THE GERMAN-HINDU CONSPIRACY
The German-Hindu plot to foment revolution in India is an
international drama with touches of “Treasure Island” adventure
in the South Seas. The characters include Zimmermann, many German
agents in the United States (among them Bernstorff), some venal
Americans, and a horde of Hindus--some of them ardent fanatics
and some plain grafters. The climax produced several executions,
one suicide, two cases of insanity, and a murder. The production
cost the Germans more than a million dollars, and the net receipts
were a deficit. The scenes were laid in Berlin, Constantinople,
Switzerland, New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Socorro
Island, Honolulu, Manila, Java, Japan, China, Siam, and India. The
last act was laid in a Federal penitentiary.
Writing from San Francisco, on November 4, 1916, Wilhelm von
Brincken, the military attaché of the German Consulate, addressed
a letter to his father to be “transmitted through the submarine
_Deutschland_ on its second voyage from the United States.” The
letter was never delivered; its boastful first paragraph and its
later candid text were read only by agents of the United States
Government. Von Brincken began:
MY DEAR FATHER: At last an opportunity presents itself to send
an uncensored letter to all of you. May the carrier, Germany’s
pride, have a happy voyage and reach the home shore unscathed.
He then launched into bitter criticism of his treatment at the
Consulate, complaining especially of its niggardly support of his
work. Then he wrote (the italics are mine):
As you know, _I am the head and organizer of the Hindu
Nationalists on the Pacific_. Revolutionary and propaganda
work costs money--much money. Berlin knows that and does not
economize. _The Consul General_ [Franz Bopp] _also is under
instructions to support the movement to the best of his
ability and to further it financially_. However, there is a
shortcoming in this respect. Whenever money is urgently needed
and I report to that effect, I invariably meet with the same
opposition. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the required
amount is refused. As a result, the work suffers, is delayed,
good opportunities are missed, and my people--the Hindus--are
frequently exposed to danger of their lives. Just how many fell
into the hands of the English and were hung, owing to unnecessary
lack of funds, is, of course, wholly beyond our calculation. The
“old man” evidently dislikes this type of work and, therefore,
has no understanding for it. The other day a Hindu was here,
who came directly from Switzerland, as messenger from _Mr. Von
Wesendonck, of the Foreign Office (who has charge of Hindu
matters there)_. This Hindu wondered why work in San Francisco
dragged in such a manner and I told him quite frankly that if
the Hindu work were not reorganized from the ground up, and made
independent of the Consulate, the work would not only suffer but
half of it would be harmful.
Later in the letter he says:
My Hindu described Wesendonck as a particularly pleasing and fine
person.
These extracts were written in November of 1916. They illuminate
an earlier cable from Von Wesendonck’s chief, Zimmermann (the
German Foreign Minister in Berlin) written in February of 1916 to
Bernstorff at Washington, which was “transmitted respectfully for
your information” to Von Papen in New York, and which reads as
follows:
Berlin, Feb. 4, 1916.
THE GERMAN EMBASSY,
Washington.
_In future_ all Indian affairs are to be exclusively handled by
the Committee to be formed by Dr. Chakravarty. Dhriendra Sarkar
and Heramba Lal Gupta, which latter person has meantime been
expelled from Japan, thus cease to be independent representatives
of _the Indian Independence Committee existing here_.
ZIMMERMANN.
In other words, before February, 1916, the German Government had
been plotting with Hindus in the United States for the national
independence of India. Indeed, they had begun the work before 1914,
and they had become active in it in July of that year--before they
started the World War, but after they had decided to start it.
By December, they were directing Indian plots from Berlin with
ramifications in nearly every neutral country in the world. Two of
these plots were hatched in the United States--one in San Francisco
and one in Chicago. They were conspiracies to organize military
expeditions to India. Our Government spoiled both of them, and the
day after we went into the war, or on April 7, 1917, the United
States’ authorities arrested thirty-four German-Hindu plotters in
half a dozen cities and subsequently convicted them all but one of
conspiracy.
The story begins in San Francisco. In 1911, a fanatical Indian
agitator named Har Dayal came to this country. He worked among the
large colonies of turbaned Hindu labourers on the Pacific Coast
who had succeeded the Chinese and Japanese coolies in the orchards
and gardens and on the railroad tracks in that region of abundant
climate and scarce labour. Dayal organized the Hindu Pacific Coast
Association and established its headquarters in San Francisco, to
which these men came looking for a job or a night’s lodging, and
where they were fed on rice and revolution. Dayal next established
a printing plant and began to publish a paper called _Ghadr_, which
means _The Revolution_. The _Ghadr_ was out for blood. It preached
Hindu uprising in terms of assassination and dynamite.
The first number of the _Ghadr_ was published in November, 1913. At
once it disclosed a German influence. In the issue of November 15,
1913, it printed these sentences: “The Germans have great sympathy
with our movement, because they and ourselves have a common enemy
(the English). In the future Germany can draw assistance from us,
and they can render us great assistance also.”
As the World War approached, this German influence became more
manifest. On July 21, 1914, two days before Austria’s ultimatum to
Serbia, the _Ghadr_ said:
“All intelligent people know that Germany is an enemy of England.
We also are mortal enemies of England. So the enemy of our enemy is
our friend.”
A week later, the _Ghadr_ welcomed the approach of war:
“If this war does not start to-day, it will to-morrow. So welcome!
India has got her chance.... Hasten preparations for meeting with
the speed of wind and storm, and no sooner the war starts in
Europe, you start a mutiny in India.”
And on August 4th it declared:
“O Warriors! The opportunity that you have been searching for years
has come ... there is hope that Germany will help you.”
In all this the United States had no interest. We were neutral, and
what Germany did to England was (we thought) England’s lookout.
Also, we were “the asylum of the oppressed” and “the home of free
speech”--and if the Hindus thought they ought to talk revolution
we were not concerned. It was not until the Hindus and the Germans
started “gun running” from our West Coast that we took a hand.
Har Dayal, nevertheless, was too ferocious even for the home of
free speech. Early in 1914, he made speeches so villainously
offensive to common decency and order that he was arrested and held
for deportation on the ground of being an undesirable alien. He
jumped bail in March and fled--to Berlin. He arrived there about
the time the war clouds began to darken the skies of Europe, and
found a sympathetic haven in the German Foreign Office. In company
with other Hindu revolutionists, and under the fostering care of
Von Wesendonck, he organized that “Indian Independence Committee
existing here” of which Zimmermann spoke affectionately in his
cable to Bernstorff, already quoted.
In Har Dayal’s place in San Francisco arose another Hindu
revolutionary leader, one Ram Chandra. He succeeded to the
management of the Hindu Pacific Coast Association, to the
editorship of the _Ghadr_, and to the sympathetic understanding
with the German agents in San Francisco. These German agents were
Bopp, the consul-general, and his staff, of whom Von Brincken, the
military attaché, was the agent with whom all personal dealings
were carried on. Of the scores of Hindus with unpronounceable names
and of their noisy speeches and noisome writings, there is no need
to make record. But the warlike activities of the Hindus and their
German friends were important, dangerous, and interesting.
On January 9, 1915, W. C. Hughes, of 103 Duane Street, New York,
shipped ten carloads of freight to San Diego, Cal. The freight
bill was heavy--$11,783.74--and it was prepaid by a check on the
Guaranty Trust Company, signed by a German named Hans Tauscher.
This German was the well-known American agent of Krupps, and
it later developed that the ten carloads of freight were eight
thousand rifles and four million cartridges. They were sent to
“Juan Bernardo Bowen,” in care of M. Martinez & Company, ship
brokers of San Diego.
This same “Bowen,” whose home address was given as Topolobampo,
Mexico, acting through the same Martinez & Company, on January
19th, chartered a sailing vessel for a round trip from San Diego
to Topolobampo. This vessel was the _Annie Larsen_. The charter
price was $19,000, and this money was paid by J. Clyde Hizar, of
San Diego, “Bowen’s” attorney. Hizar got the money by wire from a
bank in San Francisco, which in turn got it from a woman depositor,
who in turn got it from Von Brincken, who in turn got it from the
German Consulate’s funds. This roundabout method was, of course,
designed to conceal the German source of the money.
At about the same time, a company was organized in San Francisco to
buy the oil tanker _Maverick_ from the Standard Oil Company. Fred
Jebsen, former lieutenant in the German Navy, put up the money. The
_Maverick_ was commanded by Captain H. C. Nelson, and her movements
were directed by a young American adventurer, J. B. Starr-Hunt,
whom Jebson put aboard as super-cargo (“super-cargo” is an agent
put aboard ship by the owner of the merchandise to have charge
of the cargo). Parts of a statement subsequently made by young
Starr-Hunt tell the rest of the story of the _Maverick_ and the
_Annie Larsen_:
“I was born in San Antonio, Texas, in November, 1892. I went
to a German school in Mexico for nine years. Then I was at Dr.
Holbrook’s school for four years at Ossining-on-Hudson, New York.
I was then for a year at the University of Virginia; three months
at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. Besides this I
always had private tutors. After leaving the last-named college
I joined my father’s law office in Mexico City. This was in the
latter part of 1912. My father is one of the leading foreign
lawyers in Mexico. In December, 1912, I started for San Francisco
to join F. Jebsen & Co., a German firm of shipping agents. I worked
in Jebsen’s office from February, 1913, to April, 1915; that is, up
to the time I joined the _Maverick_. I was not actually in Jebsen’s
office all this time; I made several trips to various parts of the
U. S. A. and Mexico.
“About 1st April, 1915, while I was at Chihuahua, I got a telegram
from Jebsen asking me to proceed at once to Los Angeles. I met
Jebsen there. He asked me if I cared to proceed to San José del
Cabo on the _Maverick_ and then transfer to another ship, the
_Annie Larsen_, either at San José del Cabo or at any other point
on the Mexican coast. He told me that the _Annie Larsen’s_ cargo
consisted of war material, which was to be transhipped to the
_Maverick_ at whatever point they should meet in Mexican or Central
American waters; that a man named Page (I do not remember his
initials, but perhaps they were A. W.) who would be on the _Annie
Larsen_, was to take charge of the _Maverick_, and that I myself
was to take over the _Annie Larsen_ and proceed to trade with her
in whatever manner I might wish to, for six months, between Mexican
or Central American ports, but I was not to return to any American
port until after the expiration of six months. He did not tell
me why the _Annie Larsen_ was not to return to an American port
for six months, but the reason was quite clear to me. As a matter
of fact, I had heard while I was in Chihuahua that the _Annie
Larsen_ had departed from San Diego with a cargo of war material,
presumably for some belligerent faction in Mexico. She had cleared
from San Diego for Topolobampo. This fact had given rise to
considerable comment and notoriety. American papers had taken the
matter up, and the several arrests of Americans and Mexicans made
by the Government in San Diego at the time were popularly believed
to have been in connection with the _Annie Larsen_ and her cargo.
Evidently Jebsen, therefore, thought that, if the _Annie Larsen_
returned immediately to an American port, complications might
arise. Jebsen was not explicit as to either the destination, or the
purpose, of the cargo. One thing I was, however, sure of was that
it was not intended for the Mexican rebels. All that Jebsen told me
was that the cargo was intended for the Orient, and in the course
of conversation he once mentioned Borneo.
“On the (?) of April, the _Maverick_ finally sailed from Los
Angeles. On the morning of that day Jebsen gave me a sealed letter,
addressed to nobody, with verbal instructions to hand it over to
Page on the _Annie Larsen_ immediately after I met him. Jebsen
seemed to be anxious regarding this letter, and warned me to be
careful and to see that it fell into no other hands. He also handed
me another unaddressed letter to be given to the same man. This
was an open letter which I read soon after leaving Los Angeles.
There were two enclosures which were printed. One was a circular
or memorandum of instructions as to how to work the machine gun or
a small Hotchkiss, the diagram of which was given on the second
enclosure. I am not quite certain of the type of weapon drawn on
that second enclosure, but I think it was one of the two I have
mentioned. The printed circular was evidently from the makers of
that arm, but the manufacturer’s name was carefully cut out from
it. Jebsen also handed me a third letter, without address, for
Page, and open. It contained typewritten instructions as to how
to stow the cargo to be transhipped from the _Annie Larsen_. It
was just a short note, more in the nature of a suggestion than
instructions. It said that the cases containing rifles were to be
stowed in one of the two empty tanks of the _Maverick_ and flooded
with oil. The ammunition cases were to be stowed in the other empty
tank, which was not to be flooded except as a last resort. This
note, too, was intended for Page. There was a fourth open note for
myself which contained suggestions as to what I should do in future
with the _Annie Larsen_. Jebsen, at the same time, made over to me
a bundle, consisting of about ten letters, with instructions to
hand it over to Page. All these letters were addressed to Captain
Othmann. Although Jebsen did not tell me so, I concluded that
‘Page’ and ‘Othmann’ were one and the same man, and that ‘Page’ was
an assumed name.
“The day before sailing Jebsen introduced me to a man named B.
Miller, who, he said, was a Swedish mining engineer, and who was
going on the _Maverick_ as far as San José del Cabo, to proceed
thence to the mines near La Paz. Jebsen asked me to assist Miller
in taking five ‘Persians’ from Los Angeles to San Pedro, and in
finding quarters for them there for the night as they were to go
on board the _Maverick_ the following day. Jebsen told me nothing
about these five Persians except that they were going with the
_Maverick_ as passengers right through to her destination, and were
to be signed on the articles as anything. Accordingly I met Miller
again the same evening at the Los Angeles railway station. I found
five black men with him. On seeing me, he said: ‘Here are my men.’
He purchased tickets for them, and we all left by train for San
Pedro, where I found lodgings for them in a cheap boarding-house
for the night.
“The next morning I went on board the _Maverick_ at San Pedro,
where I met the Port Commissioner and the crew, who were already on
board signed on. Captain Nelson was present. Miller signed on as
‘store-keeper’ and the five Persians as ‘waiters.’
“One of the five Persian waiters, named Jehangir, was evidently
the leader and generally kept himself away from the rest. As far
as I remember, the names of the others were Khan, Dutt, Deen, and
Sham Sher. Later on I discovered that all these were false names.
Jehangir’s real name, I believe, was Hari Singh; he signed his
accounts and receipts as Hari Singh. I have no idea of the real
names of the others.
“Five days after leaving Los Angeles we arrived at San José del
Cabo, 27th April, I think. There Miller left us, and there, at
Nelson’s instance, I applied for and got fresh clearance for
‘Anjer, Java, via Pacific Islands.’ This is the first time that any
definite port was mentioned to me as the _Maverick’s_ destination.
There were evidently two reasons for not obtaining this clearance
from the original port of departure; first, they did not want
the American authorities to know the precise destination of the
_Maverick_, which already had roused a certain amount of suspicion;
and, secondly, because, I am sure, such a clearance as we desired
would not be granted by any American port. According to it the
_Maverick_ could have touched at every island in the Pacific before
arriving at Anjer. Jebsen had given me to understand that we might
meet the _Annie Larsen_ at San José del Cabo, but she was not
there; so we left that port on the 28th of April and proceeded to
Socorro Island where we arrived at 9 P. M. on the 29th and anchored
in a bay some thirty yards off the shore. As we anchored, Nelson
informed the crew that he was expecting to meet at that place the
schooner _Annie Larsen_ and asked them to be on the lookout for
her. Altogether we were twenty-nine days at that island waiting for
the schooner, which did not turn up after all. By the time we had
anchored it was very dark and the first sign of life on the island
was as camp fire close to the shore. Shortly after, a small boat
pulled alongside with two American sailors in it. One of them came
on the bridge and saw the captain, and after putting the question
‘Are you the people who are looking for the _Annie Larsen_?’ and
getting a reply in the affirmative, he said that the _Annie Larsen_
had been at the island, and being short of water, had left some
thirteen days before. He delivered a note to Nelson stating that
it was left by the _Annie Larsen’s_ super-cargo, Page. Nelson
passed the note over to me to read. It was a short note in English,
saying: ‘This will be delivered to you by a member of the crew of
the schooner _Emma_, who will explain his own position. I have been
waiting for you a month, and am now going to the Mexican West Coast
for supplies and water. I will return as soon as possible. Please
await my return.’ (Signed) ‘Page.’
“The sailor man then told the following story: that he and his
companion in the boat and two Mexican customs-house officials, who
were in camp ashore, had left San José del Cabo some time before
on the small American schooner _Emma_, with a cargo of bark for
the Mexican port of Loreto; that the captain had proven himself
incompetent, and they had lost their bearings, and after sailing
for many days had eventually arrived at this island, which the
master declared was a point close to Manzanillo, but which they
discovered to be an island. The mate had died at sea; the master’s
name was Clarke. These four men declined to go any farther with
the captain of that ship and preferred to be left on the island on
the off chance of being picked up by a passing vessel. The captain
and the cook, the only other members of the crew, had left some
days earlier for the Mexican coast. At the same time the _Emma_
touched the island the _Annie Larsen_ was there, and she provided
the castaways with three empty water tanks, a rifle, and a few
provisions. Since the departure of the _Annie Larsen_ they were
hoping for assistance being sent to them from the Mexican coast. We
subsequently discovered that these castaways had rigged up a sort
of condenser with the aid of their tanks and some old piping.
“The castaway who came on the _Maverick_ at Socorro further told
us that Page had told him that he had left another letter buried
somewhere on the island close to the shore by the bay, which could
be easily found if we would make a search for it. Assisted by
some of the castaways I made a search for the second note left
by Page and found it buried in a bottle under a sign which read:
‘Look Here.’ The second note was a lengthy repetition of the first.
Page asked us to help the castaways but cautioned us not to take
them aboard our ship. He said he would return as soon as he could
get water and that we were to wait for him. I returned to the
ship with the note and read it out to Nelson. Disregarding Page’s
warning not to take the castaways aboard, he immediately asked
them to come aboard, if they cared, which they did. They remained
on the _Maverick_ till the 6th of May when the American collier
(Government ship) _Nanshan_ arrived and took them off.
“The following Thursday, 13th May, H. M. S. _Kent_ arrived; two
officers boarded us immediately and examined our papers. They
returned and came on again the next morning accompanied by several
marines. They made a thorough search of the vessel this time and
returned to their ship. Nelson returned the call. On his return
Nelson told me that the _Kent’s_ commander had questioned him
rather closely as to what the _Maverick_ was doing there and that
in reply he had told him that he could not disclose his real
purpose but in a roundabout sort of way hinted that she was there
in connection with the Mexican troubles. The _Kent_ remained there
for about forty hours, during which I struck up an acquaintance
with several of the officers. I directed them where good fishing
and shooting were to be had and provided them with a few supplies.
Although there was no water to be had on that island there were
plenty of wild sheep. I am unable to say how they existed without
water outside the rainy season.
“The _Annie Larsen_ not turning up, we left about the 26th of
May. Just before we left I went ashore and left there two notes
in bottles for the _Annie Larsen_ addressed to Page in case the
ship should turn up after we had left. I put one of the bottles
in a conspicuous place in the castaways’ camp. This note read as
follows: ‘Consult our Post Office.’ by ‘our Post Office’ I meant
the place where Page himself had buried his note for us. The other
bottle I buried where I had found Page’s, and put up another
signboard saying ‘Look again.’ This note told Page all that had
occurred during our stay at the island and that we were going
somewhere where we could get further instructions.
“Immediately after the first boarding party from H. M. S. _Kent_
had left the _Maverick_ after going through our papers, I was
sent for by Captain Nelson on the bridge. When I got up there I
found him in conversation with Jehangir. I gathered from Nelson
that Jehangir had aboard two sacks and six suitcases full of
literature which he was very anxious to hide from the _Kent_.
We were expecting another visit from the _Kent_ for the purpose
of searching the ship, and Jehangir said he would not like the
literature to fall into the hands of the _Kent_ party. Jehangir did
not like the idea of destroying the literature and suggested that
it should be quietly taken ashore and buried there, pending the
departure of the _Kent_. Neither Nelson nor myself fell in with the
suggestion and were of opinion that it should be destroyed straight
away, if it were dangerous to retain it. Jehangir eventually agreed
to this and said he would just keep a sample of the various papers
and pamphlets he had. Nelson grumbled even at that. I am not sure
whether Jehangir did really preserve any specimens, but I think he
did. The two sacks with their contents and the contents of the six
suitcases were immediately burnt in the engine room. I personally
saw some of this literature. It was all printed matter in a
character unknown to me. Some of it was in newspaper form, some in
leaflets, but most of it was in the form of pamphlets; the outside
cover being mostly pink. The six empty suitcases were appropriated
by various members of the crew, I took one of them myself, and it
is with me at the present moment. Later I learned from Jehangir
that the literature was printed in San Francisco and copies of it
‘existed’ in Constantinople and Berlin.
“After depositing the two notes on the shore, we weighed anchor.
Nelson informed me that he intended proceeding to San Diego....
“After about thirty hours’ absence ashore at San Diego the party
returned to the _Maverick_, bringing with them a few supplies.
Nelson informed me that he was now going to Hilo, Hawaii, and when
we were well under way he told me that from the Brewster Hotel, San
Diego, he had rung up Jebsen at San Francisco on the long distance
telephone and was told in reply to wait at the hotel until he heard
from him (Jebsen) further. The following morning he got a wire
from Jebsen instructing Nelson to proceed to Hilo, Hawaii, where
he would receive further orders. Nelson said he had no word of the
_Annie Larsen_.
“We left for Coronados Island on or about the 2d of June and
arrived at Hilo on or about the 14th. Port officials came alongside
and demanded who we were and what our business was. The captain
told them what sort of clearance we had and that we had entered
Hilo to communicate with his owners. At about 8 P. M., when it was
dark, Captain Elbo, of the war-bound German merchantman _Ahlers_,
came alongside in a small dinghy rowed by one German sailor and
asked to be allowed aboard to speak to the captain. Nelson spoke to
him over the rail, declining to take the German captain aboard as
the health officer had not cleared the ship, but offered to see him
the following morning. Before Elbo left, however, he passed a note
up to Nelson, who showed it to me later on in his cabin. It read
as follows: ‘_Maverick_ is to proceed to Johnson Island and then
await the arrival of the schooner _Annie Larsen_ and the rest of
the ship’s programme is to be just as settled before,’ namely, that
after transferring the cargo to the _Maverick_, the _Maverick_ was
to proceed on her original voyage.
“Later Captain Elbo took us to the office of Hackfield & Company.
There we met a young German named Schroeder who, Elbo gave us to
understand, was the chief representative of the Maverick Company at
Honolulu and had specially come down to Hilo to meet Nelson about
_Maverick’s_ future plans. It appeared that while we were still at
the Collector’s office a war-telegrams slip had been out, and among
other items of interest was mentioned the arrival in Hilo of the
mysterious ship _Maverick_, whose captain had made a statement
that he had been trading in the South Sea Islands and he intended
leaving for Anjer, Java, stopping at Johnson Island on the way.
Schroeder had seen this slip just before we called on him and was
apparently highly indignant that Nelson should have disclosed the
future movements of the _Maverick_ to the press representative.
Schroeder told Nelson that it would be impossible for him to permit
him, Nelson, to go on to Johnson Island after the news had been
made public and that he, Schroeder, would have now to recast his
plans. He asked Nelson to wait at Hilo till he should hear from
him from Honolulu, where he, Schroeder, must return to arrange for
fresh plans. At Nelson’s request Schroeder authorized Hackfield to
pay all bills ‘O. K.’d’ by Nelson and to give him such money as he
might require.
“Thus we were at Hilo close on two weeks, during which time I
personally attended to all the ship’s needs. I was assisted by
Captain Elbo.
“A couple of days before we sailed from Hilo, Nelson and I met
Elbo and another captain of a war-bound German merchantman in
Honolulu, who, we were told, had specially come down to give Nelson
final instructions. The Honolulu captain told us that the original
plans of the _Maverick_ were now finally abandoned, as it was
impossible to use the _Maverick_ any more for the purpose she
was intended for, in view of the notoriety she had obtained. The
_Maverick_ was now to proceed to Anjer, Java, calling at Johnson
Island; that on arrival at Anjer she was to clear for Batavia and
report herself to Behn Meyers, the Maverick Company’s agents. Elbo
and the Honolulu captain came aboard the _Maverick_. The Honolulu
captain had a private talk with me alone in my cabin. He handed
me a sealed packet which evidently contained a plate of something
heavy. The letter was unaddressed. I was instructed to hand this
over to Helfferich at Behn Meyers upon arrival in Batavia. I did
not know then who this Helfferich was, nor did I ask who he was. I
was merely told that he was the manager of Behn Meyers. I was asked
to be careful of that letter, and I was not to give it to anybody
else. Shortly after, the Honolulu captain and Elbo left, and we put
to sea.
“When we were a couple or three days out of Hilo, Hari Singh,
during a conversation, referred once more to the literature we had
destroyed at Socorro, and said that it was the product of many
of his countrymen who were in America and that he himself had
contributed to it. He claimed to have the whole of it by heart and
could repeat it without mistake. He was evidently an exile, for
he said that ‘during the many years of his exile from India’ he
had at various times written a good deal against the British rule
in India. He gave me to understand that formerly he belonged to
the Indian Army. He said his home was in the far interior of the
country inhabited by ignorant classes, and that if he could only
succeed in getting to them, he would easily incite them to revolt
against the British Government by promising to provide them with
arms and ammunition. He was still under the impression that we were
on our way to India, and said that he knew the place we were bound
for very well, and so did the other four, and that he could be of
great assistance after we got there.
“We got to Johnson Island five days after our departure from Hilo.
There was no _Annie Larsen_ there. I went ashore together with the
mate and left a bottle with a message as follows: ‘The American
steamer _Maverick_ entered and cleared here to-day.’ We left there
the same afternoon and made for Anjer, Java. After over three
weeks’ voyage we arrived at Anjer about the 20th of July. After
examination we asked for and obtained permission to proceed to
Batavia, and we set sail the same afternoon accompanied by a Dutch
torpedo boat. Early next morning we arrived outside Batavia, and
later we were taken into port by the harbour master.
“Two or three days outside Anjer I read the letter made over to me
by Jebsen at Los Angeles for Page. Owing to Jebsen’s warning to be
careful about it, I had always carried this letter on my person
so as not to lose it. The result was that the envelope had almost
fallen to bits; now and again I put the letter, together with the
old cover, into a new envelope, but toward the end they, too, got
broken up. So I had not to open it to read it. The contents were
type-written in German, and were a sheet and a half of the ordinary
square business paper. As far as I am able to recollect, the letter
read as follows: ‘Upon the meeting of the _Annie Larsen_ with the
_Maverick_ at ... (blank) the transhipment of the cargo must be
commenced at once. The official reason to be given out was that
the _Maverick_ is going to Batavia or some other Oriental port to
be sold or chartered. It may be suggested that she is good for oil
trade on the China Coast. The cases containing rifles should be
stowed in one of the two empty tanks and flooded, and the cases of
ammunition should be placed in the other, but need not be flooded
unless as a last resort. _Maverick_ should then proceed to Anjer,
Java. No attempt is to be made to escape from British warships,
if encountered at sea, nor should she try to avoid meeting
merchantmen or warships of other nationalities. In case of her
meeting a warship she should act in a manner absolutely open and
above suspicion. In case of her being boarded by enemy officers all
cordiality should be shown to them, and, in fact, an inspection
should actually be offered, to put them off their suspicion. Under
no condition is the steamer or the cargo to be permitted to fall
into their hands. Should the cargo be discovered, and should there
be no escape from capture, the Captain is ordered not to hesitate
to have recourse to the last resort, namely, to sink the ship. Upon
arriving at Anjer the _Maverick_ will be met in the Sunda Strait
by a small friendly boat which will instruct you regarding further
details. Should you not be met at Anjer you are to proceed to
Bangkok, where you are to arrive toward dusk. Here you will be met
by a German pilot who will give you further instructions; should
you not be met here, also, you are to proceed to Karachi. Outside
Karachi the _Maverick_ is to be met by numerous small friendly
fishing craft. The fishing craft, together with the five blacks
aboard, will attend to the unloading and landing of the cargo. Two
of the blacks should go ashore immediately on arrival and proceed
inland to notify your arrival to “the people”. The remaining three
blacks and the friendly natives will assist in burying the cargo.
Should no friendly fishing boats meet you, two of the blacks should
go ashore and do the notifying of the people.’
“After the mission was over, that is whether the _Maverick_ was
successful or not, she was to go to Batavia and report to Behn
Meyers & Company. The last instruction in the letter was that
all undelivered papers were to be handed over to Behn Meyers. In
accordance with this I made over the letter to Helfferich on our
arrival.
“After we had been in the harbour (Batavia) for about an hour
or so a German came aboard and introduced himself as Kolbe, 2d
Officer of the war-bound merchantman _Silesia_. Nelson signed me to
leave them alone, which I did. After they had conversed for about
twenty minutes, Kolbe, Nelson, and myself went ashore together
and motored down to Helfferich’s residence at Konigsplein W. 8.
On the way we stopped at the American Consulate; Nelson went in
alone. While waiting for him outside in the car I had a talk with
Kolbe. He knew all about the _Maverick_ and her mission. When
I told him that I should like to interview the manager of Behn
Meyers to deliver the letter given to me by Dinart at Hilo, Kolbe
replied that Helfferich, the man we were on our way to, was the
manager and I could make the letter over to him. Dinart had not
mentioned Helfferich by name at the time of handing the letter to
me. He asked me just to deliver it to Behn Meyers. When Nelson
joined us again we proceeded to Helfferich’s place where I met for
the first time the brothers Theodore and Emile Helfferich. Kolbe
and I retired to another part of the house while Nelson and the
brothers held a conversation for half an hour or so. After Nelson
had done, he left with Kolbe, leaving me with the brothers. I
spent about an hour with them. I gave Theodore Helfferich Dinart’s
letter which he opened in my presence. It was a typewritten sheet
in code. Helfferich said it would take him some time to decode it.
The ‘weight’ inside the letter I have spoken of was what looked
like a thin slab of lead enclosed in another cover. Helfferich
opened this cover and on seeing that it was a thin slab, threw it
aside without taking the trouble of examining it closely. I have
no idea what it was for, but I imagine that in case it had to be
suddenly thrown overboard the weight inside the cover would sink
the letter at once. I told them all about our trip, and showed them
the letters I had brought with me. Helfferich read the letter
intended for Page, and remarked that the arrangements made at this
end were substantially the same as those indicated in the letter.
He said the signals were the same, and password was the same, and
the code was the same. Emile spoke up and said that he had waited
for the _Maverick_ for three weeks in the Sunda Strait. They deeply
regretted the failure of the _Maverick_ in not bringing the arms
and said that their arrangements on this side were excellent and
they were only waiting the arrival of the cargo when they could
have easily put their whole scheme through. They observed that
‘the people’ in India were all ready and prepared and had only
been waiting for the arms to turn up. They did not discuss their
own scheme with me. Theodore Helfferich expressed his disgust at
the _Maverick_ being thrust upon him and could not understand the
object of her being sent to Batavia when she was not carrying the
cargo, and when she could have as easily returned to America. It
was then arranged that I should take up my lodging in a hotel
ashore and in the meantime Helfferich would decipher the code
letter. Things were to be left alone until he had read that.
“A couple of days after, I was rung up by Helfferich and I went and
saw him at his place in the evening. He had deciphered the letter
which had ‘originated’ from San Francisco. Helfferich said that the
letter directed the abandonment of the _Maverick_, which was either
to be sold or chartered to anybody or that she could be used for
any regular purpose if Helfferich so desired. She was, if not sold,
to be retained in this part of the world and on no account to be
returned to America.”
So fizzled the German-Hindu gun-running expedition to India. The
_Maverick_ had arrived, with five “Persians” and no guns, at a
Dutch port in the Indies--not India. The Hindus and the crew
scattered to the winds; Starr-Hunt started to return to Los Angeles
but was detained by the British authorities at Singapore, and
ultimately appeared in the Federal court-room at San Francisco as
the chief witness for the Government in its case against the German
consul and his staff, the complacent Americans, and the Hindu
conspirators. The _Annie Larsen_ wandered up and down the Pacific
Coast, and finally put in at Hoquiam, Wash., where she was promptly
seized and her cargo of arms and ammunition locked up by the United
States Government.
Von Brincken bore bitter testimony to the failure of the _Maverick_
expedition, in the course of a “Report Concerning My Activities at
the Imperial Consulate in San Francisco, California”--a report
written November 10, 1916, and intended for the eyes of the German
Foreign Office. He said:
“I complied with that instruction and met Ram Chandra and other
leaders of the Hindu Nationalists, and there laid the foundation
for the entire Hindu work which has since then been carried out
here on the Pacific.... Up to the present date, I have fulfilled
this assignment absolutely alone.... Mr. Von Schack has seen
Ram Chandra only a few times during the entire period--while
Consul-General Bopp saw the man only once. I had nothing to do with
the ship-matters in connection with the Hindu affair. Therefore, I
am not responsible for the failure of the ‘_Maverick_ Expedition.’
I had only planned the point of landing at Karachi. Besides,
through messengers, I had prepared the populace of the Punjab for
the arrival of the _Maverick_.”
At the time of the _Maverick_ enterprise, and after its failure,
the Germans engineered a half dozen plots with the Hindus, looking
toward revolution in India. Von Papen in New York directed a scheme
for an incursion into north-western India through Afghanistan.
The German Consul-General in Chicago shipped two German officers
and two Hindu agitators to the Orient to train Hindu soldiers in
upper Siam for an invasion of Burma. Wesendonck sent Har Dayal
from Berlin to Constantinople to act as chairman of a committee of
Mohammedans who were to incite the Mussulman population of India to
revolt. Ram Chandra, at the instigation of Von Brincken, sent Hindu
emissaries from San Francisco to organize revolutionary movements
among the Indians in Manila, Tokyo, Shanghai--even in Seoul and
Peking. Other emissaries, gathering men and money or transmitting
messages, worked in Panama, in Switzerland, in the Sinai Peninsula,
in Sweden--scarcely a country in the world but was touched by a
filament of this spider’s web of German intrigue.
And, like gossamer, it all came to airy nothingness. A few
dacoities [robberies accompanied by violence], a few vain attempts
to suborn loyal native troops in India, were the net results of
enormous labours, lengthy journeys, and huge expenditures of money.
By December, 1915, the German Government became impatient of this
much ado about nothing. But it did not abandon hope. Zimmermann
summoned a little, nervous, excitable Hindu from New York to
Berlin. Dr. Chakravarty left America on a false passport, and
in February, 1916, was appointed in Berlin to head the Indian
intrigues in America. Zimmermann’s cable to Bernstorff, quoted in
the first part of this article, notified the German authorities
here of his appointment. By August, Dr. Chakravarty was in San
Francisco, consulting with Ram Chandra and the Germans there.
Chakravarty and Ram Chandra had one thing in common--both knew
the value of real-estate. Out of their joint operations in the
insubstantial pursuit of Indian liberty, each emerged with some
perfectly sound investments in mundane property, paid for with
money subtracted from the German gold that passed through their
hands for the “freeing of the oppressed.” Chakravarty put about
forty thousand dollars into New York apartments, and Ram Chandra
several thousands into residence and business property in San
Francisco.
Ram Chandra’s real-estate ventures got him into trouble. They
gave the needed opportunity to his rival for control of the Hindu
organization in California. This rival was Bhagwan Singh, the poet
and orator of the “Movement.” Late in 1916, he accused Ram Chandra
of stealing Hindu funds. The directors of the Hindu Pacific Coast
Association investigated the charge, and threw Ram Chandra out.
Bhagwan Singh became president of the association and editor of
the _Ghadr_. A few months later, when the United States entered
the war, the whole crew was arrested, along with the German
agents in San Francisco and Honolulu and with the Americans and
German-Americans implicated in the _Maverick_ enterprise.
The trial of these men was one of the most picturesque scenes ever
enacted in an American court. In the prisoner’s dock aggressive
blond German officers sat beside anaemic, swarthy, turbaned Hindus
and plain American business men. To make the evidence intelligible
to the jury, a map of half the world was painted on one wall of
the court-room, showing America and Asia and the Pacific Ocean,
splotched with red dots and routes of travel. Beside the map were
printed the names of the defendants, so that their strangeness
might be somewhat simplified. Among the polyglot evidence were
Hindu publications in six Oriental languages, including Persian;
cipher messages which, when deciphered, proved to be an Indian
revolutionist’s letters which had to be translated by reference
to page and line of an American’s book about “Germany and the
Germans”; enciphered code, written in Berlin by the German
Foreign Minister, transmitted to Stockholm and thence by the
Swedish Government to Buenos Aires and thence by Count Luxburg to
Bernstorff in Washington, telling him to pay an East Indian in New
York money for use in San Francisco to send arms to revolutionists
near Calcutta--besides other oddities of men and places and
documents too numerous to mention.
The episode of the _Maverick_ and the _Annie Larsen_ occupied a
large place in the trial. One of the humours of that fiasco was the
proof that “Juan Bernardo Bowen,” of Topolobampo, Mexico, was a
romantic imagining to conceal plain Bernard Manning of San Diego.
There was no Juan Bernardo. The man who got Tauscher’s shipment of
arms for the _Annie Larsen_ was Manning.
The prosecution proved that the funds for the purchase of the
_Maverick_ and for the charter of the _Annie Larsen_ were got from
the German Consulate’s bank accounts in San Francisco, and were
concealed by an elaborate jugglery through a chain of American
lawyers and shipping agents in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San
Diego.
The end of the story is briefly told in the following despatch to
the New York _Sun_, dated San Francisco, April 24, 1918:
Twenty-nine men, charged with conspiring on American soil to
start a revolution against British rule in India, were found
guilty by a jury in Federal Court early to-day.
Just as court adjourned for the noon recess yesterday, the last
day of the trial, Ram Singh, a defendant, shot and killed Ram
Chandra, another defendant. United States Marshal James Holohan
shot Ram Singh dead in his tracks.