THE STORY OF BOSTON
Massachusetts Somewhat Mixed in Safety Measures—Early
Embarrassment of Riches—Brief History of A. P. L.—Organization and
Its Success—Stories of the Trail.
After A. P. L. began to reach out into a wide development by reason
of the hard work of the National Directors at Washington, D. J. in
that town began to cry for more. It sent out to all its special agents
and local offices a circular explaining the great assistance which
the League was capable of rendering the Government, and asked the
assignment of a special agent as an A. P. L. detail in each bureau
locality. This circular went out on February 6, 1918, and Boston
received a copy duly, as well as the request of the Provost Marshal
General to the Governor of Massachusetts for aid in selective service
matters. At that time there was no division of A. P. L. organized in
Boston. A few days later the Massachusetts Committee of Public Safety,
which had been organized and active ever since the beginning of the
war, was asked to interest itself to the extent of having some good
man start a Boston division of A. P. L. The latter matter was slow in
development because of the extent and thoroughness of the earlier state
organization. The latter had been taking care of the food, fuel and
other administrative work in assistance to the Government. The feeling
was that it might be better to enlarge the Committee of Public Safety
than to start any new body which might be a source of misunderstanding
and friction.
The Department of Justice work in Boston during the early days of the
war had not been satisfactory. Boston, so far from being all Puritan,
has in reality one of the most mixed populations in the country. There
was some feeling against the Department of Justice in Boston, and some
feeling also against any new body which proposed to link up closely
with that arm of the Government. D. J. had been handling for itself
the alien enemy, anti-military and propaganda work. Yet very early in
the game D. J. was overworked in Boston, as it had been in every other
great city in America, and it really needed help. There were a great
many thinking men who believed that it could be much relieved by the
well-organized support of the banking, real estate, industrial and
commercial activities of the city, as had been the case all over the
United States where A. P. L. divisions had been created.
Still another embarrassment, however, slowed up the early activities
of A. P. L. in Boston. That city having in its population many French
Canadians, Irish, and so forth, of the Catholic faith, had developed
a sort of Church problem, and there had become somewhat active the
organization known as the “A. P. A.”—whose initials are somewhat close
to those of A. P. L. Many thought that confusion between the two
organizations would result. There had been, moreover, in this state of
independent thought, a great many other “Leagues” of this, that and the
other sort; so that many felt that Boston had about enough leagues as
matters then stood.
At about this time Mr. W. Rodman Peabody of the Committee of Public
Safety pointed out to Washington the efficient manner in which Mr.
Endicott had organized that committee throughout the State. There was a
local committee of safety in every town, and also a state-wide machine
organizing the banking, real estate and other important business
activities. He suggested that instead of a division of A. P. L., there
ought to be a sub-organization “organized by the Committee of Public
Safety at the request of the Department of Justice.” It was understood
that this minor organization should have the general features of A. P.
L. and should act as the Massachusetts branch of A. P. L. A list of
good names was suggested of persons suitable for the organization as
thus outlined.
Mr. Elting of the National Directors, however, made the point that
an arrangement of this kind would have a tendency to discredit or to
disintegrate the League in other cities. The Attorney-General also was
opposed to any organization which did not show the exact status of
a purely volunteer body, as had been done in all other parts of the
United States.
Mr. Peabody still wanted the Committee of Public Safety to appear
as the parent or controlling body, and a lot of valuable time was
wasted over this tweedle-dee argument. A compromise was effected,
and on April 15, 1918, the National Directors had advice that the
Massachusetts organization was hiring offices, and assumed that the
work had begun and that Boston would copy as nearly as possible the
form of letterhead used by A. P. L., putting the names of the National
Directors on the left-hand side and substituting the words “Protective
League.” Underneath that was to appear the legend: “Organized by the
Massachusetts Public Safety Committee under the Direction of the U. S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation.” Boston expressed the
belief that Washington would not be able to tell the difference between
this organization and any other so far as loyalty and efficiency
were concerned, although sensible of the Washington feeling that
Massachusetts was starting a year late and might be suspected of lack
in coöperation.
All concerned having thus been satisfied, Massachusetts began A. P. L.
work a trifle late in the game, but none the less proceeded to show
that it could produce as effective an organization as any other in
the country. Assistant Chief H. E. Trumbull makes his report on the
regulation A. P. L. blanks and letterheads, and adds the following data
as to the later organization of A. P. L.:
Mr. Samuel Wolcott was appointed Chief, and we took two offices
at 45 Milk Street, in the same building with the Department
of Justice. Mr. Trumbull, then a volunteer operative with the
Department proper, consented to help with the new organization,
and Mr. John B. Hanrahan was appointed by the Department of
Justice as a special agent to oversee the work of the new
organization.
A few weeks later we found that the work was too great to handle
in such small quarters, and about the first of May contracted
for half of the eighth floor of the building, the Department of
Justice taking the other half. At this time Mr. Trumbull was
appointed Assistant Chief.
As a nucleus of the state organization, we took the names
of the men who had been doing volunteer work for the United
States Attorney’s office, and we proceeded to send out to these
men the work that came in their territory, and as they proved
satisfactory, appointed them as inspectors of a certain district
and gave them directions whereby they organized.
About July first, the League took over from the Department the
handling of all draft matters, the Department loaning to the
League two special agents to supervise and the League furnishing
all the men for the actual work.
We think the strongest recommendation we can give of our loyalty
and interest is the approximate number of cases handled from April
11, 1918, to February 1, 1919, which number amounts to about
5,000, with about 4,000 draft cases under the Selective Service
Act.
On or about October first, Mr. Wolcott resigned for the purpose of
taking up active duties with the Army, and Mr. John W. Hannigan
was appointed Chief in his place.
The relations of the League with the Department have been of the
closest, and there has never been any friction. Special Agent
Kelleher has stated that if it had not been for the activities
of the League, it would have been absolutely impossible for his
office to handle the great volume of work.
Once in its swing, Boston Division proceeded to do as Boston always
does, and to work in thorough and efficient fashion. A detailed
statement of the work for Department of Justice covers 525 cases of
alien enemy activities, 292 cases under the Espionage act, one case of
treason, seven of sabotage, eleven of interference with the draft, 128
cases of propaganda, twenty cases of radicals and socialists, seven
naturalization cases, and other investigations amounting to 484.
For reasons above outlined, the division did little in food and fuel,
and there was not much to do for the Navy. There were seventy-seven
cases of character and loyalty investigations, 331 passport cases, and
262 cases that had to do with war insurance and like matters.
A. P. L. was, as usual, of great use to the War Department. The
division conducted 514 investigations for local boards, examined
4,000 slacker raid cases, as well as fifteen gentlemen who did not
know whether to work or fight. There were 1,908 applicants for
overseas service who were investigated, as well as 510 applicants
for commissions. The division deserves compliments for its steady
and intelligent administration of the whole range of the complicated
problems that rose out of the war situation.
There were all sorts of curious cases which came up in Boston as in
other cities, which show alien artlessness or slacker subterfuges much
as they appear elsewhere, as well as a certain occasional informality
in regard to the observance of the ordinary civil laws. For instance,
one does not recall the name of Edward Burkhart as one of the occupants
of the Mayflower on its arrival; neither does Mr. Burkhart seem to have
been fully possessed of Puritan principles, for it was alleged that he
had been dishonorably discharged from the U. S. Navy, was dishonorably
living with a woman who was not his wife, and had dishonorably failed
to register for the draft. As Mr. Burkhart was hiding out somewhere,
an A. P. L. operative was put on his trail. He went to the house where
Burkhart was living and told the woman in the case that she was doing
wrong in covering up the whereabouts of Burkhart. He added that he
believed the man was in the house or would come back to the house, in
spite of all she had said. That was at three o’clock in the afternoon,
and the operative concluded to sit in the house and wait to see what
would happen, all exits being guarded by other operatives. Nothing did
happen until 9:15 that night, although the house was searched. At last,
up in the attic, a small blind space was found where the electric light
wires went up to the roof. A flash light here illuminated the dark
interior—and disclosed Mr. Burkhart resting rather uncomfortably on the
cross beams, where he had been since early that afternoon—something
of a Spartan, if not much of a Puritan. It was found that he was
twenty-five years of age and not thirty-seven. It was also found that
he had the classification card belonging to another man, whereupon he
was accused of failure to file his questionnaire. On December 30, he
was brought before the Grand Jury, found guilty and sentenced to East
Cambridge jail.
Another gentleman, Mr. Ralph E——, when he filled out his
questionnaire, swore that he was a married man and had a wife and child
dependent upon him. It was discovered that the woman was not his wife.
The man consulted the partner of the A. P. L. inspector—the two being
members of the same law firm—in professional capacity. Here, therefore,
was a question of ethics involving the privilege of a confession made
to an attorney and also the oath taken to the A. P. L. The two law
partners called in Mr. E—— and gave him good advice about the crime
of perjury. As the man did what he could to square up matters, it was
decided to let that part of his case drop. He was not sent to prison.
Mr. Herbert C—— had an ambition to go across as a member of the
American Red Cross and had good recommendations. A. P. L., however,
discovered that he was an alleged dope fiend. He did not go with the
Red Cross.
Peter R——, of a town near Boston, while arguing with two men about the
war, made a few such casual statements as “To hell with Liberty Bonds,”
“To hell with Thrift Stamps,” “The Government is no good,” “I will
not fight for this country,” “I will not register,” “I am going back
to my own country, Russia,” and “The whole United States Government
be damned.” This man was brought before the Assistant United States
District Attorney from the police court, but the attorney declined to
prosecute and said that Peter was only playful. He did not think that a
private trial could be used in a Federal prosecution. Most excellent!
Obviously, it is the spirit that killeth, and the letter that giveth
life!
A Mr. C—— swore he had a wife and child dependent on him, and so he
ought not to be asked to fight. A. P. L. found out that he had spent
ten thousand dollars the year before, that his father gave him all he
wished, that he was a Boston clubman, that he was not engaged in any
productive industry. Held to the grand jury in five thousand dollars
bail.
A man by the name of J—— was reported on November 14 to have made
disloyal and pro-German remarks. Two days later, three affidavits were
before the Assistant District Attorney. In this case the attorney ruled
that although the men had a clean cut case against him, there was no
need to prosecute him if he had been warned. Indeed, why annoy an alien?
Boston is well known in the matter of tea parties. An A. P. L. officer
was taking tea with a navy officer on board ship in Boston harbor, and
the latter complained that his men were getting too much cold tea on
their shore leave. A. P. L. took it up with the Naval Intelligence, and
within a week a man was taken in custody for selling such beverages to
men in uniform.
Mr. Charles D. Milkowicz, or some such name, was alleged to dance in
happiness at the report of any German victory. It was his custom to
fire any employe in the factory where he was foreman, if the employe
showed any pro-American tendencies. Once he said regarding the U. S.
flag, “Get that damned flag out of the way.” He used to wear an iron
cross stick pin up to April 6, 1917. He was a member of the German
Club, and used to buy silver nails for the Hindenburg statue which they
maintained at that club, such nails retailing for a dollar a throw,
all for the good of the Kaiser. A. P. L. started an investigation
which showed that this man seemed to be uncertain whether he came from
Russia or Germany and was equally indefinite as to his age. He was
not registered as an alien enemy, and was charged with falsifying his
questionnaire as well as violating Section 3 of the Espionage Act. The
Assistant U. S. Attorney handling alien enemy matters in Massachusetts
refused to act in this case. So far as known, the attorney is still in
office, and Mr. Milkowicz is still in Boston.
Mr. Hans D——, a German waiter in Boston, belonged to a German club
where considerable advance news of German operations circulated. Mr.
D—— said he sent money to Germany; said that Germany would win the war;
drank to the health of the Kaiser on hearing that an American ship had
been torpedoed. In short, Mr. D—— ran quite true to form in all ways.
A photograph was found which looked like him in a German uniform—he
must have been a German officer, because they found in his possession
a half dozen spoons which he had stolen in New England, in default of
better opportunity in Belgium. At least he was prosecuted for larceny
and was fined $15.00. Later his reputation was found to be so bad as a
propagandist that he was interned on a presidential warrant.
It occurred to the fertile brain of Mr. Julius Bongraber that a varied
spelling of his name might prove useful to him in times of draft.
Sometimes he wrote his name as Graber, sometimes as Van Graber, and
sometimes as Julius V. Gaber. His classification card named him as G.
V. Gaber. When interrogated as to all these matters, he admitted that
the initial “G” ought to have been “Y,” because that was the way Yulius
was pronounced, anyhow, in his country. At the same time he left a card
over his door signed J. V. Gaber. He declared that he was a German,
also an Austrian, also a neutral, but had sympathies with Russia. To
others he said that his name was Von Gaber; that he was an alien, but
would go where he liked. He had taken out first citizenship papers, but
had registered for return with the Austria-Hungarian Consul. A. P. L.
got this multifold party on the carpet, but on his statement that he
intended to go to New York, the prosecution seems to have been dropped,
although the dossier was forwarded to New York after him.
There was a draft evader in Boston by the name of R——, who did not file
his questionnaire. He was found at his home by an agent of A. P. L. and
agreed to accompany the latter. It was the intention of the operative
to turn over his man to a policeman, but policemen seemed to be rare
in Boston, for in two miles not one was sighted. The draft evader then
evaded yet more, and was not found for several days thereafter. The
man’s mother, however, when found, averred she had not seen her son
for two months. A plain patriotic talk was made to her with the result
that after a while, she found the said son and turned him over to the
authorities for service in the army.
Boston Division in one case revoked the credentials which it had
issued to an operative. The man’s name was Oscar F——, and the position
seemed to go to his head. He took to borrowing money right and left,
once getting as high as fifty dollars on a touch of one of the special
agents. He admitted that he was probably the best secret service agent
in the country, and told people he was getting $3,000 a year and
expenses. After that he usually touched his listener for $5.00. Oscar
was doing well until they let him out. His name ended in “ski.”
Boston, being near the Northern seaboard, heard of a good many cases
of mysterious light signals. One operative in the Lynn district was
sure he had seen dots and dashes coming across the bay at night in the
approved fashion of mysterious night signals. They put a telegrapher on
the case but he could not make out the message. At one o ’clock in the
morning four tried men and true of the A. P. L. rowed out with muffled
oars to an anchored yacht which seemed to be the place from which the
light signals appeared. They found five pairs of feet pointing to the
zenith. Calling upon the feet to surrender, they boarded the yacht and
explanations followed. It appeared that the five yachtsmen had had a
hard day’s sail and had decided to remain on board ship over night. The
flashes of light which had so aroused the A. P. L. men were nothing
more nor less than the reflection of a shore light on the glass of a
porthole as the boat rolled and swayed in the ripples of the bay.
Next to mysterious signal lights, wireless stations have produced as
many flivvers for the A. P. L. as anything else. Inspector T—— insisted
that there was a house in his district which ought to be searched,
because he was satisfied it had a wireless plant. As he had no proof,
he could not obtain a search warrant. Mr. Endicott, at the office of
the Food Administration, gave him a sugar warrant, stating that that
would let him into the house, and that he might get some information.
Inspector T—— went to the house with a club in one hand and the warrant
in the other; searched the house from garret to basement, but found no
wireless. While poking around in one of the corners, however, he did
discover eighty pounds of sugar, which, being overweight, he promptly
confiscated.
Soon after the forming of the A. P. L. in Boston, a man came in with
a carrier pigeon which he was sure was a mysterious messenger of some
sort. It was a beautiful white bird that had dark dots and dashes all
over the inside of both wings. The chief was all wrought up about this
and regretted that he had not been taught the Morse code in early life.
He therefore took the man and the bird over to the office of Military
Intelligence, where they unravel, decipher and decode all sorts of
things. The Major in command was very cordial, and he also examined the
bird carefully. In his belief the dots and dashes on the wings were of
importance, but he could not quite read them all. He sent for the code
expert of the Signal Corps. Who shall say that A. P. L. cannot run down
any sort of clew? The code expert of the Signal Corps also examined the
bird carefully, but at first could not make it out. Then he touched
one of the dots with the point of his pencil. It turned out to be a
perfectly good cootie, which still possessed powers of locomotion.
Throughout the war, New England was, always, one of the nerve centers
of the United States. A great many munition factories were at work
there day and night. The atmosphere was tense all the time; war was in
the eyes and ears of the people. But let no man believe New England
anything but American. Whatever her population to-day, her leadership
is American and only American and always will be such. Boston and her
environs, the entire state of Massachusetts, the entire section of New
England, went into the war from the first word. No part of America is
saner or safer; no part was better guided and guarded by local agencies
of defense. A. P. L. was accepted as one of these, certainly not to the
regret of any man concerned.