THE STORY OF MINNEAPOLIS
Clean-Cut Work of One of the North-West’s Capitals—Straightaway
Story of a Good Division—Many Anecdotes Showing How Operatives
Worked—The Dignified and Sober Side of Saving the State and Making
Over Citizens—A Model Report.
The great city of Minneapolis is one of the foci of the agricultural
and industrial realm of the vast Northwestern country for which the
Twin Cities make the gateway. It was not to be supposed that its staid
and sober population would cause any great amount of trouble. None the
less, trouble did develop in Minneapolis as elsewhere, and A. P. L.
cases and figures mounted steadily upward, just as they did in other
large centers of industry the country over.
Alien enemy cases for the Department of Justice ran 127; disloyalty
and sedition, 1,222; sabotage, 17; interference with draft, 44;
propaganda, 392; I. W. W. and other radicals, 70. War Department cases
had 5,725 investigations under the selective draft: 997 slackers; 507
work-or-fight cases; character and loyalty, 337 cases; liquor, vice
and prostitution, 593 cases. The Treasury Department had 1,129 cases
on war risk and allowance grounds. The Fuel Administration turned over
2,356 cases for investigation; the gasoline work, 427. The grand total
of cases handled by Minneapolis division men, November 26, 1917, to
December 16, 1918, was 15,415.
Minneapolis had a very thorough organization, and has reported the
results in so thorough and explicit a fashion as to leave small option
in matter of handling the report. It could not well be amended or
improved upon, and is given in substance in the following pages.
Entries on the case cards include every conceivable offense against
the wartime laws and orders of the Federal Government. Each card
contains the condensed history of an investigation important in the
prosecution of the war, and, collectively, the 15,415 cards represent
uncountable hours, days and nights of devoted service to the Government
during a period of thirteen months. They record adventures as thrilling
as any of the detective stories of Monsieur Lecocq or Sherlock Holmes,
although these form a minority of the experiences encountered.
The Minneapolis Division of the American Protective League entered
upon active service November 27, 1917. An organization with a limited
membership had been effected in Minneapolis previously, but its members
served principally as observers, and it was not until Charles G.
Davis, a Minneapolis contractor, had been induced by H. M. Gardner,
Vice-President of the Civic & Commerce Association, in charge of
war activities, to accept the position as Chief of the Minneapolis
Division, that the American Protective League became an active local
agent for the apprehension of anti-war activities. Mr. Davis entirely
abandoned his private business to enter upon this important Government
service. After having established relations with Mr. T. E. Campbell,
Chief Special Agent in charge of the Bureau of Investigation U. S.
Department of Justice in the Northwest, he opened headquarters and
immediately began recruiting a force of operatives. He continued in
this position through the thirteen months without salary.
Under the plan of organization, a captain was appointed in each
district and operatives assigned in the numbers required to meet the
conditions encountered. Lieutenants also were provided, each having
charge of groups of operatives up to ten men. Headquarters held each
captain responsible for all operations in his district.
The jurisdiction of the Minneapolis Division extended throughout
Hennepin County. In the principal county centers outside of
Minneapolis, special operatives were appointed to take instruction
direct from headquarters. Another group of picked operatives composed
a headquarters squad operated directly under the chief and handling
emergency cases.
Because of the importance and confidential nature of the business
entrusted to the League, extreme care was exercised in the selection of
the operatives. They were men of proved loyalty as well as of ability
and influence. As the work of the division increased, the personnel
was enlarged until a total of more than four hundred operatives from
all lines of business, trades and professions had finally been called
to service. All served without pay or expense allowances. Some of them
gave practically their entire time to the work of the League. Most of
them definitely pledged and gave from six to twenty hours of service
every week.
The total members sworn in numbered 491 on November 30, 1918. The
active list at that date included 326 officers and operatives and sixty
members of the so-called “Eye and Ear” division, consisting of men
not able to render continuous service, but so situated that they were
in a position to communicate to headquarters reports of anti-American
activities and other Federal offenses. Among the active members were
scores who had tried in vain to enter the Army or Navy, and who,
failing to find any other essential war service open to them, found
an outlet for their patriotic energy in the ranks of the American
Protective League. Notwithstanding this, the League report shows that
twenty-four members resigned during the thirteen months to go into the
army; five to enter the overseas service of the Y. M. C. A. or Red
Cross; and eighteen to accept other Government service.
In the pursuit of their duties, operatives and officials of the
Minneapolis Division, A. P. L., arrested several well-known criminals,
and encountered scores of desperate offenders of various kinds. It
is a tribute to their courage and efficiency that there was not a
single case of extreme violence. Men who were recognized everywhere
as dangerous were apprehended as easily as persons who had offended
unwittingly. In its work, the League employed all of the scientific as
well as the ordinary devices utilized in the detection and conviction
of violators and evaders of the law. Dictaphones and disguises were
used, and miles were covered and hours spent in skillful “shadowing.”
While the files of the Minneapolis Division contain records of
many cases of extreme importance, including participation in two
investigations which led to the internment of alien enemies, the
conviction of eleven offenders against the espionage laws, the capture
and conviction of numerous deserters and the successful prosecution
of other offenders, Chief Davis and his associates take greater pride
in the results of constructive work of another type. This included
the re-establishment with their boards of 4,479 delinquents under
the selective service regulations, and the apologies and promises to
mend their ways obtained from men and women who, in some cases, had
deliberately, but in most instances unwittingly, extended aid and
comfort to the enemy. It is estimated that at least two hundred men
and women, who had been guilty of spreading false reports or of other
conduct of an unfriendly nature, were shown the fallacy of their
actions in such a manner that they voluntarily surrendered their
previous ideas and embraced Americanism with more—or less—zeal.
For the protection of active members, who frequently encountered
emergencies requiring authoritative action, and often were obliged to
make immediate arrests to insure the detention of persons guilty of
serious offenses, an arrangement was made whereby a large percentage
of the operatives were formally deputized as special officers of the
Minnesota Public Safety Commission. This gave them sufficient police
authority to cope with any situation which arose. But for this, it
would not have been possible for the organization to make its record of
important arrests. This authority permitted the carrying of arms for
protection, and although instances where “gun play” was required were
few, the U. S. Department of Justice and the Minnesota Public Safety
Commission had no occasion to regret the authority and responsibility
conferred upon these men. They were enabled, by virtue of this
authority, to enter many places, which otherwise might have been closed
to them, in time to correct conditions which, if neglected, would have
given rise to serious difficulties.
The Minneapolis Division American Protective League was the first
local division to attempt a large-scale slacker round-up. The results
and experience of the Minneapolis raids were responsible for similar
activities in other cities, which put into the Army hundreds of men
who otherwise might have evaded military service. The first organized
slacker “raid” in Minneapolis took place on March 26, 1917. One hundred
and twenty operatives were employed in hauling the drag-net through the
cheaper hotels in the Gateway lodging house district. Approximately one
hundred men were taken to the temporary detention place, and twenty-one
men—deserters, unregistered enemy aliens and men whose draft status
could not be determined—were sent to the county jail.
On April 6, two hundred and fifty operatives, with two hundred National
Guard escorts, visited saloons, cafés, pool rooms and dance halls,
starting at 8:00 p. m. and continuing until 10:00 p. m., and picked
up 1,150 men in various places. The Chief and a corps of assistants
conducted the questioning throughout the night. There were still two
hundred men in custody when breakfast was served Sunday morning. Long
distance telephone and the telegraph were employed to determine the
status of the non-residents. Twenty-seven men were locked up. Other
less extensive raids were conducted through the spring and summer of
1918 and at different periods, squads of operatives being stationed at
the various railroad stations to search for draft evaders. As many as
twenty prisoners were taken in these stations in a single day, and it
was seldom that a day passed which did not yield two or more deserters
or delinquents.
One morning a dapper individual who arrived at one station was asked if
he had his draft card.
“Certainly,” he replied, reaching confidently into his pocket. The
smile gradually disappeared from his face and he delved into pocket
after pocket without finding the necessary credentials. Finally he
gave up in despair and admitted he did not have his card. He was an
exception to the rule, however, and did not become indignant. He said,
“Take me along—I deserve it.” At headquarters he proved to be “Chick”
Evans of Chicago, national open golf champion of the United States.
He had come to Minneapolis to participate in a golf foursome for the
benefit of the Red Cross! He waited fully two hours until a telegram
was received from his Board in Chicago stating that he was in good
standing.
Another spectacular raid conducted by the Minneapolis Division was
on the show lot of the Ringling Circus. Thirty men were taken into
custody on charges of draft irregularities, and nearly all of these
were inducted into the army. It was reported that resistance might be
offered, and precautions had been taken in the arrangements for the
raid. No difficulty was encountered, however, and later in the day the
proprietor of the circus complimented us on the manner in which the
round-up had been conducted.
A different type of raid was undertaken at the request of commandants
of the various Army detachments in and near Minneapolis. They
complained that a number of imposters in army uniforms were bringing
discredit to the soldiery and requested that these be apprehended.
There were so many soldiers on leave in Minneapolis at all hours that
it had been found extremely difficult to identify the imposters, and
so it was decided that with the coöperation of the various commandants
a literal drag-net process should be resorted to on a given evening.
Forces of operatives were stationed at opposite extremes of the central
business district. More than two hundred men participated, squads being
formed, and one squad being stationed at each end of each street. The
operatives stopped every uniformed man who was encountered and demanded
his pass. An even dozen uniformed men who did not have passes were
picked up and turned over to Army and Navy authorities, who attended in
automobiles. For a long time there was an entire absence of reports of
offenses on the part of imposters in service uniforms.
Early in the summer a system of nightly A. P. L. patrols was
established in the down-town section of Minneapolis. Operatives worked
in squads of two or three men, some of them giving attention to draft
evaders, others to the work-or-fight order, and others to bootleggers.
Scarcely a night passed without a record of one or more important
arrests, and the entire personnel of the League became intimately
acquainted with the down-town business and social structures.
In the conduct of these nightly patrols a special headquarters was
established in a down-town public building. The captain in charge
directed operations from this place. Not only was he able to keep the
railroad stations, hotels, cafés, saloons and other public places under
continuous surveillance for slackers, but he also had forces constantly
available to meet any emergencies which arose during the evenings.
Squads frequently were dispatched from this headquarters to various
points of the city to give attention to special cases.
One of the first draft evasion cases investigated by the Minneapolis
Division is a great short story ready-made. It concerned a young man
prominent in labor circles. He had been an avowed opponent of all the
national war measures, and was particularly bitter in his condemnation
of the Selective Service Act. It was reported on good authority that
although he was within the draft age he had declined to register and
intended to resort to any device necessary to evade service.
The first inquiry was made at the Board of Health, where it was
ascertained that no record of his birth was on file. Attention was next
called to the poll books, and it was found that the age he had given
when registering as a voter placed him safely within the provisions of
the draft act. His school enrollment record was investigated and it
was found that the ages given in the various grades made him amenable
to the draft. He had three insurance policies, and the original
applications which he had signed showed him to have been less than
thirty-one years old on June 5, 1917. The last step was to search for
the marriage record of his father and mother. They were found to have
been married in a small town near Minneapolis in November, 1885.
When the young man was summoned to headquarters he admitted the
authenticity of all these records, but insisted that he knew he
was past thirty-one on June 5, 1917. He refused to state on what
information he based this assertion, and was held for prosecution.
One final attempt was made to clear his status, and with considerable
effort his mother, who had divorced his father more than twenty-five
years before, was located. At the end of an unsatisfactory interview
lasting nearly an hour she finally broke down and in tears admitted the
boy had been born out of wedlock and that she had been responsible for
the falsification of the records in order to indicate his legitimacy.
She said that she had withheld this secret even from the subject,
not divulging to him until a few days before the day of registration
and then only because he seemed so bitter over the fact that he must
register. Her appearance was so venerable and her determination to
assist him so emphatic that there appeared little chance of successful
prosecution, so the man was released. Headquarters never received any
further reports of un-American activities on his part.
A later case of interest involved an admitted deserter, both from
the German and the United States Army. Whether he is guilty of other
offenses has not yet been determined. On September 12, 1918, the day
of registration for men up to forty-six years of age, two operatives
on duty were struck by the peculiar actions of a man who appeared to
register. They managed to get near him without attracting suspicion.
In stating his occupation he said he was an iron moulder. They noticed
that his hands were soft and white. When he left the registration
place, one of the operatives followed him. The other telephoned to
the plant where the man had said he was employed and learned that
he was not known there. The individual was “shadowed” to a lodging
house, but had departed while the first operative was telephoning. The
house was put under surveillance, and after a period of five days the
operative gained entrance and searched his room. Among his effects were
blank checks from banks in various cities, photographs in German army
uniforms of a man recognizable as the subject, and various letters and
pamphlets in German, some of which were suspicious. Under the carpet in
the room was an official United States Army discharge blank.
The fact that this paper had been so carefully hidden caused further
suspicion, and the watch was maintained for another five days, when
a man appeared at the house seeking to rent the room which had
been occupied by the subject. He described the particular room. On
instructions from the operatives, the landlady let him have it. When
he entered the room he started packing the effects of the subject, and
shortly afterwards left the house with the subject’s two suitcases. He
was stopped outside and questioned. He said a man had given him $5.00
to go to that lodging house, to rent that particular room, to get his
belongings and to meet him at a certain place the following morning,
where he agreed to give him $50. This man was held over night and was
sent out the next day to make the appointment arranged by the subject.
The subject was there and was taken into custody. After a gruelling
examination he admitted being a deserter from the United States
Army. He later confessed that he was a German alien and said he also
had deserted from the army in Germany. He would not account for his
activities in the months which had elapsed between his desertion from
the Army and his capture in Minneapolis. He had a considerable sum of
money, but could not prove he had done any work. He was turned over to
the military authorities.
Topping all other humorous experiences was that encountered by one
of the most efficient of the Minneapolis District A. P. L. Captains.
He had orders to arrest a deserter who bore a Polish name ending in
“-ski.” After a long search he was informed that this man lived in
one of the slum sections, working all day and arriving at his lodging
place generally about 1:00 a. m. He could not learn where the man
worked and so was compelled to locate him at his room. Going there to
make inquiries one night, he was told that the man was there. Having
been informed that the fellow was dangerous and fearing that he would
become alarmed and flee if he was not taken into custody immediately,
the captain went into his room. Asking if he were “So-and-so-ski,”
the man said he was. He was told to get up and dress and come along.
Although he was surly he showed no resistance and accompanied the
captain outside. The captain felt, however, that this docility might be
assumed, and thought he would take no chances. The place was about a
mile from the jail. The captain had an automobile, but did not feel it
would be safe to take the prisoner in the seat with him. He therefore
compelled him to straddle the hood on the car, and on this ungainly
perch, with the temperature 20° below, the unfortunate suspect was
driven to the court house. Arriving there, the prisoner scratched his
head and asked:
“What yuh bringin’ me down here for?”
“Why, because you didn’t register for the draft. You know what.”
“Didn’t register for the draft? I guess I did! Here is my blue card and
my classification card.”
Explanation followed. This man’s name ended with the Polish “-ski”
and was otherwise almost identical to the name of the culprit who was
sought. When he was asked if he was “So-and-so-ski,” it sounded so
much like his own name that he admitted it. He was taken back to his
lodgings in the seat beside the captain and proper apologies were made.
In most cases where humor existed, there was sometimes a mixture of
tragedy. There was one man, a motor truck driver, who had made himself
exceedingly popular with a number of women by wearing a uniform of an
infantryman without having gone through the formality of enlistment.
He was captured one day while paying a call on one of his admirers.
Operatives burst in upon the imposter and told him he must straightway
doff the uniform.
“But this is the only suit of clothes I have,” he protested. One
operative went to his truck and found an oil-stained suit of overalls.
He was taken behind the screen and forced to get into these and give up
his military raiment.
Another incident of this kind involved a young man who was subject
to draft and who said he was ready to respond when called. He could
not wait the Government issue of clothes, however. He went to a tailor
and equipped himself with a suit of khaki which fitted perfectly and
further adorned himself with the insignia of the Artillery Service and
an officer’s sleeve braid. When he was summoned to headquarters, he
explained that he intended to take this uniform to camp to wear when
“he went to town.” His readiness to wear the uniform was communicated
to his draft board by telephone and brought orders for immediate
induction. Although he had sold all of his civilian clothes, one suit
was recovered from the second-hand dealer who had purchased them, and
he went to camp in it.
One Saturday night a young man of stentorian voice, wearing classical
shell-rimmed glasses, appeared at a prominent down-town corner, mounted
a soap-box and shouted, “Step closer, gentlemen. I have no bombs, no
T. N. T., no lyddite, no dynamite or powder explosives of any kind.
Step closer though and I’ll treat you to some talk-bombs.” In the
vanguard of those who stepped closer were two A. P. L. operatives.
Five minutes later the orator, Herbert Blank, alias Herbert C——,
deserter from the British army, was registered at the county jail. The
shell-rimmed glasses and his predilection to Bolsheviki oratory had
proved his downfall. They had been mentioned in a bulletin asking his
apprehension, sent out from Chicago headquarters of the Department of
Justice and received that morning in Minneapolis headquarters.
The leading man of the theatrical company which scored the biggest
hit of any troupe playing Minneapolis last winter applied his cold
cream and other theatrical embellishments for his Saturday matinee
performance under the eyes of an A. P. L. operative whilst he confessed
to the operative that it was quite possible that he should have
registered for the draft, although he had not. At the request of the
New York A. P. L. headquarters, this man was examined, and although he
carried with him a sworn statement from his father to the effect that
he had been born prior to June 5, 1886, coöperation with the Toledo
A. P. L. had developed evidence that this was not true. Before the
interview was concluded, ample evidence was secured to warrant the
arrest of the actor, but his role was so prominent and there was such
a certainty that the company would be compelled to cancel all of its
engagements with distinct losses to all its members, that mercy was
shown and he was allowed to continue the performance until such a time
as his draft status could be adjusted. For several weeks, during the
travels of the company, he was compelled to report daily at the offices
of the U. S. Department of Justice in the various cities visited.
One night a squad of operatives, led by the Chief, visited an
apartment in a down-town building to investigate a report that
liquor was being served to soldiers and sailors. When they gained
entrance they found no uniformed men upon the premises, but one of the
operatives who had lived in San Francisco recognized the unmistakable
odor of opium smoke. He said, “Hop, Chief!” A search was made and a
large quantity of opium was found secreted in various nooks of the
apartment. Further search revealed twenty-three sticks of dynamite, a
complete kit of burglar’s tools, a supply of saws and other devices
used by crooks. A bolt of silk and other new merchandise, afterwards
identified as property stolen from stores, also was uncovered. Five men
and a woman were taken to jail.
One of the most interesting cases was that of a German who left Germany
fifty-six years ago, at the age of six years. He went to South Dakota,
where he prospered greatly, and moved to Minneapolis about fifteen
years ago. At the outbreak of the war his remarks were such that his
business associates and social acquaintances practically ostracized
him, and the members of his lodge preferred charges of disloyalty
against him. The man was brought to headquarters. Members of his
lodge were invited to be present, and he was given twenty minutes
seeing himself as others saw him. His attitude at first was stubborn
and defiant. The Chief then began to dwell on the suffering of his
children; said they were refused admittance to fraternities, were not
invited to parties and that his boy departed for the mobilization camp
brokenhearted and in tears over the fact that none of his family were
at the station to bid him good-bye at the most important milestone in
his career. This line of talk seemed to soften the subject. He broke
down and said, with tears: “I never was talked to like this before
in my life, but I never had anything said to me that did me so much
good. Will you please shake hands with me?” After that his fellow
lodge members affected a reconciliation on the spot. This man’s future
conduct was above reproach after this incident, and he became one of
the most active workers for the Red Cross and Liberty Loan.
A well known clairvoyant and spiritualist medium of Minneapolis was
brought into the office by one of the District Captains. She was
told that she had been talking sedition, and waxed indignant at the
idea of anybody accusing her of sedition when she was a woman so far
removed from ordinary planes, who could see into vast rounds of space.
Her complacency was seriously jarred when informed that one of our
operatives had crawled into her basement through the coal chute and
listened to her seditious talk. Her inability to see into the basement
caused her to have renewed faith in the long arm of Uncle Sam.
A bond salesman earning $10,000 a year was only two weeks under
thirty-one years of age on the 5th of June, 1917. A report came in
from a former sweetheart who had been jilted. Operatives found where
the subject had made application for two insurance policies, taken
out two or three years previous, in another city, which gave his age
and place of birth. When brought into the office, the man stated that
no authentic birth record was in existence, and that his birth was
recorded in the family Bible in a Southern city, in the custody of his
mother. Not having the address of his mother, that angle not having
been covered, we anticipated that he would attempt to communicate with
his mother. The wires were covered and a message was picked up about
thirty minutes after subject had left the office instructing the mother
to destroy the family birth record page in the Bible and to send him
an affidavit that he was born a year earlier than he was. Needless
to say, the local operatives in that district where his mother lived
secured the necessary legal data. We hope that this young man has done
more for his country during the months he has been in France than he
did previously as far as being a patriotic American is concerned.
Incidentally, he felt so secure in his position that during the spring
months of 1918 he had married.
A man and woman occupying a small cottage in the outskirts of the
city were reported as acting in a very suspicious manner, keeping
the windows carefully covered, not allowing anyone to come into the
house, and not even allowing the meter readers to get in until after
considerable delay. Boxes of glass of a small size were delivered very
often, and investigation at the glass house showed that they always
paid cash, would not give any name, and always received the supplies at
the front porch, and that the same practice was indulged in about the
delivery of hardware, small orders of lumber, and other materials. The
house was carefully watched for a couple of weeks, and many attempts
were made to get in. The sound of machinery could be heard and one
of the operatives who finally got in as a meter reader reported a
small electric motor in the basement which seemed to be some sort of
a work shop. The man and woman who lived there kept so close to his
heels that he was not able to do much without exciting suspicion.
At regular intervals the couple visited the post office, where they
shipped packages to different addresses throughout the Northwest. These
packages were registered, and they seemed to be very careful in their
handling of them. It was decided that we had best pick them up on the
street and bring the couple to the office when they had these packages
in their possession, and the operative would follow. Examination of
the packages in the office disclosed the fact that there were small
framed pictures which this man and woman were manufacturing and
sending to the woman’s husband, who was on the road selling them. This
satisfactorily explained the mysterious packages which were thought to
be infernal machines. The queerness of this woman in always carrying a
small leather traveling bag prompted us to examine the contents of the
bag, which proved to be a large amount of money which this woman was
carrying openly through the street of Minneapolis, part of it in coins.
When reprimanded for this matter of taking the money around with her,
she explained that they were Danish and did not understand American
customs very well. While living in Chicago they had deposited the
savings of several years in a private bank which failed, and ever since
that time they had kept their savings constantly on their persons.
We explained the banking system to them and sent them to a fellow
countryman, who is the vice-president of one of our large banks. They
left their money in his custody, except a considerable portion which
they invested in Liberty Bonds.