MILITARY VIOLENCE
The plan to raid Canadian ports--The first Welland Canal plot--Von
Papen, von der Goltz and Tauscher--The project abandoned--Goltz's
arrest--The Tauscher trial--Hidden arms--Louden's plan of invasion.
Underneath the even surface of American life seethed a German
volcano, eating at the upper crust, occasionally cracking it, and not
infrequently bursting a great gap. When an eruption occurred, America
stopped work for a moment, stared in surprise, sometimes in horror, at
the external phenomena, discussed them for a few days, then hurried
back to work. More often than not it saw nothing sinister even in the
phenomena.
Less than ten hours from German headquarters in New York lay Canada,
one of the richest possessions of Germany's bitter enemy England.
Captain von Papen had not only full details of all points of military
importance in the United States, but had made practical efforts to
utilize them. He knew where his reservists could be found in America.
When the Government, shortly after the outbreak of war, forbade the
recruiting of belligerents within its boundaries, and then refused to
issue American passports for the protection of soldiers on the way to
their commands, Captain von Papen planned to mobilize and employ a
German army on American soil in no less pretentious an enterprise than
a military invasion of the Dominion.
The first plan was attributed to a loyal German named Schumacher,
whose ambiguous address was "Eden Bower Farm, Oregon." He outlined in
detail to von Papen the feasibility of obtaining a number of powerful
motor-boats, to be manned by German-American crews, and loaded with
German-American rifles and machine guns. From the ports on the shores
of the Great Lakes he considered it practicable to journey under
cover of darkness to positions which would command the waterfronts
of Toronto, Sarnia, Windsor and Kingston, Ontario, find the cities
defenseless, and precipitate upon them a fair storm of bullets. A few
Canadian lives might be lost, which did not matter; an enormous hue and
cry would be raised to keep the Canadian troops at home to guard the
back door.
Von Papen entertained the plan seriously, and submitted it to Count
von Bernstorff, who for obvious diplomatic reasons did not care to
sponsor open violence when its proponent's references were unreliable,
its actual reward was at best doubtful, and when subtle violence was
equally practicable. Von Papen then produced an alternative project.
Cutting through the promontory which separates Lake Erie from the
western end of Lake Ontario runs the Welland Canal, through which all
shipping must pass to avoid Niagara Falls. This waterway is one of
Canada's dearest properties, and is no mean artery of supply from the
great grain country of the Northwest.
Its economic importance, however, was secondary in the German mind to
the psychological effect upon Canada which a dynamite calamity to the
Canal would certainly cause. The first expeditionary force of Canadian
troops was training frantically at Valcartier, Quebec. They must be
kept at home. Whether or not the idea originated with Captain von Papen
is of little consequence (it may be safely assumed that Berlin had long
had plans for such an enterprise); the fact is that it devolved upon
him as military commander to crystallize thought in action. The plot
is ascribed to "two Irishmen, prominent members of Irish associations,
who had both fought during the Irish rebellion," and was to include
destruction of the main railway junctions and the grain elevators in
the vicinity of Toronto.
The picturesque renegade German spy commonly known as Horst von der
Goltz is responsible for the generally accepted version of incidents
which followed his first interview with von Papen on August 22 at
the German Consulate in New York. He was sent to Baltimore under the
assumed name of Bridgeman H. Taylor, with a letter to the German Consul
there, Karl Luederitz, calling for whatever coöperation Goltz might
need. He was to recruit accomplices from the crew of a German ship then
lying at the North German Lloyd docks in the Patapsco River. With a man
whom he had hired in New York, Charles Tucker, alias "Tuchhaendler," he
visited the ship and selected his men. He then returned to New York,
where Papen placed three more men at his disposal, one of them being
A. A. Fritzen, of Brooklyn, a discharged purser on a Russian liner;
another Frederick Busse, an "importer," with offices in the World
Building, New York; and the third man Constantine Covani, a private
detective, of New York. After a few days the sailors from Baltimore
reported for duty, but were sent back, as Goltz noticed that his
movements were being watched.
Papen sent Goltz to Captain Tauscher's office at 320 Broadway for
explosives. On September 5, Captain Tauscher ordered 300 pounds of 60
per cent. dynamite to be delivered by the E. I. du Pont de Nemours
Company to Mr. Bridgeman Taylor. In a motor-boat Goltz applied at a du
Pont barge near Black Tom Island and the Statue of Liberty and took
away his three hundred pounds of dynamite in suitcases. The little
craft made its way up the river to 146th Street. The conspirators then
carried their burden to the German Club in Central Park South and later
in a taxicab to Goltz's home, where it was stored with a supply of
revolvers and electrical apparatus for exploding the charges.
[Illustration: Passport given to Horst von der Goltz under the _alias_
of Bridgeman H. Taylor]
A passport for facile entrance into Canada had been applied for by one
of Luederitz's henchmen in Baltimore in the name of "Bridgeman Taylor,"
and had been forwarded in care of Karl W. Buck, who lived at 843 West
End Avenue, New York. With this guerdon of American protection Goltz
set out for Buffalo about September 10--the last day of the Battle of
the Marne--Busse and Fritzen carrying the dynamite and apparatus, and
Covani, as Goltz naïvely related, "attending to me." He found rooms
at 198 Delaware Avenue, in the heart of Buffalo. He learned of the
terrain for the enterprise from a German of mysterious occupation,
who had lived in Buffalo for several years. Within a few days Goltz
and his companions moved on to Niagara Falls--a move made easier by an
exchange of telegraphic communications between Papen and himself. It
is only necessary to quote, from the British Secret Service report to
Parliament, those messages which Goltz received from the attaché, or
"Steffens," as Papen chose to sign himself:
New York, N. Y. Sept. 15, 14
Mr. Taylor, 198 Delaware Ave. Buffalo
Sent money today. Consult lawyer John Ryan six hundred thirteen
Mutual Life Building Buffalo not later than seventeenth.
STEFFENS, 112 Central Park South
12.45 p.
New York, N. Y. Sept. 16-14
Mr. Taylor, 198 Delaware Avenue, Bflo.
Ryan got money and instructions.
STEFFENS,
1.14 p.
Goltz and Covani "consulted" Mr. Ryan, who had received $200 on
September 16 from Papen through Knauth, Nachod & Kuhne.
Then Goltz claimed that he made two aeroplane flights over Niagara
Falls, and "reconnoitered the ground." Something went wrong, for after
a week arrived the following telegrams:
New York, N. Y. Sept. 24-14.
John T. Ryan, 613 Mutual Life Bldg. Buffalo.
Please instruct Taylor cannot do anything more for him.
STEFFENS.
12:51 p.
New York, N. Y. Sept. 26-14.
Mr. Taylor, care Western Union, Niagara Falls, N. Y.
Do what you think best. Did you receive dollars two hundred
RYAN
9.45 A.
These messages are open to several constructions. They do not
contradict Goltz's claim that he "learned that the first contingent of
Canadian troops had left the camp." They could indicate that his chief
was not fully satisfied with his technique. Perhaps the most intriguing
feature of the telegrams is their presence in a safe-deposit vault in
Holland when Goltz was captured months later. It may be assumed that
if (as he maintained) he was being watched constantly in Buffalo by
the United States Secret Service, one of the first things he would
have done is to destroy any messages received. We leave the reader to
decide--after he has traced Goltz's history a step or two further.
Whatever the occasion, the Welland enterprise was dismissed; the
dynamite was left with an aviator in Niagara Falls; Fritzen and Busse
were discharged from service, and Covani and Goltz left for New York.
In a letter dated December 7, from Buffalo, poor Busse wrote to Edmund
Pavenstedt, at 45 William Street, New York, pleading that he had been
left without any money in Niagara Falls; that he had written to von
Papen and had been compelled to wait two weeks before he got $20.
His expenses had accumulated during the fortnight, he could not find
work, he even had sold his overcoat, and he begged Pavenstedt to send
him money to come back to New York. "My friend Fritzen," he added,
"was sent back some weeks ago by a gentleman in the German-American
Alliance.... I would appreciate anything you can do for me, especially
since I enlisted in such a task ... Von Papen signs himself Stevens."
The military attaché was frankly disgusted at the failure of the
undertaking. Goltz claims to have explained everything satisfactorily,
and to have been given presently a new commission--that of returning
to Germany for further instructions from Abteilung III of the General
Staff, the intelligence department of the Empire.
On October 8 Goltz sailed for Europe, armed with his false passport,
and a letter of introduction to the German Consul-General in Genoa. He
reached Berlin safely, received his orders, returned to England, and
was arrested on November 13. The public was not informed of his arrest,
yet in Busse's letter from Buffalo of December 7, he mentioned Goltz's
capture in London. News traveled fast in German channels.
Examination of his papers resulted in a protracted imprisonment, which
daily grew more painful, and finally Goltz agreed to turn state's
evidence against his former confrères. It was not until March 31, 1916,
that Captain Tauscher was interrupted at his office by the arrival of
agents of the Department of Justice, who placed him under arrest. He
was held in $25,000 bail on a charge of having furthered a plot to blow
up the Welland Canal.
Meanwhile Goltz's confession had implicated him in something more than
a casual acquaintance with the plot; stubs in the check-book of Captain
von Papen established payment made by the latter to Tauscher of $31.13,
which happened to be the exact total of two bills from the du Pont
Company to Captain Tauscher for dynamite and hemp fuses delivered on
September 5 and 13 to "Bridgeman Taylor." Prior to the trial in June
and July, 1916, Tauscher offered to plead guilty for a promise of the
maximum fine without imprisonment, but his offer was rejected by the
United States attorneys. A letter was introduced as testimony to his
good character from General Crozier, the then head of the Ordnance
Department at Washington. Goltz made an unimpressive witness, and
Captain Tauscher, protesting his innocence as a mere intermediary in
the affair, was acquitted of the charge.
Of the smaller fry Fritzen was arrested in Los Angeles in March, 1917.
He stated then to officers that he had made trips to Cuba after the
outbreak of war in 1914, had traveled over southern United States in
two attempts to reach Mexico City, and had finally found employment
on a ranch. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Tucker and Busse
were witnesses at the Tauscher trial and were treated leniently. Covani
turned from his previous occupation as hunter to that of quarry, and
was not apprehended.
Information gathered by the Federal authorities and produced in court
proved that Captain von Papen and reservist German army officers in
the country planned a second mobilization of German reservists to
attack Canadian points. That the project was seriously considered for
a time is evidenced by a note in the diary found on the commander of
the _Geier_, in Honolulu, in which he said that the German consul
in Honolulu, George Rodiek, had had orders from the San Francisco
consulate to circulate a report to that effect. Hundreds of thousands
of rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition that were to be
available for German reservists were stored in New York, Chicago and
other cities on the border. Many a German-American brewery concealed in
the shadows of its storehouses crates of arms and ammunition. Tauscher
stored in 200 West Houston Street, New York, on June 21, 1915, 2,000
45-calibre Colt revolvers, 10 Colt automatic guns, 7,000 Springfield
rifles, 3,000,000 revolver cartridges and 2,500,000 rifle cartridges.
When the New York police questioned him about this arsenal, he said he
had purchased them in job lots, for speculation. As a matter of fact
they had been intended for use in India, but had been diverted on the
Pacific coast and returned to New York.
A bolder version of the plot of invasion came from Max Lynar Louden,
known to the Federal authorities as "Count Louden." He was a man of
nondescript reputation, who had secret communications with the Germans
in the early part of the war. He confessed that he was party to a
scheme for the quick mobilization and equipment of a full army of
German reservists. Louden was consistently annoying to the Secret
Service in that he refused openly to violate the neutrality laws, but
the moment the authorities learned of the fact that he was supposed to
have two or three wives they made an investigation which resulted in
his imprisonment. His story, if not altogether reliable, is interesting.
Through German-American interests, the plans were made in 1914, he
said, and a fund of $16,000,000 was subscribed to carry out the
details. Secret meetings were held in New York, Buffalo, Philadelphia,
Detroit, Milwaukee, and other large cities, and at these meetings it
was agreed that a force of 150,000 reservists was available to seize
and hold the Welland Canal, strategic points and munitions centers.
"We had it arranged," said Louden, "to send our men from large cities
following announcements of feasts and conventions, and I think we could
have obtained enough to carry out our plans had it not been for my
arrest on the charge of bigamy. The troops were to have been divided
into four divisions, with six sections. The first two divisions were to
have assembled at Silvercreek, Mich. The first was to have seized the
Welland Canal. The second was to have taken Wind Mill Point, Ontario.
The third was to go from Wilson, N. Y., to Port Hope. The fourth was
to proceed from Watertown, N. Y., to Kingston, Ontario. The fifth was
to assemble near Detroit and land near Windsor. The sixth section was
to leave Cornwall and take possession of Ottawa.
"It had been planned to buy or charter eighty-four excursion and small
boats to use in getting into Canada. All of the equipment was to have
been put aboard the boats, and when quarters for 120,000 men had been
found it would have been easy to continue the expedition. The German
government was cognizant of the plan and maps, etc., were to have been
furnished by the German government. A representative of the British
Ambassador offered $20,000 for our plans."
But none of the first German-American expeditionary forces left for
their destinations. Their project was innocently foiled by Amelia
Wendt, Rose O'Brien and Nella Florence Allendorf. These ladies were
Louden's wives.