CHAPTER XV

THE STORY OF CALIFORNIA

A Series of Graphic Case Stories from All Over the Golden

State—Stirring Romances from the Capital of Romance—The A. P.

L. in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and

Everywhere Between—the Pacific Coast in War Times.

Time was when there were just two really cosmopolitan towns in

the United States. Merely being mixed in population does not mean

cosmopolitanism; but San Francisco and New Orleans were two towns

which could offer any American something to see. The fire changed San

Francisco to a certain extent, and the North has ruined New Orleans

all it could; but the soul of each of these two towns still goes

marching on, incapable of destruction. If sudden wealth could not make

San Francisco avaricious, nor solid prosperity leave her sordid; if

earthquake, fire and famine could not daunt her unquenchably buoyant

heart—what reason have we to believe that a small matter like a world

war would much disturb her poise?

‘Frisco by the Golden Gate—that last viewpoint where America faces the

Orient and her own future as well—took her war philosophically, allowed

her Hindu conspiracies to run their course, and viewed with none too

great agitation the flood of disloyalty which inevitably was caught by

the western shore, just as once a better sort of material was caught in

the sluices of her old Long Toms. San Francisco knows she is here to

stay, and believes that this Republic also is here to stay.

_The A. P. L. in San Francisco_

That there would be an A. P. L. organization in San Francisco admitted

of no doubt. The city was ably organized and certainly took able care

of Fritz and his Boche-loving friends. But all California is divided

into three parts: Northern California, Southern California—and all

California! An offense to one means a fight for all, although each

allows a certain amount of thumb-biting on the part of a native son.

The A. P. L. in California followed precisely this ancient line of

cleavage, so that there was established a Northern Division, a Southern

Division—and a State Inspectorship! The State Inspector was Mr.

Douglas White, who himself is a traveling man, and therefore cannot be

accounted as belonging to either North or South. Mr. A. J. DeLamare had

the division office in San Francisco, where the organization so closely

followed the general lines already described in other cities that it

perhaps is not needful to go into details here.

That California’s polyglot population meant potential trouble may

be seen in the heads of the Frisco reports: a total of 1,612 cases

of disloyalty and sedition, 277 cases of propaganda, and 105 of

radicalism, such as that of I. W. W., etc. The work for the war

boards—slackers, desertion, character and loyalty, etc.—footed up 2,415

cases in all, the grand total carried on the records as actual “cases”

amounting to 5,691.

The Department of Justice labors, as usual in all the great cities,

meant a vast amount of time and energy expended on the part of A. P.

L. men, with the usual percent of win, lose, and draw—all offered in

the infinite variety afforded by the California climate. Some of the

cases were odd, some mysterious, and a good many of them big. Perhaps

a few from the many turned in by Frisco may be found interesting,

though chosen practically by chance. One of these is a wireless case.

It should not be dismissed as another “mysterious signal” flivver until

read quite through to its close.

Mrs. B—— and her mother had moved into a flat on Williard street. The

persons who occupied the flat before them came back to get some plates

and other material, which looked so strange that Mrs. B—— thought there

had been a wireless plant there, so she reported it. They refused to

give up the fixture material then in their possession. The place was on

a high hill overlooking the bay and would have been an ideal locality

for a wireless plant which might have given information to the enemy.

Operative No. 440 took over this case. He found that the house stood at

the edge of a wood on a rocky hill. The two women explained that the

place had been occupied by a man named G—— who seemed very mysterious.

He would hang around the house all day and come home at different

hours. He moved away suddenly. He used to make trips in the woods with

people not known about there. Operative found in the house several base

plates for electric light plugs, also electric wires grounded on the

water and gas pipes, and also a hole cut in the side of the house, as

is done when a high tension wire is passed through.

Mrs. B—— stated that at night sounds similar to those made by

a wireless sending outfit often were heard, also that a sound

representing rapping signals occurred at the rear of the house. The

operative, making all allowances for a woman’s nervousness, returned

that evening. Sure enough, he heard the sounds persistently as

described. They did come from the rear of the house, and, although

examination was made there at once and next day by daylight, he was

unable to tell what made the sounds.

The case now looked promising, so the operative again went over the

premises. He could not find any trace of wireless apparatus. He did

find a pipe starting at the edge of the woods and tried to follow this.

It led to the brink of a high bluff. Just at the edge of the bluff the

operative almost stepped on a rattlesnake, and in attempting to escape

he rolled to the bottom of the bank, carrying the pipe with him! When

he came to, he was free of the snake. He looked at his pipe, but found

it clogged with dirt. It therefore could not have been used lately as a

wire conduit.

Nothing could be learned of the former occupant, G——, except that he

was a musician. Inquiry among musical societies and unions finally

located him as a player in a place called the “Hoffbrau”—since very

patriotically changed to the “States Café.” Reports were that he had

been born in the city of New York and served honorably in the United

States Navy. His wife’s father had fought in the Civil War. After G——

had been found, the operative had a talk with him. Soon thereafter,

light was offered on a very mysterious situation. G—— explained that

he had to move very quickly as his wife had rented a new house without

notifying him. When he moved he had forgotten those base plates—which

were intended only for household use, percolators, etc. But when he

went away the dog was not taken. He had come back a number of times to

the old place trying to locate the dog. At last he had remembered these

base plates and tried to secure them, as he had put them in himself.

It looked like a clean bill of health for G——; but how about the

mysterious noises?

The operative once more secreted himself at the edge of the woods at

about ten o’clock that night and began to watch the house. At eleven

o’clock he again heard the mysterious sounds at the rear of the house.

He slipped up quietly and there found the solution of his really

wireless mystery. The “signals” were made by the home-sick dog, which

was trying to locate its former owner! He would come to the house in

the night and scratch on the screen door, making sounds like a wireless

discharge. His tail knocking on the boards made the rapping noise. When

a strange person would open the door he would disappear in the darkness

of the woods, so no cause for the sounds could be traced. So there you

were—a perfectly beautiful mystery! It is told in the report in a very

unagitated style, but really it is a pretty good case of A. P. L. work.

All sorts and conditions of men were enlisted and carried on the A. P.

L. rolls; but did you ever hear of an anthropologist A. P. L.? There

was one at San Francisco. It was reported that a man living in Alameda,

a geologist and mining engineer employed by an oil company, was fitting

out a launch to go to Mexico and purchase supplies. His trip was

alleged to be for the purpose of oil prospecting. He appeared to tell a

straight story, and said he had bought surveying instruments and food

and intended to clear duly.

Two days later another A. P. L. operative heard that this man had

left for Washington, stating that he must get some passports, although

he was known to have passports already. As a third man from the San

Francisco A. P. L. office was going on to Washington, these facts were

given him and he was asked to give the man the once-over in Washington.

He did this and found that the boat-owner was getting passports to

England. He found also that this person was associated with Professor

M——, who claimed to be looking up oil conditions in this country and

studying anthropology on the side.

As this operative also was interested in anthropology, he and Professor

M—— got on very well, although the San Franciscan was not very much

impressed by the learned man’s fundamental knowledge in a scientific

way. There was nothing, however, to show that the professor was

engaged in any enemy activities. But the San Franciscan operative

gathered the notion that the visiting passport-seeker might possibly

be engaged in spreading German propaganda among the many negroes

about the city of Washington. He finally discovered in his possession

a lot of pictures of a very undesirable sort, intended for German

distribution among negro troops in France, with the intention of

creating dissatisfaction among such troops. These pictures carried the

legend, “See what is happening to your wives and families while you

are in France.” Copies of these pictures were obtained. The operative

made the further discovery that Professor M—— was in the employ of this

pseudo-mining-engineer, who now stood revealed as an active German

propagandist. It was also learned where this latter Kultur-spreader got

his pictures.

Arrangements were made with one of the professor’s photographic

subjects so that the operatives might listen in on certain flashlight

performances by night. To cut all that unprintable sort of thing short,

it may be said that the operatives, while seated on the porch, heard

and saw all they liked of the German color-blindness.

The learned professor, however, having his suspicions aroused by the

fact that the door kept opening and would not stay shut as it ought to

have done, came to the door, poked his head out and saw the operatives

sitting on the porch. One operative sat there with a camera in his lap

and a flash gun in his right hand, intending to make pictures of the

picture maker himself, so that evidence of the reprehensible nature of

his own pictures might be discovered. The professor, however, sprang

back into the room and presently came out armed with a gun and a

bayonet. The operatives at once fell off the back of the porch. Lunging

at the first man, the professor missed; but he caught the second

operative with the bayonet in the wrist and ripped up his forearm. The

men closed in upon him and there was a warm fight for quite a while.

Details are not desirable and need not be given. It is sufficient to

say that the nature of the photographs was disclosed and details turned

in to the proper quarters. The anthropological German professor later

was arrested and turned over to the Department of Justice. At last

accounts he was in jail at Washington awaiting trial. Regarding his

performance, it is only fair to say that his anthropological tendencies

seemed to run true to German scientific form.

_The A. P. L. in Sausalito_

Not so far from San Francisco by way of the crow’s flight is the Marin

County Division of the A. P. L. at Sausalito. This division also had a

case of mysterious light flashes—from Belvidere Island. Signals came

from several different directions and several different sources, but

no one could ever be located as receiving them. Across the bay from

Belvidere is Angel Island, a large internment camp, and in either

direction lies a neighborhood which is very pro-German. There might

have been signals, but no one seemed to be able to trace the code or

get anything intelligible. Investigation of this thing lasted for over

a year, and finally the division concluded it was the action of someone

trying to intimidate the residents of that vicinity. It was not run

down.

Located in the hills was an organization known as the “German

Tourists’ Club,” which had been incorporated in Vienna, Austria.

Prior to our entering the war it was visited by many alien enemies

and many German-Americans, so that it was under constant surveillance

of the Intelligence services of the United States and also by the A.

P. L. of Marin County. Considerable information was furnished to the

authorities, and one alien enemy was interned. Another alien enemy was

apprehended who had $2,500 cash on his person and was trying to get to

South America, whence he intended to return to Germany. The same club

turned out yet another man who, on a railroad train, was heard abusing

this country. An A. P. L. man heard him and asked a constable to arrest

him at once. He was taken to the county jail, where his remarks were

so abusive that the Department of Justice immediately took him into

custody for internment.

The hilly, wooded and mountainous character of Marin County, bordering

on the ocean, made it a favorite resort for hikers, hunters, fishermen

and the like, and it has many locations which would afford excellent

rendezvous. It kept the A. P. L. operatives busy in all their spare

time walking and driving through the country. On one such trip along

the sea shore, in a very remote place, a Navy torpedo was found. It

proved to be only a practice one, having no war head, but it might have

been worse.

_The A. P. L. in Los Angeles_

The sun-kissed Southwest handled its A. P. L. work in a wholly modern

way, as perhaps some of the sidelights will show. How quaint and

curious some of these chuckle-making anecdotes—and how grave some of

the serious ones—will seem fifty years from now, when California will

be looking back on another generation of her large and swift history!

The report from the city of Los Angeles is one entirely consistent with

the reputation of that busy community, and as usual the totals ran

large. Los Angeles handled 2,136 cases of alien enemy activity; 5,275

selective service investigations; 1,494 examinations for disloyalty

and sedition; 289 cases of propaganda by word of mouth and 61 by means

of the printed page. There were 289 investigations of radicals and

pacifists, and 648 of all other natures, not mentioning those which had

to do with food hoarding, waste, etc., which made a formidable total of

themselves. There are not many sections which report a wider or more

interesting range of experiences.

As in the case of practically all our cities, at the time the war

broke out, the Department of Justice for Los Angeles was inadequately

equipped with men, motor cars and data-chasers to deal with the

numerous alien enemies, German sympathizers and non-patriotic citizens.

Los Angeles frankly says that this species of the human fauna seem to

be peculiar to Southern California, and certainly the totals of Los

Angeles would indicate as much. The Chief says:

Some of us regretted that we could not do more for the Government,

for the work of the A. P. L. appealed very strongly to us. When we

saw the local Government situation, a number of us at once offered

to help. The outstanding feature of all this work was the absolute

cowardliness of the pro-German individual. In all our cases I

cannot recall one where anything like courage was displayed on the

part of the subject. The moment they realized they were confronted

by anything like authority their fear and their efforts at

self-protection were, to say the least, extreme. Individuals were

brought to the attention of the various departments who did not

understand and cannot to this day realize how the intimation was

received. They did realize, however, that there was authority back

of us. In many cases, the Military Intelligence Department called

us to their assistance where information could not be secured in

any other way. We also were able to help the Food Administration.

There is distinct food for thought in the closing remarks of the all

too modest Los Angeles chief, made before the dissolution date of the

A. P. L. was announced:

In conclusion, I will say that a great deal of good could be done

by some form of permanent organization of the A. P. L, or at least

the retention of a nucleus for a continuation of this work if

it becomes necessary. From time to time certain conditions are

certain to occur in this country, brought about either by war

measures or discontent among a certain class, which will require

drastic handling. The American Protective League can secure more

valuable information and better assist in bringing the attention

of the authorities to such facts than any other similar body of

citizens in the country.

These are words of gold and show the heart of Los Angeles to be

certainly in the right place. It is a new and troubled America that we

have all got to face now, with or without an A. P. L.

As to the odd and interesting stories noted by the Los Angeles

operatives, the latter as usual seem to take more delight in telling

of their fiascos than they do of their successes, but saving grace

was usually there. For instance a woman and her husband living in

Glendale were very rabid about the war, and hence received a visit. The

informants turned out to be church members and apparently desirable

citizens. The female suspected fell into hysterics, cursed the

Frenchman who lived next door and the Englishman who lived several

houses beyond, and declared she had bought Liberty Bonds and had up

flags enough to be left alone. The German himself demanded to know

by what authority he was visited. The League man told him there was

plenty of authority all right, and that he did not need to specify. The

suspect took a good hint, and from that time neither the man nor his

wife was guilty of any public utterance of any sort whatever on war

matters.

One Herman F. H—— claimed that he was a “secret service man” and showed

a badge and some handcuffs, but still talked very pro-German. He said

among other things that the American people would wake up—that the

Kaiser would show them something—that we could not win the war. His

nearest friend was an army sergeant by the name of Paul S—— of Fort

McArthur. These two would talk together in German. The doughty U. S.

sergeant was also of the belief that our army had no chance and said

the soldiers were all dissatisfied. They were both investigated. The

sergeant was put in jail at Los Angeles. Military Intelligence took

over the rest of the case—and M. I. D. has never been noted for its

mercifulness.

An over-zealous woman in one instance reported suspicious activity

on the part of a family which had a great many mysterious packages

delivered at their address. She said they had quantities of large pipe

which they would fill with guns and ammunition, also boxes of rifle

cartridges. Investigation proved that some of the mysterious packages

were only lunch baskets; that the trucks were hauling large pieces

of well-casing and sometimes small articles of grocery or hardware

were slipped into the pipes to save space. They had no packages of

ammunition at all, and the packages of cartridges were only pasteboard

boxes containing shelled walnuts. Jumpy times.

A man by the name of M—— came from Chicago, and closely following him

came a report that he was wanted by the Chicago police. Operatives

located the man and thought he would look well in the uniform of the

United States Army, but the recruiting office, inquiring into the

reason for the Chicago telegram, found that the man had served a term

in the penitentiary. He was not, therefore, classified even as a

slacker and he did not get into the Army, which will not receive anyone

who has served a prison sentence.

Los Angeles had considerable to do with the stoppage of propaganda

by means of motion pictures, that city being the capital of filmdom.

Newspaper reports of the cases of the film “Patria” and of “The Spirit

of 1776” are familiar to the reading public. A. P. L. was always on

hand for film censorship purposes.

A case which attracted considerable attention was known as the von H——

case. The subject was a native of Germany, fifty-three years of age,

a resident in the United States for thirty-two years. He never had

become a citizen, although once employed in the California post office.

Von H—— was a movie actor who did spy parts. He fraternized with the

soldiers and sailors _in propria persona_, and liked to ask them to

his room for conversations over the war. At length he was arrested.

His rooms turned out a mass of evidence, including four hundred snap

shots and some forty letters of the vilest nature. He had intended to

send this material over to Germany to show the lack of morale of the

American soldiers and sailors. He had an oil painting of the Kaiser, a

picture of von Hindenburg and one of the German flag. He was sentenced

to five years, but it is not thought that he will live out his

sentence. Perhaps we can struggle along without him.

There is no character in whom the public more naturally reposes

confidence than in the tried and true negro Pullman porter, but this is

the story of one such porter accused of draft evasion. He was confined

in jail but was offered release if he would go into the Army. He told

the operative that he would go all right, but that his check for forty

dollars was not on hand and that he needed about five dollars to “float

himself.” The operative loaned him the five dollars and the Pullman

porter is still floating. Neither Army nor anyone else has heard of him

since.

Most of the more groundless suspicions and imaginings of Americans

regarding German spies arose among the women of the country. Their

apprehensions at times would lead them to report almost anything. One

small demure little woman once applied to the headquarters of the A.

P. L. in Los Angeles and said that she knew parties—German spies—who

received money from Germany and who had no resources other than the

funds of the German Government. The chief asked her upon what she based

her information. The little lady looked carefully around the room,

under the table and out of the window, and then came close up to the

chief before she gave him the real basis of her charge. She said that

the parties referred to were the possessors of a cuckoo clock which

she was sure was made in Germany; hence they must be pro-Germans, and

therefore spies!

The German ministers, it seems, infest the Pacific slope as well as

the northwestern part of the United States. Herewith the case of Emile

K——, minister of a German Methodist church. An operative went into his

church and took his seat in the last pew. He reports:

A broad shouldered man in a frock coat sat down beside me,

introduced himself as Rev. K—— and asked me if I was one of the

Liberty Bond salesmen. I denied any such impeachment, saying this

to him in German. This seemed to please him very much, and Mr. K——

thawed out. He told me after a while that he was born in Wisconsin

but that his heart was in the right place, like most people that

were born there in “Little Germany.” He said he had been in

Mexico, where he had spent four years “very profitably.” He smiled

at me—rather meaningly, I thought. He wanted to know how the Irish

were behaving toward our people in New York. He also said that it

was too bad the Americans did not want to fight. He thought that

if the Japanese were to come over, it might arouse our manhood.

He asked me to be sure and call again, as he enjoyed my company

very much. There was something cold-blooded about this man that

made me think he would look better in a German uniform than in a

preacher’s coat. What worries me about him—and I hope the A. P. L.

will square it—is that I had to put a quarter in the collection

plate to keep up appearances. I demand that two bits back if the

A. P. L. ever puts him in the jug!

An operative was sent out to get a deserter who seemed to be rather

of an inventive turn of mind. He found his man in a barn, and when the

suspect came out, the operative ran up and called him by name. The

suspect turned and asked him if he was arrested. When the operative

asked him, “Arrested for what?” he replied, “You know, all right.” He

then admitted that he was a deserter from the Navy at San Francisco. He

wanted to go into the house after some letter paper, but the operative

would not let him. Afterwards he said he wanted to go in to get a gun,

and would have shot the operative rather than go with him. Returned to

San Francisco from Los Angeles jail.

A carload of A. P. L. men went out to a deserted spot in the San

Fernando Valley near the Los Angeles aqueduct. A mysterious German

had been seen about, possibly with evil intent. Operatives surrounded

a small cabin which was occupied by a very arrogant German and two

women. The man on the case reports: “I noticed a big revolver on the

dresser, secured it and put it in my pocket before we went on with the

investigation. We went through all his letters, mostly in German, but

discovered nothing in the way of evidence. We told him why we had come

and warned him to keep away from the aqueduct. He took it all very

submissively, so I thought it would be all right to leave the revolver

which I had captured. When I took it out of my pocket to look it over,

I found that it was empty, the hammer had been knocked off and it could

not have been fired.” But “you will note,” writes the operative with an

exultant note, “that I responded fully to the demands of the occasion

in the way of bravery!”

A case came down from Seattle to Los Angeles, having to do with an

itinerant slacker who came from Pennsylvania and who, since then, had

lived in Idaho, Washington, and California. The suspect’s physical

description was that of a man six feet tall, weight about 220 pounds,

health apparently the best, appearance very shabby, an additional

circumstance being that he had a pronounced aversion to the use of

water which was very evident at close range. It was stated that the

man owned at least nine different properties, and although indolent,

was apparently well to do. He was found in possession of Socialist

literature, and declared that he would not buy bonds or assist the

Government or have anything to do with the Red Cross. He was asked how

he would like to join the Army. Since he did not like the proposition,

he was arrested for violation of the Selective Service Act, found

within the age, and indicted September 20, 1918, by the Federal Grand

Jury for failure to register for the draft.

Los Angeles had a practicing physician who fled from Germany to escape

the rigors of its military laws. When war broke out between this

country and Germany, this suspect—for he very soon became a suspect and

was placed under the espionage of A. P. L.—planned to turn a pretty

penny by the practice of sabotage, not upon property, but on personnel.

There were some cowards in this country of so yellow a type that they

were willing even to have their eye-sight tampered with that they might

escape the draft. This monster in human guise assisted such depraved

beings, sometimes perhaps to the permanent loss of their eye-sight—they

took their own chances. This man got a sentence of ten years in the

penitentiary and a fine of $5,000. A woman accomplice was sentenced to

eleven years penal servitude.

A German, von B——, was a close friend of R. B——, the two rooming

together. The latter was with the National Guard of California in

the Mexican trouble, was mustered out, but registered for the draft,

being exempted on the grounds of having a dependent wife and child.

After he had received his exemption, B—— was told by von B—— to get

into the Aviation Corps at San Diego, and that he would show him how.

The exempted man was admitted to the Aviation Corps in the United

States Army, went to Berkeley for three months’ training, and then

was transferred to San Diego. He is a German and his wife is also.

These two men were reported to have made a great many mysterious trips

together. Subject was interned on presidential warrant, it being

obvious that neither he nor his room-mate meant well towards the United

States.

Can a leopard change his spots? The answer would appear to be that

he cannot—if he is a German leopard. For instance, one William S——,

a German small grocer in Los Angeles, was doing a good business and

living very well. He had a son enlisted in the Aviation Corps of the

United States Army at the outbreak of the war. There was no reason why

he, himself, should not have remained loyal to this country, which had

been kind to him. But although he had been away from Germany for a

score of years, he was foolish enough to retain all the German spots.

He said that Wilson was a Kaiser and that the people ought to kill him;

and he uttered a good many additional sentiments of like sort against

this country and its Government. He was so bitter in his pro-German

attitude that he lost practically all of his customers. As a result

he began to worry, not only for the Imperial German Government, but

for himself. And then one night he died—which closed the case for A.

P. L. and opened it for a Higher Court. Since it has been shown in

many instances that the River Jordan has not been able to wash out the

German spots, the query is whether the River Styx is any more able to

do so? That is the question in which all admirers of German _Kultur_

and its practices are interested.

_The A. P. L. in Santa Barbara_

There is an unsettled rivalry between the two types of beauty, blonde

and brunette, which never will be concluded so long as women live and

men admire them. So also, one supposes, time will not last long enough

to determine which is the more beautiful and lovable spot—Monterey

in Northern California, or Santa Barbara in the South. You can start

a riot over that question on any railway train on the Pacific slope.

One man will be ready to shoot anybody who does not agree that the

Seventeen Mile Drive out of Monterey is the most beautiful region in

all the world, bar none. It is—it is! Who can deny it? But who, also,

can deny even at the point of a gun that the Santa Barbara coast is

also the most beautiful spot in all the world? Besides, the latter

community has scientific records as ground for the assertion that

Santa Barbara has the finest mean temperature on the North American

continent, and hence is the one ideal dwelling spot for human beings.

It is—it is!

But, very naturally, so fair a region as that of the California slope

must have attracted all sorts and conditions of men, evil men as well

as good, designing transients as well as those calling California home.

For this reason Santa Barbara also had her organization of the A. P. L.

One of the colony of wealthy men who had built palatial homes in and

around Santa Barbara was a certain millionaire who had what might be

called advanced ideas or free thinking tendencies. Early in the year

1917, Mr. H—— associated himself actively with the pacifist movement.

He had, as a co-agitator, a reverend doctor who was pastor in a church

at Santa Barbara. They both printed pamphlets in opposition to the war,

and finally came out with a book which was a very violent denunciation

of war in general. The two gentlemen divided the authorship of this

book, H—— doing the first part and G—— the second. Reverend G—— had

the advantage of also being able to deliver sermons from the pulpit.

He denounced the United States Government and referred to the American

flag as a “worthless rag.” After we had declared war with Germany these

men kept on with their activities, hence A. P. L. took their cases

under advisement with instructions from the Los Angeles Department of

Justice. There were hundreds of operative reports turned in on these

two men.

After a time another book, published by H——, came out—a very violent

arraignment of the Government for its stand in the war, and very hot

anti-draft literature. These publications attracted to H—— and G—— a

large number of the weak-minded people who affiliated themselves with

the “Fellowship of Reconciliation”—a society which ought to go strong

in Berlin, now that the war is over.

Reverend G—— was expelled as the pastor of his church, following a

very seditious letter which he wrote, saying that he had relegated

the American flag to the flames, expressing sympathy with I. W. W.,

and opposition to the draft. It has always been understood that the

climate of California attracted a great many people, and the state has

always seemed to be prolific of great differences of opinion among

those people, but when it comes to a minister of the gospel uttering

such things as these, it is going a little strong even for the most

free-thinking country in the world.

The H—— case kept on attaining proportions, and heavy shipments of

literature were made into Santa Barbara and distributed out of that

city to various points. All of these shipments were followed and full

reports were made. In the latter part of 1917, another reverend doctor,

F. H——, and one C. H. B——, became active associates with the foregoing.

Pacifist meetings in Los Angeles were raided, and all these parties

managed to get themselves arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace.

In April, 1918, a letter addressed to a man in Santa Barbara,

California, who had a name quite similar to the first man above

mentioned, fell into the hands of A. P. L., because the wrong recipient

had opened it. It was found to be a letter from the secretary of the

I. W. W. organization at Los Angeles, setting a definite date for a

meeting at Los Angeles where Mr. H—— was to be present and address the

assembled multitude. The Chief of A. P. L. at Santa Barbara notified

D. J. in Los Angeles. At the same time, Santa Barbara was requested to

locate the new reverend, Mr. F. H——, whose whereabouts now were unknown.

There now came into the case a Miss E——, a prominent young woman who

had been a canteen worker and Red Cross nurse in France. Her family

were friends of the H—— family, but Miss E—— was a friend of the United

States Army above all things. She learned that the second reverend was

at Modesto, California, and that Mr. H—— would leave Santa Barbara on

Sunday, April 7, for Los Angeles; that he would stop at the Alexandria

Hotel, and would address the meeting on April 8.

This information was turned over to D. J. at Los Angeles.

It was decided to arrest all the foregoing alphabetical gentlemen.

About twenty members were assigned to the work and these arrests were

duly made at 9:00 P. M. on the night of April 8. Certain residences of

the above parties were searched and an immense amount of literature and

pamphlets on pacifism and radical Socialism were discovered. Most of

the books were seized.

The first mentioned Mr. H—— was hard to catch, the deputy marshal

being obliged to chase him through the streets of Los Angeles for

several blocks. H—— had to spend his night in the county jail. The next

morning he telephoned to his mother that he had “spent the night with

some friends of his, the Marshalls.” At least, he had a sense of humor,

because the only “Marshals” he knew were the deputy United States

marshals at that time, and he had indeed been their guest temporarily.

All the defendants, excepting two incidentally connected with the

case, were convicted of violation of the Espionage Act. The wealthy

pacifist millionaire was fined $27,000. The vitriolic clergyman first

mentioned, and his ally, the clergyman of the second part, were fined

$5,000 apiece. Two lesser fines of $500 and $100 were imposed also.

The second reverend doctor was arrested on information furnished by

Santa Barbara A. P. L. to the Los Angeles office. Other persons of

ultra-pacifist tendencies in Santa Barbara have been kept constantly

under surveillance. So it would seem that in peaceful Santa Barbara all

is not always peace—unless it is the right sort of peace.

Santa Barbara made twenty-three arrests and secured fifteen

convictions. Fines were collected by the Government through A. P.

L. investigations amounting to $37,100. Santa Barbara had the usual

percentage of flivver cases, especially as to mysterious signal

lights. One of these proved to be nothing more dangerous than a

night watchman on a railroad track, signalling with his lantern. The

operatives uncovered one rather tragic case. A Franciscan monk wrote

to the draft board that his own brother claimed exemption falsely,

that he was living with another man’s wife, and had been guilty of

forgery. The couple were found making their confession. They confessed

further before the draft board that they both were married but had

separated from their respective mates. They fell in love and began

living together within two weeks after they had met, and they had lived

together as man and wife for some time. The woman was released; the man

was inducted into the service and sent to camp.

A Santa Barbara operative evinced a certain sleuthing ability in a

case which reached its climax when someone blew up an old barn at the

rear of the place belonging to the complaining couple. There was a box

containing a setting hen, malignantly maternal over thirteen eggs. This

box was within six feet of the place where the explosion occurred—but

there was not a mark on the box, although the barn door had been blown

to bits. It seemed that something was wrong. Matters simmered down

to a spite case of a middle aged couple against some neighbors, who

finally had determined to get their kind of justice by blowing up their

own barn—but they did not wish to blow up their valuable hen, so they

removed her before touching off the charge.

Santa Barbara County—not the town—reported 94 cases of disloyalty and

sedition, 24 male alien activities and 20 female alien enemies, besides

the 34 I. W. W. cases. The man does not live who can predict the end

of all the vast social problems which will have to be worked out

eventually on this beautiful Pacific slope.

_The A. P. L. in San Diego_

We have on our southern borders the Mexican situation, not yet settled,

but one day to be settled. Germany did all she could to set Mexico on

our heels, and her atrocious Zimmerman note was one more instance of

her venomous but blundering diplomacy. Perhaps she wonders still how

we got that note when it first was despatched from Mexico; and how we

sat tight so long with knowledge of it in our possession. This is by

way of saying that the old Spanish city of San Diego is an important

naval base, located close to the edge of the intriguing border of the

Southwest—and a borderland is always a zone of espionage.

It is, therefore, not surprising to say that San Diego had 65 cases of

alien enemy activities and 842 cases of disloyalty and sedition, 286

instances of propaganda and 32 I. W. W. cases. For the War Department,

there were 554 investigations, 98 of these being character and loyalty

investigations. So that, on the whole, it may be seen that this once

indolent city of the Southwest, now a busy center of affairs, also had

an A. P. L. during the war.

There is a curious range of cases reported from one and another

corner of the country to the National Directors of A. P. L. Sometimes

an extraordinarily troublesome case has had very little at bottom;

and again a simple case often turned out big. Yet again, a case might

have all the ear-marks of simplicity and prove full of trouble. For

instance, if you were sent to arrest a woman, you customarily would not

expect her to disclose herself to be a walking arsenal of offensive

weapons—a woman’s portative appliances, lacking pockets as they do,

not seeming to give her natural facilities for heeling herself in any

way practical for quick action. Such, however, proved to be a wrong

estimate of a certain young lady whom we may call Miss M. E——, reported

in connection with certain alleged “German activity.” She certainly

turned out to be active.

An operative found Miss M. E—— living in a garage about six feet

square. The room was in much disorder, showing trunks, boxes, tin

cans and literature all about. Some ammunition was found, which the

operative left in place. He did not open the trunk. Suspect was

reported sometimes around a print shop, which next was visited. The

proprietor said that the suspect sometimes did some printing herself in

his little shop. Neighbors seemed to be afraid of suspect, and said she

had been seen with a revolver in her coat pocket.

Operative interviewed the suspect herself and asked her how about the

literature she had been printing. She admitted she had distributed

about one hundred copies of a circular. We may at this point allow the

operative to tell his simple and uneventful story in his own words.

I then told her we had a search warrant, but she had better come

down to the Federal Agent. She refused, saying she had work to do

and must get it out. I told her we had a car outside and would

bring her back to her print shop, but she still refused. I then

told her I would walk down with her to the print shop and then

we could talk over the ’phone and get more instructions. When we

arrived at the print shop, which is about eight feet square, I

told Operative No. 9 to go into the house and call up Mr. W——,

Federal Agent, and ask for instructions. Being warned by the

neighbors that subject carried a gun, I went into the printing

shop and asked her if she did carry a gun. She immediately

became enraged and rushed for her leather grip and pulled out a

.38-Colt, fully loaded. I made a grab at her, and after a tussle

obtained possession of the weapon. While putting this gun in

my pocket, she obtained a hammer and was endeavoring to hit me

over the head, and also at the same time calling for assistance.

I now called Operative No. 9 from the house, and between us,

we obtained the hammer. But in some manner she pulled from her

clothes a .32-automatic revolver and then endeavored to shoot us

if possible. Operative No. 9 and myself overpowered her and took

this gun from her.

We proceeded to take subject to the car, which was about half a

block away. She continually screamed, “Help! Help! Won’t someone

help a good Protestant?” We finally got her in the car, and then

I sent Operative No. 9 back after my hat, her bag, and the search

warrant, which we had dropped. I stood outside the car, holding

subject by one arm, when she drew a knife from her bosom and

slashed at my hand. I got in the car and we tussled again, and I

finally got the knife away from her. I had just thrown the knife

over into the front seat of the automobile when she drew a small

dirk from her bosom. Between Operative No. 9, who had come back,

and myself, we got this dirk away from her, slightly cutting

her hand. We then thought it would be best to have a witness as

to what was going on, and seeing a man standing looking at us,

we called him. Upon noticing some women standing at the corner

watching us, I thought it would be better to have them come and

search her, and upon calling them they came over. I told them what

I wanted them to do and they asked if it would be safe, and told

them yes—by this time. I explained who we were and what we were

doing, and asked them to search subject and they agreed to do so.

During their search they found a pocket containing ten bullets,

sewed on to her petticoat, an 8-inch Bowie knife, and also another

revolver, a Colt .41, fully loaded.

Nothing much further seemed to disturb the calm of the scene, so the

operators took the lady to the county jail, where she was later turned

over for examination to the Department of Justice. The two operatives

then went back to the subject’s room and found in every conceivable

place ammunition of every description. It was sewed in the mattress,

stuffed in tin cans, concealed in her trunk. There were also found

a Winchester repeating rifle and a Remington repeating rifle, and

ammunition in all amounting to about 1,000 rounds. When her hand-grip

was searched at the office, it was found to contain four tobacco

pouches of bullets, sixty-six in all, and a full clip of .32-caliber

bullets. In the garage where the lady lived, some bottles were found

and some cans containing powder, which were taken away for analysis.

The District Attorney recognized in Miss M. E—— a woman who had been

tried twice for insanity, having been sent once to an asylum. She was

committed to the State Asylum at Patton, and the authorities there

were notified that in case of her future release she should be kept

under surveillance. Thus endeth the first lesson, about Miss M. E——.

If she had had more money, probably she would have bought more guns. A

pleasant day’s work for men not on anybody’s pay roll.

San Diego had another case which kept the local division going for a

time. Among its operatives was a crippled newsboy who once belonged to

the Army. This lad had both his legs cut off in a railroad accident as

he was changing from one train to another, on his way to a new army

post. To make a livelihood, he took up a newsboy’s occupation and

became a familiar figure on the sidewalks. He had a board to which he

fastened a pair of roller skates, and by means of a small block of wood

he learned to push himself along the sidewalks at a very good rate

of speed. It came to the attention of the division that this newsboy

was a very keen observer and it was known he had a knowledge of six

languages. He was enrolled and became very useful—indeed he was at the

bottom of one of the biggest and most dangerous cases San Diego ever

had; which shows that no crippled soldiers ought ever to despair.

The crippled newsboy ate in a certain restaurant, and there by chance

he overheard a conversation between some Mexicans. He got a mass of

information and turned it into the office, where a report was made to

the Navy Department, which later ferreted out a plot that was laid

in Mexico. With no more than this passing mention of the A. P. L.

operative who, like so many others, gets small glory beyond the reward

of his own conscience, some mention may be made of this plot, which

really involved the extensive machinations of Germans in Mexico against

the United States. It ended in the capture by the United States vessels

of the Hun raider _Alexander Agassiz_.

A young woman owned the _Agassiz_, but had not been able to make much

money out of it, and so sold it to one Fritz B——, once a German naval

reservist and for a time chief officer on a German ship interned at

Santa Rosalia. At another period in his career he had been interned

at Angel Island as an alien enemy. At any rate, he made his way to

Santa Rosalia, and thence to Matzatlan, where he got in touch with the

German Consul. B—— was sent to Mexico City for a conference with the

German Ambassador there. There were Germans from all parts of Mexico

who appeared at that meeting. When B—— came back, he sought out the

acquaintance of the young woman who owned the boat and induced her to

sell it to him. The boat then was hauled out and thoroughly overhauled

by German sailors who had arrived from the fleet of German ships

at Santa Rosalia. The hull was calked, new sails were bent on, the

machinery was overhauled, and in general the boat was made ready for

her career as a raider.

In the meantime B—— obtained full armament and instruments for his

ship. He had some of his arms on an island seven miles northwest

of Matzatlan, but the rest of the equipment was taken aboard the

_Agassiz_. This was carried on openly and the news got out to the

American Patrol Fleet. A cruiser put in an appearance off the mouth of

Matzatlan Harbor. Hence, instead of sailing out with a crew of twenty

Germans, only five Germans were put aboard the _Agassiz_, with two

American women and six Mexicans. B—— figured that the boat would be

taken as a harmless trader and allowed to go out. He guessed wrong. The

_Agassiz_ made a dash for the open sea. But by this time wireless had

brought up two other American warships. They closed in on the incipient

raider and signaled her to heave to. Not being obeyed, they planted a

shell in front of the raider’s bow, which brought her up.

Before the naval men could get aboard the _Agassiz_, her crew worked as

hard as they could to throw overboard everything of an incriminating

nature. They also tried to wreck the engine and destroy the bearings

in the magneto. The blue-jackets found some rifles and revolvers, some

German flags and a secret cipher. From the papers it was learned that

B—— was in hiding at Venados Island. This was on Mexican soil, so he

could not be seized.

It was learned that the German Consul at Matzatlan had forced all the

crew to take the oath of allegiance to the Kaiser. He had instructed

B—— to capture speedier boats, and after raiding Pacific shipping to

work the Southern Pacific, thence to go by the west coast of Africa

and north on a dash for some German port, so that he might send to

Wilhelmstrasse—Germany’s Scotland Yard—the package of papers entrusted

to him by the Mexican German ambassador.

Had this raider gotten into the open seas and taken captive a faster

and better equipped ship, it might have done a very considerable damage

to shipping, just as did the several German raiders which for a time

harrassed the Allied commerce. That her career was stopped at the

outset was due to the keenness of a legless newsboy, anxious to do his

bit for the country whose uniform he once had worn. There is enough,

let us repeat, in this very story to give hope to every crippled

soldier coming back from France—for this, taken in all its bearings,

was about as important a piece of work as this busy division had, and

is one of the biggest of all the A. P. L. cases.

The A. P. L. did not disband at the signing of the Armistice, and it

is well that it did not. San Diego, like many another city, has had

more than its share of bootlegging and vice investigations to carry

on, owing to the fact that the growing feeling of license, which had

developed since the Armistice, had spread among our troops. Among

those quartered near San Diego, there were, of course, some not above

reproach, and the bootlegger was known here as elsewhere. This pleasant

and peaceful town in the sun-kissed South also had its share of the

German-born. It would take a Luther Burbank, perhaps, to change them,

and even Luther “would need time.”

There was one man of great wealth naturalized in California in 1898,

who held a prominent position in San Diego business life. He was known

to have been in close touch with all the famous Germans, and had a

pretty good insight into affairs American and Mexican. When we went

into the war, this suspect became distinctly pro-German and was one of

the most active propagandists along the border, apparently entirely

forgetful of the fact that he owed allegiance to the United States.

Being well acquainted with the German population in Mexico, he and

others are alleged to have aided in the establishment of a wireless

plant in Mexico, and to have financed people who ought not to have been

financed, in view of their past records. It was charged against him by

fellow-citizens that he worked to some extent with German money; that

he was connected, at least indirectly, with the Hindu plot case, and

that he knew more than he should about the illicit shipment of arms

in the _Annie Larson_ steamship case. In fact, he was charged rather

openly with having been interested in the German efforts to give aid to

the ship _Maverick_ in the Pacific Ocean. The wireless plant in Mexico

was located and wrecked, which spoiled the attempts of an enemy clique

to establish wireless communication between Mexico and German ships in

Honolulu.

This same man was linked with the scheme of buying arms in New York and

shipping them via San Diego into Mexico. British Military Intelligence

also charged this man with being head and front of the most complete

pro-German organization in that part of the world. He was charged with

delivering coal from San Diego to a German steamship. The British

Government and that of the United States joined hands in following out

this pro-German citizen of America. He was traced to Europe and found

to have gone to Berlin instead of to Paris. He was alleged to be guilty

of fraudulent transactions at an Army post, and a man connected with

him in his operations has been convicted. He succeeded in getting his

son and son-in-law exempted from the draft, and attempted to get his

son a commission in the Quartermaster Department. For months United

States agents from various departments have been after this man,

recording every move he made. Finally a joint meeting of the several

agents of the United States, gathered in San Diego, decided that the

time was ripe to get out a search warrant and go through his place of

business, his safety deposit box, and his residence. Just then there

came a change in the personnel of D. J.—and after this adjustment the

Armistice ended it all! The investigation, therefore, is not closed

at this writing, and the Department of Justice is still on the trail

of this disloyal “American.” He is one of a great many of his type

claiming citizenship in this country.

It would seem that after a native of Germany had passed forty-two

years in the United States, he would learn to feel a certain pride

and appreciation of the benefits he had enjoyed here. That was not

always the case—certainly it was not true in the instance of the

gentleman who is filed away as Case No. 392. This worthy had abused

the Allies in language too foul to print, and seemed to think that no

one in this country would resent anything he said. When called down by

a loyal citizen, he dared anybody to make him stop talking. He said

that England started the war and had an agreement with Belgium whereby

England could go through Belgium in order to strike at Germany. He

said England sunk a great many boats and then blamed it on the German

submarines. He said that England sent one hundred and fifty newspaper

men here to write up stories against the Germans; that he hoped the

submarines would blow up every damned American boat on the ocean, and

sink all the transports and ships carrying munitions; that the men the

Yankees had in France in March, 1918, did not amount to anything; that

the United States couldn’t make him fight; that this —— —— Government

was rotten to the core. He made other remarks of like violent nature,

and his remarks against the President of the United States were coupled

with such language that swift hanging would really have been about the

only just punishment for him. He was arrested and undertook to deny the

remarks reported against him. The jury found him guilty. He was sent to

prison for three years. He ought by all means to be deported when he

gets out of jail, and so ought any German in this country who has been

found at any time to be guilty of any such talk. We do not need that

sort of “citizens” in America, and we are not going to have them here.

There was another case, No. 300, in peaceful San Diego, in which the

suspect seemed anxious to spread broadcast every manner of pro-German

propaganda. He had been a naturalized citizen of this country for

twenty years, and through his position in one of the city banks, he

had been closely associated with many of San Diego’s leading business

men. Yet, still deep in his heart was that love for the Fatherland

which made him willing to fight this free country where he claimed

citizenship and where he had all the benefits of our too weakly-lenient

Government. It finally dawned on the minds of some of the customers

of the bank that this man was not right. A. P. L. was called on to

investigate him and worked on the case for months. The man was finally

taken into custody, and the issue was joined between the United States

Government on the one hand and this suspect and his influential friends

on the other. A long trial was had and the jury disagreed. A second

trial came off and A. P. L. had fifty witnesses ready to testify. The

result was a conviction and a sentence of four years at McNeill’s

Island. Truly, anyone reading the San Diego cases must agree that that

division did not lack in energy and diligence.

_The A. P. L. in Pasadena_

Life is so idyllic in Pasadena—roses—oranges—that sort of thing that

you would not suspect that anything evil could happen there, or that

anyone ever could suspect anyone else in those select surroundings.

But Pasadena had her A. P. L., and they were not in the least above

suspecting the right people once in a while, as a brief tale or so

may prove. In short, Pasadena had more than 100 cases of alien enemy

activities, 321 cases of disloyalty and sedition, of which thirty-six

were concerned with persons not citizens of the United States.

These totals show distinctly the amount of investigation required

of transients, for the War Department cases, having to do with the

Selective Service Act, came to only 155 investigations.

The B—— family of Pasadena were known as prominent pacifists. They

held some very pleasant pacifist meetings in their houses until the

Home Guards and the A. P. L. got after them. After that their meetings

were neither so pacifistic nor so pleasant. There was a professor of

languages at Throop College, who was always a German sympathizer and

who always was very outspoken for Germany. He was reported a number of

times to the Pasadena A. P. L. Throop was made over into a military

training school, and that was about all for Professor B——. He did not

last.

Mrs. Jack C——, a society woman of the Maryland Hotel, was gay and

liberal with officers and soldiers—would even give them a drink without

the formality of their removing their uniforms. Reported to the

authorities. No action could be taken under the law at that time.

Miss Helen F—— was a very ardent pacifist and a very ardent Socialist

as well, and a great friend of some of the Socialists who write books

and have a national reputation. She was investigated by the Department

of Justice at Pasadena, and when she went east to New York last summer,

the Navy Intelligence had her under its watchful eye all the time.

Perhaps she does not know that.

Dr. H—— of Pasadena was arrested by Federal authorities, it having been

alleged that he “doctored” the eyes of boys who were subject to the

draft.

“Friends of Irish Freedom”—a branch of the Sinn Fein

organization—contributed to the defense of leaders of the latter

organization who were on trial in New York. Their meetings were

attended by two A. P. L. operatives who reported to Department of

Justice. Meetings discontinued.

M. J——, a prominent Russian, staying at a prominent hotel with

a prominent count and countess, was kept under very prominent

surveillance for some time and reported daily to the Department of

Justice.

Ben and Robert L—— were not so prominent, but were content with evading

the draft, so it was charged. They and their mother fled the country

and went to San Salvador in South America. Pasadena Division, A. P. L.,

greatly assisted D. J. in Los Angeles in locating these parties. The

case was of international interest.

Then there was the case of Madam P——, reported to be the wife of a

Russian count who is now a citizen of Germany and an officer in the

German army. Subject arrived in America by way of Scandinavia, by way

of Germany. She pronounced herself as frankly pro-German in a talk with

the A. P. L. operative, who speaks very good German and who claimed

to be in sympathy with Germany. In public, Madam is more guarded. She

confided to the operative that she is getting mail from her daughter

in Munich through the president of the Norwegian-American Steamship

Line, who arranged with the captain for the forwarding and receiving of

letters. The Department of Justice got all of this as well, as did the

Postmaster General in Washington.

In Pasadena you might run against a count or countess or baroness

almost any way you looked. There was the Baroness P——, wife of a

Philadelphia man, who spends her winters in a Pasadena hotel. Very

pro-German before we went to war, but more quiet since then. She is

watched whenever she is in Pasadena. It’s getting so a lady can do

hardly anything at all without those vulgar, dreadful people knowing

all about it!

_The A. P. L. in Whittier_

This division had thirty-three sedition cases, in spite of the glorious

climate of California. For instance, information came that one Jack

H—— and his wife were pro-Germans. They were running a fake jewelry

business in Los Angeles. An A. P. L. investigation discovered that the

gentleman had two names; that he left the Pacific Coast in 1910 with

another gentleman and that they conducted a fur business in New York,

where they failed handsomely and went into elegant bankruptcy. Suspect

was alleged to have been convicted of perjury and sentenced to two or

three years in the Federal prison at Atlanta, Georgia. It was developed

further that he was given a stay of execution under bond of $10,000.

The bond was forfeited and subject came to Los Angeles, where he

resided with his purported wife and did business under the name of Jack

H——. Upon said information, duly secured, the gentleman with the alias

was arrested, returned to New York, and re-sentenced to three years in

the penitentiary. His wife is still trying to find out where A. P. L.

learned all about these things. Tut, tut! Cannot an honest jeweler be

allowed to get away from his past in the wilds of the Far West?

Whittier is reported to be a quiet Quaker community. It has a

population of approximately 25,000, being, in effect, a suburb of Los

Angeles. The local division had forty-three men. Whittier always has

boasted that it is a place where crooks do not congregate. There are

Whittier oil fields, which are the second best on the Pacific slope,

but there were no I. W. W.’s in this territory, and no pro-Germans of

any very outspoken sort, no depredations, but for the most part calm,

as becomes a Quaker capital.

_The A. P. L. in Orleans_

Perhaps you do not know where Orleans, California, is located? And

perhaps you did not know that a branch of the A. P. L. was located in

Orleans? That, however, is the case. There were just three members of

the Orleans A. P. L., and, since there were but three, why not break

the more or less inexorable rule about names and just give them in this

case? J. A. Hunter was Chief at Orleans; C. W. Baker was Secretary; and

P. L. Young was the third member.

The Chief reports:

In this small and isolated community, this seemed to be all the

organization necessary. These men were selected as the best

representatives of the community, and all subscribed to the A. P.

L. oath. The local headquarters are at Orleans, with no further

executive and office force necessary. Expenses were nominal and

were defrayed by individual members. Orleans is an isolated point,

102 miles from a railroad, communication with the outside being by

auto stages. It was easy to watch all travel through the district,

and the few aliens, only two, who were resident were easy to keep

track of. There is no telegraphic or telephone communication

with the outside, so all reports had to be made by mail. We

looked after the work necessary in our district, rendering such

assistance as we were able and were asked to do. We had no trouble

at any time with the local authorities.

[Signed] J. A. HUNTER, Chief.

We may be content to close the story of California, ragged and

incomplete as it has been, with this report from a little mountain

community of California. It is what the author is disposed to call

incontestably the best report that has been found in all the great

Golden State, if not, indeed, in all the United States.

Only three men, away out in the hills—but all of them Americans and

all of them ready to work for America—that is why this League was

great; because it had men such as these ready to do its work, as best

they could, in whatever form it came to hand for the doing. One fancies

that in all the stories of the many different towns reported in these

pages, there will not be one better received by the great brotherhood

of the A. P. L. than this one from Orleans, 102 miles from the nearest

rails, with no telegraph and no telephone. The author of this book

hopes to see Orleans some time. He believes it may be American.

BOOK III

THE FOUR WINDS

How Manufactures, Munitions and Agriculture were Protected—Briefs

of Cases from All Over the Country—Chips from the Little Fellow’s

Axe—Odds and Ends from the Files—The Far-Flung Work of the A. P. L.

I THE STORY OF THE EAST

_New York—Pennsylvania—New

Jersey—Connecticut—Massachusetts—Delaware—Rhode Island—New

Hampshire—Maine—Vermont._

II THE STORY OF THE NORTH

_Ohio—Indiana—Michigan—Illinois—Wisconsin—Minnesota—

Missouri—Iowa—South Dakota—North Dakota—Kansas—Nebraska._

III THE STORY OF THE SOUTH

_Maryland—Virginia—West Virginia—North Carolina—South

Carolina—Georgia—Alabama—Mississippi—Florida—Kentucky—

Tennessee—Louisiana—Texas—Arkansas—Oklahoma._

IV THE STORY OF THE WEST

_Colorado—Montana—New

Mexico—Utah—Arizona—Wyoming—Idaho—Nevada—California—Oregon—

Washington—Alaska._

CHAPTER I

THE STORY OF THE EAST

In deplorably skeletonized fashion, we have offered a brief story of

the League’s growth, its purposes and its methods, and the stories of

some of its great centers. But how about the country-wide achievements

of the League, its field story? How can it be told? It is matter of

regret that in no possible way can that ever be put within the compass

of book publication. The records of these millions of cases, as has

been said, runs into tons.

If you should visit the division offices, for instance, of New York,

Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, or any other large A. P. L.

center, you would see in each city a room full of filing cabinets, with

indexed drawers, carrying in permanent form the story of the League’s

work in that given locality. Mass all these from the hundreds of cities

engaged in the work, and you would have a pile of filing cabinets

as high as a tall building. Go to the National Headquarters and you

would find more rooms full of cabinets, covering the national work—an

enormous total, painstaking, exact, correct. Go over to the Military

Intelligence and you see more of the League’s work there. Go to the

Department of Justice and look at the vast accumulations there at hand

from the reports of this auxiliary.

Now, in imagination, pile all this uncomprehended assemblage of

records into the middle of some park or square and have a glance at

it in mass. In that mountain-pile of written and printed material,

thousands of brains have recorded their soberest and most just

conclusions, and have told why they concluded thus or thus. Thousands

of stenographers have worked long days and nights on these tons of

millions of pages. Be sure, in this mass of a nation’s story in

counter-espionage, there is to be found, ticketed and tabulated, filed

and cross-indexed under name and number, as part of the archives

of the United States, the life and actions, the birth, derivation,

antecedents, convictions, assertions and beliefs of practically every

man and woman of German name in America. But close to the foot of this

mass of the archives, lay down upon the ground a book, a volume of

ordinary size; let us say, this book now in your hand. How small it

seems! It is small. It is no more than a fraction, a mite. It is not

enough. Some man’s loyal, unpaid, patient labor went into every one of

these records.

There came, curiously, cumulatively, the feeling that this was not

merely a mass of quasi-public documents, but an assemblage of the most

valuable human documents ever collected in America. This was massed

proof, not of work, but of patriotism. Then we did have, we do have, a

country; there _is_ a real America? Yes, and let no man doubt it ever

again. It is a great and splendid country. These hundreds of thousands

of pages which have been read—and every report sent in has been

read—make the greatest reflex of America it ever has been the privilege

of any man to know. Talk no more of a merely material America—it is not

true. The real America at least is a noble, a splendid, a patriotic

country, eager to do its share, determined to take its place.

The bewildering amount of material from all over the United States

made condensation and classification alike difficult. It was therefore

decided to separate the country into four loosely divided sections, the

North, the East, the West, the South, and to throw into each division

just so many condensed reports, taken at random from the whole as might

be possible within the existing space limitations.

In the East and Northeast were located many or most of the great

munition works and embarkation points as well as many centers of

war work, manufacturing and shipping. This meant one form of work

for the A. P. L. In the great middle section of the country—the

semi-industrial, semi-agricultural central and north-central states—the

activities of the League were slightly more varied. This cluster of

inland states we have grouped as North. The South is known almost

traditionally; and the West may arbitrarily be made to cover the far

lands to the Pacific Coast itself, the state of California, with its

great cities, alone being given subclassification in another section of

this volume. Into these several hoppers the grist was thrown.

Would you like a real history of the war, a story which does convey

a comprehensible picture? The simplest way is the best way. Read the

_Atlantic Monthly_ for January, 1919. Does it give a great pen picture

by some artist in words? No. But it gives verbatim translations of bits

of conversation heard by a nurse in a hospital full of wounded Russian

soldiers; detached, disconnected comments, points of view, records of

personal experiences. That is great reporting—the greatest reporting

in the world. Had our more famous correspondents kept away from the

routine of the alleged “front” and gone into the hospitals for a half

million personal statements of wounded men of every nation, they would

not have failed to show us the war. They would have written a great

story of the war—a real history of the war. Now the astonishing thing

about the record of the A. P. L. is that its reports came in precisely

that way. The story of the League becomes a history of the country

served by the League.

NEW YORK

Once in a while an operative landed a big case on a small clue. A New

York operative was sent out to look up one R. R. A——, an employe of a

shirtwaist factory, who was alleged to have said that he knew how to

beat the draft. The same suspect was heard to say that he knew of four

men, the knowledge of whom would be worth $10,000 to the United States.

When interviewed by an A. P. L. operative, he denied most of the

allegations made against him, but he did give the name of an Austrian

army officer named L—— who had plans of submarines and battleships of

the United States. This latter gentleman was followed, his baggage

searched, and the plans confiscated.

Chautauqua County, New York, includes the cities of Jamestown and

Dunkirk, each of which had an A. P. L. branch, the former being the

first to organize, June 26, 1918. The Chautauqua County division proper

was organized as late as October 28, 1919, an assistant chief being

appointed for Jamestown and for Dunkirk. The entire county covers an

area of about 1,000 square miles and has a population of more than

100,000.

The League was of great service in rounding up delinquents who failed

to return questionnaires. Local Board No. 1 of the Jamestown District

on November 20, 1918, had ninety-eight delinquents. By December 10,

the A. P. L. had reduced that number to twenty-one, and since then

fifteen more have reported, leaving only six delinquents out of a total

registration of 2,135.

The community was carefully organized with regard to each of the

financial war drives. In the war stamps campaign one E—— was discovered

selling stamps without having been authorized to do so. Investigations

showed that he had been secretary of the local branch of the

German-American Alliance and was in constant association with alien

enemies. An associate of his, who may be called R——, said that the

German Club was pretty much run by a man named F——, an Austrian enemy

alien who belonged to some lower order of German nobility but had moved

to Austria. He became an “Austrian” when the United States declared

war on Germany, but was willing to claim citizenship in any country

now that diplomatic relations were severed with Austria, since he

could speak several languages. The A. P. L. found means to inspect the

living rooms of F——, discovering great quantities of German papers and

an Austrian flag. The remainder of the story, told in the words of the

Chief’s report, shows how a mighty small fire sometimes can generate an

enormous volume of smoke:

We learned that F—— had admitted himself to be engaged in getting

German subjects out of the United States and into the German army.

Operative on the case, R——, was confidentially informed by him

that six thousand men had left this country the preceding month

and were to be carried by the large trans-Atlantic submarines. F——

himself was going to sail October 4.

The operative invented a German cousin whose wife was in Germany,

and told L—— that this cousin was very eager to get across. The

cordial clubman instructed him to write a letter to “Freiherr Hans

von Ungelter,” former German Consul in New York, and enclose it in

another envelope, which should be addressed to (name given), care

of General Delivery, New York. The addressee’s name, operative was

informed, changed week by week. Further, it was learned that the

system followed by L——’s New York friends was to give men physical

examinations, and if found fit, to furnish free transportation

through the channels mentioned above. The sole requirements were

loyalty to Germany and a sound physique. Operative stated that

he showed surprise when L—— gave him this information, and said:

“Then the report that a German captain was seen in New York was

true?” F—— replied: “Certainly, they stay there a week at a

time, taking in the theatres and waiting for their cargoes to be

delivered at various ports, where they pick them up on their way

to Germany.”

R—— furnished the name of the New York man for the current week,

and a good operative went to New York to confer with the Special

Agent of D. J. there and with the New York Division A. P. L.

General Delivery was covered, but nothing showed. A second week

was tried with the same result. Operative was then asked to

arrange an interview with F—— for his supposed cousin, but F——,

according to operative, refused to talk or to see this cousin.

R—— came back to us declaring that F—— knew he was being watched

and suspected him, and might kill him. Tension was high at local

headquarters. Then we started in to investigate R—— who had been

our informant right along. We learned that his record was none too

good, for he had offered to procure releases for drafted men for

amounts ranging from $15 to $30 a head. We then traced R—— back to

Buffalo and got this report: “Great talker and fine salesman, but

always away over his head.” In other words there was no case and

never had been one. By this time we had almost forgotten E——, the

thrift stamp man. We were younger in detective work then than we

were later.

A report comes from Jamestown, New York, regarding one whom we will

call Henry D——, described as follows: “Known to many in this town as

strongly pro-German; a radical socialist; believed to be an anarchist;

has been very active going from one town to another. He left Jamestown

for Rockford, Illinois; he went thence to Chicago, thence to Grand

Rapids. From the latter city he came back to Jamestown. He has now

gone to New York. We understand he is contemplating a trip to the

old country. Has been very secretive about his movements. Seems to

spend a great deal of money in travel, although he is only a workman;

has boasted that he had strikes called in every shop to which he was

sent.” This man was put under surveillance by the New York office of

the American Protective League under charge of being a dangerous alien

enemy, and was properly dealt with.

There were no instances of violence in Chautauqua County arising out of

the war situation. The community was at all times right side up. Those

who have sought to belittle or impede any war activity were effectively

stilled.

Schenectady, New York, organized its division on March 1, 1918, with

one chief, two captains, four lieutenants, and eighteen operatives.

The division conducted sixty-seven investigations for character and

loyalty; forty-two under the Espionage Act; twenty-six cases of

propaganda, and fifteen of draft evasion. The division was commended

by the War Department for showing a high standard of efficiency; also

by the Federal Reserve Bank at Albany. Schenectady has a large foreign

population, among whom may be found quite a good proportion of radical

Socialists. These people were expected to make trouble when we went

to war, especially as two of the largest local industrial concerns,

the General Electric Company and the American Locomotive Company,

were engaged on munitions and other war work. There was no overt act,

however, but on the contrary, the people of the city proved intensely

patriotic, over-subscribing every loan.

Rochester, New York, reports routine work for its division, but had

a good many operatives ready for any emergency that might arise. The

record-cases do not represent the amount of work actually done, but

yield the following figures: Character and loyalty reports, 190;

selective service, 4; training camp activities, 2; liquor and vice,

none; war risk insurance, 1; sedition and disloyalty investigations,

25. Rochester would seem to have been much more pacific—not

pacifistic—than at first would be expected.

Albany, New York, offers an instance of a phenomenon more or less

frequently recurrent during the war—namely, the apprehensiveness of the

feminine mind as regards mysterious flashlights in the stilly night.

The informant stated that for some time she and her neighbors had been

watching flashes which came from a certain house at night and kept up

for a long time. She was very much excited. Two operatives visited the

vicinity shortly after dark. A light did appear which might have been

that of a lantern. It would dim and come on again. The informant stated

that sometimes the light would grow as bright as an automobile light,

and sometimes it would seem to be red. The next morning the operatives

found a farmer plowing near the suspicious house. He admitted that

he owned the house. He said he and his wife were American born, of

British grandparents. The operatives asked him about the mysterious

lights. Smilingly he asked them to go through the house. It then was

clearly evident that the light they had seen came from a lamp in the

middle of a room. The mysterious intermittent flashes were only due

to persons passing between the lamp and the window. The farmer also

said he often worked nights bundling up beets, carrots, radishes,

etc., which he had pulled during the afternoon and expected to take to

early market the next morning. He usually did this work just outside

the house on a bench. On inquiry as to what he used, he showed a large

carriage lantern with a reflector, in the back of which was a piece of

red glass. So the women had been right after all. He would move this

lantern from one end of the bench to the other as he worked, and this

made the changes in the color of the light. The intermittent flashes

were due to his passing back and forth in front of it.

A big chemical poison scare was nipped in the bud by the investigation

of a German woman who was found putting up capsules of a white powder

in her house. Of course, nothing less than poison for our soldiers and

sailors could be predicted. Investigation proved that though the woman

was of German descent, she was entirely loyal to this country. She

made a little extra money at home filling capsules for a drug house

in the city. These capsules contained bicarbonate of soda, tartaric

acid, etc., and the woman took a few of them in the presence of the

operatives to show that they were harmless. Thus, another case proved

to be a “dud.”

An alien enemy was wanted at Albany, reported by D. J. to be traveling

on a motor-cycle. It was known that he had a girl not far away and

called on her or wrote to her occasionally. The mails in this case,

as in many others, were used for decoy purposes. A registered special

delivery letter, marked for personal delivery only, was mailed to him

at the girl’s address, with the idea that she would give forwarding

directions to the messenger who delivered the letter. The result was

better than expected. When the messenger arrived at the house, he saw

a man just about to leave on a motor-cycle, and thinking that this

might be the man, he hailed him and presented the letter. The suspect

signed for the letter and was at once arrested and turned over to the

Department of Justice.

Syracuse, New York, had a man at the head of its division who, before

he came an A. P. L. chief, had made four hundred investigations, and

since that time has directed one hundred and fifty more. A very close

liaison was maintained with the Department of Justice and the local

police department.

Just as valuable as though it recorded some great crime is the report

from Hudson Falls, New York: “Our community is made up of loyal,

patriotic citizens, who responded to each and every call to duty. We

have been active in local, state and national matters throughout the

war.”

PENNSYLVANIA

It is hard to tell what is going to become of all the military fakes

and pseudo-heroes now that the war is over. Take, for instance, the

case of one Captain Robert H——, ostensibly in the United States Navy,

who fancied Philadelphia as his residence. This worthy captain was also

known by other names. Sometimes he wore a uniform of an ordinary seaman

with overseas service wound stripes, although he never saw service

abroad. He wrote to his wife that he had been wounded and told her to

hang out a service flag with a silver star, which she dutifully did.

The star had not hurt Captain H——, so why not put it in the window?

This gentleman spoke of a great many flag-raisings and elaborated on

the seventy-two days he had spent in the trenches. He told all about

German atrocities, and quite often took up collections for sick and

wounded soldiers and sailors in the name of this or that hospital.

There never yet has been found a hospital to which he has turned over

a dollar. Naturally a good organizer, this young officer invented a

good Navy of his own, the “Naval Home Defense,” and at one time had

enlisted one hundred and fifty-six members, including one lady and her

two young sons. The project came to grief because of a generous order

for some uniforms, costing something like $1,000, which was placed with

a local clothing firm and had to be paid for. It is too bad, because

the organization also had a ladies’ auxiliary, his wife being president

thereof. This is only one of a very great number of cases of imposters

parading as officers of this or that country.

Bradford, Pennsylvania, is in the heart of the big oil country, and it

had its own troubles by reason of its necessarily motley population. A

very interesting report on local conditions, submitted by the Chief of

McKean County Division, says:

At the outset we were confronted with a situation fast becoming

serious, as so many industrial claims had been allowed by the

district board. Only one or two young men of social prominence

had been inducted into the service, and charges were frequently

made that the Government did not intend taking men of wealth or

prominence and that it was the laboring men who would have to do

the fighting. The Socialist element was quick to take advantage of

this situation, and men who left here for the service went away

feeling that they had been discriminated against.

We took up this situation with the Department of Justice, who

sent us a Special Agent. A contingent of boys leaving for the

front did some printing reflecting very seriously on the methods

of the draft board and scoring the local slackers. They had

planned to put a banner on their train with such inscriptions as,

“My father owns an oil well, but I didn’t claim exemption”; “We

have a garden in our back yard, but I am not a farmer”; etc. We

headed off this plan, but the worst thing about it was that many

of the names upon the slacker list referred to were of men who

had legitimate reasons for exemption. At the same time, there

were some men named who clearly ought to have been inducted into

the service. To silence criticism, we had a district draft board

man come to Bradford, and with him we went over a lot of cases

which had caused trouble. As a result, many of these cases were

reclassified, and many men inducted into the service. This caused

an entire change of opinion here, and since then we have had no

trouble of that nature.

We had one exemption claimer, a young Jewish merchant, who told a

very pathetic story about dependents—among others, a blind father

and an invalid brother. This young Hebrew was of the belief that

he could do so much more for his country if left at home to take

care of these unhappy relatives of his. Investigation did not seem

to bear out his point of view. He was not, however, turned over

to the authorities for action in regard to his statements, as he

was wanted for the army more than for the courts; and yet, when he

was turned over to the medical men for examination, it was found

that he had something which he did not know he had—serious heart

trouble which actually exempted him! There are some people you

can’t beat any way of the game.

A Bradford pro-German, born in Germany but naturalized before the war,

has always been socialistic. Put under observation, he was heard to say

in the presence of many, at a meeting in honor of a man who was going

to join the colors: “Here is your —— —— capitalistic system taking the

best men we have and leaving men like ——” His remarks were resented and

caused a row. Investigated and reported to Department of Justice at

Pittsburgh, this pro-German was arrested and placed under indictment.

At one of the plants the loyal workingmen had fixed it all up to

paint a man a nice yellow color because he did not subscribe to any

Liberty loans. A. P. L. operatives arrived just in time to prevent

the frescoing above mentioned. The suspect himself was taken aside

and argued with by the A. P. L., with the result that he presently

disclaimed his disloyal remarks, said he was sorry, and wanted to buy

some bonds with the other boys.

The Chief goes on to say that Bradford operated under cover as much

as possible. A good many townsfolk, he says, could not identify A. P.

L. at all, although there were very few who did not know that there

had been some sort of checking up of pretty much the entire population

in matters of interest to the Government. This impression aided in

suppressing a great deal of radical and seditious talk, and served as a

warning to others not to begin that sort of thing.

Reading, Pennsylvania, reports 170 cases of alien enemy activities,

226 cases of disloyal and seditious talk, 38 cases of investigation of

radical organizations, such as the I. W. W. Among other interesting

stories contained in the Reading report is one which has to do with a

professional labor agitator, a wrong telephone number and an alert A.

P. L. operative. A workman called up a man whom he supposed to be his

friend, and stated that there was going to be a strike pretty soon at

a certain factory. The recipient of the message happened to be an A.

P. L. operator, who at once took up the trail and located his man in

the shop where he was employed. Witnesses soon were found who proved

that this was the man who had started the strike agitation. He had been

there only two weeks. He had been in three other plants where they

were doing Government work and had made trouble in each plant. He knew

the percentage of Government work in each factory where he had been

employed. He was sent to Philadelphia for full handling. It seemed

that he was trying to get in touch with an official of a Socialist

organization and pulled the wrong telephone number by mistake! You

could never tell in war times when you were talking to an A. P. L. man.

Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, had sixty-six members enrolled. Considerable

character and loyalty investigation work was done, and a great deal of

seditious talk was stopped which otherwise might have caused trouble.

The Chief adds: “The mere fact that such an organization as ours

existed and that we were working in secret had a wonderful moral effect

on the entire community. I regret exceedingly that this organization

has to be dissolved, and am of the opinion that it will play an

important part in the readjustment which is now taking place.”

Meadville, Pennsylvania, had the usual routine work on deserters,

delinquents, etc., and fourteen operatives were kept busy throughout

the community. The Chief modestly says: “We did everything we could for

our country.”

Bristol, Pennsylvania, did not turn anything in to the Federal

courts, but weeded out a number of undesirable alien enemies from the

shipbuilding plants in that locality. The League gave very material

assistance to the State Constabulary and Borough Police Officers in

making investigations.

NEW JERSEY

The Trenton, New Jersey, district was one of busy environments, and

it offers a number of three-star cases. Let us consider one Graboski,

who had a friend, Grabinski, who tipped off the A. P. L. that Graboski

was not a carpenter, but a chemist with a doctor’s degree from a

foreign university. This amiable masquerader was believed to have been

instrumental in blowing up the plant of the General Electric Company at

Schenectady, New York. In view of his information, Grabinski was dealt

with leniently, but Graboski was followed to his boarding-place and was

there found in bed listening to the conversation of the occupants down

stairs. He was taken before the United States District Attorney as a

preliminary to his internment in a southern detention camp.

Much more proper than contrary is the conduct of a German bearing the

homely name of Schmidt, living near Trenton, New Jersey. Investigation

was made on report of a neighbor. By the time the operative called,

Schmidt had a service flag in his window. Many different subjects were

discussed, including music. Old man Schmidt had no more investigations

after he declared himself:

Yah, ve Chermans ist fond of musik. I like musik, und mine vife,

she like it to. I haf der old violin vot I brot mit me from

Chermany. I blay him a liddle alvays—old Cherman tunes—vot ist

all I know. Maybe you hear me sometimes—last year, vot? No? Vell,

I blay him not any more now. You see, der boy—mine son—you don’t

know him—he never live mit us here—he vork in Chicago—he ist in

American Army already. Und I luf to blay, but all vot I know ist

shust Cherman tunes—dat’s all—so I don’t blay any more. I hav der

old viddle avay put.

Trenton, New Jersey, staged a draft raid with two hundred A. P. L.

men and a detachment from Philadelphia under the leadership of the

Assistant Chief of that city. At the Trenton Fair there was a crowd

of 75,000 people. The raiders set out in fifty automobiles and broke

up into small parties. At four o’clock in the afternoon the dragnet

went to work, and no one was allowed to leave the grounds without

credentials. Even the fences were watched. All operatives, whether from

the Department of Justice or the A. P. L., worked with courtesy, and

there was no more difficulty in getting out of the grounds than there

would be in getting into a theatre if provided with a ticket. Many of

the men apprehended were farmers from out of the way places and had

their wives and children with them. Those being evidently not of the

slacker variety were released with the understanding that they report

to their local boards. No one was delayed unnecessarily. After this,

all the side shows and amusements were combed out, and several men were

picked up in this way. About 300 were apprehended and taken to the

armory, where their cases were passed on. Four deserters from our Army

were taken, and the British Military Police apprehended a man, thought

to be a pickpocket, who was masquerading in a Canadian uniform. This

raid was conducted after the much criticised New York slacker drive,

and the contrast was commented upon by the local press.

CONNECTICUT.

New Haven, Connecticut, might very well have been a seat of trouble,

but appears to have pursued the usually even tenor of her way, sending

her young men out in hundreds to fight the country’s battles, and

making very little fuss about it. The division took part in five

minor slacker raids, in which the men gave satisfactory account of

themselves, working closely in touch with the Department of Justice

and the Military Intelligence, especially in the matter of protection

of the large munition factories against sabotage. New Haven is one of

the great American centers for the making of firearms, and that there

has been no serious trouble there is a matter of congratulation. There

were 226 investigations made for the War Department, each investigation

necessitating interviews with at least three persons. The organization

at New Haven was quiet, even tempered, and strictly efficient, a fine

example in a state which was very strong in its A. P. L. organizations.

New London, Connecticut, besides routine activities, had one case

which involved the trailing of a count, a princess, a Russian

banker, a Greek candy manufacturer, and a prize-fighter, besides a

person described as a “male,” but who proved to be a young lady in

a well-known local family. With these ingredients as preliminary,

it might almost be sufficient to tell any reader to write his own

ticket—and indeed the case is not yet closed. It will probably turn

out to be one of American Bolshevism. The Chief says there is enough

in this for a good movie scenario. As much might be said for another

pro-German case in which the beautiful and accomplished suspect

was followed by D. J. men, who installed a dictograph in her hotel

apartments. This case also had to do with a draft of $14,000 traced

from Montreal to a New York bank, through which British Secret Service

men discovered a paymaster of German spies in this country. This woman

met several Army and Navy officers in the course of her travels along

three-fourths of the Atlantic Coast. It is most disappointing to have

the Chief add: “We are unable to disclose for publication any further

facts at this date.”

New London had a number of special investigations, some of them

interesting, others ludicrous. One of the latter was Case No. 245,

Subject “Mysterious Flashes.” A woman residing on the shore reported

mysterious flashlights, intermittent, but long continued. She was sure

of nothing less than a German invasion. An operative was put on the

case and worked five hours one night. He found a mysterious man walking

up and down the beach. He had an electric torch which he flashed here

and there, muttering to himself the while, and now and then putting

something in his pocket. Summoning all his nerve, the operative cried:

“Halt! Who goes there?” Inquiry proved that the man was in sailor garb.

When questioned as to the nature of his mysterious actions, he replied:

“I am catching nightcrawlers for fishing. I want to get some eels for

my breakfast.”

Mystic Village, Connecticut, furnished another scare of the same

variety. Near the village is a hill, known as Lantern Hill since

Colonial days, because it is a convenient signal post. Stories got

out about mysterious lights on Lantern Hill. On one clear night the

investigators saw what seemed to be unmistakable signalling. The light

was brilliant and changed in color from green to red. State and Naval

authorities resolved to look into the matter, and it was arranged that

on a given night patrols of naval reservists from the submarine base

and detachments of the Home Guard should surround the hill, while

forces of the Guard were to patrol the shores of the sound to catch

sight of any answering signals from the sea. The patrols were duly set,

and, sure enough, the light began to show as brilliant and mysterious

as could be asked. It seemed to swing at an altitude of about two

hundred feet above the woods. It occurred to one of the naval officers

on watch that with the aid of his powerful night glass and a convenient

perpendicular presented by the side of the barn, he might triangulate

the position of the light. He had not been at this very long when he

broke out into laughter and announced that what they had taken to be a

mysterious light was only a star rendered abnormally brilliant by the

refractive effect of the damp night air. Its later disappearances were

accounted for by the later rise in altitude, when of course the light

would cease to be distinguishable from others of like altitude. Taking

it all in all, this about finished the cases of the many mystic lights

which were reported from time to time.

Litchfield, Connecticut, up near the stern and rockbound coast, offers

a good example of sober-going loyalty. There were only fifty-one cases

of seditious talk and twenty of propaganda, whereas the selective

service regulation involved 734 cases.

Ansonia, Connecticut, was honored by the presence of a Russian Soviet

Society called the “Society Lunch,” which had regular meetings and was

organizing other societies in nearby towns. Sometimes this society

would get a speaker from the outside, such as the editor of the

_Russian Voice_, published in New York. The city of Ansonia did not

like these things, inasmuch as they tended to promote anarchy and

foster revolution. The division had one of its operatives among the

membership, he having joined the society for the purpose of reporting

on its activities. What the society did became henceforth a matter of

interest not only to its membership, but also to the local body of A.

P. L. vigilantes.

The Chief of Norwalk, Connecticut, worked in close touch with the

police of his city and was on the lookout for the various alien

enemies reported from headquarters. He says: “No alien enemy actually

apprehended in my district. The only way we can account for it is that

they were afraid to come here.”

Essex, Connecticut, says something which will meet general agreement:

“We firmly believe that the A. P. L. has done an inestimable work in

the protection of our country. Every man in this division is glad of

the opportunity afforded to be enrolled as an A. P. L. member.”

MASSACHUSETTS

Springfield, Mass., had only nineteen members in its division. That we

may know the nature of the League membership as a whole, let us look

at the qualifications of these nineteen men. They included a lawyer, a

physician, a broker, a private secretary, a social service worker, an

advertising manager, a college president, a bank president, a furniture

buyer, a merchant, a superintendent of the Bradstreet Company, a

traveling salesman, a life insurance agent, a masseur, a surgeon, a

musician, a shipping foreman, a bank teller and a high school teacher.

The work of the Springfield division had to do largely with character

and loyalty investigations, which ran all the way from nobody at all to

a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Some male and female applicants for

Y. M. C. A., K. of C. and Red Cross were found unfit “either because

of immoralities or bad habits.” Once in a while a case of disloyalty

and sedition came up which would cause a smile. An applicant for a

commission whose father was a Belgian and whose mother was a German was

investigated and was found to be a loyal American. When questioned, he

said he was for the United States of America, but that “father would

never forgive mother for the invasion of Belgium.”

A more spectacular Springfield case hung on a letter sent by the War

Department to the A. P. L. reading as follows: