THE STORY OF NEW YORK
The Focus of German International Espionage—Center of Foreign
Population—The Great Plots—Governmental Concentration—How the A.
P. L. Web Helped Collect Traitors—Details of the Organization—A
Metropolis Loved by a Country.
The great American metropolis was the storm-center of America in the
war. The heart of the great and intricate system of German espionage,
the controlling financial body of Germany’s spy army, was there;
the treacherous diplomacy of Germany centered there. Moreover, our
shipments of men, munitions and supplies largely centered there, and
that was the general point of departure of our troops bound overseas.
Naturally, therefore, our Government concentrated in and around this
danger spot its strongest protective measures for our troops and their
supplies. Literally, it was plot and counterplot in New York; war and
counter war; espionage and counter espionage.
Such a story as that cannot be covered by the printed page. No volume
can describe New York’s part in the war, for that man does not live who
knows or ever will know all that went on in New York in war time. New
York herself never will know how she was endangered and how she was
protected.
Until war broke out, New York was much like London. Grown indifferent
to her vast foreign element, she was disposed to let these people meet
and march, preach and pray and then go home again, red flag and all. No
great world city can have a homogeneous population, nor can any such
population be governed as a whole. New York accepted the fact that
she was one of the centers of the world’s transient life. Her entire
business prosperity is built up on the transient trade. With an amused
indifference, New York allowed her visitors to meet and march, preach
and pray, amuse themselves so long as they liked, so long as they paid
for their privilege of passing through. She had long since ceased to
analyze her population, but has entertained it instead, regarding it
with neither fear, shame, pride nor alarm. She was truly a metropolis.
But when war came, New York realized that she was not only a metropolis
but a commercial center and a place where human beings lived. She had
tall buildings. A brick shot off the top of the Woolworth Building
would certainly jar a man below if it fell upon him; and the Woolworth
or other buildings might easily be hit by naval guns of a hostile fleet
lying comfortably off shore. The funk of New York and other eastern
cities was never felt at all in the central portion of the country.
When the submarines began to show what they could do, New York awoke
to a sense of real danger. She faced the fact that, although she was
foreign in population, she must become American if America was to
endure. Then New York turned her face no longer toward Europe, but
toward America and since that time has been more beloved by America
than ever she was before.
It was imperative that the vast protective agencies of the national
Government should focus here at the gateway to the Atlantic. Military
Intelligence, Naval Intelligence, Cable Censorship, Mail Censorship,
the Department of Justice, War Trade Intelligence—each of these and all
the various war boards and branches of war activities must center in
the metropolis inevitably. The machinery for protecting the invaluable
shipping of men and munitions was as elaborate and perfect as the
Government could make it. Every force was rushed to the danger line in
New York.
In so complicated and overburdened a series of Government enterprises
it early became obvious that there was need for an auxiliary such as
the American Protective League. The organization was duly made and
widely extended. It was natural none the less that it should be very
much overshadowed by the greater volume and greater importance of the
agencies of the Government’s judicial and war work, which were massed
in the great city. But the A. P. L. was there, active as elsewhere, and
perhaps more useful than in any other city in the country, because it
had to do there with larger risks than offered in any other city.
In the period of its work in New York up to the time of the Armistice,
the A. P. L. division was thought to have covered some 300,000 cases
in all, which is far and away the record for America. Such figures as
these mean, of course, that to single out any one case or a few cases
would be only to repeat cases the like of which already have been
described for other points; and besides, it would not in any sense give
an idea of the extent of the data handed over to the United States
departments on A. P. L. initiative or on government request. It seems
wiser to let the great national or international cases, which have
become publicly prominent through Government activity, stand for the
minor story of New York.
These _causes celébrès_ have in great part been made public in the
newspapers,—and in a great many instances made yet more public by the
testimony of the witnesses of the Federal Attorneys before the Overman
Senate Committee in Washington. It certainly could be said of the
great city that she produced more sensations in espionage than all the
rest of the country combined. A. P. L. was not concerned in all these
matters, although in some of them it played its part.
The first chief of the New York Division was a lawyer, John H.
Hendrick, who had charge of the small beginnings in April, 1917, but
who in the following month, was succeeded by Richmond Levering, special
agent of the Department of Justice. Mr. Bielaski, Chief of the U. S.
Bureau of Investigation, approved this appointment, Mr. Levering later
becoming Major in the U. S. Army. In early June, Mr. E. S. Underhill,
an Agent of the Department of Justice, was detailed to take charge. The
work now began to grow somewhat. In October, 1917, League affairs were
placed in the hands of an operating committee. On January 3, 1918, the
committee was abolished, and Mr. E. H. Rushmore was appointed Acting
Chief. In May, 1918, Mr. Rushmore became Chief of the Division.
New York Division, like others, at first was organized along trade
lines, which was found to be impracticable. Then the Southern and
Eastern Federal Districts of New York were divided into zones. The
Borough of Manhattan contained eight zones, each under an inspector.
The Borough of the Bronx was placed in charge of a deputy chief, and
was divided into nine sub-divisions. The Borough of Brooklyn and Long
Island was also in charge of a deputy chief, and subdivided into eight
districts, each in charge of an inspector. The outlying districts
were formed into zones, using county lines as boundaries, and each
of these zones also was under the charge of an inspector. All the
inspectors appointed a sufficient number of captains, who had under
them lieutenants in charge of squads.
It will be seen that this is rather a complicated organization, and
indeed it could not be swung as a unit in the matter of its records,
because of the diverse reporting system required.
The work of the Division Headquarters on Nassau Street was efficiently
handled by twenty volunteer members who acted as Bureau Chiefs in the
matter of assignment of work. Headquarters had about fifty file clerks
and stenographers in its force, and in addition operated six zone
offices, all of which were used exclusively for these zone workers,
and all of them fully equipped with office facilities and help. The
Division expended something over $75,000, all of which was raised by
individual subscriptions of members of the League and their friends.
A. P. L. in New York had all sorts of cases. Chief Rushmore thinks
about the most important was that concerned with A. L——, intimate
friend of Jeremiah O’Leary, on trial for treason. This case was turned
over to the League by Division Superintendent DeWoody of D. J., who
asked the covering of all railroad stations, ferries and steamship
lines or other possible means of entry into New York in order that L——
might be apprehended. A rather meagre description of the suspect was
given. Information had reached the Department that L—— had left New
York when O’Leary forfeited his trial bond and did not appear in court
for trial on charge of treason. L—— was thought to be on his way back
to New York. A. P. L. put out about one hundred operatives on this
case, and stopped hundreds of passengers who might have resembled him
and asked them to identify themselves. This came to nothing. Other
operatives interviewed the man’s wife and were convinced L—— was in
town. An operative of A. P. L., accompanied by a D. J. man, therefore
shadowed one of L——’s intimate friends, with the result that L——
himself finally was located in Brooklyn and apprehended. He was taken
to the New York office of the Department of Justice and there gave
information as to O’Leary’s whereabouts. The latter man, who had jumped
his bail bond, was immediately apprehended in the West and brought on
to New York, where, at the last writing, he was waiting trial on the
charge of treason.
The A. P. L. shadow work in the foregoing case was so good as to elicit
a letter of praise from D. J. in Washington to Mr. DeWoody. The latter
disclaimed the credit and gave it to the A. P. L. operative “who
performed a remarkable feat in a continued and difficult shadow.”
The Division Chief himself writes something regarding a matter which
has brought up considerable other writing at different times from many
different sources.
The story of the much discussed slacker raid in New York is known
to every one, but we might give some details. In August, 1918, Mr.
Bielaski, in Washington, advised the National Directors of A. P.
L. that he was anxious to conduct a New York slacker raid similar
to that in Chicago. The National Directors conferred with Mr. De
Woody, the D. J. Agent in New York, who talked the matter over
with Martin Conboy, Director of the Draft for New York City. The
National Directors also went to the New York Division of A. P.
L. and left a tentative plan based upon the Chicago arrangement,
which was submitted to Mr. DeWoody, who, later, with these others,
worked out a plan for the raid which was to come off on September
3, 4 and 5.
Arrangements were made to obtain the Sixty-ninth Regiment Armory
in New York and the Twenty-third Regiment Armory in Brooklyn,
and about 1,000 sailors and 750 soldiers from posts in New York
City were obtained for assistance in the raids. Two American
Protective League operatives were detailed to each of the one
hundred and eighty-nine local boards in New York, and two to each
police station. There were seventy-five operatives on duty in the
Armories in New York and about fifty in Brooklyn. There were ten
special agents of D. J. in Brooklyn and twenty in New York. Mr.
DeWoody prepared printed instructions to be used by the sailors,
soldiers and A. P. L. operatives in the work.
The system used on the streets was to interrogate a man, and ask
for his registration card and his final classification card. If
he had none, he was taken to the nearest police station, where he
was questioned further by the operatives in charge, and if thought
to be a delinquent, was then sent by a motor car to the armory
to be held. From that point his local board was communicated
with by telephone or telegraph, and the true status of the man
obtained at the earliest possible moment. In these raids, there
were apprehended 21,402 men, of whom 756 were inducted into the
service. There were found 2,485 men who were delinquents from
their local boards.
Up till December 11, 1918, there were 45,150 filed cases of a general
nature in the New York Division: 3,610 civil service case, 2,920
passport visés, 471 passport cases, 2,507 overseas investigations,
2,539 investigations of officers’ commissions, and 29,680 cases
connected with selective service matters. This makes a total of 86,877
cases.
It is to be noted that the above numbers apply to folder numbers only,
and many folders contain more than one case, some of them as high as
250 cases. For instance, the investigations of a jury panel would be
carried all in one folder under the name of the trial on which that
jury was to sit. The figures in selective service matters are the
actual number of cases turned over to the League at the time they
started work with the various local boards. Subsequent to this date
the A. P. L. officers in charge of the work at the various boards were
given thousands of cases which they reported directly to the board,
there being no file in the office in such instances. The A. P. L. Chief
of New York therefore thinks it a very conservative estimate to say
that the number of individuals investigated by the New York Division
would run between 300,000 and 400,000. All these cases in the New York
office system were filed alphabetically under the name of the person
or firm to be investigated; for that reason definite figures could not
be given in any summary. As League operatives became better acquainted
with the Chairmen of the Draft Boards, more and more cases would be
turned in directly to the Local Boards, which left the files incomplete
also in cases of this character.
On Long Island, near New York, there were several large military camps,
including Camp Mills and Camp Upton, and several aviation fields. The
A. P. L. zone inspectors in charge of Nassau and Suffolk Counties,
together with the Deputy Chief, in charge of Long Island, coöperated
closely with the Intelligence officers of these camps. A. P. L. quite
often was of assistance in locating deserters from these camps, it
being the usual thing for an officer to telegraph A. P. L. to pick up
the pursuit.
A. P. L. also investigated a great many cases for the camp authorities
at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, South Carolina, because this camp
was occupied for some time by the New York National Guard. Sometimes
the League would be asked to investigate the statement of a man who
wanted a furlough because his family in New York was sick. A great many
fraudulent requests of this kind were discovered. The War Department
detailed a special officer to handle cases of deception of this
character, and A. P. L. turned over to him a great deal of information
of this nature as well as many reports which had come in to A. P. L.
of the sale of liquor to men in uniform. Captain Peiffer, the officer
in charge of this work, at one time investigated some thirty hotels in
New York City. For more than two weeks these hotels were covered by
A. P. L. operators. This officer had a lieutenant detailed to watch
liquor and vice matters on Long Island, who made his headquarters at
Hempstead. A. P. L. officers coöperated with this lieutenant in every
way and gave him much assistance in closing up saloons and hotels that
came within the five mile limit of the various camps.
Military Intelligence Division, of the General Staff, sent a
great many character and loyalty investigations of overseas cases,
officers’ investigation cases and a large variety of cases of special
investigation of both positive and negative nature, to A. P. L. in New
York. A separate department was established in New York headquarters
exclusively to handle the cases coming to New York Military
Intelligence in Washington. Within the seven months ending December
11, 1918, the New York office received 5,046 cases of the types above
mentioned. Perhaps a man going overseas would give from one to ten
references, say an average of four references to each case, which would
mean the interviewing of more than 20,000 individuals at the request
of the War Department in Washington. The men who did this work did not
get a cent for it. The territory covered by the Division extends from
Poughkeepsie, New York, to Montauk Point, Long Island, a distance of
about 200 miles. The cases would be scattered all over this territory,
and very often the same case would require two or more investigators.
Beside all of these rather heavy duties in connection with the big
government work, A. P. L. had daily requests from the Intelligence
Office at Governor’s Island, the Port of Embarkation at Hoboken, and
the various other Intelligence Offices in and around New York City.
Every possible assistance was rendered these various officers. It was
impossible to classify all of this work in the files, so that the
entire number is not available.
As the perfectly interlocking system of intelligence of the A. P. L. in
the great city became known, the agents of the Department of Justice
and the officers of the various Military Intelligence services got
in the habit of calling on headquarters at A. P. L. for all sorts of
information. Quite often they would call regarding some case which
needed looking into at a town a long distance away. The name of an A.
P. L. division at that point would be given, and the case turned over
to the latter by telegraph. Thus it is easy to see that the web of New
York, expanded into the web of A. P. L. all over America, was of almost
incalculable benefit to all of the U. S. Departments concerned in any
way with the war.
The New York office has conducted some part of the investigation of
almost every alien enemy that has been interned in that part of the
country. Just how much value the work of the League has had in these
various internment cases, it is difficult to tell. Department of
Justice has sometimes been rather haughty and lofty in regard to its
humbler auxiliary. When New York A. P. L. has inquired of D. J. as
to the outcome of a certain case, sometimes the answer would be that
“proper action will be taken in due time,” the inference being that D.
J. did not want to be bothered by questions. A like vagueness quite
often enshrouded cases turned over to Military Intelligence. A. P. L.
might investigate fifty men for commissions and never know even whether
any of them got a commission.
The offices of the United States Attorneys in both the Southern and
Eastern districts of New York were greatly overworked, and had a very
inadequate staff of assistants. It was necessary, in many instances,
for A. P. L. to take cases that should have gone to a Federal Court,
before some local magistrate on a disorderly conduct charge.
In brief, the story of A. P. L. in New York City is very satisfying
indeed. How fortunate for Military Intelligence, the Draft Boards,
the Department of Justice and other war branches that they had an
A. P. L. to help them out, and to do that for nothing! Had this not
been the case, it is not too much to say that these branches of our
war activities would also have broken down as so lamentably did other
portions of our war work—ordnance, equipment, airplane work, etc., all
of which suffered from not having a quarter million of men at hand to
do the work for nothing and do it right. The truth about this war never
has been known and never will be printed. A lot of it lies in the files
of the A. P. L.
In the course of the last ten months, according to the Military
Intelligence Bureau, New York Division probably had more investigations
entrusted to it than would in peace times be made throughout the entire
country. Since the A. P. L. men were of the highest type, with all the
advantage of education and wide experience, their ready adaptability
can be taken for granted. But even with the high average of ability of
the League officers and operatives, the notably fine record of the New
York Division would not have been possible had there not been a most
thorough and up-to-date business system. And such was actually the case.
A full series of blanks, the use of special cover sheets, of different
colors, and the employment of case covers corresponding to the cover
sheets, so simplified the filing system and the record of the case
itself as to save a great deal of time and eliminate a great many
mistakes. For instance, the case card would be buff in a case of a
“commission” investigation, green in an “overseas” investigation and
pink for special cases. The card is kept clipped to its cover sheet
until a case is assigned. When it has been assigned, notation is made
on the card and cover sheet, and the individual record card of the man
to whom assigned. The case is then sent to the operative, and the case
card filed alphabetically under his name in the “out” box. A separate
record card is maintained for each investigator or district officer. It
is thus possible to locate a case at once, by looking up a name of the
subject in the “out” box of case cards, and to locate what cases are in
the hands of any investigator by looking up his record card. An equally
thorough system was employed in the handling of reports as they came in.
Without a most efficient system for transacting the business of the
League, the most hopeless confusion must have obtained among that
seething mass of conflicting human activities. Mere bulk of paper is
an incomprehensible thing, and no one who has not seen the masses
of reports coming in, even to the minor offices of the League,
can understand what the handling of the _three million_ A. P. L.
investigations really meant in office work alone.
The Army is divided into the Staff and the Line; otherwise, the
Office and the Field. A similar division may be made in the American
Protective League. The men handling the records in the central office
are more or less unhonored and unsung. Upon the other hand, the
operative who puts on false eyebrows and a beard and goes out to stalk
a suspect is apt to seem far more the heroic figure, although what he
really is doing is no more than getting something for the office to
file. Neither branch of the activity ought to be overlooked.
The New York A. P. L. conducted investigations for the Department of
Justice under three heads; the State Department under two heads; the
War Department under five heads; and also the Navy Department, the
Alien Property Custodian, the Civil Service Commission, the War Trade
Board and the U. S. Shipping Board, as well as the Treasury Department
under three different heads.
When one pauses to reflect on these different classifications of the
work and the different ramifications of the League’s operative forces,
one is pretty nearly ready to admit that without a perfect office
system the whole thing would have been jolly well messed up inside of
a week. This amateur organization sprang into being almost over night,
a smooth-working, modern business machine, which rendered invaluable
services at no cost at all. When you stop to think of it, this is one
of the most wonderful phenomena of American business life.
The total membership of officers and operatives in the New York
Division numbered over four thousand five hundred substantial business
and professional men, chosen from every field of activity. They were
classified and reclassified to such an extent that, from speaking any
required language on earth to expert knowledge in any profession on
earth, aid could be furnished on demand. Two significant facts stand
out in comparing New York with other cities. The first, the rather
smaller number of men; the second, the rather small amount of money
spent in the work. It is due to the excellent business system of that
division that the cost per case was kept so low, for New York runs more
cases to the operative, and more to the member, than any other city in
the country.