THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA
Splendid Record of a Ship-Shape Office—A Model Organization and
the Way it Worked—Stories of the Silent Soldiers—A Banner Report.
The City of Brotherly Love gives us pause. Is it indeed the truth that
Americans do not know their own country? The story of the American
Protective League, covering some millions of typewritten words, some
hundreds of thousands of pages of typewritten copy, might be called
one of the largest and one of the best histories of America ever
written. It offers no pretense at deductions, but only an abundance
of facts, objective and not subjective, concrete and not abstract.
Popular impression hath it that the city founded by good William Penn
is a simple and quiet sort of community, where life goes on lawfully
and all is ease and comfort, peace and content. The facts do not seem
to bear out this supposition. Philadelphia was as lawless as the next
city during war times, possessed of as many undesirables and offering
as many urgent problems in national defense. Tucson, Arizona, reports
peace. Philadelphia is bad and borderish!
Among the many hundreds of reports coming in during the closing days
of the American Protective League, there are some which run forty,
fifty, or seventy-five pages of single space type. A very few of such
reports would make a book the size of this one in hand. It has been,
let it be repeated, with a most genuine regret that such work had to
be condensed by the press. The Philadelphia report, for instance,
covers ninety pages, and is an absolute model in every way. Indeed, a
visit to the Philadelphia A. P. L. offices would have left any visitor
certain of the high level of efficiency which has been attained by
that division in every phase of its work. There was not a neater,
better-systematized or smoother-running division in all the League than
that in bad and borderish Philadelphia. The installation in that city
was not so large as some. A Swiss watch is not so large as a Big Ben
clock, but the latter does not keep any better time and makes much more
noise about it.
It being impossible to print all of the Philadelphia report, it is
quite in order to give rather a full summary of it, that we may correct
the old impression regarding Philadelphia as a place of peace. The
tabulated records cover only eleven months, from December 26, 1917,
to November, 1918. In that period, 18,275 persons were examined, not
counting those who were released in the big slacker raids. In order
that the lay reader may have a perfect idea of the many different heads
of activity in any one of these great offices, the Philadelphia table
is offered in full, precisely as sent in:
_Department of Justice Cases._
Alien Enemy Activities.
a. Male 1,575
b. Female 177 1,752
------
Citizen disloyalties and sedition.
(Espionage Act) 880
Treason 1
Sabotage, bombs, dynamite, defective manufacture of
war material 78
Anti-Military activity, interference with draft, etc. 91
Propaganda.
a. Word of mouth 509
b. Printed matter and publications 75 584
------
Radical organizations.
I. W. W., Peoples’ Council, League of Humanity, and
all other radical organizations, including pacifist
and radical “socialists” 377
Bribery, graft, theft, and embezzlement 66
Miscellaneous, including naturalization and jury
panel 350
Impersonation of U. S. or foreign officers 21 371
------
_War Department Cases._
Counter-Espionage for Military Intelligence.
Selective Service Regulations.
a. Under local and district boards 5,384
(All individual investigations of delinquents
and deserters and of those charged with any
violation of selective service regulations.)
b. In Slacker raids 3,726
c. Of local and district board members 47
d. Work or fight order 18 9,175
------
Character and Loyalty.
a. Civilian applicants for oversea service 1,013
b. Applicants for Commissions 61 1,074
------
Training camp activities 6
(Under Sections 12 and 13 of Selective Service
Law Regulations, p. 355.)
a. Liquor 587
b. Vice and prostitution 860 1,453
------
Camp desertions and absences without leave 175
Collection of foreign maps and photographs for Military
Intelligence Bureau—Pieces of matter (about) 1,500
_Navy Department._
Counter-espionage for Naval Intelligence, including:
Wireless 42
Lights 9
Other signalling to submarines, etc. 7 58
------
_Food Administration._
Hoarding 33
Destruction 1
Waste 21
Profiteering 6 61
------
_Fuel Administration._
Hoarding 25
Destruction 0
Waste 20
Profiteering 5 50
------
_Department of State._
Visé of Passport 6
Miscellaneous 1 7
------
_Treasury Department._
War Risk Insurance Allotments, Allowances,
Frauds, etc. 53
Miscellaneous 2 55
------
_United States Shipping Board._
Under National Headquarters Bulletins Nos.
11 and 12 26
_Federal Investigation._
Hog Island 407
_Miscellaneous._ 33
The beginnings of the A. P. L. in Philadelphia lay in a meeting of
fifty business men, who came together April 9, 1917, and organized as
the Philadelphia Branch of the A. P. L. From that time on, varying
fortunes and different personnel attended the League activities. On
December 26, 1917, Mr. Mahlon R. Kline, who for years had been in
charge of the Claim Department of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit
Company and had been engaged in secret service work in other
corporations, was appointed Chief of the division. In February,
1918, there came in with Mr. Kline, Mr. Frank H. Gaskill, formerly
Superintendent of the Franklin Detective Agency, who also had been
associated with the Claims Department of the Rapid Transit Company.
Although no pretense is made of naming all their associates, it should
be mentioned that to these two men must be accorded a great deal of the
credit for the last year’s work.
Naturally the question of finances came in early. In January, 1918,
Mr. Horace A. Beale, Jr., president of an iron company, volunteered to
purchase any furniture and office equipment which might be necessary.
This brought out the need of a permanent fund, and Mr. Beale was one
of the League’s staunchest supporters along these lines. There was put
before the members of the Chamber of Commerce a plant protection system
which has been in practice in many American cities. Factory owners paid
into the treasury of the League twenty-five to one hundred dollars a
month, which, for a time, covered the running expenses of the office
even in its growing condition. When this income became inadequate,
Mr. Kline with the Executive Committee later arranged for an expense
account through the War Chest Fund of $3,000 a month.
There was a handy little cabinet made up by the Bureau Chief in charge
of slackers and deserters, which contained the following card index
information: Names, addresses and telephone numbers of members to be
counted on at any hour; names of members taking assignments in the
several districts; names of members willing to accept assignments in
any section. This cabinet contains the address and telephone numbers of
all members owning yachts, motor cars, etc.; also a record of members
speaking the following languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish,
Yiddish, Hungarian, Swedish, Russian, Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch,
Danish, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Greek, Esperanto, Laplandish,
Korean, Japanese, Austrian, Slavish and Latin.
The League in Philadelphia did not attempt secrecy. On the contrary, it
openly availed itself of the services of the newspapers, and had the
confident backing of all the great journals. It did not always go out
after its man personally, but saved a great deal of time by inventing a
little form letter which read as follows:
Mr. John Doe:
Kindly call at this office immediately upon receipt of this letter
with reference to a matter of great importance. Bring this letter
with you and ask for Mr. Bouton.
Respectfully,
American Protective League.
This was the letter sent out to draft evaders. It was thought at first
it would not work, but, as a matter of fact, it brought in a stream of
men who otherwise would have needed to be found. Once in the office,
the rest was easy.
At the time that Mr. Kline came into the League there were 1,225
members. Additional members were selected with great care, but
politics, religion, lodge affiliations, and so forth, were not factors
in the working of the League. There were on February 7, 1919, 3,440
members of the A. P. L. in Philadelphia, all working for purely
patriotic motives.
The training of operatives under the skilled secret service instruction
available in the division offices resulted in losing a good many men to
the Department of Justice forces, who were not slow to recognize the
value of good, well-trained men when they saw them. There were many
departments of the United States Government which lie under deep debt
to-day to the Philadelphia office of the American Protective League.
The Philadelphia work was perhaps most famous through its great system
of drives. That city is indeed the original drive center, and there,
better than anywhere else, perhaps, may be seen the working of a
thoroughly differentiated system of drag-nets. There were a number of
these raids which may be summarized briefly.
The first was a small affair conducted on May 17, 1918, which took in a
couple of roadhouses where uniformed men were buying liquor.
The second raid was conducted on July 15, 1918, when about 2,000
members swooped down on the Tenderloin district of Chester,
Pennsylvania, arresting about four hundred persons, mostly of the
lowest type. About ninety per cent of these prisoners were convicted
for bootlegging or crimes of a worse character—denizens of the section
known as Bethel Court and Leiper’s Flat, which the officers call the
worst hell-holes they have ever seen—“such places as make the Mexican
border look like a Sunday School picnic,” says one. In this tough
district many desperate characters were met who were quick to use
weapons; but the agents of the law sustained practically no personal
injuries.
Other raids followed, the sixth taking place on August 2, 1918, at
Woodside Park, an amusement place which was filled with slackers. Two
hundred A. P. L. members and agents of D. J. surrounded the place and
handled in all 2,000 men, out of which more than three hundred were
detained.
The seventh raid was August 6, 1918—the great slacker raid on Shibe
Park, at the time when there was a crowd of 8,000 men gathered to
witness the Jack Thompson-Sam Langford prize fight. There were
twenty agents of D. J., two hundred A. P. L. members and one hundred
Philadelphia police. They examined over 2,000 men between the ages
of twenty-one and thirty-two, and held one hundred and forty-one as
deserters or evaders.
The eighth raid, August 15, 1918, was set at Atlantic City, N. J.,
and is considered the daddy of them all. At that time four pleasure
piers were raided, and more than 60,000 men, women and children were
handled without commotion. Preparations for this raid were left to Mr.
Gaskill, since he had done so well with other raids. In the call for
the assembly the members did not know where they were going—they got
sealed directions. At 10:00 P. M. sharp, the entrance and exit guards
took up positions and refused to allow any males to leave the pier
without showing classification cards, if within draft age. The other
squads of from fifty to seventy-five men were instructed to proceed to
the ocean end of the pier, form a solid line and sweep all men within
the above mentioned ages, found without papers, to a point at the board
walk end of the pier where they were detained until the work had been
completed, after which they were transferred to the armory for further
examination. There were about seven hundred men apprehended in that
raid and sixty real slackers. It was an all-night job, the members from
Philadelphia arriving home about seven o’clock as quietly as they had
slipped out of town.
On November 6, 1918, the Olympia Athletic Club was raided, and out of
the 8,000 men who had gathered to witnessed the Dempsey-Levinsky prize
fight, more than 1,000 were detained, thirty-six of which proved real
draft evaders. This bunch of fight fans was handled by one hundred and
twenty-five A. P. L. members, forty police, and twelve agents of the
Department of Justice.
The signing of the armistice on the eleventh of November ended the
slacker raids, but having its hand well skilled by this time, the A. P.
L. went on with vice raids and picked up a great many people who had
not complied with the draft laws. On November 20, 1918, Chester, Pa.,
was again raided and an additional forty-two prisoners apprehended. The
next three days were put in with Tenderloin raids for bootleggers, of
whom sixty were sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.
It is probable that the Philadelphia division has worked out the raid
matter as exactly as any other division of the country. The Chief had
a carefully-drawn diagram or map made, showing the system by which the
men were stationed. It is a good instance of the Web of the Law. The
chart shows fifteen squads of men traveling north and south, east and
west, in a systematic covering of a bootleg territory 10 by 15 squares.
Therefore, one squad travels north on one street and south on another
street, while the squad working on opposite sides to them travels east
and then west in the same manner. This makes it absolutely impossible
for an offender to operate without an agent seeing him. It was often
noticed that a bootlegger approaching a uniformed man would be almost
instantly surrounded by one or two or even three squads who closed in
to make the arrest. Philadelphia had the hunting of the bootlegger down
to a fine point.
Mr. Todd Daniel, Superintendent of the Department of Justice for
Philadelphia, has always been an ardent admirer of the A. P. L. In
return, the League has supplied him on request with fifty to one
hundred motor cars each month, and investigated as many as 1,000 cases
which his staff would have been unable to handle. No wonder he admires
them.
Surveillance such as this kept property damages in and around this
great industrial center at a minimum. The Eddystone Munition Plant
explosion occurred previous to the organization of the League. The
Woodbury Bag Loading Plant, Woodbury, N. J., was so well covered that
although a great many attempts to cause explosions and set fires were
made with bombs and inflammable materials, they all failed of their
purpose. No one can tell how much property loss was averted through the
work of the Philadelphia division. It would be invidious to quote any,
and hopeless to quote all, of the many letters of approval received
from persons high in Government, political and commercial circles,
complimenting the division upon its efficiency.
Needless to say, Philadelphia had her own share of _causes celébrès_.
One of the most unique and interesting of these was that of the
Philadelphia _Tageblatt_, a German daily newspaper prosecuted under
the charge of seditious and disloyal utterances. In the fall of 1917,
a raid was conducted by D. J. and A. P. L. upon the headquarters of
this paper, at which time many files, books, papers, and so forth, were
seized, with the result that warrants were issued for the editor and
all his staff. When they were called for trial, members of the division
were again used for the purpose of investigating the jury panel, as
well as for the procurement of evidence essential to the case. In one
item, this work took the form of securing through banking members,
proofs of certain signatures without which the Government’s case would
have been crippled.
These men were tried for treason, but were discharged for lack
of evidence. They were subsequently prosecuted under a charge of
conspiracy to hinder voluntary enrollment and for violation of the
Espionage Act. On the latter charge, they were found guilty. Louis
Werner, the editor, and his associate, Martin Darkow, got five years’
imprisonment each, Herman Lemke two years, Peter Shaefer and Paul
Vogel, one year each.
The _Tageblatt_ had been warned often against its unseemly utterances,
but to no avail. It was a sheet of no great consequence, and about
fifteen years ago was anarchistic. Then it turned to Socialism. When
war was declared, it was outspoken against the Allies. After the
declaration it became more cautious, but its columns were full of
propaganda. It had no telegraph or cable service, but its policy was
dictated by the selective choice of its editorial staff. Louis Werner
was a naturalized citizen born in Germany. Darkow was a non-registered
alien enemy and wrote the editorials. The president was Peter Shaefer,
the treasurer Paul Vogel, and the business manager Herman Lemke.
The trial for treason lasted only ten days. The second trial, for
conspiracy, was more successful from the viewpoint of the law. Upon the
stand, both Werner and Darkow were insolent. They will have time to
think over all these matters in quiet for a while.
Red Cross frauds attracted some attention on the part of the League
in Philadelphia, which investigated all sorts of fanciful rumors,
as well as several schemes of fraudulent or nearly fraudulent or
unworthy nature. One of these, purporting to collect for a central
hospital, seemed at first to have merit; but when advertisements
appeared offering solicitors a highly lucrative connection, the A. P.
L. agents discovered that this was for the purpose of raising about
$1,500,000—out of which a commission of twenty per cent was to be paid
to the solicitors. A halt was called on this, but the same people got
busy again about three months later with a campaign purporting to
collect $1,000,000 for the care of “crippled negro soldiers.” There was
a fund of about $10,000 which had been contributed by colored persons.
Some of the people connected with this movement were well-meaning
and absolutely disinterested; yet in the background were others who
appeared to be out for the coin. The campaign was closed down again.
This is but a sample of other affairs of the same sort.
One of the notable Philadelphia affairs was that of Norman T. W——,
scholar, patent attorney, chess expert and draft evader. This case
originated in Washington where he failed to appear for examination
or to turn in a questionnaire. He asked to have his examination
transferred to Philadelphia, so the whole matter was transferred to
Philadelphia. On July 15, W—— was mailed his order for induction into
the service and was told to report July 24, but he did not appear.
Philadelphia A. P. L. then took on the matter.
W—— was the son of respectable Philadelphia parents and of good
connections. Without doubt, he and his brother were shielded by
their relatives and friends as long as possible. On November 8, the
Philadelphia Division of the A. P. L. wired Washington stating that W——
had been apprehended. On November 16, 1918, he was sent to Camp Dix.
The public has some notion of the great plant for ship construction
erected at Hog Island, near Philadelphia, by the United States Shipping
Board. All sorts of stories came out regarding affairs at this shipping
yard, and the charges were so direct and well-supported that Congress
finally investigated the matter. The Philadelphia Division of the
A. P. L. had some part in this investigation, which had to do with
charges of extravagance, graft and waste of public moneys. There was
one item, the employment of thousands of jitney drivers, which was
severely criticised. These cars were employed by the Emergency Fleet
Corporation to transport their workmen from their homes to the Island,
since it was thought the regular transportation lines could not handle
them. The charge was made that large amounts were collected by the
jitney men from the Shipping Yard without rendering any service; the
shipping yards, in turn, charged these amounts back to the Government.
There were thousands of reports turned in by the operatives to D. J. on
these “jitney cases.” It was found that a good many men in authority
were in the habit of ordering the drivers, after they had brought them
down to the Shipping Yard, to go back home and place themselves at the
disposal of the members of the families of the foremen or officers—the
Government thus supporting a large number of private automobiles for
salaried persons. The entire matter quieted down when the increased
cost of tires and gas deprived the jitney drivers of their profits, and
when competition came on through the installation of better service and
equipment by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company.
There was no branch of the A. P. L. activities in Philadelphia so
carefully handled as that having to do with the I. W. W. and other
radical organizations. There were five Locals found and fifty-one
revolutionary clubs with a total membership of 5,000, ninety per cent
of whom were of foreign birth, absolutely opposed to all government and
ever ready to overthrow law by revolutionary tactics.
The A. P. L. made a raid upon one club solely for the purpose of
seizing literature and files. As a result of this, fifty I. W. W.
agitators were dismissed from shipping yards and government plants.
Some of these were in the Government Bag Loading Plant at Woodbury, in
the shipping yard at Bristol, and in the Emergency Fleet Corporation at
Hog Island. All these Philadelphia radicals contributed heavily to the
defense fund of the I. W. W. members who were on trial in Chicago.
It was thought desirable to find any possible connection of German
interest with these radicals. At one meeting the discovery was made
that two men appeared and made a contribution to the foregoing defense
fund. They came from a Fairmount German singing society—where they
sang anything but American patriotic airs. The League kept close watch
on all these radical organizations, so close that they have not dared
to make any outright break. The slightest step out of the proper path
would mean an immediate reckoning with men who have been rather stern
in matters of justice.
After the _Tageblatt_ case, which was the first case in the entire
country resulting in a conviction under the indictments which were
brought against Werner and his associates, the Grover Bergdoll case
of mysterious disappearance is perhaps Philadelphia’s greatest
contribution to detective literature. Indeed, there is still chance
for a good detective in Philadelphia who can give bond for the
production of the body of Grover C. Bergdoll, college athlete, wealthy
young man-about-town, skillful mechanician, student of law, X-ray
experimenter, radical editor—and draft evader. The Bergdoll brothers,
Grover and Irwin, are known as the “slackers de luxe.” They were sons
of a wealthy brewer, and having money, it seemed to them that they
need not respect the law. They had shown their contempt for it before
the draft reached out for them. Grover C. did not register, and Irwin
failed to file his questionnaire. A. P. L. was set on their trail, but
the young men had both disappeared. From that time until now neither of
these men has been apprehended. Grover C. Bergdoll was seen in Mexico,
was alleged to have been in the West on a ranch, was reported to have
been in Spain, was said to have been seen in Western New York, and was
reported also to have been in Philadelphia twice. Sometimes he would
send a card to the newspapers just to tantalize the public, or to the
officials whom he knew to be after him. Well, money is a present friend
in times of trouble. For a time the Bergdoll mystery will remain a
mystery. One of these days the life of the Bergdoll boys will fail to
interest them. One of these days the law will lay its hands on them,
and they will have to settle with the country which they have slighted
and scorned and whose citizenship they do not deserve.
It may have occurred to readers of these pages that there was not
enough blood and thunder stuff pulled off by the operatives of the A.
P. L. It is quite possible that the Department of Justice men have had
the harder load to carry in these more violent affairs, because quite
often they are obliged to make the actual arrest, on warrants under
evidence obtained by the A. P. L. One Philadelphia incident resulted
in the killing of the man sought—a negro desperado who carried several
aliases but was best known in the saloon district as “Porto Rico.”
On Friday, November 8, two men of the League, in trying to locate a
suspect, found two colored men in military uniform whom they followed.
These gave up the whereabouts of two of their companions who were in a
certain house. When found, these men claimed they had been drugged and
robbed by some colored women there. It had been their present plan to
wait there in the darkness until the women came back and then to kill
them. The whole scene was in a tough part of town where the uniform of
the United States does not belong.
Out of these proceedings the operatives got the address of four other
men, one of these Porto Rico, who were supposed to be in the habit of
robbing colored soldiers and other men in uniform. A certain saloon was
visited by the operatives, and a few minutes after they appeared, a
burly negro entered and was accosted as “Porto Rico” by the owner. The
two operatives were C. H. Keelor of the League and Mr. Sprague of the
Department of Justice. Keelor tapped Porto Rico on the arm and asked
him for his card. The man got into action at once, kicked Keelor in the
leg and struck Sprague, knocking him down. He made a leap to the open
and pulled a heavy revolver, starting to retreat northeast on Lombard
Street.
Operative Logan was on the opposite side of the street, and he now
closed in. There was a shot fired, perhaps by a friend of Porto Rico.
The latter raised his revolver and took aim at Sprague. Sprague was
armed with a heavy holster gun and beat the negro to the shot, killing
him with a bullet through the heart. Porto Rico fell, his revolver
dropping from his hand, and such was his vitality that for a long
time he struggled to reach the gun as it lay close by him. Sprague
was cleared in court, as he shot obviously in self-defense. Charles
Seamore, alias John E. Manuel, alias Porto Rico, was a notorious gun
man. Beside his revolver he carried a razor and a number of 38-calibre
cartridges. His registration card showed that he had registered
under a false name. In almost the same place a little while later a
Philadelphia policeman was shot by a negro, who in turn was killed by a
lieutenant of the police department.
In May, 1918, Major C. N. Green, U. S. Engineers, came into the League
Headquarters of the Philadelphia Division and said he wanted assistance
in organizing secret service work for plant protection and that he
had been directed to the A. P. L. offices. Out of this later grew the
connection of the A. P. L. with the Woodbury Bag Loading Plant.
At first there were about one hundred buildings on the 1,800 acres
of unfenced land, about two hundred men being engaged in guarding the
place. An organization of proved men had been made, which went directly
into Government service. Five strikes were settled and no serious labor
trouble resulted. It seemed marvelous that no disaster occurred in
this plant. Time and again enemies attached time bombs to powder cars
on their way to the munition plant. These cars were all stopped on an
outside siding and searched, sometimes as many as thirty in one night.
One time a bomb was found and two sticks of dynamite. A great deal of
oily waste was found, which was no doubt attached in the hope that it
might be set afire and so cause destruction of the car. There were
two hundred and ten arrests made under charge of disorderly conduct,
and one hundred under charge of trespassing. In each of these cases a
conviction was secured. About two hundred violators of the Selective
Service Act were put under arrest, and, as has been stated, thirty-five
members of the I. W. W. were removed from the premises. More than one
hundred and ten Austrians and Hungarians were discharged, and about
two hundred aliens sent to the Department of Justice for examination.
Over 1,500 investigations of suspects were made by the League, largely
of men whose names seemed to proclaim them of German extraction. The
record of this plant is unique, it probably being the only plant that
has had so low a record of fires, explosions and accidents in all the
history of our war work.
Guards often found people endeavoring to do damage. One such man had
piled up scrap lumber and rags and was touching it off when fired
upon by the guard. Two other attempts were made to destroy another
one of the buildings. Not content with protecting the property from
without, the A. P. L. even protected it from within. Charges were made
of extravagant prices paid by the Government, a fact which strongly
indicated graft somewhere. A corporation had made a bid to furnish
boxes at $450 each, delivered. This bid was refused. Volunteer workers
were called on to make these boxes. The work was done on Sunday, double
time being paid—each man receiving $14 a day—and even with such labor
charges, it was found the boxes could be turned out at $17.25! This
particular expenditure of money was stopped by the artless Ordnance
Department. One or two chiefs were dismissed on the strength of reports
from the A. P. L. of inefficiency, graft and irregularities.
This, then, all too briefly and lamely done in review, is the story of
Philadelphia, which operated one of the very best amateur detective
agencies the world has ever seen and which was a credit not only to
Philadelphia itself but to every operative of the A. P. L. wherever he
was located in the United States.
It only remains to say that in the monthly report for December, 1918,
the Philadelphia Division turns in forty-eight bootleggers additional,
two hold-up men, and nine soldiers absent without leave. It furnished
D. J. in that month six hundred and forty-five men and sixty-five
cars, investigated in that month two hundred and fifty-two draft
evaders, seven hundred and forty-three cases from D. J. and various
branches of the A. P. L., and 1,812 office assignments and Washington
investigations. The Division closed the month of December, after the
Armistice, going strong, with a membership of 3,438.
On the last day of the year, and after Philadelphia had finished all
its reports for the year, there was a bomb outrage in that city in
which lawless persons blew up the homes of three citizens. A call to
the City Hall brought out every available detective and policeman, and
houses of other prominent men were placed under guard for that night.
Once more the drag-net was put out to take in the lawless and all those
of Bolshevik tendencies. The outrage was of such a nature that the
Philadelphia papers carried editorials almost appealing to the American
Protective League not to disband. Truly it will be missed in that city
and in many another city of America. In this bomb outrage the lives of
women and children were endangered. What are we to think of America
for the future if at will the superintendent of police, a judge of
the court, and a president of a chamber of commerce are to have their
houses blown up as an act of vengeance of wholly irresponsible people
such as no doubt committed this crime!
Early in January, 1919, Mr. Frank H. Gaskill, Assistant Chief, was
promoted to be Chief of the Philadelphia Division for its closing days,
Mr. Mahlon R. Kline resigning in his favor. The demobilization banquet
of Philadelphia Division A. P. L. was held on the night of February 5,
1919, and it was as fine and ship-shape as all the other activities of
the Division. It was hard for these men to say good-bye. Indeed, it is
quite probable that many of the old Philadelphia A. P. L. members will
organize, under another name, for purposes somewhat similar.