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diff --git a/75931-h/75931-h.htm b/75931-h/75931-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f4c0a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/75931-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9336 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + My Adventures as a German Secret Agent | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +a { + text-decoration: none; +} + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2.nobreak { + page-break-before: avoid; +} + +hr.chap { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; +} + +img.w100 { + width: 100%; +} + +div.chapter { + page-break-before: always; +} + +.chapter p { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-size: 110%; +} + +p { + margin-top: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +table { + margin: 1em auto 1em auto; + max-width: 40em; + border-collapse: collapse; +} + +td { + padding-left: 2em; + padding-right: 0.25em; + vertical-align: top; + text-indent: -2em; + text-align: justify; +} + +.tdr { + text-align: right; + padding-right: 0; +} + +.tdpg { + vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right; + white-space: nowrap; +} + +.blockquote { + margin: 1.5em 10%; +} + +figcaption .blockquote { + font-size: 90%; +} + +.caption { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.cb { + clear: both; +} + +.center { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.footnotes { + margin-top: 1em; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.footnote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em; +} + +.footnote .label { + position: absolute; + right: 84%; + text-align: right; +} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +.larger { + font-size: 150%; +} + +.noindent { + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; +} + +.right { + text-align: right; +} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.tb { + margin-top: 2em; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0em; +} + +.transnote { + background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + text-align: center; + font-size: smaller; + padding: 0.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .blockquote { + margin: 1.5em 5%; +} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} +.illowp44 {width: 44%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp44 {width: 100%;} +.illowp50 {width: 50%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp50 {width: 100%;} +.illowp52 {width: 52%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp52 {width: 100%;} +.illowp54 {width: 54%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp54 {width: 100%;} +.illowp60 {width: 60%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp60 {width: 100%;} +.illowp62 {width: 62%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp62 {width: 100%;} +.illowp65 {width: 65%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp65 {width: 100%;} +.illowp78 {width: 78%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp78 {width: 100%;} + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75931 ***</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> + +<h1>MY ADVENTURES AS A<br> +GERMAN SECRET AGENT</h1> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="illus01" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus01.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage larger">My Adventures<br> +<span class="smaller">AS A</span><br> +German Secret Agent</p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> +CAPT. HORST VON DER GOLTZ<br> +<span class="smcap smaller">Formerly Major in the Mexican Constitutional Army.<br> +Sometime Confidential Aide to Captain von Papen,<br> +Recalled Military Attaché to the Imperial<br> +German Embassy at Washington,<br> +German Secret Agent.</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></p> + +<p class="titlepage">NEW YORK<br> +ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY<br> +1917</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">Copyright, 1917<br> +by<br> +<span class="smcap">Robert M. McBride & Company</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">Published, 1917</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p class="noindent">from<br> +<i>“The Strangling of Persia,” by W. Morgan Shuster</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p> + +<p class="center">TO THE<br> +UNITED STATES OF GERMANY—WHENEVER<br> +THEY MAY COME TO BE—I<br> +DEDICATE THIS BOOK AND MY HOPES.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a>[x]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td class="tdr smaller">CHAPTER</td> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td>Foreword</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#FOREWORD">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">I—</td> + <td>I find an old letter, containing a strange bit of scandal—and + its contents draw me into the service of the Kaiser</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">II—</td> + <td>I Impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a treaty. What the + treaty contained and how Germany made use of the knowledge</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">22</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">III—</td> + <td>Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed. I look + and talk indiscreetly—and a man dies</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">45</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IV—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">61</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">V—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VI—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">111</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xii"></a>[xii]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VII—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">VIII—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">173</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">IX—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">190</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">X—</td> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">212</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XI—</td> + <td>More about the German intrigue against the United States. + German aims in Latin America. Japan and Germany in Mexico. What + happened in Cuba?</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">236</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">XII—</td> + <td>The last stand of German intrigue. Germany’s spy system in + America. What is coming?</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">264</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii"></a>[xiii]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="ILLUSTRATIONS">ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +</div> + +<table> + <tr> + <td>The false passport upon which Capt. von der Goltz went to England</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus01"><span class="smcap">Frontispiece</span></a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="tdpg smaller">FACING PAGE</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Photograph of Capt. von der Goltz taken outside the Cuartel + at Juarez</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus02">28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Raul Madero and his staff</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus03">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A group of recruits in Villa’s Army</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus04">42</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Von der Goltz’s commission as Major in the Mexican Constitutional + Army</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus05">64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, Capt. von der Goltz’s first commander, + and General Villa</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus06">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>General Raul Madero</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus07">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A telegram from General Villa to Capt. von der Goltz</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus08">112</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A group of Constitutional soldiers</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus09">124</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The six months’ leave of absence from the Mexican Army, + granted to Capt. von der Goltz at the outbreak of the European + War</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus10">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A letter of recommendation given to Capt. von der Goltz by + Raul Madero</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus11">140</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv"></a>[xiv]</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>A letter from Dr. Kraske, German vice-consul at New York to + “Baron” von der Goltz</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus12">152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>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</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus13">166</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>How Capt. von der Goltz secured explosives for his Welland Canal + Expedition. Two communications from Capt. Tauscher</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus14">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. for “merchandise” + furnished Capt. von der Goltz</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus15">180</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The check which almost cost Capt. von der Goltz his life</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus16">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Safe Deposit receipts for papers which von der Goltz left in + Rotterdam</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus17">210</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>The British order for the deportation of Capt. von der Goltz</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus18">240</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Photograph of the cover of the British white paper containing Capt. + von der Goltz’s confession</td> + <td class="tdpg"><a href="#illus19">256</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOREWORD">FOREWORD.</h2> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>something</i> which the German Government +regarded as highly important, why the surprising<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> +actions of that Government, actions none the less +astonishing because they are well known and +authenticated? Consider these things before you +doubt.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<figure class="figright illowp100" style="max-width: 15.625em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/signature.jpg" alt="H. von der Goltz (signature)"> +</figure> + +<p class="cb">New York, July 8, 1917.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="ERRATA"><i>ERRATA</i></h2> + +</div> + +<p class="center"><i><a href="#Page_5">Page 5</a>. Chapter I. First line</i>:<br> +March 28th, 1917 should read March 29th, 1916.</p> + +<p class="center"><i><a href="#Page_41">Page 41</a></i>:<br> +Kut el Amerara should read Kut el Amara.</p> + +<p class="center"><i><a href="#Page_140">Page 140</a>. Last two paragraphs</i>:<br> +December 23rd should read December 20th.</p> + +<p class="center"><i><a href="#Page_171">Page 171</a>. Second paragraph</i>:<br> +October 8th should read October 3rd, 1914.</p> + +<div class="transnote"> + +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber’s Note:</b> The errata have been corrected.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p> + +<h1>My Adventures as a German<br> +Secret Agent</h1> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p><i>I find an old letter, containing a strange +bit of scandal—and its contents draw me into +the service of the Kaiser.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>On March 29th, 1916, the steamer <i>Finland</i> 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.</p> + +<p>My friend from Scotland Yard left me very +shortly; soon after, I was testifying for the +United States Government against Capt. Hans<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="tb">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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> +University—later a lieutenancy in the German +Army—and to-day, perhaps, death “somewhere +in France.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> +the envelope that so completely changed my life.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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 <i>which cast the most serious +doubts upon the legitimacy of the Kaiser, +Wilhelm II</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> +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 <i>not</i> cancer; and the physicians inserted +a silver tube in Friederich’s throat, and in due +course he became Emperor Friederich III.</p> + +<p>But in spite of Mackenzie and the silver tube, +Friederich III died after a reign of ninety-eight +days—and he died of cancer.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> +Berlin hinted at worse unconventionalities than +this.</p> + +<p>As for the animosity of the Kaiser, that was +attributed to the fact that he held her responsible +for his withered left arm.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>True or not, these suppositions—what does it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 <i>Reichs +Kanzler</i>. 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“If you will wait here,” I told him, “I shall go +home and get the document for you.”</p> + +<p>The Chancellor’s representative stroked his +beard, deliberated a moment and seemed uncertain.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> +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 <i>Okrana</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p><i>I Impersonate a Russian Prince and +steal a treaty. What the treaty contained and +how Germany made use of the knowledge.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I was to become a cadet, it seems; and where +in Germany could one receive better training +than in this same Gross Lichterfelde?</p> + +<p>At home I had had some small experience with +the exactions of the <i>gymnasium</i>; 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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>But we learned. Oh, yes. The war has shown +how well we learned.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> +vacation, at the very least, to say nothing of a +change from the Spartan fare of the cadet school.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That was my first sight of an Imperial dinner.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>The Kaiser looked at me sharply.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> +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 <i>Bude</i>—in +other words, the private offices of the +Chancellor and His Imperial Majesty.)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Has he any identifying marks on his body?” +he asked.</p> + +<p>My escort assured him that there were none.</p> + +<p>“Good!” he exclaimed; and a moment later we +were driving back toward Gross Lichterfelde—I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> +quite at sea about the whole affair, but not daring +to ask questions about it. Idle curiosity was not +encouraged among cadets.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> +his pocket—the same, I fancy, which had figured +in our previous interview.</p> + +<p>“Do you recognize this face?” he inquired, +offering me the picture.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“It is a very remarkable likeness,” said the +round-faced man. “And it will be of good service +to the Fatherland.”</p> + +<p>He eyed me for a moment impressively before +continuing.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“This is an important mission,” he added<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> +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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="illus02" style="max-width: 21.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus02.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>“Remember,” he was saying. “From this day +you are no longer a cadet. You are a prince. +Act accordingly.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> +he was strongly pro-German in his sympathies +but distrusted his ability to carry through the +task in hand.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So two weeks passed, while I was beginning to +wish that the masquerade would continue indefinitely, +when one day my tutor sent for me.</p> + +<p>“So,” he said, “We have had play enough, not +so? Now we shall have work.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> +his instructions with alacrity. Nevshka was +charming.</p> + +<p>Now I saw the purpose of this carefully fostered +friendship.</p> + +<p>“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 <i>and secure them</i>, you are +unworthy of the trust that your government has +placed in you.”</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> +I should have felt about stealing from an enemy +general the plan of an attack.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As the baron was heard at the door, I drew +out my watch.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span></p> + +<p>“Nevshka, your clock is slow. It is already +midnight.”</p> + +<p>Nevshka started.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> +with my work. And I went to bed, delighted +with myself, and dreaming of the great things +that were to come.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p class="tb">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.</p> + +<p>It might be well, at this point, to recall the +political situation in Europe, as it affected England,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So matters stood, when in August, 1907, <i>but +a few weeks after my masquerade</i>, 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 +<i>Russia would give England military aid in the +event of a war between Germany and England</i>!</p> + +<p>Meantime what was Germany doing?</p> + +<p>She had, you may be sure, no intention of +allowing England to best her in the game of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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!<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> +would forget this new alliance in allegiance to +the old?</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“Just read in <i>The Times</i>: ‘British moving +north into Mesopotamia to protect oil pipes and +capture Bagdad.’ I don’t need to read <i>Punch</i> +any more, <i>The Times</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> +to tell your Russian friends that there was no +need to come further south as you were there +already.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus03" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus03.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">Raul Madero and Staff. Captain von der Goltz + is standing the second from the left.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus04" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus04.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">A group of recruits who came from the United + States to enter Villa’s Army. Captain von der Goltz is at the extreme left.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But Imperial Russia wrote her own death +sentence by her treachery. There was a revolution +in Russia ...</p> + +<p>But I anticipate.</p> + +<p class="tb">That is the story of my little expedition into +Russia—and of what it brought about.</p> + +<p>As for me, I was sent back to Gross Lichterfelde, +where I abruptly ceased to be a young<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But at that time I was all hopes and rosy +dreams—of my future, of myself, occasionally +of Nevshka.</p> + +<p>Nevshka. Is she still as charming as ever?</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p><i>Of what comes of leaving important +papers exposed. I look and talk indiscreetly—and +a man dies.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then I would return to Gross Lichterfelde and +its discipline.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Junkers</i>. He +had an estate in that rolling farm land between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> +Goldap and Tilsit, which was the scene of countless +adventures of Willi’s boyhood.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Good news,” he cried, “we are sure to have +a lively holiday. Brother Franz is getting a few +days’ leave, too.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Where is Franz?” was Willi’s first question +when we reached his home.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“Time to start now?” he asked. “Good! Wait +a minute, while I dress.” He stepped into the +adjoining dressing-room.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> +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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When Franz returned, dressed for the shoot, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> +was standing looking out of his window, and I +said nothing about my discovery.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> +shooting—of the maps on the table. Franz was +one of us!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A month later Willi von Heiden staggered +into my room. “Franz is dead,” he said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In response to the gesture of a lady’s fan +Franz crossed the ball room hurriedly. He was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> +but it seems impossible. Can’t you do +something to interfere?”</p> + +<p>The colonel looked at him steadily. “Your +honest opinion. Is von Heiden’s honor affected +by Frentzen’s action?”</p> + +<p>There was nothing Franz’s captain could do +but reply, “Yes.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment the sun came up fully. +Pistols were loaded and given to Franz and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> +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....</p> + +<p>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 <i>was the cause of it</i>. 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>I hung my head, sick at heart; but he was relentless.</p> + +<p>“Remember also,” he said in a pitiless voice,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> +“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>I groaned mentally as he continued.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>That night at Gross Lichterfelde, after lights +were out, Willi von Heiden came creeping to my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p><i>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.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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 <i>Okrana</i>—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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> +and possibly richer by another combatant in the +Great War.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>All of which sounds like romance and is—merely +the truth.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Consequently I was far from displeased when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Café de l’Europe</i> in Geneva, bound on a still +hunt for Russian revolutionists.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>So it happened that on a particular night in +December of 1909, I sat in the <i>Café de l’Europe</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Our two comrades,” he was saying, “will +soon arrive from the center in Buenos Ayres.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” another voice assented—a harsher +voice, this, to whose owner French was obviously +also a foreign tongue. “In the spring, we hope.”</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="illus05" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus05.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span></p> + +<p>The Spaniard laughed.</p> + +<p>“An excellent business! So simple. <i>Boom!</i> +And our dear Alfonso....”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I decided to look into the matter.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> +to risk my clear-headedness with more than the +glass I had already had.</p> + +<p>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—<i>and +one of the very men I was after</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A telegram reached me next day. I was +ordered to Brussels to communicate my information +to the Spanish Minister there.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> +in a situation such as this, one takes as few +chances as possible.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now, <i>Cherchez la femme</i> 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.</p> + +<p>It is here that accident crosses the trail again. +For if a certain official of the <i>Okrana</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Mira Descartes! She was the kind of woman +of whom people like to say that she would have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”)</p> + +<p>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 <i>Café de l’Europe</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There my connection with the affair ceased.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> +But not long after a little tragi-comedy occurred +which was a direct result of my activities. Let +me recall it to you.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There was a sudden commotion in the streets, +an explosion, and the confused sound of a crowd +in excitement.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="tb">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: <i>Cherchez la +femme</i>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>This brings me to the second act of my comedy.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Portugal was in a different situation. Poorer<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then Manuel did a foolish thing. He kept a +diary.</p> + +<p>It was a commonplace diary, as you will remember +if you read the parts of it which were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> +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.</p> + +<p><i>Somehow England came into possession of the +diary.</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> +King Alfonso had shown some interest in her—and +Manuel was easily influenced by the example +of his elders.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> +too friendly towards the exiled king—and became +pro-English, as you know.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>People who have visited Europe many times +can hardly have avoided seeing upon one occasion<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>You will pardon me if I pass over the events<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> +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 <i>a deux</i> +was in progress—and the diplomat’s guest was +Mlle. Bishop, who had indiscreetly accepted the +Englishman’s invitation.</p> + +<p>Came a knock at the door. Mademoiselle grew +pale.</p> + +<p>“My husband,” she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> +must, therefore, give her a lesson.” As he spoke +he tapped his boot suggestively with his riding +whip.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“He is going to beat me,” she sobbed. “Help +me, for Heaven’s sake. Stop him. Give him—give +him anything.”</p> + +<p>But the Englishman did not need to be +coached.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“The word of a gentleman, I suppose. No,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>He turned to his wife.</p> + +<p>“Madame. You will go to Monsieur’s trunk, +which is open in the corner, and remove every +article so that I can see it.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> +however—all of them. And you may give me +the portfolio that lies on the bureau.”</p> + +<p>As he took the packet, the rider turned to the +diplomat, who stood as if paralyzed, in the corner +of the room.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>He did not wait to hear the Englishman’s +reply.</p> + +<p class="tb">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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But then, wasn’t it Solomon who complained +about the lack of original material on this globe?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But at that time I was engaged upon a matter +of considerably more importance.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p><i>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.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> +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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp78" id="illus06" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus06.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">General Villa and Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, + von der Goltz’s commanding officer.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="illus07" style="max-width: 20.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus07.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">General Raul Madero, the brother of the + murdered President of Mexico.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> +a corner, a group of French merchants heatedly +discussed some business deal. The usual scene +... almost commonplace in its variety.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Le Lapin Agile</i> on the +hill of Montmartre gained a new one. Acting +under instructions I had become a social outcast +myself.</p> + +<p>The place where I had been told to stay had +been a tavern for centuries. Once it was called +the <i>Cabaret of the Assassins</i>, then the <i>Cabaret +of the Traitor</i>, then <i>My Country Place</i> and now, +after fifty years, it was <i>The Sprightly Rabbit</i>. +André Gill had painted the sign of the tavern,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> +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 <i>Le Lapin Agile</i>—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.</p> + +<p>“Tomatoes,” I told the waiter who came for +my order. As he went I slipped a franc into his +hand. “I want to see <i>The Salmon</i>. Is he in?”</p> + +<p>He nodded.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“I am <i>The Salmon</i>,” he said. “What do you +want?”</p> + +<p>I studied him carefully before replying, appraising<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> +him as if he were a horse I contemplated +buying. It was not tactful or altogether safe, +as <i>The Salmon’s</i> expression plainly showed; but +I wished to be sure of my man. After a moment:</p> + +<p>“Sit down, my friend,” I told him. “I have +a business proposition to make. M. Morel sent +me to you.”</p> + +<p>He smiled at the name. The fictitious M. +Morel had put him in the way of several excellent +“business propositions.”</p> + +<p>“It is a pleasure,” responded <i>The Salmon</i>. +“What does Monsieur wish?”</p> + +<p>I told him....</p> + +<p>In order to make you understand the business +I was on, it is necessary that I pause here, +abandoning <i>The Salmon</i> 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.</p> + +<p>But in America a storm was brewing. Mexico, +which for so many years had been held at peace<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There was only one thing that my government +wanted—a copy of the protocol. It was that +which I had been instructed to get!</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>must</i> succeed—and it was plain that I +could do so only by violence.</p> + +<p>Violence it should be, then; and with the assistance +of my friend <i>The Salmon</i>—to whom, you<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> +may be sure, I did not confide my real object—I +prepared a plan of campaign, which we duly +presented to a group of <i>The Salmon’s</i> 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 <i>The Salmon</i>. I was a good fellow, <i>The +Salmon</i> assured them, and by way of proving my +friendship I had shared with him my knowledge +of a good “prospect” whom I had discovered.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>My carefully planned <i>coup</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>Limantour accepted them and I knew that my +audacity had triumphed.</p> + +<p>“They are not of very much importance,” said +Limantour, “and I had only a few francs on me.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“A German,” he exclaimed, “and a worthy +representative of that worthy race.” Limantour +was enchanted. “And you live at the Grand +Hotel?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Le Lapin Agile</i>, jumping<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> +into a taxi when I was out of sight. The taxi +took me to the <i>Gare du Nord</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Le Lapin Agile</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I, too, had an automobile waiting near his +club. Two of my men sauntered over to Limantour’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Can you lend me a wrench?” one of my men +shouted to Limantour’s false chauffeur.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> +Limantour himself opened the door of the limousine +and half protruding his body, called out +with the kindest intentions.</p> + +<p>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 <i>The Salmon</i>.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>Dumping the unconscious Limantour into his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There the matter might have ended; but Germany +had another card to play. On February +27, 1911, Limantour left Paris for New York,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> +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<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> calls it, +the United States mobilized 20,000 troops on +the Mexican border!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilson immediately left for Washington +with a photograph of portions of the treaty. A<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Germany had done the United States a service. +It is interesting to consider the motives for her +action.</p> + +<p>Those motives may be explained in two words: +South America.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> +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.</p> + +<p><i>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!</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It has not ended yet.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p><i>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></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In the month of April, 1912, I abruptly quitted +the service of my government. The reasons +which impelled me were very serious. You remember<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Kroonland</i> of the Red Star Line.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus08" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus08.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The <i>Kroonland</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> +Fort Slocum, and under the severe eye of a +sergeant began to learn my drill.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I learned my drill—shades of Gross Lichterfelde!—with +extreme ease. That is the only +single thing that I was officially asked to do.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Thereafter life in the Nineteenth was decidedly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“<i>Wie gehts, von der Goltz?</i>” was his greeting.</p> + +<p>I told him he had mistaken me for some one +else. He laughed.</p> + +<p>“What’s the use of bluffing,” he asked, “when +each of us knows the other? Just read these instructions<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> +I’m carrying.” He laid a paper before +me.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I read carefully and asked La Vallee how I +was expected to prove my loyalty at that particular +time.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“But,” I objected, “I am a soldier in the +United States Army. You are asking me to be +a deserter.”</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> +indiscreet there? Suppose some enemy should +find out that you made false statements when +you enlisted? I believe there is a penalty.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span></p> + +<p>“The papers you are carrying,” he said then, +“will be proof enough, I think.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>As the completeness of the frame-up flashed +upon me I went wild. There was a chair beside<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>There is small use going in detail into the +major and minor degradations of life in a Mexican +prison. I pass over <i>cimex lectularius</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> +was suffering because he was suspected of attachment +to the Constitutionalist cause.</p> + +<p>On my third or fourth night there I was attracted +to my cell door by a sibilant “<i>Oiga! +Aleman!</i>” and something soft was thrust between +the bars.</p> + +<p>“German,” whispered a voice in Spanish out +of the blackness, “it is cold to-night. We have +brought you up a blanket.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The blanket was the first of many gifts, and +many were the chats we had together, all with a +practical purpose.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>After I had been in prison for about three +weeks Kueck came to see me and made the whole +matter thoroughly plain.</p> + +<p>“Von der Goltz,” he opened bluntly, “you are +in a bad situation.”</p> + +<p>“Do you think so?” I asked him, significantly.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> +suffering for their cause, I was told, was +known throughout their forces—would be well +taken care of. So I reached my decision.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> +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 <i>coup de grace</i>? 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Kueck came again to see me.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus09" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus09.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">Constitutionalist soldiers surrounding + the first cannon captured by Villa after he was released from prison + in Mexico City.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>About September 12, 1913, Kueck came to +escort me out of prison, and in his own carriage<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Another acquaintance made at that time +proved very useful to me later. Dr. L. A.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> +Raschbaum, Francisco Villa’s personal physician, +was a fellow guest at the Ollendorf Hotel.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Arriving before the outer defenses of Ojinaga, +we began our siege of the city. Soon after I got +my first sight of Pancho Villa.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden one evening, Trinidad Rodriguez<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> +told me that “Pancho” had just arrived +and we must ride over for a conference with him.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On Christmas night, 1913, happened the adventure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> +which made me, quite by accident, and +without intention, a hero. Also, I underwent +the greatest fright of my life.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 “<i>Qui vive?</i>” and an instant’s +silence while the surprised outpost of the enemy +waited for an answer. “<i>Alerta! Alerta!</i>” +sounded his shrill alarm.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>The men were quickly across. I followed, or +tried to, and just as my front foot touched the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> +further bank the clay crumbled. Down I went +into the ditch.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span></p> + +<p>He flung his arms about me, to receive a fresh +surprise. “You are all sticky with something,” +he cried. “What is it?”</p> + +<p>“Blood,” I told him simply and truthfully. +My reputation was made.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>By the time Ojinaga fell “<i>El Diable Aleman</i>”—the +German Devil—had become a tradition of +the Constitutionalist Army.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>You remember that when I left Chihuahua, a +released prisoner, the last person who spoke to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> +me was Col. Carlos Orozco, commanding the +Sixth Infantry Battalion, and his farewell was +a threat.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> +furnished columns of copy to <i>El Imparcial</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I chose to see the camp first, and had the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>In the center of the camp we came upon a +tent more imposing than its mates, though by no +means palatial.</p> + +<p>“This,” said my cicerone, “is the quarters of +Gen. Mercado, the ranking officer here. Do you +wish to pay him your respects?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp65" id="illus10" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus10.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span></p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>From the side of the shop stepped out a man +on whom I had never set eyes before.</p> + +<p>“Koglmeier ain’t here.”</p> + +<p>“But he must be here,” I insisted. “I can see +his horse out there in the yard.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said the man, “the horse is here, but +Koglmeier ain’t. Nor he won’t be. It just +happens that Koglmeier’s dead.”</p> + +<p>“When did he die?”</p> + +<p>“The 20th of last December,” said the man. +“But he didn’t die. He got murdered.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> +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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus11" style="max-width: 62.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus11.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>His end subdued the festive spirit in me and +I was not sorry when we started back for the +interior of Mexico.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Chief Trinidad Rodriguez got twenty machine +guns down from the United States and turned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That satisfied me for one afternoon. I went +over to Gen. Rodriguez’s quarters.</p> + +<p>“I’ve got the guns,” I reported.</p> + +<p>“Good!” he cried. “I shall want the platoons +ready for action in three weeks. Not a day +later.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span></p> + +<p>It was up to me to have them ready. So I got +busy at once.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>My only resort was to get my gun crews ready +made.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>To a wise old sergeant I gave a hundred pesos.</p> + +<p>“Juan,” I told him, “get the men of those +machine gun crews drunk in this quarter of +Torreon. And encourage them to be noisy.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> +hands. “There is not a scrap of leather left in +Torreon,” he said.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“But I have no mules for them yet,” I hinted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> +half fed and too worn out to have a single kick +left in them.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I shall always remember that day, not only +for the death of my chief, but for a personal bit +of adventure.</p> + +<p>I was temporarily away from my guns with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>By some fortune I was not hit, and after a +moment looked down at the man beside me.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> +me as the ablest man I had seen south of +the Rio Grande.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Toward the end of July a stranger brought +me credentials proving him a messenger from +Consul Kueck in El Paso.</p> + +<p>“The Consul,” he told me, “wishes to ask you +one question, and the answer is a yes or a no.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> +This is the question: In case your Government +wished your services again, could she expect to +receive them?”</p> + +<p>“In case of war—yes,” I answered.</p> + +<p>It was not very long before I received a telegram +from Kueck. “Come,” was all it said.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p><i>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.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I went to Raul Madero with the telegram.</p> + +<p>“It has come,” I said. “War. I shall have to +go.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“When will Captain von Papen be in New +York?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus12" style="max-width: 62.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus12.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">Dr. Kraske’s letter addressed to “Baron + von der Goltz,” arranging for an appointment with Captain von Papen. + Translated it reads:</p> + <div class="blockquote"> + <p class="right">New York, August 21, 1914.</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="smcap">Dear Herr von der Goltz</span>:</p> + <p>I am very sorry not to have found you in after another engagement. I + was unable to come round and try to catch you.</p> + <p>I had arranged a meeting for yesterday morning between you and a + gentleman who is interested in you.</p> + <p>If you call on me to-morrow morning at whatever time is convenient + to you, I shall probably be able to arrange another interview.</p> + <p class="center">I am, etc.,</p> + <p class="right"><span class="smcap">Dr. Kraske</span>.</p> + </div> +</figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Washington was technically on vacation at the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“How about the German-Americans?” I asked +him upon one occasion.</p> + +<p>He made a sound that was between a grunt +and a cough.</p> + +<p>“I am attending to them,” was his reply. I +did not understand what he meant until much +later.</p> + +<p>We talked much of American participation in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>“This letter” was from a man named Schumacher, +who lived in Oregon, at Eden Bower +Farm. He had written to the Embassy, suggesting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> +of food supply as well as hamper the transportation +of war materials. Canada will be thrown +into a panic and public opinion will <i>demand</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>I looked at him in surprise. Where had he +got such a plan? Papen enlightened me with his +next words.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> +the plot took definite shape as a plan to blow up +the Welland Canal.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“I think it will do admirably,” he said. “Will +you undertake it?”</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span></p> + +<p>Tucker accompanied me to Baltimore, and +together we paid a visit to Consul Luederitz. +The consul glanced at the letter I presented to +him.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> +authorities had forbidden him to use his apparatus +for sending purposes.</p> + +<p>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 <i>nom de +guerre</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stallforth lifted his eyebrows when he saw +the name on the check. I smiled.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span></p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These documents show:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Third, that on December 29, 1914, Tauscher +sent a bill to Captain von Papen for a total +amount of $503.24. <i>The third item, dated September +11th, was for $31.13.</i></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> +automatic pistols, batteries, detonators, and wire +for exploding the dynamite. Von Papen +promised them in two or three days—and he kept +his word.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp62" id="illus13" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus13.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">Before going to Baltimore, “Mr. Bridgeman + Taylor”—Captain von der Goltz—received this letter from Capt. von Papen. + Translated it reads:</p> + <div class="blockquote"> + <p class="right">New York, 27. VIII. 14.</p> + <p>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.</p> + <p class="center"><span class="smcap">von Papen</span>,<br> + Captain in the General Staff of the Army<br> + and Military Attaché.</p> + </div> +</figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> +troops had left the camp—and my men and I +returned to New York, unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>knew</i> it and wanted it to be so.</p> + +<p>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 <i>all</i> of the bridges and +canal locks in the lake region!</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> +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. <i>The United States had +made no effort to apprehend us.</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> +I, who knew both countries (and who was the +possessor of an American passport bearing an +American name) was selected to go.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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. <i>And +always remember that if things look bad for us, +something will happen over here.</i>”</p> + +<p>I left him, speculating upon the “something”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p><i>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.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>It was peaceful sailing in those early days of +the war, and our ship, the <i>Duca d’Aosta</i>, +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> +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 <i>Vorwaerts</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>I found von Nerf to be a large man, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“But do you think that there is any chance of +Italy entering the war on our side?” I asked him.</p> + +<p>Von Nerf shrugged his shoulders. “It is +doubtful,” was his reply. “What could they do +in their situation?”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> +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 <i>Die Wacht +am Rhein</i> or some other patriotic air was played.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> +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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus14" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus14.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="illus15" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus15.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder + Company for explosives delivered to “Bridgeman Taylor” and charged to + Captain Tauscher.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“You are going to travel by Zeppelin,” he +explained. “It will be very cold.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In a word, it was an extremely nervous and +not a stolid, Teutonic person who sat before me<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> +in that room. And it was not an assertive, but +merely a very tired human being, who finally +addressed me.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> +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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>I hesitated a moment.</p> + +<p>“It shall be as your Majesty wishes,” I said +finally.</p> + +<p>He looked at me closely before he spoke again. +“It is America, then.”</p> + +<p>And then, as I bowed in acquiescence, he +spoke once more—for the last time so far as my +ears are concerned.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span></p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Here was a man who honestly believed that he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p><i>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.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> +war—diplomatic rather than military, but war none +the less.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I was absolutely safe, I felt. In my confidence,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> +Thrusting a penny into the boy’s hand, I made +haste to get out of the crowd as quickly as I +could.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>en route</i> from a visit +to my family in Germany and now bound for +Mexico to resume my services. There remained<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span> +but one matter to explain: why I was using an +American passport bearing a name that was not +mine.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In Parliamentary White Paper, Miscellaneous +No. 13, (1916), you will find a statement which +explains my next step. “Horst von der Goltz,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> +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. <i>He offered to go back +to Germany to obtain information and all he +asked for in the first instance was his traveling +expenses.</i>”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I told Mr. Campbell that I wished to enter the +British Secret Service; that I was in a position +to secure much valuable information.</p> + +<p>“Upon what subject?” asked Mr. Campbell.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus16" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus16.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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:</p> + <div class="blockquote"> + <p>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.</p> + </div> +</figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Mr. Campbell was hesitating, so I added two +other equally absurd subjects, the movements of +the <i>Emden</i> and the <i>Leipsic</i>, about which I knew—and +the service chiefs knew that I knew—absolutely +nothing.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span></p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Gentlemen, that is all I can tell you.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I had, as I have said, managed to secure newspapers +in my new quarters. It is difficult to say<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span></p> + +<p>Von Papen had been recalled.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> +name was not mentioned in the disclosures, I +became relieved.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Where to?” I asked.</p> + +<p>“To Scotland Yard,” he said briefly.</p> + +<p>“What for?”</p> + +<p>“I do not know.”</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>I was brought in to the office of the Assistant +Commissioner and found myself in the presence<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was Captain Hall who held the paper +toward me. It read:</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Washington, D. C.</span><br> +September 1, 1914.</p> + +<p class="noindent">The Riggs National Bank,</p> + +<p>Pay to the order of Mr. Bridgman Taylor +two hundred dollars.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">F. von Papen.</span></p> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span></p> + +<p>When I had read it he turned over the check +so that I could see the endorsement.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Sign this name, please—Mr. Bridgman +Taylor.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Do you know that check?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” I admitted, racking my wits for a possible +explanation of the affair.</p> + +<p>“Why was it issued?”</p> + +<p>I had an inspiration.</p> + +<p>“Von Papen gave it to me to go to Europe and +join the army—but you see I didn’t——”</p> + +<p>“Ah! Von Papen gave it to you.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>There passed across my memory the year and +more of solitary confinement, during which I had +held my tongue.</p> + +<p>I swung around on the Englishmen.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>The four grave faces looked at me. “We are +going to prosecute you on this evidence,” was the +only answer.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“We shall discuss that further,” said Captain +Carter. “You will return to Reading.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span> +knew of the workings of German secret agencies.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That knowledge was difficult to obtain, but I +finally secured it through a rather adroit questioning<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp60" id="illus17" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus17.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">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.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> +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.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p><i>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.</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I am making no rash assertions when I state +that ten years ago the course which German<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Knowing this, Germany—which does not play +the game of diplomacy with gloves on—laid her +plans accordingly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Deutschtum</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span> +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 <i>Meteor</i>, which was then building +in an American yard.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He would have been mistaken had he so regarded +them. The German Government does not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span> +efficient a secrecy that she very nearly accomplished +her purpose.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They were no ordinary men whom Germany<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> +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 <i>absolute armed resistance</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span></p> + +<p>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. <i>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.</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> +Germanophobia was rampant in those days, and +to hysterical persons it was unthinkable that any +German could be exempt from the suspicion of +treason.</p> + +<p>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, <i>emanated from the +offices of Captain von Papen and his associates</i>. +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.</p> + +<p>It was in reality a gigantic game of bluff.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It was to the interests of the administration at +Washington to keep the country united by keeping +the Germans disunited. The reverse condition<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span> +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 <i>was</i> 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.</p> + +<p>There is a typical German club in New York—the +<i>Deutscher Verein</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span></p> + +<p>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: “<i>The election returns prove +that Deutschtum is armed and able, when the +word is given, to seat its men.</i>”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> +that American <i>Deutschtum</i> should not be in +favor of preparedness, because “<i>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</i>.” And not long ago the <i>Herold des +Glaubens</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>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, <i>led and organized by a German</i>, +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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> +this inconsistency? <i>Or was it that Mr. Koelble +was acting under orders?</i></p> + +<p>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. <i>It gave to Americans an additional +proof of the hold that Germany had +obtained over a large group of German-Americans.</i></p> + +<p>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 <i>toward Germany</i> +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 +<i>Deutschland</i> and that if elected they will act +accordingly.” I do not believe that the men who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span> +sent that circular expected it to be widely obeyed. +But unquestionably they knew it would be made +public.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“The German-Americans predominate in the +grog-shops, low dives, pawn shops and numerous +artifices for money-making and corrupt practices +in politics.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> +formerly gone to American business houses +should be deflected to German corporations. +<i>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.</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>not</i> just +and that it is not worthy of the support of the +men they claim to represent.</p> + +<p>Is this their intention?</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p><i>More about the German intrigue against +the United States. German aims in Latin +America. Japan and Germany in Mexico. +What happened in Cuba?</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>“American intervention in Mexico would +mean another Ireland, another Poland—another +sore spot in the world. Well, why not?”</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> +Government’s attitude in the matter is concerned, +it is the only phase of the problem worth considering.</p> + +<p>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, <i>but retained their German citizenship</i>. +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>and also by +seeking to force the United States into taking +action that would justify that fear</i>.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span> +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.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp44" id="illus18" style="max-width: 31.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus18.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">The order for the deportation of von der + Goltz which for some reason was not put into effect.</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> +of Señor Limantour, rather than to any +other cause.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>Here was tinder aplenty for a conflagration +of sorts. Germany applied the torch at its most +inflammable spot.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> +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!</p> + +<p>I leave it to the reader to decide whether it was +the Minister or the consuls who really represented +the German Government.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Consider of what service this condition was in +their campaign. Respected, influential, they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>coup d’etat</i> 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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span> +Government in their capacity as private individuals.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Señor Diaz started for Japan—but he never +arrived there. Somehow the State Department +at Washington got news of the proposed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span> +treaty—how, only the German agents know—and +Señor Diaz’s course was diverted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Ypiranga</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>must</i> be forced into a war with +Mexico in order to prevent the shipment of +munitions to Europe.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> +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.”</p> + +<p>Von Hintze significantly recommends that the +captain should be decorated with the fourth class +of the Order of the Red Eagle.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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—<i>and they will not ask you +any questions</i>.”</p> + +<p>Rather complete, was it not? I left with every +intention of carrying the instructions out—and in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> +a little over a week was made <i>hors de combat</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>But the indomitable von Rintelen was not discouraged. +He had but one purpose—to make<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> +the two countries by leading Americans to +believe that Mexico is honey-combed with German +conspiracies.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp54" id="illus19" style="max-width: 25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/illus19.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption><p class="caption">Cover of the British White Paper, + containing von der Goltz’s confession, and referring to him as + “Bridgeman Taylor.”</p></figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span> +if he landed in Colombia and marched on Caracas, +as he did successfully in 1890.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In Cuba, too, the hand of Germany has been +evident, in spite of the disclaimers which have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> +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 <i>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</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is also a notorious fact that the Mexicans<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>But far more significant are the developments +in the actual fighting.</p> + +<p>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, <i>from +a military standpoint, unnecessary</i>.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span> +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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> +the rebellion has also served its purpose as an +illustration of Germany’s ability to make trouble.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But she has not given up. You may be sure +that she has not given up.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p><i>The last stand of German intrigue. +Germany’s spy system in America. What is +coming?</i></p> + +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I remember a day not so very many months<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span> +ago, when a man with whom I had some business +in—for me—less quiet days, came to see me.</p> + +<p>“B. E. is in town,” he said quietly. “He says +he must see you. Can you meet him at the +—— Restaurant to-night?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I nodded.</p> + +<p>“I’ll be there,” I said. “At what hour?”</p> + +<p>“Six-thirty,” my friend replied. “It’s only for +a minute. He is leaving to-night.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“I cannot do it,” I told him.</p> + +<p>But the captain showed a remarkable knowledge +of my private affairs.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span></p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>This I declined to do and our conversation +ended.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Soon I had the full story of Boy-Ed’s latest +activities in this country.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>en route</i> to Newport and +Germany.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>How can it be got rid of?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And whereas the work done before the war +was conducted by Germans, the present work, +for very obvious reasons, cannot be done by any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span> +one who is a German or who is likely to be suspected +of German affiliations.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>At the present time more than ninety per cent. +of the German spies in England are Englishmen. +The rest are Russians, Dutchmen,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span> +Roumanians—what you will—anything but Germans.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>HOW THE SPY SYSTEM WORKS.</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span> +importance in themselves, but are of immense +value when considered in conjunction with facts +acquired elsewhere.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Now, the moment that war breaks out, what +happens? The German Government has distributed +throughout the country thousands of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>What is must learn now is:</p> + +<p>First, what are the present military and naval +activities of the enemy.</p> + +<p>Second, what are they planning to do.</p> + +<p>Finally, the German Government must learn +the how, why, when and where of each of these +things.</p> + +<p>That, with the machinery at its command, is +not so difficult as it would seem.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span> +by different agents. They are sent to many different +people for transmission. <i>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.</i></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span> +her method; nor is it difficult to see why it frequently +succeeds.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>in his wooden leg</i>. Could not this method +be applied to dispatches?</p> + +<p>There are numerous authenticated cases of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h3>HOW TO GET RID OF THE SPY SYSTEM.</h3> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But you can do much to counteract their +methods by doing two things:</p> + +<p>I. Delaying all mails and cables, other than +actual government messages.</p> + +<p>II. Instituting a system of counter espionage, +which shall have for its object the detection +<i>but not the arrest</i> of enemy spies; and the dissemination +of misleading information.</p> + +<p>The war work of the spy depends for success<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span> +upon the speed with which he can communicate +new facts to Berlin. If all his messages are delayed, +his effectiveness is severely crippled.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>can</i> forget?</p> + +<p>That would be worth fighting for.</p> + +<p class="titlepage">THE END.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> 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.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Mr. Edward I. Bell, in his “The Political Shame of Mexico.”</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> 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).</p> + +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> 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.</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75931 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75931-h/images/cover.jpg b/75931-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47fec11 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus01.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..99e4625 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus01.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus02.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9c51cc --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus02.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus03.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus03.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88195e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus03.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus04.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus04.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73391f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus04.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus05.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus05.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8ad1f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus05.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus06.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus06.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2224477 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus06.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus07.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus07.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..03c8e5b --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus07.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus08.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus08.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..69d9182 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus08.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus09.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus09.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d998f39 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus09.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus10.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..08e1560 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus10.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus11.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a18a980 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus11.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus12.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus12.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6899b63 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus12.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus13.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus13.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbc0848 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus13.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus14.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus14.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d04038 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus14.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus15.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus15.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87d960c --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus15.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus16.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus16.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..836f627 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus16.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus17.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus17.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b13694 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus17.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus18.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus18.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7740834 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus18.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/illus19.jpg b/75931-h/images/illus19.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5db303a --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/illus19.jpg diff --git a/75931-h/images/signature.jpg b/75931-h/images/signature.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6598533 --- /dev/null +++ b/75931-h/images/signature.jpg |
