japan would +see to it that Mexico was protected against aggression. + +And then Germany—acting always for her own interests—forwarded the treaty +to Mexico, where it was placed in the hands of the American Ambassador, +Henry Lane Wilson. + +Mr. Wilson immediately left for Washington with a photograph of portions +of the treaty. A Cabinet meeting was held. That night orders were sent +out for the mobilization of American troops, the assembling of United +States marines in Guantanamo and the patrolling of the west coast of +Mexico by warships of the United States. + +Within a week Mr. Wilson held a conference in New York with Señor +Limantour. Limantour left hurriedly for Mexico City, arriving there March +20th. Conferences were held. Japan denied the existence of the treaty +and Washington recalled its war vessels and demobilized its troops. +But barely seven weeks after Limantour arrived in Mexico, Madero, the +bankrupt, with his handful of troops “captured” Ciudad Juarez. And +shortly after, Diaz, discredited and powerless, resigned from the office +he had held for a generation. + +That is the story of the fall of Diaz so far as Germany was concerned +in it. There were other elements involved, of course—but this is not a +history of Mexico. + +Germany had done the United States a service. It is interesting to +consider the motives for her action. + +Those motives may be explained in two words: South America. + +Germany, let it be understood, wants South America and has wanted it for +many years. Not as a possession—the Wilhelmstrasse is not insane—but as +a customer and an ally. Like many other nations, Germany has seen in the +countries of Latin America an invaluable market for her own goods and an +unequaled producer of raw supplies for her own manufacturers. She has +sought to control that market to the best of her abilities. But she has +also done what no other European nation has dared to do—she has attempted +to form alliances with the South American countries which, in the event +of war between the United States and Germany, would create a diversion in +Germany’s favor, and effectively tie the hands of the United States so +far as any offensive action was concerned. + +There was just one stumbling block to this plan: the Monroe Doctrine. +It was patent to German diplomats that such an alliance could never +be secured unless the South American countries were roused to such a +degree of hostility against the United States that they would welcome an +opportunity to affront the government which had proclaimed that doctrine. +And Germany, casting about for a means of making trouble, had encouraged +the Japanese-Mexican alliance, hoping for intervention in Mexico and the +subsequent arousal of fear and ill-feeling toward the United States on +the part of the South American countries. + +_And Germany had been so anxious for the United States to intervene in +Mexico that she had not only encouraged a treaty which would be inimical +to your interests, but had made certain that knowledge of this treaty +should come into your government’s hands by placing it there herself!_ + +The United States did not intervene and Germany for the moment failed. +But Germany did not give up hope. The intrigue against the United States +through Mexico had only begun. + +It has not ended yet. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + _My letter again. I go to America and become a United States + soldier. Sent to Mexico and sentenced to death there. I join + Villa’s army and gain an undeserved reputation._ + + +I must leave Europe behind me now and go on to the period embraced in +the last five years. A private soldier in your United States Army—the +victim of an attempt at assassination in stormy Mexico—major in the +Mexican army; once again German secret agent and aide of Franz von Papen, +the German Military Attaché in Washington; prisoner under suspicion of +espionage, in a British prison, and finally your Government’s central +witness in the summer of 1916, in a case that was the sensation of its +hour—these are the roles I have been called on to play in that brief +space of time. + +In the month of April, 1912, I abruptly quitted the service of my +government. The reasons which impelled me were very serious. You +remember that my active life began with the discovery of a document of +such personal and political significance that government agents followed +me all over Europe until I drove a bargain with them for it. In the +winter of 1912, by a chain of circumstances I must keep to myself, that +self-same document came again into my possession. I knew enough then, and +was ambitious enough, to determine that this time I would utilize to the +full the power which possession of it gave me. But it could not be used +in Germany. Therefore I disappeared. + +There was an immediate search for me, which was most active in Russia. I +was not in Russia nor in Europe. After running over in mind all the most +unlikely places I could put myself I had found one that seemed ideal. + +While they were scouring Russia for me I was making my way across +the Atlantic Ocean in the capacity of steward in the steerage of the +steamship _Kroonland_ of the Red Star Line. + +[Illustration: The telegram von der Goltz received from Villa, inviting +him to go to Mexico with Dr. Rachbaum, Villa’s physician, and join the +Constitutionalist army.] + +The _Kroonland_ docked in New York City in May, 1912. I left her +as abruptly as I had left a prouder service. Three days later a +sorry-looking vagabond, I had applied for enlistment in the United States +Army and had been accepted. I was sent to the recruiting camp at Fort +Slocum, and under the severe eye of a sergeant began to learn my drill. + +It was toward the middle of May that I—or rather, “Frank +Wachendorf”—enlisted. After a stretch of recruit training at Fort Slocum, +I was assigned to the Nineteenth Infantry, then at Fort Leavenworth, +Kansas. + +I learned my drill—shades of Gross Lichterfelde!—with extreme ease. That +is the only single thing that I was officially asked to do. + +But early in my short and pleasant career as a United States soldier +something happened which gave me special occupation. My small library +was discovered. Among the volumes were Mahan’s “Sea Power” and Gibbon’s +“Decline and Fall”—not just the books one would look for among the +possessions of a country lout hardly able to stammer twenty words in +English. But the mishap turned in my favor. My captain sent for me. + +“Wachendorf,” he said, “you probably have your own reasons for being +where you are. That is none of my business. But you don’t have to stay +there. If you want to go in for a commission you are welcome to my books +and to any aid I can give you.” + +Thereafter life in the Nineteenth was decidedly agreeable. I set myself +sincerely and whole-heartedly at the task of winning a commission in your +army. I believe I might eventually have won it, too. But fate revealed +other plans for me when I had been an American soldier some nine months. + +That winter of 1913, you remember, had been a stormy period in Mexico. +Huerta had made his coup d’etat. Francisco Madero had been deposed and +murdered. President Taft had again mobilized part of the United States +forces on the border, leaving his successor, President Wilson, to deal +with a Southern neighbor in the throes of revolution. + +The Nineteenth Infantry was ordered to Galveston, Texas. And in Galveston +the agents of Berlin suddenly put their fingers on me again. It happened +in the public library. I was reading a book there one day when a man I +knew well came and sat down beside me. We will call him La Vallee—born +and bred a Frenchman, but one of Germany’s most trusted agents. + +“_Wie gehts, von der Goltz?_” was his greeting. + +I told him he had mistaken me for some one else. He laughed. + +“What’s the use of bluffing,” he asked, “when each of us knows the other? +Just read these instructions I’m carrying.” He laid a paper before me. + +La Vallee’s instructions were brief and outwardly not threatening. Find +von der Goltz, they bade him. Try to make him realize how great a wrong +he was guilty of when he deserted his country. But let him understand, +too, that his government appreciates his services and believes he acted +impulsively. If he will prove his loyalty by returning to his duty his +mistake will be blotted out. + +I read carefully and asked La Vallee how I was expected to prove my +loyalty at that particular time. + +“You know what it is like in Mexico now,” he said. “Our government has +heavy interests there. Your services are needed in helping to look out +for them.” + +“But,” I objected, “I am a soldier in the United States Army. You are +asking me to be a deserter.” + +“Germany,” said La Vallee, “has the first claim on every German. If +your duty happens to make you seem a deserter, that is all right. Frank +Wachendorf must manage to bear the disgrace. Speaking of that,” he added, +carelessly enough, but eyeing me severely, “were you not indiscreet +there? Suppose some enemy should find out that you made false statements +when you enlisted? I believe there is a penalty.” + +La Vallee knew that he had me in his power. I had to yield, and was told +to report to the German Consul at Juarez, across the Rio Grande from +El Paso. So in March, 1913, Frank Robert Wachendorf, private, became a +deserter from the United States Army and a reward of $50 was offered for +his arrest. + +Before I crossed the border I had one very important piece of business +to attend to, and I stopped in El Paso long enough to finish it. +Mexico, under the conditions that prevailed, was an ideal trap for me. +As the lesser of two evils I had decided to risk my body there. But I +had no mind to risk also what was to Berlin of far more value than my +body—namely, that document which, a year before, had led to my abrupt +departure from Germany and her service. + +In El Paso, where I was utterly unacquainted, I had to find some friend +in whose stanchness I could put the ultimate trust. Being a Roman +Catholic, I made friends with a priest and led him into gossip about +different members of his flock. He spoke of a harnessmaker and saddler, +one E. Koglmeier, an unmarried man of about fifty, who kept a shop in +South Santa Fe Street. He was, the priest said, the most simple-minded, +simple-hearted and utterly faithful man he knew. + +I lost no time in making Koglmeier’s acquaintance, on the priest’s +introduction, and we soon were on friendly terms. When I crossed the +international bridge I left behind in his safe a sealed package of +papers. He knew only that he was to speak to no one about them and was to +deliver them only to me in person or to a man who bore my written order +for them. + +I reported to the German Consul in Juarez. He asked me to carry on to +Chihuahua certain reports and letters addressed to Kueck, the German +Consul there. From Chihuahua Kueck sent me on to Parral with other +documents. And a German official in Parral gave me another parcel of +papers to carry back to Kueck. + +I had no sooner reached Chihuahua on the return trip than I was put +under arrest by an officer of the Federal (Huertista) forces, then in +control of the city. I asked on whose authority. On that, he said, of +Gen. Salvador Mercado. I was a spy engaged in disseminating anti-Federal +propaganda. I had to laugh at the sheer absurdity of that, and asked what +proofs he had to sustain such charges. + +“The papers you are carrying,” he said then, “will be proof enough, I +think.” + +Chihuahua was under martial law. I had not the slightest inkling as to +what might be in those papers I had so obligingly transported. I had put +my foot into it, as your saying goes, up to my neck, the place where a +noose fits. + +They marched me up to the cuartel and into the presence of Gen. Mercado. +That was June 23, 1913, at 9 o’clock in the evening. + +Gen. Salvador Mercado, then the supreme authority in Chihuahua, with +practical powers of life and death over its people, proved to be a squat, +thick, bull-necked man with a face of an Indian and the bearing of a +bully. + +His first words stirred my temper to the bottom, luckily for me. If I had +confronted the man with any other emotion than raging anger I should not +be alive now. + +“Your Consul will do no good,” he told me sneeringly. “He says you are +not a German. You are a Gringo. You are a bandit and a robber. You have +turned spy against us, too, I am going to make short work of you. But +first you are going to tell me all you know.” + +As the completeness of the frame-up flashed upon me I went wild. There +was a chair beside me. I converted one leg into a club and started for +Mercado. The five other men in the room got the best holds upon me that +they could. By the time they had mastered me Mercado had backed away into +the furthest corner of the room. + +The remainder of our interview was stormy and fruitless. It resulted in +my being taken to Chihuahua penitentiary, the strongest prison in Mexico, +and thrown into a cell. It was two months and a half before I came out +again. + +There is small use going in detail into the major and minor degradations +of life in a Mexican prison. I pass over _cimex lectularius_ and the +warfare which ended with my release. There are more edifying things to +tell. For instance, how I came into possession of half a blanket and a +pair of friends. + +I was confined—incommunicado, a sentry with fixed bayonet standing before +my door—in an upper tier in the officers’ wing. Confinement in the +officers’ wing carried one special privilege in which I, the desperado, +did not share. During the day the cell doors were left open and the +prisoners had the run of the corridor and galleries. My sentry’s bayonet +barred them from me, but could not keep them from talking of the new +prisoner who claimed to be a German and was suffering because he was +suspected of attachment to the Constitutionalist cause. + +On my third or fourth night there I was attracted to my cell door by a +sibilant “_Oiga! Aleman!_” and something soft was thrust between the bars. + +“German,” whispered a voice in Spanish out of the blackness, “it is cold +to-night. We have brought you up a blanket.” + +So began my friendship with Pablo Almendaris and Rafael Castro, two young +Constitutionalist officers. Almendaris, in particular, later became a +chum of mine. He was a long, lank, solemn individual, the very image of +Don Quixote of La Mancha. I remember him with love because he was the man +who gave to me in prison, out of kindness of heart, a full half of his +single blanket. + +This is how it happened. He and Rafael Castro, who were cellmates, had +contrived a way to pick their lock and roam the cell block at night, +stark naked, their brown skins blending perfectly with the dingy walls. +They had already heard the story of my plight. That night Almendaris +had cut his blanket in two, and the pair, with the bit of wool and a +bottle of tequila they had bought that day when the prison market was +open, sneaked up to the gallery and my cell. They gave the liquor to the +sentry, who, being an Indian, promptly drank the whole of it down and +became blissfully unconscious. + +The blanket was the first of many gifts, and many were the chats we had +together, all with a practical purpose. + +“If you ever escape or are released,” Almendaris kept telling me, “go to +Trinidad Rodriguez. He is my colonel. And if you ever get out of Mexico, +go to El Paso and hunt up Labansat. He is there.” + +So they contrived to alleviate the minor evils of my predicament, and I +shall never forget them. The major difficulty was beyond their reach. The +trap had closed completely round me. The charge of spying and Mercado’s +general truculence were only cloaks for a more subtle hostility from +another quarter. The reason for my imprisonment was soon revealed openly. + +I had made various attempts to communicate with Kueck, the German Consul. +Always I met the retort that Kueck himself said I was no German. At the +same time, managing to smuggle an appeal for aid to the American Consul, +I was informed that etiquette forbade his taking any steps in my behalf. +Kueck himself, he said, had told him the German Consulate was doing +all it could to protect me. It did not need a Bismarck to grasp the +implications of those contradictory statements. + +After I had been in prison for about three weeks Kueck came to see me and +made the whole matter thoroughly plain. + +“Von der Goltz,” he opened bluntly, “you are in a bad situation.” + +“Do you think so?” I asked him, significantly. + +“I have every reason to think so,” he said. “My hands are tied. I +positively can take no steps in your behalf, unless”—he looked straight +at me—“unless you restore certain documents you have no right to possess.” + +They had me nicely. The surrender of my letter was the price I must pay +for my life. Acting under instructions, he had made me a definite offer. +I had to take it or leave it. + +I could not give the letter up. It was my guarantee of safety. As long as +Kueck did not know where it was I was valuable to him only while alive. +Furthermore, I had some hopes of being freed by outside aid. Through +Almendaris I had learned that the Constitutionalists were attacking +Chihuahua, with good hope of taking the city. I knew that if they +succeeded, the German—whose suffering for their cause, I was told, was +known throughout their forces—would be well taken care of. So I reached +my decision. + +“Herr Consul,” I said, “I will not give up the papers you refer to. I am +not a child. Those papers are in a safe place. So are instructions as +to their disposal in case of emergency. Let anything happen to me, and +within a fortnight every newspaper in the United States will be printing +the most sensational story within memory.” + +On July 23, 1913, I was tried by court-martial and sentenced to death. +That led to a bitter personal quarrel between Gen. Manuel Chao, the +Constitutionalist commander attacking the city, and Mercado, who defended +it. + +Chao sent in a flag of truce, absolving me from any connection with his +cause and threatening that if I were killed Mercado personally would have +to pay the score when the Constitutionalists took Chihuahua. The Indian +bully retorted that if the Constitutionalists ever captured the city they +would not find their pet alive there. + +Three times in the weeks that followed, the Constitutionalist forces +seemed on the point of capturing Chihuahua. Have you ever walked out +with your own firing squad and spent an endless half hour on a chilly +morning in the company of an officer with drawn sword, five soldiers with +loaded rifles and a sergeant with the revolver destined to give you your +_coup de grace_? Three times that happened to me, at Mercado’s orders. My +profession has seldom permitted me to indulge in personal hatreds, but as +I was marched back from that third bad half hour my mind was filled with +one thought: If ever I got Mercado where he had me then I would let him +know what it felt like. + +Then matters came to a crisis. Reinforcements were brought up from Mexico +City and the Constitutionalist besiegers suffered a crushing defeat. I +could put no more hope in them. + +Kueck came again to see me. + +“Give me an order on Koglmeier for those papers,” he demanded. “There’s +no use saying Koglmeier hasn’t got them, for I know he has.” + +I could see he was not bluffing, and knew the game was up. I signed the +release for the papers. There had been no personal animosity between +Kueck and myself. I had seen too much of life to be angry with a man +simply because he was obeying his orders. + +[Illustration: Constitutionalist soldiers surrounding the first cannon +captured by Villa after he was released from prison in Mexico City.] + +About September 12, 1913, Kueck came to escort me out of prison, and in +his own carriage drove me to the railway station, bound north, out of +Mexico. I had a sheaf of letters, signed by Kueck, which recommended +me, as Baron von der Goltz, to the good offices of German Consular +representatives throughout the United States and requested them to supply +me with funds. + +The last man who spoke to me in Chihuahua was Col. Carlos Orozco, +commander of the Sixth Battalion of Infantry, and Gen. Mercado’s +right-hand man, though his bitter enemy. His farewell was a threat. “You +are lucky to get out of Mexico,” he told me. “If you ever come back and I +see you I will have you shot at once.” My next meeting with Col. Carlos +Orozco occurred on Mexican soil. + +Escorted by Consul Kueck out of Mexico I went up to El Paso, determined +to return to Mexico as soon as possible. But before I did anything else, +I felt a very great desire to square accounts with Gen. Salvador Mercado. + +So I stopped off at El Paso to look for Labansat, the Constitutionalist +about whom my friend Pablo Almendaris told me while I was in prison, I +lost no time in getting into touch with him and other members of the +Constitutionalist junta. + +Another acquaintance made at that time proved very useful to me later. +Dr. L. A. Raschbaum, Francisco Villa’s personal physician, was a fellow +guest at the Ollendorf Hotel. + +We were an earnest but impecunious bunch. Juan T. Burns, now Mexican +Consul General in New York, may still remember a morning when he and I +found ourselves with one nickel between us and the necessity of getting +breakfast for two at an El Paso lunch counter. That lone “jitney” bought +a cup of coffee and two rolls. Each of us took a roll and we drank the +cup of coffee mutually. + +I also renewed my intimacy with Koglmeier, the saddler in South Santa Fe +Street. He told me a man he did not know had come with my written order +for the papers I had left in his safe and he had turned them over. + +Despairing at last of obtaining results at El Paso, I availed myself of +my consular recommendations and went out to Los Angeles, Cal. There I +received help from Geraldine Farrar, whom I had known in Germany, and in +November, 1913, directly after the battle of Tierra Blancha, Chihuahua, I +received a telegram saying: “Dr. Raschbaum’s proposition accepted; come +at once,” and signed “Francisco Villa.” My way lay open before me and I +was free to start. + +I reached El Paso on November 27th and went on to Chihuahua, which had +fallen into the hands of the Constitutionalists. Once there, I looked +up my friend of the half blanket, Pablo Almendaris, and by him was +introduced to Col. Trinidad Rodriguez, commanding a cavalry brigade, who +promptly attached me to his staff, with the rank of captain. + +The Federalists had retreated across the desert northward and settled +themselves in Ojinaga, the so-called Gibraltar of the Rio Grande, a +tremendously strong natural position. + +Toward the middle of December we received orders to proceed to the +attack of Ojinaga. Our brigade and the troops of Gens. Panfilo Natira +and Toribio Ortega were included in the expedition, some 7,000 men. The +railway carried us seventy miles. The rest of the journey had to be +made on horseback. During four days of marching in the desert I made +acquaintance with Mexican mounted infantry, the most effective arm for +such conditions and country the world has seen. + +Arriving before the outer defenses of Ojinaga, we began our siege of the +city. Soon after I got my first sight of Pancho Villa. + +Of a sudden one evening, Trinidad Rodriguez told me that “Pancho” had +just arrived and we must ride over for a conference with him. + +We found Villa lying on a saddle blanket in an irrigation ditch in the +company of Raul Madero, brother of the murdered President, a handful of +officers who had come up with them, and our own commanders, Natira and +Ortega. + +Madero, to my mind one of the ablest Mexicans alive, was clad in the +dingiest of old gray sweaters. Villa, unkempt, unshaven and unshorn, was +begrimed and weary from his ride across the desert. But he seemed full of +bottled-up energy, and when Gen. Rodriguez and I came up he was giving +Gen. Ortega a talking to because so little had been accomplished in +regard to taking Ojinaga. + +While we talked I rolled me a cigarette, and all at once he broke +off abruptly. “Give me some of that, too,” he demanded. I handed him +“the makings” and he attempted a cigarette. He was so clumsy with it +that I had to roll it for him. Then for the first and last time in my +acquaintance with him I saw Pancho Villa smoke. Contrary to the stories +that have gone out about him, he is a most abstemious man with regard to +alcohol and tobacco. + +On Christmas night, 1913, happened the adventure which made me, quite by +accident, and without intention, a hero. Also, I underwent the greatest +fright of my life. + +My commander, Rodriguez, had received orders to make an attack that night +straight-forward toward Ojinaga. After it was completely dark we formed +and advanced, finding ourselves very soon among the willows lining the +bank of the Rio Conchas, which we had to cross. + +It was my first taste of genuine warfare, and I cannot begin to tell you +how it affected me, how ghastly it was among the willows in the vague +darkness through which the column was threading its way with the utmost +possible quietness. The beat of hoofs was muffled in the soggy ground, +and the only sound to break the utter stillness of the night was the +occasional clank of a spur or thin neigh of a horse. + +Then all at once, to the front and in the distance, came a boom—the +single growling of a field-gun. Ping! Ping! Ping! broke out a volley of +rifle shots, and then with its r-r-r-r-r! a Hotchkiss machine gun got +to work. A staccato bam! bam! bam! as a Colt’s machine gun joined the +chorus. Somewhere troops were going into serious action. That was no +skirmishing. + +We finally crossed the river and dismounted. Part of the brigade had gone +astray. Rodriguez cursed impatiently and incessantly under his breath +until it joined us. He was a born cavalry leader, mad for action. Any +sort of waiting lacerated his nerves. + +In line, with rifles trailing, we moved across the unknown terrain of +low, rolling hills. On our front there had been no firing. Then all at +once, directly before us and not far ahead, sounded a startled “_Qui +vive?_” and an instant’s silence while the surprised outpost of the enemy +waited for an answer. “_Alerta! Alerta!_” sounded his shrill alarm. + +Hell broke open around us then. Rifles, machine guns and cannon opened +fire all at once. Bullets whined above our heads and bursting shrapnel +fell around us. We had just come to an irrigation ditch, six feet wide, +with a high wire fence on the further bank of it. + +“Stay here till they’re all across and look for skulkers,” Trinidad +Rodriguez gave himself time to order me, then leaped across the ditch and +began to run toward the fence. “Come on here, boys!” he shouted. + +The men were quickly across. I followed, or tried to, and just as my +front foot touched the further bank the clay crumbled. Down I went into +the ditch. + +When I recovered myself in that four feet of mud and water and poked my +head up over the bank the fence had been demolished. Beyond it countless +rifles spat tongues of fire toward me. But not a living soul was near. +The night had swallowed up every last one of our men. + +Fright had not come yet. I was bewildered. I still had my rifle and began +to use it. After a few discharges there came a violent wrench and the +barrel parted company with the rest of the weapon. It had been shot to +pieces in my hands. I threw the stock away and got out my revolver—a Colt +.44 single-action, of the frontier model. + +Boom! There was a roar like a field-gun’s and a flash that lit up the +night all round me. The wet weapon was outdoing itself in pyrotechnics, +and I was unnecessarily attracting attention to myself. So, half +swimming, half wading, I moved down the ditch in the direction of the +high hill which, looming vaguely, seemed half familiar to me. + +I was lost, you understand. I had come at night into unknown terrain. +I welcomed that hill, which seemed to give me back my bearings. I +reached the base of it, got out of my ditch and began to climb, with some +caution, luckily for me. For just as I stole over the crest a roar and a +flash obliterated the night. Two enemy field-pieces had been discharged +together, almost into my face. + +Deeming it more than likely that the flash had shown the gunners one +startled Teutonic face, I rolled down that hill and was once more in my +ditch. But panic had full possession of me. I climbed out on the far side +and ran among the scattered trees there until I realized that no racer +can hope to outrun a bullet. Then I stopped. + +Phut! Phut! Bullets were hissing into the soft irrigated ground all round +me, for by accident I had gotten into a very dangerous zone of dropping +cross-fire, while overhead shrapnel was searching out blindly for our +horses. + +By good luck I knew the trumpet calls. Whenever the signal to fire +sounded I took what cover I could, going on again in what I decided was +the direction of the Rio Conchas as soon as the bugles called “cease +firing.” + +After a while I found a small gray horse standing dejectedly by a tree. +I mounted him and eventually got among the willows on the river bank. +There the horse collapsed under me without a warning quiver or groan, and +when I had wriggled myself loose and groped him over I discovered the +poor brute must have been shot as full of holes as a flute before I ever +found him. + +But I had small sympathy to spend on fallen horses just then. Cleaning my +gory hands as best I could on breeches and tunic, I stumbled on through +the bushes. After a long time I came, by accident, to the place where the +brigade had dismounted to go into action. The mounts were mostly gone, +but a few still stood there, with perhaps a score of men and one officer, +Lieut. Col. Patricio, who was vastly surprised at my sudden appearance +from the direction of the front. + +Our brigade had been withdrawn within twenty minutes of the beginning +of the action—as soon as it was quite certain the surprise had failed. +Patricio was waiting there because his brother had been killed and he +wanted, if possible, to take back his body. + +“But,” cried the colonel, suddenly warming into emotion, “you—where have +you been? You, valiant German, refused to come back with the others! All +night, all by yourself, you have been fighting single-handed. Let me +embrace you!” + +He flung his arms about me, to receive a fresh surprise. “You are all +sticky with something,” he cried. “What is it?” + +“Blood,” I told him simply and truthfully. My reputation was made. + +Bravado stirs a Mexican as nothing else can. Counterfeit bravado is just +as effective as any so long as the substitution is not suspected. Young +Capt. von der Goltz, in his first real engagement, had got stupidly lost +and very badly frightened. But of Capt. von der Goltz Col. Patricio and +his troopers sang the praises for days thereafter to every officer and +every peon soldier they met. He had fought on alone for hours after every +comrade left him. He had bathed himself in the blood of his enemies, up +to his hips and up to his shoulders. You could see it on his clothes. + +By the time Ojinaga fell “_El Diable Aleman_”—the German Devil—had become +a tradition of the Constitutionalist Army. + +Ojinaga fell at New Year’s, 1914, the Federalists retreating across the +Rio Grande into the United States. We pursued them. And on the bank of +the river I had a little adventure. + +You remember that when I left Chihuahua, a released prisoner, the last +person who spoke to me was Col. Carlos Orozco, commanding the Sixth +Infantry Battalion, and his farewell was a threat. + +That Sixth Battalion had been engaged in the defense of Ojinaga and +had retreated with its fellow organizations. When I came up to the Rio +Grande a small body of fugitives was in midstream. My handful of troopers +rode in, surrounded them and brought them back to Mexico. Their heroic +commander, who had offered no show of resistance, proved to be Orozco, +with the colors of his outfit wrapped round his body, under his blouse! + +The provocation was too much for me. “Don Carlos,” I asked him, “is it +possible you have forgotten me? When we parted last time you promised +to shoot me if ever we met again. I am naturally all on fire to learn +whether you are thinking of keeping your promise now?” + +Prominent prisoners were getting short shrift in those days, and Orozco +preserved a sullen silence. But I let him ford the river to safety. He +eventually got back to Mexico City and Huerta, by way of San Antonio, +Galveston and Vera Cruz. The story of his exploit at Ojinaga, the sole +Federal officer to come out of it alive, unwounded, and bringing his +colors with him, furnished columns of copy to _El Imparcial_ and the +other papers. Friends and admirers of his who heard the lion roar at that +time may find some interest in this less romantic record of his adventure. + +I had another account to settle with my old acquaintance, Consul Kueck +of Chihuahua. During the last battle before Ojinaga an officer struck up +a rifle which he saw a peon aiming at my back. The ball whistled over my +head. The soldier later saw fit to confess the reason for his act. He +said that a big, fat German—Kueck’s secretary, he thought—had come to him +just before we left Chihuahua on our expedition and had given him 500 +pesos to attempt my life. + +Returning to Chihuahua very soon after New Year’s, I made it my business +to call on Consul Kueck. He had cleared out across the border to El Paso, +just before we got in. + +Failing the principal, I took the liberty of arresting Kueck’s secretary +inside the sacred precincts of the Foreign Club. After my adjutant and he +and I had three or four hours’ private talk and he understood how likely +he was to occupy the cell in Chihuahua penitentiary which had once been +mine, he helped me obtain copies of certain documents in the consular +archives, particularly the letter Kueck had written the American Consul +affirming himself to be fully responsible for my safety, at the very time +when he was setting Mercado on and telling me that he could and would do +nothing for me. Once I got hold of that, I felt fairly certain that Kueck +would be moderate in his dealings with me thereafter. + +Only Gen. Salvador Mercado stood wholly on the debit side of my account +book. I had heard that he had been captured on United States soil, along +with numerous other fugitive Federal officers, and had been put for +safekeeping into the detention camp at El Paso. + +It chanced that Villa and Raul Madero went up to the border for a few +days of the winter race-meet at Juarez, just across the river from El +Paso. Don Raul was kind enough to invite me too, and I went along in +fettle, with a new uniform. Our army was in funds and I had all the money +I wanted. + +From Juarez it was merely a matter of crossing the international bridge +to be in El Paso. I went over. I wanted to see Koglmeier, the saddler in +South Santa Fe Street, and I wanted to visit the detention camp. + +I chose to see the camp first, and had the forethought to fill one of +the pockets of my overcoat with Mexican gold pieces, very welcome to my +whilom enemies. Poor fellows, they were, most of them, in the tattered +clothing they had worn when captured. Their faces were wan and meagre and +they were glad enough to accept, along with my greeting, the bits of gold +I contrived to slip into their hands. + +In the center of the camp we came upon a tent more imposing than its +mates, though by no means palatial. + +“This,” said my cicerone, “is the quarters of Gen. Mercado, the ranking +officer here. Do you wish to pay him your respects?” + +As I have said, Salvador Mercado is squat and thick in build, with a bull +neck. Some day, I fear, he is going to die of apoplexy, if he does not +fall, more gloriously, in action. He shows certain apoplectic symptoms. +For instance, as we stepped inside his tent and he saw who one of his +visitors was, his neck swelled till it threatened to burst his collar. + +“My General,” I assured him warmly, “it is indeed a pleasure and an honor +to see you again. I trust the climate up here agrees with you?” I did not +offer him a gold piece when he said good-bye. + +[Illustration: Photograph of a clipping from the El Paso Herald of +December 22, 1913. No motive has ever been discovered for the crime, +other than the theory advanced by Captain von der Goltz.] + +From the detention camp I went to Koglmeier’s shop in South Santa Fe +Street. Both front and rear doors were standing open, and through the +back of one I could see Koglmeier’s horse, a beast I had often ridden, +switching its tail in the yard, which was its stable. I went into the +store. “Koglmeier!” I called. “Oh, Koglmeier!” + +From the side of the shop stepped out a man on whom I had never set eyes +before. + +“Koglmeier ain’t here.” + +“But he must be here,” I insisted. “I can see his horse out there in the +yard.” + +“Yes,” said the man, “the horse is here, but Koglmeier ain’t. Nor he +won’t be. It just happens that Koglmeier’s dead.” + +“When did he die?” + +“The 20th of last December,” said the man. “But he didn’t die. He got +murdered.” + +On the night of that 20th of December, Koglmeier, the quietest, most +inoffensive man in El Paso, had been murdered in his shop. It looked, +said my informant, “like his head had been beat in with a hatchet, +or something.” Robbery apparently had not been the motive, for his +possessions were untouched. If he had made an outcry it had not attracted +attention, perhaps because a carousel was going full blast in the vacant +lot beside his place of business. The authorities were utterly at sea, +and still are. The United States Department of Justice agents told me +they could find no motive for the murder. I knew the motive. Koglmeier +had kept “my documents” for me; therefore Imperial Germany had willed he +die. + +[Illustration: This “six months’ leave of absence” granted by Gen. +Raul Madero of the Mexican Constitutionalist army to von der Goltz, is +declared by von der Goltz to have saved him from the death of a spy, when +the British captured him in London. With this document von der Goltz was +enabled to convince the London War Office that instead of being a German +spy he was a bona-fide Mexican army officer on leave of absence. At the +right is the letter of recommendation given von der Goltz by Madero at +the same time.] + +Koglmeier was the only German in El Paso who was a friend of mine, and +knew of the existence of those documents which I had been forced to give +up through the agency of Mercado’s firing squads. + +His end subdued the festive spirit in me and I was not sorry when we +started back for the interior of Mexico. + +Torreon was taken by Villa on April 2, 1914, and we settled down there +for a brief period of rest and recuperation. Rest! Torreon stands out in +my memory as the scene of the most hectic activity I have indulged in. +Raul Madero and I have since laughed over the ludicrousness of it. But at +the time it was deadly serious. My reputation was at stake. I managed to +save it barely by the skin of its teeth. + +Chief Trinidad Rodriguez got twenty machine guns down from the United +States and turned them over to me. “Train your gun crews and get the +platoons ready for field service,” he ordered. “You can have three weeks. +Then I shall need them.” + +Without a word I saluted and turned on my heel. I could not very well +tell my general that I had never in my life touched even the tip of one +finger to a machine gun. + +The guns arrived next day, as promised. They had been sent to us bare, +just the barrels and tripods. There were no holsters, no pack saddles +for either guns or ammunition, not one of the accessories which equip +a machine gun company for action. I had to start from the ground, in +literal truth. And I had not a soul to advise me how to begin. + +We loaded the guns onto our wagons, took them over to camp and laid them +side by side in a long row down the center of an empty ware-house in +Torreon. + +That satisfied me for one afternoon. I went over to Gen. Rodriguez’s +quarters. + +“I’ve got the guns,” I reported. + +“Good!” he cried. “I shall want the platoons ready for action in three +weeks. Not a day later.” + +It was up to me to have them ready. So I got busy at once. + +My first move was an abduction. There happened to be in Torreon jail +at that time a first class bank robber named Jefferson, who was being +held for the arrival of extradition papers from Texas. The day after my +guns arrived Jefferson escaped, and though the authorities made diligent +search they failed to find him. He knew more about machine guns than I +did. His profession had made him an excellent mechanic. Furthermore, +he had Yankee ingenuity and American “git up and git.” We soon had all +twenty guns set up in working order. + +Then came the problem of the gun crews. Our Indians, slow, thick-headed, +stubborn and stolid, were no fit material for such highly specialized +work. Machine gun manipulation requires special qualifications in every +man concerned. Three men compose the crew. One squats behind the shield +and pulls the trigger. The second, prone, slides the clips of cartridges +into the breach. The third passes up the supply of ammunition. At any +moment the gun may heat and jam. Also, at any moment any one of the trio +may fall, yet his work must be carried on. I have seen a gunner sit on +the dying body of a comrade and coolly aim and fire, the action being so +hot there was not time to drag the wounded man aside. You cannot take an +Indian wild from the hills and in twenty-one days fit him to do such work +as that by any course of training. + +My only resort was to get my gun crews ready made. + +A brigade not far away from ours possessed machine gun platoons which +were the pride of its heart. I looked at them, and broke first the Tenth +and then the Eight Commandment. + +To a wise old sergeant I gave a hundred pesos. + +“Juan,” I told him, “get the men of those machine gun crews drunk in this +quarter of Torreon. And encourage them to be noisy.” + +Juan obeyed instructions. Once the beer and mezcal took hold, the men I +wanted became boisterous enough to justify our provost guard in running +them all in. The rest was simple. The breach of discipline was condoned +by Gen. Rodriguez only on condition that the culprits were turned over to +him for further discipline. + +So I got my gun crews. I was beginning to have hopes. The best saddler in +the city was making holsters. When I first approached him with an order +he had promptly thrown up his hands. “There is not a scrap of leather +left in Torreon,” he said. + +I instantly thought of chair backs. In Spanish countries furniture +upholstered in old carved Cordovan leather is an heirloom. In time of +war ruthlessness is a useful quality. I soon presented my saddler with +sufficient leather for my purpose and could turn my attention to pack +saddles. Not even the sawbuck frames were procurable in Torreon, but wood +was plenty. And there was a jail filled with idle prisoners. Ten days +after the first sight of my guns I was able to report to Gen. Rodriguez +that the platoons were coming along. + +“But I have no mules for them yet,” I hinted. + +He sent a hundred next day, beauties, fat, strong, in the pink of +condition. But they had come straight down from the mesa. They could be +trusted to kick saddles, guns, tripods, holsters and ammunition cases +into nothing at the least provocation. + +Torreon was celebrating its new Constitutionalism with daily bull +fights. Each afternoon, while the fight was on, the plaza before the +entrance to the ring was crowded with public rigs in waiting, all drawn +by sorry-looking mules, half fed and too worn out to have a single kick +left in them. + +With a squad of troopers I descended on the plaza one day. No cabbie +anywhere is markedly shy or retiring, and these were hill-bred muleteros. +But we got the mules in the end. + +“You are getting the best of the bargain,” I assured them. “I am only +swapping with you. In the corral I have a hundred fine, strong, new mules +worth three times as much as these played-out beasts you are getting rid +of. You can have the nice new ones to-morrow.” + +If Gen. Trinidad ever guessed how thoroughly improvised his favorite +outfit was—the second in command a bank robber on enforced vacation, the +gunners kidnapped, the equipment made by forced labor from commandeered +material, and the mules snatched rudely from between the shafts of +cabs—he made no comment. + +He did not live long to enjoy the fruits of my labors. In mid-June, +during the ten-day attack which resulted in the fall of Zacatecas, he was +mortally wounded. + +I shall always remember that day, not only for the death of my chief, but +for a personal bit of adventure. + +I was temporarily away from my guns with some riflemen in a trench. The +enemy fire was very hot and the men became exceedingly restive. Something +had to be done to steady them, for there was no cover of any sort on the +bullet-swept, shrapnel-searched plain behind us. Retreat was impossible. +There were plenty of horrors in the situation—the blazing sun, the sense +of isolation, the cries and curses of the men who were being struck. And +there was the cactus. + +Unless you have been under fire of high-power rifles in a region where +the common broad-leaved cactus grows you cannot guess its nerve-shaking +possibilities. A jacketed bullet can pierce a score of leaves without +much diminution of its velocity, and as it goes through the thick, juicy +flesh, it lets out a sound like the spitting of some gigantic cat. Ten +Mauser bullets piercing cactus can make you believe a whole battalion is +concentrating its fire on your one small but precious person. + +The men were getting demoralized. If they broke I was done for. If I +stayed in the trench alone the Federals would eventually get me and stand +me up to the nearest wall. If I retreated with them, nothing was gained. +No man can hope to outrun a bullet. + +I stood up, exposing my body from mid-thigh upward to that withering +fire, and took out my cigarette case. The nearest men watched side-wise, +waiting to see me fall. + +By some fortune I was not hit, and after a moment looked down at the man +beside me. + +“Hello, Pablo!” I said, “why aren’t you smoking, too?” I offered my case +to him, but took good care to stretch out my arm quite level. To get at +the contents he had to rise to his feet. + +Habit won. He did not even hesitate, and I held my cigarette, Mexican +fashion, for him to take a light. Once committed in that fashion, he was +too proud to show the white feather, and he and I smoked our cigarettes +out while the bullets flew. It was the longest cigarette, I think, I ever +smoked, but it turned the trick. We held on to that trench till darkness +put an end to the fire. + +After the capture of Zacatecas I went to the staff of Gen. Raul Madero, +with the rank of Major. The invitation had been extended several times +before. Now that Trinidad was dead, there was nothing to hold me back, +and I very gladly joined the official family of the brother of the +murdered President. Since my first association with him, before Ojinaga, +he had impressed me as the ablest man I had seen south of the Rio Grande. + +The closer and constant contact entailed by my becoming a member of his +staff confirmed that feeling. Raul Madero has clarity of intelligence, +an encyclopaedic grasp of Mexican affairs, social, religious, political +and financial, and a winning personality that masks abundant energy and +determination. + +I was associated with him for only six weeks. On June 28th, 1914, you +remember, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated. +All through July the Austrian Government was formulating its demands +on Serbia, which culminated in the ultimatum of July 23. Long before +that I had formed my opinion as to which way the wind was to blow. And +I had a sufficiently conceited notion of my usefulness as a trained and +experienced agent to believe that when the general European disturbance +should break out my days as a soldier of fortune in Mexico would be ended. + +Toward the end of July a stranger brought me credentials proving him a +messenger from Consul Kueck in El Paso. + +“The Consul,” he told me, “wishes to ask you one question, and the answer +is a yes or a no. This is the question: In case your Government wished +your services again, could she expect to receive them?” + +“In case of war—yes,” I answered. + +It was not very long before I received a telegram from Kueck. “Come,” was +all it said. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + _War. I re-enter the German service and am appointed aide to + Captain von Papen. The German conception of neutrality and how + to make use of it. The plot against the Welland Canal._ + + +The meaning of Kueck’s telegram was plain. War had come at last, the war +that we had expected and prepared for during so many years. My country +was at war and I must leave whatever I was doing and return to its +service. + +I went to Raul Madero with the telegram. + +“It has come,” I said. “War. I shall have to go.” + +We had spoken together too often, during the past few weeks, of my duty +in the event of hostilities, for any long discussion to be necessary now. +I asked for and received all that I believed to be necessary—a leave of +absence for six months with the privilege of extension. The next day, +August 3, 1914, I said good-bye to my troops and to my commander and +hastened north to El Paso. + +At the Hotel el Paso del Norte, I met my former enemies, Kueck and his +stout secretary. We had dinner together and he gave me letters containing +instructions to proceed to New York and to place myself at the disposal +of Captain Franz von Papen, the German military attaché at Washington. + +“When will Captain von Papen be in New York?” I asked. + +“I have just received a communication from Papen,” replied Kueck, adding +with a gratified smile, “I am keeping him informed of conditions along +the border. He will be in New York two weeks from to-day.” + +There was no necessity for haste then, and I remained in El Paso for five +days longer, keeping my eyes and ears open and learning, among other +things, more “facts” about Mexico than I could have acquired in Mexico +itself in a life time. “There are lies, damned lies and El Pasograms,” +some one has said. I collected enough of the last-named to cheer me on my +way to Washington and to make me marvel that Rome had ever been called +the father of lies. No wonder newspaper correspondents like to report +Mexican news from El Paso. + +[Illustration: Dr. Kraske’s letter addressed to “Baron von der Goltz,” +arranging for an appointment with Captain von Papen. Translated it reads: + + New York, August 21, 1914. + + DEAR HERR VON DER GOLTZ: + + I am very sorry not to have found you in after another + engagement. I was unable to come round and try to catch you. + + I had arranged a meeting for yesterday morning between you and + a gentleman who is interested in you. + + If you call on me to-morrow morning at whatever time is + convenient to you, I shall probably be able to arrange another + interview. + + I am, etc., + + DR. KRASKE.] + +Washington was technically on vacation at the time, but there was an +unwonted air of excitement about the city—far greater than formerly +existed when Congress was in full session. At the German Embassy I found +only a few clerks; but letters from Newport, to which the Ambassador and +his staff had gone for the summer, informed me that Captain von Papen +would meet me in New York in a fortnight. And then I learned for the +first time that it was impossible for me to reach Germany, but that I was +to be assigned to work in the United States. + +I knew what that meant, of course, and I was not wholly unprepared for +it. Secret agents could be very useful in a neutral country, and I knew +from my acquaintance with German methods in Europe, that plans would +already have been made for conserving German interests in the United +States. What those plans were I did not know; but my only immediate +concern was to remove any possible suspicion from myself by doing +something that on the surface would seem to be absolutely idiotic. + +I became violently and noisily pro-German. On the train I entered into +arguments (as a matter of fact I could not have escaped them if I tried) +in which I stoutly defended the invasion of Belgium and prophesied an +early victory for Germany. And when I arrived in New York I registered +at the Holland House, where my actions would be more conspicuous than +at one of the larger hotels, and proceeded to make myself as noticeable +as possible by spending a great deal more money than I could afford—and +talking. In a day or two the reporters were on my trail and I became +their obliging prey. What I told them I do not now remember in its +entirety, but newspaper clippings of the day assure me that I made many +wild and bombastic statements, promising that Paris would be captured +in a very few weeks—in a word uttering the most flagrant nonsense. The +reporters decided that I was a fool and deftly conveyed that impression +to their readers. And in a very brief time I had the satisfaction of +learning that I was everywhere regarded as a person of considerably more +loquacity than intelligence. + +That was the very reputation I had attempted to get. I wanted to be +known—and widely—as a braggart, a spendthrift, a rattlebrain, for the +very excellent reason that in no other way could I so easily divert +suspicion from myself later on. I was a German, and consequently under +the surveillance of enemy secret agents, with whom—oh, believe me!—the +United States was filled. It was impossible for me to escape some +notice. Since that was the case, the safest course for me to pursue was +to comport myself in such a way that all interested persons would report +(as I afterwards learned they did report) that I was not worth watching, +since no sane government would ever employ me. + +While I was engaged in achieving this enviable reputation, I had managed +to keep in touch with the Imperial German Consulate in New York, and +on August 21 I had received from the Vice-Consul, Dr. Kraske, a note +informing me that “the gentleman who is interested in you”—Captain von +Papen—“will meet you next morning at the Consulate.” That letter was to +figure two years later in the trial of Captain Hans Tauscher. I reproduce +it here. You might note that it is addressed to “Baron von der Goltz,” +although my card did not bear that title, and I had registered at the +Holland House under my Mexican military title of Major. + +Upon the following morning I went to that old building at Number Eleven +Broadway. There in a little room in the offices of the Imperial German +Consulate began a series of meetings that were designed to bear fruit of +the greatest consequences to the United States—that would, had they been +successful, have made American neutrality a lie and would have perhaps +drawn the United States into a serious conflict with England, if not into +actual war. + +I remember von Papen’s enthusiasm as he outlined the general program +to me. “It was merely a question of tying their hands”—that was the +burden of his statements, time and again. We could hope for nothing from +American neutrality; it was a fraud, a deception. Washington could not +see the German viewpoint at all. Everything was done to favor England. +Why, the entire country was supporting the allies—the government, +the press, the people—all of them! Nowhere was there a good word for +Germany. And that in spite of the excellent propaganda that Germany was +conducting. I remember that the failure of German propaganda was an +especially sore spot with him. + +“How about the German-Americans?” I asked him upon one occasion. + +He made a sound that was between a grunt and a cough. + +“I am attending to them,” was his reply. I did not understand what he +meant until much later. + +We talked much of American participation in the war in those days. Papen +was convinced that it would come sooner or later; and certainly upon the +side of the Entente—unless the German-Americans could be brought into +line. They were being attended to, he would repeat, but meantime it was +necessary for us to decide upon some immediate action. Of course there +was Mexico to be considered. It was too bad that Huerta had fallen. What +did I think of Villa? Could he be persuaded to cause a diversion if the +United States abandoned its neutrality? + +I told him that I thought it very unlikely. “He is not very friendly +toward Germans,” I said, “and he appreciates the importance of keeping +on good terms with the United States. No, I don’t think you can reach +him—now. Later on, he may take a different attitude—when we have had a +few more victories.” + +Von Papen nodded. I was probably right, he thought. We must show these +ignorant people how powerful the Germans were. It would have a great +moral effect. But that was for the future. Meantime what did I think of +this letter as a suggestion for possible immediate action? + +“This letter” was from a man named Schumacher, who lived in Oregon, at +Eden Bower Farm. He had written to the Embassy, suggesting that we +secretly fit out motor boats armed with machine guns, and using Buffalo, +Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago as bases, make raids upon Canadian cities +and towns on the Great Lakes. + +There were some good features to the plan—its value as a means of +terrorizing Canadians, for instance—but it was doubtful whether at that +time we could carry it out successfully. Then, too, we could not be sure +whether it was not merely a trap for us. Papen had been making inquiries +about Schumacher and was not entirely satisfied as to his good faith. + +There were a number of other schemes which we considered at this time. +One was to equip reservists of the German Army, then in the United +States, and co-operating with German warships then in the Pacific Ocean +to invade Canada from the State of Washington. This plan was abandoned +because of the impossibility of securing enough artillery for our +purposes. + +Another plan that we considered more carefully, involved an expedition +against Jamaica. This was a much more feasible scheme than any that had +been proposed thus far, and we spent many days over it. Jamaica was none +too well defended, and it seemed fairly probable that with an army of +ragamuffins which I could easily recruit in Mexico and Central America, +we could make a success of it. Arms were easy to secure; in fact, we had +a very well equipped arsenal in New York; and filibustering had become +so common since the outbreak of the Mexican revolution, that it would be +easy to obtain what additional material we needed without disclosing our +purpose. On the whole the idea looked promising, and matters had gone +so far that von Papen secured my appointment as captain, so that in the +event of my being captured on British soil with arms in my hand, I should +be treated as a prisoner of war. + +Then just when we were making final preparations for my departure from +New York, von Papen came to me in great excitement and said he had come +upon a plan that would serve our purposes to perfection. Canada was, +after all, our principal objective; we could strike a telling blow +against it, and at the same time create consternation throughout America +by blowing up the canals which connected the Great Lakes! + +“It is comparatively simple,” said von Papen. “If we blow up the locks of +these canals, the main railway lines of Canada and the principal grain +elevators will be crippled. Immediately we shall destroy one of England’s +chief sources of food supply as well as hamper the transportation of war +materials. Canada will be thrown into a panic and public opinion will +_demand_ that her troops be held for home defense. But best of all, it +will make the Canadians believe that the thousands of German reservists +and the millions of German-Americans in the United States are planning +active military operations against the Dominion.” + +I looked at him in surprise. Where had he got such a plan? Papen +enlightened me with his next words. + +Two men—not Germans but violently anti-English—had come to him with the +suggestion, he said. It was in a very indefinite form as yet, but the +idea was certainly worth careful consideration. He wished me to discuss +the matter with the two men at my hotel. + +It did seem a good plan. As I discussed it the next evening with the two +men, whom von Papen had sent to me, it seemed entirely practicable and +immensely important. Together we went over the maps and diagrams they had +brought with them, which showed the vulnerable points of the different +canals and railways. After a number of conferences with them and with von +Papen, the plot took definite shape as a plan to blow up the Welland +Canal. + +“It can be done,” I told von Papen one day, and together we discussed the +details. Finally von Papen looked up from the notes we had been examining. + +“I think it will do admirably,” he said. “Will you undertake it?” + +I nodded. + +“Good,” said von Papen. “I shall leave the details to you—but keep me +informed of your needs and I shall see that they are taken care of.” + +So began the plot which was literally to carry the war into America. My +first need was for men, and for help in getting these I appealed to von +Papen, who obligingly furnished me with a letter of introduction—made out +in the name of Bridgman H. Taylor—to Mr. Luederitz, the German Consul at +Baltimore. There were several German ships interned at that port, and we +felt that we should have no difficulty in recruiting our force from them. + +Before I went to Baltimore, however, I did engage one man, Charles +Tucker, alias Tuchhaendler, who had already had some dealings with the +two men who originally proposed the scheme. + +Tucker accompanied me to Baltimore, and together we paid a visit to +Consul Luederitz. The consul glanced at the letter I presented to him. + +“Captain von Papen requests me to give you all the assistance you may ask +for, Major von der Goltz,” he said, intimating by the use of my name that +he had previously been informed of the enterprise. “I shall be happy to +do anything in my power. What is it you wish?” + +Men, I told him, were my chief need at the moment. He said that there +should be no difficulty about securing them. There was a German ship in +the harbor at the time, and we could doubtless make use of part of the +crew and an officer, if we desired. He offered me his visiting card, on +the back of which he wrote a note of recommendation to the captain of the +ship. But while we were talking this man entered the office and we made +our preliminary arrangements there. + +The following day, a Sunday, Tucker and I visited the ship and after +dinner selected our men, who were informed of their prospective duties. I +also listened to the news that was being received on board by wireless; +for the captain was still allowed to receive messages, although the +harbor authorities had forbidden him to use his apparatus for sending +purposes. + +I needed nothing more in Baltimore, so far as my present plans were +concerned, but at Consul Luederitz’s suggestion, I decided to furnish +myself with a passport, made out in my _nom de guerre_ of Bridgman +Taylor. Luederitz was of the opinion that it might be useful at some +future time as a means of proving that I was an American citizen, and +accordingly we had one of the clerks make out an application, which was +duly forwarded to Washington; and on August 31st the State Department +furnished the non-existent Mr. Bridgman H. Taylor with a very comforting, +although as it turned out, a decidedly dangerous document. One other +thing I needed at the moment—a pistol, for my own was out of order. This +Mr. Luederitz provided me with, from the effects of an Austrian who had +committed suicide in Baltimore, not long before, and whose property, in +the absence of an Austrian Consulate in the city, had been turned over to +the German Consul. + +The days immediately following my return to New York were filled with +preparations for our coup. I engaged three additional men to act as my +lieutenants, acquainted them with the main objects of our plan and +agreed to pay them daily while in New York, and to add a bonus when our +enterprise should succeed. These men had all been well recommended to me, +and I knew I could trust them thoroughly. One, Fritzen, who was later +captured in Los Angeles, had been a purser on a Russian ship. A second, +Busse, was a commercial agent who had lived for many years in England; +the third bore the Italian name of Covani. + +Meantime I saw von Papen frequently, and had on one occasion received +from him a check for two hundred dollars, which I needed for the sailors +who were coming from Baltimore. That check, which is reproduced in this +book, was to prove a singularly disastrous piece of paper, for in order +to avoid connecting my name with that of von Papen, it was made out to +Bridgman Taylor. I cashed it through a friend, Frederick Stallforth, +whose brother, Alberto Stallforth, had been the German Consul at Parral +when I was there. He, incidentally, was later implicated in the Rintelen +trial and was detained for a time on Ellis Island, from which he was +subsequently released. + +Mr. Stallforth lifted his eyebrows when he saw the name on the check. I +smiled. + +“I am Bridgman Taylor,” I told him. He laughed, but said nothing, merely +getting the check cashed for me at the German Club on Central Park South, +of which he was a member. + +In a few days everything was ready. My men had arrived from Baltimore, +my plans were definitely made—I needed but one thing: the explosives. +These, von Papen told me, I could obtain through Captain Hans Tauscher, +the American agent of the Krupps, which means, in effect, the German +Government. + +It has been asserted many times in the last year that the charges +against Capt. Tauscher were utterly unfounded. It is easy to understand +the motives of this gentleman’s defenders. There are many people still +in this country whose friendship with the amiable captain would wear a +decidedly suspicious look were his complicity in the anti-American plots +of the first two years of the war to be proved. I shall not quarrel +with these people. But reproduced in this book are four documents, the +originals of which are in the possession of the Department of Justice, +which tell their own story to the curious and are a fair indication of +the way I secured the explosives I needed for my expedition. + +These documents show: + +First, that on September 5, 1914, Captain Tauscher, American +representative of the Krupps, ordered from the du Pont de Nemours Powder +Company, 300 pounds of sixty per cent. dynamite to be delivered to +bearer, “Mr. Bridgman Taylor,” and to be charged to Captain Tauscher. + +Second, that on September 11th, the du Pont Company sent Captain Tauscher +a bill for the same amount of dynamite delivered to Bridgman Taylor, +New York City, on September 5th; and on September 16th, they sent him a +second bill for forty-five feet of fuse delivered to Bridgman Taylor on +September 13th—the total of the two bills amounting to $31.13. + +Third, that on December 29, 1914, Tauscher sent a bill to Captain von +Papen for a total amount of $503.24. _The third item, dated September +11th, was for $31.13._ + +Is it difficult to tell of whom I got my explosives or who eventually +paid for them? I got the dynamite at any rate, by calling for it myself +at one of the company’s barges in a motor boat, and taking it away in +suitcases. At 146th Street and the Hudson River we left the boat, and, +carrying the explosives with us, went to the German Club, where I applied +to von Papen for automatic pistols, batteries, detonators, and wire for +exploding the dynamite. Von Papen promised them in two or three days—and +he kept his word.[3] + +[Illustration: Before going to Baltimore, “Mr. Bridgeman Taylor”—Captain +von der Goltz—received this letter from Capt. von Papen. Translated it +reads: + + New York, 27. VIII. 14. + + I request the Consuls in Baltimore and St. Paul to give the + bearer of this letter—Mr. Bridgeman Taylor—all the assistance + he may ask for. + + VON PAPEN, + Captain in the General Staff of the Army + and Military Attaché.] + +Bit by bit, all this material was removed from the German Club—in +suitcases and via taxi-cab. They were exciting little rides we took +those days, and my heart was often in my mouth when our chauffeur turned +corners in approved New York fashion. But luckily there were no accidents +and in a day or so all of our materials were stored away; part of them +in my apartments—not in the Holland House, alas!—but in a cheap section +of Harlem. For von der Goltz, the spendthrift, the braggart, was seen no +longer in the gay places of New York. He had spent all his money, and +now, no longer of interest to the newspapers—or to the secret agents of +the allies—had taken a two dollar and a half room in Harlem where he +could repent his follies—and be as inconspicuous as he pleased. + +So it came about that toward the middle of September we five—Fritzen, +Busse, Tucker, Covani and myself—took train for Buffalo, armed with +dynamite, automatic guns, detonators and other necessary implements, +and proceeded absolutely unmolested, to go to Buffalo. There I engaged +rooms at 198 Delaware Avenue and began to reconnoitre the ground. I made +a trip or two over the Niagara River via aëroplane, with an aviator +who unquestionably thought me mad and charged accordingly; and at the +suggestion of von Papen, I secured money for my expenses from a Buffalo +lawyer, John Ryan. + +It had been decided that von Papen should let us know when the +Canadian troops were about to leave camp so that we might strike at +the psychological moment. A telegram came from him, signed with the +non-committal name of Steffens, telling me that Ryan had money and +instructions. Ryan gave me the money, as I have stated, but insisted that +he had no instructions whatever. + +Then, after a stay of several days in Niagara, during which we did +nothing but exchange futile telegrams with Ryan and “Mr. Steffens”—we +learned that the first contingent of Canadian troops had left the +camp—and my men and I returned to New York, unsuccessful. + +Our failure was greater than appears on the surface, for my men and +I were a blind. Our equipment, our loud talking, our aggressive +pro-Germanism—even our secret preparations, which had not been secret +enough—were intended primarily to distract attention from other and far +more dangerous activities. + +We had been watched by United States Secret Service men from the very +beginning of our enterprise. During our entire stay in Buffalo and +Niagara, we had been under the surveillance of men who were merely +waiting for us to make their suspicions a certainty by some positive +attempt against the peace of the United States. We _knew_ it and wanted +it to be so. + +And while they were waiting for sufficient cause to arrest us, other men, +totally unsuspected, were making their way down through Canada, intent +upon destroying _all_ of the bridges and canal locks in the lake region! + +You can see what the effect would have been had our plan succeeded—Canada +crippled and terrorized—England robbed of the troops which Canada was +even then preparing to send her, but which would have been forced to +remain at home to defend the border. But far more desirable in German +eyes, the United States would have been convicted in the sight of the +world of criminal negligence. For my band of men—the obvious perpetrators +of one crime had been acting suspiciously for weeks. And yet, in spite +of that, we were at liberty. _The United States had made no effort to +apprehend us._ + +Good fortune saved the United States from serious international +complications at that time. While we were waiting for word from von Papen +the Canadian troops had left Valcartier Camp, and were then on their way +to England. Part of our object had been removed, and for the rest—well, +the plan would keep, we thought. + +It was a disappointed von Papen whom I met on my return to New York—a +rather crest-fallen person, far different from the urbane soldier that +Washington knew in those days. We commiserated with each other upon our +failure, and talked of the better luck that we should have next time. I +did not know that there was to be no next time for me. + +For it came about that Abteilung III B., the Intelligence Department of +the General Staff wished some first-hand information about conditions in +the United States and in Mexico; and I, who knew both countries (and who +was the possessor of an American passport bearing an American name) was +selected to go. + +On October 3rd, 1914, Bridgman Taylor waved farewell to New York from +the deck of an Italian steamer, bound for Genoa. The curious might have +been interested to know that in Mr. Taylor’s trunk were letters of +recommendation to various German Consuls in Italy; strangely enough, they +bore the name of Horst von der Goltz within them, and the signature of +each was “von Papen.” + +I had said good-bye to von Papen the night before, at the German Club. He +had asked me to turn over to him all the fire-arms I had, for use again +when needed. + +We talked of the war that night, and of Germany, which I had not seen in +two years. And we spoke of the United States, and of what I was to tell +them “over there.” + +“Say that they need not worry about this country,” he told me. “The +United States may still join us in the splendid fight we are making. But +if they do not it is of small moment. _And always remember that if things +look bad for us, something will happen over here._” + +I left him, speculating upon the “something” that would happen; for then +I did not know of all the plans that were in my captain’s head. I was to +learn more about them later on—and I was to know a bitter disgust at the +things that men may do in the name of patriotism. But of those things I +will speak in their proper place. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + _I go to Germany on a false passport. Italy in the early days + of the war. I meet the Kaiser and talk to him about Mexico and + the United States._ + + +It was peaceful sailing in those early days of the war, and our ship, the +_Duca d’Aosta_, reached Genoa with no mishap. I had but one moment of +trepidation on the voyage, for on the last day the ship was hailed by a +British cruiser. Here, I thought, was where I should put my passport to +the test, but as it happened, our ship was not searched. An officer came +alongside inquiring, among other things, if there were any Germans on +board, but he accepted the captain’s assurance that there were none—to my +great relief. + +Genoa, like all the rest of the world, was in a state of great excitement +in those days. Rumors as to the possible course of the Italian Government +were flying about everywhere, and one could hear in an hour as many +conflicting statements of the Government’s intentions as he might +wish. The country was a battlefield of the propagandists at the moment. +Nearly all of the German consuls, who had been forced to leave Africa at +the declaration of war, had taken up their quarters in Italy, and were +busily disseminating pro-German literature of all sorts. I was told, +too, that the French Ambassador had already spent large sums of money +buying Italian papers, in which to present the Allied cause to the as +yet neutral people of Italy. And when I went into the office of the +Imperial German Consul General, von Nerf, I was amused to see a huge +pile of copies of—of all papers in the world!—the Berlin _Vorwaerts_, +which had been imported for distribution throughout the country. Here +was a pretty comedy! That newspaper, which during its entire existence +had been the bitterest foe of German autocracy in the Empire, had become +a propagandist sheet for its former enemy and was now being used as a +lure for the hesitating sympathies of the Italian people! In German, +French and Italian editions it was spread about the country, carrying the +message of Teutonic righteousness to the uninformed. + +I found von Nerf to be a large man, with whiskers that recalled those +of Tirpitz, although without that gentleman’s temperament or embonpoint. +He assured me that Italy would never enter the war; there were too many +factions in the country which would oppose such a step. + +“Why, consider,” he bade me, “we have the three most important parties +on our side. The Catholics will never consent to a break with Germany; +the business men are all our staunch partisans; and the Labor Party is +too violently opposed to war ever to consider entering it. Besides,” he +continued, “laboring men all over the world know that it is in Germany +that the Labor Party has reached its greatest strength. Why, then, should +they consider taking sides against us?” + +“But do you think that there is any chance of Italy entering the war on +our side?” I asked him. + +Von Nerf shrugged his shoulders. “It is doubtful,” was his reply. “What +could they do in their situation?” + +I had come to von Nerf with von Papen’s letter of introduction, to ask +for assistance in reaching Germany. Accordingly he arranged for my +passage, and soon I was on a train bound for Milan and Kufstein, where I +was to change for the train to Munich. At that time the German consuls +were paying the passage of thousands of Germans who wished to leave Italy +for service in the army. The train on which I traveled was full of these +volunteers, who later disembarked at Kufstein, on the Austro-German +border, to report to the military authorities there. + +At Munich we passed some wounded who were being taken from the front—the +first real glimpse of the war that I had had. There was little evidence +of any war-feeling in the Bavarian capital; restaurants were crowded, and +everyone was light-hearted and confident of victory. I saw few signs of +any hatred there, or elsewhere during my stay in Germany. All that there +was was directed against England; France was universally respected, and I +heard only expressions of regret that she was in the war. + +On the train from Munich to Berlin I had the first good meal I had eaten +in several weeks. It was good to sit down to something besides miles +of spaghetti and indigestible anchovies. And the price was only two +marks—for that was long before the days of the Food Controller and $45 +ham. + +Berlin was filled with Austrian officers, some of them belonging to +motor batteries—the famous ’32’s—which had been built before the war in +the Krupp factories, not for Germany—for that would have occasioned +additional armaments on the part of France—but by Austria, who could +increase her strength without suspicion. The city, always martial in +appearance, had changed less than one would have expected. There, too, +the restaurants were filled; in particular the Piccadilly, which had been +rechristened the Fatherland, and was enjoying an exceptional popularity +in consequence. One was wise to go early if he wished to secure a table +there; and that fortunate person could see the dining-room filled with +happy crowds, eating and drinking, and applauding vociferously when _Die +Wacht am Rhein_ or some other patriotic air was played. + +I had returned to Germany for two purposes; to fight and to bring full +details of conditions in Mexico and the United States to the War Office. +One of my first official visits was paid to the Foreign Office, where I +found every one busy with routine matters and very little concerned about +the success or failure of the German propaganda in Italy—an attitude in +marked contrast to that of the General Staff. There the first question +asked me related to conditions in Italy. This indifference of the Foreign +Office would seem, in the light of after events, to indicate a false +security on the Ministry’s part; but in reality the facts are otherwise. +Germany had never expected Italy to enter the war on the side of the +Central Powers; she did hope that her former ally would remain neutral, +and at that time was doing her utmost to keep her so, both by propaganda +and by assuring her of a supply of coal and other commodities, for which +Italy had formerly depended upon England, and which Germany now hoped +to secure for her from America. But even at the time of my visit the +indications of Italy’s future course were fairly clear—and the Foreign +Office was accepting its failure with as good grace as could be mustered +to the occasion. + +But if the Foreign Office was indifferent to the attitude of Italy, it +was intensely interested in that of Turkey, which had not yet entered +the war. It seemed to me as if Mannesmann and Company, a house whose +interests in the Orient are probably more extensive than those of any +other German company, seemed almost to have taken possession of the +Colonial Office, so many of its employees were in evidence there: and +I had an extended conference with Bergswerkdirektor Steinmann, who had +formerly been in charge of the Asia Minor interests of this company. +Mexico, of course, was the principal topic of our conversation, but many +times he spoke of Turkey and of the small doubt that existed as to her +future course of action. + +[Illustration: Captain Tauscher’s order upon the du Pont de Nemours +Powder Company for explosives to be delivered to “Bridgeman Taylor” and +a bill for “merchandise” charged to Captain von Papen. The third item on +Tauscher’s bill corresponds with the amount of the two bills shown in the +preceding illustrations. The four photographs indicate how von der Goltz +secured ammunition for the Welland Canal Enterprise.] + +Next door to the Foreign Office, every corner of which was a-hum with +busy clerks and officials, stood the house to which I had been taken +from Gross Lichterfelde so many years before—“Samuel Mayer’s Bude.” It +was very quiet and empty to outward appearance; and yet from within that +silent, deserted house, I think it safe to say, the destiny of Europe was +being directed. It was there that the Kaiser spent his days, when he was +in Berlin. And it was there that the Imperial Chancellor had his office +and determined more than any man except the Kaiser, the policies of the +Empire. + +One entered the house, going directly into a large room that was occupied +no longer by the round-faced man of my cadet days, but by Assessor +Horstman, the head of the Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office. +Upstairs was the private office of the Emperor, and, to the rear of that, +the Nachrichten Bureau—a newspaper propaganda and intelligence office, +directed by the Kaiser and under the charge of Legation-Secretary Weber. + +I visited the Turkish Legation, at the suggestion of Herr Steinmann, and +discussed at length and very seriously with the Ambassador the attitude +of Italy and its effect upon Turkey’s possible entry into the war. He +assured me that the only thing necessary to make Turkey take part in the +conflict was a guarantee that Germany was capable of handling the Italian +situation, and that whatever Italy might do would not affect Turkish +interests. + +But it was with the General Staff that my chief business was. At the +outbreak of hostilities this—the “War Office” so-called—had become two +organizations. One, devoted to the actual supervision of the forces in +the field, had its headquarters in Charleville, France, far behind the +battle front; the other branch remained in the dingy old building on the +Koenig’s Platz, in which it had always been quartered. It is here that +the army department of “Intelligence,” officially known as Abteilung III +B., is located, and it was to this department that I had been assigned. + +[Illustration: Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Company for +explosives delivered to “Bridgeman Taylor” and charged to Captain +Tauscher.] + +Von Papen had, of course, communicated to Berlin an account of our +various activities and there was little that I could add to the +information the department possessed about conditions in the United +States. Mexico seemed rather the chief point of interest, and Major +Köhnemann, to whom I spoke, asked innumerable questions about the +attitude of Villa towards both the United States and Germany; what I +thought of his chances of ultimate success, and whether I believed that +he, if he succeeded, would be more friendly to Germany than Carranza +was at the time. After an hour of such discussion, which more closely +resembled a cross-examination, he suddenly rose. + +“Your information is of great interest, Captain von der Goltz,” he said. +“I shall ask you to return here at five o’clock this evening. Wear your +heaviest underclothing. You are going to see the Emperor.” + +I started. Prussian officers do not joke, as a rule, but for the life of +me, I could not see any sane connection between his last two remarks. The +major must have noticed my perplexity, for he smiled as he continued. + +“You are going to travel by Zeppelin,” he explained. “It will be very +cold.” + +That night I drove by motor to a point on the outskirts of the city, +where a Zeppelin was moored. It was one of those which had formerly +been fitted up for passenger service, and was now used when quick +transportation of a small number of men was necessary. There were several +officers of the General Staff whose immediate presence at Coblenz, where +the Emperor had stationed himself, was needed; and since speed was +essential we were to travel this way. + +The miles that lay between Berlin and Coblenz seemed but so many rods to +me, as I sat in the salon of the great airship, resting and talking to my +fellow passengers. One would have thought that we had been traveling but +a few moments when suddenly there loomed below us in the moonlight, the +twin fortresses of Ehrenbreitstein and Coblenz, each built upon a high +plateau. Between them, in the valley, the lights of the city shone dimly; +in the center of the town was the Schloss, where the Emperor awaited us. + +But I did not see the Emperor that night. Instead, I was shown to a room +in the castle—a room lighted by candle—and there my attendant bade me +goodnight. + +At half-past three I was awakened by a knock at the door. “Please dress,” +said a voice. “His Majesty wishes to see you at four o’clock.” + +It was still dark when at four o’clock I entered that room on the ground +floor of the castle where the Emperor of Emperors worked and ate and +slept. In the dim light I saw him, bent over a table on which was piled +correspondence of all kinds. He did not seem to have heard me enter the +room, and as he continued to work, signing paper after paper with great +rapidity, I looked down and noticed that, in my haste to appear before +him on time, I had dressed completely save for one thing. I was in my +stocking feet. + +I coughed to announce my presence. He looked up then, and I saw that he +wore a Litewka, that undress military jacket which is used by soldiers +for stable duty, and which German officers wear sometimes in their homes. +But the face that met mine, startled me almost out of my composure; for +it was more like the countenance of Pancho Villa than that of Wilhelm +Hohenzollern. That face, as a rule so majestic in its expression, was +drawn and lined; his hair was disarranged and showed numerous bald +patches which it ordinarily covered. And his moustaches—for so many years +the target of friend and foe and which were always pointed so arrogantly +upward—drooped down and gave him a dispirited look that I had never seen +him wear before. + +In a word, it was an extremely nervous and not a stolid, Teutonic person +who sat before me in that room. And it was not an assertive, but merely +a very tired human being, who finally addressed me. + +“I am sorry to have been obliged to call you at this hour,” he said, “but +I am very busy and it is important that I should see you.” + +And then instead of ordering me to report to him, instead of commanding +me to tell him those things which I had been sent to tell him, this +autocrat, this so-called man of iron, spoke to me as one man to another, +almost as a friend speaks to a friend. + +I do not remember all that we spoke of in that half hour—the three years +that have passed have brought me too much of experience for me to recall +clearly more than the general tenor of our conversation. It is his manner +that I remember most vividly, and the general impression of the scene. +For as I stood before him then, it suddenly seemed to me that he spoke +and looked as a man will who is confronted by a problem that for the +moment has staggered him—not because of its immensity but because he sees +now that he has always misunderstood it. + +Here, I thought, is a man, accustomed to facing all issues with grand +words and a show of arrogance; and now at a time when oratory is of +no avail, he finds himself still indomitable, perhaps, but a trifle +lost, a trifle baffled, when he contemplates the work before him. For +Wilhelm II had labored for years to prevent, or if that were impossible, +to come victoriously through, the crisis which he knew must some day +develop, and which he himself had at last precipitated. He had striven +constantly to entrench Germany in a position that would command the +world; and had sought to concentrate, so far as may be, the trouble +spots of the world into one or two, to the end that Germany, when the +time came, might extinguish them at a blow. But the time had come, and +he knew that despite his efforts, there were not two but many issues +that must be faced, and each one separately. He had striven with a sort +of perverted altruism, to prepare the world for those things which he +believed to be right and which, therefore, must prevail. And now after +long years of preparation, of diplomatic intrigue with its record of +nations bribed, threatened or cajoled into submission or alliance, he +was faced with a condition which gave the lie to his expectations and +he knew that “failure” must be written across the years. Russia, Japan, +were for the moment lost; Italy was making ready to cast itself loose +from that alliance which had been so insecurely founded upon distrust. +And in America—who could tell? And yet, for all that I read weariness +and bewilderment in his every tone, I could find in him no trace of +hesitation or uncertainty. Instead, I knew that running through every +fibre of the man there was an unquestioning assurance of victory—a +victory that must come! + +While I stood there imagining these things, he spoke of our aims in +Europe and in America and of the things that must be done to bring them +to success. He bade me tell him the various details of our affairs +in Mexico and the United States; and he, like Köhnemann, was chiefly +interested in Mexico. It was in fact, almost suspicious, his interest was +so great; and I could explain it only in one way—that he viewed Mexico as +the ultimate battlefield of Japan and the United States in the next great +struggle—the struggle for the mastery of the Pacific. For just as Belgium +has been the battlefield of Europe, so must Mexico be the battleground of +America in that war which the future seems to be preparing. + +I remember wondering, as he spoke of what might come to pass, at the +tremendous familiarity he displayed with the points of view of the +peoples and governments of both Americas. I had thought myself well +acquainted with conditions in both continents; but here was a man +separated by thousands of miles from the peoples of whom he talked, whose +knowledge was, nevertheless, more correct, as I saw it, than that of +anyone—Dernburg not excepted—whom I had met. + +It was then, I think, that he told me what Germany wished of me, +outlining briefly those things which he thought I could do best. + +“You can serve us,” he said, “in Turkey or in America. In the one you +will have an opportunity to fight as thousands of your countrymen are +fighting. In the other, you will have chosen a task that is not so +pleasant perhaps, and not less dangerous, but which will always be +regarded honorably by your Emperor, because it is work that must be done. +Which do you choose?” + +I hesitated a moment. + +“It shall be as your Majesty wishes,” I said finally. + +He looked at me closely before he spoke again. “It is America, then.” + +And then, as I bowed in acquiescence, he spoke once more—for the last +time so far as my ears are concerned. + +“I must be ready by 7; my train leaves at 7.10. I may never see you +again, but I shall always know that you have done your duty. Good-bye.” + +And so I left him—this man who is a menace to his people, not because +he is vicious or from any criminal intent; not, I believe, because his +personal ambitions are such that his country must bleed to satisfy them; +but merely because his mind is the outcome of a system and an education +so divorced from fact that he could not see the evil of his own position +if it were explained to him. + +For in spite of his remarkable grasp of the facts of Empire, the deeper +human realities have passed him by. For years he has had a private +clipping bureau for his own information; but he does not know that he +has never seen any but the clippings that the Junkers—those who stood +to gain by the success of his present course—have wished him to see. He +does not know that he has been shut out from many chapters of the world’s +real history; or that this insidious censorship has kept from him those +things, which, I am sure, had he known in the days when his intellect was +susceptible to the influence of fact, would have made him a man instead +of an Emperor. + +Here was a man who honestly believed that he was doing what was best +for his people, but so hopelessly warped by his training and so closely +surrounded by satellites that even had the truth borne wings, it could +not have reached him. + +To me it seems that the menace of the Hohenzollerns lies in this: not +that they are worse than other men, not that they mean ill to the world, +but that time and experience have left them unaroused by what others know +as progress. They stand in the pathway of the world to-day, believing +themselves right and regarding themselves as victims of an oppressive +rivalry. They do not know that their viewpoint is as tragically perverted +as that of the fox who, feeling that he must live, steals the farmer’s +hens. But, like the farmer, the world knows only that it is injured; and +just as the farmer realizes that he must rid himself of the fox, so the +world knows, to-day, and says that the Hohenzollerns must go! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + _In England—and how I reached there. I am arrested and + imprisoned for fifteen months. What von Papen’s baggage + contained. I make a sworn statement._ + + +Back in Berlin, I sought out Major Köhnemann, and together we spent many +days in planning my future course of action. It was a war council in +effect, for the object toward which we aimed was nothing less than the +crippling of the United States by a campaign of terrorism and conspiracy. +It was not pleasant work that I was to do, but I knew, as every informed +German did, that it was necessary. Therefore I accepted it. + +What would you have? Germany was in the war to conquer or be conquered. +America, the source of supply for the Allies, stood in the way. Knowing +these things, we set about the task of preventing America from aiding +our enemies, by using whatever means we could. We did not feel either +compunction or hostility. It was war—diplomatic rather than military, +but war none the less. + +I do not intend to go into the details of our plans at the present +moment. Those will have their place in a later chapter. Enough to say +that after a brief visit to both the eastern and western fronts I +left Germany for England—en route to America with a program that in +ruthlessness or efficiency left nothing to be desired. + +But before going to England it was necessary that I take every possible +precaution against exposure there. My passport might be sufficient +identification, but I knew that since the arrest of Carl Lody and +other German spies in England, the British authorities were examining +passports with a great deal more care than they had formerly exercised. +Accordingly, one morning, Mr. Bridgman Taylor presented himself at the +American Embassy for financial aid with which to leave Germany. There was +good reason for this. To ask a consulate or embassy to visé a passport +when that is not necessary, may easily seem suspicious. But the applicant +for aid, receives not only additional identification in the form of +a record of his movements, but also secures an advantage in that his +passport bears an indorsement of his appeal for assistance, in my case +signed with the name of the Ambassador. At The Hague I again applied for +help from the United States Relief Commission. I amused myself on this +occasion by making two drafts; one for fifteen dollars on Mr. John F. +Ryan of Buffalo, N. Y., and one for thirty dollars on “Mr. Papen” of New +York City. + +I was fairly secure, then, I thought. If suspicion did fall upon me, it +would be simple to prove that I had submitted my passport to a number of +American officials, and had consequently satisfied them of my good faith +as well as that the passport had not been issued to some one other than +myself, as in the case of Lody. + +As a final step I took care to divide my personal papers into two groups: +those which were perfectly harmless, such as my Mexican commission and +leave of absence, and those which would tend to establish my identity as +a German agent. These I deposited in two separate safe-deposit vaults in +Rotterdam, taking care to remember in which each group was placed—and +that done, with a feeling of personal security, and even a certain amount +of zest for the adventure, I boarded a channel steamer for England. + +I was absolutely safe, I felt. In my confidence, I went about very +freely, ignoring the fact that England was at the moment in the throes +of a spy-scare, and even so well-recommended a German-American as Mr. +Bridgman Taylor, was not likely to escape scrutiny. + +And yet, I believe that I should not have been caught at all, if I had +not stopped one day in front of the Horse Guards and joined the crowd +that was watching guard mount. Why I did it, it is impossible for me to +say. There was no military advantage to be gained; that is certain. And +I had seen guard mount often enough to find no element of novelty in it. +Whim, I suppose, drew me there; and as luck would have it, it drew into +a particularly congested portion of the crowd. And then chance played +another card, by causing a small boy to step on my foot. I lost my temper +and abused the lad roundly for his carelessness—so roundly in fact that a +man standing in front of me turned around and looked into my face. + +I recognized him at once as an agent of the Russian Government, whom I +had once been instrumental in exposing as a spy in Germany. I saw him +look at me closely for a moment and I could tell by his expression, +although he said no word, that he had recognized me also. Thrusting +a penny into the boy’s hand, I made haste to get out of the crowd as +quickly as I could. + +Here was a pleasant situation, I thought, as I made my way very quietly +to my hotel. I could not doubt that the Russian would report me—but what +then? His word against mine would not convict me of anything, but it +might lead to an inconvenient period of detention. I sat down to consider +the situation. + +After all, I decided, the situation was serious but not absolutely +hopeless. Unquestionably I should be reported to the police; +unquestionably a careful investigation would result in the discovery +that there was no Bridgman H. Taylor at the address in El Paso which I +had given to the Relief Commission at the Hague. For the rest, my accent +would prove only that I was of German blood; not that I was a German +subject. + +So far, so bad. But what then? I had, in the safe deposit vaults at +Rotterdam, papers proving that I was a Mexican officer on leave. It would +be a simple matter to send for these papers, to admit that I was Horst +von der Goltz, and to state that I was in England _en route_ from a visit +to my family in Germany and now bound for Mexico to resume my services. +There remained but one matter to explain: why I was using an American +passport bearing a name that was not mine. + +That should not be a difficult task. Huerta had been overthrown barely +a week before my leave of absence was issued. Carranza’s government had +not yet been recognized, and already my general, Villa, had quarreled +with him, so that it was impossible for me to procure a passport from +the Mexican Government. In my dilemma, I had taken advantage of the +offer of an American exporter, who had been kind enough to lend me his +passport, which he had secured and found he did not need at the time. As +for my name, it was not a particularly good one under which to travel in +England, so I had naturally been obliged to use the one on my passport. + +It was a good story and had somewhat the appearance of truth. The +question was, would it be believed? Even if it were, it had its +disadvantages; for I should certainly be arrested as an enemy alien, and +after a delay fatal to all my plans, I should probably be deported. I +decided to try a bolder scheme. + +In Parliamentary White Paper, Miscellaneous No. 13, (1916), you will find +a statement which explains my next step. “Horst von der Goltz,” it says, +“arrived in England from Holland on the fourth of November, 1914. He +offered information upon projected air raids, the source whence the Emden +derived her information as to British shipping, and how the Leipsic was +obtaining her coal supply. _He offered to go back to Germany to obtain +information and all he asked for in the first instance was his traveling +expenses._” + +What is the meaning of these amazing statements? Simply this. I realized +that even if the story I had concocted were believed it would mean +a considerable delay and ultimate deportation. And as I had no mind +to submit to either of these things if I could avoid them, I decided +to forestall my Russian friend by taking the only possible step—one +commendable for its audacity if for nothing else. Accordingly I walked +straight to Downing Street and into the Foreign Office. I asked to see +Mr. Campbell of the Secret Intelligence Department. This was walking into +the jaws of the lion with a vengeance. + +I told Mr. Campbell that I wished to enter the British Secret Service; +that I was in a position to secure much valuable information. + +“Upon what subject?” asked Mr. Campbell. + +[Illustration: The check which almost cost von der Goltz his life. It was +this “Scrap of Paper” which was found among von Papen’s effects and which +enabled the British authorities to prove von der Goltz’s connection with +the German Government. In the British White Paper, Miscellaneous No. 6 +(1916) is to be found this comment: + + Mr. Bridgeman Taylor: This person came over to England to offer + himself for work under His Majesty’s Government. His real name + is von der Goltz, and he is now in England.] + +Zeppelin raids, I told him. I choose that subject first, because it was +the least harmful I could think of in case my “traitorous” offer ever +reached the ears of Berlin. No one knew better than I how impossible it +was to obtain information about Zeppelins. I reasoned that the officers +in command of Abteilung III B in the General Staff would know that I +was bluffing when I offered to get information upon that subject for +the English. They would know that I was not in a position to have or to +obtain any such knowledge, for in Germany no topic is so closely guarded +as that. Also, I reasoned that it was a topic in which the English were +vastly interested. They were. + +Mr. Campbell was hesitating, so I added two other equally absurd +subjects, the movements of the _Emden_ and the _Leipsic_, about which I +knew—and the service chiefs knew that I knew—absolutely nothing. + +Mr. Campbell was plainly puzzled. My intentions seemed to be good. At any +rate, I had come to him quite openly, and any ulterior motives I might +have had were not apparent. Then, too, I had offered him the key of my +safe deposit box, telling him what it contained. He considered a moment. + +“We shall have to investigate your story,” he said finally. “We shall +send to Holland for the papers you say are contained in the vault there; +and you will be questioned further. In the meantime I shall have to place +you under arrest.” + +I had expected nothing better than this, and went to my jail with a +feeling that was relief rather than anything else. My papers would +establish my identity and then, if all went well, I should go back to +Germany and make my way to America by another route. + +But all did not go well. Somehow, in spite of my commission and leave of +absence—perhaps because my offer seemed too good to be true—the British +authorities decided that it would be better to lose the information I +had offered them and keep me in England. Whatever their suspicions, the +only charge they could bring against me and prove was that I was an +alien enemy who had failed to register. They had no proof whatever of +any connection between me and the German Government. So on the 13th of +November, 1914, they brought me into a London police court to answer +the charge of failing to register. I was delighted to do so. It was far +more comfortable than facing a court martial on trial for my life as +a spy, as the English newspapers had seemed to expect. Accordingly on +the 26th of November I was duly sentenced to six months at hard labor +in Pentonville Prison, with a recommendation for deportation at the +expiration of my sentence. I served five months at Pentonville—where +Roger Casement was hanged—and then my good behavior let me out. Home +Secretary MacKenna signed the order for my deportation. I was free. I was +to slip from under the paw of the lion. + +And then something happened—to this day I don’t know what. Instead of +being deported I was thrust into Brixton Prison, where Kuepferer hanged +himself, strangely enough, just after his troubles seemed over. Kuepferer +had driven a bargain with the English. He was to give them information +in return for his life and freedom; and then, when he had everything +arranged, he committed suicide. In Brixton I was not sentenced on any +charge, I was simply held in solitary confinement, with occasional +diversions in the form of a “third degree.” After my first insincere +offer to give the English information I kept my mouth shut and made no +overtures to them, although I confess that the temptation to tell all +I knew was often very great. The English got nothing out of me and in +September, 1915, I was shifted to another prison. They took me out of +Brixton and placed me into Reading—the locale of Oscar Wilde’s ballad. +Conditions were less disagreeable there. I was allowed to have newspapers +and magazines, and to talk and exercise with my fellow prisoners. + +You may be sure that all this time the English made attempts to solve my +personal identity as well as to learn the reason for my being in England. +They could not shake my story. Time after time I told them: “I am Horst +von der Goltz, an officer of the Mexican army on leave. I used the United +States passport made out to Bridgman Taylor from necessity—to avoid the +suspicion that would be attached to me because of my German descent. + +“Gentlemen, that is all I can tell you.” + +Over and over again I repeated that meagre statement to the men who +questioned me. I would not tell them the truth, and I knew that no lie +would help me. And then came an event which changed my viewpoint and made +me tell—if not the whole story—at least a considerable part of it. + +I had, as I have said, managed to secure newspapers in my new quarters. +It is difficult to say how eagerly I read them after so many months of +complete ignorance, or with what anxiety I studied such war news as came +into my hands. It was America in which I was chiefly interested, for I +knew that after my capture, some other man must have been sent to do the +work which I had planned to do. I know now that it was von Rintelen who +was selected—that infinitely resourceful intriguer who planted his spies +throughout the United States, and for a time seemed well on the way to +succeeding in the most gigantic conspiracy against a peaceful nation +that had ever been undertaken. But at the time I could tell nothing of +this, although I watched unceasingly for reports of strikes, explosions +and German uprisings which would tell me that that work which I had been +commanded to do and from which I was only too glad to be spared, was +being prosecuted. + +So several months passed—months in which I had time for meditation and in +which I began to see more clearly some things which had been hinted at in +Berlin—and of which I shall tell more later on. And then one day I read a +dispatch that caused me to sit very silently for a moment in my cell, and +to wonder—and fear a little. + +Von Papen had been recalled. + +I read the story of how he and Captain Boy-Ed had over-reached and +finally betrayed themselves; of the passport frauds that they had +conducted; of the conspiracies and sedition that they had sought to stir +up. I learned that they had been sent home under a safe-conduct which did +not cover any documents they might carry. It was this last fact which +caused me uneasiness. Had von Papen, always so confident of his success, +attempted to smuggle through some report of his two years of plotting? It +seemed improbable, and yet, knowing his tendency to take chances, I was +troubled by the possibility. For such a report might contain a record of +my connection with him—and I was not protected by a safe-conduct! + +My fears were well-founded, as you know. Von Papen carried with him no +particular reports, but a number of personal papers which were seized +when his ship stopped at Falmouth. + +In my prison I read of the seizure and was doubly alarmed; increasingly +so when the newspapers began publishing reports that they implicated +literally hundreds of Irish- and German-Americans whose services von +Papen had used in his plots. Then as the days passed, and my name was +not mentioned in the disclosures, I became relieved. + +“After all,” I thought, “he knows that I am here in prison and that I +have kept silent. He will have been careful. These others—he has had some +reason for his incautiousness with them. But, he will not betray me, just +as he has betrayed none of his German associates.” + +Then, on the night of January 30th, 1916, the governor of Reading Prison +informed me that I was to go to London the next day. + +“Where to?” I asked. + +“To Scotland Yard,” he said briefly. + +“What for?” + +“I do not know.” + +My heart sank, for I realized at once that something had occurred which +was of vital import to me. I have faced firing squads in Mexico. I have +stood against a wall, waiting for the signal that should bid the soldiers +fire. And I have taken other dangerous chances, without, I believe, +more fear than another man would have known. But never have I felt +more reluctant than that night when I stood outside of Scotland Yard, +waiting—for what? + +I was brought in to the office of the Assistant Commissioner and found +myself in the presence of four men, who regarded me gravely and in +silence. I had never seen them before, but later I learned their names: +Capt. William Hall of the Admiralty Intelligence Department; Mr. Nathan, +the Oriental expert of the Foreign Office; Captain Carter of the War +Office, and Mr. Basil Thompson, Assistant Commissioner of the Police of +London. + +There was something tomb-like about the atmosphere of the room, I +thought, as I faced these men—and then I changed my opinion, for I +saw lying open on the table around which they were seated—a box of +cigarettes. I reached forward to take one, forgetting all politeness (for +I had not smoked in six weeks) when my eye caught sight of a little pink +slip of paper which one of them held in his hand—a slip which, I knew at +once, was the cause of my presence there. + +It was Captain Hall who held the paper toward me. It read: + + WASHINGTON, D. C. + September 1, 1914. + + The Riggs National Bank, + + Pay to the order of Mr. Bridgman Taylor two hundred dollars. + + F. VON PAPEN. + +When I had read it he turned over the check so that I could see the +endorsement. + +They were all watching me. The room was very still. I could hear myself +breathe. Mr. Nathan of the Foreign Office handed me a pen and paper. + +“Sign this name, please—Mr. Bridgman Taylor.” + +I knew it would be folly to attempt to disguise my handwriting. I wrote +out my name. It corresponded exactly with the endorsement on the back of +the check. + +“Do you know that check?” he asked. + +“Yes,” I admitted, racking my wits for a possible explanation of the +affair. + +“Why was it issued?” + +I had an inspiration. + +“Von Papen gave it to me to go to Europe and join the army—but you see I +didn’t——” + +“Ah! Von Papen gave it to you.” + +I was doing quick thinking. My first fright was over, but I realized +that that little check might easily be my death warrant. I knew that von +Papen had many reports and instructions bearing my name. I was afraid to +admit to myself that after all these months of security, I had at last +been discovered. Von Papen’s check proved that I had received money from +a representative of the German Government. There might be other papers +which would prove every thing needed to sentence me to execution. I was +groping around for an idea—and then in a flash I realized the truth. It +angered and embittered me. + +There passed across my memory the year and more of solitary confinement, +during which I had held my tongue. + +I swung around on the Englishmen. + +“Are you the executioners of the German Government?” I asked. “Are you so +fond of von Papen that you want to do him a favor? If you shoot me you +will be obliging him.” + +The four grave faces looked at me. “We are going to prosecute you on this +evidence,” was the only answer. + +“You English pride yourselves,” I said, “on not being taken in. Von +Papen is a very clever man. Are you going to let him use you for his +own purposes? Do you think he was foolish enough not to realize that +those papers would be seized? Do you think”—this part of it was a random +shot, and lucky—“do you think it is an accident that the only papers +he carried, referring to a live, unsentenced man in England refer to +me? Just think! Von Papen has been recalled. The United States can +investigate his actions now without embarrassment. And he, knowing me +to be one of the connecting links in the chain of his activities, and +knowing that I am a prisoner liable to extradition, would ask nothing +better than to be permanently rid of me. And in the papers he carried he +very obligingly furnished you with incriminating evidence against me. You +can choose for yourselves. Do him this favor if you want to. But I think +I’m worth more to you alive than dead. Especially now that I see how very +willing my own government is to have me dead.” + +The four men exchanged glances. I had made the appeal as a forlorn hope. +Would they accept it and the promise it implied? I could not tell from +their next words. + +“We shall discuss that further,” said Captain Carter. “You will return to +Reading.” + +The next few days were full of anxiety for me. I could not tell how +my appeal had been regarded, but I knew that it would be only by good +fortune that I should escape at least a trial for espionage—for that is +what my presence in England would mean. Finally I received a tentative +assurance of immunity if I should tell what I knew of the workings of +German secret agencies. + +In spite of any hesitancy I might formerly have felt at such a course, +I decided to make a confession. Von Papen’s betrayal of me—for that he +had intentionally betrayed me, I was, and am, convinced—was too wanton +to arouse in me any feeling except a desire for my freedom, which for +fifteen months I had been robbed of, merely through the silence which +my own sense of honor imposed upon me. But I must be careful. I had no +desire to injure anyone whom von Papen had not implicated. And I did not +wish to betray any secret which I could safely withhold. + +I speculated upon what other documents von Papen might have carried. +So far as I knew the only one involving me was the check; but of that +I could not be sure, nor did it seem likely. It was more probable that +there were other papers which would be used to test the sincerity of my +story. My aim was to tell only such things as were already known, or were +quite harmless. But how to do that? I needed some inkling as to what I +might tell and on what I must be silent. + +That knowledge was difficult to obtain, but I finally secured it through +a rather adroit questioning of one of the men who interrogated me at the +time. He had shown me much courtesy and no little sympathy; and after +some pains I managed to worm out of him a very indefinite but useful idea +of what matters the von Papen documents covered. + +What I learned was sufficient to enable me to exclude from my story any +facts implicating men who might be harmed by my disclosures. I told of +the Welland Canal plot so far as my part in it was concerned, and I told +of von Papen’s share in that and other activities. And I took care to +incorporate in my confession the promise of immunity that had been made +me tentatively. + +“I have made these statements,” I wrote, “on the distinct understanding +that the statements I have made, or should make in the future, will not +be used against me; that I am not to be prosecuted for participation +in any enterprise directed against the United Kingdom or her Allies I +engaged in at the direction of Captain von Papen or other representatives +of the German Government; and that the promise made to me by Capt. +William Hall, Chief of the Intelligence Department of the Admiralty, +in the presence of Mr. Basil Thompson, former Governor of Tonga, and +Assistant Commissioner of Police, and in the presence of Superintendent +Quinn, political branch of Scotland Yard, that I am not to be extradited +or sent to any country where I am liable to punishment for political +offences, is made on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.” + +It was on February 2nd that I turned in my confession and swore to the +truth of it. Affairs went better with me after that. I was sent to Lewes +Prison, and there I was content for the remainder of my stay in England. +And although I was still a prisoner I felt more free than I had felt +in many years. I was out of it all—free of the necessity to be always +watchful, always secret. And above all, I had cut myself loose from the +intriguing that I had once enjoyed, but which in the last two years I had +grown to hate more than I hated anything else on earth. + +[Illustration: In the safe-deposit vault, the receipt for which is +reproduced herewith, Capt. von der Goltz deposited his Mexican Commission +and other papers which would prove his connection with the Mexican +Constitutionalist army. It will be noted that the receipt bears von der +Goltz’s signature as “B. H. Taylor,” the name under which he returned to +Europe.] + +And there my own adventures end—so far as this book is concerned. I shall +not do more than touch upon my return to the United States on so far +different an errand than I had once planned. My testimony in the Grand +Jury proceedings against Captain Tauscher, von Igel and other of my +onetime fellow conspirators, is a matter of too recent record to deserve +more than passing mention. Tauscher, you will remember, was acquitted +because it was impossible to prove that he was aware of the objects +for which he had supplied explosives. Von Igel, Captain von Papen’s +secretary, was protected by diplomatic immunity. And Fritzen and Covani, +my former lieutenants, had not yet been captured.[4] + +But though my intriguing was ended, Germany’s was not. It may be +interesting to consider these intrigues, in the light of what I had +learned during those two years—and what I have discovered since. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + _The German intrigue against the United States. Von Papen, + Boy-Ed and von Rintelen, and the work they did. How the + German-Americans were used and how they were betrayed._ + + +In the long record of German intrigue in the United States one fact +stands out predominantly. If you consider the tremendous ramifications +of the system that Germany has built, the extent of its organization and +the efficiency with which so gigantic a secret work was carried on, you +will realize that this system was not the work of a short period but +of many years. As a matter of fact, Germany had laid the foundation of +that structure of espionage and conspiracy many years before—even before +the time when the United States first became a Colonial Power and thus +involved herself in the tangle of world politics. + +I am making no rash assertions when I state that ten years ago the course +which German agents should adopt toward the United States in the event +of a great European war, had been determined with a reasonable amount +of exactness by the General Staff, and that it was this plan that was +adapted to the conditions of the moment, and set into operation at the +outbreak of the present conflict. No element of hostility lay behind this +planning. Germany had no grievance against you; and whatever potential +causes of conflict existed between the two nations lay far in the future. + +That plan, so complete in detail, so menacing in its intent, was but +part of a world plan that should assure to Germany when the time was +ripe the submission of all her enemies and the peaceful assistance and +acquiescence in her aims of whatever parts of the world should at that +time remain at peace. Germany looked far ahead on that day when she first +knew that war must come. She realized, if no other nation did, that +however strong in themselves the combatants were, the neutrals who should +command the world’s supplies, would really determine the victory. + +Knowing this, Germany—which does not play the game of diplomacy with +gloves on—laid her plans accordingly. + +The United States offered a peculiarly fruitful field for her endeavors. +By tradition and geography divorced from European rivalries, it was, +nevertheless, from both an industrial and agricultural standpoint, +obviously to become the most important of neutral nations. The United +State alone could feed and equip a continent; and it needed no prophet to +perceive that whichever country could appropriate to itself her resources +would unquestionably win the war, if a speedy military victory were not +forthcoming. + +It was Germany’s aim, therefore, to prepare the way by which she could +secure these supplies, or, failing in that, to keep them from the enemy, +England—if England it should be. In a military way such a plan had +little chance of success. England’s command of the seas was too complete +for Germany to consider that she could establish a successful blockade +against her. It was then, I fancy, that Germany bethought herself of a +greatly potential ally in the millions of citizens of German birth or +parentage with whom the United States was filled. + +One may extract a trifle of cynical amusement from what followed. Those +millions of German-Americans had never been regarded with affection in +Berlin. The vast majority of them were descendants of men who had left +their homes for political reasons; and of those who had been born in +Germany many had emigrated to escape military service, and others had +gone to seek a better opportunity than their native land provided. They +had been called renegades who had given up their true allegiance for +citizenship in a foreign country, and Bernstorff himself, according to +the evidence of U. S. Senator Phelan, had said that he regarded them as +traitors and cowards. + +But Germany voicing her own spleen in private and Germany with an axe to +grind, were two different beings. And no one who observed the honeyed +beginnings of the _Deutschtum_ movement in America would have believed +that these men who in public were so assiduously and graciously flattered +were in private characterized as utter traitors to the Fatherland—and +worse. + +Certainly no one believed it when, in 1900, Prince Henry of Prussia paid +his famous visit to America. No word of criticism of these “traitors” was +spoken by him; and when at banquets glasses were raised and Milwaukee +smiled across the table at Berlin, the sentimental onlooker might have +known a gush of joy at this spectacle of amity and reconciliation. And +the sentimental onlooker would never have suspected that Prince Henry +had traveled three thousand miles for any other purpose than to attend +the launching of the Kaiser’s yacht _Meteor_, which was then building in +an American yard. + +But to the cynical observer, searching the records of the years +immediately following Prince Henry’s visit, a few strange facts would +have become apparent. He would have discovered that German societies, +which had been neither very numerous nor popular before, had in a +comparatively short time acquired a membership and a prominence that +were little short of remarkable. He would have noted the increasing +number of German teachers and professors who appeared on the faculties of +American schools and colleges. He would have remarked upon the growth in +popularity of the German newspapers, many of them edited by Germans who +had never become naturalized. And yet, observing these things, he might +have agreed with the vast majority of Americans, in regarding them as +entirely harmless and of significance merely as a proof of how hard love +of one’s native land dies. + +He would have been mistaken had he so regarded them. The German +Government does not spend money for sentimental purposes; and in the +last ten years that Government has expended literally millions of dollars +for propaganda in the United States. It has consistently encouraged a +sentiment for the Fatherland that should be so strong that it would hold +first place in the heart of every German-American. It has circulated +pamphlets advocating the exclusive use of the German language, not merely +in the homes, but in shops and street cars and all other public places. +It has lent financial support to German organizations in America, and in +a thousand ways has aimed so to win the hearts of the German-Americans +that when the time should come the United States, by sheer force of +numbers, would be delivered, bound hand and foot, into the hands of the +German Government. + +It was this object of undermining the true allegiance of the German +citizens of the United States which transformed an innocent and natural +tendency into a menace that was the more insidious because the very +people involved were, for the most part, entirely ignorant of its +true nature. Germany seized upon an attachment that was purely one of +sentiment and race and sought to make it an instrument of political +power; and she went about her work with so efficient a secrecy that she +very nearly accomplished her purpose. + +By the time the Great War broke out the German propaganda in America had +assumed notable proportions. German newspapers were plentiful and had +acquired a tremendous influence over the minds of German-speaking folk. +Many of the German societies had been consolidated into one national +organization—the German-American National Alliance, with a membership of +two millions, and a president, C. J. Hexamer of Chicago, whose devotion +to the Fatherland has been so great that he has since been decorated +with the Order of the Red Eagle. And the German people of the United +States had, by a long campaign of flattery and cajolery, coupled with a +systematic glorification of German genius and institutions, been won to +attachment to the country of their origin that required only a touch to +translate it into fanaticism. + +Germany had set the stage and rehearsed the chorus. There were needed +only the principals to make the drama complete. These she provided in the +persons of four men: Franz von Papen, Karl Boy-Ed, Heinrich Albert, and +later, Franz von Rintelen. + +They were no ordinary men whom Germany had appointed to the leadership +of this giant underground warfare against a peaceful country. Highly +bred, possessing a wide and intensive knowledge of finance, of military +strategy and of diplomatic finesse, they were admirably equipped to win +the admiration and trust of the people of this country, at the very +moment that they were attacking them. All of them were men skilled in the +art of making friends; and so successfully did they employ this art that +their popularity for a long time contrived to shield them from suspicion. +Each of these men was assigned to the command of some particular branch +of German secret service. And each brought to his task the resources of +the scientist, the soldier and the statesman, coupled with the scruples +of the bandit. + +It is impossible in this brief space to tell the full story of the +activities of these gentlemen and of their many, highly trained +assistants. Violence, as you know, played no small part in their plans. +Sedition, strikes in munitions plants, attacks upon ships carrying +supplies to the Allies, the crippling of transportation facilities, +bomb outrages—these are a few of the main elements in the campaign to +render the United States useless as a source of supply for Germany’s +enemies. But ultimately of far more importance than this was a program +of publicity that should not only present to the German-Americans the +viewpoint of their fatherland (an entirely legitimate propaganda) but +which was aimed to consolidate them into a political unit which should be +used, by peaceful means if possible—such as petitions and the like—and if +that method failed, by _absolute armed resistance_, to force the United +States Government to declare an embargo upon shipments of munitions and +foodstuffs to the Allies, and to compel it to assume a position, if +not of active alliance with Germany (a hope that was never seriously +entertained) at least one which should distinctly favor the German +Government and cause serious dissension between America and England. + +There followed a two-fold campaign; on the one hand active terrorism +against private industry insofar as it was of value to the Allies, +reinforced by the most determined plots against Canada; on the other +an insincere and lying propaganda that presented the United States +Government as a pretender of a neutrality which it did not attempt to +practise—as an institution controlled by men who were unworthy of the +support of any but Anglophiles and hypocrites. + +Left to itself the sympathy of German-Americans would have been directed +toward Germany; stimulated as it was by an unremitting campaign +of publicity, this sympathy became a devotion almost rabid in its +intensity. Race consciousness was aroused, and placed upon the defensive +by the attitude of the larger portion of the American press, the +German-Americans became defiant and aggressive in their apologies for the +Fatherland. Even those whose German origin was so remote that they were +ignorant of the very language of their fathers, subscribed to newspapers +and periodicals whose sole reason for existence was that they presented +the truth—as Germany saw it. If in that presentation the German press +adopted a tone that was seditious—why, there were those in Berlin who +would applaud the more heartily. And in New York Captain von Papen and +his colleagues would read and nod their heads approvingly. + +At the end of the first two months of the war, and of my active service +in America, the campaign of violence was well under way. Already plans +had been made for several enterprises other than the Welland Canal plot, +which I have discussed already. Attacks had been planned against several +vulnerable points in the Canadian Pacific Railway, such as the St. Clair +Tunnel, running under the Detroit River at Point Huron, Mich.; agents +had been planted in the various munitions factories, and spies were +everywhere seeking possible points of vantage at which a blow for Germany +could be struck. A plan had even then been made to blow up the railroad +bridge at Vanceboro. + +But already von Papen and his associates, including myself, knew that +Germany could never succeed in crippling Allied commerce in the United +States and in proceeding effectively against Canada until we could count +upon the implicit co-operation of the German-Americans, even though that +co-operation involved active disloyalty to the country of their adoption. + +There lay the difficulty. That the bulk of the German-Americans were +loyal to their government, I knew at the time. Now, happily, that is a +matter that is beyond doubt. Among them there were, of course, many whose +zeal outran their scruples and others whose scruples were for sale. But +for the most part, although they could be cajoled into a partnership +that was not always prudent, they could not be led beyond this point +into positive defiance of the United States, however mistaken they might +believe its policies. + +The rest of the story I cannot tell at first hand, for I was not directly +concerned in the events that followed. What I know I have pieced together +from my recollection of conversations with von Papen, and from what many +people in Berlin, who thought I was familiar with the affair, told me. +Who fathered the idea, I do not know. Some one conceived a scheme so +treacherous and contemptible that every other act of this war seems white +beside it. _It was planned so to discredit the German-Americans that the +hostility of their fellow-citizens would force them back into the arms +of the German Government._ These millions of American citizens of German +descent were to be given the appearance of disloyalty, in order that they +might become objects of suspicion to their fellows, and through their +resentment at this attitude the cleavage between Germans and non-Germans +in this country would be increased and perhaps culminate in armed +conflict. + +On the face of it this looks like the absurd and impossible dream of +an insane person, rather than a diplomatic program. And yet, if it be +examined more closely, the plan will be seen to have a psychological +basis that, however far-fetched, is essentially sound. Given a people +already bewildered by the almost universal condemnation of a country +which they have sincerely revered; add to that serious difference in +sympathies an attitude of distrust of all German-Americans by the +other inhabitants of this country; and you have sown the seed of a +race-antagonism that if properly nurtured may easily grow into a violent +hatred. In a word, Germany had decided that if the German-Americans could +not be coaxed back into the fold they might be beaten back. She set +about her part of the task with an industry that would have commanded +admiration had it been better employed. + +Glance back over the history of the past three years and consider how, +almost over night, the “hyphen” situation developed. America, shaken by a +war which had been declared to be impossible, become suddenly conscious +of the presence within her borders of a portion of her population—a +nation in numbers—largely unassimilated, retaining its own language, +and possessing characteristics which suddenly became conspicuously +distasteful. Inevitably, as I say, the cleavage in sympathies produced +distrust. But it was not until stories of plots in which German-Americans +were implicated became current that this distrust developed into an acute +suspicion. Germanophobia was rampant in those days, and to hysterical +persons it was unthinkable that any German could be exempt from the +suspicion of treason. + +It was upon this foundation that the German agents erected their +structure of lies and defamation. Not content with the efforts which +the jingo press and jingo individuals were unconsciously making in +their behalf, they deliberately set on foot rumors which were intended +to increase the distrust of German-Americans. I happen to know that +during the first two years of the war, many of the stories about German +attempts upon Canada, about German-American complicity in various plots, +_emanated from the offices of Captain von Papen and his associates_. I +know also that many plots in which German-Americans were concerned had +been deliberately encouraged by von Papen and afterward as deliberately +betrayed! Time after time, enterprises with no chance of success were set +on foot with the sole purpose of having them fail—for thus Germany could +furnish to the world evidence that America was honey-combed with sedition +and treachery—evidence which Americans themselves would be the first to +accept. + +It was in reality a gigantic game of bluff. Germany wished to give +to the world convincing proof that all peoples of German descent were +solidly supporting her. It was for this reason that reports of impossible +German activities were set afloat; that rumors of Germans massing in +the Maine woods, of aëroplane flights over Canada, and of all sorts +of enterprises which had no basis in fact, were disseminated. And +since many anti-German papers had been indiscreet enough to attack the +German-Americans as disloyal, the German agents used and fomented these +attacks for their own purposes. + +Who could gain by such a campaign of slander and the feeling it would +produce? Certainly not the Administration, which had great need of a +united country behind it. Certainly not the American press, which was +certain to lose circulation and advertising; nor American business, which +would suffer from the loss of thousands of customers of German descent, +who would turn to the German merchant for their needs. Only two classes +could profit: the German press, which was liberally subsidized by the +German Government, and the German Government itself. + +It was to the interests of the administration at Washington to keep the +country united by keeping the Germans disunited. The reverse condition +would tend to indicate that Americanism was a failure, since the country +was divided at a critical time; it would seriously hamper the Government +in its dealings with all the warring nations; and it would be of benefit +only to the German societies and German press, and through them to the +German Government. It _was_ of benefit. The German newspapers increased +their circulations and advertising revenues, in many cases by more than +one hundred per cent. German banks and insurance companies received money +that had formerly gone to American institutions and which now went to +swell the Imperial German War Loans. And the German clubs increased their +memberships and became more and more instruments of power in the work of +Germany. + +There is a typical German club in New York—the _Deutscher Verein_ on +Central Park South. During the war it has been used as a sub-office of +the German General Staff. It was here that von Papen used to store the +dynamite that was needed in such enterprises as the Welland Canal plot. +It was here that conspirators used to meet for conferences which no one, +not even the other members of the club, could tell were not as innocent +as they seemed. + +These German societies and other agencies were used not merely to promote +sympathy for the German cause, but also to influence public opinion in +matters of purely American interest. On January 21, 1916, Henry Weismann, +president of the Brooklyn branch of the German-American National Alliance +sent a report to headquarters in Chicago, regarding the activities of his +organization in the recent elections. In the Twenty-third Congressional +District of New York, Ellsworth J. Healy had been a candidate for +Congress. Both he and another man, John J. Fitzgerald, candidate for +Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, were regarded by German +interests as “unneutral.” They were defeated, and Weismann in commenting +upon the matter, wrote: “_The election returns prove that Deutschtum is +armed and able, when the word is given, to seat its men._” + +Even in the campaign for preparedness Germany took a hand. Berlin was +appealed to in some cases as to the attitude that American citizens of +German descent should adopt toward this policy. Professor Appelmann of +the University of Vermont wrote to Dr. Paul Rohrbach, one of the advisers +of the Wilhelmstrasse, requesting his advice upon the subject. Dr. +Rohrbach replied that American _Deutschtum_ should not be in favor of +preparedness, because “_it is quite conceivable that in the event of an +American-Japanese war, Germany might adopt an attitude of very benevolent +neutrality toward Japan and so make it easier for Japan to defeat the +United States_.” And not long ago the _Herold des Glaubens_ of St. Louis, +made this statement: “When we found that the agitation for preparedness +was in the interest of the munition makers and that its aim was a war +with Germany, we certainly turned against it and we have agitated against +it for the last three months.” + +But this anti-militaristic spirit was a rather sudden development on the +part of the German societies. In 1911, when a new treaty of arbitration +with Great Britain was under consideration, a group of roughs, _led and +organized by a German_, violently broke up a meeting held under the +auspices of the New York Peace Society to support that treaty. The man +who broke that meeting up was Alphonse G. Koelble. It was this same +Koelble who in 1915, when Germany’s attack upon America was most bitter, +organized a meeting of “The Friends of Peace,” in order to protest +against militarism! Strange, is it not, this inconsistency? _Or was it +that Mr. Koelble was acting under orders?_ + +Germany did these things not only for their political effect, but also +because she knew that she could turn the evidence of her own meddling +to account. It was for the same reason that Wolf von Igel, von Papen’s +secretary and successor, retained in his office a list of American +citizens of German descent who “could be relied on.” This list was found +by agents of the Department of Justice when von Igel’s office was raided. +And the German agents were glad it was discovered. _It gave to Americans +an additional proof of the hold that Germany had obtained over a large +group of German-Americans._ + +It was as late as March, 1916, that the members of the Minnesota chapter +of the German-American National Alliance received a circular, advising +them of the attitude _toward Germany_ of the various candidates for +delegate to the national conventions of the different parties, and +indicating by a star the names of those men “about whom it has been +ascertained that they are in agreement with the views and wishes of +_Deutschland_ and that if elected they will act accordingly.” I do not +believe that the men who sent that circular expected it to be widely +obeyed. But unquestionably they knew it would be made public. + +I think that if the German conspirators in America had confined their +activities to this field they might ultimately have succeeded. They had +managed to seduce a sufficient number of German-Americans to cause the +entire German-American population to be regarded with suspicion. They +had contrived to discredit the pacifist and labor movements by making +public their own connection with individuals in these bodies. They had +aroused the public to such a pitch of distrust that in the Presidential +campaign of 1916 the support of the “German vote” was regarded with +distaste by both candidates. And they had helped to create so tremendous +a dissension in America that friendships of long standing were broken up, +German merchants in many communities lost all but their German customers, +and German-Americans were belabored in print with such twaddle as the +following: + +“The German-Americans predominate in the grog-shops, low dives, pawn +shops and numerous artifices for money-making and corrupt practices in +politics.” + +The foregoing statement, which I quote from a book, “German Conspiracies +in the United States,” written by a gentleman named Skaggs, is not +perhaps a fair sample of the attacks made upon German-Americans by the +press in general, but it is indicative of the heights to which feeling +ran in the case of a few uninformed or hysterical persons. The point is +that to a large portion of the populace the German-Americans had become +enemies and objects of abuse. + +They, in turn, beset on all sides by a campaign of slander insidiously +fostered by men to whom they had given their trust, did exactly what had +been expected. They fell right into the arms of that movement which for +fourteen years had been subsidized for that very purpose. They ceased +to read American newspapers. They read German newspapers, many of which +almost openly preached disloyalty to the United States. They became +clannish and joined German societies which frequently contained German +agents. They began to boycott American business houses and dealt only +with those of German affiliations. + +Germany had gained her point. She alone could gain by the disunity +of the country. It was to her advantage that the profits which had +formerly gone to American business houses should be deflected to German +corporations. _And had she rested her efforts there, she might, as I say, +have seen them produce results in the form of riots and armed dissension, +which would have effectively prevented the United States from entering +the war._ + +But Germany over-reached herself. Emboldened by the apparent success +of their schemes, her principal agents, von Papen, Boy-Ed and von +Rintelen (who had begun his work in January, 1915) became careless, so +far as secrecy was concerned, and so audacious in their plans that they +betrayed themselves, perhaps intentionally, as a final demonstration of +their power. The results you know. Insofar as the disclosures of their +activities tended further to implicate the German-Americans, they did +harm. But by those very disclosures the eyes of many German-Americans +were opened to the true nature of the influence to which they had +been subjected, and through that fact the worst element of the German +propaganda in America received its death blow. + +To-day the United States is at war and no intelligent man now questions +the loyalty of the majority of the citizens of German blood. That in +the past their sympathies have been with Germany is unquestioned and, +from their standpoint, entirely proper. That in many cases they view the +participation of the United States in the war with regret is probable. +But that they will stand up and if need be fight as staunchly as any +other group in the country, no man may doubt. + +That is the story of the darkest chapter in the history of German +intrigue. Other things have been done in this war at which a humane man +may blush. Other crimes have been committed which not even the staunchest +partisan can condone. But at least it may be said that those things were +done to enemies or to neutral people whom fortune had put in the way of +injury. The betrayal of the German-Americans was a wanton crime against +men whom every association and every tie of kinship or tradition should +have served to protect. + +Germany has not yet abandoned that attack. There are still spies in the +United States, you may be sure—still intrigues are being fostered. And +there are still men who, consciously or unconsciously, are striving to +discredit the German-Americans by presenting them as unwilling to bear +their share in the burden of the nation’s war. Only a week before these +lines were written one man—George Sylvester Viereck—circulated a petition +begging that Germans should not be sent to fight their countrymen, and +an organization of German Protestant churches in America is repeating +this plea. As a German whom fortune has placed outside the battle, and +as one whose patriotism is extended toward blood rather than dynasty, I +ask Mr. Viereck and these other gentlemen if they have not forgotten that +many German-Americans have already shown their feelings by volunteering +for service in this war—and if they have not also forgotten that the two +great wars of American history were fought between men of the same blood. + +Ties of blood have never prevented men from fighting for a cause which +they believed to be just. They will not in this war! And when Mr. Viereck +and his kind protest against the participation in the war of men of any +descent whatever, they imply that the American cause is _not_ just and +that it is not worthy of the support of the men they claim to represent. + +Is this their intention? + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + _More about the German intrigue against the United States. + German aims in Latin America. Japan and Germany in Mexico. What + happened in Cuba?_ + + +“American intervention in Mexico would mean another Ireland, another +Poland—another sore spot in the world. Well, why not?” + +Those were almost the last words spoken to me when I left Germany in +1914, upon my ill-fated mission to England. I had in my pocket at the +moment detailed memoranda of instructions which, if they could be carried +out, would insure such disturbances in Mexico that the United States +would be compelled to intervene. I had been given authority to spend +almost unlimited sums of money for the purchase of arms, for the bribery +of officials—for anything in fact that would cause trouble in Mexico. +And the words I have quoted were not spoken by an uninformed person with +a taste for cynical comment; they were uttered by Major Köhnemann, +of Abteilung III B of the German General Staff. They form a lucid and +concrete explanation of German activities in Mexico during the past eight +years. + +Long before this war began German agents were at work in Mexico, stirring +up trouble in the hope of causing the United States to intervene. I +have already told how, in 1910 and 1911, Germany had encouraged Japan +and Mexico in negotiating a treaty that was to give Japan an important +foothold in Mexico. I have told how, after this treaty was well on the +way to completion, Germany saw to it that knowledge of the projected +terms was brought to the attention of the United States—thereby +indirectly causing Diaz’s abdication. That instance is not an isolated +case of Germany meddling in Mexican affairs. Rather is it symptomatic of +the traditional policy of Wilhelmstrasse in regard to America. + +It may be well to examine this policy more closely than I have done. Long +ago Germany saw in South America a fertile field for exploitation, not +only in a commercial way, in which it presented excellent opportunities +to German manufacturers, but also as a possible opportunity for expansion +which had been denied her elsewhere. All of the German colonies were +in torrid climates, in which life for the white man was attended with +tremendous hardships and exploitation and colonization were consequently +impeded. Only in the Far East and in South America could she find +territories either unprotected through their own weakness, or so thinly +settled that they offered at once a temptation and an opportunity to +the nation with imperialistic ambitions. In the former quarter she was +blocked by a concert of the Powers, many of them actuated by similar +aims, but all working at such cross purposes that aggression by any one +of them was impossible. I have already alluded to the result of such +a situation in my discussion of the Anglo-Persian Agreement. In South +America there was only one formidable obstacle to German expansion—the +Monroe Doctrine. + +I am stating the case with far less than its true complexity. There +were, it is true, many facts in the form of conflicting rivalries of +the Powers as well as internal conditions in South America, that would +have had a deterrent effect upon the German program. Nevertheless, it is +certain that the prime factor in keeping Germany out of South America was +the traditional policy of the United States; and, so far as the German +Government’s attitude in the matter is concerned, it is the only phase of +the problem worth considering. + +Germany had no intention of securing territory by a war of conquest. Her +method was far simpler and much less assailable. She promptly instituted +a peaceful invasion of various parts of the continent; first in the +persons of merchants who captured trade but did not settle permanently in +the country; second, by means of a vast army of immigrants, who, unlike +those who a generation before had come to the United States, settled, +_but retained their German citizenship_. With this unnaturalized element +she hoped to form a nucleus in many of the important South American +countries, which, wielding a tremendous commercial power and possessing a +political influence that was considerable, although indirect, would aid +her in determining the course of South American politics so that by a +form of peaceful expansion she could eventually achieve her aims. + +Was this a dream? At any rate it received the support of many of the +ablest statesmen of Germany, who duly set about the task of discrediting +the Monroe Doctrine in the eyes of the very people it was designed to +protect, so that the United States, if it ever came forcibly to defend +the Doctrine, would find itself opposed not only by Germany but by South +America as well. + +Now, the easiest way to cast suspicion upon a policy is to discredit the +sponsor of it. In the case of the United States and South America this +was not at all difficult; for the southern nations already possessed a +well defined fear and a dislike of their northern neighbor that were not +by any means confined to the more ignorant portions of the population. +Fear of American aggression has been somewhat of a bugaboo in many +quarters. Recognizing this, Germany, which has always adopted the policy +of aggravating ready-made troubles for her own ends, steadily fomented +that fear by means of a quiet but well-conducted propaganda, _and also by +seeking to force the United States into taking action that would justify +that fear_. + +As a means toward securing this latter end, Mexico presented itself as a +heaven-sent opportunity. Even in the days when it was, to outward eyes, +a well-ordered community, there had been men in the United States who +had expressed themselves in favor of an expansion southward which would +result in the ultimate absorption of Mexico; and although such talk had +never attracted much attention in the quarter from which it emanated, +there were those who saw to it that proposals of this sort received +an effective publicity south of the Isthmus. Given, then, a Mexico in +which discontent had become so acute that it was being regarded with +alarm by American and foreign investors, the possibility of intervention +became more immediate and the opportunity of the trouble-maker increased +proportionately. + +[Illustration: The order for the deportation of von der Goltz which for +some reason was not put into effect.] + +Germany’s first step in this direction, was, as you know, the +encouragement of a Japanese-Mexican alliance, the failure of which was +a vital part of her program. It was a risky undertaking, for if, by any +chance, the alliance were successfully concluded, the United States might +well hesitate to attack the combined forces of the two countries; and +Mexico, fortified by Japan, would present a bulwark against the real or +fancied danger of American expansion, that, for a time at least, would +effectually allay the fears of South America. That risk Germany took, +and insofar as she had planned to prevent the alliance scored a success. +That she failed in her principal aim was due to the anti-imperialistic +tendencies of the United States and the statesmanship of Señor +Limantour, rather than to any other cause. + +Then came the Madero Administration with its mystical program of +reform—and an opposition headed by almost all of the able men in the +republic, both Mexican and foreign. Bitterly fought by the ring of +Cientificoes, who saw the easy spoils of the past slipping from their +hands; distrusted by many honest men, who sincerely believed that Mexico +was better ruled by an able despot than by an upright visionary; hampered +by the aloofness of foreign business and governments, waiting for a +success which they alone could insure, before they should approve and +support; and constantly beset with uneasiness by the incomprehensible +attitude of the Taft Administration and of its Ambassador—the fate of the +Madero Government was easily foreseen. + +Before Madero had been in power for three months this opposition had +taken form as a campaign of obstruction in the Mexican Chamber of +Deputies, supported by the press, controlled almost exclusively by +the Cientificoes and by foreign capitalists; by the clergy, who had +reason to suspect the Government of anti-clerical tendencies; and by +isolated groups of opportunity seekers who saw in the Administration an +obstacle to their own political and economic aims. The Madero family +were represented as incompetent and self-seeking; and in a short time the +populace, which a month before had hailed the new government as a savior +of the country, had been persuaded that its program of economic reform +had been merely a political pretense, and accordingly added its strength +to the party of the Opposition. + +Here was tinder aplenty for a conflagration of sorts. Germany applied the +torch at its most inflammable spot. + +That inflammable spot happened to be a man—Pazcual Orozco. Orozco had +been one of Madero’s original supporters, and in the days of the Madero +revolution had rendered valuable services to his chief. An ex-muleteer, +uncouth and without education, he possessed considerable ability; +but his vanity and reputation were far in excess of his attainments. +Unquestionably he had expected that Madero’s success would mean a +brilliant future for himself, although it is difficult to tell in just +what direction his ambitions pointed. Madero had placed him in command +of the most important division of the Federal army, but this presumably +did not content him. At any rate, early in February, 1912, he made a +demand upon the Government for two hundred and fifty thousand pesos, +threatening that he would withdraw from the services of the Government +unless this “honorarium”—honesty would call it a bribe—were paid to him. +Madero refused his demand, but with mistaken leniency retained Orozco in +office—and on February 27, Orozco repaid this trust by turning traitor at +Chihuahua, and involving in his defection six thousand of Mexico’s best +troops as well as a quantity of supplies. + +Now mark the trail of German intrigue. In Mexico City, warmly supporting +the Madero Government, but of little real power in the country, was the +German Minister, Admiral von Hintze. Under normal circumstances, his +influence would have been of great value in helping to render secure +the position of Madero; but with means of communication disrupted as +they were to a large extent, his power was inconceivably less than +that of the German consuls, all of whom were well liked and respected +by the Mexicans with whom they were in close touch. Apart from their +political office, these men represented German business interests in +Mexico, particularly in the fields of hardware and banking. In the three +northern cities of Parral, Chihuahua and Zacatecas, the German consuls +were hardware merchants. In Torreon the consul was director of the +German bank. As such it would seem that it was to their interests to work +for the preservation of a stable government in Mexico. And yet the fact +remains that when Orozco first began to show signs of discontent, these +men encouraged him with a support that was both moral and financial; and +when the general finally turned traitor, it was my old friend, Consul +Kueck, who, as President of the Chamber of Commerce of Chihuahua, voted +to support him and to recognize Orozco’s supremacy in that State! + +I leave it to the reader to decide whether it was the Minister or the +consuls who really represented the German Government. + +It would be idle to attempt to trace more than in the briefest way +Germany’s part in the events of the next few years. Always she followed +a policy of obstruction and deceit. During the months immediately +succeeding the Orozco outbreak, at the very moment that von Hintze was +lending his every effort to the preservation of the Madero regime, +sending to Berlin reports which over and over again reiterated his belief +that Madero could, if given a free hand, restore order in the republic, +the German consuls were openly fomenting disorder in the North. + +They were particularly well equipped to make trouble, by their position +in the community and by the character and reputation of the rest of the +German population. It may be said with safety that however careless +Germany has been about the quality of the men whom she has allowed to +emigrate to other countries, her representatives throughout all of +Latin-America have been conspicuous for their commercial attainments and +for their social adaptability. This, in a large way has been responsible +for the German commercial success in Central and South America. As +bankers they have been honest and obliging in the matter of credit. As +merchants they have adapted themselves to the local conditions and to +the habits of their customers with notable success. In consequence they +have been well-liked as individuals and have been of immense value in +increasing the prestige of the German Empire. In Mexico they were the +only foreigners who were not disliked by either peon or aristocrat; and +it is significant to note that during seven years of unrest in that +country, Germans alone among peoples of European stock have remained +practically unmolested by any party. + +Consider of what service this condition was in their campaign. Respected, +influential, they were in an excellent position to stimulate whatever +anti-American feeling existed in the Latin American countries. At the +same time, they were equally well situated to encourage the unrest in +Mexico that would be the surest guarantee of American intervention—and +the coalition against the United States which intervention would be +certain to provoke. They made the utmost use of their advantage, and they +did it without arousing suspicion or rebuke. + +After the failure of the short-lived Orozco outbreak, events in +Mexico seemed to promise a peaceful solution of all difficulties. +Many of Madero’s opponents declared a truce, and the irreconcileables +were forced to bide their time in apparent harmlessness. In November +came the rebellion of Felix Diaz, fathered by a miscellaneous group +of conspirators who hoped to find in the nephew sufficient of the +characteristics of the great Porfirio to serve their purposes. This +venture failed also. Again Madero showed a mistaken leniency in +preserving the life of Diaz. He paid for it with his life. Out of this +uprising came the _coup d’etat_ of General Huerta—made possible by a dual +treachery—and the murder of the only man who at the time gave promise of +eventually solving the Mexican problem. + +What share German agents had in that tragic affair I do not know. You may +be sure that they took advantage of any opportunity that presented itself +to encourage the conspirators in a project that gave such rich promise +of aiding them in their purposes. I pass on to the next positive step in +their campaign. That was a repetition of their old plan of inserting the +Japanese question into the general muddle. + +The Japanese question in Mexico is a very real one. I know—and the +United States Government presumably knows, also—that Japan is the only +nation which has succeeded in gaining a permanent foothold in Mexico. I +know that spies and secret agents in the guise of peddlars, engineers, +fishermen, farmers, charcoal burners, merchants and even officers in +the armies of every Mexican leader have been scattered throughout the +country. The number of these latter I have heard estimated at about +eight hundred; at any rate it is considerable. There are also about ten +thousand Japanese who have no direct connection with Tokio but who are +practically all men of military age, either unmarried or without wives in +Mexico—most of them belonging to the army or navy reserve. And, like the +Germans, the Japanese never lose their connection with the Government in +their capacity as private individuals. + +Through the great government-owned steamship line, the Toyo Kisen +Kaisha, the Japanese Government controls the land for a Japanese coaling +station at Manzanilla. At Acapulco a Japanese company holds a land +concession on a high hill three miles from the sea. It is difficult to +see what legitimate use a fishing company could make of this location. +It is, however, an ideal site for a wireless station. In Mexico City an +intimate friend of the Japanese Chargé d’Affaires owns a fortress-like +building in the very heart of the capital. Another Japanese holds, under +a ninety-nine year lease, an L-shaped strip of land partly surrounding +and completely commanding the water works of the capital of Oxichimilco. +The land is undeveloped. Both of these Japanese are well supplied with +money and have been living in Mexico City for several years. Neither one +has any visible means of support. And in all of the years of revolution +in Mexico no Japanese have been killed—except by Villa. He has caused +many of them to be executed, but always those that were masquerading as +Chinese. Naturally a government cannot protest under such circumstances. + +These facts may or may not be significant. They serve to lend color to +the convictions of anti-Japanese agitators in the United States, and as +such they have been of value to Germany. Accordingly it was suggested to +Señor Huerta that an alliance with Japan would be an excellent protective +measure for him to take. + +Huerta had two reasons for looking with favor upon this proposal. He was +very decidedly in the bad graces of Washington, and he was constantly +menaced by the presence in Mexico of Felix Diaz, to whom he had agreed +to resign the Presidency. Diaz was too popular to be shot, too strong +politically to be exiled and yet—he must be removed. Here, thought +Huerta, was an opportunity of killing two birds with one stone. He +therefore sent Diaz to Japan, ostensibly to thank the Japanese Government +for its participation in the Mexican Centennial celebration, three years +before, but in reality to begin negotiations for a treaty which should +follow the lines of the one unsuccessfully promulgated in 1911. + +Señor Diaz started for Japan—but he never arrived there. Somehow the +State Department at Washington got news of the proposed treaty—how, only +the German agents know—and Señor Diaz’s course was diverted. + +Meanwhile, in spite of the strained relations between Huerta and +Washington, Germany was aiding the Mexican president with money and +supplies. In the north, Consuls Kueck of Chihuahua, Sommer of Durango, +Muller of Hermosillo, and Weber of Juarez were exhibiting the same +interest in the Huertista troops that they had formerly displayed toward +Orozco. Kueck, as I happened to learn later, had financed Salvator +Mercado, the general who had so obligingly tried to have me shot; and at +the same time he was assiduously spreading reports of unrest in Mexico, +and even attempted to bribe some Germans to leave the country, upon the +plea that their lives were in danger. + +When I raided the German Consulate at Chihuahua, I found striking +documentary proof of his activities in this direction. There were letters +there proving that he had paid to various Germans sums ranging as high +as fifty dollars a month, upon condition that they should remain outside +of Mexico. These letters, in many cases, showed plainly that this was +done in order to make it seem that the unrest was endangering the lives +of foreign inhabitants; in spite of which several of the recipients +complained that their absence from Mexico was causing them considerable +financial loss, and showed an evident desire to brave whatever dangers +there might be—if they could secure the permission of Consul Kueck. + +During the year and more that Huerta held power, Germany followed the +same tactics. I need not remind you of the attempt to supply Huerta with +munitions after the United States had declared an embargo upon them; or +that it has been generally admitted that the real purpose of the seizure +of Vera Cruz by United States marines was to prevent the German steamer +_Ypiranga_ from delivering her cargo of arms to the Mexicans. That is but +one instance of the way in which German policy worked—a policy which, as +I have indicated, was opposed to the true interests of Mexico, and has +been solely directed against the United States. Up to the very outbreak +of the war it continued. After Villa’s breach with Carranza, emissaries +of Consul Kueck approached the former with offers of assistance. +Strangely enough he rejected them, principally because he hates the +Germans for the assistance they gave his old enemy, Orozco. Villa had, +moreover, a personal grudge against Kueck. When General Mercado was +defeated at Ojinaga, papers were found in his effects that implicated +the Consul in a conspiracy against the Constitutionalists, although at +the time Kueck professed friendship for Villa and was secretly doing all +he could to increase the friction that existed between the general and +Mercado. Villa had sworn vengeance against the double-dealer; and Kueck, +in alarm, fled into the United States. + +With the outbreak of the Great War the situation changed in one important +particular. Heretofore, German activities had been part of a plan of +attack upon the prestige of the United States. Now they became necessary +as a measure of defense. Before two months had passed it became evident +to the German Government that the United States _must_ be forced into a +war with Mexico in order to prevent the shipment of munitions to Europe. + +So began the last stage of the German intrigue in Mexico—an intrigue +which still continues. As a preliminary step, Germany had organized her +own citizens in that country into a well-drilled military unit—a little +matter which Captain von Papen had attended to during the spring of 1914. +One can read much between the lines of the report sent to the Imperial +Chancellor by Admiral von Hintze, commenting upon the work of Captain von +Papen in this direction. The Admiral says in part: “He showed especial +industry in organizing the Germany colony for purposes of self-defense, +and out of this shy and factious material, unwilling to undertake any +military activity, he obtained what there was to be got.” + +Von Hintze significantly recommends that the captain should be decorated +with the fourth class of the Order of the Red Eagle. + +As I have stated elsewhere, I left Germany in October of 1914, with a +detailed plan of campaign for the “American front,” as Dr. Albert once +put it. My final instructions were simple and explicit. + +“There must be constant uprisings in Mexico,” I was told, in effect. +“Villa, Carranza, must be reached. Zapata must continue his maraudings. +It does not matter in the least how you produce these results. Merely +produce them. All consuls have been instructed to furnish you with +whatever sums you need—_and they will not ask you any questions_.” + +Rather complete, was it not? I left with every intention of carrying the +instructions out—and in a little over a week was made _hors de combat_. +It was then that von Rintelen, who had already planned to come over to +the United States in order to inaugurate a vast blockade running system, +undertook to add my undertaking to his own responsibilities. + +What von Rintelen did is well known, so I shall only summarize it here. +His first act was an attempted restitution of General Huerta, which he +knew was the most certain method of causing intervention. Into this +enterprise both Boy-Ed and von Papen were impressed, and the three men +set about the task of making arrangements with former Huertistas for +a new uprising to be financed by German money. They sent agents to +Barcelona to persuade the former dictator to enter into the scheme; and +finally, when the general was on his way to America, they attempted to +arrange it so that he should arrive safely in New York and ultimately in +Mexico. It was a plan remarkably well conceived and well executed. It +would have succeeded but for one thing. General Huerta was captured by +the United States authorities at the very moment that he tried to cross +from Texas into Mexico! + +But the indomitable von Rintelen was not discouraged. He had but one +purpose—to make trouble—and he made it with a will. He sent money to +Villa, and then, like the philanthropist in Chesterton’s play, supported +the other side by aiding Carranza, financing Zapata and starting two +other revolutions in Mexico. Meanwhile anti-American feeling continued +to be stirred up. German papers in Mexico presented the Fatherland’s +case as eloquently as they did elsewhere, and to a far more appreciative +audience. Carranza was encouraged in his rather unfriendly attitude +toward Washington. In a word, no step was neglected which would embarrass +the Wilson Administration and make peace between the two countries more +certain or more difficult to maintain. + +Need I complete the story? Is it necessary to tell how, after the recall +of von Papen and Boy-Ed and the escape of von Rintelen, Mexico continued +to be used as the catspaw of the German plotters? Every one knows the +events of the last few months; of the concentration of German reservists +in various parts of Mexico; of the bitter attacks made upon the United +States by pro-German newspapers; and of the reports, greatly exaggerating +German activities in Mexico, which have been circulated with the direct +intention of provoking still more ill-feeling between the two countries +by leading Americans to believe that Mexico is honey-combed with German +conspiracies. + +[Illustration: Cover of the British White Paper, containing von der +Goltz’s confession, and referring to him as “Bridgeman Taylor.”] + +These activities have not applied to Mexico alone. It is significant that +twice in February of this year the Venezuelan Government has declined to +approve of the request of President Wilson that other neutral nations +join him in breaking diplomatic relations with Germany as a protest +against submarine warfare, and that many Venezuelan papers have stated +that this refusal is due to the representations of resident Germans, who +are many and influential. These are, of course, legitimate activities, +but they are in every case attended by a threat. Revolutions are easily +begun in Latin America, and the obstinate government can always be +brought to a reasonable viewpoint by the example of recent uprisings or +revolutions, financed by Germany, in Costa Rica, Peru and Cuba. Within +a very recent time, rumors were afloat in Venezuela that Germany was +assisting General Cipriano Castro in the revolutionary movement that he +had been organizing in Porto Rico. It was reported that there were on the +Colombian frontier many disaffected persons who would gladly join Castro +if he landed in Colombia and marched on Caracas, as he did successfully +in 1890. + +For several years the Telefunken Co., a German corporation, has tried to +obtain from the Venezuelan Government a concession to operate a wireless +plant, which should be of greater power than any other in South America. +When this proposal was last made, certain ministers were for accepting +it, but the majority of the Government realized the uses to which the +plant could be put and refused to grant the concession. An alternative +proposal, made by the Government, to establish a station of less +strength, was rejected by the company. + +Germany has steadily sought such wireless sites throughout this region. +Several have been established in Mexico, and in 1914 it was through +a wireless station in Colombia, that the German Admiral von Spee was +enabled to keep informed of the movements of the squadron of Admiral Sir +Christopher Cradock—information which resulted in the naval battle in +Chilean waters with a loss of three British battleships. It was after +this battle that Colombia ordered the closing of all wireless stations on +its coasts. + +In Cuba, too, the hand of Germany has been evident, in spite of the +disclaimers which have been made by both parties in the recent +rebellion. That rebellion grew out of the contested election in November, +in which both President Menocal and the Liberal candidate, Alfredo +Zayas, claimed a victory. It is strange if this is the real cause of the +uprising, that hostilities did not begin until February 9, when General +Gomez, himself an ex-president, began a revolt in the eastern portion +of the island. The date is important; it was barely a week before new +elections were to be held in two disputed provinces and _only six days +after the United States had severed diplomatic relations with the German +Government, and but four days after President Menocal’s Government had +declared its intention of following the action of the United States_. + +A little study of the personnel and developments of the rebellion form +convincing evidence as to its true backing. The Liberal Party is strongly +supported by the Spanish element of the population, who are almost +unanimously pro-German in their sympathies. All over the island, both +Germans and Spaniards have been arrested for complicity in the uprising. +Nor have the clergy escaped. Literally, dozens of bishops have been +jailed in Havana, upon the same charges. + +It is also a notorious fact that the Mexicans have supported the +Liberals, and that the staffs of the Liberal newspapers are almost +exclusively composed of Mexican journalists. These newspapers were +suppressed at the beginning of the revolution. + +But far more significant are the developments in the actual fighting. + +Most of the action has taken place in the eastern provinces of Camaguey, +Oriente and Santa Clara—in which the most fertile fields of sugar cane +are situated. The damage to the cane fields has been estimated at +5,000,000 tons and is, _from a military standpoint, unnecessary_. + +Col. Rigoberto Fernandez one of the revolutionary leaders, stated +that the rebels were plentifully supplied with hand-grenades and +artillery—although the reports prove that they had none. Was this an +empty boast—or may there be a connection between Fernandez’s statement +and the capture by the British of three German ships, which were found +off the Azores, laden with mines and arms? + +I was in Havana in the latter part of March—upon a private errand, +although the Cuban papers persisted in imputing sinister designs to me. +Naturally, the Germans were not inclined to tell all their secrets, but +my Mexican acquaintances, all of whom were well informed regarding Cuban +affairs, gave me considerable information. Among other Mexicans I met +General Joaquin Maas, the former general of the Federal forces under +Huerta. The general has since made peace with Carranza and was at this +time acting as the latter’s go-between in negotiations with Germany. When +I last saw Maas, it was after the battle of El Paredo. He was about to +blow out his brains, but one of his lieutenants elegantly informed him +that he was a fool and dissuaded him from suicide. Maas received me with +the courtesy due a former opponent and was not averse to telling me much +about the situation. I also had ample occasion to speak with Spaniards, +whose sympathies were decidedly pro-German. Little by little I was +enabled to acquire a rather complete idea—not of the issues underlying +the Cuban revolution—but who had brought matters to a head. The answer +may be found in one word—Germany. German agents—notably one Dr. Hawe ben +Hawas, who recently took a mysterious botanizing expedition throughout +that part of Cuba, which later became the scene of revolutionary +activities, and who has thrice been arrested as a German spy—saw in +the political unrest of the country another opportunity to create a +diversion in favor of Germany. Cuba at peace was a valuable economic ally +of the United States. Cuba in rebellion was a source of annoyance to this +country, since it meant intervention, the political value of which was +unfavorable to the United States, and a serious loss in sugar, which is +one of the most important ingredients in the manufacture of several high +explosives. + +Hence the burning of millions of tons of sugar cane. Hence the rebel +seizure of Santiago de Cuba. Hence the large number of negroes who joined +the rebel army, and whose labor is indispensable in the production of +sugar. + +The ironic part of it all is that Germany had nothing to gain by a change +of government in Cuba. Any Cuban government must have a sympathetic +attitude toward the United States. What Germany wanted was a disruption +of the orderly life of the country—and she wanted it to continue for as +long a time as possible. + +At the present writing the Cuban rebellion is ended. General Gomez and +his army have been captured, President Menocal is firmly seated in power +again, and the rebels hold only a few unimportant points. But much damage +has been done in the lessening of the sugar supply—and the rebellion has +also served its purpose as an illustration of Germany’s ability to make +trouble. + +Germany has played a consistent game throughout. She has sought to use +all the existing weaknesses of the world for her own purposes—all the +rivalries, all the fears, all the antipathies, she has utilized as fuel +for her own fire. And yet, although she has played the game with the +utmost foresight, with a skill that is admirable in spite of its perverse +uses, and with an unfailing assurance of success—she has come to the +fourth year of the Great War with the fact of failure staring her in the +face. + +But she has not given up. You may be sure that she has not given up. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + _The last stand of German intrigue. Germany’s spy system in + America. What is coming?_ + + +As I write these last few pages three clippings from recent newspapers +lie before me on my desk. One of them tells of the new era of good +feeling that exists between the governments of Mexico and the United +States, and speaks of the alliance of Latin-American republics against +German autocracy. + +Another tells how the first contingent of American troops have landed in +France, after a successful battle with a submarine fleet. And a third +speaks of the victorious advance of the troops of Democratic Russia, +after the world had begun to believe that Russia had forgotten the war in +her new freedom. + +I read them over again and I think that each one of these clippings, if +true, writes “failure” once again upon the book of German diplomacy. + +I remember a day not so very many months ago, when a man with whom I had +some business in—for me—less quiet days, came to see me. + +“B. E. is in town,” he said quietly. “He says he must see you. Can you +meet him at the —— Restaurant to-night?” + +Boy-Ed! I was not surprised that he should be in this country, for I knew +the man’s audacity. But what could he want of me? Well, it would do no +harm to meet him, I thought, and, anyway, my curiosity was aroused. + +I nodded. + +“I’ll be there,” I said. “At what hour?” + +“Six-thirty,” my friend replied. “It’s only for a minute. He is leaving +to-night.” + +That evening for the first time in two years I saw the man who had done +his share in the undermining of America. I did not ask him what his +presence in this country meant, and needless to say, he did not inform me. + +Our business was of a different character. I had just arranged to write +a series of newspaper articles exposing the operations of the Kaiser’s +secret service and Boy-Ed tried to induce me to suppress them. + +“I cannot do it,” I told him. + +But the captain showed a remarkable knowledge of my private affairs. + +“Under your contract,” he said, “the articles cannot be published until +you have endorsed them. As you have not yet affixed your signature to +them, you can suppress them by merely withholding your endorsement.” + +This I declined to do and our conversation ended. + +Shortly afterward, Boy-Ed returned to Germany on the U-53. He did not +attempt to see me again, but three times within the following weeks, +attempts were made upon my life. Later, pressure was brought to bear +from sources close to the German Embassy, but they failed to secure the +suppression of the articles. + +But my curiosity was aroused as to the meaning of Boy-Ed’s presence here +and I set to work to discover the purpose of it. This was not difficult, +for although I have ceased to be a secret agent, I am still in touch with +many who formerly gave me information, and I know ways of discovering +many things I wish to learn. + +Soon I had the full story of Boy-Ed’s latest activities in this country. + +He had, I learned, gone first to Mexico in an attempt to pave the way for +that last essay at a Mexican-Japanese alliance, which the discovery of +the famous Zimmermann note later made public. Whether he had succeeded +or no, I did not discover at the time. But what was more important, I did +learn that while he was in Mexico, Boy-Ed had selected and established +several submarine bases for Germany! His plans had also carried him to +San Francisco, to which he had gone disguised only by a mustache. There +he had identified several men who were needed by the counsel of the +defense of the German Consul Bopp, who had been arrested on a charge of +conspiracy and for fomenting sedition within the United States. + +From the Pacific Coast Boy-Ed had gone to Kansas City and had bought off +a witness who had intended to testify for the United States in the trial +of certain German agents. Thence, after a private errand of his own, he +had made his way to New York, _en route_ to Newport and Germany. + +It may be well here to comment upon one feature of the Zimmermann note +which has generally escaped attention. It was through no blunder of +the German Government that that document came into possession of the +United States, as I happen to know. I have pointed out before that +diplomatic negotiations are carried through in the following manner. The +preliminary negotiations are conducted by men of unofficial standing +and it is not until the attitude of the various governments involved is +thoroughly understood by each of them that final negotiations are drawn +up. Now, although no negotiations had taken place between Germany, Japan +and Mexico, the form of the Zimmermann note would seem to indicate that +there was a thorough understanding between these countries. They were +drawn up in this form with a purpose. Germany wished the United States to +conclude that Mexico and Japan were hostile to her; Germany hoped that +this country would be outwardly silent about the Zimmermann note but +would take some diplomatic action against Mexico and Japan which would +inevitably draw these two countries into an anti-American alliance. + +Did President Wilson perceive this thoroughly Teutonic plot? I cannot +say; but at any rate upon February 28, he astounded America by revealing +once again Germany’s evil intentions toward the United States, and by +so doing not only defeated the German Government’s particular plan but +effectively cemented public opinion in this country, bringing it to +a unanimous support of the government in the crisis which was slowly +driving it toward war. + +That marked the last stand of German intrigue, as it was conducted before +the war. Now there is a new danger—a danger whose concrete illustration +lies before me in the account of that first engagement between United +States warships and German submarines. + +The people of the United States, just entered into active participation +in the war, are faced with a new peril—the betrayal of military and naval +secrets to representatives of the German Government working in this +country. Not only was it known to Germany that American troops had been +sent to France, but the very course that the transports were to take had +been communicated to Berlin. It is probable that other news of equal +value has been or is being sent to Germany at the present time; and the +United States is confronted with the possibility of submarine attacks +upon its troop ships, as well as other dangers which, if not properly +combated, may result in serious losses and greatly hamper it in its +conduct of the war. + +What exactly is this spy peril which this country now faces and which +constitutes a far greater, because less easily combated danger than +actual warfare? + +How can it be got rid of? + +These are the questions which the American people and the American +Government are asking themselves and must ask themselves if they are to +bear an effective share in the war in which they are now engaged. + +Because of my former connection with the German Government and my work as +a secret agent both in Europe and America, in the former of which I was +brought into intimate contact with the workings of the secret service in +other countries, I am prepared to give a reliable account of the general +structure and workings of the German spy system in the United States as +it is to-day. + +It is important to remember that the secret diplomatic service, as it was +conducted in this country before the war, and with which I was connected, +is entirely different both in its personnel and methods with the spy +system which is in operation to-day. A little further on I shall point +out why this is so and why it must be so. + +Before the entry of the United States into the war, the principal +activities of the German Government’s agents were confined to the +fomenting of strikes in munitions plants and other war activities, the +organizing of plots to blow up ships, canals, or bridges—anything +which would hamper the transportation of supplies to the Allies—and the +inciting of sedition by stirring up trouble between German-Americans and +Americans of other descent. All of these acts were committed in order to +prevent you from aiding in any way the enemies of Germany; and also, by +creating disorder in this country in peace times to furnish you with an +object lesson of what could be done in war times. + +These things were planned, overseen and executed by Germans and by other +enemies of the Allies, under the leadership of men like von Papen, who +were accredited agents of the German Government and who were protected by +diplomatic immunity. + +Now that war has come an entirely new task is before the German +Government and an entirely new set of people are needed to do it. Wartime +spying is absolutely different from the work which was done before the +war, and the two have no connection with each other—except as the work +done before the war has prepared the way for the work which is being done +now. + +And whereas the work done before the war was conducted by Germans, the +present work, for very obvious reasons, cannot be done by any one who is +a German or who is likely to be suspected of German affiliations. + +I venture to say that not one per cent. of the persons who are engaged in +spying for the German Government at the present time are either of German +birth or descent. + +I say this, not because I know how the German secret service is being +conducted in this country, but because I know how it has been conducted +in other countries. + +Let me explain. It is obvious that such activities as the inciting to +strikes, and the conspiring which were done in the last three years +could be safely conducted by Germans, because the two countries were at +peace. The moment that war was declared, every German became an object +of suspicion, and his usefulness in spying—that is, the obtaining of +military, naval, political and diplomatic secrets—was ended immediately. +For that reason Germany and every other government which has spies in +the enemy country make a practice during war of employing practically no +known citizens of its own country. + +At the present time more than ninety per cent. of the German spies in +England are Englishmen. The rest are Russians, Dutchmen, Roumanians—what +you will—anything but Germans. + +One of the former heads of the French secret service in this country was +a man who called himself Guillaume. His real name is Wilhelm and he was +born in Berlin! + +For that reason to arrest such men as Carl Heynen or Professor Hanneck is +merely a precautionary measure. Whatever connection these men may have +had with the German Government formerly, their work is now done, and +their detention does not hinder the workings of the real spy system one +iota. + + +HOW THE SPY SYSTEM WORKS. + +It is difficult to distinguish between the work done in neutral countries +by the secret diplomatic agent—the man who is engaged in fomenting +disorders, such as I have described—and the spy, who is seeking military +information which may be of future use. The two work together in that the +secret agent reports to Berlin the names of inhabitants of the country +concerned, who may be of use in securing information of military or naval +value. It is well to remember, however, that the real spy always works +alone. His connection with the government is known only to a very few +officials, and is rarely or never suspected by the people who assist him +in securing information. Here permit me to make a distinction between +two classes of spies: the agents or directors of espionage, who know +what they are doing; and the others, the small fry, who secure bits of +information here and there and pass it on to their employers, the agents, +often without realizing the real purpose of their actions. + +In the building of the spy system in America, Germans and +German-Americans have been used. Business houses, such as banks and +insurance companies, which have unusual opportunities of obtaining +information about their clients—most of whom, in the case of German +institutions in this country, are of German birth or descent—have been of +service in bringing the directors of spy work into touch with people who +will do the actual spying. + +The German secret service makes a point of having in its possession lists +of people who are in a position to find out facts of greater or less +importance about government officials. Housemaids, small tradesmen, and +the like, can be of use in the compiling of data about men of importance, +so that their personal habits, their financial status, their business +and social relationships become a matter of record for future use. These +facts are secured, usually by a little “jollying” rather than the payment +of money, by the local agent—a person sometimes planted in garrison +towns, state capitals, etc.—who is paid a comparatively small monthly sum +for such work. This information is passed to a director of spies, who +thereby discovers men who are in a position to supply him with valuable +data and who determine whether or not they can be reached. + +Now, just how is this “reaching” done? Mainly, I think it safe to say, +by blackmail and intimidation. If from this accumulated gossip about +his intended victim—who may be an army or naval officer, a manufacturer +of military supplies, or a government clerk—the spy learns of some +indiscretion committed by the man or his wife, he uses it as a club in +obtaining information that he desires. Or he may hear that a man is in +financial straits. He will make a point of seeing that his victim is +helped, and then will make use of the latter’s friendship to worm facts +out of him. In this way, sometimes without the suspicion of the victim +being aroused, little bits of information are secured, which may be of +no importance in themselves, but are of immense value when considered in +conjunction with facts acquired elsewhere. + +Ultimately the victim will balk or become suspicious. Then he is offered +the alternative of continuing to supply information or of being exposed +for his previous activities. Generally he accepts the lesser evil. + +In this manner the spy system is built up even in peace times. The +tremendous sums of money that are spent in this manner amount to +millions. The quantity of information secured is on the other hand, +inconceivably small for the most part. But in the mass of useless and +superfluous facts that are supplied to the spies and through them to the +government, are to be found a few that are worth the cost of the system. +By the time war breaks out, if it does, the German Government has in its +possession innumerable facts about the equipment of the army and navy of +its enemy—and more important still, it has in its power men, sometimes +high in the confidence of the enemy government, who can be forced into +giving additional information when needed. + +Now, the moment that war breaks out, what happens? The German Government +has distributed throughout the country thousands of men and women +who have legitimate business there; it has its hands on men who are +not spies, but who will betray secrets for a price either in money or +security; it is acquainted with the strength and weakness of fortresses, +various units of the service, the exact armament of every ship in the +navy, the resources of munition factories—in a word almost all of the +essential details about that country’s fighting and economic strength. It +also knows what portion of the populace are inclined to be disaffected. +And it is thoroughly familiar with the strategical points of that +country, so that in case of invasion it may strike hard and effectively. + +What is must learn now is: + +First, what are the present military and naval activities of the enemy. + +Second, what are they planning to do. + +Finally, the German Government must learn the how, why, when and where of +each of these things. + +That, with the machinery at its command, is not so difficult as it would +seem. + +Here is where the value of the minor bits of information comes in. A +trainman tells, for instance, that he has seen a trainload of soldiers +that day, upon such and such a line. A similar report comes in from +elsewhere. Meantime another agent has reported that a certain packing +house has shipped to the government so many tons of beef; while still +another announces the delivery at a particular point of a totally +different kind of supplies. Do you not see how all these facts, taken +together, and coupled with an accurate knowledge of transportation +conditions and of the geographical structure of the country would +constitute an important indication of an enemy’s plans, even failing the +possession of any absolute secrets? Do you not suppose that weeks before +you were aware that any United States soldiers had sailed for France, the +Germans might have known of all the preparations that were being made +and could deduce accurately the number of troops that were sailing, and +many facts of importance about their equipment. There is no need for the +betrayal of secrets for this kind of information to become known. It is a +mere matter of detective work. + +But mark one feature of it. These facts are communicated by different +spies—not to a central clearing house of information in this country, +as has been surmised, but to various points outside the country for +transmission to the Great General Staff. They are duplicated endlessly +by different agents. They are sent to many different people for +transmission. _And even if half of the reports were lost, or half of the +spies were discovered, there would still be a sufficient number left to +carry on their work successfully._ + +Germany does not depend upon one spy alone for even the smallest item. +Always the work is duplicated. Always the same information is being +secured by several men, not one of whom knows any of the others; and +always that information is transmitted to Berlin through so many diverse +channels that it is impossible for the most vigilant secret service in +the world to prevent a goodly part of it from reaching its destination. + +How that information is transmitted I shall tell in a moment. First, I +wish to explain how more important facts are secured—the secret plans of +the government, such, for instance, as the course which had been decided +upon for the squadron which carried the first American troops to France. + +It is obvious that such facts as these could not have been deduced from +a mass of miscellaneous reports. That secret must have been learned in +its entirety. Exactly how it was discovered I do not pretend to know +nor shall I offer any theories. But here, in a situation of this sort, +unquestionably, is where the real spy—the “master spy,” if you wish to +call him so—steps in. + +Now, it is impossible, in spite of the utmost vigilance, to keep an +important document from the knowledge of all but one or two people. +No matter how secret, it is almost certain to pass through the hands +of a number of officials and possibly several clerks. And with every +additional person who knows of it, the risk of discovery or betrayal is +correspondingly increased. If in code, it may be copied or memorized by a +spy who is in a position to get hold of it, or by a person who is in the +power of that spy! Once in Berlin, it can be deciphered. For the General +Staff and the Admiralty have their experts in these matters who are very +rarely defeated. + +You may be sure that Germany has made her utmost efforts to put her spies +into high places in this country, just as she has tried to do elsewhere. +You may be sure, also, that she has neglected no opportunity to gain +control over any official or any naval or army officer—however important +or unimportant—whom the agents could influence. That has always been her +method; nor is it difficult to see why it frequently succeeds. + +Imagine the situation of a man who in time of peace had supplied, either +innocently or otherwise, a foreign agent with information which possessed +a considerable value. It is probable that he would revolt at a suggestion +that he do it in time of war—but with his neck once in the German noose, +with the alternative of additional compliance or exposure facing him, +it is not hard to see how some men would become conscious traitors and +others would be driven to suicide. + +By a system of blackmail and intimidation the Germans have attempted to +force into their ranks many people from whom they extort information that +would now be regarded as traitorous, although formerly it might have been +given out in all innocence. + +Undoubtedly it was for purposes of intimidation that von Papen carried +with him to England papers incriminating Germans and German-Americans +who had been associated with him in one way or another. And why did von +Rintelen return to this country and aid this government in exposing +the German affiliations of people who had no German blood in them? The +obvious answer is that those people had balked at aiding him in some +scheme he had proposed. Therefore he made examples of them, with the +double purpose of demonstrating to the United States the extent of German +intrigue and of filling other implicated people with fear of the exposure +that would come to them if they were not more compliant. + +Once in possession of secret information, the spy is faced with the +necessity of transmitting it to Berlin. Here again, the spy who is a +German would meet with considerable difficulty. He may mail letters if +no mail censorship has been instituted; but these are liable to seizure +and are not so useful in the transmission of war secrets as they were in +informing his government before the war of more or less standard facts +about the strength of fortifications and the like. He may use private +messengers—as do all spies—but the delay in this method is a severe +handicap. + +In sending news of the movements of troops, speed is the prime essential. +Consequently he must communicate either by wireless or by cable. How does +he do it? + +There are innumerable ways. There may be in the confidential employ +of many business houses which do a large cable business with neutral +countries men who are either agents or dupes of the German Government. +These men may send cables which seem absolutely innocent business +messages, but which if properly read impart facts of military value to +the recipient in Holland, say, or in Spain or South America. It is not a +difficult matter to use business codes, giving to the terms an entirely +different meaning from the one assigned in the code-book. Personal +messages are also used in this way, as is well known. As to the wireless, +although all stations are under rigid supervision, what is to prevent the +Germans from establishing a wireless station in the Kentucky Mountains, +for instance, and for a time operating it successfully? + +But in spite of all cable censorship, the spy can smuggle information +into Mexico, where it can be cabled or wirelessed on to Berlin, either +directly or indirectly by way of one of the neutral countries. Even in +spite of the most rigid censorship of mails and telegrams this sort of +smuggling can be accomplished. + +When I was in the Constitutional Army in Mexico, I used to receive +revolver ammunition from an old German who carried it over the border _in +his wooden leg_. Could not this method be applied to dispatches? + +There are numerous authenticated cases of spies who have sent messages +concealed in sausages or other articles of food. Moreover, the current +of the Rio Grande at certain places runs in such a manner that a log or +a bucket dropped in on the American side will drift to the Mexican shore +and arrive at a point which can be determined with almost mathematical +certainty. + +I mention those instances merely to show how little of real value the +censorship of cables and mails can accomplish. The question arises: What +can be done? I shall try to indicate the answer. + + +HOW TO GET RID OF THE SPY SYSTEM. + +I say frankly that I think it absolutely impossible to eradicate spies +from any country. Certainly it cannot be done in a week or a year, or +even in many years. It is more than probable that the German spy systems +in France and England are more complete to-day than they were at the +beginning of the war. Three years ago the spies in those countries were +made up of both experienced and inexperienced men. Now the bunglers have +been weeded out, and only those who are expert in defying detection +remain. But these are the only men who were ever of real use to Germany; +and fortified as they are by three years of unsuspected work in these +countries, they are enabled to secure information of infinitely more +worth than they formerly were. What is the situation in America? + +I have shown you the structure of that system. Let me repeat again that +Germany has installed in this country thousands of men, whose nationality +and habits are such as to protect them from suspicion, who work silently +and alone, because they know that their very lives depend upon their +silence, and who are in communication with no central spy organization, +for the very simple reason that no such organization exists. There is no +clearing house for spy information in this country. There are no “master +spies.” + +Do you think that the German Government would risk the success of a work +so important as this, by organizing a system which the arrest of any one +man or group of men would betray? The idea of centralization in this +work is popular at present. In theory it is a good one. In practise it +is impossible. By the very nature of the spy’s trade, he must run alone, +and not only be unsuspected of any connection with Germany now, but be +believed never to have had such a connection. If the secret service +were a chain, the loss of one link would break it. With a system of +independent units, endlessly overlapping, eternally duplicating each +other’s work, they continue their practices even though half of their +number are caught. + +Now with these men, protected as they are by the fact that not even their +fellows know them, with their wits sharpened by three years of silent +warfare against the agents of other governments and your own neutrality +squad, the task of ferreting them out is an utterly impossible one. You +cannot prevent spies from securing information. + +You cannot prevent the transmission of that information to Berlin, +without instituting, not a censorship, but a complete suppression of all +communications of any sort. + +But you can do much to counteract their methods by doing two things: + +I. Delaying all mails and cables, other than actual government messages. + +II. Instituting a system of counter espionage, which shall have for +its object the detection _but not the arrest_ of enemy spies; and the +dissemination of misleading information. + +The war work of the spy depends for success upon the speed with which he +can communicate new facts to Berlin. If all his messages are delayed, his +effectiveness is severely crippled. + +If in addition to that, all persons sending suspicious messages anywhere +are carefully shadowed; if their associations are looked up, it may be +possible to determine from whom they are getting information, and by +seeing that incorrect reports are given them, render them of negligible +value to their employers. + +Public arrests of suspected men are worthless. Such disclosures only +serve to put the real spies on their guard. But if the spies are allowed +to work in fancied security, it will be possible to find out just what +they know and the government can change its plans at the last moment and +so nullify their efforts. + +Eternal vigilance, here as elsewhere, is the price of security. Germany +has regarded the work of her spies as of almost as much importance as +the force in the field. She has spent millions of dollars in building up +a system in this country, whose ramifications extend to all points of +your national life. And since upon this system rests all of her hopes of +rendering worthless your participation in the war, she will not lightly +let it fail. + +I toss aside my clippings and sit looking out into the New York street +which shows such little sign of war as yet. Defeat! That is the end +of this silent warfare, this secret underground attack that has in it +nothing of humanity or honor. I think of Germany, a country of quiet, +peaceful folk as I once knew it, bearing no malice, going cheerfully +about their work, seeking their destiny with a will that has nothing in +it of conquest. And I think of Germany embattled, ruled by a group of +iron men who see only their own ambitions as a goal—who have brought upon +the country and the world this three-year tyranny of hate. + +What will be the end? Will the war go on, eating up the lives and honor +of men with its monstrous appetite? Or will there be peace—a peace that +will bring nothing of revenge or oppression; that will carry with it +only a desire for justice to all the peoples of the earth—that will kill +forever this desire for conquest which now and in the past has borne only +sorrow and bloodshed as its fruit? Will the peace bring forgetfulness of +the past, in so far as men _can_ forget? + +That would be worth fighting for. + + +THE END. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] You will find an interesting account of the effect of this treaty +upon Persia in William Morgan Shuster’s valuable book, “The Strangling of +Persia.” + +[2] Mr. Edward I. Bell, in his “The Political Shame of Mexico.” + +[3] It is interesting to remember that Captain von Papen had in the +earlier part of the year, while he was still in Mexico, conducted an +investigation into the types of explosives used in Mexico for similar +enterprises. This investigation had been undertaken at the request of +the German Ministry of War. Letters regarding this matter were found in +Captain von Papen’s effects by the British authorities, and are printed +in the British White Papers, Miscellaneous No. 6 (1916). + +[4] Fritzen, who was captured in Hartwood, Cal., on March 9, 1917, was +arraigned in New York City on March 16, and after pleading not guilty, +later reversed his plea. He is at present serving a term of eighteen +months in a Federal prison. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75931 *** |