Peter took a street car to the home of Miriam Yankovitch, and on the
way he read the afternoon edition of the American City “Times.” The
editors of this paper were certainly after the Reds, and no mistake!
They had taken McCormick’s book on Sabotage, just as Nell had
predicted, and printed whole chapters from it, with the most
menacing sentences in big type, and some boxed up in little frames
and scattered here and there over the page so that no one could
possibly miss them. They had a picture of McCormick taken in the
jail; he hadn’t had a chance to shave for several days, and probably
hadn’t felt pleasant about having his picture taken--anyhow, he
looked ferocious enough to frighten the most skeptical, and Peter
was confirmed in his opinion that Mac was the most dangerous Red of
them all.
Columns and columns of material this paper published about the case,
subtly linking it up with all the other dynamitings and
assassinations in American history, and with German spy plots and
bomb plots. There was a nation-wide organization of these assassins,
so the paper said; they published hundreds of papers, with millions
of readers, all financed by German gold. Also, there was a
double-leaded editorial calling on the citizens to arise and save
the republic, and put an end to the Red menace once for all. Peter
read this, and like every other good American, he believed every
word that he read in his newspaper, and boiled with hatred of the
Reds.
He found Miriam Yankovitch away from home. Her mother was in a state
of excitement, because Miriam had got word that the police were
giving the prisoners the “third degree,” and she had gone to the
offices of the Peoples’ Council to get the radicals together and try
to take some immediate action. So Peter hurried over to these
offices, where he found some twenty-five Reds and Pacifists
assembled, all in the same state of excitement. Miriam was walking
up and down the room, clasping and unclasping her hands, and her
eyes looked as if she had been crying all day. Peter remembered his
suspicion that Miriam and Mac were lovers. He questioned her. They
had put Mac in the “hole,” and Henderson, the lumber-jack, was laid
up in the hospital as a result of the ordeal he had undergone.
The Jewish girl went into details, and Peter found himself
shuddering--he had such a vivid memory of the third degree himself!
He did not try to stop his shuddering, but took to pacing up and
down the room like Miriam, and told them how it felt to have your
wrists twisted and your fingers bent backward, and how damp and
horrible it was in the “hole.” So he helped to work them into a
state of hysteria, hoping that they would commit some overt action,
as McGivney wanted. Why not storm the jail and set free the
prisoners?
Little Ada Ruth said that was nonsense; but might they not get
banners, and parade up and down in front of the jail, protesting
against this torturing of men who had not been convicted of any
crime? The police would fall on them, of course, the crowds would
mob them and probably tear them to pieces, but they must do
something. Donald Gordon answered that this would only make them
impotent to keep up the agitation. What they must try to get was a
strike of labor. They must send telegrams to the radical press, and
go out and raise money, and call a mass-meeting three days from
date. Also, they must appeal to all the labor unions, and see if it
was possible to work up sentiment for a general strike.
Peter, somewhat disappointed, went back and reported to McGivney
this rather tame outcome. But McGivney said that was all right, he
had something that would fix them; and he revealed to Peter a
startling bit of news. Peter had been reading in the papers about
German spies, but he had only half taken it seriously; the war was a
long way off, and Peter had never seen any of that German gold that
they talked so much about--in fact, the Reds were in a state of
perpetual poverty, one and all of them stinting himself eternally to
put up some portion of his scant earnings to pay for pamphlets and
circulars and postage and defence funds, and all the expenses of an
active propaganda organization. But now, McGivney declared, there
was a real, sure-enough agent of the Kaiser in American City! The
government had pretty nearly got him in his nets, and one of the
things McGivney wanted to do before the fellow was arrested was to
get him to contribute some money to the radical cause.
It wasn’t necessary to point out to Peter the importance of this. If
the authorities could show that the agitation on behalf of McCormick
and the rest had been financed by German money, the public would
justify any measures taken to bring it to an end. Could Peter
suggest to McGivney the name of a German Socialist who might be
persuaded to approach this agent of the Kaiser, and get him to
contribute money for the purpose of having a general strike called
in American City? Several of the city’s big manufacturing plants
were being made over for war purposes, and obviously the enemy had
much to gain by strikes and labor discontent. Guffey’s men had been
trying for a long time to get Germans to contribute to the Goober
Defense fund, but here was an even better opportunity.
Peter thought of Comrade Apfel, who was one of the extreme
Socialists, and a temporary Pacifist like most Germans. Apfel worked
in a bakery, and his face was as pasty as the dough he kneaded, but
it would show a tinge of color when he rose in the local to denounce
the “social patriots,” those party members who were lending their
aid to British plans for world domination. McGivney said he would
send somebody to Apfel at once, and give him the name of the
Kaiser’s agent as one who might be induced to contribute to the
radical defense fund. Apfel would, of course, have no idea that the
man was a German agent; he would go to see him, and ask him for
money, and McGivney and his fellow-sleuths would do the rest. Peter
said that was fine, and offered to go to Apfel himself; but the
rat-faced man answered no, Peter was too precious, and no chance
must be taken of directing Apfel’s suspicions against him.