VON IGEL AND KOENIG, TWO OF THE KAISER’S FAITHFUL WORKERS
Wolf von Igel, von Papen’s Man Friday and custodian of his secret
documents, was hustling about his private office on the twenty-fifth
floor of 60, Wall Street, on the morning of April 19, 1916. He was
hurried. His full, grey eyes glistened with excitement and he curled his
stubby moustache as he glanced upon heaps of papers carefully arranged
on the long council table and on the floor. Then squaring his stocky
shoulders, he turned again to the big safe, bearing the seal of the
Imperial German Government, and swinging back the heavy doors, extracted
another bundle of papers which he ranged among the other sheets with
military precision.
“It’s eleven o’clock and Koenig should be here now,” he said in German
to another employé of von Papen’s who was with him. “These papers must
be packed up at once.”
He paused and then began a mental inventory of each stack of papers to
make sure none was missing. All these documents—there were hundreds of
them, and their weight, as revealed by a government agent, was seventy
pounds—had belonged to von Papen. They revealed the inner workings of
the German spy system in America and a great part of the world. They
told many of the details. Those papers, connecting the German Government
with violators of law in America, were a vast responsibility for any
officer of von Igel’s age. Naturally, the young man was keyed to a high
pitch of excitement; for hitherto they had come from the safe only
piecemeal, and to permit daylight to reach so many at one time was
almost a little more than von Igel’s nerve could stand.
Perhaps he had a presentiment. In fact, secret agencies had been at work
to instil in him a feeling of uneasiness. Von Igel, stopping again and
again to twirl his moustache, knew that von Papen and Captain Tauscher
had been indicted on a charge of plotting to blow up Welland Canal. Word
also had come to him that still more ominous events were portending and
the idea—by stealthy prearrangement—had been given to him to ship all
the documents to Washington, where they would be absolutely safe.
Therefore von Igel was both busy with his packing and intensely
perturbed.
“A man to see you, Herr von Igel,” announced a stout German attendant.
“He refuses to tell his business except that it is important.”
Von Igel was gruffly directing his agent to make the stranger specify
his name and mission when the door was flung open. In dashed Joseph A.
Baker, of the Department of Justice, in charge of Federal Agents Storck,
Underhill and Grgurevich.
“I have a warrant for your arrest!” shouted Baker, who had a warrant
charging the German with complicity in the Welland Canal enterprise. Von
Igel eyed the intruders for the fraction of a second. With one spring he
reached the safe, and swinging the doors shut, was turning the
combination when Baker leaped upon him bearing him to the floor. Then
followed a battle of four Americans against two Germans, the attendant
having been quieted by the flash of revolvers.
“This means war,” yelled von Igel. “This is a part of the German Embassy
and is German territory. You’ve no right here.”
“You’re under arrest,” said Baker soothingly, as he pulled a revolver.
“You shoot and there’ll be war,” answered von Igel, while Storck and
Underhill grappled with a third. “I’m connected with the Embassy and you
can’t arrest me.” The first skirmish was quickly ended by von Igel,
realizing the importance of the documents entrusted to his care and
straining every resource to outwit his captors, he fought again and
again, facing revolvers and braving fists to reach the telephone to call
for the help of the German Ambassador and prevent the officers from
gathering up the documents. But he was unsuccessful. As the agents led
him from the office, they met Koenig, von Igel’s associate, and von
Papen’s agent in many enterprises just entering. Koenig, who was already
facing three charges growing out of his activities, was rendered
speechless by the sight of von Igel in custody and some of his documents
in possession of the government.
The mass of documents—it makes no difference whether the Secretary of
State, for reasons of State or of law, orders their return—not only set
forth the secrets of Germany’s activities in this country; but they also
told what part von Igel and Koenig played in the invisible war in
America. They show how both men were errand boys, carriers of cash and
of messages for von Papen and Boy-Ed.
WHO WAS VON IGEL?
Concerning young von Igel there is much mystery. At the outbreak of the
war he was reported to be wandering around looking for a job, willing to
work for any wages. Then von Papen picked him up, paying him a salary of
$238 a month. There is a rumour, too, that he is a grandson of Graf von
Waldersee, one time Germany’s Chief of Staff. That he is a man of
importance is indicated by the manner in which he was trusted by von
Papen, Boy-Ed, and Dr. Albert. When in an automobile ride from Captain
Tauscher’s home on Long Island with von Papen and Dr. Albert, he met
with an injury, he was hurried secretly to a hospital. Every effort was
made to hide his identity; but Dr. Albert and von Papen visited him
frequently. Von Papen paid the hospital bills and charged them up to
“War Intelligence.”
Almost immediately upon beginning service under von Papen, he leased the
offices in Wall Street, putting down in the contract “advertising” as
the purpose to which the rooms were to be devoted and never making any
statement as to his connection with the German Embassy. He quickly gave
von Papen every reason to trust him fully and won the respect of the
reckless attaché. Though he did not begin work for von Papen until
September, 1914, he had, it is charged, a hand in the first Welland
Canal enterprise.
HANDLING MONEY FOR EVIL ENDS
Von Igel also handled money for von Papen. For instance, on March 27,
1915, the latter gave to his secretary a cheque payable to his order for
$1,000 and on the counterfoil of his cheque-book he wrote “for A.
Kaltschmidt, Detroit,” who since has been accused by the Canadian
authorities as an accomplice in the project against Canadian armouries
and munition factories. It was von Igel, furthermore, who cashed many
cheques for von Papen, the proceeds of which were to go to secret agents
starting on missions to the enemy’s country. He carried confidential
messages which von Papen would not put in writing. He handled the code
books in compiling and deciphering messages. He carried orders to
Koenig, conferring with him and directing him when to meet von Papen.
When von Papen was preparing to leave the country at the request of
President Wilson, he began to turn over his documents to von Igel for
safe keeping. He gave him instructions as to the custody of the papers
and the cleaning up of work left undone. In his regard, he undoubtedly
followed Dr. Albert’s instructions put in a letter from San Francisco:
“If you should leave New York before my return, we must try to come to
some agreement about pending questions by writing. Please instruct Mr.
Amanuensis Igel as precisely as possible. You will then receive in
Germany the long-intended report of the expenses paid through my account
on your behalf.”
So von Igel, as a trusted clerk, took unto himself the duties of
confidential man for von Papen and for other big Germans who began but
were obliged to leave unfinished certain projects in this country. There
were many lines of information and activities converging to von Papen,
afterwards to von Igel. After von Rintelen left this country, part of
his schemes were entrusted to von Igel, who saw men with whom von
Rintelen or his assistants had dealt. For instance, he has been indicted
jointly with Dr. Scheele, Captain Gustave Steinberg, von Rintelen’s aid,
for complicity in a plan to ship articles abroad under fraudulent
manifests and thus deceive the Allies. One of these schemes was to
export lubricating oil, much needed in Germany, to Sweden as fertilizer.
Some of the payments for this purpose were made after von Rintelen
sailed for home.
With von Papen gone and Koenig arrested, von Igel became a somewhat
important person, taking upon himself the attaché’s prestige and a lot
of Koenig’s work after the latter’s arrest. Many, many cheques were
cashed by von Igel in the four months intervening between the attaché’s
departure and the former’s arrest. He carried on von Papen’s work in a
miniature way, conferring with many secret agents, giving orders and
preparing reports in code for despatching to Germany.
While von Igel, in point of family, education and confidential
association with the big German agents in America, is an important link
in the Teutonic spy chain, Paul Koenig (“P. K.”), is more striking
because of his rough activities, his underground connections and his
associations with law-breakers. He was a sort of business manager of
Germany’s secret service in the eastern part of America.
“P.K.”
“P. K.,” as his hirelings called him, was a sort of boss, an unmerciful
autocrat in the lower world, physically fearless, trusting no man and
driving every man to work by the use of violent abusive language,
boastful of his skill, physical prowess and his craft. In appearance, he
gives this impression. A tall, broad-shouldered man, he has bony fingers
and arms long and powerful reaching almost to his knees. His dark, sharp
eyes dart suspiciously at you from beneath black, arching eyebrows,
showing defiance and yet a certain caution. A truly typical person he is
for the work for which he was selected, and though perhaps a little too
boastful, such supreme confidence undoubtedly is a necessary attribute
of any man who would acquire any degree of success in such undertakings.
Koenig is another product of the Hamburg-American Steamship Line—the
Kaiser’s very own. Prior to the war he was superintendent of the
company’s police, having a half-score men under him and keeping watch on
the pier workers or investigating complaints received by the management.
He had grown to that task from similar training in the Atlas Service, a
subsidiary corporation. He had spent years among longshoremen, bossing
them and cursing them. He knew wharf rats, water-front crooks, and was
thoroughly acquainted with their schemes—as naturally such a man would
be. He understood thoroughly how to handle men of the rough type.
When the war started and von Papen was searching for an assistant
organizer, he found in Koenig’s little police force a splendid nucleus
of just what he needed. At his request the _Hamburg-American Line_
quickly put Koenig at von Papen’s disposal and straightway von Papen
began to link up to Koenig’s police a number of channels of information,
to supply him with reservists for special assignments, to suggest to him
how to spread out and instal spies in various places to gather important
facts. Koenig accordingly became the business manager of a part of
Germany’s secret service, not only gathering information, but acting as
a link in the labyrinth system employed by von Papen in communicating
with the reservist or agent selected to do certain work in behalf of the
Fatherland.
How varied and steady was his work for von Papen is revealed by the
latter’s cheques. Here are a few excerpts: “March 29, 1915, Paul Koenig
(Secret Service bill), $509.11; ... April 18, Paul Koenig (Secret
Service bill), $90.94; ... May 11, Paul Koenig (Secret Service), $66.71;
... July 16, Paul Koenig (compensation for F. J. Busse), $150; ...
August 4, Paul Koenig (5 bills Secret Service), $118.92,” and so on.
Remember also that von Papen only paid from his cheque account for a
part of Koenig’s expenses, other German officials who employed him
receiving a bill for the special work.
KEEPING WATCH ON SPIES
“P. K.” also kept a most carefully prepared note-book of his spies and
of persons in New York, Boston and other cities who were useful in
furnishing him information. In another book he kept a complete record of
the assignments on which he sent his men, the purpose and the cost. In
this book of names were several hundred persons—German reservists,
German-Americans and American clerks, scientists and city and Federal
employés—showing that his district was very large and that his range for
picking facts and for supervising other pro-German propaganda was broad.
For his own hirelings or reservists, over whom he domineered, he had
specially worked out a system of numbers and initials to be used in
communicating with them. These numbers were changed at regular intervals
and a system of progression was devised by which the agent would know
when his number changed. He also employed suitable aliases for his
workers. These men likewise had codes for writing letters and for
telephone communication, and they knew that _on fixed days these codes
changed_.
Always alert for a listening ear or a watchful eye—because playing the
eavesdropper was his job—he looked for spies on himself. He believed
that his telephone wire was tapped and that he was overheard when he
spoke over the telephone. Accordingly, he instructed his men in various
code words. For instance, if he told an agent to meet him at five
o’clock at South Ferry that meant: “Meet me at seven o’clock at
Forty-second Street and Broadway.”
His wire was not tapped, but P. K. kept the men who were spying on him
exceeding busy and worried. He would receive a call on the telephone and
would direct the man at the other end of the wire to meet him in fifteen
minutes at Pabst’s, Harlem. Now from Koenig’s office in the
Hamburg-American Building to 125th Street, it is practically impossible
to make the journey in a quarter of an hour; but his watchers learned
that Pabst’s, Harlem, meant Borough Hall, Brooklyn. Just as he eluded
espionage for days and months, this man, skilled in shadowing others and
in doing the vanishing act whenever necessary, boasted that the Federal
authorities or the police never would get him. “They did get Dr.
Albert’s portfolio,” he said one day, “but they never will get mine, for
I won’t carry one.”
SHADOWS FOLLOWING SHADOWS
He sought likewise to elude Americans trailing him. He never went out in
the daytime that he did not have one or two of his agents trailing him
to see whether he was being shadowed. He used to turn a corner suddenly
and stand still so that a detective following came unexpectedly face to
face with him and betrayed his identity. Koenig would laugh heartily and
pass on. He loved to jibe the American authorities and ofttimes he would
dodge around a corner and then reappear to confront the detective with a
merry jest and pass on. By that means he came to know many agents of the
Department of Justice and many New York detectives. When he started out
at night he used to have three of his own men follow him, and by a
prearranged system of signals inform him if any strangers were following
him.
The task, consequently, of keeping watch of Koenig’s movements was most
difficult and required clever guessing and keen-headed work on the part
of the New York police. So elusive did Koenig become that it was
necessary for Captain Tunney to evolve a new system for shadowing Koenig
and yet not betray to him the fact that he was under surveillance. One
detective, accordingly, would be stationed several blocks away and would
start out ahead of Koenig. The “front shadow” was kept informed by a
series of signals whenever Koenig turned a corner so that the man in
front might dart down the street beyond and by a series of manœuvres
again get ahead of him. If Koenig boarded a street car, the man ahead
would hail the car several blocks beyond, thus avoiding any suspicion
from Koenig. In other instances, detectives, guessing that he was about
to take a car would board it several blocks before it got abreast of
Koenig. Because of his alertness, he kept Detectives Barnitz, Coy, Terra
and Corell always on the edge; but they finally ran him down.
It was never possible to overhear any conversation between Koenig and
any man to whom he was giving instructions. Koenig always made it a
point to meet his agents—some of his workers he never permitted to meet
him at all—in the open, in parks in broad daylight, in the Pennsylvania
Station, or the Grand Central Station. There, as he talked to them, he
could make sure that nobody was eavesdropping. In the open he met many a
man for the first time, talked with him and then said:
“Be at Third Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street at 2.30 to-morrow afternoon
beside a public telephone booth there. When the telephone rings, you
answer it.”
The man would obey the request. Promptly at the minute named, the
telephone rang and the man answered the telephone. A strange voice spoke
to him and told him to do certain things, perhaps to be at a similar
place on the following day and receive a message, or he would receive
instructions as to what he should do and where he should go to meet
another man, who would give him money and instructions as to what he
should do. The voice at the other end of the wire was speaking from a
public telephone booth and was thus reasonably sure also that the wire
was not tapped.
Koenig trusted no man. _He never sent an agent out on a job without
detailing another man to follow that man and report back to him the
movements of the agent and the person whom that man met._ He was severe
with his men when they made their reports to him, and always insisted
that they do exactly what he told them and never permitted them to use
their own initiative. So stubborn was he in sticking to his own ideas
that some of his men used to call him “the Westphalian, bull-headed
Dutchman.”
As to the outline of Koenig’s activities, his book of spies, the great
mass of information gained by trailing him, and by study of the
documents seized in his office, show that _he had spies along the water
front on every big steamship pier. He had eavesdroppers in hotels,
telephone switchboards, among porters, window-cleaners, among bank
clerks, corporation employés and in the Police Department._
To Roger B. Wood, formerly assistant United States District-Attorney in
New York, is due the credit for the unfolding of the intricate and
varied schemes charged against Koenig. He studied the evidence for
months as it was developed by Federal agents under Superintendent Offley
of the New York office and Captain Tunney, and prepared for trial the
cases against the German agent.
One of Koenig’s spies was listed in his book as “Special Agent A. S.,”
namely Otto F. Mottola, a detective in the warrant squad of the New York
police force whom he paid for special work. The note-book revealed
Mottola as Antonio Marino, afterwards changed to Antonio Salvatore.
Evidence was produced at Mottola’s trial at Police Headquarters that
Koenig paid him for investigating a passenger who sailed on the
_Bergensfjord_; that he often called up Mottola, asked questions and
received answers which Koenig’s stenographer took down in shorthand. In
other words, Koenig sought to keep closely informed as to the
developments at Police Headquarters, and to be advised, perhaps, of the
inquiry being made by the police into the activities of the Germans.
Mottola was dismissed from the force because of false statements made to
his superiors when asked about Koenig.
STARTING TROUBLE IN CANADA
“P. K.” also despatched men to Canada to gain information concerning the
Canadian preparations for war, and facts that could be used by the
Germans here in planning attacks upon munition factories, railroads and
transportation facilities in the Dominion. An Irish employé of the
_Atlas Line_ has been arrested on a charge of planning with Koenig to
start a “military enterprise” against the Dominion. The employé, named
Justice, is accused of going to Quebec to ascertain the number of troops
which were being transported by the Dominion of Canada to ports in
France and Great Britain; the names of the steamships on which said
troops were being transported; the kind and quantity of supplies which
were being shipped from the Dominion to France and Great Britain, and
other information which would or might be of value to the German
Government, and which would assist the military operations of the German
Government.
_The complaint stated that the undertaking was one of hazard, and came
within the purview of the statute forbidding the undertaking of any
military venture with this country as a basis of operation._ It says,
further, that Justice and Metzler, Koenig’s secretary, left New York on
September 15, 1914, and went to Quebec; that Koenig left New York on
September 18 and met Metzler in Portland, Me., and that he went to
Burlington, Vt., where on September 25 he conferred with Justice. The
authorities also say that Metzler and Justice gained a varied assortment
of information in Quebec; that they inspected the fortifications there,
went to the training camps, observed the number of men, the condition of
the men and estimated the time when they would be sent to the front.
VARIOUS ALIASES
In his meetings with various persons who had been picked for some daring
enterprise, Koenig is accused of having employed various names. The
Federal authorities give him at least thirteen, among which are
Wegenkamp, Wegener, Kelly, Winter, Perkins, Stemler, Rectorberg, Boehm,
Kennedy, James, Smith, Murphy and W. T. Munday.
After indictments had been returned against some of the Hamburg-American
officials for conspiring to defraud the United States of legal clearance
papers, Koenig, assisted by a private detective in the pay of Captain
Boy-Ed, developed a scheme to get affidavits from tugboat captains to
the effect that they had supplied English war vessels patrolling off
Sandy Hook with provisions.
_The plan was to turn sentiment against the British by proving that the
British were doing the same thing that had been charged to the Germans._
Accordingly, Koenig called a number of tugboat captains to a room in the
Great Eastern Hotel, New York, and offered them a contract to haul
provisions to the English cruisers. He told them that the captains were
extremely suspicious of boats approaching the war vessels, and the
affidavits were necessary to allay their fears that the tugboats might
have a few Germans with bombs on board. So, in return for sworn
statements from them to the effect that they already had been carrying
supplies out to other English cruisers, he, Koenig, was to give them a
monthly contract to do the work. Many of the tugboat captains signed the
affidavits; but the scheme was exposed before the Germans really made
any use of the documents. So carefully did Koenig work that he made the
stenographers who took the statements transcribe the notes in his
presence, give him the shorthand notes and he immediately destroyed
them.
SPIES IN BANKS
Through the arrest of Koenig and the facts obtained thereby, one of the
mysteries concerning the Germans’ method of getting information about
the shipment of munitions of war to the Allies was cleared. _They knew
the number of the freight car rushing to the Atlantic seaboard and its
exact contents._ They knew the ship’s hold into which that product was
to be placed; but how they got this data was a mystery until Koenig was
caught. Then Metzler, Koenig’s secretary, made a confession that cleared
the mystery. Agent Adams got the confession.
Besides having spies in some of the factories throughout the country,
the Germans had one great fountain of information in the foreign
department of the National City Bank, an institution that has carried
hundreds of millions of dollars in financing the purchase of supplies
for the Entente Powers. That source was Frederick Schleindl, a German
who has since been convicted of selling stolen information and sentenced
to three years in a New York State prison.
Schleindl, only twenty-three years old, came to this country from
Germany several years ago, obtained work with a private banking firm,
and after the war started was shifted to the National City Bank. He had
influence to get the position, and, incidentally, it may be said, that
for years prior to the war German agents, trained financiers, have been
stationed in New York, making friends and learning conditions, so that
at the critical time they could, by underground means, succeed in
getting positions for such men as Schleindl who would betray their
trust.
SECRET INFORMATION ON BANKS
When the war started Schleindl registered with the German Consul, giving
his address and his place of business. One day word reached him that a
German wished to see him, and going to the Hotel Manhattan he was
approached by a man who introduced himself as Koenig. The latter sounded
him thoroughly as to his sentiments on the war, and then outlined the
scheme by which Schleindl was to help Germany and make $25 a week.
Schleindl was to keep his eyes open for all letters and cable messages
bearing on the deposits of the Allies with the bank, the payments of
orders and other facts bearing on the war.
The bank clerk succumbed, either through patriotism or love of money.
And Koenig had placed his finger on exactly the right spot; so accurate
was he that there seems no doubt that he received guidance from a master
spy higher up, who knew banking operations thoroughly, and where to go
for information. It quickly developed that Schleindl could obtain
information of two very important kinds.
First, he received in his department cable messages bearing on war
orders and deposits by the Allies. The day he was arrested he had in his
pocket certain messages and letters addressed to the National City Bank.
One had come from the Banque Belge pour Etrangers in regard to a
shipment of two million rifles that was being handled through the Hudson
Trust Company. Another message that he picked up and handed over to
Koenig had come from the Russian Government, directing the bank to place
at the disposal of Colonel Golejewski, a Russian naval attaché, a large
amount of money for the purchase of war materials.
Secondly, the bank paid for orders of goods as soon as they had been
inspected and delivered on board ships at the seaboard. The
manufacturers sent their bills of lading to the bank, showing the
carload shipments and the vessel to which they were consigned. _Thus
accurate information was obtained as to every item, the railroad route
of shipment and the name of the vessel._ All this information was turned
over to Koenig, who passed it along for dissemination to the proper
persons. Consequently, _the Germans knew exactly what ships to attack;
in what vessels to place their fire bombs or other explosives_.
Schleindl was accustomed to meet Koenig almost every night and hand him
papers. Sometimes he would go to Koenig’s office, where “P. K.,” Metzler
and Schleindl would spend many hours copying the documents. Other times
Schleindl would give the papers to Koenig and receive them on his way to
work, so that they would be in their proper place the moment any bank
official desired them. _Koenig pleaded guilty in the Court of Special
Sessions to an information charging him with having corrupted the boy to
sell such information. Koenig was set free on a suspended sentence._
The National City Bank leak is only one of a hundred channels through
which Koenig and his agents received information. Koenig compiled it
with the aid of his secretary, conferred with von Papen or Boy-Ed. He
would spend a few weeks gathering facts, and then he would pack hundreds
of papers into a trunk and run down to Washington. Arriving there, he
would take a taxi to a rooming house, where he would unpack his trunk,
and put the contents into another trunk in an adjoining room.
As weeks went by and Koenig believed he was escaping police and Federal
espionage, he grew bolder, more defiant of the authorities, and louder
in his talk. He treated his employés with less consideration. He always
followed a principle of never hiring the same reservist for a second
job. Then he quarrelled with George Fuchs, a relative whom he had
employed to go to Buffalo with him. The police heard of that quarrel,
and quickly got into the confidence of Fuchs, obtained his confession,
and enough information on which to arrest Koenig. He has been indicted
by the Federal authorities twice on charges that may get him six years,
if convicted.
The two men were active workers for a time. Koenig continues in New
York, but von Igel sailed with Count Bernstorff when the latter was
dismissed from this country.