§§184-186] GERMAN AGGRESSIONS 107 sel at San Francisco, has been summoned in this case as a material witness. 5. The present Grand Jury investigation of members of Labor's National Peace Conference, composed of David Lamar, Herman Shulteis, Henry B. Martin, Congressman Frank Buchanan of Illinois, and former Congressman Fowler of the same State, charged with violations of the neutrality laws of the country, for which $170,000 is alleged to have been supplied by the German Government. 6. While these are the most important of the results so far accomplished in the way of bringing hyphenated offenders to book, there have been innumerable cases of minor importance at New York, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Columbus, St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco and Seattle. More than 400 persons have been involved in cases of this sort, there being at the present time eightythree under indictment. Further to protect the neutrality of the United States, twelve British citizens were arrested at San Francisco and Seattle, charged with recruiting men for the British army for service in the European War." (Literary Digest, LII, 2, Jan. 1, 1916.) (c) [$186] On German Representatives in the United States. BY GEORG VON SKAL (December 15, 1919). My Dear Mr. Harden: As I chance to have a unique and absolutely safe opportunity, I must tell you something which I have had on my mind for a long while, but which I could not entrust to the post, as many of my letters have been taken en route. About a year ago I told you that you should not hold too high an opinion of Count B. (Bernstorff). I must now tell you that he has done splendid work here. In the most difficult situation he has shown tact, skill, and energy beyond anything that we expected from him. Any one who knows the type of people who are in power here cannot fail unreservedly to admit and admire his activities. He well deserves a kind word once in a way, particularly as there are still influences at work over there, on your side, who wish to decry his services. One of the foremost of these is widow. Speck von Sternburg. The fact that for a time B. could accomplish but little here was mainly due to the presence of your friend (?) B. D. (Bonehead Dernberg), who, I may remark in parenthesis, is very fond of speaking of "that Punchinello Harden." This man was regarded by the Americans, and even by many Germans, as the real Ambassador. His immense vanity, his desire to come to the front, his tactlessness, and the qualities which he himself, with a certain pride, described as "truthfulness and openness," did a very great deal of harm. At the same time he was accessible to every toady and flatterer, and no one with self-respect could possibly work with him. Accordingly he surrounded himself with a crowd of favorites, who for the most part were quite incapable and unreliable, and have spoiled many chances. He not only came into collision with, and disturbed, the Count's patient labors, but more than once destroyed their results. It was a most unhappy thought to send him here, and the consequences were highly disastrous. The people in Berlin seem still to believe that any one who has once been in America knows the country and the people, and understands how to handle them properly. Many mistakes would have been avoided if they had taken the advice of those who have long experience on this side. But !!!! any one who has ever been in government service, if only as consular interpreter or secretary, is always given the preference. At present, one naturally does not wish to stir up the dust; but later on I will tell you more about this-when I next visit Berlin, I hope. Whether the Count has qualifications for the post for which you once described him as destined is, however, a question which I would prefer not to answer yet. I still think that a man like Falkenhayn should be employed in the peace negotiations. He is extraordinarily capable and possesses genius, a thing which up to now I have been unable to discover in any of our diplomats. With kindest regards, &c., (Parliamentary Papers, Miscellaneous, No. 6; 1916.) SKAL. (d) [§187] Official Instructions to Destroy American Property and Lives (1914). BY HORST VON DER GOLTZ, ALIAS BRIDGEMAN TAYLOR. RELATIONS WITH GERMAN DIPLOMATS. The 3rd August, 1914, license was given to me by my commanding officer (Mexican army) to separate myself from the service of the brigade to which I was attached for the term of six months, said leave to be extended at my application. I left directly for El Paso, Texas, where I was told by Mr. Kuck, German Consul at Chihuahua, Mexico, who stayed there, to put myself at the disposition of Captain von Papen. I left there for Washington, D. C., the 18th August, and received there a letter informing me that Captain von Papen would like to meet me at New York in about ten-twelve days. I left, consequently, Washington, and went to stay for some days at Asbury Park (10th August), and arrived at New York after about five-six days (date of arrival to be found in the book of the Holland House). I then paid a visit to Dr. Kraske, vice-consul at the German General Consulate, and was told by him that he would inform me by letter when von Papen would see me, in order to enable me to avoid being seen too much at the consulate. Two to three days afterward I received a letter, written by Dr. Kraske on private paper, telling me that a gentleman who was interested in me wished to see me at the con §§186-187] OUTRAGES IN THE U. S. 109 sulate at a certain hour. The letter was written in this manner by agreements. 1 Attending to the request, I had at first some conversation with Captain von Papen about recent events in Mexico, and afterwards was asked to give my opinion about a proposal made to the German Embassy, the writer of which, a certain Schuhmacher, asked for financial support in order to carry out a scheme by which he wrote he would be able to make raids on towns situated on the coast of the Great Lakes. He proposed to use motorboats armed with machine guns. The proposal being rejected on account of the Embassy receiving unfavorable information about the writer, I was at first requested to give my assistance to a scheme of invasion intended to be put in execution by entering Canada with armed forces recruited from the reservists in the United States of America, and aided by German warships at that time in the Pacific. The scheme, which was proposed by Captain von Papen and Boy-Ed was abandoned, objections having been made by Count Bernstorff. I was told so by Captain von Papen. PLANS TO RAID CANADA. Then Captain von Papen asked me to see at my hotel two Irishmen, prominent members of Irish associations, who had both fought during the Irish rebellion, who had proposed to Captain von Papen to blow up the locks of the canals connecting the Great Lakes, the main railway junctions, and grain elevators. It was alleged that by those means, as well as by wholesale distribution of proclamations intended to terrify the populace, combined with rumors of invasion judiciously circulated in the press, a panic would be created in Canada, which would prevent the Dominion from giving any aid to England. I received the gentlemen at my hotel, the men bringing with them a letter of introduction written by Captain von Papen, and received, after having taken them to my room, further details about the matter, in addition to maps and diagrams showing the most vulnerable points of the different canals. These maps had been evidently cut out of books; and I returned them afterwards to one of the gentlemen, who said that he had to put the maps into the books again, he having made use of those books at the insurance office at which he was employed. I then had to get some men to help me to put the scheme into execution, but engaged, before I went to Baltimore, only one man, Charles Tucker, alias Tucsheimer, who had also some conversation with one of the men who proposed the scheme. RELATIONS WITH GERMAN CONSULS. Receiving a letter of introduction to Mr. Luederitz, consul at Baltimore, who was to aid me by his counsel, I went there, taking Tucker with me, and was received by Mr. Luederitz at the consulate in Baltimore. He evidently had been informed about the matter beforehand, for he addressed me as Major von der Goltz, although my letter of introduction was written in favor of Mr. Bridgeman H. Taylor. He showed very much interest, and, besides supplying me with a revolver, my own being out of order temporarily, suggested to furnish me with a passport to be obtained through the State Department, Washington, D. C., proving me to be B. H. Taylor, in order that I should be able to travel safely. He also proposed to me to make use of part of the crew and one officer of a G. ship at that time in the harbor, and furnished me with his visit card at the back of which he wrote recommending Major von der Goltz, or something to that effect, which I should give to the captain of the ship. While I was still conversing with Mr. Luederitz, the captain of the ship, was announced by a clerk, and Mr. Luederitz, telling the clerk to bring the gentleman in, introduced me to the captain personally. One of the clerks, a notary, made out an application to the State Department, Washington, D. C., for a passport purporting to be desired by a certain B. H. Taylor. All information given in this passport was fictitious. It was arranged that this passport was to be sent to Mr. Buck, New York, who was to deliver it to me. The following day, a Sunday, I paid, accompanied by Tucker, a visit to the ship, dined there and selected the men intended to be used in the enterprise personally. The men were acquainted with the duties demanded from them. I also listened for some time to wireless news received on board, read to me by the operator, the captain informing me that he had been forbidden by the harbor authorities to use his apparatus for sending purposes. The captain promised me to pay off the men selected at the consulate in a few days and to send them to New York under the supervision of an officer. Everything necessary having been agreed upon, I left for New York to report there to Captain von Papen. Arrived at New York, I selected three men recommended to me, acquainted them with the main object of the scheme, and agreed to pay them daily while in New York, their employment to cease when the object of our enterprise should have been achieved; in that case the men should also receive a bonus. Expecting the arrival of the sailors from Baltimore, I spent several days waiting, meanwhile meeting von Papen frequently at the German Club or at the Consulate. MONEY. As I needed money to furnish these sailors with necessaries, Captain von Papen gave me a cheque payable to Bridgeman Taylor, which cheque I had cashed through the agency of an acquaintance, Mr. Stallford, member of the German Club. The men arrived, were quartered in several hotels, but on my noticing that my movements were being watched, I sent them back to make the detectives think the enterprise abandoned. I told Captain von Papen that it would be more easy for him to supply me with materials, dynamite, and arms cheaply, on account of his connections, informing him that I could not get those materials except at a prohibitive price. Von Papen then informed me that Captain Tauscher, of Krupp's agency, had to furnish me with those things, and told me to see him at his office. (Parliamentary Papers, Miscellaneous, No. 13, 1916.) §§ 188-189] DISMISSAL OF GERMANS (e) [§188] Dismissal of Boy-Ed and Von Papen. 111 EXPULSION OF THE PLOTTERS. Department of State, Washington, Dec. 4, 1915. Excellency-Confirming my conversation with you on December 1, I have the honor to state that various facts and circumstances having come to the knowledge of the Government of the United States, as to connection of Captain Boy-Ed, Naval Attaché, and Captain von Papen, Military Attaché, of the Imperial German Embassy, with the illegal and questionable acts of certain persons within the United States, the President reached the conviction that the continued presence of these gentlemen as attachés of the Embassy would no longer serve the purpose of their mission, and would be unacceptable to this Government. The President, therefore, directed me to notify your Excellency, as I did orally, that Captain Boy-Ed and Captain von Papen are no longer acceptable to the Government of the United States as attachés of his Imperial Majesty's Embassy at Washington, and to request that your Excellency's Government withdraw them immediately from their official connection with the Imperial German Embassy. As I informed you at the time of our interview, the Government of the United States deeply regrets that this action has become necessary and believes that the Imperial Government will realize that this Government has, in view of all the circumstances, no alternative course consistent with the interests of the two Governments in their relations with each other. Accept, etc. ROBERT LANSING. RENEWED EXPULSION. Department of State, My Dear Mr. Ambassador: Washington, D. C., Dec. 10, 1915. On December 1, I informed Your Excellency that Captain Boy-Ed, the Naval Attaché of your Embassy, and Captain von Papen, the Military Attaché, were no longer personæ gratæ to my Government and requested that the Imperial Government immediately recall the two Attachés. As ten days have passed without the request of this Government being complied with and without communication from you on the subject, other than your personal letter of the 5th inst., which in no way affected the fact that the two Attachés were unacceptable or presented a ground for delay, I feel compelled to direct your attention to the expectation of this Government that its request would be immediately granted. I trust, my dear Ambassador, that you appreciate the situation and will urge upon your Government a prompt compliance with the request in order that this Government may not be com |