_In_ THE NEW YORK TIMES _of June 19 appeared the following report of
the Grand Jury's indictment of Stahl on a charge of perjury and the
announcement that the Federal investigation will be continued:_
Gustav Stahl, the alleged German reservist, who made an affidavit that
he had seen guns on board the Lusitania on the day before she sailed
on her last voyage, was indicted on a charge of perjury by the Federal
Grand Jury yesterday. The perjury charge is based on his testimony
before the Grand Jury, during which examination he repeated that he
had seen the guns on the Lusitania as set forth in his affidavit filed
by the German Embassy in Washington and now in the hands of the State
Department.
The name of Paul Koenig, who, it is said, was known to Stahl as
Stemler, and who is the chief of the secret service of the
Hamburg-American Line, is mentioned by name in the indictment. The
indictment sets forth that on June 10 there was pending before the
Grand Jury an investigation concerning Koenig and others and that
Stahl was among the witnesses called in the course of that
investigation. It then goes on to say that Stahl testified in
substance and to the effect that on April 30 he went aboard the
Lusitania, then with one Leach, and that while on the vessel he saw
four guns on one of the decks of the steamship, two forward and two
aft, and all mounted on wooden blocks and covered with leather. The
indictment further charges that at the time of so swearing Stahl did
not believe it to be true that he had been on board the Lusitania and
had seen the four guns.
The indictment, in conclusion, charges that there were no guns upon
the decks of the Lusitania on April 30. "Therefore," the Grand Jury
charges, "that Stahl, after taking an oath before a competent officer
to truly depose and testify, did willfully, knowingly and feloniously
and contrary to his said oath, depose and state material matters which
were not true and which he did not then believe to be true, and
thereby did commit willful and corrupt perjury against the peace of
the United States and their dignity and contrary to the form of the
statute of the United States in such cases made and provided."
Stahl will be arraigned before Judge Russell in the criminal branch of
the United States District Court on Monday. He is now in the Tombs in
default of $10,000 bail. Should he be convicted of perjury he may be
sentenced to prison for five years or fined $10,000, or both.
The indictment of Stahl does not mean that the Government's
investigation of the Lusitania affidavits, and the way in which they
were procured, is at an end. On the other hand it is proceeding
vigorously. Three witnesses, all Government officials, were before the
Grand Jury yesterday in connection with the case. Heinz Hardenberg,
who was found in Cincinnati a week ago today and brought here to be
examined by the Grand Jury, has not yet appeared before that body,
although the Government agents insist they can produce him when his
testimony is desired.