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MY ADVENTURES AS A GERMAN
SECRET SERVICE AGENT

CAPTAIN VON DER GOLTZ

Then Major in the Mexican Constitutionalist Army, from a photo taken at Juarez.
(On the left Lieutenant Leiva.)

MY ADVENTURES AS

A GERMAN SECRET
SERVICE AGENT

CAPT. HORST VON DER GOLTZ

.<»

Formerly Major in the Mexican Constitution-list Army, sometime

Confidential Aide to Captain von Papen, Recalled Military Attach^

to the Imperial German Embassy at Washington,

German Secret Service Agent

With Sixteen Plates

GASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD

London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne

1918

FOREWORD

I HAVE not striven to write an autobiography.
This book is merely a summary — a sort of
galloping summary — of the last ten years of
my existence. As such, I venture to write it
because my life has been bound up in enter-
prises in which the world is interested. It has
been my fortune to be a witness and sometimes
an actor in that drama of secret diplomacy which
has been going on for so long and which in
such a large way has been responsible for this
World War.

There are many scenes in that drama which
have no place in this book — many events with
which I am familiar that I have not touched
upon. My aim has been to describe only those
things with which I was personally concerned
and which I know to be true. For a full history
of the last ten years my readers must go else-
where; but it is my hope that these adventures
of mine will bring them to a better understand-
ing of the forces that have for so long been
undermining the peace of the world.

442986

Foreword

Inevitably there will be some who read this
book who will doubt the truth of many of the
statements in it. I cannot, unfortunately, prove
all that I tell here. Wherever possible I have
offered corroborative evidence of the truth of
my statements ; at other times I have tried to
indicate their credibility by citing well recognised
facts which have a direct bearing upon my con-
tentions. But for the rest, I can only hope that
this book will be accepted as a true record of
facts which by their very nature are insusceptible
of proof.

So far as my connection with the German
Government is concerned, I may refer the
curious to the British Parliamentary White
Papers, Miscellaneous, Nos. 6 and 13, wrhich con-
tain respectively my confession and a record of
the papers found in the possession of Captain
von Papen, former Military Attache to the Ger-
man Embassy at Washington, and seized by the
British authorities on January 2 and 8, 1916.
There are also, in addition to the documents
reproduced in this book, various court records of
the trial of Captain Hans Tauscher and others
in the spring of the same year. To German
activities in the United States, the newspapers
bear eloquent testimony. I have been concerned

Foreword

rather with the motives of the German Govern-
ment than with a statement of what has been
done. These motives, I believe, you will not
doubt.

But there is one point which I must ask my
readers not to overlook. I have told that I be-
came a secret agent through the discovery of a
certain letter which contained very serious re-
flections upon one of the most important person-
ages in the world. I have told, also, how the
possession of that letter had an important bear-
ing upon the course of my life — how it led me
to America, and how in the struggle for its pos-
session I very nearly lost my life. This, I know,
will be severely questioned by many. Before
rejecting this part of my story, I ask merely that
you consider the fate that overtook Koglmeier,
the saddler of El Paso, whose only crime was
that he had been partially in my confidence. I
ask you to recall that another German, Lesser,
who had been associated with me at the same
time, mysteriously disappeared in 1915, shortly
before von Papen left for Europe. No one has
been able to prove why these men were treated
as they were. And if I did not have in my pos-
session something which the German Government
regarded as highly important, why the surprising

Foreword

actions of that Government, actions none the
less astonishing because they are well known and
authenticated? Consider these things before you
doubt.

Finally, let me say that I have taken the
liberty of changing or omitting the names of
various people who are mentioned in these adven-
tures, merely because I have had no wish to
compromise them by disclosing their identity.

NEW YORK, July 8, 1917.

viii

CONTENTS

OHAPTEE PAGE

1. A MOMENTOUS DOCUMENT .... 1

I find an old letter containing a strange bit of scandal
— Its contents draw me into the service of the
Kaiser.

2. DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND . . . .17

I impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a Treaty — What
the Treaty contained and how Germany made use of
the knowledge.

3. A BOTANIST IN THE ARGONNE ... 39

Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed — I
look and talk indiscreetly, and a man dies.

4. " CHERCHEZ LA FEMME ! " . . . .55

I am sent to Geneva and learn of a plot — How there are
more ways of getting rid of a King than by blowing
him up with dynamite.

5. THE STRONG ARM SQUAD .... 80

Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the
United States for her own purposes — The Japanese-
Mexican Treaty and its share in the downfall of Diaz.

6. A HERO IN SPITE OF MYSELF . . .103

My letter again — I go to America and become a United
States soldier — Sent to Mexico and sentenced to
death there— I join Villa's army and gain an un-
deserved reputation.

7. ENTER CAPTAIN VON PAPEN . . .141

War — I re-enter the German service and am appointed
aide to Captain von Papen — The German conception
of neutrality and how to make use of it — The plot
against the Welland Canal.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

8. MY INTERVIEW WITH THE KAISER . . 162

I go to Germany on a false passport — Italy in the early
days of the war — I meet the Kaiser and talk to him
about Mexico and the United States.

9. MY ARREST AND CONFESSION . . .179

In England, and how I reached there — I am arrested and
imprisoned for fifteen months — What von Papen's
baggage contained — I make a sworn statement.

10. GERMANY'S HATE CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA . 200

The German intrigue against the United States — Von
Papen, Boy-Ed and von Rintelen, and the work they
j did — How the German-Americans were used and how
they were betrayed.

11. MISCHIEF IN MEXICO , . . . 224

More about the German intrigue against the United States —
German aims in Latin America — Japan and Germany
in Mexico — What happened in Cuba ?

12. THE COMPLETE SPY 251

* The last stand of German intrigue — Germany's spy system
in America — What is coming ?

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CAPTAIN VON DER GOLTZ . . . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

GROUP OF SOLDIERS OF THE MEXICAN CONSTITU-
TIONALIST ARMY ...... 32

TELEGRAM FROM GEN. VILLA TO CAPT. VON DER

GOLTZ 48

GROUP OF UNITED STATES RECRUITS IN VILLA'S

ARMY — RAUL MADERO AND HIS STAFF . . 64

REPORT OF KOGLMEIER'S MURDER FROM THE El Paso

Herald 80

GEN. VILLA AND COL. TRINIDAD RODRIGUEZ — GEN.

RAUL MADERO ...... 96

CAPT. VON DER GOLTZ'S COMMISSION AS MAJOR IN

THE MEXICAN CONSTITUTIONALIST ARMY . 112

Six MONTHS' LEAVE FROM GEN. RAUL MADERO TO
CAPT. VON DER GOLTZ — GEN. RAUL MADERO'S
LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION . . .128

DR. KRASKE'S LETTER TO " BARON " VON DER

GOLTZ 144

CAPT. VON PAPEN'S LETTER TO THE GERMAN CONSULS

AT BALTIMORE AND ST. PAUL . . . 160

BILLS FROM THE DU PONT DE NEMOURS POWDER
COMPANY FOR " MERCHANDISE " DELIVERED TO
" BRIDGEMAN TAYLOR " AND CHARGED TO
CAPT. TAUSCHER . . . . . .176

List of Illustrations

FACING PAGE

CAPT. TAUSCHER'S ORDER FOR " EXPLOSIVES " —
His ACCOUNT TO CAPT. VON PAPEN FOR " MER-
CHANDISE "....... 192

PASSPORT ON WHICH CAPT. VON DER GOLTZ WENT TO

GERMANY AND ENGLAND .... 208

SAFE-DEPOSIT RECEIPT FOR PAPERS WHICH CAPT.

VON DER GOLTZ LEFT IN ROTTERDAM . . 224

THE ORDER FOR THE DEPORTATION OF CAPT. VON

DER GOLTZ FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM . . 240

THE CHEQUE WHICH ALMOST COST CAPT. VON DER

GOLTZ HIS LIFE 256

MY ADVENTURES AS A GERMAN
SECRET SERVICE AGENT

CHAPTER I

A MOMENTOUS DOCUMENT

I find an old letter containing a strange bit of scandal,
and its contents draw me into the service of the Kaiser.

ON March 29, 1916, the steamer Finland was
warped into its Hudson River dock and I hur-
ried down the gangway. I was not alone.
Agents of the United States Department of
Justice had met me at Quarantine; and a man
from Scotland Yard was there also — a man who
had attended me sedulously since, barely two
weeks before, I had been released in rather un-
usual circumstances from Lewes prison in Eng-
land; the last of four English prisons in which
I had spent fifteen months in solitary confine-
ment waiting for the day of my execution.

My friend from Scotland Yard left me very
shortly ; soon afterwards I was testifying for the
United States Government against Capt. Hans

A Momentous Document

Taiischer,- husband of. Mine. Johanna Gadski, the
diva. Tauscher, American agent of the Krupps
and of the German Government, was charged
with complicity in a plot to blow up the Welland
Canal in Canada during the first month of the
Great War. During the course of the trial it
was shown that von Papen and others (including
myself) had entered into a conspiracy to violate
the neutrality of the United States. I had led
the expedition against the Welland Canal, and I
was telling everything I knew about it. Doubt-
less you remember the newspapers of the day.

You will remember how, at that time, the
magnitude of the German plot against the
neutrality of the United States became finally
apparent. You will remember how, in connec-
tion with my exposure, came the exposure of von
Igel, of Rintelen, of the German Consul-General
at San Francisco, Bopp, and many others.
With all these men I was familiar. In the
activities of some of them I was implicated. It
was I, as I have said, who planned the details
of the Welland Canal plot. I shall tell the true
story of these activities later.

But first let me tell the story of how I
came to be concerned in these plots — and to do
that I must go back over many years ; I must

A Momentous Document

tell how I first became a member of the Kaiser's
Secret Diplomatic Force (to give it a name) and
incidentally I shall describe for the first time the
real workings of that force.

I have been in and out of the Kaiser's web
for ten years. I have served him faithfully in
many capacities and in many places — all over
Europe, in Mexico, even in the United States.
I served the German Government as long as I
believed it to be representing the interests of my
countrymen. But from the moment that I be-
came convinced that the men who made up the '
Government — the Hohenzollerns, the Junkers
and the bureaucrats — were anxious merely to
preserve their own power, even at the expense of
.Germany itself, my attitude towards them changed.
That is why I write this book — and why I shall
tell what I know of the aims and ambitions of
these men — enemies of Germany as well as of the
rest of the world.

I was not a spy ; nor was I a secret service
agent. I was, rather, a secret diplomatic agent.
Let me add that there is a nice distinction be-
tween the three. A secret diplomatic agent is
a man who directs spies, who studies their reports,
who pieces together various bits of information,

A Momentous Document

and who, when he has the fabric complete, per-
sonally makes his report to the highest authority
or carries that particular plan to its desired con-
clusion. His work and his status are of various
sorts. Unlike the spy, he is a user, not a getter,
of information. He is a freelance, responsible
only to the Foreign Office; a plotter; an un-
official intermediaiy in many negotiations; and
frequently he differs from an accredited diplo-
matic representative only in that his activities
and his office are essentially secret. Obviously
men of this type must be highly trained and trust-
worthy; and their constant association with men
of authority makes it necessary that they, them-
selves, should be men of breeding and education.
But above all, they must possess the courage that
shrinks at no danger, and a devotion, a patriotism
that know no scruples.

This, then, was the calling into which I found
myself plunged, while still a boy, by one of the
strangest chances that ever befell me, whose life
has been full of strange happenings.

As I recall my adolescence I realise that I
was a normal boy, vigorous,^wilful, fond of sport,
of horses, dogs and guns, and I know that but
for the chance I speak of, I should have grown
up in the traditions of our family — Cadet School

A Momentous Document

—the University — later a lieutenancy in the
German Army — and to-day, perhaps, death
"somewhere in France."

And yet, in that boyhood that I am recall-
ing, I can remember that there were other
interests which were far greater than the games
that I loved, as did all lads of my age. Mental
adventure, the matching of wits against wits for
stakes of reputation and fortune, always exer-
cised an uncanny fascination over my mind.
That delight in intrigue was shown by the
books I read as a boy. In the library of my
father's house there were many novels, books of
poems, of biography, travel, philosophy and
history; but I passed them by unread. His few
volumes of Court gossip and so-called "secret
history " I seized with avidity. I used to bear
off the memoirs of Marechal Richelieu, the
Cardinal's nephew, and read them in my room
when the rest of the household was asleep.

I recall, too, that there was another tendency
already developed in me. I see it in my deal-
ings with other boys of that day. It was the
impulse to make other people my instruments,
not by direct command or appeal, but by leading
them to do, apparently for themselves, what I
needed of them.

A Momentous Document

Such was I, when my aunt, who had cared
for me since the death of my parents some years
before, fell ill and later died. I was disconso-
late for a time and wandered about through the
halls and chambers of the house, seeking amuse-
ment. And it was thus that one day I came
upon an old chest in the room that had been
hers. I remembered that chest. There were
letters in it — letters that had been written to her
by friends made in the old days when she was at
Court. Often she had read me passages from
them — bits of gossip about this or that personage
whom she had once known — occasionally, even,
mention of the Kaiser.

Doubtless, too, I thought, there were pas-
sages which she had not seen fit to read to me :
some more intimate bits of gossip about those
brilliant men and women in Berlin whom I then
knew only as names. With the eager curiosity
of a boy I sought the key, and in a moment
had unlocked the chest.

There they lay, those neat, faded bundles,
slightly yellow, addressed in a variety of hands.
Idly I selected a packet and glanced over the
envelopes it contained, lingering, in anticipation
of the revelations that might be in them. I

must have read a dozen letters before my eye

A Momentous Document

fell upon the envelope that so completely changed
my life.

It lay in a corner of the chest, as if hidden
from too curious eyes — a yellow square of paper,
distinguished from its fellows by the quality of
the stationery alone, and by its appearance of
greater age. But I knew, before I had read
fifty words of it, that I was holding in my
hands a document that was more explosive than
dynamite !

For this letter, written to my aunt years
before, by one of the most exalted personages
in all Germany, contained statements which, had
they been made by anyone else, would have been
treason to utter.

Those of you whose memories go back tc the
last twenty years of the nineteenth century, will
readily recall the notorious ill-feeling that existed
between Wilhelm II. and his mother, Victoria,
the Dowager Empress Friedrich. Stories have
so often been told of this enmity, culminating
in the virtual banishment from Berlin of the
Queen Mother, that I need not do more than
mention them. But what is not so generally
known is the small esteem in which Victoria was
held by the entire German people. During the
twenty years of her married life as the wife of the

A Momentous Document

then Crown Prince Friedrich, she was treated by
Berlin Society with the most thinly veiled hos-
tility. Even Bismarck made no attempt to
conceal his dislike for her, and accused her — to
quote his own words — of having " poisoned the
fountain of Hohenzollern blood at its source."

Victoria, for her part, although she seems to
have had no animosity towards the German
people, certainly possessed little love for her
eldest son, and did her best to delay his acces-
sion to the Imperial throne as long as she could.
When in 1888 Wilhelm I. was dying, she tried
her utmost to secure the succession to her hus-
band, who was then lying dangerously ill at San
Remo. " Cancer," the physicians pronounced
the trouble, and even the great German specialist,
Bergmann, agreed with their diagnosis. There
is a law that prevents anyone with an incurable
disease, such as cancer, from ascending the
Prussian throne; but Victoria knew too well the
attitude of her son, Wilhelm, towards herself,
not to wish to do everything in her power to
prevent him from becoming Emperor so long as
she could. In her extremity she appealed to her
mother, Queen Victoria of England, who sent
Sir Morell Mackenzie, the great English surgeon,

to San Remo to report on Friedrich 's condition.

A Momentous Document

Mackenzie opposed Bergmann and said the disease
was not cancer; and the physicians inserted a
silver tube in the patient's throat, and in due
course he became Emperor Friedrich III.

But in spite of Mackenzie and the silver tube,
Friedrich III. died after a reign of ninety-eight
days — and he died of cancer.

Now what was the reason for this hostility
between mother and son and between Empress
and subjects? There have been many answers
given — Victoria's love for England, her colossal
lack of tact, her impatient unconventionality.
Berlin whispered of a dinner in Holland years
before, when Victoria had entertained some Eng-
lish people she met there — people she had never
seen before — and had finished her repast by
smoking a cigar. That in the days when the
sight of a woman smoking horrified the German
soul! And Berlin hinted at worse unconvention-
alities than this.

As for the animosity of the Kaiser, this was
attributed to the fact that he held her respon-
sible for his withered left arm.

Plausible reasons, all of these, and possibly
true. But consider, if you will, the rumours that
followed Victoria all her life — the story of an
early attachment to the Count Seckendorf, her

A Momentous Document

husband's associate during the Seven Weeks'
War of 1866 — the reports, sometimes denied but
generally believed, of her marriage to the Count
not long before her death. True or not, these
stories — what does it matter?

But what to do with this letter to which I
attached so much importance? Something im-
pelled me not to speak of it to my family. But
who else was there?

In my perplexity I did an utterly foolish
thing. I put my whole confidence in a man's
word. There was, serving at a nearby fortress,
a Major-General von Dassel, who was in the habit
of coming to our house quite regularly. To him
I went, and under pledge of silence I told him
my story. Of course, he broke the pledge and
left immediately for Berlin. All doubts, if I had
any, as to the importance of the document,
vanished with him. And if I had any misgiv-
ings concerning my own importance they quickly
vanished, too. Back from Berlin, with Major-
General von Dassel came an agent of the Chan-
cellor. He did not come to our house ; instead
von Dassel sent for me to go to his headquarters
in the fortress. I met there a solemn frock-
coated personage who, so he said, had come down
from Berlin especially to see me. Imagine my

A Momentous Document

elation ! I was in my element ; what I had hoped
for had at last happened. The pages of Riche-
lieu and of my secret histories were coming true.
Another man and I were to lock our wits in a
fight to the finish — that pleasure I promised my-
self. He was a worthy opponent, an official, a
professional intriguer. As I looked into his
serious, bearded face, I built romances about
him.

The agent of the Chancellor wanted my docu-
ment and my pledge to keep silent about its
contents. Through sheer love of combat, I
refused him on both points. He tried persuasion
and reason. I was adamant. He tried cajolery.

"It is plain," he said, in a voice that wras
caressingly agreeable, " that you are an extremely
clever young man. I have never before met
your like — that is, at your age. A great career
will be possible to such a young man if only he
shows himself eager to serve his Government,
eager to meet the wishes of his Chancellor."

Of course, I was delighted with this flattery,
which I felt was entirely deserved. I began to
believe that I was a person of importance. I
became stubborn — which always has been one of
my best and worst traits. I saw that the gentle-
man in the frock-coat was becoming angry; his

A Momentous Document

serious eyes flashed. Apparently much against
his will, he tried threats; he suavely pointed out
that if I persisted in my resolve not to surrender
the document, destruction yawned at my feet.
The threats touched off the fuse of my romanti-
cism. I felt I was leading the life of intrigue of
which I had read.

" If you will wait here," I told him, " I shall
go home and get the document for you."

The Chancellor's representative stroked his
beard, deliberated a moment and seemed un-
certain.

"Oh, the Junge will come back all right,"
put in Major-General von Dassel. But the
boy did not come back. My family had always
been excessively liberal with money, and I had
enough in my own little "war chest" to buy a
railway ticket, and a considerable amount be-
sides. So I promptly ran off to Paris; and to
this day I don't know how long the gentleman
in the frock-coat waited for me in von DassePs
office.

The terrors and thrills and delight of that
panic-stricken flight still make me smile. No
peril I have since been through was half as ex-
citing. . . . Berlin ! . . . Koln ! . . . Brussels !
It was a keen race against arrest. I was

A Momentous Document

happily frightened, much as a colt is when it
shies at its own shadow. Although I was in long
trousers and looked years older than I was, I had
not sense enough to see the affair in its true light
— a foolish escapade which was quite certain to
have disagreeable consequences. And so I fled
from Berlin to Paris.

From Paris I fled too. There, any circum-
stance struck my fevered imagination as being
suspicious. After a day in the French capital, I
scurried south to Nice and from Nice to Monte
Carlo. Precocious youngster, indeed, for there I
had my first experience with that favoured figure
of the novelist, the woman secret agent! No
novelist, I venture to say, would ever have picked
her out of the Riviera crowd as being what she
was. She wore no air of mystery; and though
attractive enough in a quiet way, she was very
far from the siren type in looks or manners. The
friendliness that she, a woman of the mid-thirties,
showed a lonely boy was perfectly natural. I
should never have guessed her to be an agent of
the Wilhelmstrasse had she not chosen to let me
know it. Of course, the moment she spoke to
me of " my document," I knew she had made my
acquaintance with a purpose. If the dear old
frock-coated agent of the Chancellor had been

A Momentous Document

asleep, the telegraph wires from Berlin to Paris
and Nice and Monte Carlo had been quite
awake.

The proof that I was actually watched and
waited for thrilled me anew. It also alarmed me
when my friend explained how deeply my Govern-
ment was affronted. Soon the alarm outgrew
the thrill and in the end I quite broke down. Then
the woman in her, touched with pity, apparently
displaced the adventuress. We took counsel to-
gether and she showed me a way out.

" Your document," she .said, "has a Russian
as well as a German importance. Why not try
St. Petersburg since Berlin is hostile? For the
sake of what you bring, Russia might give shelter
and protection."

Remember, I was very young and she was all
kindness. Yes, she discovered for me the avenue
of escape and she set my foot upon it in the most
motherly way. And I unknowingly took my first
humble lesson in the great art of intrigue. For,
as I learned years afterwards, that woman was
not a German agent but a Russian !

But at that time I was all innocent gratitude
for her kindness. I was thankful enough to pro-
ceed to St. Petersburg by way of Italy, Constanti-
nople and Odessa. Of course, she must have

A Momentous Document

designated a man unknown to me to travel with
me, and make sure that I reached the Russian
capital. To my hotel in St. Petersburg, just as
the woman had predicted, came an officer of the
political police, who courteously asked me not to
leave the building for twenty-four hours. The
next day the man from the Okrana, or Secret
Police, came again. This time he had a droshky
waiting, with one of those bull-necked, blue
corduroy-robed, muscular Russian jehus on the
box. We were driven down the Nevsky Prospekt
to a palace. Here I soon found myself in the
presence of a man I did not then know as Count
Witte. He greeted me kindly, merely remarking
that he had heard I was in some difficulties, and
offering me aid and advice. My letter was not
referred to and the interview ended.

So began the process of drawing me out. A
fortnight later the matter of my information was
broached openly and the suggestion was made that
if I delivered it to the Russian Government, high
officials would be friendly and a career assured me
in Russia, as I grew up. But by that time
Germany had changed her attitude. Her agents
also reached me in St. Petersburg. From them
I received a new assurance of the importance of
the document. If I would release it — so the

A Momentous Document

German agent who came to my hotel told me—
and keep my tongue still, Berlin would pardon
my indiscretion and assure me a career at home.
Russia or Germany? My decision was quickly
made. That very night I was smuggled out of
St. Petersburg and whisked across the frontier at
Alexandrovna into Germany; and the letter
passed out of my hands — for the time being.

CHAPTER II

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND

I impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a Treaty — What
the Treaty contained and how Germany made use of
the knowledge.

GROSS LICHTERFELDE ! As I write, it all comes
back to me clearly, in spite of the full years that
have passed — this, my first home in Berlin. A
huge pile of buildings set in a suburb of the city,
grim and military in appearance ; and in fact, as
I soon discovered.

I was to become a cadet, it seems ; and where
in Germany could one receive better training than
in this same Gross Lichterf elde ?

At home I had had some small experience with
the exactions of the gymnasium ; but now I found
that this was so much child's play in comparison
with the life at Gross Lichterf elde. We were
drilled and dragooned from morning till night :
mathematics, history, the languages — they were
not taught us, they were literally pounded into
us. And the military training ! I am not un-
familiar with the curricula of Sandhurst, of St.

c 17

Diamond Cut Diamond

Cyr, even of West Point, but I honestly believe
that the training we had to undergo was fully
as arduous and as technical as at any of those
schools. And we were only boys.

Military strategy and tactics ; sanitation ; en-
gineering ; chemistry ; in fact, any and every
study that could conceivably be of use to the
future officers of the German Army ; to all of
these must we apply ourselves with the utmost
diligence. And woe to the student who shirked !

Then there was the endless drilling, that left
us with sore muscles and minds so worn with the
monotony of it that we turned even to our
studies with relief. And the supervision! Our
very play was regulated.

Can you wonder that we hated it and likened
the Cadet School to a prison? And can you
imagine how galling it was to me, who had come
to Berlin seeking romance and found drudgery?

But we learned. Oh, yes ! The war has shown
how well we learned.

There was one relief from the constant study
which was highly prized by all the cadets at Gross
Lichterfelde. It was the custom to select from
our school a number of youths to act as pages at
the Imperial Court; and lucky were the ones
who were detailed to this service. It meant a

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vacation, at the very least, to say nothing of a
change from the Spartan fare of the school.

I must have been a student for a full three
months before my turn came ; long enough, at
any rate, for me to receive the news of my selec-
tion with the utmost delight. But I had not been
on service at the Imperial Palace for more than
a few days when a State dinner was given in
honour of a guest at Court. He was a young
prince of a certain grand-ducal house, which by
blood was half Russian and half German. I
recall the appearance of myself and the other
pages, as we were dressed for the function.
Ordinarily we wore a simple undress cadet uni-
form, but that evening a striking costume was
provided : nothing less than a replica of the garb
of a mediaeval herald — tabard and all — for Wil-
helm II. has a flair for the feudal. From my
belt hung a capacious pouch, which, pages of
longer standing than I assured me, was the most
important part of my equipment; since by cus-
tom the ladies were expected to keep these
pouches comfortably filled with sweetmeats.
Candy for a cadet ! No wonder every boy wel-
comed his turn at page duty, and went back re-
luctantly to the asceticism of Gross Lichterfelde.

That was my first sight of an Imperial dinner.

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The great banquet hall that overlooks the square
on the Ufer was ablaze with lights. The guests —
the men in their uniforms even more than the
women — made a brilliant spectacle to the eyes of
a youngster from the provinces; but most bril-
liant of all was Wilhelm II., resplendent in the
full dress uniform of a field-marshal. I can
recall him as he sat there, lordly, arrogant, yet
friendly, but never seeming to forget the monarch
in the host. It seemed to me that he loved to
disconcert a guest with his remarks; it delighted
him to set the table laughing at someone else's
expense.

By chance, during the banquet, it fell to me
to render service to the young Emperor. Once,
as I moved behind his chair, a German Princess
exclaimed, " Oh, doesn't the page resemble his
Highness? '

The Kaiser looked at me sharply.

66 Yes , " he agreed , * 6 they might well be
twins." Then, impulsively lifting up his glass,
he flourished it towards the Russo-German prince
and drank to him.

That was all there was to the incident — then.
I returned to Gross Lichterfelde the next morn-
ing, and proceeded to think no more of the matter.
Nor did it come to my mind when a few weeks

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later, I was suddenly summoned to Berlin, and
driven, with one of my instructors, to a private
house in a street I did not know. (It was the
Wilhelmstrasse, and the residence stood next to
Number 75, the Foreign Office. It was the house
Berlin speaks of as Samuel Meyer's Bude — in
other words, the private offices of the Chancellor
and His Imperial Majesty.)

We entered a room, bare save for a desk or
two and a portrait of Wilhelm I., where my escort
surrendered me to an official, who silently sur-
veyed me, comparing his observations with a paper
he held, which apparently contained my personal
measurements. Later a photograph was taken
of me, and then I was bidden to wait. I waited
for several hours, it seemed to me, before a
second official appeared — a large, round-faced
man, soldierly despite his stoutness — who greeted
my escort politely and, taking a photograph from
his pocket, proceeded to scrutinise me carefully.
After a moment he turned to my escort.

66 Has he any identifying marks on his body? '
he asked.

My escort assured him that there was none.

" Good! " he exclaimed; and a moment later
we were driving back towards Gross Lichterfelde
— I quite at sea about the whole affair, but not

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daring to ask questions about it. Idle curiosity
was not encouraged among cadets.

I was not to remain in ignorance for long,
however. A few days later I was ordered to
pack my clothing, and with it was transferred to
a quiet hotel in the Dorotheenstrasse. The hotel
was not far from the War Academy, and there
I was placed under the charge of an exasper-
atingly exacting tutor, who strove to perfect
me on but three points. He insisted that my
French should be impeccable ; he made me study
the private and detailed history of a certain Rus-
sian house ; and he was most particular about the
way I walked and ate, about my knowledge of
Russian ceremonies and customs — in a word, about
my deportment in general.

The weeks passed. At last, by dint of much
hard work, I became sufficiently expert in my
studies to satisfy my tutor. I was taken back to
the house in the Wilhelmstrasse, where the round-
faced man again inspected me. He talked with
me at length in French, made me walk before
him and asked me innumerable questions about
the family history of the house I had been study-
ing. Finally he drew a photograph from his
pocket — the same, I fancy, which had figured in
our previous interview.

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"Do you recognise this face?" he inquired,
offering me the picture.

I started. It might have been my own like-
ness. But no ! That uniform was never mine.
Then in a moment I realised the truth and with
the realisation the whole mystery of the last few
weeks began to be clear to me. The photograph

was a portrait of the young Prince Z , my

double, whom I had served at the banquet.

"It is a very remarkable likeness," said the
round-faced man. " And it will be of good ser-
vice to the Fatherland."

He eyed me for a moment impressively before
continuing.

"You are to go to Russia," he told me.

' 4 Prince Z has been invited to visit his family

in St. Petersburg, and he has accepted the invi-
tation. But unfortunately Prince Z has dis-
covered that he cannot go. You will, therefore,
become the Prince — for the time being. You
will visit your family, note everything that is

said to you and report to your tutor, Herr ,

who will accompany you and give you further
instructions.

"This is^ an important mission," he added
solemnly, " but I have no doubt that you will
comport yourself satisfactorily. You have been

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taught everything that is necessary ; and you have
already shown yourself a young man of spirit and
some discretion. We rely upon both of these
qualities." He bowed in dismissal of us, but as
we turned to go he spoke again.

" Remember," he was saying, " from this day
you are no longer a cadet. You are a prince.
Act accordingly."

That was all. We were out of the door and
half way to our hotel before I realised to the full
the great adventure I had embarked upon. Em-
barked? Shanghaied would be the better term.
I had had no choice whatsoever in the matter.
I had not even uttered a word during the
interview.

At any rate, that night I left for Petrograd—
still St. Petersburg at that time — accompanied by
my tutor and two newly engaged valets, who did
not know tht .eal Prince. Of what was ahead I
had no idea, but as my tutor had no doubts of
the success of our mission, I wasted little time in
speculating upon the future.

.What the real prince's motive was in agreeing
to the masquerade, and where he spent his time
while I was in Russia, I have never been able to
discover. From what followed, I surmise that
he was strongly pro-German in his sympathies,

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but distrusted his ability to carry through the
task in Land.

In St. Petersburg I discovered that my
"relatives" — whom I had known to be very
exalted personages — were inclined to be more
than hospitable to this young kinsman whom they
had not seen for a long time. I found myself
petted and spoiled to a delightful degree ; indeed
I had a truly princely time. The only drawback
was that, as the constant admonitions of my
tutor reminded me, I could spend my princely,
wealth only; in such ways as my — shall I say,
prototype? — would have done. He, alas, was
apparently a graver youth than I.

So two weeks passed, while I was beginning
to wish that the masquerade would continue
indefinitely, when one day my tutor sent for
me.

" So," he said, " we have had play enough, is
it not so? Now we shall have work."

In a few words he explained the situation to
me. Russia, it seemed, was about to enter into
an agreement with England regarding spheres of
influence in Persia. Already a certain Baron

B (let me call him) was preparing to leave St.

Petersburg with instructions to find out in what
circumstances the British Government would

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enter into pourparlers on the subject. Berlin,
whose interests in the Near East would be menaced
by such an agreement, needed information — and
delay. I was to secure both. It was the old trick
of using a little instrument to clog the mechanism
of a great machine.

Let me explain here a feature of the drawing
up of international treaties and agreements
which, I think, is not generally understood. Most
of us who read in the newspapers that such and
such a treaty is being arranged between the repre-
sentatives of two countries, believe that the
terms are even then being decided upon. As a
matter of fact these terms have long since been
determined by other representatives of the two
countries concerned, and the present meeting is
merely for the formal and public ratification of
a treaty already secretly made. The usual stages
in the making of a treaty are three : First, an
unofficial inquiry by one Government into the
willingness or unwillingness of the other Govern-
ment to enter into a discussion of the question at
issue. This is usually done by a man who has
no official standing as a diplomat at the moment,
but whose relations with officials in the second
country have given him an influence there which
will stand his Government in good stead. After

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a willingness has been expressed by both sides to
enter into discussions, official pourparlers are
held in which the terms of the agreement are
discussed and decided upon. Finally, the treaty
is formally ratified by the Foreign Ministers or
special envoys of the countries involved. Secrecy
in the first two stages is necessitated by the fear
of meddling on the part of other Governments,
and also by a desire on the part of any country
making overtures to avoid a possible rebuff from
the other; and it explains why negotiations
which are publicly entered into never fail.

But to return to my adventures. My Govern-
ment had learned of the impending pourparlers
between Britain and Russia; it knew that Baron
B 's instructions would contain the condi-
tions which Russia considered desirable. What
was necessary was to secure these instructions.

Now, my tutor had, long before this, seen to
it that I should be on friendly terms with various
members of the Baron's household; and he had
been especially insistent that I should pay a
good deal of attention to the young daughter of
the house, whom I shall call Nevshka. I had
wondered at the time why he should do this ; but
I obeyed his instructions with alacrity. Nevshka

was charming.

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Soon I saw the purpose of this carefully
fostered friendship.

" The Baron will spend this evening at the
club," I was informed. " He will return, accord-
ing to his habit, promptly at twelve. You will
visit his house this evening, paying a call upon
Nevshka. You will contrive to set back the clock
so that his home-coming will be in the nature
of a surprise to her. The hour will be so late
that she, knowing her father's strictness, wrill
contrive to get you out of the house without his
seeing you. That is your opportunity! You
must slip from the salon into the rear hall — but
do not leave the house. And if, young man, with
such an opportunity, you cannot discover where
these papers are hidden and secure them, you are
unworthy of the trust that your Government has
placed in you."

I nodded my comprehension. In other words
I was to take advantage of Nevshka 's friendship
in order to steal from her father — I was to per-
form an act from which no gentleman could help
shrinking. And I was going to do it with no
more qualms of conscience than, in time of war,
I should have felt about stealing from an enemy
general the plan of an attack.

For countries are always at war — diplomat! c-

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ally. There is always a conflict between the
foreign ambitions of Governments ; always an
attempt on the part of each country to gain its
own ends by fair means or foul. Every man
engaged in diplomatic work knows this to be true.
And he will serve his Government without
scruple, for well he knows that some seemingly
dishonourable act of his may be the means of
averting that actual warfare which is only the
forlorn hope that Governments resort to when
diplomatic means of mastery have failed.

So I undertook my mission with no hesitation,
rather with a thrill of eagerness. I pretended to
be violently interested in Nevshka (no difficult
task, that) and time sped by so merrily that even
had I not turned back the hands of the clock, I
doubt whether the lateness of the hour would have
seriously concerned either of us. Oh, yes, my
tutor — who, as you of course have guessed by
now, was no mere tutor — had analysed the situa-
tion correctly.

As the Baron was heard at the door, I drew
out my watch.

"Nevshka, your clock is slow. It is already
midnight."

Nevshka started.

" Come ! " she exclaimed. " Father must not

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see you. He would be furious at your being here
at this hour." In a panic she glanced about the
salon. "Go out that way! ' And she pointed
to a door at the rear, one that opened on a dimly
lit hall.

I went. I heard the Baron express his surprise
that Nevshka was still awake. I heard her lie —
beautifully, I assure you. And I remained
hidden while the Baron worked in his library for
a while; scarcely daring to breathe until I heard
him go up the stairs to his bedroom.

He was a careless man, the Baron. Or perhaps
he had been reading Poe, and believed that the
most obvious place of concealment was the safest.
At any rate, there in a drawer of his desk, pro-
tected only by the most defenceless of locks, were
the papers — a neat statement of the terms upon
which Russia would discuss this Persian matter
with England.

I returned home with my prize, to find my
tutor awaiting me. He said no word of com-
mendation when I gave him the papers, but I
knew by his expression that he was well pleased
with my work. And I went to bed, delighted
with myself, and dreaming of the great things
that were to come.

Next day we left St. Petersburg. A German

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resident of the city had telephoned my relatives,
warning them that a few cases of cholera had
appeared. Would it not, he suggested (Oh, it
was mere kind thoughtfulness on his part !), be
best to let the young prince return to Germany
until the danger was over? His parents would
be worried. Indeed, it would be best, my "rela-
tives" agreed. So with regret they bade me
good-bye ; and in the most natural manner in the
world I returned to Berlin.

Wilhelmstrasse 76 again ! The round-faced
man again, but this time less military, less un-
bending, in his manner. I had done well, he told
me. My exploit had attracted the favourable
attention of a very exalted personage. If I could
hold my tongue — wrho knows what might be in
store for me?

That was the end of the matter, so far as I
was concerned. But in the history of European
politics it was only the beginning of the chapter.

It may be well, at this point, to recall the
political situation in Europe, as it affected Eng-
land, Russia and Germany at the time. Even
two years before — in 1905 — it had become evident
to all students of international affairs that the
next great conflict, whenever it should come,

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would be between England and Germany ; and
England, realising this, had already begun to
seek alliances which would stand between her
and German ambitions of world dominance. The
Entente with France had been the first step in
the formation of protective friendships; and
although this friendship had suffered a strain
during the Russo-Japanese War, because of the
opposing sympathies of the two countries, the
end of the war healed all differences. The de-
feat of Russia removed all immediate danger of
a Slav menace against India. To England, then,
the weakened condition of Russia offered an
excellent opportunity for an alliance that would
draw still more closely the " iron ring round
Germany." Immediately she took the first steps
towards this alliance.

Now, Russia stood badly in need of two
things. War-torn and threatened by revolution,
the Government could rehabilitate itself only by
a liberal amount of money. But where to get it?
France, her ally, and normally her banker, was
slow in this instance to lend — and it was only
through England's intervention that the Tsar
secured from a group of Paris and London
bankers the money with which to finance his
Government and stave off revolution.

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But more than money, Russia needed an ice-
free seaport to take the place of Port Arthur,
which she had lost; and for this there were only
two possible choices : Constantinople or a port on
the Persian Gulf. In either of these aims she
wras opposed by Britain, the traditional enemy
of a Russian Constantinople, on the one hand,
and the possessor of a considerable " sphere
of interest " in the Persian Gulf on the
other.

So matters stood, when in August, 1907, but
a few weeks after my masquerade, an Agreement
was signed, providing for the division of Persia
into three strips, the northern and southern of
which would be respectively Russian and British
zones of influence ; providing also, in a secret
clause, that Russia would give England military
aid in the event of a war between Germany and
England!

Meantime what was Germany doing?

She had, you may be sure, no intention of
allowing England to best her in the game of in-
trigue. Her interests in the Near East were
commercial rather than military; but she could
not see them threatened by an Anglo-Russian
occupation of Persia. Then, too, she was bound
to consider the possible effect on Turkey, in

D 33

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which she was taking an ever-increasing (and
none too altruistic) interest.

The details of what followed I can only sur-
mise. I know that in the interval between my trip
to Russia and the signing of that Agreement, on
August 31, the Kaiser held two conferences : one
on August 3, with the Tsar at Swinemiinde ; the
other on August 14, with Edward VII., at the
Castle of Wilhelmshohe. And when, on Sep-
tember 24, the terms were published, they were
bitterly attacked by a portion of the English
Press, not so much because of the danger to
Persia, as because of the fact that Russia got the
best of the bargain !*

Had the Kaiser succeeded in having these
terms changed? Who knows? Certainly one
can trace the hand of German diplomacy in the
events of the next seven years, most of which are
a matter of common knowledge. The steady
aggressions of Russia in Persia during the
troubled years of 1910-1912; the almost open
flouting of the terms of the treaty, which ex-
pressly guaranteed Persian integrity ; the con-
stant growth of German influence, culminating
in the Persian extension of the German-owned

* You will find an interesting account of the effect of this treaty
upon Persia in William Morgan Shuster's valuable book, "The
Strangling^ Persia."

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Bagdad Railway; the founding of a German
school and a hospital in Teheran, jointly sup-
ported by Germany and Persia; and finally, the
celebrated Potsdam Agreement of 1910, between
Russia and Germany, in which Germany agreed
to recognise Russia's claim to Northern Persia
as its sphere of influence, which provided for a
further rapprochement between the two countries
in the matter of railway construction and com-
mercial development generally, and which has
been generally supposed to contain a guarantee
that neither country would join "any combina-
tion of Powers that has any aggressive tendency
against the other."

And England did not protest, in spite of the
fact that the Potsdam Agreement absolutely
negatived her own treaty with Russia and made
it, in the language of one writer, " a farce and a
deception ! ' Why ? Was it because she believed
that when war came, as it inevitably must, Russia
would forget this new alliance in allegiance to the
old?

England was mistaken if she believed so.
Russia — Imperial Russia — was never so much the
friend of Germany as when, neglecting the war
on her own Western front, she sent her armies
into the Caucasus, persuaded the British to

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undertake the Dardanelles expedition, and, fol-
lowing her own plans of Asiatic expansion, be-
trayed England !

As I write Kut-el-Amara is creating a great
stir in the Allied countries. The Indian Govern-
ment has been severely blamed for sending General
Townshend into Mesopotamia with insufficient
material, medical supplies and troops. The official
explanation was that the force was employed in
order to protect the oil pipes supplying the British
Navy in those waters from being destroyed by
the enemy. There was no doubt in my mind at
the time, in spite of the fact that I was in prison
and communication with the outside was very
meagre, that this was not the real reason. Subse-
quent developments have shown — and the aban-
donment of the inquiry instituted by the British
Government about this affair only further sup-
ports my contention — that Russia intended to use
England's helpless position to secure for herself
an access to the Persian Gulf. The Grand Duke
Nicholas himself abandoned the campaign on the
Eastern front to go to the Caucasus. The Galli-
poli enterprise which turned out to be such a
monumental failure was undertaken upon his in-
stigation. Do you think for one second that if
Imperial Russia had thought England was able to

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capture Constantinople, a city which she herself
had been wanting for centuries, she would have
invited England to do so? The fact is that the
Gallipoli enterprise tied up all England's avail-
able reserves so that the English could practically
do nothing to forestall Russian movements to the
Persian Gulf. The Government of India, real-
ising the danger, sent General Townshend upon
the famous Bagdad campaign rather as a demon-
stration than as a military enterprise. I will quote
from my diary which I kept while in prison :

"Just read in the Times: 'British moving
north into Mesopotamia to protect oil pipes and
capture Bagdad.' I don't need to read Punch
any more, the Times being just as funny. My
dear friends, you didn't move up there for that
reason. You went up there so as to be able to
tell your Russian friends that there was no need
to come farther south as you were there already."

*4&j

That is the story of my little expedition into
Russia — and of what it brought about.

As for me, I was sent back to Gross Lichter-
felde, where I abruptly ceased to be a young
prince, and became once more a humble cadet.
But only to outside eyes. Dazzled by the success
of my first mission, I regarded myself as a Super-

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man among the cadets. Life loomed romantic-
ally before me. I told myself that I was to con-
sort with princes and beautiful noblewomen and
to spend money lavishly. The future seemed to
promise a career that was the merriest, maddest
for which a man could hope.

I laugh sometimes now when I think of the
dreams I had in those days. I was soon to learn
that the life which Fate had thrust upon me was
set with traps and pitfalls which might not easily
be escaped. I was to learn many lessons and to
know much suffering ; and I was to discover that
the finding of my " document " was only the be-
ginning of a chain of events that were to control
my whole life — and that its influence over my
career had not ended.

But at that time I was all hopes and rosy
dreams — of my future, of myself, occasionally of
Nevshka.

Nevshka! Is she still as charming as ever?

CHAPTER III

A BOTANIST IN THE ARGONNE

Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed — I
look and talk indiscreetly, and a man dies.

IN spite of my dreams and extreme self-satisfac-
tion, I found the atmosphere of Gross Lichter-
felde as drab and monotonous as ever it had been
before my masquerade. Discipline sits lightly
upon one who is accustomed to it solely, but to
me, fresh from a glorious fortnight of intrigue
and festivity, it was doubly galling. Yet there
was one avenue of escape open to me that was
denied my fellows, for I was required to pay a
weekly visit to my tutor in the Wilhelmstrasse,
there to continue my studies in the art of diplo-
matic intrigue.

It is a significant comment upon the life at
Gross Lichterfelde that I could regard these
visits as a kind of relaxation. Surely no drill-
master was ever so exacting as this tutor of mine.
And yet, despite his dryness and the complete
lack of cordiality in his manner, there was some-
where the gleam of romance about him. To me

A Botanist in the Argonne

he seemed, in a strangely inappropriate way, an
incarnation of one of those old masters of in-
trigue who had been my heroes in former days at
home; and my imagination distorted him into a
gigantic, shadowy being, mysterious, inflexible
and potentially sinister.

,We studied history together that autumn ; not
the dull record of facts that was forced upon us
at Gross Lichterfelde, but rather a history of
glorious national achievement, of ambitions
attained and enemies scattered — a history that had
the tone of prophecy. And I would sit there in
the soft autumn sunlight viewing the Fatherland
with new eyes; as a knight in shining armour,
beset by foes, but ever triumphing over 4hem
by virtue of his righteousness and strength
of arm.

Then I would return to Gross Lichterfelde and
its discipline.

Yet even at Gross Lichterfelde we contrived
to amuse ourselves, chiefly by violating regula-
tions. That is generally the result of walling any
person inside a set of rules ; his attention becomes
centred on getting outside. American cadets at
West Point, so I have been told, have their
traditional list of devilries, maintained with
admirable persistence in the face of severe penal-

A Botanist in the Argonne

ties. At Gross Lichterfelde one proved his man-
liness by breaking bounds at least once a week
to drink beer and flirt with maids none the less
divine because they were hopelessly plebeian.

In the prevailing lawlessness I bore my share,
and in the course of my escapades I formed an
offensive and defensive alliance with a cadet of
my own age against that common enemy of all
our kind, the Commandant of the school. Willi
von Heiden I will call my chum, because that
was not his name. We became close friends.
And through our friendship there came an event
which I shall remember to my last day. It gave
me a glimpse into the terrible pit of secret
diplorhacy.

Often at the present I find myself living it
over in my mind. If I have learned to take a
lighter view of life than most men, my attitude
dates from that time when a careless word of
mine, spoken in innocence, condemned a man to
death. I will try to tell very briefly how it
came about.

The Christmas after my excursion to St.
Petersburg I 'was invited by Willi von Heiden
to visit him at his home. His father was a squire-
ling of East Prussia, one of the Junkers. He
had an estate in that rolling farm land between

A Botanist in the Argonne

Goldap and Tilsit, which was the scene of count-
less adventures of Willi's boyhood.

Just before we left Gross Lichterfelde — yes,
even there they allow you a few days' vacation at
Christmas — Willi received a letter and came to
me with a joyous face.

" Good news!' he cried, "we are sure to
have a lively holiday. Brother Franz is getting a
few days' leave too."

I had heard much of Willi's older brother,
Franz. He was a young man in the middle
twenties, an officer of a famous fighting regiment
of foot, one of the Prussian Guards. Willi had
dilated upon him in his conversation with me.
Franz was his younger brother's hero. From all
accounts Franz von Heiden was possessed of a
mind of that rare sort which combines unremit-
ting industry with cleverness. His future as a
soldier seemed brilliant and assured.

"Where is Franz?" was Willi's first question
when we reached home.

I shall be long forgetting my first impressions
of the man. I had been looking for a dry, spec-
tacled student, or a stiff young autocrat of the
thoroughly Prussian type, which I, like many
other Germans, thoroughly disliked and inwardly
laughed at. Instead, I found another chum.

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Franz was an engaging young man of slight
build, but very vigorous and athletic. I found
him frank, friendly, unassuming, apparently
wholly care-free and full of quiet drollery. From
his first greeting any prejudice that I might have
formed from hearing my chum Willi chant his
excellences was quite wiped away. And as the
days passed I found myself drawn to seek Franz's
company constantly. I have no doubt it flat-
tered my vanity — always awake since my exploit
in St. Petersburg — to find this older man treat-
ing me as a mental equal. It seemed to me
that he differentiated between me and Willi,
who was quite young in manner as well as years.
At times the impulse was very strong in me to
confide in Franz, to let him know that I was not
a mere cadet, that I had been in Russia for my
Government. Luckily for myself I suppressed
that impulse — luckily for me, but very un-
luckily for Lieutenant Franz von Heiden, as it
turned out.

One sunny December morning we were all
three going out rabbit shooting. While Willi
counted out cartridges in the gun-room I went to
summon Franz from the bedroom he was using
as his study. It was characteristic of him that
without any assumption of importance he gave

A Botanist in the Argon ne

a few hours to work early every morning, even
while on leave. I found him intent upon some
large sheets of paper, but he pushed them
aside.

"Time to start now?" he asked. "Good!
Wait a minute, while I dress." He stepped into
the adjoining dressing-room.

And then, as if Fate had taken a hand in the
moment's activities, I did a thing which I have
never ceased to regret. Fate ! Why not? What
is the likelihood that by mere vague chance I, of
all the cadets of Gross Lichterfelde, should have
become Willi von Heiden's chum and shared his
holidays? That by mere chance I should have
been an inmate of his home when Franz was
there, three days out of the whole year? That
by mere chance I/with my precocious knowledge
and thirst for yet more knowledge, should have
entered his study when he was occupied with a
particular task? Why did I not send the servant
to call him? And why, instead of doing any one
of the dozen other things I might have done
while I was waiting for Franz to change his
clothes, should I have stepped across and looked
at the big sheets of paper on his table?

I did just that. I did it quite frankly and
without a thought of prying. I saw that the

A Botanist in the Argonne

sheets were small-scale maps. They were the
maps of a fort, and the names upon them were
written both in French and in German. The
thrill of a great discovery shot all through me.
It flashed upon me that I had heard Willi say
that during the previous summer Franz had spent
a long furlough in the Argonne section of France.
He had been fishing and botanising — so Willi
had said. Indeed, only the night before Franz
himself had told us stories of the sport there;
and all his family had accepted the stories at
their face value. So had I until that moment
when I stood beside his desk and saw the plans
of a French field fortress. Then I knew the truth.
Lieutenant Franz von Heiden was doing im-
portant work — so confidential that even his
family must be kept in ignorance about it — for
the Intelligence Department of the German
General Staff. Like me, he was entitled to the
gloriously shameful name of spy !

If I had obeyed my natural impulse to rush
into Franz's room and exchange fraternal greet-
ings with this new colleague of the secret service,
so romantically discovered, he might have saved
himself. Instead, something made me play the
innocent and be the innocent, too, as far as intent
was concerned.

A Botanist in the Argonne

When Franz returned, dressed for the shoot, I
was standing looking out of his window, and I
said nothing about my discovery.

We had our rabbit shoot that day. We
crowded all the fun and energy possible into it.
It was our last day together, and by sundown I
felt as close to Franz von Heiden as though he
were my own brother. A few days later Willi
and I went back to Gross Lichterfelde.

Shortly after I returned from my Christmas
leave my tutor sent for me. He even recognised
the amenities of the occasion enough to unbend a
little and greeted me with a trace of mechanical
friendliness.

" I trust you had a pleasant holiday," he said ;
"you told me, did you not, that you were to
spend it at the Baron von Heiden's? 9'

That touch of friendliness was the occasion of
my tragic error. I remember that I plunged into
a boisterous description of my vacation, of the
pleasant days in the country, of the shooting, of
Franz. As my tutor listened, with a tolerant air,
I told him what a splendid fellow Franz was,
how cleverly he talked and how diligently he
worked. And then, with a rash innocence for
which I have never forgiven myself, I told him
of what I had seen on that day of the rabbit

A Botanist in the Argonne

shooting — of the maps on the table. Franz was
one of us !

But my tutor was not interested. Abruptly
he interrupted my burst of gossip ; and soon after
that he plunged me into an exam, in spoken
French. My progress in that seemed his only
preoccupation.

A month later Willi von Heiden staggered into
my room. "Franz is dead! " he said.

The brilliant young lieutenant, Franz von
Heiden, had come to a sudden and shocking end.
He was shot dead in a duel. His opponent was
a brother officer, a Captain von Frentzen. The
" Court of Honour " of the regiment had approved
of the duel and it was reported that the affair was
carried out in accordance with the German code.

Later I learned the story. Captain von Frent-
zen was suddenly attached to the same regiment
as Franz. His transfer was a cause of great sur-
prise to the officers and of deep displeasure to
them, for the captain had a notorious reputation
as a duellist. Naturally the officers, Franz among
them, had ignored him, trying to force him out
of the regiment. Upon the night of a regimental
dance the situation came to a head.

In response to the gesture of a lady's fan
Franz crossed the ball-room hurriedly. He was

A Botanist in the Argonne

caught in a sudden swirl of dancers and accident-
ally stepped on Captain von Frentzen's foot. In
the presence of the whole company von Frentzen
dealt Franz a stinging slap in the face.

'Apparently," he sneered, "you compel me
to teach you manners ! '

Franz looked at him, amazed and furious.
There was nothing that he had done which waV
ranted von Frentzen's action. It was an outrage
— a deadly insult. There was but one thing to
do. A duel was arranged.

To understand more of this incident you must
understand the unyielding code of honour of the
German officer. Franz von Heiden's original
offence had been so very slight that even had he
refused to apologise to Frentzen the consequences
might not have been serious. But Frentzen's
blow given in public was quite a different matter.
It was a mortal affront. I heard that Franz's
captain had been in a rage about it.

6 ' My best lieutenant ! ' he had said to the
colonel. " An extremely valuable man. To be
made to fight a duel with that worthless butcher,
von Frentzen. Shameful ! God knows that laws
are sometimes utterly unreasonable judged by
many of our ideas, as officers are equally senseless.

I have racked my brain to find a way out of this

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A Botanist in the Argonne

difficulty, but it seems impossible. Can't you do
something to interfere? '

The colonel looked at him steadily. "Your
honest opinion; is von Heiden's honour affected
by Frentzen's action? ':

There was nothing Franz's captain could do
but reply "Yes."

The duel was held on the pistol practice
grounds of the garrison, a smooth, grassy place,
surrounded by high bushes; at the lower end
there was a shed built of strong boards, in which
tools and targets were stored. At daybreak
Franz von Heiden and his second dismounted at
the shed and fastened their horses by the bridle.
They stood side by side, looking down the road,
along which a carriage was coming. Contain
von Frentzen, his second, and the regimental sur-
geon got out. Sharp polite greetings were ex-
changed. On the faces of the seconds there was
a singular expression of uneasiness, but Frentzen
looked as though he were there for some guilty
purpose. The prescribed attempts at reconcilia-
tion failed. The surgeon measured off 'the dis-
tance. He was a long-legged man and made the
fifteen paces as lengthy as possible.

Just at this moment the sun came up fully.

Pistols were loaded and given to Franz and Trent-
is 49

A Botanist in the Argonne

zen. Fifteen paces apart the two men faced each
other. One of the seconds drew out his watch,
glanced at it and said, " I shall count; ready,
one ! then three seconds ; two ! — and again three
seconds ; then, stop ! Between one and stop the
gentlemen may fire."

He glanced round once more. The four
officers stood motionless in the level light of the
dawn. He began to count. Presently Franz von
Heiden was stretched out upon the ground, his blue
eyes staring up into the new day. He lay still. . . .

When I heard that story I ceased to be a boy.
My outlook on the future had been that of an
irresponsible gamester, undergoing initiation into
the gayest and most exciting sports. All at once
my eyes were hideously opened and I looked down
into the pit that the German secret service had
prepared for Franz von Heiden, and knew I
was the cause of it. It was terrible ! By leaving
that map where I could see it Franz von Heiden
had been guilty of an unforgivable breach of
trust. By his carelessness he had let someone
know that the Intelligence Department of the
General Staff had procured the plans of a French
fortress in the Argonne. Wherefore, according
to the iron law of that soulless war machine, Franz
von Heiden must die.

A Botanist in the Argonne

And this is the sinister way it works. Trace
it! I innocently betray him to my tutor, an
official of the Secret Diplomatic Service. A few
days later one of the deadliest pistol shots in the
German army is transferred to Franz's regiment.
A duel is forced upon him and he is shot down in
cold blood.

Not long after the news of the duel, my tutor
sent for me. "Is it not a curious coincidence,"
he began, his cold grey eyes boring into mine,
"that the last time you were here we spoke of
Lieutenant Franz von Heiden? The next time
you come to see me he is dead. I understand
that certain rumours are in circulation about the
way he died. Some of them may have already
come to your notice. I caution you to pay
no attention whatever to such silly statements.
Remember that a Court of Honour of an honour-
able regiment of the Prussian Guards has vouched
for the fact that Lieutenant von Heiden's quarrel
with Captain von Frentzen and the unfortunate
duel that followed were conducted in accordance
with the officers' code of the Imperial Army."

I hung my head, sick at heart; but he was
relentless.

" Remember also," he said in a pitiless voice,
"that men of intelligence never indulge in fruit-
Si

A Botanist in the Argonne

less gossip, even among themselves. I hope you
understand that — by now." He paused a moment,
as if he remembered something.

"For some time," he went on, in the most
casual way, " I have been aware that it will be
necessary for me to talk to you seriously. Now
is as good a time as any. You know that your
training for your future career has been put
largely in my hands. I am responsible for your
progress. The men who have made me respon-
sible require reports about your development.
They have not been wholly satisfied with what I
was able to tell them. Your intentions are good.
You show a certain amount of natural clever-
ness and adaptability, but you have also disap-
pointed them by being impulsive and indiscreet.

" Now," he said, " I ask you to pay the closest
attention to everything I shall say. Your atti-
tude must be changed if you are to go on and
some day be of service to your Government. You
must learn to treat your work as a deadly serious
business — not as a romantic adventure. We were
just speaking of von Heiden. I seem to remem-
ber vaguely that the last time you were here you
had some sort of a cock-and-bull story to tell me
of — what was it? — of seeing some secret maps of
French fortifications on the unfortunate young

A Botanist in the Argonne

man's table. I could hardly refrain from smiling
at the time. Such insanity ! You do not imagine
for a moment, do you, that if he had proved him-
self discreet enough to be entrusted with such
highly confidential things, he would have been so
imprudent as to betray that fact to a mere casual
friend of his little brother? I hope you see how
absurd such imaginings are."

I groaned mentally as he continued :
" Remember now," my tutor said icily,
" every man in our profession is a man who not
only knows very much, but may know too much,
unless he can be trusted to keep what he knows
to himself. There are three ways in which he can
fail to do that — by carelessness, by accident, and
by deliberate talking. Never talk — never be care-
less— never have accidents happen to you. Then
you will be safe, and in no other way can you be
so safe. Keep that in your mind ! You will find
it much more profitable and useful than remem-
bering what anybody has to say about Franz von
Heiden. It was a commonplace quarrel with
Captain von Frentzen which killed him. A Court
of Honour has said so."

That night at Gross Lichterfelde, after lights
were out, Willi von Heiden came creeping to my
bed. I was the only intimate friend he had

A Botanist in the Argonne

there, and he felt the need of talking with some-
one about the big brother who had been his hero.
Need I go into details of how his artless confi-
dence made me feel? But human beings are
exceedingly selfish and self-centred creatures.
I had a heartfelt sorrow for my chum and his
family in their tragic bereavement. And, blam-
ing myself as I did for it, I was abased completely.
Yet there was another feeling in me at least as
deeply rooted as these two emotions. It was
dread.

Dread was to follow me for many years. I
had learned the dangers of the dark secret world
in which I lived. Its rules of conduct and its
ruthless code had been revealed to me, not merely
by precept but by example. And with that
realisation all the thrill of romance and adventure
disappeared. For I knew that I, too, might at
any time be counted among the men who " knew
too much."

CHAPTER IV

"CHERCHEZ LA FEMME ! '

I am sent to Geneva and learn of a plot — How there are
more ways of getting rid of a King than by blowing
him up with dynamite.

IF at any time in this story of my life I have given
the impression that accident did not play a very
important part in the work of myself and other
secret agents, I have done so unintentionally.
" If " has been a big .word in the history of the
Lworld; and even in my small share of the events
of the last ten years, chance has oftentimes been an
abler ally than some of the best-laid of my plans.
If, for instance, I had not happened to be in Geneva
in the .winter of 1909-10 ; or if a certain official
of the Russian secret police — the Okrana — had
not met a well-deserved death at the hands of a
committee of " Reds " ; or if the German Foreign
Office had not been playing a pretty little game
of diplomacy in the south-western corner of
Europe — why, the world to-day would be poorer
by a King, and possibly richer by another com-
batant in the Great War.

"Cherchez la Femme!"

And if another King had not kept a diary
he might have kept his throne. And if both he
and a certain young diplomat, whose name I
think it best to forget, had not had a common
weakness for pretty faces, Germany would have
lost an opportunity to gain some information
that was more or less useful to her, a certain
actress would never have become famous, and this
book would have lost an amusing little comedy
of coincidences.

All of which sounds like romance and is —
merely the truth.

I had spent two uneventful years at Gross
Lichterfelde at the time the comedy began; two
years of study in .which I had acquired some
knowledge and a great weariness of routine, of
hard work unpunctuated by any element of ad-
venture. Of late it had almost seemed as if,
after all, it was planned that I should become
merely one of the vast army of officers that Gross
Lichterfelde and similar schools were yearly
turning out. For such a fate, as you can imagine,
I had little liking.

Consequently I was far from displeased when
one day I received a characteristically brief note
from my old tutor, asking me to call upon him.
Still more was I elated when, the next day, he

"Cherchez la Femme!"

informed me that I had had enough of books for
the time being, and that he thought a little
practical experience would be good for me. A
vacation, I might call it, if I wished — with a trifle
of detective work thrown in.

H'm! I was not so delighted with that pros-
pect, and when the details of the " vacation " were
explained to me, I was strongly tempted to say
"No" to the entire proposition. But one does
not say " No " to my old tutor. And so, in the
course of a .week, I found myself spending my
evenings in the Cafe de 1'Europe in Geneva,
bound on a quiet hunt for Russian revolutionists.

Russia, at this time, had not quite recovered
from the fright she received in 1905 and 1906,
when, as you will remember, popular discontent
with the Government had assumed very serious
proportions. "Bloody Sunday," and the riots
and strikes that followed it, .were far in the past
now, it is true, but they were still well remem-
bered. And although most of the known revolu-
tionary leaders had been disposed of in one way
or another, there were still a few of them, as well
as a large number of their followers, wandering
in odd corners of Europe. These it was thought
best to get rid of ; and Russian agents began
ferreting them out. And Germany — always less

"Cherchez la Femme!'

unfriendly to the Romanoffs than has appeared
on the surface — lent a helping hand.

So it happened that on a particular night in
December of 1909 I sat in the Cafe de PEurope,
bitterly detesting the .work I Had in hand, yet
inconsistently wishing that something .would turn
up. I had no idea at the moment what I
should do next. Chance rumour had led me to
Geneva, and I was largely depending upon
Chance for further developments.

They came. I had been sitting for an hour,
I suppose, sipping vermouth and lazily regard-
ing my neighbours, when the sound of a voice
came to my ears. It was the voice of a man
speaking French, w.ith the soft accent of the
Spaniard ; the tone loud and unsteady and full
of the boisterous emphasis of a man in his cups.
But it was the words he spoke that commanded
my attention.

" Our two comrades, " he .was saying, " will
soon arrive from the centre in Buenos Ayres."

"Yes," another voice assented — a harsher
voice, this, to whose owner French was obviously
also a foreign tongue. " In the spring, we hope."

The Spaniard laughed.

"An excellent business! So simple. Boom!

And our dear Alfonso "

"Cherchez la Femme!"

Some element of caution must have come over
him, for his voice sank so that I could no longer
hear his words. But I had heard enough to
make me assume a good deal.

Someone was to be assassinated! And that
someone? It was a guess, of course, but the
name and the accent of the speaker were more
than enough to lead me to believe that the pro-
posed victim must be King Alfonso of Spain.

I sat there, undecided for the moment. It
jvas really no affair of mine. I was on another
mission, and, after all, my theory was merely a
supposition. On the other hand, the situation
presented interesting possibilities — and, as I
happened to know, Alfonso's seemingly pro-
German leanings had made him an object of
friendly interest at that time to my Government.

I decided to look into the matter.

It had been difficult to keep from stealing a
glance at my talkative neighbours, but I restrained
myself. I must not turn around, and yet it was
vitally necessary to see their faces. All I could
do was to hope that they would leave before I
finished my vermouth ; for I had no mind to risk
my clearheadedness with more than the glass I
had already had.

They did leave shortly afterwards. As they

"Cherchez la Femme!"

passed my table I took care to study their faces,
and my intention to keep them in sight was im-
mensely strengthened. The Spaniard I did not
know, but his companion I recognised as a Russian
— and one of the very men I was after.

I had been in Geneva long enough to know
where I could get information when I needed it.
It was only a day or two, therefore, before I had
in my hands sufficient facts to justify me in
reporting the matter to my Government.

Alfonso was in England at the time and pre-
sumably safe ; for I had gathered that no attempt
would be made upon his life until he returned to
Spain. So I wrote to Berlin mentioning what I
had learned.

A telegram reached me next day. I was
ordered to Brussels to communicate my informa-
tion to the Spanish Minister there.

Mark that ! I was ordered to Brussels, although
there was a Spanish Minister in Switzerland.
But my Government knew that there were many,
factions in Spain, and it had strong reasons to
believe that the Spanish Minister to Belgium
.was absolutely loyal to Alfonso. And in a situa-
tion such as this, one takes as few risks as possible.

I followed my instructions. The Spanish
Minister thanked me. He was more than inter-
Go

"Cherchez la Femme!'

csted; and he begged me, since I had no other
direct orders, to do him the personal favour of
staying a few days longer in the Belgian capital.
I did so, of course, and a day or so later received
from my Government instructions to hold myself
at the Spaniard's disposal for the time being.

One night, at the Minister's request, I met
him and we discussed matters fully. He wished
me, he said, to undertake a more thorough investi-
gation of the plot. I was already involved in it,
and would be working less in the dark than another.
Besides, he hinted, he could not very well employ
an agent of his own Government. Who knew how
far the conspiracy extended?

I was not displeased to abandon my chase of
the Russian revolutionaries, for whom I felt some
sympathy. So, as a preliminary step, I went to
Paris, where, through the good offices of one Carlos
da Silva — a young Brazilian freethinker who was
there ostensibly as a student — I succeeded in gain-
ing admission into one of the fighting organisations
of Radicals there. They were not so communica-
tive as I could have wished, but by judicious pump-
ing I soon learned that there was an organised con-
spiracy against the life of Alfonso, and that the
details of the plot were in the hands of a committee
in Geneva.

"Cherchez la Femme!"

Geneva, then, was my objective point. But
what to do if I went there? I knew very well
that conspirators do not confide their plans to
strangers. And I dared not be too inquisitive.
Obviously the only course to follow .was to employ
an agent.

Now " Cherchez la femme " is as excellent a
principle to .work on when you are choosing an
accomplice, as it is jvhen you are seeking the
solution of a crime. I therefore proceeded to
seek a lady — and found her in the person of a
pretty little black-eyed " revolutionist, " who
called herself Mira Descartes, and with whom I
had already had some dealings.

It is here that accident crosses the trail again.
For if a certain official of the Okrana had not
been murdered in Moscow three years before, his
daughter would never have conceived an intense
hatred of all revolutionary movements and I
should have been without her invaluable assist-
ance in the adventure I am describing.

Mira Descartes ! She was the kind of woman
of whom people like to say that she would have
made a great actress. Actress? I do not know.
But she was an artist at dissembling. And she
had beauty that turned the heads of more than
the " Reds " upon whom she spied; and a genius

"Cherchez la Femme!"

for hatred : a cold hatred that cleared the brain
and enabled her to give even her body to
men she despised in order the better to betray
them.

I was fortunate in securing her aid, I told
myself ; and I did not hesitate to use her services.
(For in my profession, as must have been
apparent to you, scrupulousness must be re-
served for use " in one's private capacity as a
gentleman.")

So Mile. Descartes went to Geneva and, armed
with my previously acquired information and
her own charms, she contrived to get into the
good graces of the committee there, and sur-
prised me a week later by .writing to Paris that
she had already contracted a liaison with the
Spaniard whom I had overheard speaking that
night in the Cafe de PEurope.

Soon I had full information about the entire
plot. It was planned, I learned, to blow up
King Alfonso with a bomb upon the day of his
return to Madrid. The work was in the hands
of two South Americans who were then in
Geneva.

But far more important than this was the in-
formation which Mile. Descartes had obtained
that a high official of Spain — a member of the

"Cherchez la Femme!'

Cabinet — was cognizant of the plot and had kept
silent about it.

Why, I asked myself, should this official — a
man who surely had no sympathy with the aims
of the revolutionists — lend his aid to them in this
plot? The reason was not hard to discover.
Alfonso's position at the time was far from
secure. His Government was unpopular at home ;
and the pro-Teutonic leanings of many officials
had lost him the moral and political support of
the English Government and Press — facts of con-
siderable importance.

So it seemed possible that Alfonso's reign
might not be of long duration. And the new
Government? It might be Radical or Conserva-
tive; pro-English or pro-German. A man with
a career did \vell to keep on friendly terms with
all factions. Thus, I fancied, the Cabinet Minis-
ter must have reasoned. At any rate he said
nothing of the plot.

But I went to Brussels and reported all I
had learned— and did not forget to mention the
Cabinet Minister's rumoured share in the plot.

There my connection with the affair ceased.
But not long afterwards a little tragi-comedy
occurred which was a direct result of my activities.
Let me recall it to you.

RAUL MADERO AND HIS STAFF

Captain von der Goltz stands second from left. (See p. 139)

GROUP OF UNITED STATES RECRUITS IN VILLA'S ARMY

Captain von der Goltz at the extreme left. (See p. uS)

"Cherchez la Fernine!"

On the evening of May 24, 1910, those of the
people of Madrid who were in the neighbourhood
of the monument which had been raised in
memory of the victims of the attempted assassina-
tion of Alfonso, four years before, were horrified
by a tragedy which they witnessed.

There was a sudden commotion in the streets,
an explosion, and the confused sound of a crowd
in excitement.

What had happened? Rumour ran wild
throughout the crowd. The King was expected
home that day — he had been assassinated. There
had been an attempted revolution. Nobody knew
any details.

But the next day everybody knew. A bomb
had burst opposite the monument — a bomb that
had been intended for the King. One man had
been killed ; the man who carried the bomb. But
the King had not arrived in Madrid that day,
after all.

The police set to work upon the case and
presently identified the dead man as Jose Taso-
zelli, who recently arrived in Spain from Buenos
Ay res. It was not certain whether he had any
accomplices.

And while the police worked, the King — fol-
lowing a secret arrangement which had been

F 65

"Cherchez la Femme!"

made by the Spanish Minister at Brussels, and
of which not even the Cabinet had been informed
— arrived safely and quietly in Madrid ; a day
late, but alive.

What became of the Cabinet Minister? There
are no autocracies now, and not even a King may
prosecute without proof. So the Minister escaped
for the time being. But it is interesting to
remember that this same Minister was assassinated
not a great while afterwards.

Now there are more ways of getting rid of a
king than by blowing him up with dynamite.
Foreign Offices are none too squeamish in their
methods, but they do balk at assassination, even
if the proposed victim is a particularly objection-
able opponent of their plans. There is another
method which, if correctly followed, is every bit
as efficacious. Again I must refer you to that
excellent French maxim : " Cherchez la femme."

It would be difficult to estimate properly the
part that women have played in the game of
foreign politics. As spies they are invaluable :
for amorous men are always garrulous. But as
enslavers of Kings they are of even greater
service to men who are interested in effecting a

change of dynasty. Even the most loyal of sub-

"Cherchez la Femme!'

jects dislikes seeing his King made ridiculous;
and in countries where the line is not too strictly
drawn between the public exchequer and the
private resources of the monarch, a discontented
faction may see some connection between excessive
taxes and the jewels that a demi-mondaine wears.
Revolutions have occurred for less than that —
as every Foreign Office knows.

I am not insinuating that all royal scandals
are to be laid at the door of international politics.
I merely suggest that, given a king who is to be
made ridiculous in the eyes of his subjects, it is
a simple matter for an interested Government to
see that he is introduced to a lady who will pro-
duce the desired effect. But no diplomat will
admit this, of course. Not, that is, until after he
has "retired."

This brings me to the second act of my comedy.

If I ,were drawing a map of Europe — a diplo-
matic map — as it was in the years of 1908 to
1910, I should use only two colours. Germany
should be, let us say, black; England red. But
the black of Germany should extend over the
surfaces of Austria, Italy and Turkey; while
France and Russia should be crimson. The rest
of the Continent would be of various tints, rang-
ing from a discordant combination of red and

"Cherchez la Femme!"

black, through a pinkish grey, to an innocuous
and neutral white.

In the race to secure protective alliances
against the inevitable conflict, both Germany
and England were diligently attempting to colour
these indeterminate territories with their own
particular hue. Not least important among the
courted nations were Spain and Portugal. Both
were traditionally English in sympathy ; both had
shown unmistakable signs, at least so far as the
ruling classes were concerned, of transferring
their friendship to Germany. It was inevitable,
therefore, that these two countries should be the
scene of a diplomatic conflict which, if not apparent
to the outsider, was fought with the utmost bitter-
ness by both sides.

Somehow, by good fortune rather than any
other agency, Spain had managed to avoid a
positive alliance with either nation. Alfonso .was
inclined to be pro-German at that time; but an
adroit juggling of the factions in his kingdom
had prevented him from using his influence to
the advantage of Germany.

Portugal was in a different situation. Poorer
in resources than her neighbour, and hampered by
the necessity of keeping up a colonial empire

which in size was second only to England's, she

" Gherchez la Femme ! ':

had greater need of the protection of one of
the Powers. Traditionally — and rightly from a
standpoint of self-interest — that Power should
have been England. There were but three ob-
stacles to the continuance of the friendship that
had existed since the Peninsular War — King
Manoel, the Queen Mother and the Church.

Germany seemed all-powerful in the Peninsula
in 1908. Alfonso's friendship was secured, and
the boy king of Portugal was completely under
the thumb of a pro-German mother and a Church
which, as between Germany and England, dis-
liked Germany the less. England realised the
situation, and in approved diplomatic fashion set
about regaining her ascendancy.

But diplomacy failed. At the end of two
years Berlin was more strongly entrenched in
Portugal than ever ; and England knew that only
heroic measures could save her from a serious
diplomatic defeat.

Then Manoel did a foolish thing. He kept a
diary.

It was a commonplace diary, as you will re-
member if you read the parts of it which were
published some time after the revolution which
dethroned its author. But there were portions of
it — many of them never published — which ex-

"Cherchez la Femme!"

pressed beyond doubt Manoel's anti-English feel-
ing and his affection for Germany.

Somehow England obtained possession of the
diary. In October, 1910, Manoel fled to England,
where he hoped against hope that the Government
would live up to that provision of the treaty of
1908 which pledged England to aid the Portuguese
throne in the event of a revolution.

But England — remembering the diary — wisely
forgot its pledge. And a Republican Govern-
ment in Portugal looked with suspicion upon the
diplomatic advances of a nation which had been
too friendly towards the exiled king — and be-
came pro-English, as you know.

There ends my comedy. But there is an amus-
ing epilogue to the affair, which was not without
its importance to the Wilhelmstrasse, and in
which I had a small part. To tell it I must pass
over several months of work of one sort or
another, until I come to the following winter —
that of 1911.

I was on a real vacation this time and had
selected Nice as an excellent place in which to
spend a few idle but enlivening weeks. The
choice was not a highly original one, but as it
turned out, Chance seemed to have had a hand
in it, after all. Almost the first person I met

" Cherchez la Femme ! "

there was a man with whom I had been acquainted
for several years, and who was destined to have
his share in the events which followed.

People who have travelled in Europe much
can hardly have avoided seeing upon one occasion
or another a, famous riding troupe who called
themselves " the Bishops." They were five in
number — Old Bishop, his daughter and her hus-
band, a man named Merrill, and two others — and
their act, which was variously known as "An
Afternoon on the Bois de Boulogne," "An
Afternoon in the Tiergarten," etc. (according to
the city in which they played), was a feature
of many of the noted circuses of seven or eight
years ago. At this time they were helping to
pay their expenses in the winter by playing in a
small circus which was one of the current attrac-
tions of Nice.

I had bought horses from old Bishop in the
past and knew him for a man of unusual shrewd-
ness who, besides being the father of a charming
and beautiful daughter, was in himself excellent
company ; and I was consequently pleased to run
across him and his family at a time when all my
friends seemed to be in some other quarter of the
earth. We talked of horses together, and it was
suggested that I might care to inspect an Arab

" Gherchez la Femme ! "

mare, a recent acquisition, of which the old man
was immensely proud.

That evening I heard of the arrival in Nice of
a young British diplomat whom, I remembered,
I had once met at a hotel in Vienna. I called
upon him the following day — but I did so, not so
much to renew our old acquaintance, as because
that very morning I had received a rambling letter
from my chief commenting upon the imminent
arrival of the Englishman, and suggesting that I
might find him a pleasant companion during my
stay on the Riviera.

More work, in other words. My chief did not
waste time in encouraging purposeless friend-
ships. As I read the letter, it was a hint that
the Englishman had something which Berlin
wanted and I was to get it.

It was not difficult to recall myself to the
Under-Secretary. We became friendly, and pro-
ceeded to " do " Nice together; and in the course
of our excursions we became occasional visitors
at the villa of an Eastern Potentate.

The Potentate in question was an engaging
and eccentric old gentleman, who had been an
uncompromising opponent of the English during
his youth in India, and was now practically an

exile, spending most of his time in planning

"Cherchez la Femme!"

futile conspiracies against the British Govern-
ment, which he hated, and making friends with
Englishmen, against whom he had no animosity
whatever. He was especially well disposed to-
wards my diplomatic friend, and the two spent
many a riotous evening together over the chess
board, at which the Potentate was invariably
successful.

Meanwhile I made various plans and culti-
vated the acquaintance of the latter's secretary.
He was a Bengali, who might well have stepped
out of Kipling, so far as his manner went. In
character the resemblance was not so close. I
happened to know that he was paid a comfortable
amount yearly by the British Government, to
keep them informed of his master's movements;
and I also happened to know that the German
Government paid him a more comfortable amount
for the privilege of deciding just what the British
Government should learn. (I have often won-
dered whether he shared the proceeds with the
Potentate, and whether even he knew for whom
he was really working.) The secretary, I decided,
might be of use to me.

As it happened, it was the secretary who un-
wittingly suggested the method by which I finally
gained my object. It was he who commented

" Cherchez la Femme ! '!

upon the diplomat's intense interest in the
Potentate's seraglio, giving me a clue to the
character of the Englishman which was of dis-
tinct service. And it was he who suggested one
evening that the three of us — for the Potentate
was ill at the time — should attend a performance
of the circus in which my friends, the Bishops,
were playing.

You foresee the end, no doubt. The too sus-
ceptible diplomat was infatuated by Mile. Bishop's
beauty and skill. He wished to meet her, and
I, who obligingly confessed that I had had some
transactions with her father, undertook to secure
the lady's permission to present him to her.

I did secure it, of course, although not without
considerable opposition on the part of all three
of the family ; for circus people are very straight-
laced. However, by severely straining my purse
and my imagination, I convinced them that they
would be doing both a friendly and a profitable
act by participating in the little drama that I
had planned. Eventually they consented to aid
me in discomfiting the diplomat, whom I repre-
sented as having in his possession some legal
papers that really belonged to me, although I
could not prove my claim to them.

You will pardon me if I pass over the events

"Cherchez la Femme!"

of the next few days and plunge directly into a
scene which occurred one night, about a week
later, the very night, in fact, on which the Bishops
were to close their engagement with the little
circus in which they were playing. It was in the
sitting-room of the diplomat's suite at the hotel
that the scene took place; dinner a deux was in
progress — and the diplomat's guest was Mile.
Bishop, who had indiscreetly accepted the Eng-
lishman's invitation.

Came a knock at the door. Mademoiselle
grew pale.

"My husband! " she exclaimed.

Mademoiselle was right. It was her husband
who entered — very cold, very business-like, and
carrying a riding crop in his hand. He glanced
at the man and woman in the room.

" I suspected something of the sort," he said,
in a quiet voice. "You are indiscreet, Madame.
You do not conceal your infidelities with care."
He took a step towards her, but paused at an
exclamation from the Englishman.

"Do not fear, Monsieur" — elaborate irony
was in his voice as he addressed the diplomat — " I
shall not harm you. It is with this— lady — only
that I am concerned. She has, it appears, an in-
adequate conception of her wifely duty. I must,

'Cherchez la Femme!"

therefore, give her a lesson. " As he spoke he
tapped his boot suggestively with his riding
whip.

" My only regret," he continued politely, " is
that I must detain you as a witness of a painful
scene, and possibly cause a disturbance in your

room.'

Again he turned towards his wife, who had sat
watching him with a terrified face. Now as he
approached her she burst into tears, and ran to
where the Englishman stood.

" He is going to beat me," she sobbed. " Help
me, for Heaven's sake ! Stop him ! Give him—
give him anything ! '

But the Englishman did not need to be
coached.

"Look here! " he cried suddenly, interposing
between the husband and wife. "I'll give you
fifty pounds to get out of here quietly. Good
God, man, you can't do a thing like this, you
know ! It's horrible. And you have no cause. I
give you my word you have no cause."

He was a pitiable mixture of shame and appre-
hension as he spoke. But Merrill looked at him
calmly. He was quite unmoved and still polite
when he replied :

"The word of a gentleman, I suppose! No,

"Cherchez la Femme!"

Monsieur, it is useless to try to bribe me. It is
a great mistake, in fact. Almost" — he paused
for a moment, as if he found it difficult to con-
tinue— "almost it makes me angry."

He was silent for a space, but when he spoke
again it was as if in response to an idea that had
come to him.

"Yes," he continued, "it does make me
angry. Nevertheless, Monsieur, I shall accept
your suggestion. Madame and I will leave quietly,
and in return you shall give us — oh, not money —
but something that you value very much."

He turned to his wife.

" Madame, you will go to Monsieur's trunk,
which is open in the corner, and remove every
article so that I can see it."

The Englishman started. For a moment it
seemed as if he would attack Merrill, who was
the smaller man, but fear of the noise held him
back. Meanwhile, the woman was rifling the
trunk, holding up each object for her husband's
inspection. The latter stood at the door, his eyes
upon both of the others.

"We are not interested in Monsieur's cloth-
ing," he said calmly. "What else is there in the
trunk? Nothing? The desk then! Only some
papers? That is a pity. Let me have them,

" Cherchez la Femme ! '!

however — all of them. And you may give me
the portfolio that lies on the bureau."

As he took the packet the rider turned to the
diplomat, who stood as if paralysed in the corner
of the room.

" I do not know what is in these papers, Mon-
sieur, but I judge from your agitation that they
are valuable. I shall take them from you as a
warning — a warning to let married women alone
in future. Also I warn you not to try to bribe
a man whom you have injured. You have made
me very angry to-night by doing so.

"Above all," he added, "I warn you not to
complain to the police about this matter. This is
not a pretty story to tell about a man in your
position — and I am prepared to tell it. Good
night, Monsieur ! '

He did not wait to hear the Englishman's
reply.

That night, while the two younger members
of the Bishop family sped away by train — to what
place I do not know — and old Bishop expressed
great mystification over their disappearance, I
made a little bonfire in my grate of papers which
had once been the property of the diplomat, and
which I knew would be of no interest to my

"Cherchez la Femme!"

Government. There were a few papers which I
did not burn — a memorandum or two, and a bulky
typewritten copy of ManoePs diary, which I found
amusing reading before I took it to Berlin.

I called upon my English friend the next day,
but I did not see him. He had fallen ill and
been obliged to leave Nice immediately. No; it
was impossible to say what the ailment was.

"Ah, well," I thought, as I returned to my
room, " he will get over it."

It was an embarrassing loss, but not a fatal
one ; and doubtless he could explain it satisfactorily
at home.

I was sorry for him, I confess. But more than
once that day I laughed as I thought of the scene
of last night, as Mile. Bishop had described it to
me. An old game — but it had worked so easily.

But then, wasn't it Solomon who complained
about the lack of original material on this globe?

The diary? I took it to Berlin, as I have said,
where it was a matter of considerable interest.
Subsequently it was published, after discreet
editing.

But at that time I was engaged upon a matter
of considerably more importance.

CHAPTER V

THE STRONG ARM SQUAD

Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the United
States for her own purposes — The Japanese-Mexican
Treaty and its share in the downfall of Diaz.

IT was in Paris that my next adventure occurred.
I had gone there following one of those agree-
ably indefinite conversations with my tutor which
always preceded some especial undertaking.
"Why not take a rest for a few weeks? ': he
would say. "You have not seen Paris for some
time. You would enjoy visiting the city again —
don't you think so?': And I would obligingly
agree with him — and in due course would receive
whatever instructions were necessary.

It may seem that such methods are needlessly
cumbersome and a little too romantic to be real ;
but, in fact, there is an excellent reason for them.
Work such as mine is governed too greatly by
emergencies to admit of definite planning before-
hand. A contingency is foreseen — faintly, and
as a possibility only — and it is thought advisable
to have a man on the scene. But until that con-
So

Fighting For His Life;

Koglmeier Is Murdered

Harnessmaker Is Found Dying in His Shop, With Many
Evidences of a Desperate Struggle; Had Been Beat-

en Over the Head With Some Blunt Instru-
ment; Robbery Th eory Is Abandoned.

FTER apparently struggling
desperately, with hts assail-
ants, E. E. Kogjmeier, aged
52 years. volunteer fireman and
pioneer El Pasoan, was murdered
in his place of business, 319 South Santa
5?e street, some time between the hours
of 7:30 and 9 oclock Saturday night.
Five jagged cuts and holes, some of
them being located in the" back of the
head, and four wounds of a similar na-
ture inflicted .en the face, resulted in
his death. Life was- all but extinct
when Mr. Koglmeier was found lying
in a pool of blood TLTrxJtit --tire, center of
the room of his harness and saddlery
shop. He was., in ms shirt sleeves
Robbery is not believed to have been
the motive for the crime.

William Gieseler, a merchants' po-
liceman, '-was- the first' one to discover
Mr. Koglmeier. He had passed the shop
on his first rounttrafe? oclock Saturday
night when it is said that he spoke, tc
Mr. Koglmeier. Returning to the sn
on his second round at 9:15 ocJ
Gieseler saw the door of the
open. Gieseler walked in. He
presentiment that somethir
wrong. -The glare from th
flashlight disclosed the r '
Koglmeier. He
it i
minut

removed to a local undertaking estab-
lishment.

Evidences of a Struggle.

Despite the fact that the, first blow
evidently had been delivered when his
back was turned to his. murderers, Mr.
Koglmeier must have struggled before
he was beaten down for the last time;
Trails of blood ran from almost every
section of the room, showing that the
struggle had been long before the vic-
tim was finally compelled to succumb
from the blows dealt him «with either
a dull hatchqt or some iron instrument.
Theory of the Crime.

The belief is that two men called at
the harness shop a little after 7 oclo^Js.
They had gone there under the pr
of making a purchase. Bridle-
ness and collars hang suspend
the ceiling of the place,
murderers had evident
horse collar a? .the

REPORT OF KOGLMEIER'S MURDER FROM THE
EL PASO HERALD FOR DECEMBER 22nd, 1913.

(See p. 131)

The Strong Arm Squad

tingency develops into an assured fact, it would
be the sheerest waste of energy to give an agent
definite instructions which might have to be
changed at any moment.

So I had become accustomed to receive my in-
structions in hints and stingy morsels, under-
standing perfectly that it was part of my task
to discover for myself the exact details of the
situation which confronted my Government. If
I were not sufficiently astute to perceive for my-
self many things which my superiors would never
tell me — well, I was in the wrong profession, and
the sooner I discovered it the better.

I went to Paris in just that way and put up
at the Grand Hotel. So far as I knew I was on
genuine leave of absence from all duties and I
proceeded to amuse myself. Though under no
obligations to report to anyone, I did occasion-
ally drop around to the Quai d'Orsay — where
most of the embassies and consulates are — to chat
with men I knew. One day it was suggested to
me at the German Embassy that I should lunch
alone the next day at a certain table in the Cafe
Americaine.

" I would suggest," said one of the secre-
taries, "that you should wear the black derby

you have on. It is quite becoming" — this with
G 81

The Strong Arm Squad

an expressionless face. " I would suggest also
that you should hang it on the wall behind your
table, not checking it. Take note of the precise
hook upon which you hang it. It may be that
there will be a man at the next table who also
will be wearing a black derby hat, which he will
hang on the hook next to yours. When you go
out be careful to take down his hat instead of
your own."

I asked no questions. I knew better. Old and
well known as it is, the " hat trick " is perennially
useful. Its very simplicity makes it difficult of
detection. It is still the best means of publicly
exchanging documents between persons who
must not be seen to have any connection with
each other.

I went to the Cafe Americaine, that cosmo-
politan place on the Boulevard des Italiens near
the Opera. My man had not yet come, I noticed,
and I took my time about ordering luncheon,
drank a "bock" and watched the crowd. Near
by was a party of Roumanians, offensively
boisterous, I thought. An American was lunch-
ing with a dancer then prominent at the Folies.
Two Englishmen — obviously officers on leave-
chatted at another table, and in a corner, a group

of French merchants heatedly discussed some

The Strong Arm Squad

business deal. The usual scene — almost common-
place in its variety.

Slowly I finished luncheon, and when I turned
to get my hat, I saw, as I expected, that there
was another black derby beside it. I took the
stranger's derby, and when I reached my room
in the Grand Hotel I lifted up the sweat band.
There on thin paper were instructions that took
my breath away. For the time being I was to
be in charge of the "Independent Service" of
the German Government in Paris — that is, the
Strong Arm Squad.

This so-called "Independent Service" is an
interesting organisation of cut-throats and thieves
whose connection with diplomatic undertakings
is of a distinctly left-handed sort, and is, inci-
dentally, totally unsuspected by the members of
the organisation themselves. Composed of the
riff-raff of Europe — of men and women who will
do anything for a consideration and ask no ques-
tions— it is frequently useful when subtler methods
have failed and when by violence only can some
particular thing be accomplished. As an organ-
isation the ' ' Independent Service ' : does not
actually exist : the name is merely a generic one
applied for convenience to the large number of
people in all great cities who are available for such

The Strong Arm Squad

work, and who, if they fail and are arrested or
killed, can be spared without risk or sorrow.

Naturally in illegal operations the trail must
not lead to the Embassy ; and for that reason all
transactions with members of the " Service" are
carried on through a person who has no known
connection with the Government. To his accom-
plices the Government agent is merely a man
who has come to them with a profitable sugges-
tion. They do not question his motives if his
cash be good.

My connection with this delightful organisa-
tion necessitated a change of personality. I went
round to the Quai d'Orsay and paid a few fare-
well calls to my friends there. I was going home,
I said; and that afternoon the Grand Hotel lost
one guest and ' * Le Lap in Agile ' ' on the hill
of Montmartre gained a new one. Acting under
instructions I had become a social outcast myself.

The place where I had been told to stay had
been a tavern for centuries. Once it was called
the " Cabaret of the Assassins," then the
" Cabaret of the Traitor," then " My Country
Place," and now, after fifty years, it was "The
Sprightly Rabbit." Andre Gill had painted the
sign of the tavern, a rabbit, which hung in the
street above the entrance. After I had taken

The Strong Arm Squad

my room — being careful to haggle long about
the price, and finally securing a reduction of
fifty centimes — for one does well to appear poor
at " Le Lapin Agile " — I came down into the
cabaret. It was crowded and the air was thick
and warm with tobacco smoke. Disreputable
couples were sitting around little wooden tables,
drinking wretched wine from unlabelled bottles;
an occasional shout arose for "tomatoes," a
speciality of Frederic, the proprietor, which was,
in reality, a vile brew of absinthe and raspberry
syrup. There was much shouting, and once or
twice one of the company burst into song.

" Tomatoes," I told the waiter who came for
my order. As he went I slipped a franc into his
hand. "I want to see the Salmon. Is he in? '

He nodded.

A moment later a man stood before me. I
saw a short, rather thick-set fellow, awkward but
wiry, whose face bore somewhere the mark of a
forgotten Irish ancestor. He was red-haired. I
did not need his words to tell me who he was.

64 1 am the Salmon," he said. "What do you
want? "

I studied him carefully before replying,
appraising him as if he were a horse I contem-
plated buying. It was not tactful or altogether

The Strong Arm Squad

safe, as the Salmon's expression plainly showed;
but I wished to be sure of my man. After a
moment :

"Sit down, my friend. I have a business
proposition to make. M. Morel sent me to you."

He smiled at the name. The fictitious M.
Morel had put him in the way of several excel-
lent " business propositions."

" It is a pleasure," responded the Salmon.
"What does Monsieur wish?':

I told him.

In order to make you understand my business
it is necessary that I should pause here, aban-
doning the Salmon for the moment, and recall to
your memory a few facts about the political situa-
tion as it existed in this month of February,
1911. Europe at the time was lulled — to out-
ward seeming. As everybody knows now, the
forces that later brought about the War were
then merrily at work, as indeed they had been
for many years. But outwardly, save for the
ever-impending certainty of trouble in the Bal-
kans, the world of Europe was at peace.

But in America a storm was brewing. Mexico,
which for so many years had been held at peace
under the iron dictatorship of Diaz, was begin-

The Strong Arm Squad

ning to develop symptoms of organised discon-
tent. Madero had taken the field, and although
no one at the time believed in the ultimate suc-
cess of the rebellion, it was evident that many
changes might take place in the country, which
would seriously affect the interests of thousands
of European investors in Mexican enterprises.
Consequently Europe was interested.

I do not purpose here to go into the events of
those last days of Diaz's rule. That story has
already been told many times and from various
angles. I am merely interested in the European
aspects of the matter, and particularly in the
attitude of Germany.

Europe was interested, as I have said. Diaz
was growing old and could certainly not last
much longer. Then change must come. Was
the Golden Age of the foreign investor, which
had so long continued in Mexico, to continue
still longer? Or would it end with the death of
the Dictator?

To these questions, wilich were having their
due share of attention in the chancelleries as well
as in the commercial houses of Europe, came
another, less apparent but more troublesome and
more insistent than any of these. Japan, it was
rumoured, although very faintly, was seeking to

The Strong Arm Squad

add to its considerable interest in Mexico by
securing a strip of territory on the western coast
of that country — an attempt which, if successful,
would almost certainly bring about intervention
by the United States.

My Government was especially interested in
this movement on the part of Japan. It knew
considerably more about the plan than any save
the principals, for, as I happened to learn later,
it had carefully encouraged the whole idea — for
its own purposes. And it knew that at that
very time the Financial Minister of Mexico, Jose
Yves Limantour, was conducting preliminary
negotiations in Paris with representatives of
Japan, regarding the terms of a possible treaty.
It knew that even then a protocol of this treaty
was being drawn up.

There was only one thing that my Government
wanted — a copy of the protocol. It was that
which I had been instructed to get!

The personality of Limantour is one of the
most interesting of our day. Brilliant, incor-
ruptible, unquestionably the most able Mexican
of his generation, he had for seventeen years been
closely associated with the Dictator, and for a
considerable portion of that period had been
second only to Diaz in actual power. His presence

The Strong Arm Squad

in Paris at this time was significant. He had
left Mexico on the llth of July, 1910, ostensibly
because of the poor health of his wife, although
it had been reported that a serious break had
taken place between himself and Diaz. He had
spent a certain time in Switzerland, and had
later come to Paris to arrange a loan of more
than $100,000,000 with a group of English,
French and German bankers. But this task had
been completed in the early part of December,
and in view of the unsettled conditions in Mexico
there was no good reason for his continuing in
Paris, save one — the negotiations with Japan.

It was this man against whom I was to fight
—this man who had proved himself more than a
match for some of the best brains of both hemi-
spheres. The prospect was not reassuring. I
knew that already several attempts had been
made by our agents to secure the protocol, with
the result that Limantour was sure to be more
on his guard than he ordinarily would have been.
Yet I must succeed — and it was plain that I could
do so only by violence.

Violence it should be, then ; and with the
assistance of my friend the Salmon — to whom,
you may be sure, I did not confide my real
object — I prepared a plan of campaign, which we

The Strong Arm Squad

duly presented to a group of the Salmon's friends,
who had been selected to assist us. To these
men — Apaches, every one of them — I was pre-
sented as a decayed gentleman who for reasons
of his own had found it necessary to join the
forces of the Salmon. I was a good fellow, the
Salmon assured them, and by way of proving my
friendship I had shared with him my knowledge
of a good "prospect" I had discovered.

"The man," I said, "always carries lots of
money and jewellery." Of course, I did not tell
them his name was Limantour. I said he always
played cards late at his club. ' To stick him
up," I said, "will be the simplest thing in the
world, but we must be careful not to hurt him
badly — not enough to set the police hot on our
trail."

The Apaches fell in with the proposal enthu-
siastically. We would attempt it the following
night.

Now the instructions which came to me under
the sweat band of the black derby in the Cafe
Americaine informed me that every night quite
late Limantour received at his club a copy of
the report of the day's conference with the
Japanese envoy. It was prepared and delivered
to Limantour by his secretary and it was his

The Strong Arm Squad

habit to study it, upon returning home, and plan
out his line of attack for the negotiations of the
following day. I concluded that Limantour
therefore would have it (the report) on his per-
son when he left the club.

Accordingly I had my Apaches waiting in the
shadows. There were five of us. Limantour
started to walk home, as I knew he was fre-
quently in the habit of doing. We followed, and
in the first quiet street that he ventured down
he was felled. In his pockets we found a little
money and some papers, one glance at which
satisfied me that they were of no value.

My carefully-planned coup had failed. You
can imagine how I felt about such a fiasco and
how very quickly I had to think. Here was my
first big chance and I had thoroughly and hope-
lessly bungled it ! Limantour was already stir-
ring. The blow he had received had purposely
been made light. If he recovered to find himself
robbed merely of an insignificant sum of money
and some papers his suspicions would be aroused.
I could not hope for another chance at him. I
knew that Limantour was too clever not to sense
something other than ordinary robbery in such
an attack upon him. Furthermore, my Apaches
had to be bluffed and deceived as thoroughly as

The Strong Arm Squad

he must be. I had promised them a victim who
had loads of money, and at the few coins they
had obtained there was much growling. Luckily
1 had a flash of sense. I resolved to turn the mis-
hap to my advantage.

" We hit the wrong night, that's all," I mut-
tered. "You take the coins and get away. I
am going to try to fool him."

Like rats they scurried away. When Liman-
tour came to, he found a very solicitous young
man concerned about his welfare.

"I saw them from down the street," I told
him. "They evidently knoeked you out, but
they cleared off when I came. Did they get any-
thing from you? Here seem to be some letters."
And from the pavement I picked up and restored
to him the papers I had taken from his pocket
not two minutes before.

Limantour accepted them and I knew that
my audacity had triumphed.

"They are not of very much importance,"
said Limantour, " and I had only a few francs on

me."

Then suddenly, as if he just realised that he
was alive and unharmed, Jose* Limantour began
to thank me for my assistance. I thought of
those who had told me he was a cold, hard, dis-

The Strong Arm Squad

tant man. Limantour flung his arms around my
neck. I was his saviour! I was a very brave
young gentleman! If I had not come up so
boldly and promptly to his aid he might have
been very badly beaten, perhaps even killed.
For all he knew he owed me his life. He must
thank me. He must know his preserver. Here
was his card. Might he have mine? I had been
wise enough to keep some of my old cards when
I changed the rest of my personality from the
Grand Hotel to Montmartre. I gave him one
of them.

"A German! " he exclaimed, " and a worthy
representative of that worthy race ! ' Limantour
was enchanted. " And you live at the Grand
Hotel?"

That was better still. I was only a sojourner
in Paris and one might venture to offer me hos-
pitality— no? Next day he would send round a
formal invitation to come and dine at his house
and meet his family. They would be delighted
to meet this brave and intrepid hero and would
also wish to thank me.

In an adjoining cafe we had a drink and parted
for the night. Next morning of course I had to
appear again at the Grand Hotel. On foot I
walked away from " Le Lapin Agile," jumping

The Strong Arm Squad

into a taxi when I was out of sight. The taxi
took me to the Gare du Nord; there I doubled
on my tracks and presently, as if just having left
a train, I took another taxi and was driven with
my luggage to the hotel. I dropped around that
afternoon to the Quai d'Orsay and called upon
some of my acquaintances, remarking that I had
changed my plans and would stay in Paris a little
longer. That night I had the pleasure of dining
with Limantour.

Thereafter I had to lead a double life. By
day I was an habitue of prominent hotels, res-
taurants and clubs. I associated with young
diplomats, and occasionally took a pretty girl to
tea. By night I lived in " Le Lapin Agile " and
consorted with thugs and their ilk. It cost me
sleep, but I did not begrudge that in view of
the stakes. All this time I was cultivating the
acquaintance of Limantour and those around
him.

Shortly afterwards I succeeded in taking one
of the members of his household on a rather wild
party, and when his head was full of champagne
he blabbed that Limantour and his family were
planning to sail for Cuba and Mexico on the
following Saturday. I was also informed that on
Friday, the day before the sailing, there would

The Strong Arm Squad

be a farewell reception at one of the embassies.
'Knowing Limantour's habits of work as I did
by this time, I was able to lay my plans with as
much certainty as prevails in my profession.

After weighing all the possibilities I decided
to defer my attempt on him until this last Friday
night. I reasoned that he would probably re-
ceive a draft of the agreement from his secretary
at the club late that night. He would take it
home with him and go over it with microscopic
care. The next forenoon — Saturday — he would
meet the Japanese envoy just long enough to
finish the matter, and then he would hurry to the
boat-train.

Of course, Limantour might act in a different
way. That is the chance one has to take.

Friday night came. In his luxurious limousine
Limantour and his family went to the farewell
reception at the Embassy. Comparatively early
he said his farewell — leaving Madame to go
home later — and in his car he proceeded to the
club. I saw him pass through the vestibule
after leaving his chauffeur with instructions to
wait. My guess as to Limantour's movements
had been right, so the plans I had made worked
smoothly.

I, too, had an automobile waiting near his
95

The Strong Arm Squad

club. Two of my men sauntered over to Liman-
tour's car. Under pretence of sociability they
invited his chauffeur to have a drink. They led
him into a little cafe on a side street near by,
the proprietor of which was in with the gang.
Limantour's chauffeur had one drink and went
to sleep. My men stripped him of his livery,
which one of them donned. Presently Liman-
tour had a new chauffeur sitting at the wheel of
his limousine.

An hour later Limantour was seen hurrying
out of the club. As a man will, he scarcely
noticed his chauffeur, but cast a brief " Home ! '
to the man at the wheel. His limousine started,
following a route through deserted residential
streets, in one of which I had the trap ready.
Half blocking the road was a large motor-car,
apparently broken down. It was the automobile
in which I had been waiting outside the club.
In it were four of my Apaches. Limantour's
car was called upon to stop.

" Can you lend me a wrench? " one of my men
shouted to Limantour's false chauffeur.

His limousine stopped. That freemasonry
which existed in the early days between motorists
lent itself nicely to the situation. It was most

natural for the chauffeur of Limantour's car to

The Strong Arm Squad

get out and help my stalled motor. Indeed,
Limantour himself opened the door of the limou-
sine and, half protruding his body, called out with
the kindest intentions.

To throw a chloroform-soaked towel over his
head was the work of an instant. In half a
minute he was having dreams — which I trust
were pleasant. It was still necessary to keep my
own men in the dark, to give these thugs no
inkling that this was a diplomatic job. This time
I was prepared, for I had learned of Limantour 's
habits in regard to carrying money on his person.
In my right-hand overcoat pocket there were
gold coins and bank-notes. With the leader of
the gang I went through Limantour 's clothes.
In the darkness of that street it was a simple
matter to seem to extract from them a double
fistful of gold pieces and currency, which I turned
over to the Salmon.

"Perhaps he has more bank-notes," I mut-
tered, and I reached for the inner pocket of his
coat. There my fingers closed upon a stiff docu-
ment that made them tingle. " I'll just grab
everything and we can go over it afterwards."
Out of Limantour's possession into mine came
pocket-book, letters, card-case and that heavy,

familiar paper.

H 97

The Strong Arm Squad

Dumping the unconscious Limantour into his
limousine, we cranked up our car and were off,
leaving behind us at the worst plain evidence of
a crime common enough in Paris. It was to
be corroborated next morning by the discovery
of a drunken chauffeur, for we took pains to go
back and get him once more into his uniform
and full of absinthe.

But it did not come to even that much scandal.
Limantour, for obvious reasons, did not report the
incident to the police. Next morning it was given
out that Limantour had gone into the country
and would not sail for a week. He had had a
sudden recrudescence of an old throat trouble,
and must rest and undergo treatment before under-
taking the voyage to Mexico — so the specialist
said. This report appeared in the Paris news-
papers of the day. Of the protocol nothing was
said at that time or later — by Serior Limantour.

I turned it over to the proper authorities in
Berlin, and very soon departed from Montmartre,
leaving behind me a well-contented group of
Apaches, who assured me warmly that I was born
for their profession. I did not argue the question
with them.

There the matter might have ended ; but Ger-
many had another card to play. On February 27,

The Strong Arm Squad

1911, Limantour left Paris for New York, to
confer with members of the Madero family, in
order if possible to effect a reconciliation and to
end the Madero revolt. He landed in New York
on March 7. On that very day, by an odd
coincidence, as one commentator* calls it, the
United States mobilised 20,000 troops on the
Mexican border !

It was no coincidence. The Wilhelmstrasse
had read the proposed terms of the treaty with
great interest. It had noted the secret clauses
which gave Japan the lease of a coaling station,
together with manoeuvre privileges in Magda-
lena Bay, or at some other port on the Mexican
coast which the Japanese Government might
prefer. It had noted, too, that agreement which,
although not expressly stipulating that Japan
and Mexico should form an offensive and de-
fensive alliance, implied that Japan would see
to it that Mexico was protected against
aggression.

And then Germany — acting always for her
own interests — forwarded the treaty to Mexico,
where it was placed in the hands of the American
Ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson.

Mr. Wilson immediately left for Washington

* Mr. Edward I. Bell in "The Political Shame of Mexico."
99

The Strong Arm Squad

with a photograph of portions of the treaty. A
Cabinet meeting was held. That night orders
were sent out for the mobilisation of American
troops, the assembling of United States marines
in Guantanamo and the patrolling of the west
coast of Mexico by warships of the United
States.

Within a week Mr. Wilson had an interview
in New York with Senor Limantour. Limantour
left hurriedly for Mexico City, arriving there
March 20. Conferences were held. Japan
denied the existence of the treaty, and Washing-
ton recalled its war vessels and demobilised its
troops. But barely seven weeks after Liman-
tour arrived in Mexico, Madero, the bankrupt,
with his handful of troops " captured " Ciudad
Juarez. And shortly afterwards, Diaz, discredited
and powerless, resigned the office he had held for
a generation.

That is the story of the fall of Diaz so far as
Germany was concerned in it. There were other
elements involved, of course — but this is not a
history of Mexico.

Germany had done the United States a service.
It is interesting to consider the motives for her
action. These motives may be explained in two
words : South America.

IOO

The Strong Arm Squad

Germany, let it be understood, wants South
America, and has wanted it for many years. Not
as a possession — the Wilhelmstrasse is not insane
— but as a customer and an ally. Like many
other nations, Germany has seen in the countries
of Latin America an invaluable market for her
own goods and an unequalled producer of raw
supplies for her own manufacturers. She has
sought to control that market to the best of her
abilities. But she has also done what no other
European nation has dared to do — she has at-
tempted to form alliances with the South American
countries which, in the event of war between the
United States and Germany, would create a
diversion in Germany's favour, and effectively tie
the hands of the United States so far as any
offensive action was concerned.

There was just one stumbling-block to this
plan : the Monroe Doctrine. It was patent to
German diplomats that such an alliance could
never be secured unless the South American
countries were roused to such a degree of hostility
against the United States that they would wel-
come an opportunity to affront the Government
which had proclaimed that Doctrine. And Ger-
many, casting about for a means of making
trouble, had encouraged the Japanese-Mexican

101

The Strong Arm Squad

alliance, hoping for intervention in Mexico and
the subsequent arousal of fear and ill-feeling
towards the United States on the part of the
South American countries.

And Germany had been so anxious for the
United States to intervene in Mexico that she
had not only encouraged a treaty which would
be inimical to American interests, but had made
certain that knowledge of this treaty should come
into the United States Government's hands by
placing it there herself!

The United States did not intervene and
Germany for the moment failed. But Germany
did not give up hope. The intrigue against
the United States through Mexico had only
begun.

It has not ended yet.

102

CHAPTER VI

A HERO IN SPITE OF MYSELF

My letter again — I go to America and become a United
States soldier — Sent to Mexico and sentenced to death
there — I join Villa's army and gain an undeserved
reputation.

I MUST leave Europe behind me now and go on
to the period embraced in the last five years.
A private soldier in the United States Army;
the victim of an attempt at assassination in
stormy Mexico; major in the Mexican army;
once again German secret agent and aide of
Franz von Papen, the German Military Attache
in Washington; prisoner under suspicion of
espionage in a British prison, and finally the
American Government's central witness in the
summer of 1916, in a case that was the sensation
of its hour — these are the roles I have been called
on to play in that brief space of time.

In the month of April, 1912, 1 abruptly quitted
the service of my Government. The reasons
which impelled me were very serious. You re-
member that my active life began with the dis-

103

A Hero in Spite of Myself

covery of a document of such personal and political
significance that Government agents followed me
all over Europe until I drove a bargain with them
for it. In the winter of 1912, by a chain of
circumstances I must keep to myself, that self-
same document came again into my possession.
I knew enough then, and was ambitious enough,
to determine that this time I would utilise to the
full the power which possession of it gave me.
But it could not be used in Germany. There-
fore I disappeared.

There was an immediate search for me, which
was most active in Russia. I was not in Russia
nor in Europe. After running over in mind all
the most unlikely places where I could lose myself
I had found one that seemed ideal.

While they were scouring Russia for me I
was making my way across the Atlantic Ocean
in the capacity of steward in the steerage
of the steamship Kroonland of the Red Star
Line.

The Kroonland docked in New York City in
May, 1912. I left her as abruptly as I had left
a prouder service. Three days later, a sorry-
looking vagabond, I had applied for enlistment
in the United States Army and had been ac-
cepted. I was sent to the recruiting camp at

104

A Hero in Spite of Myself

Fort Slocum, and under the severe eye of a
sergeant began to learn my drill.

It was towards the middle of May that I — or
rather, " Frank Wachendorf " — enlisted. After a
stretch of recruit-training at Fort Slocum I was
assigned to the Nineteenth Infantry, then at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas.

I learned my drill — shades of Gross Lichter-
felde ! — with extreme ease. That is the only single
thing that I was officially asked to do.

But early in my short and pleasant career as a
United States soldier something happened which
gave me special occupation. My small library was
discovered. Among th* volumes were Mahan's
" Sea Power " and Gibbon's " Decline and Fall "
— not just the books one would look for among
the possessions of a country lout hardly able to
stammer twenty words in English. But the mis-
hap turned in my favour. My captain sent for
me.

"Wachendorf," he said, "you probably have
your own reasons for being where you are. That
is none of my business. But you don't have to
stay there. If you want to go in for a commission
you are welcome to my books and to any aid I
can give you."

Thereafter life in the Nineteenth was decidedly
105

A Hero in Spite of Myself

agreeable. I set myself sincerely and whole-
heartedly the task of winning a commission in the
United States Army. I believe I might eventu-
ally have won it, too. But Fate revealed other
plans for me when I had been an American soldier
some nine months.

That winter of 1913, you remember, had been
a stormy period in Mexico. Huerta had made
his coup d'etat. Francisco Madero had been de-
posed and murdered. President Taft had again
mobilised part of the United States forces on the
border, leaving his successor, President Wilson,
to deal with a Southern neighbour in the throes
of revolution.

The Nineteenth Infantry was ordered to Gal-
veston, Texas. And in Galveston the agents of
Berlin suddenly put their fingers on me again. It
happened in the Public Library. I was reading
a book there one day when a man I knew well
came and sat down beside me. We will call him
La Vallee — born and bred a Frenchman, but one
of Germany's most trusted agents.

" Wie geht's, von der Goltz? " was his greeting.

I told him he had mistaken me for someone
else. He laughed.

"What's the use of bluffing?" he asked,

" when each of us knows the other? Just read

106

A Hero in Spite of Myself

these instructions I'm carrying." He laid a paper
before me.

La Vallee 's instructions were brief and out-
wardly not threatening. Find von der Goltz,
they bade him. Try to make him realise how
great a wrong he was guilty of when he deserted
his country. But let him understand, too, that
his Government appreciates his services and be-
lieves he acted impulsively. If he will prove his
loyalty by returning to his duty his mistake will
be blotted out.

I read carefully and asked La Vallee how I
was expected to prove my loyalty at that par-
ticular time.

" You know what it is like in Mexico now," he
said. "Our Government has heavy interests
there. Your services are needed in helping to
look out for them."

"But," I objected, "I am a soldier in the
United States Army. You are asking me to be
a deserter."

"Germany," said La Vallee, "has the first
claim on every German. If your duty happens
to make you seem a deserter, that is all right. f
Frank Wachendorf must manage to bear the dis-
grace. Speaking of that," he added, carelessly
enough, but eyeing me severely, "were you not

107

A Hero in Spite of Myself

indiscreet there? Suppose some enemy should
find out that you made false statements when
you enlisted? I believe there is a penalty."

La Vallee knew that he had me in his power.
I had to yield, and was told to report to the
German Consul at Juarez, across the Rio Grande
from El Paso. So in March, 1913, Frank Robert
Wachendorf, private, became a deserter from the
United States Army and a reward of $50 was
offered for his arrest.

Before I crossed the border I had one very
important piece of business to attend to, and I
stopped in El Paso long enough to finish it.
Mexico, under the conditions that prevailed, was
an ideal trap for me. As the lesser of two evils
I had decided to risk my body there. But I had
no mind to risk also what was to Berlin of far
more value than my body — namely, that docu-
ment which, a year before, had led to my abrupt
departure from Germany and her service.

In El Paso, where I was utterly unacquainted,
I had to find some friend in whose stanchness I
could put the ultimate trust. Being a Roman
Catholic, I made friends with a priest and led
him into gossip about different members of his
flock. He spoke of a harnessmaker and saddler,
one E. Koglmeier, an unmarried man of about

1 08

A Hero in Spite of Myself

fifty, who kept a shop in South Santa Fe Street.
He was, the priest said, the most simple-minded,
simple-hearted and utterly faithful man he knew.

I lost no time in making Koglmeier's acquaint-
ance, on the priest's introduction, and we soon
were on friendly terms. When I crossed the
international bridge I left behind in his safe a
sealed package of papers. He knew only that he
was to speak to no one about them and was to
deliver them only to me in person or to a man
who bore my written order for them.

I reported to the German Consul in Juarez.
He asked me to carry on to Chihuahua certain
reports and letters addressed to Kueck, the Ger-
man Consul there. From Chihuahua Kueck sent
me on to Parral with other documents. And a
German official in Parral gave me another parcel
of papers to carry back to Kueck.

I had no sooner reached Chihuahua on the
return trip than I was put under arrest by an
officer of the Federal (Huertista) forces, then in
control of the city. I asked on whose authority.
On that, he said, of General Salvador Mercado.
I was a spy engaged in disseminating anti-
Federal propaganda. I had to laugh at the
sheer absurdity of that, and asked what proofs
he had to sustain such charges.

109

A Hero in Spite of Myself

" The papers you are carrying," he said then,
"will be proof enough, I think."

Chihuahua was under martial law. I had not
the slightest inkling as to what might be in those
papers I had so obligingly transported. I had
put my foot into it, as the saying goes, up to
my neck, the place where a noose fits.

They marched me up to the barracks and into
the presence of General Mercado. That was
June 23, 1913, at 9 o'clock in the evening.

General Salvador Mercado, then the supreme
authority in Chihuahua, with practical powers of
life and death over its people, proved to be a
squat, thick, bull-necked man with the face of an
Indian and the bearing of a bully }

His first words stirred my temper to the bot-
tom, luckily for me. If I had confronted the
man with any other emotion than raging anger
I should not be alive now.

"Your Consul will do no good," he told me
sneeringly. " He says you are not a German.
You are a Gringo. You are a bandit and a
robber. You have turned spy against us too. I
am going to make short work of you. But first
you are going to tell me all you know."

As the completeness of the charge flashed
upon me I went wild. There was a chair beside

A Hero in Spite of Myself

me. I converted one leg into a club and started
for Mercado. The five other men in the room
got the best hold upon me that they could. By
the time they had mastered me Mercado had
backed away into the farthest corner of the room.

The remainder of our interview was stormy
and fruitless. It resulted in my being taken to
Chihuahua penitentiary, the strongest prison in
Mexico, and thrown into a cell. It wras two
months and a half before I came out again.

There is small use going in detail into the
major and minor degradations of life in a Mexi-
can prison. I pass over cimex lectularius and the
warfare which ended with my release. There are
more edifying things to tell. For instance, how
I came into possession of half a blanket and a pair
of friends.

I was confined — a sentry with fixed bayonet
standing before my door — in an upper tier
in the officers' wing. Usually confinement in
the officers' wing carried one special privilege in
which I, the desperado, did not share. During
the day the cell doors were left open and the
prisoners had the run of the corridor and galleries.
My sentry's bayonet barred them from me, but
could not keep them from talking of the new
prisoner who claimed to be a German and was

A Hero in Spite of Myself

suffering because he was suspected of attachment
to the Constitutionalist cause.

On my third or fourth night there I was
attracted to my cell door by a sibilant " Oiga,
Aleman ! " and something soft was thrust between
the bars.

"German," whispered a voice in Spanish out
of the blackness, "it is cold to-night. We have
brought you up a blanket."

So began my friendship with Pablo Alman-
daris and Rafael Castro, two young Constitution-
alist officers. Almandaris, in particular, later
became a chum of mine. He was a long, lank,
solemn individual, the very image of Don Quixote
of La Mancha. I remember him with love, be-
cause he was the man who gave to me in prison,
out of kindness of heart, a full half of his single
blanket.

This is how it happened. He and Rafael
Castro, who were cell-mates, had contrived a way
to pick their lock and roam the cell block at
night, stark naked, their brown skins blending
perfectly with the dingy walls. They had already
heard the story of my plight. That night Alman-
daris had cut his blanket in two, and the pair,
with the bit of wool and a bottle of tequilla they
had bought that day when the prison market was

112

MFYir P

3 .s :, •; -^ ;- :. -«, • JH / (V*

"•- * ":^'V»^ / >*

^^?vs^rf <%s!^&<3£***y
C Grai. en Jefe c* :*s Optraciones e-. el Kstaan. Fr.,nci«co Viiii

CAPTAIN VON DER GOLTZ'S COMMISSION AS MAJOR IN
THE MEXICAN CONSTITUTIONALIST ARMY. (^ p. 139)

A Hero in Spite of Myself

open, sneaked up to the gallery and my cell.
They gave the liquor to the sentry, who, being an
Indian, promptly drank the whole of it down and
became blissfully unconscious.

The blanket was the first of many gifts, and
many were the chats we had together, all with a
practical purpose.

66 If you ever escape or are released," Alman-
daris kept telling me, "go to Trinidad Rodri-
guez. He is my colonel. And if you ever get
out of Mexico go to El Paso and hunt up
Labansat. He is there."

So they contrived to alleviate the minor evils
of my predicament, and I shall never forget
them. The major difficulty was beyond their
reach. The trap had closed completely round
me. The charge of spying and Mercado's general
truculence were only cloaks for a more subtle
hostility from another quarter. The reason for
my imprisonment was soon revealed openly.

I had made various attempts to communicate
with Kueck, the German Consul. Always I met
the retort that Kueck himself said I was no
German. At the same time, managing to
smuggle an appeal for aid to the American Con-
sul, I was informed that etiquette forbade his
taking any steps on my behalf. Kueck himself,

i 113

A Hero in Spite of Myself

he said, had told him the German Consulate was
doing all it could to protect me. It did not need
a Bismarck to grasp the implications of those con-
tradictory statements.

After I had been in prison for about three
weeks Kueck came to see me and made the whole
matter thoroughly plain.

"Von der Goltz," he opened bluntly, "you
are in a bad situation.'5

" Do you think so? " I asked him significantly.

!< I have every reason to think so," he said.
"My hands are tied. I positively can take no
steps in your behalf, unless "' — he looked straight
at me — "unless you restore certain documents
you have no right to possess."

They had me nicely. The surrender of my
letter was the price I must pay for my life.
Acting under instructions, he had made me a
definite offer. I had to take it or leave it.

I could not give the letter up. It was my
guarantee of safety. As long as Kueck did not
know where it was I was valuable to him only
while alive. Furthermore, I had some hopes of
being freed by outside aid. Through Almandaris
I had learned that the Constitutionalists were
attacking Chihuahua, with good hope of taking

the city. I knew that if they succeeded, the

114

A Hero in Spite of Myself

German — whose suffering for their cause, I was
told, was known throughout their forces — would
be well cared for. So I reached my decision.

"Herr Consul," I said, "I will not give up
the papers you refer to. I am not a child. Those
papeis are in a safe place. So are instructions as
to their disposal in case of emergency. Let any-
thing happen to me, and within a fortnight every
newspaper in the United States will be printing
the most sensational story within memory."

On July 23, 1913, I was tried by court-martial
and sentenced to death. That led to a bitter per-
sonal quarrel between General Manuel Chao, the
Constitutionalist commander attacking the city,
and Mercado, who defended it.

Chao sent in a flag of truce, absolving me from
any connection with his cause and threatening
that, if I were killed, Mercado personally would
have to pay the score when the Constitutionalists
took Chihuahua. The Indian bully retorted that
if the Constitutionalists ever captured the city
they would not find their pet alive there.

Three times in the weeks that followed the
Constitutionalist forces seemed on the point of
capturing Chihuahua. Have you ever walked
out with your own firing squad and spent an end-
less half hour on a chilly morning in the company

A Hero in Spite of Myself

of an officer with drawn sword, five soldiers with
loaded rifles and a sergeant with the revolver
destined to give you your coup de grace? Three
times that happened to me, at Mercado's orders !
My profession has seldom permitted me to in-
dulge in personal hatreds, but as I was marched
back from that third bad half -hour my mind was
filled with one thought : If ever I got Mercado
where he had me then I would let him know what
it felt like.

Then matters came to a crisis. Reinforce-
ments were brought up from Mexico City and
the Constitutionalist besiegers suffered a crush-
ing defeat. I could put no more hope in them,

Kueck came again to see me.

;t Give me an order on Koglmeier for those
papers," he demanded. "There's no use saying
Koglmeier hasn't got them, for I know he has."

I could see he was not bluffing, and knew the
game was up. I signed the release for the papers.
There had been no personal animosity between
Kueck and myself. I had seen too much of life
to be angry with a man simply because he was
obeying his orders.

About September 12, 1913, Kueck came to
escoit ^ out of prison, and in his own carriage

drove me to the railway station, bound north, out

116

A Hero in Spite of Myself

of Mexico. I had a sheaf of letters, signed by
Kueck, which recommended me, as Baron von
der Goltz, to the good offices of German Consular
representatives throughout the United States, and
requested them to supply me with funds.

The last man who spoke to me in Chihuahua
was Colonel Carlos Orozco, commander of the
Sixth Battalion of Infantry, and General Mer-
cado's right-hand man, though his bitter enemy.
His farewell was a threat. " You are lucky to
get out of Mexico," he told me. " If you ever
come back and I see you I will have you shot at
once." My next meeting with Colonel Carlos
Orozco occurred on Mexican soil.

Escorted by Consul Kueck out of Mexico I
went up to El Paso, determined to return to
Mexico as soon as possible. But before I did
anything else I felt a very great desire to square
accounts with General Salvador Mercado.

So I stepped off at El Paso to look for Laban-
sat, the Constitutionalist about whom my friend
Pablo Almandaris told me while I was in
prison. I lost no time in getting into touch with
him and other members of the Constitutionalist
junta.

Another acquaintance made at that time
proved very useful to me later. Dr. L. A.

117

A Hero in Spite of Myself

Rachbaum, Francisco Villa's personal physician,
was a fellow guest at the Ollendorf Hotel.

We were an earnest but impecunious bunch.
Juan T. Burns, afterwards Mexican Consul-
General in New York, may recall a morning when
he and I found ourselves with one nickel between
us and the necessity of getting breakfast for two
at an El Paso lunch counter. That lone
"jitney " bought a cup of coffee and two rolls.
Each of us took a roll and we drank the cup of
coffee mutually.

I also renewed my intimacy with Koglmeier,
the saddler in South Santa Fe Street. He told
me a man he did not know had come with my
written order for the papers I had left in his
safe and he had given them up.

Despairing at last of obtaining results at El
Paso, I availed myself of my consular recom-
mendations and went on to Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia. There I received help from Geraldine
Farrar, whom I had known in Germany, and in
November, 1913, directly after the battle of Tierra
Blancha, Chihuahua, I received a telegram say-
ing : "Dr. Rachbaum proposition accepted; come
with the next train," and signed " General Villa."
My way lay open before me and I was free to
start.

A Hero in Spite of Myself

I reached El Paso on November 27 and
went on to Chihuahua, which had fallen into the
hands of the Constitutionalists. Once there, I
looked up my friend of the half blanket, Pablo
Almandaris, and by him was introduced to
Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, commanding a
cavalry brigade, who promptly attached me to
his staff, with the rank of captain.

The Federalists had retreated across the desert
northwards and settled themselves in Ojinaga, the
so-called Gibraltar of the Rio Grande, a tremen-
dously strong natural position.

Towards the middle of December we received
orders to proceed to the attack of Ojinaga. Our
brigade and the troops of Generals Panfilo
Natira and Toribio Ortega were included in the
expedition, some 7,000 men. The railway car-
ried us seventy miles. The rest of the journey
had to be made on horseback. During four days
of marching in the desert I made acquaintance
with Mexican mounted infantry, the most effec-
tive arm for such conditions and country the
world has seen.

Arriving before the outer defences of Ojinaga
we began our siege of the city. Soon afterwards
I got my first sight of Pancho Villa.

Of a sudden, one evening, Trinidad Rodriguez
119

A Hero in Spite of Myself

told me that "Pancho" had just arrived, and
we must ride over for a conference with him.

We found Villa lying on a saddle blanket in
an irrigation ditch in the company of Raul
Madero, brother of the murdered President, a
handful of officers who had come up with them,
and our own commanders, Natira and Ortega.

Madero, to my mind one of the ablest Mexi-
cans alive, was clad in the dingiest of old grey
sweaters. Villa, unkempt, unshaven and un-
shorn, was begrimed and weary from his ride
across the desert. But he seemed full of bottled-
up energy, and when General Rodriguez and I
came up he was giving General Ortega a talking
to because so little had been accomplished in re-
gard to the taking of Ojinaga.

While we talked I fashioned a cigarette, and
all at oree he broke off abruptly. " Give me
some of that too," he demanded. I handed him
"the makings," and he attempted a cigarette.
He was so clumsy with it Jbhat I had to roll it
for him. Then for the first arid last time in my
acquaintance with him I saw Pancho Villa smoke.
Contrary to the stories that have gone out about
him, he is a most abstemious man with regard to
alcohol and tobacco.

On Christmas night, 1913, happened the ad-

120

A Hero in Spite of Myself

venture which made me, quite by accident, and
without intention^ a hero. Also, I underwent
the greatest fright of my life.

My commander, Rodriguez, had received
orders to make an attack that night straight-
forward towards Ojinaga. After it was com-
pletely dark we formed and advanced, finding
ourselves very soon among the willows lining the
bank of the Rio Conchos, which we had to cross.

It was my first taste of genuine warfare, and
I cannot begin to tell you how it affected me,
how ghastly it was among the willows in the
vague darkness through which the column was
threading its way with the utmost possible quiet-
ness. The beat of hoofs was muffled in the soggy
ground, and the only sound to break the utter
stillness of the night was the occasional clank of
a spur or thin neigh of a horse.

Then all at once, to the front and in the dis-
tance, came a boom — the single growling of a
field-gun. Ping ! Ping ! Ping ! broke out a
volley of rifle shots, and then with its r-r-r-r-r!
a Hotchkiss machine-gun got to work. A
staccato bam! bam! bam! as a Colt's machine-
gun joined the chorus. Somewhere troops were
going into serious action. That was no skirmish-
ing.

121

A Hero in Spite of Myself

We finally crossed the river and dismounted.
Part of the brigade had gone astray. Rodriguez
cursed impatiently and incessantly under his
breath until he joined us. He was a born cavalry
leader, mad for action. Any sort of waiting
lacerated his nerves.

In line, with rifles trailing, we moved across
the unknown terrain of low, rolling hills. On
our front there had been no firing. Then all at
once, directly before us and not far ahead,
sounded a startled " Qui vive? " and an instant's
silence while the surprised outpost of the enemy
waited for an answer. " Alerta ! Alerta!'
sounded his shrill alarm.

Hell broke open around us then. Rifles,
machine-guns and cannon opened fire all at once.
Bullets whined above our heads and bursting
shrapnel fell around us. We had just come to
an irrigation ditch, six feet wide, with a high
wire fence on the farther bank of it.

"Stay here till they're all across and look for
skulkers ! ' ' Trinidad Rodriguez gave himself time
to order me, then leaped across the ditch and
began to run towards the fence. " Come on here,
boys! " he shouted.

The men were quickly across. I followed, or
tried to, and just as my front foot touched the

122

A Hero in Spite of Myself

farther bank the clay crumbled. Down I went
into the ditch.

When I recovered myself in that four feet
of mud and water and poked my head up over
the bank the fence had been demolished. Beyond
it countless rifles spat tongues of fire towards
me. But not a living soul was near. The
night had swallowed up the very last one of our
men.

Fright had not come yet. I was bewildered.
I still had my rifle and began to use it. After
a few discharges there came a violent wrench and
the barrel parted company with the rest of the
weapon. It had been shot to pieces in my hands.
I threw the stock away and got out my revolver
— a Colt .44 single-action, of the frontier model.

Boom! There was a roar like a field-gun's
and a flash that lit up the night all round me.
The wet weapon was outdoing itself in pyro-
technics, and I was unnecessarily attracting atten-
tion to myself. So, half swimming, half wading,
I moved down the ditch in the direction of the
high hill which, looming vaguely, seemed half
familiar to me.

I was lost, you understand. I had come at
night into unknown terrain. I welcomed that
hill, which seemed to give me back my bearings.

123

A Hero in Spite of Myself

I reached the base of it, got out of my ditch and
began to climb, with some caution, luckily for
me. For just as I stole over the crest a roar and
a flash obliterated the night. Two enemy field-
pieces had been discharged together, almost into
my face.

Deeming it more than likely that the flash had
shown the gunners one startled Teutonic face, I
rolled down that hill and was once more in my
ditch. But panic had full possession of me. I
climbed out on the far side and ran among the
scattered trees there until I realised that no racer
can hope to outpace a bullet. Then I stopped.

Phut ! Phut ! Bullets were hissing into the
soft irrigated ground all round me, for by acci-
dent I had gotten into a very dangerous zone of
dropping cross-fire, while overhead shrapnel was
searching out blindly for our horses.

By good luck I knew the trumpet calls.
Whenever the signal to fire sounded I took what
cover I could, going on again in what I decided
was the direction of the Rio Conchos as soon as
the bugles called "cease firing."

After a while I found a small grey horse
standing dejectedly by a tree. I mounted him
and eventually got among the willows on the

river bank. There the horse collapsed under me

124

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' .\: r:'.V:t

*. •*•'>•••'

A Hero in Spite of Myself

without a warning quiver or groan, and when I
had wriggled myself loose and groped him over
I discovered the poor brute must have been shot
as full of holes as a flute before I ever found him.

But I had small sympathy to spend on fallen
horses just then. Cleaning my gory hands as
best I could on breeches and tunic, I stumbled
on through the bushes. After a long time I
came, by accident, to the place where the brigade
had dismounted to go into action. The mounts
were mostly gone, but a few still stood there,
with perhaps a score of men and one officer,
Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick), who was vastly sur-
prised at my sudden appearance from the direc-
tion of the front.

Our brigade had been withdrawn within
twenty minutes of the beginning of the action—
as soon as it was quite certain the surprise had
failed. Patricio was waiting there because his
brother had been killed, and he wanted, if pos-
sible, to take back his body.

"But," cried the colonel, suddenly warming
into emotion, "you — where have you been?
You, valiant German, refused to come back with
the others ! All night, all by yourself, you have
been fighting single-handed. Let me embrace

you! '

125

A Hero in Spite of Myself

He flung his arms about me, to receive a fresh
surprise. "You are all sticky with something,"
he cried. "What is it?"

"Blood," I told him simply and truthfully.
My reputation was made.

Bravado stirs a Mexican as nothing else can.
Counterfeit bravado is just as effective as any so
long as the substitution is not suspected. Young
Captain von der Goltz, in his first real engage-
ment, had got stupidly lost and very badly fright-
ened. But of Captain von der Goltz Colonel
Patricio and his troopers sang the praises for
days thereafter to every officer and every peon
soldier they met. He had fought on alone for
hours after every comrade left him. He had
bathed himself in the blood of his enemies, up to
his hips and up to his shoulders. You could see
it on his clothes.

By the time Ojinaga fell " El Diablo Aleman "
— "the German devil" — had become a tradition
of the Constitutionalist Army.

Ojinaga fell at New Year, 1914, the Federal-
ists retreating across the Rio Grande into the
United States. We pursued them. And on the
bank of the river I had a little adventure.

You remember that when I left Chihuahua, a

released prisoner, the last person who spoke to

126

A Hero in Spite of Myself

me was Colonel Carlos Orozco, commanding the
Sixth Infantry Battalion, and his farewell was
a threat (see p. 117).

That Sixth Battalion had been engaged in the
defence of Ojinaga and had retreated with its
fellow-organisations. When I came up to the
Rio Grande a small body of fugitives was in
midstream. My handful of troopers rode in,
surrounded them and brought them back to
Mexico. Their heroic commander, who had
offered no show of resistance, proved to be
Orozco, with the colours of his outfit wrapped
round his body, under his blouse !

The provocation was too much for me. " Don
Carlos," I asked him, "is it possible you have
forgotten me? When we parted last time you
promised to shoot me if ever we met again. I
am naturally all on fire to learn whether you are
thinking of keeping your promise now."

Prominent prisoners were getting short shrift
in those days, and Orozco preserved a sullen
silence. But I let him ford the river to safety.
He eventually got back to Mexico City and
Huerta, by way of San Antonio, Galveston and
Vera Cruz. The story of his exploit at Ojinaga,
the sole Federal officer to come out of it alive,
un wounded, and bringing his colours with him,

127

A Hero in Spite of Myself

furnished columns of copy to El Impartial and
the other papers. Friends and admirers of his
who heard the lion roar at that time may find
some interest in this less romantic record of his
adventure.

I had another account to settle with my old
acquaintance, Consul Kueck of Chihuahua.
During the last battle before Ojinaga an officer
struck up a rifle which he saw a peon aiming at
my back. The ball whistled over my head. The
soldier later saw fit to confess the reason for his
act. He said that a big, fat German — Kueck's
secretary, he thought — had come to him just
before we left Chihuahua on our expedition and
had given him 500 pesos to attempt my life.

Returning to Chihuahua very soon after New
Year's Day, I made it my business to call on Con-
sul Kueck. He had cleared out across the border
to El Paso just before we got in.

Failing the principal, I took the liberty of
arresting Kueck's secretary inside the sacred
precincts of the Foreign Club. After my ad-
jutant and he and I had had three or four hours'
private talk, and he understood how likely he was
to occupy the cell in Chihuahua penitentiary
which had once been mine, he helped me obtain
copies of certain documents in the consular

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A Hero in Spite of Myself

archives, particularly the letter Kueck had written
to the American Consul affirming himself to be
fully responsible for my safety, at the very time
When he was setting Mercado on and telling me
that he could and would do nothing for me.
Once I got hold of that I felt fairly certain that
Kueck would be moderate in his dealings with
me thereafter.

Only General Salvador Mercado stood wholly
on the debit side of my account book. I had heard
that he had been captured on United States soil,
along with numerous other fugitive Federal
officers, and been put for safe keeping into the
detention camp at El Paso.

It chanced that Villa and Raul Madero went
up to the border for a few days of the winter
race-meet at Juarez, just across the river from
El Paso. Don Raul was kind enough to invite
me, too, and I went along in fettle, with a new
uniform. Our army was in funds and I had all
the money I wanted.

From Juarez it vwas merely a matter of cross-
ing the international bridge to be in El Paso. I
went over. I wanted to see Koglmeier, the
saddler in South Santa Fe Street, and I wanted
to visit the detention camp.

I chose to see the camp first, and had the

J 129

A Hero in Spite of Myself

forethought to fill one of the pockets of my over-
coat with Mexican gold pieces, very welcome to
my whilom enemies. Poor fellows, they were,
most of them, in the tattered clothing they had
worn when captured. Their faces were wan and
meagre and they were glad enough to accept,
along with my greeting, the bits of gold I con-
trived to slip into their hands.

In the centre of the camp we came upon a
tent more imposing than its mates, though by
no means palatial.

" This," said my cicerone, " is the quarters of
General Mercado, the ranking officer here. Do
you wish to pay him your respects? J:

As I have said, Salvador Mercado is squat and
thick in build, with a bull neck. Some day, I
fear, he is going to die of apoplexy, if he does
not fall, more gloriously, in action. He shows
certain apoplectic symptoms. For instance, as
we stepped inside his tent and he saw who one
of his visitors was, his neck swelled till it threat-
ened to burst his collar.

" My General," I assured him warmly, " it is

indeed a pleasure and an honour to see you again.

I trust the climate up here agrees with you? >: I

did not offer him a gold piece when he said

good-bye.

130

A Hero in Spite of Myself

From the detention camp I went to Kogl-
meier's shop in South Santa Fe Street. Both
front and rear doors were standing open, and
through the back of one I could see Koglmeier's
horse, a beast I had often ridden, switching its
tail in the yard, which was its stable. I went
into the store. "Koglmeier!" I called. "Oh,
Koglmeier ! "

From the side of the shop stepped out a man
on whom I had never set eyes before.

" Koglmeier ain't here."

"But he must be here," I insisted. "I can
see his horse out there in the yard."

" Yes," said the man, "the horse is here, but
Koglmeier ain't. Nor he won't be. It just hap-
pens that Koglmeier's dead."

"When did he die?"

" The 20th of last December," said the man.
"But he didn't die. He got murdered."

On the night of that 20th of December, Kogl-
meier, the quietest, most inoffensive man in El
Paso, had been murdered in his shop. It looked,
said my informant, "like his head had been beat
in with a hatchet, or something." Robbery
apparently had not been the motive, for his pos-
sessions were untouched. If he had made an
outcry it had not attracted attention, perhaps

A Hero in Spite of Myself

because a carousal was going full blast in the
vacant lot beside his place of business. The
authorities were utterly at sea, and still are. The
United States Department of Justice agents
told me they could find no motive for the murder.
I knew the motive. Koglmeier had kept " my
documents " for me ; therefore Imperial Germany
had willed he should die.

Koglmeier was the only German in El Paso
who was a friend of mine, and knew of the exist-
ence of those documents which I had been forced
to give up through the agency of Mercado's
firing squads.

His end subdued the festive spirit in me, and
I was not sorry when we started back for the
interior of Mexico.

Torreon was taken by Villa on April 2, 1914,
and we settled down there for a brief period of
rest and recuperation. Rest ! Torreon stands
out in my memory as the scene of the most hectic
activity I have indulged in. Raul Madero and
I have since laughed over the ludicrousness of it.
But at the time it was deadly serious. My repu-
tation was at stake. I managed to save it barely
by the skin of its teeth.

Chief Trinidad Rodriguez got twenty machine-
guns down from the United States and turned

132

A Hero in Spite of Myself

them over to me. " Train your gun crews and
get the platoons ready for field service/' he
ordered. "You can have three weeks. Then I
shall need them."

Without a word I saluted and turned on my
heel. I could not very well tell my General that
I had never in my life applied even the tip of
one finger to a machine-gun.

The guns arrived next day, as promised. They
had been sent to us bare, just the barrels and
tripods. There were no holsters, no pack saddles
for either guns or ammunition, not one of the
accessories which equip a machine-gun company
for action. I had to start from the ground, in
literal truth. And I had not a soul to advise me
how to begin.

We loaded the guns on to our wagons, took
them over to camp, and laid them side by side in
a long row down the centre of an empty ware-
house in Torreon.

That satisfied me for one afternoon. I went
over to General Rodriguez's quarters.

"I've got the guns," I reported.

" Good ! " he cried. " I shall want the platoons
ready for action in three weeks. Not a day later."

It was up to me to have them ready. So I got
busy at once.

A Hero in Spite of Myself

My first move was an abduction. There hap-
pened to be in Torreon jail at that time a first-
class bank robber named Jefferson, who was
being held for the arrival of extradition papers
from Texas. The day after my guns arrived
Jefferson escaped, and though the authorities
made diligent search they failed to find him. He
knew more about machine-guns than I did. His
profession had made him an excellent mechanic.
Furthermore, he had Yankee ingenuity and
American "git up and git." We soon had all
twenty guns set up in working order.

Then came the problem of the gun crews. Our
Indians, slow, thick-headed, stubborn and stolid,
were no fit material for such highly specialised
work. Machine-gun manipulation requires very
peculiar qualifications in every man concerned.
Three men compose the crew. One squats behind
the shield and pulls the trigger. The second,
prone, slides the clips of cartridges into the
breach. The third passes up the supply of am-
munition. At any moment the gun may heat and
jam. Also at any moment any one of the trio
may fall, yet his work must be carried on. I
had seen a gunner sit on the dying body of a
comrade and coolly aim and fire, the action being
so hot there was not time to drag the wounded

134

A Hero in Spite of Myself

man aside. You cannot take an Indian wild from
the hills and in twenty-one days fit him to do
such work as that by any course of training.

My only resort was to get my gun crews ready
made.

A brigade not far away from ours possessed
machine-gun platoons which were the pride of its
heart. I looked at them, and broke first the
Tenth and then the Eighth Commandment.

To a wise old sergeant I gave a hundred pesos.

"Juan," I told him, "get the men of those
machine-gun crews drunk in this quarter of
Torreon. And encourage them to be noisy."

Juan obeyed instructions. Once the beer
and mezcal took hold, the men I wanted became
boisterous enough to justify our provost guard
in running them all in. The rest was simple.
The breach of discipline was condoned by General
Rodriguez only on condition that the culprits
were turned over to him for further discipline.

So I got my gun crews. I was beginning to
have hopes. The best saddler in the city was
making holsters. When I first approached him
with an order he had promptly thrown up his
hands. " There is not a scrap of leather left in
Torreon," he said.

I instantly thought of chair backs. In Spanish

A Hero in Spite of Myself

countries furniture upholstered in old carved
Cordovan leather is an heirloom. In time of war
ruthlessness is a useful quality. I soon pre-
sented my saddler with sufficient leather for my
purpose and could turn my attention to pack
saddles. Not even the sawhorse frames were pro-
curable in Torreon, but wood was plentiful. And
there was a jail filled with idle prisoners. Ten
days after the first sight of my guns I was able
to report to General Rodriguez that the platoons
were coming along.

66 But I have no mules for them yet," I hinted.

He sent a hundred next day, beauties, fat,
strong, in the pink of condition. But they had
come straight down from the tableland. They
could be trusted to kick saddles, guns, tripods,
holsters and ammunition cases into nothing at the
least provocation.

Torreon was celebrating its new Constitution-
alism with daily bull fights. Each afternoon,
.while the fight was on, the plaza before the en-
trance to the ring was crowded with public rigs
in waiting, all drawn by sorry-looking mules,
half fed and too worn out to have a single kick
left in them.

With a squad of troopers I descended on the
plaza one day. No cabby anywhere is markedly

136

A Hero in Spite of Myself

shy or retiring, and these were hill-bred mule-
teers. But we got the mules in the end.

" You are getting the best of the bargain," I
assured them. " I am only swopping with you.
In the corral I have a hundred fine, strong, new
mules worth three times as much as these played-
out beasts you are getting rid of. You can have
the nice new ones to-morrow."

If General Trinidad ever guessed how thor-
oughly improvised his favourite outfit was — the
second in command a bank robber on enforced
vacation, the gunners kidnapped, the equipment
made by forced labour from commandeered
material, and the mules snatched rudely from be-
.tween the shafts of cabs — he made no comment.

He did not live long to enjoy the fruits of my
labours. In mid-June, during the ten days' attack
which resulted in the fall of Zacatecas, he was
mortally wounded.

I shall always remember that day, not only
for the death of my chief, but for a personal bit
of adventure.

I was temporarily away from my guns with
some riflemen in a trench. The enemy fire was
very hot and the men became exceedingly restive.
Something had to be done to steady them, for
there was no cover of any sort on the bullet-

137

A Hero in Spite of Myself

swept, shrapnel-searched plain behind us. Re-
treat was impossible. There was plenty of
horror in the situation — the blazing sun, the sense
of isolation, the cries and curses of the men who
were being struck. And there was the cactus.

Unless you have been under fire of high-power
rifles in a region where the common broad-leaved
cactus grows you cannot guess its nerve-shaking
possibilities. A jacketed bullet can pierce a score
of leaves without much diminution of its velocity,
and as it goes through the thick, juicy flesh, it lets
out a sound like the spitting of some gigantic
cat. Ten Mauser bullets piercing cactus can
make you believe a ,whole battalion is concen-
trating its fire on your one small but precious
person.

The men were getting demoralised. If they
broke I was done for. If I stayed in the trench
alone, the Federals would eventually get me and
stand me up to the nearest wall. If I retreated,
nothing was gained.

I stood up, exposing my body from mid-thigh
upwards to that withering fire, and took out my
cigarette case. The nearest man .watched side-
wise, waiting to see me fall.

By some fortune I was not hit, and after a
moment looked down at the man beside me.

138

A Hero in Spite of Myself

"Hallo, Pablo!" I said, "why aren't you
smoking too? ' I offered my case to him, but
took good care to stretch out my arm quite level.
To get at the contents he had to rise to his feet.

Habit won. He did not even hesitate, and I
held my cigarette, Mexican fashion, for him to
take a light. Once committed in that fashion, he
was too proud to show the white feather, and
he and I smoked our cigarettes out while the
bullets flew. It was the longest cigarette, I think,
I ever smoked, but it turned the trick. We held on
to that trench till darkness put an end to the fire.

After the capture of Zacatecas I went to the
staff of General Raul Madero, with the rank of
Major. The invitation had been extended several
times before. Now that Trinidad was dead,
there was nothing to hold me back, and I very
gladly joined the official family of the brother
of the murdered President. Since my first as-
sociation with him, before Ojinaga, he had im-
pressed me as the ablest man I had seen south of
the Rio Grande.

The closer and more constant contact entailed
by my becoming a member of his staff confirmed
that feeling. Raul Madero has clarity of intelli-
gence, an encyclopaedic grasp of Mexican affairs,
social, religious, political and financial, and a

A Hero in Spite of Myself

winning personality that masks abundant energy
and determination.

I was associated with him for only six weeks.
On June 28, 1914, you remember, the Arch-
duke Francis Ferdinand of Austria was assassin-
ated. Throughout over three weeks of July
the Austrian Government was formulating its
demands on Serbia which culminated in the
ultimatum of July 23. Long before that I
had formed my opinion as to which way the wind
was to blow. And I had a sufficiently conceited
notion of my usefulness as a trained and ex-
perienced agent to believe that when the general
European disturbance should break out my days
as a soldier of fortune in Mexico would be ended.

Towards the end of July a stranger brought
me credentials proving him a messenger from
Consul Kueck in El Paso.

"The Consul," he told me, "wishes to ask
you one question, and the answer is a Yes or a
No. This is the question : In case your Govern-
ment wished your services again, could she expect
to receive them? "

" In case of war — Yes," I answered.

It was not very long before I received a tele-
gram from Kueck,

" Come," was all it said.
140

CHAPTER VII

ENTER CAPTAIN VON PAPEN

\Var — I re-enter the German service and am appointed aide
to Captain von Papen — The German conception of
neutrality and how to make use of it— The plot against
the Welland Canal.

THE meaning of Kueck's telegram was plain.
War had come at last, the war that we had
expected and prepared for during so many years.
My country was at war and I must leave what-
ever I was doing and return to its service.
I went to Raul Madero with the telegram.

"It has come," I said. "War! I shall
have to go."

We had spoken together too often, during the
past few weeks, of niy duty in the event of hos-
tilities for any long discussion to be necessary
now. I asked for and received all that I believed
to be necessary — a leave of absence for six
months with the privilege of extension. The
next day, August 3, 1914, I said good-bye to
my troops and to my commander and hastened

north to El Paso.

141

Enter Captain von Papen

At the Hotel El Paso del Norte I met my
former enemies, Kueck and his stout secretary.
We had dinner together, and he gave me letters
containing instructions to proceed to New York
and to place myself at the disposal of Captain
Franz von Papen, the German Military Attache
at Washington.

" When will Captain von Papen be in New
York?" I asked.

" I have just received a communication from
Papen," replied Kueck, adding with a gratified
smile, " I am keeping him informed of conditions
along the border. He will be in New York two
weeks from to-day."

There was no necessity for haste, then, and I
remained in El Paso for five days longer, keep-
ing my eyes and ears open and learning, among
other things, more " facts " about Mexico than I
could have acquired in Mexico itself in a lifetime.
" There are lies, damned lies and El Pasograms,"
someone has said. I collected enough of the
last-named to cheer me on my way to Washing-
ton and to make me marvel that Rome had ever
been called the father of lies. No wonder news-
paper correspondents like to report Mexican
news from El Paso.

Washington was technically on vacation at the
142

Enter Captain von Papen

time, but there was an unwonted air of excite-
ment about the city — far greater than formerly
existed when Congress was in full session. At
the German Embassy I found only a few clerks ;
but letters from Newport, to which the Am-
bassador and his staff had gone for the summer,
informed me that Captain von Papen would
meet me in New York in a fortnight. And then
I learned for the first time that it was impossible
for me to reach Germany, but that I was to be
assigned to work in the United States.

I knew what that meant, of course, and I was
not wholly unprepared for it. Secret agents
could be very useful in a neutral country, and
I knew, from my acquaintance with German
methods in Europe that plans would already
have been made for conserving German interests
in the United States. What those plans were I
did not know; but my only immediate concern
was to remove any possible suspicion from myself
by doing something which on the surface would
seem to be absolutely idiotic.

I became violently and noisily pro-German.
On the train I entered into arguments (as a
matter of fact I could not have escaped them if
I tried) in which I stoutly defended the invasion
of Belgium and prophesied an early victory for

I43

Enter Captain von Papen

Germany. And when I arrived in New York
I registered at the Holland House, where my
actions would be more conspicuous than at one of
the larger hotels, and proceeded to make myself
as noticeable as possible by spending a great deal
more money than I could afford — and talking.

In a day or two the reporters were on my
trail and I became their obliging prey. What I
told them I do not now remember in its entirety,
but newspaper clippings of the day assure me
that I made many wild and bombastic statements,
promising that Paris would be captured in a very
few weeks — in a word uttering the most flagrant
nonsense. The reporters decided that I was a
fool and deftly conveyed that impression to their
readers. And in a very brief time I had the
satisfaction of learning that I was everywhere
regarded as a person of considerably more
loquacity than intelligence.

That was the very reputation I had attempted
to get. I wanted to be known — and widely —
as a braggart, a spendthrift, a rattlebrain, for the
very excellent reason that in no other way could
I so easily divert suspicion from myself later.
I was a German, and consequently under the
surveillance of enemy secret agents, with whom

— oh, believe me ! — the United States was filled.

144

• •

•*.:.,

1 ^ i J r

rir-f

- 1 l\* J

4 ^4

4-1

Enter Captain von Papen

It was impossible for me to escape some notice.
Since that was the case, the safest course for me
to pursue was to comport myself in such a way
that all interested persons would report (as I
afterwards learned they did report) that I was
not worth watching, since no sane Government
would ever employ me.

While I was engaged in achieving this enviable
reputation, I had managed to keep in touch with
the Imperial German Consulate in New York,
and on August 21 I had received from the Vice-
Consul, Dr. Kraske, a note informing me that
the "gentleman who is interested in you"
Captain von Papen — " will meet you next morn-
ing at the Consulate/' That letter was to figure
two years later in the trial of Captain Hans
Tauscher. I reproduce it here. You might note
that it is addressed to " Baron von der Goltz,"
although my card did not bear that title, and I
had registered at the Holland House under my
Mexican military title of Major.

Upon the following morning I went to that
old building at Number Eleven Broadway. There,
in a little room in the offices of the Imperial
German Consulate, began a series of meetings
which were designed to bear fruit of the greatest
consequences to the United States — which would,

K 145

Enter Captain von Papen

had they been successful, have made American
neutrality a lie, and would have perhaps drawn
the United States into a serious conflict with Eng-
land, if not into actual war.

I remember von Papen's enthusiasm as he
outlined the general programme to me. "It was
merely a question of tying their hands" —that
was the burden of his statements, time and again.
We could hope for nothing from American
neutrality ; it was a fraud, a deception. Washing-
ton could not see the German view-point at all.
Everything was done to favour England. Why,
the entire country was supporting the Allies—
the Government, the Press, the people — all of
them ! Nowhere was there a good word for Ger-
many. And that in spite of the excellent propa-
ganda that Germany was conducting. I remember
that the failure of German propaganda was an
especially sore spot with him.

" How about the German- Americans ? ' I
asked him upon one occasion.

He made a sound that was between a grunt
and a cough.

" I am attending to them," was his reply.

I did not understand what he meant until
much later.

We talked much of American participation in

146

Enter Captain von Papen

the war in those days. Papen was convinced that
it would come sooner or later ; and certainly upon
the side of the Entente — unless the German-
Americans could be brought into line. They
were being attended to, he would repeat, but
meanwhile it was necessary for us to decide upon
some immediate action. Of course, there was
Mexico to be considered. It was too bad that
Huerta had fallen. What did I think of Villa?
Could he be persuaded to cause a diversion if the
United States abandoned its neutrality?

I told him that I thought it very unlikely.
"He is not very friendly towards Germans," I
said, " and he appreciates the importance of keep-
ing on good terms with the United States. No,
I don't think you can reach him — now. Later,
he may take a different attitude — when we have
had a few more victories."

Von Papen nodded. I was probably right, he
thought. We must show these ignorant people
how powerful the Germans were. It would have
a great moral effect . But that was for the future.
In the meantime, what did I think of this letter
as a suggestion for possible immediate action?

1 This letter" was from a man named Schu-
macher, who lived in Oregon, at Eden Bower
Farm. He had written to the Embassy, suggest-

*47

Enter Captain von Papen

ing that we should secretly fit out motor-boats
armed with machine-guns, and using Buffalo, De-
troit, Cleveland and Chicago as bases, make raids
upon Canadian cities and towns on the Great
Lakes.

There were some good features in the plan-
its value as a means of terrorising Canadians, for
instance — but it was doubtful whether at that time
we could carry it out successfully. Then, too,
we could not be sure whether it was not merely
a trap for us. Papen had been making inquiries
about Schumacher and was not entirely satisfied
as to his good faith.

There was a number of other schemes which
we considered at this time. One was to equip
reservists of the German Army, then in the
United States, and co-operating with German
warships, then in the Pacific Ocean, to invade
Canada from the State of Washington. This plan
was abandoned because of the impossibility of
securing enough artillery for our purposes.

Another plan that we considered more care-
fully involved an expedition against Jamaica.
This was a much more feasible scheme than any
that had been proposed thus far, and we spent
many days over it. It seemed fairly probable that
with an army of ragamuffins which I could easily

148

Enter Captain von Papen

recruit in Mexico and Central America, we could
make a success of it. Arms were easy to secure ;
in fact, we had a very well equipped arsenal in
New York ; and filibustering had become so com-
mon since the outbreak of the Mexican revolution
that it would be easy to obtain what additional
material we needed without disclosing our pur-
pose. On the whole, the idea looked promising,
and matters had gone so far that von Papen
secured my appointment as captain, so that in the
event of my being captured on British soil with
arms in my hand I should be treated as a prisoner
of war.

Then just when we \vere making final prepara-
tions for my departure from New York, von
Papen came to me in great excitement and said
he had come upon a plan that would serve our
purposes to perfection. Canada was, after all,
our principal objective ; we could strike a telling
blow against it, and at the same time create con-
sternation throughout America by blowing up the
canals which connected the Great Lakes !

" It is comparatively simple," said von Papen.
"If we blow up the locks of these canals the
main railway lines of Canada and the principal
grain elevators will be crippled. Immediately
we shall destroy one of England's chief sources

149

Enter Captain von Papen

of food supply as well as hamper the transporta-
tion of war materials. Canada will be thrown
into a panic and public opinion will demand that
her troops be held for home defence. But, best
of all, it .will make the Canadians believe that the
thousands of German reservists and the millions
of German- Americans in the United States are
planning active military operations against the
Dominion."

I looked at him in surprise. Where had he
got such a plan? Papen enlightened me with his
next words.

Two men — not Germans but violently anti-
English — had come to him with the suggestion,
he said. It was in a very indefinite form as yet,
but the idea was certainly worth careful considera-
tion. He wished me to discuss the matter .with
the two men at my hotel.

It did seem a good plan. As I discussed it the
next evening with the two men, whom von Papen
had sent to me, it seemed entirely practicable and
immensely important. Together we went over
maps and diagrams, which showed the vulnerable
points of the different canals and railways. After
a number of conferences with them and with von
Papen the plot took definite shape as a plan to
blow up the Welland Canal.

Enter Captain von Papen

" It can be done," I told von Papen one day,
and together we discussed the details. Finally
von Papen looked up from the notes we had been
examining.

' ' I think it will do admirably, ' ' he said. " Will
you undertake it? '

I nodded.

" Good ! " said von Papen. " I shall leave the
details to you — but keep me informed of your
needs, and I shall see that they are taken care of."

So began the plot which was literally to carry
the war into America. My first need was for
men, and for help in getting these I appealed to
von Papen, who obligingly furnished me with a
letter of introduction — made out in the name of
Bridgeman H. Taylor — to Mr. Luederitz, the
German Consul at Baltimore. There were several
German ships interned at that port, and we felt
that we should have no difficulty in recruiting our

-.-«

force from them.

Before I went to Baltimore, however, I did
engage one man, Charles Tucker, alias Tuch-
haendler, who had already had some dealings with
the two men who originally proposed the scheme.

Tucker accompanied me to Baltimore, and to-
gether we paid a visit to Consul Luederitz. The
Consul glanced at the letter I presented to him.

Enter Captain von Papen

"Captain von Papen requests me to give you
all the assistance you may ask for, Major von der
Goltz," he said, intimating by the use of my
name that he had previously been informed of the
enterprise. " I shall be happy to do anything in
my power. What is it you wish? "

Men, I told him, were my chief need at the
moment. He said that there should be no diffi-
culty about securing them. There was a German
ship in the harbour at the time, and we could
doubtless make use of part of the crew and an
officer, if we desired. He offered me his visiting-
card, on the back of which he wrote a note of
recommendation to the captain of the ship. But
while we were talking this man entered the office
and we made our preliminary arrangements there.

The following day, a Sunday, Tucker and I
visited the ship and after dinner selected our men,
who were informed of their prospective duties. I
also listened to the news that was being received
on board by wireless; for the captain was still
allowed to receive messages, although the harbour
authorities had forbidden him to use his apparatus
for sending purposes.

I needed nothing more in Baltimore, so far as
my present plans were concerned, but at Consul
Luederitz's suggestion I decided to furnish my-

'5*

Enter Captain von Papen

self with a passport, made out in my nom de
guerre of Bridgeman Taylor. Luederitz was of
the opinion that it might be useful at some future
time as a means of proving that I was an American
citizen, and accordingly we had one of the clerks
make out an application, which was duly for-
warded to Washington; and on August 31 the
State Department furnished the non-existent
Mr. Bridgeman H. Taylor with a very comfort-
ing, although, as it turned out, a decidedly
dangerous document. One other thing I needed
at the moment — a pistol, for my own was out of
order. This Mr. Luederitz provided me with
from the effects of an Austrian who had com-
mitted suicide in Baltimore1 not long before, and
whose property, in the absence of an Austrian
Consulate in the city, had been turned over to
the German Consul.

The days immediately following my return to
New York were filled with preparations for our
coup. I engaged three additional men to act as
my lieutenants, acquainted them with the main
objects of our plan, and agreed to pay them daily
while in New York, and to add a bonus when our
enterprise should succeed. These men had all
been well recommended to me, and I knew I could
trust them thoroughly. One, Fritzen, who was

Enter Captain von Papen

later captured in Los Angeles, had been a purser
on a Russian ship. A second, Busse, was a com-
mercial agent who had lived for many years in
England; the third bore the Italian name of
Covani.

Meanwhile I saw von Papen frequently, and
had on one occasion received from him a cheque
for two hundred dollars, which I needed for the
sailors who were coming from Baltimore. That
cheque, which is reproduced in this book, was to
prove a singularly disastrous piece of paper, for
in order to avoid connecting my name with that
of von Papen, it was made out to Bridgeman
Taylor. I cashed it through a friend, Frederick
Stallforth, whose brother, Alberto Stallforth, had
been the German Consul at Parral when I was
there. He, incidentally, syas later implicated in the
Bintelen trial, and was detained for a time on Ellis
Island, from which he was subsequently released.

Mr. Stallforth lifted his eyebrows when he saw
the name on the cheque. I smiled.

" I am Bridgeman Taylor/' I told him. He
laughed, but said nothing, merely getting the
cheque cashed for me at the German Club in
Central Park South, of which he was a member.

In a few days everything jvas ready. My men
had arrived from Baltimore, my plans ;were

'54

Enter Captain von Papen

definitely made — I needed but one thing : the
explosives. These, von Papen told me, I could
obtain through Captain Hans Tauscher, the
American agent of the Krupps, which meant, in
effect, the German Government.

It was asserted many times, in 1916 especially,
that the charges against Captain Tauscher were
utterly unfounded. It is easy to understand the
motives of this gentleman's defenders. There
are many people still in the United States
whose friendship with the amiable captain would
wear a decidedly suspicious look were his com-
plicity in the anti-American plots of the first two
years of the war to be proved. I shall not quarrel
with these people. But reproduced in this book
are four documents, the originals of which are in
the possession of the Department of Justice,
which tell their own story and are a fair indication
of the way I secured the explosives I needed.

These documents show :

First, that on September 5, 1914, Captain
Tauscher, American representative of the
Krupps, ordered from the du Pont de Nemoury
Powder Company 300 pounds of 60 per cent*
dynamite to be delivered to bearer, " Mr. Bridg«
man Taylor," and to be charged to Captain
Tauscher.

'55

Enter Captain von Papen

Second, that on September 11, the du Pont
Company sent Captain Tauscher a bill for the
same amount of dynamite delivered to Bridgman
Taylor, New York City, on September 5 ; and
on September 16 they sent him a second bill
for forty-five feet of fuse delivered to Bridgman
Taylor on September 13 — the total of the two
bills amounting to $31.13.

Third, that on December 29, 1914, Tauscher
sent a bill to Captain von Papen for a total
amount of $503.24. The third item, dated
September 11, was for $31.18.

Is it difficult to tell of whom I got my ex-
plosives or who eventually paid for them? I got
the dynamite, at any rate, by calling for it myself
at one of the company's barges in a motor boat,
and taking it away in suit cases. At 146th Street
and the Hudson River we left the boat, and,
carrying the explosives with us, went to the
German Club, .where I applied to von Papen for
automatic pistols, batteries, detonators, and wire
for exploding the dynamite* Von Papen
promised them in two or three days — and he
kept his word.*

I * It is interesting to remember that Captain von Papen had in the
earlier part of the year, while he was still in Mexico, conducted an
investigation into the types of explosives used in Mexico for similar
enterprises. This investigation had been undertaken at the request

156

Enter Captain von Papen

Bit by bit, all this material was removed from
the German Club — in suit cases by taxi-cab.
They were exciting rides we took in those days,
and my heart was often in my mouth when our
chauffeur turned corners in approved New York
fashion. But luckily there were no accidents, and
in a day or so all of our materials were stored
away; part of them in my apartments — not in
the Holland House, alas ! — but in a cheap section
of Harlem. For von der Goltz, the spendthrift,
the braggart, was seen no longer in the gay
places of New York. He had spent all his
money, and now, no longer of interest to the
newspapers — or to the secret agents of the Allies
— had taken a two dollar and a half room in
Harlem where he could repent his follies — and
be as inconspicuous as he pleased.

So it came about that towards the middle of
September we five — Fritzen, Busse, Tucker,
Covani and myself — took train for Buffalo,
armed with dynamite, automatic guns, deton-
ators and other necessary implements, and pro-
ceeded, absolutely unmolested, to go to Buffalo.
There I engaged rooms at 198 Delaware Avenue
and began to reconnoitre the ground. I made

of the German Ministry of War. Letters regarding this matter were
found in Captain von Papen's effects by the British authorities, and
are printed in the British White Paper, Miscellaneous No. 6 (1916).

157

Enter Captain von Papen

a trip or two over the Niagara River via aero-
plane, with an aviator who unquestionably
thought me mad and charged accordingly ; and at
the suggestion of von Papen I secured money for
my expenses from a Buffalo lawyer, John Ryan.

It had been decided that von Papen should let
us know when the Canadian troops were about
to leave camp so that we might strike at the
psychological moment. A telegram came from
him, signed with the non-committal name of
Steffens, telling me that Ryan had money and
instructions. Ryan gave me the money, as I
have stated, but insisted that he had no instruc-
tions whatever.

Then, after a stay of several days in Niagara,
during which we did nothing but exchange futile
telegrams with Ryan and " Mr. Steffens," we
learned that the first contingent of Canadian
troops had left the camp — and my men and I
returned to New York unsuccessful.

Our failure was greater than appears on the
surface, for my men and I were a blind. Our
equipment, our loud talking, our aggressive pro-
Germanism — even our secret preparations which
had not been secret enough — were intended
primarily to distract attention from other and
far more dangerous activities.

158

Enter Captain von Papen

We had been watched by United States Secret
Service men from the very beginning of our
enterprise. During our entire stay in Buffalo
and Niagara we had been under the surveillance
of men who were merely waiting for us to make
their suspicions a certainty by some positive at-
tempt against the peace of the United States.
We knew it and wanted it to be so.

And while they were waiting for sufficient
cause to arrest us, other men, totally unsuspected,
were making their way down through Canada,
intent upon destroying all of the bridges and
canal locks in the lake region!

You can see what the effect would have been
had our plan succeeded — Canada crippled and
terrorised — England robbed of the troops which
Canada was even then preparing to send her,
but which would have been forced to remain at
home to defend the border. But, far more de-
sirable in German eyes, the United States would
have been convicted in the sight of the world of
criminal negligence. For my band of men — the
obvious perpetrators of one crime — had been
acting suspiciously for weeks. And yet, in spite
of that, we were at liberty. The United States
had made no effort to apprehend us.

Good fortune saved the United States from

Enter Captain von Papen

serious international complications at that time.
While we were waiting for word from von Papen
the Canadian troops had left Valcartier Camp,
and were then on their way to England. Part
of our object had been removed, and for the rest
—well, the plan would keep, we thought.

It was a disappointed von Papen whom I met
on my return to New York — a rather crestfallen
person, far different from the urbane soldier
that Washington knew in those days. We
commiserated with each other upon our failure,
and talked of the better luck that we should have
next time. I did not know that there was to
be no next time for me.

For it came about that Abteilung III. B., the
Intelligence Department of the General Staff,
wished some first-hand information about condi-
tions in the United States and in Mexico; and
I, who knew both countries (and who was the
possessor of an American passport bearing an
American name), was selected to go.

On October 3, 1914, Bridgeman Taylor
waved farewell to New York from the deck of
an Italian steamer, bound for Genoa. The
curious might have been interested to know that
in Mr. Taylor's trunk were letters of recom-
mendation to various German Consuls in Italy;

160

/^yv^/^

CAPTAIN VON PAPEN'S LETTER TO THE GERMAN
CONSULS AT BALTIMORE AND ST. PAUL

"NE\v YORK. 27, viii, 14. I request the Consuls in Baltimore and St. Paul to give

the bearer of this letter — Mr. Bridgeman Taylor — all the assistance he may ask for.

VoT* PAPEN, Captain in the General Staff of the Army and Military Attache."

(See p. 151)

Enter Captain von Papen

strangely enough, they bore the name of Horst
von der Goltz within them, and the signature of
each was "von Papen."

I had said good-bye to von Papen the night
before at the German Club. He had asked me
to hand over to him all the firearms I had, for
use again when needed.

We talked of the war that night, and of Ger-
many, which I had not seen in two years. And
we spoke of the United States, and of what I
,was to tell them " over there."

" Say that they need not worry about this
country," he told me. " The United States may
still join us in the splendid fight we are making.
But if they do not it is of small moment. And
always remember that if things look bad for us,
something will happen over here."

I left him, speculating upon the " something "
that would happen; for then I did not know of
all the plans that were in my captain's head. I
.was to learn more about them later — and I was
to know a bitter disgust at the things that men
may do in the name of patriotism. But of these
matters I will speak in their proper place.

161

CHAPTER VIII

MY INTERVIEW WITH THE KAISER

I go to Germany on a false passport — Italy in the early
days of the war — I meet the Kaiser and talk to him
about Mexico and the United States.

IT was peaceful sailing in those early days of
the war, and our ship, the Duca d'Aosta, reached
Genoa without mishap. I had but one moment
of trepidation on the voyage, for on the last
day the ship was hailed by a British cruiser.
Here, I thought, was where I should put my
passport to the test but, as it happened, our ship
was not searched. An officer came alongside
inquiring, among other things, if there were any
Germans on board, but he accepted the captain's
assurance that there was none — to my intense
relief.

Genoa, like all the rest of the world, was in a
state of great excitement in those days. Rumours
as to the possible course of the Italian Govern-
ment were flying about everywhere, and one
could hear in an hour as many conflicting state-

162

My Interview with the Kaiser

ments of the Government's intentions as he might
wish. The country was a battlefield of the
propagandists at the moment. Nearly all of the
German Consuls, who had been forced to leave
Africa at the declaration of war, had taken up
their quarters in Italy, and were busily dissemin-
ating pro-German literature of all sorts. I was
told, too, that the French Ambassador had
already spent large sums of money buying
Italian papers in which to present the Allied
cause to the as yet neutral people of Italy. And
when I went into the office of the Imperial Ger-
man Consul-General, von Nerf, I was amused
to see a huge pile of copies of — of all papers in
the world! — the Berlin Vorwaerts, which had
been imported for distribution throughout the
country. Here was a pretty comedy ! This
newspaper, which during its entire existence had
been the bitterest foe of German autocracy in the
Empire, had become a propagandist sheet for its
former enemy and was now being used as a lure
for the hesitating sympathies of the Italian
people ! In German, French and Italian editions
it was spread about the country, carrying the
message of Teutonic righteousness to the unin-
formed.

I found von Nerf to be a large man, with

163

My Interview with the Kaiser

.whiskers that recalled those of Tirpitz, although
^without that gentleman's temperament or embon-
point. He assured me that Italy would never
enter the war; there were too many factions in
the country which would oppose such a step.

" Why, consider," he bade me, " we have the
three most important parties on our side. The
Catholics will never consent to a break with
Germany ; the business men are all our stanch
partisans; and the Labour Party is too violently
opposed to war ever to consider entering it.
Besides," he continued, "labouring men all over
the world know that it is in Germany that the
Labour Party has reached its greatest strength.
Why, then, should they consider taking sides
against us? '

" But do you think that there is any chance of
Italy entering the war on our side? " I asked him.

Von Nerf shrugged his shoulders. "It is
doubtful," was his reply. "What could they do
in their situation? "

I had come to von Nerf .with von Papen's
letter of introduction, to ask for assistance in
reaching Germany. Accordingly he arranged for
my passage, and soon I was on a train bound for
Milan and Kuf stein, where I was to change for

the train to Munich. At that time the German

164

My Interview with the Kaiser

Consuls were paying the passage of thousands of
Germans who wished to leave Italy for service in
the army. The train on which I travelled was
full of these volunteers, who later disembarked
at Kufstein, on the Austro-German border, to
report to the military authorities there.

At Munich we passed some wounded who were
being taken from the front — the first real glimpse
of the war that I had had. There was little
evidence of any war feeling in the Bavarian
capital; restaurants .were crowded, and everyone
was light-hearted and confident of victory. I
saw few signs of any hatred there, or elsewhere
during my stay in Germany. All that there was
was directed against England; France was uni-
versally respected, and I heard only expressions
of regret that she was in the war.

On the train from Munich to Berlin I had the
first good meal I had eaten in several weeks. It
was good to sit down to something besides miles
of spaghetti and indigestible anchovies. And
the price was only two marks — for that was
long before the days of the Food Controller
and $45 ham.

Berlin was filled with Austrian officers, some of
them belonging to motor batteries — the famous
'32 's — which had been built before the war in the

165

My Interview with the Kaiser

Krupp factories, not for Germany — for that
would have occasioned additional armaments on
the part of France — but by Austria, who could
increase her strength without suspicion. The
city, always martial in appearance, had changed
less than one would have expected. There, too,
the restaurants were filled; in particular the
Piccadilly, which had been rechristened the
Fatherland, and was enjoying an exceptional
popularity in consequence. One was wise to go
early if he wished to secure a table there; and
that fortunate person could see the dining-room
filled with happy crowds, eating and drinking,
and applauding vociferously when "Die Wacht
am Rhein " or some other patriotic air was played.
I had returned to Germany for two purposes :
to fight, and to bring full details of conditions in
Mexico and the United States to the War Office.
One of my first official visits was paid to the
Foreign Office, where I found everyone busy
with routine matters and very little concerned
about the success or failure of the German
propaganda in Italy — an attitude in marked
contrast to that of the General Staff. There the
first question asked of me related to conditions in
Italy. This indifference of the Foreign Office
would seem, in the light of after events, to in-

166

My Interview with the Kaiser

dicate a false security on the Ministry's part;
but in reality the facts are otherwise. Germany
had never expected Italy to enter the war on the
side of the Central Powers ; she did hope that her
former ally would remain neutral, and at that
time was doing her utmost to keep her so, both
by propaganda and by assuring her of a supply
of coal and other commodities, for which Italy
had formerly depended upon England, and which
Germany now hoped to secure for her from
America. But even at the time of my visit the
indications of Italy's future course were fairly
clear — and the Foreign Office was accepting its
failure with as good grace as it could.

But if the Foreign Office were indifferent to
the attitude of Italy, it was intensely interested
in that of Turkey, which had not yet entered the
war. It seemed to me as if Mannesmann and Com-
pany, a house whose interests in the Orient are
probably more extensive than those of any other
German company, seemed almost to have taken
possession of the Colonial Office, so many of its
employees were in evidence there; and I had
an extended conference with Bergswerkdirektor
Steinmann, who had formerly been in charge of
the Asia Minor interests of this company.
Mexico, of course, .was the principal topic of our

167

My Interview with the Kaiser

conversation, but many times he spoke of Turkey
and of the small doubt that existed as to her
future course of action.

Next door to the Foreign Office, every corner
of which was a-hum with busy clerks and officials,
stood the house to which I had been taken from
Gross Lichterfelde so many years before —
" Samuel Meyer's Bude." It was very quiet and
empty to outward appearance ; and yet from
within that silent, deserted house, I think it safe
to say, the destiny of Europe .was being directed.
It was there that the Kaiser spent his days when
he was in Berlin. And it was there that the
Imperial Chancellor had his office and deter-
mined more than any man, except the Kaiser, the
policies of the Empire.

One entered the house, going directly into a
large room that was occupied no longer by the
round-faced man of my cadet days, but by As-
sessor Horstman, the head of the Intelligence
Department of the Foreign Office. Upstairs
was the private office of the Emperor, and, to the
rear of that, the Nachrichten Bureau — a news-
paper propaganda and intelligence office,
directed by the Kaiser and under the charge of
Legation-Secretary Weber.

I visited the Turkish Legation, at the sugges-
ts

My Interview with the Kaiser

tion of Herr Steinmann, and discussed at length
and very seriously with the Ambassador the
attitude of Italy and its effect upon Turkey's
possible entry into the war. He assured me that
the only thing necessary to make Turkey take part
in the conflict was a guarantee that Germany
jvas capable of handling the Italian situation,
and that whatever Italy might do would not
affect Turkish interests.

But it was with the General Staff that my chief
business was. At the outbreak of hostilities this
— the " War Office " so-called — had become two
organisations. One, devoted to the actual super-
vision of the forces in the field, had its head-
quarters in Charleville, France, far behind the
battle front; the other branch remained in the
dingy old building on the Koenig's Platz, in
which it had always been quartered. It is here
that the army department of "Intelligence,"
officially known as Abteilung III. B, is located,
and it was to this department that I had been
assigned.

Von Papen had, of course, communicated to
Berlin an account of our various activities, and
there was little that I could add to the informa-
tion the department possessed about conditions
in the United States. Mexico seemed rather the

169

My Interview with the Kaiser

chief point of interest, and Major Kohnemann,
to whom I spoke, asked innumerable questions
about the attitude of Villa towards both the
United States and Germany; what I thought of
his chances of ultimate success, and whether I
believed that he, if he succeeded, would be more
friendly to Germany than Carranza was at the
time. After an hour of such discussion, which
more closely resembled a cross-examination, he
suddenly rose.

"Your information is of great interest, Cap-
tain von der Goltz," he said. " I shall ask you to
return here at five o'clock this evening. Wear
your heaviest underclothing. You are going to
see the Emperor."

I started. Prussian officers do not joke as a
rule, but for the life of me I could not see any
sane connection between his last two remarks.
The major must have noticed my perplexity, for
he smiled as he continued :

"You are going to travel by Zeppelin," he
explained. " It will be very cold."

That night I drove by motor to a point on the
outskirts of the city, where a Zeppelin was moored.
It was one of those which had formerly been fitted
up for passenger service, and was now used when

quick transportation of a small number of men

170

My Interview with the Kaiser

was necessary. There were several officers of
the General Staff whose immediate presence at
Coblenz, where the Emperor had stationed him-
self, was needed; and since speed was essential
we were to travel in this way.

The miles lying between Berlin and Coblenz
seemed but so many rods to me, as I sat in
the saloon of the great airship, resting and talk-
ing to my fellow-passengers. One would have
thought that we had been travelling but a few
moments when suddenly there loomed below us
in the moonlight the twin fortresses of Ehren-
breitstein and Coblenz, each built upon a high
plateau. Between them, in the valley, the lights
of the city shone dimly ; in the centre of the town
was the Schloss, where the Emperor awaited us.

But I did not see the Emperor that night.
Instead, I was shown to a room in the castle — a
room lighted by candle — and there my attendant
bade me good night.

At half-past three I was awakened by a knock
at the door. " Please dress," said a voice. " His
Majesty wishes to see you at four o'clock."

It was still dark when at four o'clock I entered
that room on the ground floor of the castle where
the Emperor of Emperors worked and ate and
slept. In the dim light I saw him, bent over a

171

My Interview with the Kaiser

table on which was piled correspondence of all
kinds. He did not seem to have heard me enter
the room, and as he continued to work, signing
paper after paper with great rapidity, I looked
down and noticed that, in my haste to appear
before him on time, I had dressed completely save
for one thing. I was in my stocking feet.

I coughed to announce my presence. He
looked up then, and I saw that he wore a Litewka,
that undress military jacket which is used by
soldiers for stable duty, and which German officers
wear sometimes in their homes. But the face
that met mine startled me almost out of my
composure ; for it was more like the countenance
of Pancho Villa than that of Wilhelm Hohen-
zollern. That face, as a rule so majestic in its
expression, was drawn and lined; his hair was
disarranged and showed numerous bald patches*
which it ordinarily covered. And his moustache
— for so many years the target of friend and
foe — which was always pointed so arrogantly
upwards, drooped down and gave him a dis-
pirited look which I had never seen him wear
before.

In a word, it was an extremely nervous and
not a stolid Teutonic person who sat before me
in that room. And it was not an assertive, but

172

My Interview with the Kaiser

merely a very tired human being who finally
addressed me.

"I am sorry to have been obliged to call you
at this hour," he said, " but I am very busy, and
it is important that I should see you."

And then, instead of ordering me to report to
him, instead of commanding me to tell him those
things which I had been sent to tell him, this
autocrat, this so-called man of iron, spoke to me
as one man to another, almost as a friend speaks
to a friend.

I do not remember all that we spoke of in that
half-hour — the three years that have passed have
brought me too much of experience for me to
recall clearly more than the general tenor of our
conversation. It is his manner that I remember
most vividly, and the general impression of the
scene. For as I stood before him then, it sud-
denly seemed to me that he spoke and looked as
a man will who is confronted by a problem that
for the moment has staggered him — not because
of its immensity, but because he sees now that he
has always misunderstood it.

Here, I thought, is a man accustomed to
facing all issues with grand words and a show of
arrogance ; and now at a time when oratory is of
no avail, he finds himself still indomitable, per-

173

My Interview with the Kaiser

haps, but a trifle lost, a trifle baffled, when he
contemplates the work before him. For Wilhelm
II. had laboured for years to prevent, or if that
were impossible, to come victoriously through, the
crisis which he knew must some day develop, and
which he himself had at last precipitated. He
had striven constantly to entrench Germany in
a position that would command the world; and
had sought to concentrate, so far as may be, the
trouble spots of the world into one or two, to the
end that Germany, when the time came, might
extinguish them at a blow. But the time had
come, and he knew that, despite his efforts, there
were not two, but many issues that must be faced,
and each one separately. He had striven with a
sort of perverted altruism to prepare the world
for those things which he believed to be right and
which, therefore, must prevail. And now after
long years of preparation, of diplomatic intrigue
with its record of nations bribed, threatened, or
cajoled into submission or alliance, he was faced
with a condition which gave the lie to his expecta-
tions, and he knew that "failure " must be writ-
ten across the years. Russia and Japan were for
the moment lost; Italy was making ready to cut
itself loose from that alliance which had been so

insecurely founded upon mistrust. And in

174

My Interview with the Kaiser

America — who could tell? And yet for all that
I read weariness and bewilderment in his every
tone, I could find in him no trace of hesitation
or uncertainty. Instead, I knew that running
through every fibre of the man there was an un-
questioning assurance of victory — a victory that
must come !

While I stood there imagining these things, he
spoke of our aims in Europe and in America and
of the things that must be done to bring them to
success. He bade me tell him the various details
of our affairs in Mexico and the United States;
and he, like Kohnemann, was chiefly interested
in Mexico. It was, in fact, almost suspicious, his
interest was so great ; and I could explain it only
in one way — that he viewed Mexico as the ulti-
mate battlefield of Japan and the United States
in the next great struggle — the struggle for the
mastery of the Pacific. For just as Belgium has
been the battlefield of Europe, so must Mexico
be the battleground of America in that war which
the future seems to be preparing.

I remember wondering, as he spoke of what
might come to pass, at the tremendous familiarity
he displayed with the points of view of the
peoples and Governments of both Americas. I
had thought myself well acquainted with condi-

'75

My Interview with the Kaiser

tions in both continents ; but here was a man
separated by thousands of miles from the peoples
of whom he talked, whose knowledge was, never-
theless, more correct, as I saw it, than that of
anyone — Dernburg not excepted — whom I had
met.

It was then, I think, that he told me what
Germany wished of me, outlining briefly those
things which he thought I could do best.

" You can serve us," he said, " in Turkey or in
America. In the one you will have an oppor-
tunity to fight as thousands of your countrymen
are fighting. In the other, you will have chosen
a task that is not so pleasant, perhaps, and not
less dangerous, but which will always be regarded
honourably by your Emperor, because it is work
that must be done. Which do you choose? >!

I hesitated a moment.

" It shall be as your Majesty wishes," I said
finally.

He looked at me closely before he spoke again.
"It is America, then."

And then, as I bowed in acquiescence, he
spoke once more — for the last time so far as my
ears are concerned.

"I must be ready by 7; my train leaves at

7.10. I may never see you again, but I shall

176

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My Interview with the Kaiser

always know that you have done your duty.
Good-bye!"

And so I left him — this man who is a menace
to his people, not because he is vicious or from
any criminal intent; not, I believe, because his
personal ambitions are such that his country
must bleed to satisfy them; but merely because
his mind is the outcome of a system and an
education so divorced from fact that he could
not see the evil of his own position if it were
explained to him.

For in spite of his remarkable grasp of the
facts of Empire, the deeper human realities have
passed him by. For years he has had a private
clipping bureau for his own information; but he
does not know that he has never seen any but the
clippings that the Junkers — those who stood to
gain by the success of his present course — have
wished him to see. He does not know that he
has been shut out from many chapters of the
world's real history ; or that this insidious censor-
ship has kept from him those things which, I am
sure, had he known in the days when his intellect
.was susceptible to the influence of fact, would
have made him a man instead of an Emperor.

Here jvas a man who honestly believed that he
was doing what .was best for his people, but so

M I77

My Interview with the Kaiser

hopelessly warped by his training and so closely
surrounded by satellites that even had the truth
borne wings it could not have reached him.

To me it seems that the menace of the Hohen-
zollerns lies in this : not that they are worse than
other men, not that they mean ill to the world,
but that time and experience have left them
unaroused by what others know as progress.
They stand in the pathway of the world to-day,
believing themselves right and regarding them-
selves as victims of an oppressive rivalry. They
do not know that their viewpoint is as tragically
perverted as that of the fox which, feeling that it
must live, steals the farmer's hens. But, like the
farmer, the world knows only that it is injured;
and just as the farmer realises that he must rid
himself of the fox, so the world knows, to-day,
and says that the Hohenzollerns must go !

178

CHAPTER IX

MY ARREST AND CONFESSION

In England, and how I reached there — I am arrested and
imprisoned for fifteen months — What von Papen's
baggage contained. — I make a sworn statement.

BACK in Berlin I sought out Major Kohnemann,
and together we spent many days in planning
my future course of action. It was a war council
in effect, for the object towards which we aimed
was nothing less than the crippling of the United
States by a campaign of terrorism and conspiracy.
It was not pleasant work that I was to do, but I
knew, as every informed German did, that it was
necessary. Therefore I accepted it.

What would you have? Germany was in the
war to conquer or be conquered. America, the
source of supply for the Allies, stood in the way.
Knowing these things, we set about the task of
preventing America from aiding our enemies by
using whatever means we could. We did not
feel either compunction or hostility. It was war
— diplomatic rather than military, but war none
the less.

179

My Arrest and Confession

I do not intend to go into the details of our
plans at the present moment. Enough to say that
after a brief visit to both the Eastern and Western
fronts I left Germany for England — en route to
America with a programme which, in ruthlessness
or efficiency, left nothing to be desired.

But before going to England it was necessary
that I should take every possible precaution against
exposure there. My passport might be sufficient
identification, but I knew that since the arrest of
Carl Lody and other German spies in England
the British authorities were examining passports
twith a great deal more care than they had
formerly exercised. Accordingly, one morning,
Mr. Bridgeman Taylor presented himself at the
American Embassy for financial aid with which
to leave Germany. There .was good reason for
this. To ask a Consulate or Embassy to vise a
passport when that is not necessary may easily
seem suspicious. But the applicant for aid re-
ceives not only additional identification in the
form of a record of his movements, but also
secures an advantage in that his passport bears
an endorsement of his appeal for assistance, in
my case signed with the name of the Ambassador.
At The Hague I again applied for help from the
United States Relief Commission. I amused

180

My Arrest and Confession

myself on this occasion by making two drafts :
one for $15 on Mr. John F. Ryan of Buffalo,
N.Y., and one for $30 on "Mr. Papen " of
New York City.

I was fairly secure, then, I thought. If sus-
picion did fall upon me it would be simple to
prove that I had submitted my passport to a
number of American officials, and had conse-
quently satisfied them of my good faith as well
as that the passport had not been issued to some-
one other than myself, as in the case of Lody.

As a final step I took care to divide my per-
sonal papers into two groups : those which were
perfectly harmless, such as my Mexican com-
mission and leave of absence, and those which
would tend to establish my identity as a German
agent. These I deposited in two separate safe
deposit vaults in Rotterdam, taking care to re-
member in which each group was placed — and
that done, with a feeling of personal security,
and even a certain amount of zest for the
adventure, I boarded a Channel steamer for
England.

I ,was absolutely safe, I felt. In my con-
fidence I went about very freely, ignoring the
fact that England was at the moment in the
throes of a spy scare, and even so well recom-

1*1

My Arrest and Confession

mended a German-American as Mr. Bridgeman
Taylor was not likely to escape scrutiny.

And yet, I believe that I should not have been
caught at all if I had not stopped one day in
front of the Horse Guards and joined the crowd
that was watching guard mount. Why I did it
it is impossible for me to say. There was no
military advantage to be gained; that is certain.
And I had seen guard mount often enough to
find no element of novelty in it. Whim, I sup-
pose, drew me there ; and as luck would have it,
it drew me into a particularly congested portion
of the crowd. And then chance played another
card by causing a small boy to step on my foot.
I lost my temper and abused the lad roundly for
his carelessness — so roundly, in fact, that a man
standing in front of me turned and looked into
my face.

I recognised him at once as an agent of the
Ilussian Government, whom I had once been
instrumental in exposing as a spy in Germany.
I saw him look at me closely for a moment,
and I could tell by his expression, although he
said no word, that he had recognised me also.
Thrusting a penny into the boy's hand I made
haste to get out of the crowd as quickly as I
could.

182

My Arrest and Confession

Here ,was a pleasant situation, I thought, as
I made my way very quietly to my hotel. I
could not doubt that the Russian would report
me — but what then? His word against mine
would not convict me of anything, but it might
lead to an inconvenient period of detention. I
sat down to consider the situation.

After all, I decided, the situation was serious
but not absolutely hopeless. Unquestionably 1
should be reported to the police; unquestionably
a careful investigation .would result in the dis-
covery that there was no Bridgeman H. Taylor
at the address in El Paso which I had given to
the Relief Commission at The Hague. For the
rest, my accent would prove only that I was of
German blood ; not that I was a German subject.

So far, so bad. But what then? I had, in the
safe deposit vaults in Rotterdam, papers proving
that I was a Mexican officer on leave. It would
be a simple matter to send for these papers, to
admit that I was Horst von der Goltz, and to
state that I was in England en route from a visit
to my family in Germany and now bound for
Mexico to resume my services. There remained
but one matter to explain : why I was using an
American passport bearing a name that was not
mine.

183

My Arrest and Confession

That should not be a difficult task. Huerta
had been overthrown barely a week before my
leave of absence was issued. Carranza's Govern-
ment had not yet been recognised, and already
my general, Villa, had quarrelled with him, so that
it Lwas impossible for me to procure a passport
from the Mexican Government. In my dilemma
I had taken advantage of the offer of an American
exporter, who had been kind enough to lend me
his passport, which he had secured and found he
did not need at the time. As for my name, it
,was not a particularly good one under which to
travel in England, so I had naturally been obliged
to use the one on my passport.

It was a good story and had somewhat the
appearance of truth. The question was, would
it be believed? Even if it were, it had its dis-
advantages; for I should certainly be arrested as
an enemy alien, and after a delay fatal to all my
plans, I should probably be deported. I decided
to try a bolder scheme.

In Parliamentary White Paper, Miscellaneous
No. 13 (1916), you will find a statement which
explains my next step.

" Horst von der Goltz," it says, "arrived in
England from Holland on November 4, 1914

He offered information upon projected air raids,

184

My Arrest and Confession

the source whence the Emden derived her informa-
tion as to British shipping, and how the Leipzig
was obtaining her coal supply. He offered to go
back to Germany to obtain information) and all
he asked for in the first instance was his travelling
expenses."

What is the meaning of these amazing state-
ments? Simply this. I realised that even if the
story I had concocted were believed it would mean
a considerable delay and ultimate deportation.
And as I had no mind to submit to either of
these things if I could avoid them, I decided
to forestall my Russian friend by taking the
only possible step — one commendable for its
audacity if for nothing else. Accordingly I
walked straight to Downing Street and into the
Foreign Office. I asked to see Mr. X, of the
Secret Intelligence Department. This was .walk-
ing into the jaws of the lion with a vengeance.

I told Mr. X that I wished to enter the British
Secret Service; that I was in a position to secure
much valuable information.

"Upon what subject?"

Zeppelin raids, I told him. I chose that sub-
ject first, because it .was the least harmful I could
think of in case my "traitorous" offer ever
reached the eai3 of Berlin. No one knew better

'85

My Arrest and Confession

than I how impossible it was to obtain information
about Zeppelins. I reasoned that the officers in
command of Abteilung III. B in the General
Staff would know that I was bluffing when I
offered to get information upon that subject for
the English. They would know that I was not
in a position to have or to obtain any such know-
ledge, for in Germany no topic is so closely
guarded as that. Also, I reasoned that it kwas a
topic in which the English were vastly interested.
They .were.

Mr. X was hesitating, so I added two other
equally absurd subjects : the movements of the
Emden and the Leipzig, about which I knew—
and the service chiefs knew that I knew—
absolutely nothing.

Mr. X was plainly puzzled. My intentions
seemed to be good. At any rate, I had come to
him quite openly, and any ulterior motives I
might have had were not apparent. Then, too, I
had offered him the key of my safe deposit box,
telling him what it contained. He considered a
moment.

"We shall have to investigate your story,"
he said finally. " We shall send to Holland for
the papers you say are contained in the vault
there; and you svill be questioned further. In

1 86

My Arrest and Confession

the meantime I shall have to place you under
arrest."

I had expected nothing better than this, and
went to my gaol with a feeling that was relief
rather than anything else. My papers would
establish my identity, and then, if all went well,
I should go back to Germany and make my way
to America by another route.

But all did not go well. Somehow, in spite of
my commission and leave of absence — perhaps
because my offer seemed too good to be true —
the British authorities decided that it would be
better to lose the information I had offered them
and keep me in England. Whatever their sus-
picions, the only charge they could bring against
me and prove was that I was an alien enemy who
had failed to register. They had no proof
whatever of any connection between me and the
German Government. So on November 13,
1914, they brought me into a London police-
court to answer the charge of failing to register.
I ;was delighted to do so. It Lwas far more com-
fortable than facing a court-martial on trial for
my life as a spy, as the English newspapers had
seemed to expect. Accordingly on November 26
I was duly sentenced to six months' hard labour

in Pentonville Prison, with a recommendation for

187

My Arrest and Confession

deportation at the expiration of my sentence. I
served five months at Pentonville, and then my
good behaviour let me out.

Home Secretary McKenna signed the order
for my deportation. I was free. I was to slip
from under the paw of the lion.

And then something happened — to this day I
don't know what. Instead of being deported I
was thrust into Brixton Prison, where Kuepferer
hanged himself, strangely enough, just after his
troubles seemed over. Kuepferer had driven a
bargain with the English. He was to give them
information in return for his life and freedom;
and then, when he had everything arranged, he
committed suicide. In Brixton I was not sen-
tenced on any charge, I was simply held in
solitary confinement, with occasional diversions
in the form of a " third degree." After my first
insincere offer to give the English information I
kept my mouth shut and made no overtures to
them, although I confess that the temptation to
tell all I knew was often very great. The English
got nothing out of me, and in September, 1915,
I was shifted to another prison. They took me
out of Brixton and placed me in Reading gaol —
the locale of Oscar Wilde's ballad. Conditions
Lwere less disagreeable there. I was allowed to

188

My Arrest and Confession

have newspapers and magazines, and to talk and
exercise with my fellow-prisoners.

You may be sure that all this time the English
made attempts to solve my personal identity as
well as to learn the reason for my being in
England. They could not shake my story. Time
after time I told them : " I am Horst von der
Goltz, an officer of the Mexican army on leave.
I used the United States passport made out to
Bridgeman Taylor from necessity — to avoid the
suspicion that would be attached to me because
of my German descent.

" Gentlemen, that is all I can tell you."

Over and over again I repeated that meagre
statement to the men who questioned me. I
would not tell them the truth, and I knew that
no lie would help me. And then came an event
wrhich changed my viewpoint and made me tell —
if not the whole story — at least a considerable
part of it.

I had, as I have said, managed to secure news-
papers in my new quarters. It is difficult to say
how eagerly I read them after so many months
of complete ignorance, or jvvith .what anxiety I
studied such war news as came into my hands.
It was America in which I was chiefly interested,

for I knew that after my capture some other

189

My Arrest and Confession

man must have been sent to do the work which I
had planned to do. I know now that it was von
Rintelen who was selected — that infinitely re-
sourceful intriguer who planted his spies through-
out the United States, and for a time seemed
well on the way to succeeding in the most gigantic
conspiracy against a peaceful nation that had ever
been undertaken. But at the time I could tell
nothing of this, although I watched unceasingly
for reports of strikes, explosions and German
uprisings .which would tell me that that work
which I had been commanded to do, and from
which I was only too glad to be spared, was
being prosecuted.

So several months passed — months in which I
had time for meditation and in which I began
to see more clearly some things which had been
hinted at in Berlin — and of which I shall tell
more later. And then one day I read a dispatch
that caused me to sit very silently for a moment
in my cell, and to wonder — and fear a little.

Von Papen had been recalled.

I read the story of how he and Captain Boy-Ed
had overreached and finally betrayed themselves;
of the passport frauds they had conducted; of
the conspiracies and seditions they had sought to

stir up. I learned that they had been sent home

190

My Arrest and Confession

under a safe-conduct which did not cover any
documents they might carry. It was this last
fact which caused me uneasiness. Had von Papen,
always so confident of his success, attempted to
smuggle through some report of his two years
of plotting? It seemed improbable, and yet,
knowing his tendency to take chances, I kwas
troubled by the possibility. For such a report
might contain a record of my connection
with him — and I was not protected by a
safe-conduct !

My fears were well founded, as you knowt
Von Papen carried with him no particular re-
ports, but a number of personal papers which
were seized when his ship stopped at Falmouth.

In my prison I read of the seizure and was
doubly alarmed; increasingly so when the news-
papers began publishing reports which impli-
cated literally hundreds of Irish- and German-
Americans whose services von Papen had used in
his plots. Then as the days passed, and my name
was not mentioned in the disclosures, I became
relieved.

" After all," I thought, "he knows that I am
here in prison and that I have kept silent. He
will have been careful. These others — he has had

some reason for his incautiousness with them.

191

My Arrest and Confession

But he will not betray me, just as he has be-
trayed none of his German associates."

Then, on the night of January 80, 1916, the
governor of Reading prison informed me that I
was to go to London the next day.

"Where to?" I asked.

"To Scotland Yard," he said briefly.

"What for?"

"I do not know."

My heart sank, for I realised at once that
something had occurred which was of vital import
to me. I have faced firing squads in Mexico. I
have stood against a wall waiting for the signal
that should bid the soldiers fire. And I have taken
other dangerous chances without, I believe, more
fear than another man would have known. But
never have I felt more reluctant than that night
when I stood outside of Scotland Yard, waiting —
for what ?

I was brought into the office of the Assistant
Commissioner and found myself in the presence
of four men, who regarded me gravely and in
silence.

There was something tomb-like about the at-
mosphere of the room, I thought, as I faced these
men — and then I changed my opinion, for I saw

lying open on the table around which they were

192

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My Arrest and Confession

seated a box of cigarettes. I reached forward to
take one, forgetting all politeness (for I had not
smoked for six weeks), when my eye caught sight
of a little pink slip of paper which one of them
held in his hand — a slip which, I knew at once, was
the cause of my presence there.

It read :

"WASHINGTON, D.C.

" September 1, 1914.
" The Riggs National Bank,

66 Pay to the order of Mr. Bridgeman Taylor
two hundred dollars.

"F. VONPAPEN."

One of the company turned over the cheque
so that I could see the endorsement.

They were all watching me. The room was
very still. I could hear myself breathe. They
handed me a pen and paper.

66 Sign this name, please — Mr. Bridgeman
Taylor."

I knew it would be folly to attempt to disguise
my handwriting. I wrote out my name. It
corresponded exactly with the endorsement on
the back of the cheque.

"Do you know that cheque?" I was asked.

" Yes," I admitted, racking my wits for a pos-
sible explanation of the affair.

N I93

My Arrest and Confession

" Why was it issued? 5:
I had an inspiration.

" Von Papen gave it to me to go to Europe and
join the army — but you see I didn't - '

" Ah ! Von Papen gave it to you.

I was doing quick thinking. My first fright
was over, but I realised that that little cheque
might easily be my death-warrant. I knew that
von Papen had many reports and instructions
bearing my name. I was afraid to admit to myself
that after all these months of security I had at
last been discovered. Von Papen's cheque proved
that I had received money from a representa-
tive of the German Government. There might
be other papers which would prove everything
needed to sentence me to execution. I was
groping around for an idea — and then in a flash
I realised the truth. It angered and embittered
me.

There passed across my memory the year and
more of solitary confinement, during which I had
held my tongue.

I swung around on the Englishmen.

66 Are you the executioners of the German
Government?" I asked. " Are you so fond of
von Papen that you want to do him a favour? If

you shoot me you will be obliging him."

194

My Arrest and Confession

" We are going to prosecute you on this evi-
dence," was the only answer.

"You English pride yourselves," I said, "on
not being taken in. Von Papen is a very clever
man. Are you going to let him use you for his
own purposes? Do you think he was foolish
enough not to realise that those papers would
be seized? Do you think" — this part of it was a
random shot, and lucky — "do you think it is an
accident that the only papers he carried referring
to a live, unsentenced man in England refer to
me? Just think! Von Papen has been recalled.
The United States can investigate his actions now
without embarrassment. And he, knowing me
to be one of the connecting links in the chain of
his activities, and knowing that I am a prisoner
liable to extradition, would ask nothing better
than to be permanently rid of me. And in the
papers he carried he very obligingly furnished you
with incriminating evidence against me. You can
choose for yourselves. Do him this favour if you
want to. But I think I'm worth more to you
alive than dead. Especially now that I see
how very willing my own Government is to have
me dead."

My hearers exchanged glances. I had made
the appeal as a forlorn hope. Would they accept

My Arrest and Confession

it and the promise it implied? I could not tell
from their next words.

"We shall discuss that further. Meanwhile,
you will return to Reading."

The next few days were full of anxiety. I could
not tell how my appeal had been regarded, but I
knew that it would be only by good fortune that I
should escape at least a trial for espionage — for that
is jvhat my presence in England would mean.
Finally, I received a tentative assurance of im-
munity if I should tell what I knew of the work-
ings of German secret agencies.

In spite of any hesitancy I might formerly have
felt at such a course, I decided to make a confes-
sion. Von Papen's betrayal of me — for that he
had intentionally betrayed me I was, and am, con-
vinced— was too wanton to arouse in me any feeling
except a desire for my freedom, which for fifteen
months I had been robbed of merely through the
silence which my own sense of honour imposed
upon me. But I must be careful. I had no desire
to injure anyone .whom von Papen had not impli-
cated. And I did not wish to betray any secret
which I could safely withhold.

I speculated upon what other documents von
Papen might have carried. So far as I knew the

only one involving me was the cheque ; but of that

196

My Arrest and Confession

I could not be sure, nor did it seem likely. It was
more probable that there were other papers which
would be used to test the sincerity of my story.
My aim was to tell only such things as were
already known, or were quite harmless. But how
to do that? I needed some inkling as to what I
might tell and on what I must be silent.

That knowledge was difficult to obtain, but I
finally secured it through a rather adroit question-
ing of one of the men who interrogated me at the
time. He had shown me much courtesy and no
little sympathy; and after some pains I managed
to worm out of him a very indefinite but useful
idea of what matters the von Papen documents
covered.

What I learned was sufficient to enable me to
exclude from my story any facts implicating men
who might be harmed by my disclosures. I told
of the Welland Canal plot so far as my part in it
was concerned, and I told of von Papen's share in
that and other activities. And I took care to in-
corporate in my confession the promise of im-
munity that had been made me tentatively.

" I have made these statements," I wrote, " on
the distinct understanding that the statements I
have made, or should make in the future, will not
be used against me ; that I am not to be prosecuted

197

My Arrest and Confession

for participation in any enterprise directed against
the United Kingdom or her Allies which I engaged
in at the direction of Captain von Papen or other
i epresentatives of the German Government; and
that the promise that I am not to be extradited
or sent to any country where I am liable to punish-
ment for political offences, is made on behalf of
His Majesty's Government."

It was on February 2 that I completed my
confession and swore to the truth of it. Affairs
.went better with me after that. I was sent to
Lewes prison, and there I was content for the re-
mainder of my stay in England. And although
I was still a prisoner I felt more free than I had
felt for many years. I .was out of it all — free of
the necessity to be always .watchful, always secret.
And, above all, I had cut myself adrift from the
intriguing which once I had enjoyed, but which in
the last two years I had grown to hate more than
I hated anything else on earth.

And there my own adventures end — so far as
this book is concerned. I shall not do more than
touch upon my return to the United States on a
far different errand from that I had once planned.
My testimony in the Grand Jury proceedings
against Captain Tauscher, von Igel, and others
of my onetime fellow-conspirators, is a matter of

198

My Arrest and Confession

too recent record to deserve more than passing
mention. Tauscher, you twill remember, was ac-
quitted because it was impossible to prove that he
was aware of the objects for which he had supplied
explosives. Von Igel, Captain von Papen's secre-
tary, was protected by diplomatic immunity. And
Fritzen and Covani, my former lieutenants, had
not yet been captured.*

But though my intriguing was ended, Ger-
many's was not. It may be interesting to consider
these intrigues, in the light of what I had learned
during those two years — and what I have discovered
since.

* Fritzen, who was captured in Hartwood, Gal., on March 9, 1917,
was arraigned in New York City on March 16, and after pleading
not guilty, later reversed his plea. He was sentenced to a term of
eighteen months in a Federal prison.

199

CHAPTER X

GERMANY'S HATE CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA

The German intrigue against the United States — Von Papen,
Boy-Ed, and von Rintelen, and the work they did —
How the German-Americans were used, and how they
were betrayed.

IN the long record of German intrigue in the
United States one fact stands out predominantly.
If you consider the tremendous ramifications of
the system .which Germany' has built, the extent
of its organisation and the efficiency with which so
gigantic a secret work ,was carried on, you will
realise that this system was not the work of a
short period, but of many years. As a matter of
fact, Germany had laid the foundation of that
structure of espionage and conspiracy many years
before — even before the time .when the United
States first became a Colonial Power and thus in-
volved herself in the tangle of world politics.

I am making no rash assertions when I state
that ten years ago the course which German agents
should adopt towards the United States in the

event of a great European war had been deter-

200

Germany's Hate Campaign

mined with a reasonable amount of exactness by
the General Staff, and that it was this plan which
was adapted to the conditions of the moment, and
set into operation at the outbreak of the present
conflict. No element of hostility lay behind this
planning. Germany had no grievance against
America ; and whatever potential causes of conflict
existed between the two nations lay in the far
future.

That plan, so complete in detail, so menacing
in its intent, was but part of a world-plan to assure
to Germany when the time was ripe the submission
of all her enemies and the peaceful assistance and
acquiescence in her aims of those parts of the world
which at that time should be at peace. Germany
looked far ahead on that day when she first knew
that war must come. She realised, if no other
nation did, that however strong in themselves the
combatants were, the neutrals who should com-
mand the world's supplies would really determine
the victory.

Knowing this, Germany — which does not play
the game of diplomacy with gloves on — laid her
plans accordingly.

The United States offered a peculiarly fruitful
field for her endeavours. By tradition and geo-
graphy divorced from European rivalries, it was,

201

Germany's Hate Campaign

nevertheless, from both an industrial and agricul-
tural standpoint, obviously to become the most im-
portant of neutral nations. The United States
alone could feed and equip a continent ; and it
needed no prophet to perceive that whichever coun-
try could appropriate to itself her resources would
unquestionably win the war, if a speedy military
victory were not forthcoming.

It was Germany's aim, therefore, to prepare
the way by which she could secure those supplies,
or, failing in that, to keep them from the enemy,
England — if England it should be. In a military
way such a plan had little chance of success. Eng-
land's command of the seas was too complete for
Germany to consider that she could establish a
successful blockade against her. It was then, I
fancy, that Germany bethought herself of a greatly
potential ally in the millions of citizens of German
birth or parentage with whom the United States
was filled.

One may extract a trifle of cynical amusement
from .what followed. Those millions of German-
Americans had never been regarded with affection
in Berlin. The vast majority of them were descen-
dants of men who had left their homes for political
reasons ; and of those who had been born in Ger-
many many had emigrated to escape military ser-

202

Germany's Hate Campaign

vice, and others had gone to seek a better oppor-
tunity than their native land provided. They had
been called renegades who had given up their true
allegiance for citizenship in a foreign country, and
Bernstorff himself, according to the evidence of
U.S. Senator Phelan, had said that he regarded
them as traitors and cowards.

But Germany voicing her own spleen in
private, and Germany with an axe to grind, were
two different entities. And no one who observed
the honeyed beginnings of the Deutschtum move-
ment in America would have believed that these
men kwho in public life were so assiduously
and graciously flattered were in private charac-
terised as utter traitors to the Fatherland — and
worse.

Certainly no one believed it when, in 1900,
Prince Henry of Prussia paid his famous visit to
America. No word of criticism of these
"traitors'' was spoken by him; and when at
banquets glasses were raised and Milwaukee smiled
across the table at Berlin, the sentimental onlooker
might have felt a gush of joy at this spectacle of
amity and reconciliation. And the sentimental
onlooker would never have suspected that Prince
Henry had travelled three thousand miles for any
other purpose than to attend the launching of the

203

Germany's Hate Campaign

Kaiser's yacht Meteor, which was then building
in an American yard.

But to the cynical observer, searching the
records of the years immediately following Prince
Henry's visit, a few strange facts would have be-
come apparent. He would have discovered that
German societies, which had been neither very
/numerous nor popular before, had in a compara-
tively short time acquired a membership and a pro-
minence that were little short of marvellous. He
would have noted the increasing number of Ger-
man teachers and professors who appeared in the
faculties of American schools and colleges. He
would have remarked the growth in popularity of
the German newspapers, many of them edited by
Germans who had never become naturalised. And
yet, observing these things, he might have agreed
with the vast majority of Americans in regarding
them as entirely harmless and of significance
merely as a proof of how hard love of one's native
land dies.

He would have been mistaken had he so re-
garded them. The German Government does not
spend money for sentimental purposes; and in
the last ten years that Government has expended
literally millions of dollars for propaganda in the

United States. It has consistently encouraged a

204

Germany's Hate Campaign

sentiment for the Fatherland that should be so
strong that it would hold first place in the heart of
every German- American. It has circulated pam-
phlets advocating the exclusive use of the German
language, not merely in the homes, but in shops
and street cars and all other public places. It has
lent financial support to German organisations in
America, and in a thousand ways has aimed so to
win the hearts of the German- Americans that
when the time should come the United States, by
sheer force of numbers, would be delivered, bound
hand and foot, into the hands of the German
Government.

It was this object of undermining the true
allegiance of the German citizens of the United
States which transformed an innocent and natural
tendency into a menace that was the more insidious
because the very people involved were, for the
most part, entirely ignorant of its true nature.
Germany seized upon an attachment that was
purely one of sentiment and race and sought to
make it an instrument of political power; and she
went about her work with so efficient a secrecy
that she very nearly accomplished her purpose.

By the time the Great War broke out the
German propaganda in America had assumed
notable proportions. German newspapers were

205

Germany's Hate Campaign

plentiful and had acquired a tremendous influence
over the minds of the German-speaking folk.
Many of the German societies had been consoli-
dated into one national organisation — the German-
American National Alliance, with a membership
of two millions, and a president, C. J. Hexamer,
of Chicago, whose devotion to the Fatherland has
been so great that he has been decorated with
the Order of the Red Eagle. And the German
people of the United States had, by a long cam-
paign of flattery and cajolery, coupled with a
systematic glorification of German genius and in-
stitutions, been won to attachment to the country
of their origin that required only a touch to trans-
late it into fanaticism.

Germany had set the stage and rehearsed the
chorus. There were needed only the principals
to make the drama complete. These she provided
in the persons of four men : Franz von Pap en,
Karl Boy-Ed, Heinrich Albert, and later Franz
von Rintelen.

They were no ordinary men whom Germany
had appointed to the leadership of this giant
underground warfare against a peaceful country.
Highly bred, possessing a wide and intensive
knowledge of finance, of military strategy and of
diplomatic finesse, they were admirably equipped

206

Germany's Hate Campaign

to win the admiration and trust of the people of
America at the very moment that they were
attacking them. All of them were men skilled
in the art of making friends; and so successfully
did they employ this art that their popularity for
a long time contrived to shield them from sus-
picion. Each of these men was assigned to the
command of some particular branch of German
secret service. And each brought to his task the
resources of the scientist, the soldier and the
statesman, coupled with the scruples of the bandit.
It is impossible in this brief space to tell the
full story of the activities of these gentlemen and
of their many highly trained assistants. Violence,
as you know, played no small part in their plans.
Sedition, strikes in munitions plants, attacks
upon ships carrying supplies to the Allies,
the crippling of transportation facilities, bomb
outrages — these are a few of the main elements
in the campaign to render the United States
useless as a source of supply for Germany's
enemies. But ultimately of more importance
than this was a programme of publicity which
should not only present to the German- Americans
the viewpoint of their Fatherland (an entirely
legitimate propaganda), but which was aimed to
consolidate them into a political unit which should

207

Germany's Hate Campaign

be used, by peaceful means if possible — such as
petitions and the like, but if that method failed,
by absolute armed resistance — to force the United
States Government to declare an embargo upon
shipments of munitions and foodstuffs to the
Allies, and to compel it to assume a position if
not of active alliance with Germany (a hope that
was never seriously entertained) at least one
which should distinctly favour the German
Government and cause serious dissension between
America and England.

There followed a twofold campaign : on the
one hand, active terrorism against private in-
dustry in so far as it was of value to the Allies,
reinforced by the most determined plots against
Canada; on the other, an insincere and lying
propaganda that presented the United States
Government as a pretender of a neutrality which
it did not attempt to practise — as an institution
controlled by men who were unworthy of the
support of any but Anglophiles and hypocrites.

Left to itself, the sympathy of German-
Americans would have been directed towards
Germany ; stimulated as it was by an unremitting
campaign of publicity, this sympathy became a
devotion almost rabid in its intensity. Race con-
sciousness was aroused and placed upon the

208

. mmimafm m

THE PASSPORT ON WHICH CAPTAIN VON DER GOLTZ
WENT TO GERMANY AND ENGLAND. (See p. 180)

(Note the vise of the American Embassv, Berlin, in the top right-hand corner.}

Germany's Hate Campaign

defensive by the attitude of the larger portion of
the American Press, and the German- Americans
grew defiant and aggressive in their apologies for
the Fatherland. Even those whose German origin
was so remote that they were ignorant of the very
language of their fathers, subscribed to news-
papers and periodicals whose sole reason for
existence was that they presented the truth — as
Germany saw it. If in that presentation the
German Press adopted a tone that was seditious
—why, there were those in Berlin who would
applaud the more heartily. And in New York
Captain von Papen and his colleagues would read
and nod their heads approvingly.

At the end of the first two months of the war,
and of my active service in America, the cam-
paign of violence was well under way. Already
plans had been made for several enterprises other
than the Welland Canal plot, about which you
read in Chapter VII. Attacks had been planned
against vulnerable points on the Canadian Pacific
Railway, such as the St. Clair Tunnel running
under the Detroit River at Point Huron, Michi-
gan ; agents had been planted in the various
munitions factories, and spies were everywhere
seeking possible points of vantage at which a
blow for Germany could be struck. A plan had

o 209

Germany's Hate Campaign

even then been made to blow up the railway
bridge at Vanceboro.

But already von Papen and his associates, in-
cluding myself, knew that Germany could never
succeed in crippling Allied commerce in the
United States and in proceeding effectively against
Canada until we could count upon the implicit
co-operation of the German-Americans, even
though that co-operation involved active dis-
loyalty to the country of their adoption.

There lay the difficulty. That the bulk of the
German- Americans were loyal to their Govern-
ment I knew at the time. Now, happily, that is
a matter which is beyond doubt. Among them
there were, of course, many whose zeal outran
their scruples and others whose scruples were
for sale. But for the most part, although they
could be cajoled into a partnership that was not
always prudent, they could not be led beyond this
point into positive defiance of the United States,
however mistaken they might believe its policies.

The rest of the story I cannot tell at first hand,
for I was not directly concerned in the events
that followed. What I know I have pieced to-
gether from my recollection of conversations with
von Papen, and from what many people in Berlin,
who thought I was familiar with the affair, told

210

Germany's Hate Campaign

me. Who fathered the idea I do not know.
Someone conceived a scheme so treacherous and
contemptible that every other act of this war
seems white beside it. It was planned so to dis-
credit the German-Americans that the hostility
of their fellow-citizens would force them back into
the arms of the German Government. These
millions of American citizens of German descent
were to be given the appearance of disloyalty in
order that they might become objects of
suspicion to their fellows, and through their re-
sentment at this attitude the cleavage between
Germans and non-Germans in America would
be increased and perhaps culminate in armed
conflict.

On the face of it this looks like the absurd and
impossible dream of an insane person rather than
a diplomatic programme. And yet, if it be
examined more closely, the plan will be seen to
have a psychological basis which, however far-
fetched, is essentially sound. Given a people
already bewildered by the almost universal con-
demnation of a country which they have sincerely
revered ; add to that serious difference in sympa-
thies an attitude of distrust of all German-
Americans by the other inhabitants of the country ;
and you have sown the seed of a race-antagonism

211

Germany's Hate Campaign

which if properly nurtured may easily grow into
a violent hatred. In a word, Germany had de-
cided that if the German- Americans could not
be coaxed back into the fold they might be
beaten back. She set about her part of the task
with an industry which would have commanded
admiration had it been better employed.

Glance back over the history of the past three
years and consider how, almost overnight, the
66 hyphen " situation developed. America, shaken
by a war which had been declared to be impos-
sible, became suddenly conscious of the presence
within her borders of a portion of her population
— a nation in numbers — largely unassimilated,
retaining its own language, and possessing
characteristics which suddenly became conspicu-
ously distasteful. Inevitably, as I say, the
cleavage in sympathies produced distrust. But
it was not until stories of plots in which German-
Americans were implicated became current that
this distrust developed into an acute suspicion.
Germanophobia was rampant in those days, and
to hysterical persons it was unthinkable that any
German could be exempt from the suspicion of
treason.

It was upon this foundation that the German
agents erected their structure of lies and defama-

212

Germany's Hate Campaign

tion. Not content with the efforts which the
Jingo Press and Jingo individuals were uncon-
sciously making on their behalf, they deliberately
set on foot rumours which were intended to in-
crease the distrust of German- Americans. I
happen to know that during the first two years
of the War many of the stories about German
attempts upon Canada, about German- American
complicity in various plots, emanated from the
offices of Captain von Papen and his associates.
I know also that many plots in which German-
Americans were concerned had been deliberately
encouraged by von Papen and afterwards as
deliberately betrayed! Time after time enter-
prises with no chance of success were set on foot
with the sole purpose that they should fail — for
thus Germany could furnish to the world evidence
that America was honeycombed with sedition
and treachery — evidence which Americans them-
selves would be the first to accept.

It was in reality a gigantic game of bluff.
Germany wished to give to the world convincing
proof that all peoples of German descent were
solidly supporting her. It was for this reason
that reports of impossible German activities were
set afloat; that rumours of Germans massing in
the Maine woods, of aeroplane flights over

213

Germany's Hate Campaign

Canada, and of all sorts of enterprises which had
no basis in fact, were disseminated. And since
many anti-German papers had been indiscreet
enough to attack the German- Americans as dis-
loyal, the German agents used and fomented
these attacks for their own purposes.

Who could gain by such a campaign of slander
and the feeling it would produce? Certainly not
the Administration, which had great need of a
united country behind it. Certainly not the
American Press, which was bound to lose circu-
lation and advertising ; nor American business,
which would suffer from the loss of thousands of
customers of German descent, who would turn
to the German merchant for their needs. Only
two classes could profit : the German Press, which
was liberally subsidised by the German Govern-
ment, and the German Government itself.

It was to the interests of the Administration
at Washington to keep the country united by
keeping the Germans disunited. The reverse con-
dition would tend to indicate that Americanism
was a failure, since the country was divided at
a critical time; it would seriously hamper the
Government in its dealings with all the warring
nations; and it would be of benefit only to the

German societies and German Press, and through

214

Germany's Hate Campaign

them to the German Government. It was of
benefit. The German newspapers increased their
circulations and advertising revenues, in many
cases by more than 100 per cent. German banks
and insurance companies received money which
had formerly gone to American institutions,
and which now went to swell the Imperial German
War Loans. And the German clubs increased
their memberships and became more and more in-
struments of power in the work of Germany.

There is a typical German Club in New York
— the Deutscher Verein in Central Park South.
During the war it has been used as a sub-office
of the German General Staff. It was here that
von Papen used to store the dynamite that was
needed in such enterprises as the Welland Canal
plot. It was here that conspirators used to meet
for conferences which no one, not even the other
members of the Club, could tell were not as in-
nocent as they seemed.

These German societies and other agencies
were used not merely to promote sympathy for
the German cause, but also to influence public
opinion in matters of purely American interest.
On January 21, 1916, Henry Weismann, presi-
dent of the Brooklyn branch of the German-
American National Alliance, sent a report to

215

Germany's Hate Campaign

headquarters in Chicago regarding the activities
of his organisation in the recent elections. In
the Twenty-third Congressional District of New
York, Ellsworth J. Healey had been a candidate
for Congress. Both he and another man, John
J. Fitzgerald, candidate for Justice of the
Supreme Court of New York, were regarded by
German interests as "unneutral." They were
defeated, and Weismann, in commenting upon
the matter, wrote : " The election returns prove
that Deutschtum is armed and able, when the
word is given, to seat its men."

Even in the campaign for preparedness Ger-
many took a hand. Berlin was appealed to in
some cases as to the attitude that American citi-
zens of German descent should adopt towards this
policy. Professor Appelmann, of the University
of Vermont, wrote to Dr. Paul Rohrbach, one of
the advisers of the Wilhelmstrasse, requesting his
advice upon the subject. Dr. Rohrbach replied
that American Deutschtum should not be in
favour of preparedness, because "it is quite con-
ceivable that in the event of an American- Japanese
•war Germany might adopt an attitude of very bene-
volent neutrality towards Japan and so make it
easier for Japan to defeat the United States."
And not long ago the Herold des Glaubens of St.

216

Germany's Hate Campaign

Louis made this statement: "When we found
that the agitation for preparedness was in the in-
terest of the munition makers, and that its aim
was a war with Germany, we certainly turned
against it, and we have agitated against it for the
last three months."

But this anti-militaristic spirit was a rather
sudden development on the part of the German
societies. In 1911, when a new treaty of arbitra-
tion with Great Britain was under consideration,
a group of roughs, led and organised by a Gefr-
man, violently broke up a meeting held under
the auspices of the New York Peace Society to
support that treaty. The man who broke that
meeting up was Alphonse G. Koelble. It was
this same Koelble who in 1915, when Germany's
attack upon America was most bitter, organised
a meeting of " The Friends of Peace," in order
to protest against militarism! Strange, is it not,
this inconsistency? Or was it that Mr. Koelble
was acting under orders ?

Germany did these things not only for their
political effect, but also because she knew that
she could turn the evidence of her own meddling
to account. It was for the same reason that Wolf
von Igel, von Papen's secretary and successor,

retained in his office a list of American citizens

217

Germany's Hate Campaign

of German descent who " could be relied on."
This list was found by agents of the Department
of Justice when von Igel's office was raided.
And the German agents were glad it was dis-
covered. It gave to Americans an additional
proof of the hold which Germany had obtained
over a large group of German- Americans.

It was as late as March, 1916, that the mem-
bers of the Minnesota Chapter of the German-
American National Alliance received a circular,
advising them of the attitude towards Germany
of the various candidates for delegate to the
national conventions of the different parties, and
indicating by a star the names of those men
6 ' about whom it has been ascertained that they
are in agreement with the views and wishes of
Deutschland, and that if elected they will act
accordingly. " I do not believe that the men who
sent that circular expected it to be widely obeyed.
But unquestionably they knew it would be made
public.

I think that if the German conspirators in
America had confined their activities to this field
they might ultimately have succeeded. They had
managed to seduce a sufficient number of Ger-
man-Americans to cause the entire German-
American population to be regarded with sus-

218

Germany's Hate Campaign

picion. They had contrived to discredit the
Pacifist and Labour movements by making public
their own connection with individuals in these
bodies. They had aroused the public to such a
pitch of distrust that in the Presidential cam-
paign of 1916 the support of the " German vote "
was regarded with distaste by both candidates.
And they had helped to create so tremendous a
dissension in America that friendships of long
standing were broken up, German merchants in
many communities lost all but their German cus-
tomers, and German-Americans were belaboured
in print with such twaddle as the following :

" The German- Americans predominate in the
grog-shops, low dives, pawnshops and numerous
artifices for money-making and corrupt practices
in politics."

The foregoing statement, which I quote from
a book, "German Conspiracies in the United
States/' is not perhaps a fair sample of the
attacks made upon German-Americans by the
Press in general, but it is indicative of the heights
to which feeling ran in the case of a few unin-
formed or hysterical persons. The point is that
to a large portion of the populace the German-
Americans had become enemies and objects of
abuse.

219

Germany's Hate Campaign

They, in turn, beset on all sides by a campaign
of slander insidiously fostered by men to whom
they had given their trust, did exactly what had
been expected. They fell right into the arms of
that movement which for fourteen years had
been subsidised for that very purpose. They
ceased to read American newspapers. They read
German newspapers, many of which almost
openly preached disloyalty to the United States.
They became clannish and joined German
societies which frequently contained German
agents. They began to boycott American busi-
ness houses and dealt only with those of German
affiliation.

Germany had gained her point. She alone
could gain by the disunion of the country. It
was to her advantage that the profits which had
formerly gone to American business houses
should be deflected to German corporations.
And had she rested her efforts there9 she might,
as I say, have seen them produce results in the
form of riots and armed dissension which would
have effectually prevented the United States from
entering the war.

But Germany overreached herself. Embold-
ened by the apparent success of their schemes,
her principal agents, von Papen, Boy-Ed and von

220

Germany's Hate Campaign

Rintelen (who had begun his work in January,
1915) became careless, so far as secrecy was con-
cerned, and so audacious in their plans that they
betrayed themselves, perhaps intentionally, as a
final demonstration of their power. The results
are notorious. In so far as the disclosures of their
activities tended further to implicate the German-
Americans, they did harm. But by these very
disclosures the eyes of many German- Americans
were opened to the true nature of the influence
to which they had been subjected, and through
that fact the worst element of the German pro-
paganda in America received its death-blow.

To-day the United States is at war, and no
intelligent man now questions the loyalty of the
majority of the citizens of German blood. That
in the past their sympathies have been with
Germany is unquestioned and, from their stand-
point, entirely proper. That in many cases they
view the participation of the United States in
the war with regret is probable. But that they
will stand up and, if need be, fight as stanchly
as any other group in the country, no man may
doubt.

That is the story of the darkest chapter in the
history of German intrigue. Other things have f
been done in this war at which a humane man i

221

Germany's Hate Campaign

may blush. Other crimes have been committed
which not even the strongest partisan can con-
done. But at least it may be said that these
things were done to enemies or to neutral people
whom fortune had put in the way of injury. The
betrayal of the German- Americans was a wanton
crime against men whom every association and
every tie of kinship or tradition should have
served to protect.

Germany has not yet abandoned that attack.
There are still spies in the United States, you
may be sure — still intrigues are being fostered.
And there are still men who, consciously or un-
consciously, are striving to discredit the German-
Americans by presenting them as unwilling to
bear their share in the burden of the nation's
war. Only a week before these lines were written
one man — George Sylvester Viereck — circulated a
petition begging that Germans should not be
sent to fight their countrymen, and an organisa-
tion of German Protestant churches in America
repeated this plea. As a German whom for-
tune has placed outside the battle, and as one
whose patriotism is extended towards blood rather
than dynasty, I ask Mr. Viereck and these other
gentlemen if they have not forgotten that many
German-Americans have already shown their

222

Germany's Hate Campaign

feelings by volunteering for service in this war —
and if they have not also forgotten that the two
great wars of American history were fought be-
tween men of the same blood.

Ties of blood have never prevented men from
fighting for a cause which they believed to be
just. They will not in this war ! And when Mr.
Viereck and his kind protest against the partici-
pation in the war of men of any descent whatever,
they imply that the American cause is not just,
and that it is not worthy of the support of the
men they claim to represent.

Is this their intention?

223

CHAPTER XI

MISCHIEF IN MEXICO

More about the German intrigue against the United States
— German aims in Latin America — Japan and Germany
in Mexico — What happened in Cuba ?

" AMERICAN intervention in Mexico would mean
another Ireland, another Poland — another sore
spot in the world. Well, why not? '

Those were almost the last words spoken to
me when I left Germany in 1914 upon my ill-
fated mission to England. I had in my pocket
at the moment detailed memoranda of instruc-
tions which, if they could be carried out, would
insure such disturbances in Mexico that the United
States would be compelled to intervene. I had
been given authority to spend almost unlimited
sums of money for the purchase of arms, for the
bribery of officials — for anything, in fact, that
would cause trouble in Mexico. And the words
I have quoted were not spoken by an uninformed
person with a taste for cynical comment; they

were uttered by Major Kohnemann, of Abteilung

224

R. MEES & ZOONEN

ROTTERDAM.

SAFE-DEPOSIT.

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SAFE-DEPOSIT RECEIPT FOR PAPERS WHICH CAPTAIN
VON DER GOLTZ LEFT IN ROTTERDAM. (See p. i3ij

Mischief in Mexico

III. B of the German General Staff. They form
a lucid and concrete explanation of German
activities in Mexico during the past eight years.

Long before this war began German agents
were at work in Mexico stirring up trouble in
the hope of causing the United States to inter-
vene. I have already told how, in 1910 and 1911,
Germany had encouraged Japan and Mexico in
negotiating a treaty that was to give Japan an
important foothold in Mexico. I have told how,
after this treaty was well on the way to comple-
tion, Germany saw to it that knowledge of the
projected terms was brought to the attention of
the United States — thereby indirectly causing
Diaz's abdication (see Chapter V.). That in-
stance is not an isolated case of German meddling
in Mexican affairs. Rather is it symptomatic of
the traditional policy of Wilhelmstrasse in regard
to America.

It may be well to examine this policy more
closely than I have done. Long ago Germany
saw in South America a fertile field for exploita-
tion, not only in a commercial way, in which it
presented excellent opportunities to German
manufacturers, but also as a possible opportunity
for expansion which had been denied her else-
where. All of the German colonies were in torrid

p 225

Mischief in Mexico

climates, in which life for the white man was
attended with tremendous hardships, and ex-
ploitation and colonisation were consequently
impeded. Only in the Far East and in South
America could she find territories either unpro-
tected through their own weakness, or so thinly
settled that they offered at once a temptation
and an opportunity to the nation with imperial-
istic ambitions. In tire former quarters she was
blocked by a concert of the Powers, many of
them actuated by similar aims, but all working at
such cross-purposes that aggression by any one
of them was impossible. In Chapter II. I alluded
to the result of such a situation in my discussion
of the Anglo-Persian Agreement. In South
America there was only one formidable obstacle
to German expansion — the Monroe Doctrine.

I am stating the case with far less than its real
complexity. There were, it is true, many facts
in the form of conflicting rivalries of the Powers
as well as internal conditions in South America,
that would have had a deterrent effect upon the
German programme. Nevertheless, it is certain
that the prime factor in keeping Germany out
of South America was the traditional policy of
the United States; and, so far as the German
Government's attitude in the matter is concerned,

226

Mischief in Mexico

it is the only phase of the problem worth con-
sidering.

Germany had no intention of securing terri-
tory by a war of conquest. Her method was far
*• simpler and much less assailable. She promptly
instituted a peaceful invasion of various parts of
the continent; first, in the persons of merchants
who captured trade but did not settle perman-
ently in the country; second, by means of a vast
army of immigrants, who, unlike those who a
generation before had come to the United States,
settled, but retained their German citizenship.
With this unnaturalised element she hoped to
form a nucleus in many of the important South
American countries which, wielding a tremendous
commercial power and possessing a political in-
fluence that was considerable, although indirect,
would aid her in determining the course of
South American politics, so that by a form of
peaceful expansion she could eventually achieve
her aims.

Was this a dream? At any rate, it received
the support of many of the ablest statesmen of
Gemany, who duly set about the task of dis-
crediting the Monroe Doctrine in the eyes of the
very people it was designed to protect, so that

the United States, if it ever came forcibly to de-

227

Mischief in Mexico

fend the Doctrine, would find itself opposed not
only by Germany, but by South America as well.

Now, the easiest way to cast suspicion upon a
policy is to discredit the sponsor of it. In the
case of the United States and South America
this was not at all difficult ; for the Southern
nations already possessed a well-defined fear and
a dislike of their northern neighbour which were
not by any means confined to the more ignorant
portions of the population. Fear of American
aggression has been somewhat of a bugaboo in
many quarters. Recognising this, Germany,
which has always adopted the policy of aggra-
vating ready-made troubles for her own ends,
steadily fomented that fear by means of a quiet
but well-conducted propaganda, and also by seek-
ing to force the United States into taking action
that would justify that fear.

As a means towards securing this latter end,
Mexico presented itself as a heaven-sent oppor-
tunity. Even in the days when it was, to out-
ward eyes, a well-ordered community, there had
been men in the United States who had expressed
themselves in favour of an expansion southwards
which would result in the ultimate absorption of
Mexico ; and although such talk had never attracted
much attention in the quarter from which it

228

Mischief in Mexico

emanated, there were those who saw to it that
proposals of this sort received an effective pub-
licity south of the Isthmus. Given, then, a
Mexico in which discontent had become so acute
that it was being regarded with alarm by
American and foreign investors, the possibility
of intervention became more immediate and the
opportunity of the trouble-maker increased pro-
portionately.

Germany's first step in this direction was the
encouragement of a Japanese-Mexican alliance,
the failure of which was a vital part of her pro-
gramme. It was a risky undertaking, for if, by
any chance, the alliance were successfully con-
cluded, the United States might well hesitate to
attack the combined forces of the two countries;
and Mexico, fortified by Japan, would present a
bulwark against the real or fancied danger of
American expansion, that, for a time at least,
would effectually allay the fears of South America.
That risk Germany took and, in so far as she had
planned to prevent the alliance, scored a success.
That she failed in her principal aim was due to
the anti-imperialist tendencies of the United
States and the statesmanship of Senor Limantour
rather than to any other cause.

Then came the Madero Administration with
229

Mischief in Mexico

its mystical programme of reform — and an oppo-
sition headed by almost all of the able men in
the Republic, both Mexican and foreign. Bitterly
fought by the ring of Cientificos, who saw the
easy spoils of the past slipping from their hands ;
distrusted by many honest men, who sincerely
believed that Mexico was better ruled by an able
despot than by an upright visionary ; hampered
by the aloofness of foreign business and Govern-
ments, waiting for a success which they alone
could ensure, before they should approve and
support ; and constantly beset with uneasiness by
the incomprehensible attitude of the Taft Ad-
ministration and of its Ambassador — the fate of
the Madero Government was easily foreseen.

Before Madero had been in power for three
months this opposition had taken form as a cam-
paign of obstruction in the Mexican Chamber of
Deputies supported by the Press, controlled
almost exclusively by the Cientificos and by
foreign capitalists ; by the clergy, who had reason
to suspect the Government of anti-clerical tenden-
cies ; and by isolated groups of opportunity-seekers
who saw in the Administration an obstacle to their
own political and economic aims. The Madero
family were represented as incompetent and self-
seeking ; and in a short time the populace, which

230

Mischief in Mexico

a month before had hailed the new Government
as a saviour of the country, had been persuaded
that its programme of economic reform had been
merely a political pretence, and accordingly added
its strength to the party of the Opposition.

Here was tinder in plenty for a conflagration
of sorts. Germany applied the torch at its most
inflammable spot.

That inflammable spot happened to be a man
— Pazcual Orozco. Orozco had been one of
Madero's original supporters, and in the days of
the Madero revolution had rendered valuable ser-
vices to his chief. An ex-muleteer, uncouth and
without education, he possessed considerable
ability ; but his vanity and reputation were far in
excess of his attainments. Unquestionably he
had expected that Madero's success would mean
a brilliant future for himself, although it is diffi-
cult to tell in just what direction his ambitions
pointed. Madero had placed him in command of
the most important division of the Federal army,
but this presumably did not content him. At any
rate, early in February, 1912, he made a demand
upon the Government for two hundred and fifty
thousand pesos, threatening that he would with-
draw from the services of the Government unless
this " honorarium " — honesty would call it a bribe /

231

Mischief in Mexico

— were paid to him. Madero refused his demand,
but with mistaken leniency retained Orozco in
office — and on February 27, Orozco repaid this
trust by turning traitor at Chihuahua, and involv-
ing in his defection six thousand of Mexico's best
troops as well as a quantity of supplies.

Now mark the trail of German intrigue. In
Mexico City, warmly supporting the Madero
Government, but of little real power in the
country, was the German Minister, Admiral von
Hintze. In normal circumstances, his influence
would have been of great value in helping to render
secure the position of Madero; but with means of
communication disrupted as they were to a large
extent, his power was inconceivably smaller than
that of the German Consuls, all of whom were well
liked and respected by the Mexicans with whom
they were in close touch. Apart from their poli-
tical office, these men represented German busi-
ness interests in Mexico, particularly in the fields
of hardware and banking. In the three northern
cities of Parral, Chihuahua and Zacatecas, the
German Consuls were hardware merchants. In
Torreon the Consul was director of the German
bank. As such it would seem that it was to their
interests to work for the preservation of a stable
government in Mexico. And yet the fact remains

232

Mischief in Mexico

that when Orozco first began to show signs of dis-
content, these men encouraged him with a support
that was both moral and financial; and when the
general finally turned traitor, it was my old friend,
Consul Kueck, who, as President of the Chamber
of Commerce of Chihuahua, voted to support
him and to recognise Orozco 's supremacy in that
State !

I leave it to the reader to decide whether it was
the Minister or the Consuls who really represented
the German Government.

It would be idle to attempt to trace more than
; in the briefest way Germany's part in the events
of the next few years. Always she followed a
policy of obstruction and deceit. During the
months immediately succeeding the Orozco out-
break, at the very moment that von Hintze was
lending his every effort to the preservation of the
Madero regime, sending to Berlin reports which
over and over again reiterated his belief that
Madero could, if given a free hand, restore order
in the Republic, the German Consuls were openly
fomenting disorder in the north.

They were particularly well equipped to make
trouble, by their position in the community and by
the character and reputation of the rest of the Ger-
man population. It may be said with safety that

233

Mischief in Mexico

however careless Germany has been about the
quality of the men whom she has allowed to emi-
grate to other countries, her representatives
throughout all of Latin- America have been con-
spicuous for their commercial attainments and for
I

their social adaptability. This, in a large way, has
been responsible for the German commercial suc-
cess in Central and South America. As bankers
they have been honest and obliging in the matter
of credit. As merchants they have adapted them-
selves to the local conditions and to the habits of
their customers with notable success. In conse-
quence they have been well liked as individuals
and have been of immense value in increasing the
prestige of the German Empire. In Mexico they
were the only foreigners who were not disliked by
either peon or aristocrat; and it is significant to
note that during seven years of unrest in that
country, Germans alone among peoples of Euro-
pean stock have remained practically unmolested
by any party.

Consider of what service this condition was in
their campaign. Respected and influential, they
were in an excellent position to stimulate whatever
anti- American feeling existed in Latin Ameri-
can countries. At the same time, they were
equally well situated to encourage the unrest in

234

Mischief in Mexico

Mexico that would be the surest guarantee of
American intervention — and the coalition against
the United States which intervention would be cer-
tain to provoke. They made the utmost use of

\ their advantage, and they did it without arousing

1 suspicion or rebuke.

After the failure of the short-lived Orozco out-
break, events in Mexico seemed to promise a
peaceful solution of all difficulties. Many of
Madero's opponents declared a truce, and the irre-
concilables were forced to bide their time in appa-
rent harmlessness. In November came the rebel-
lion of Felix Diaz, fathered by a miscellaneous
group of conspirators who hoped to find in the
nephewr sufficient of the characteristics of the great
Porfirio to serve their purposes. This venture failed
also. Again Madero showed a mistaken leniency
in preserving the life of Diaz. He paid for it with
his life. Out of this uprising came the coup d'etat
of General Huerta — made possible by a dual
treachery — and the murder of the only man who
at the time gave promise of eventually solving the
Mexican problem.

What share German agents had in that tragic
affair I do not know. You may be sure that they
took advantage of any opportunity that presented
itself to encourage the conspirators in a project

235

Mischief in Mexico

that gave such rich promise of aiding them in their
purposes. I pass on to the next positive step in
their campaign. That was a repetition of their old
plan of inserting the Japanese question into the
general muddle.

The Japanese question in Mexico is a very real
one. I know — and the United States Govern-
ment presumably knows, also — that Japan is the
only nation which has succeeded in gaining a per-
manent foothold in Mexico. I know that spies
and secret agents in the guise of pedlars, engineers,
fishermen, farmers, charcoal-burners, merchants,
and even officers in the armies of every Mexican
leader have been scattered throughout the country.
The number of these latter I have heard estimated
at about eight hundred ; at any rate it is consider-
able. There are also about ten thousand Japanese
who have no direct connection with Tokio, but who
are practically all men of military age, either un-
married or without wives in Mexico — most of them
belonging to the army or navy reserve. And, like
the Germans, the Japanese never lose their con-
nection with the Government in their capacity as
private individuals.

Through the great Government-owned steam-
ship line, the Toyo Risen Kaisha, the Japanese
Government controls the land for a Japanese coal-

236

Mischief in Mexico

ing station at Manzanillo. At Acapulco a Japa-
nese company holds a land concession on a high
hill three miles from the sea. It is difficult to see

•v

what legitimate use a fishing company could make
of this location. It is, however, an ideal site for
a wireless station. In Mexico City an intimate
friend of the Japanese Charge d' Affaires owns a
fortress-like building in the very heart of the
capital. Another Japanese holds, under a ninety-
nine years' lease, an L-shaped strip of land partly
surrounding and completely commanding the
waterworks of the capital of Oxichimilco. The
land is undeveloped. Both of these Japanese are
well supplied with money and have been living in
Mexico City for several years. Neither has any
visible means of support. And in all of the
years of revolution in Mexico no Japanese
has been killed — except by Villa. He has
caused many of them to be executed, but
always those that were masquerading as Chinese.
Naturally a Government cannot protest in such
circumstances.

These facts may or may not be significant. .
They serve to lend colour to the convictions of
anti-Japanese agitators in the United States, and
as such they have been of value to Germany.
Accordingly it was suggested to Sefior Huerta

237

Mischief in Mexico

that an alliance with Japan would be an excellent
protective measure for him to take.

Huerta had two reasons for looking with favour
upon this proposal. He was very decidedly in the
bad graces of Washington, and he was constantly
menaced by the presence in Mexico of Felix Diaz,
to whom he had agreed to resign the Presidency.
Diaz was too popular to be shot, too strong poli-
tically to be exiled, and yet — he must be removed.
Here, thought Huerta, was an opportunity of kill-
ing two birds with one stone. He therefore sent
Diaz to Japan, ostensibly to thank the Japanese
Government for its participation in the Mexican
Centennial celebration, three years before, but in
reality to begin negotiations for a treaty which
should follow the lines of one unsuccessfully pro-
mulgated in 1911.

Senor Diaz started for Japan — but he never
arrived there. Somehow the State Department
at Washington got news of the proposed treaty
— how, only the German agents know — and Senor
Diaz's course was diverted.

Meanwhile, in spite of the strained relations
between Huerta and Washington, Germany was
aiding the Mexican President with money and
supplies. In the north, Consuls Kueck of Chi-
huahua, Sommer of Durango, Miiller of Her-

238

Mischief in Mexico

mosillo, and Weber of Juarez were exhibiting the
same interest in the Huertista troops that they had
formerly displayed towards Orozco. Kueck, as I
happened to learn later, had financed Salvator
Mercado, the general who had so obligingly tried to
have me shot; and at the same time he was
assiduously spreading reports of unrest in Mexico,
and even attempted to bribe some Germans to
leave the country, upon the plea that their lives
were in danger.

When I raided the German Consulate at Chi-
huahua, I found striking documentary proof of
his activities in this direction. There were letters
there proving that he had paid to various Germans
sums ranging as high as fifty dollars a month,
upon condition that they should remain outside of
Mexico. These letters, in many cases, showed
plainly that this was done in order to make it seem
that the unrest was endangering the lives of foreign
inhabitants, in spite of which several of the re-
cipients complained that their absence from Mexico
was causing them considerable financial loss, and
showed an evident desire to brave whatever dangers
there might be — if they could secure the permission
of Consul Kueck.

During the year and more that Huerta held
power, Germany followed the same tactics, I need

239

Mischief in Mexico

not mention the attempt to supply Huerta with
munitions after the United States had declared an
embargo upon them ; or that it has been generally
admitted that the real purpose of the seizure of
Vera Cruz by United States marines was to pre-
vent the German steamer Ypiranga from delivering
her cargo of arms to the Mexicans. That is but one
instance of the way in which ^German policy worked
—a policy which, as I have indicated, was opposed
to the true interests of Mexico, and has been solely
directed against the United States. Up to the very
outbreak of the war it continued. After Villa's
breach with Carranza, emissaries of Consul Kueck
approached the former with offers of assistance.
Strangely enough, he rejected them, principally
because he hates the Germans for the assistance
they gave his old enemy, Orozco. Villa had, more-
over, a personal grudge against Kueck. When
General Mercado was defeated at Ojinaga, papers
were found in his effects that implicated the Consul
in a conspiracy against the Constitutionalists,
although at the time Kueck professed friendship for
Villa and was secretly doing all he could to increase
the friction that existed between the general and
Mercado. Villa had sworn vengeance against the
double-dealer; and Kueck, in alarm, fled into the

United States.

240

ALJEXS HKSTRIfTlnX ACT. IU14.

ORDER for UK- DEPORTATION «.

IX PURSUAXCE of the power-; conferred by the Aliens Restriction
Act. 1SIU. <md of Article XII of the Order in Council made under tluit Act

on the Dili September. 1014, I HEREBY ORDER tluit

Horct Von Sar Colts

an Alien, shall be deported from the United Kingdom.

' DONE at Whitehall this t)t}r day of ; -ril .- 191 &

(Higned) E. toKei n; .
One of His M'ajfsly's Principal Secretaries of State.

THE ORDER FOR THE DEPORTATION OF CAPTAIN
VON DER GOLTZ FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM.

(Seep. 188)

Mischief in Mexico

With the outbreak of the Great War the
situation changed in one important particular.
Heretofore, German activities had been part of a
plan of attack upon the prestige of the United
States. Now they became necessary as a measure
of defence. Before two months had passed it
became evident to the German Government that
the United States must be forced into a war with
Mexico in order to prevent the shipment of
munitions to Europe.

So began the last stage of the German intrigue
in Mexico — an intrigue which still continues. As
a preliminary step, Germany had organised her
own citizens in that country into a .well-drilled
military unit — a little matter which Captain von
Papen had attended to during the spring of 1914.
One can read much between the lines of the report
sent to the Imperial Chancellor by Admiral von
Hintze, commenting upon the work of Captain
von Papen in this direction. The admiral says
in part :

;i He showed especial industry in organising
the Germany colony for purposes of self-defence,
and out of this shy and factious material, unwilling
to undertake any military activity, he obtained
what there was to be got."

Von Hintze significantly recommends that the

Q 241

Mischief in Mexico

captain should be decorated .with the fourth class
of the Order of the Red Eagle.

As related in Chapter IX., I left Germany in
October of 1914 with a detailed plan of campaign
for the " American front," as Dr. Albert once put
it. My final instructions were simple and explicit.

" There must be constant uprisings in
Mexico," I was told in effect. "Villa, Carranza,
must be reached. Zapata must continue his
maraudings. It does not matter in the least how
you produce these results. Merely produce them.
All Consuls have been instructed to furnish you
with whatever sums you need — and they will not
ask you any questions."

. Rather complete, was it not? I left with every
intention of carrying the instructions out — and in
a little over a week was made hors de combat. It
was then that von Rintelen, who had already
planned to come over to the United States in order
to inaugurate a vast blockade-running system,
undertook to add my undertaking to his own
responsibilities.

What von Rintelen did is well known, so I shall
only summarise it here. His first act was an
attempted restitution of General Huerta, which he
knew was the most certain method of causing in-
tervention. Into this enterprise both Boy-Ed and

242

Mischief in Mexico

von Papen were impressed, and the three men set
about the task of making arrangements with
former Huertistas for a new uprising to be
financed by German money. They sent agents to
Barcelona to persuade the former Dictator to enter
into the scheme; and finally, when the General
was on his way to America, they attempted to
arrange it so that he should arrive safely in New
York and ultimately in Mexico. It was a plan
remarkably well conceived and well executed. It
would have succeeded but for one thing. General

•

Huerta was captured by the United States authori-
ties at the very moment that he tried to cross from
Texas into Mexico !

But the indomitable von Rintelen was not dis-
couraged. He had but one purpose — to make
trouble — and he made it with a will. He sent
money to Villa, and then, like the philanthropist
in Chesterton's play, supported the other side by
aiding Carranza, financing Zapata and starting two
other revolutions in Mexico. Meanwhile anti-
American feeling continued to be stirred up,
German papers in Mexico presented the Father-
land's case as eloquently as they did elsewhere, and
to a far more appreciative audience. Carranza was
encouraged in his rather unfriendly attitude
towards Washington. In a word, no step was

243

Mischief in Mexico

neglected which would embarrass the Wilson
Administration and make peace between the two
countries less certain or more difficult to maintain.

Need I complete the story? Is it necessary to
tell how, after the recall of von Papen and Boy-Ed
and the escape of von Rintelen, Mexico continued
to be used as the catspaw of the German plotters?
Everyone knows the events of the last few months ;
of the concentration of German reservists in various
parts of Mexico ; of the bitter attacks made upon
the United States by pro-German newspapers ;
and of the reports, greatly exaggerating German
activities in Mexico, which have been circulated
with the direct intention of provoking still more
ill-feeling between the two countries by leading
Americans to believe that Mexico is honeycombed
with German conspiracies.

These activities have not applied to Mexico
alone. It is significant that twice in February of
1917 the Venezuelan Government has declined
to approve of the request of President Wilson that
other neutral nations should join him in breaking
diplomatic relations with Germany as a protest
against submarine warfare, and that many Vene-
zuelan papers have stated that this refusal is due
to the representations of resident Germans, who
are many and influential. These are, of course,

244

Mischief in Mexico

legitimate activities, but they are in every case
attended by a threat. Revolutions are easily
begun in Latin America, and the obstinate Govern-
ment can always be brought to a reasonable view-
point by the example of recent uprisings or
revolutions, financed by Germany, in Costa Rica,
Peru and Cuba. Within a very recent time
rumours were afloat in Venezuela that Germany
had assisted General Cipriano Castro in the
revolutionary movement that he had been organis-
ing in Porto Rico. It was reported that there
were on the Colombian frontier many disaffected
persons who would gladly join Castro if he landed
in Colombia and marched on Caracas, as he did
successfully in 1890.

For several years the Telefunken Company, a
German corporation, has tried to obtain from the
Venezuelan Government a concession to operate a
wireless plant, which should be of greater power
than any other in South America. When this
proposal was last made certain Ministers were for
accepting it, but the majority of the Government
realised the uses to which the plant could be put
and refused to grant the concession. An alterna-
tive proposal, made by the Government, to
establish a station of less strength was rejected by
the Company.

245

Mischief in Mexico

Germany has steadily sought such wireless sites
throughout this region. Several have been estab-
lished in Mexico, and in 1914 it was through a
wireless station in Colombia that the German
Admiral von Spec was enabled to keep himself
informed of the movements of the squadron of
Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock — information
which resulted in the naval battle in Chilean waters
with a loss of three British battleships. It was after
this battle that Colombia ordered the closing of all
wireless stations on its coasts.

In Cuba, too, the hand of Germany has been
evident, in spite of the disclaimers which were
made by both parties in the rebellion which, in
1916, grew out of the contested election in which
both President Menocal and the Liberal candi-
date, Alfredo Zayas, claimed a victory. It is
strange, if this were the real cause of the up-
rising, that hostilities did not start until 9th Feb-
ruary, 1917, when General Gomez, himself an ex-
President, began a revolt in the eastern portion of
the island. The date is important; it was barely
a week before new elections were to be held in two
disputed provinces and only six days after the
United States had severed diplomatic relations
with the German Government, and but four days
after President Menocal's Government had de-

246

Mischief in Mexico

dared its intention of following the action of the
United States.

A little study of the personnel and develop-
ments of the rebellion furnishes convincing evi-
dence as to its true backing. The Liberal Party
is strongly supported by the Spanish element of
the population, which is almost unanimously pro-
German in its sympathies. All over the island,
both Germans and Spaniards were arrested for
complicity in the uprising. Nor have the clergy
escaped. Literally, dozens of bishops were im-
prisoned in Havana upon the same charges.

It is also a notorious fact that the Mexicans
have supported the Liberals, and that the staffs of
the Liberal newspapers are almost exclusively com-
posed of Mexican journalists. These newspapers
were suppressed at the beginning of the revolu-
tion.

But far more significant are the developments
in the actual fighting.

Most of the action has taken place in the
eastern provinces of Camaguey, Oriente and Santa
Clara — in which the more fertile fields of sugar
cane are situated. The damage to the cane fields
has been estimated at 5,000,000 tons and is, from
a military standpoint, unnecessary.

Colonel Rigoberto Fernandez, one of the revo-

247

Mischief in Mexico

lutionary leaders, stated that the rebels were plenti-
fully supplied with hand grenades and artillery —
although the reports prove that they had none.
Was this an empty boast — or may there be a con-
nection between Fernandez's statement and the
capture by the British of three German ships,
which were found off the Azores, laden with mines
and arms?

I was in Havana in the latter part of March
— upon a private errand, although the Cuban
papers persisted in imputing sinister designs
to me. Naturally, the Germans were not in-
clined to tell all their secrets, but my Mexican
acquaintances, all of whom were well informed
regarding Cuban affairs, gave me considerable in-
formation. Among other Mexicans I met General
Joaquin Maas, the former General of the Federal
forces under Huerta. The General has since made
peace with Carranza and was at this time acting as
the latter's go-between in negotiations with Ger-
many. When I last saw Maas it was after the
battle of El Paredo. He was about to blow out
his brains, but one of his lieutenants elegantly in-
formed him that he was a fool and dissuaded him
from suicide. Maas received me with the courtesy
due to a former opponent, and was not averse from

telling me much about the situation. I also had

248

Mischief in Mexico

ample occasion to speak with Spaniards, whose
sympathies were decidedly pro-German.

Little by little I was enabled to acquire a rather
complete idea — not of the issues underlying the
Cuban revolution, but of what had brought
matters to a head. The answer may be found in
one word — Germany. German agents — notably
Dr. Hawe ben Hawas, who took a mysterious
botanising expedition throughout that part of
Cuba which later became the scene of revolu-
tionary activities, and who has thrice teen arrested
as a German spy — saw in the political unrest of the
country another opportunity to create a diversion
in favour of Germany. Cuba at peace was a
valuable economic ally of the United States. Cuba
in rebellion was a source of annoyance to the
country, since it meant intervention, the political
value of which was unfavourable to the United
States, and a serious loss in sugar, which is one of
the most important ingredients in the manufacture
of several high explosives.

Hence the burning of millions of tons of sugar
cane. Hence the rebel seizure of Santiago de
Cuba. Hence the large number of negroes who
joined the rebel army, and whose labour is indis-
pensable in the production of sugar.

The ironic part of it all is that Germany had
249

Mischief in Mexico

nothing to gain by a change of government in
Cuba. Any Cuban Government must have a
sympathetic attitude towards the United States.
What Germany wanted was a disruption of the
orderly life of the country — and she wanted it to
continue for as long a time as possible.

At the present writing the Cuban rebellion is
ended. General Gomez and his army have been
captured, President Menocal is firmly seated in
power again, and the rebels hold only a few un-
important points. But much damage has been
done in the lessening of the sugar supply — and
the rebellion has also served its purpose as an
illustration of Germany's ability to make trouble.

Germany has played a consistent game through-
out. She has sought to use all the existing weak-
nesses of the world for her own purposes — all the
rivalries, all the fears, all the antipathies, she has
utilised as fuel for her own fire. And yet,
although she has played the game with the utmost
foresight, with a skill that is admirable in spite of
its perverse uses, and with an unfailing assurance
of success — she has come to the fourth year of the
Great War with the fact of failure staring her in
the face.

But she has not given up. You may be sure

that she has not given up.

250

CHAPTER XII

THE COMPLETE SPY

The last stand of German intrigue — Germany's spy system
in America. — What is coming ?

As I write these last few pages three clippings
from recent newspapers lie before me on my
desk. One of them tells of the new era of good
feeling that exists between the Governments of
Mexico and the United States, and speaks of the
alliance of Latin American Republics against Ger-
man autocracy.

Another tells how the first contingent of
American troops has landed in France after a
successful battle with a submarine fleet. And a
third speaks of the victorious advance of the troops
of Democratic Russia, after the world had begun
to believe that Russia had forgotten the War in
her new freedom.

I read them over again, and I think that each
one of these clippings, if true, writes " failure"
once again upon the book of German diplomacy.

I remember a day not so very many months
251

The Complete Spy

ago, when a man with whom I had some business
in — for me — less tranquil days, came to see me.

" B. E. is in town," he said quietly. "He
says he must see you. Can you meet him at the
— Restaurant to-night? '

Boy-Ed ! I was not surprised that he should
be in America, for I knew the man's audacity.
But what could he want of me? Well, it would
do no harm to meet him, I thought, and anyway
my curiosity was aroused.

I nodded.

' < I '11 be there, ' ' I said. < ' At what hour ? ' '

"Six-thirty," my friend replied. " It's only
for a minute. He is leaving to-night."

That evening for the first time in two years
I saw the man who had done his best to compro-
mise the United States. I did not ask him what
his presence meant and, needless to say, he did
not inform me.

Our business was of a different character. I
had just arranged to write a series of newspaper
articles exposing the operations of the Kaiser's
secret service, and Boy-Ed tried to induce me to
suppress them.

" I cannot do it," I told him.

But the captain showed a remarkable know-
ledge of my private affairs.

252

The Complete Spy

" Under your contract," he said, " the articles
cannot be published until you have endorsed them.
As you have not yet affixed your signature to
them, you can suppress them by merely withhold-
ing your endorsement."

This I declined to do, and our conversation
ended.

Shortly afterwards Boy-Ed returned to Ger-
many on the U53. He did not attempt to see
me again, but three times within the following
weeks attempts were made on my life. Later,
pressure was brought to bear from sources close
to the German Embassy, but they failed to secure
the suppression of the articles.

But my curiosity was aroused as to the mean-
ing of Boy-Ed's presence, and I set to work to
discover the purpose of it. This was not difficult,
for although I have ceased to be a secret agent, I
am still in touch with many who formerly gave
me information, and I know ways of discovering
many things I wish to learn.

Soon I had the full story of Boy-Ed's latest
activities in the United States.

He had, I learned, gone first to Mexico in an
attempt to pave the way for that last essay at a
Mexican-Japanese alliance, which the discovery
of the famous Zimmermann note later made

253

The Complete Spy

public. Whether he had succeeded or no I did
not discover at the time. But, what was more
important, I did learn that while he was in Mexico
Boy-Ed had selected and established several sub-
marine bases for Germany ! His plans had also
carried him to San Francisco, to which he had
gone disguised only by a moustache. There he
had identified several men who were needed by
the counsel for the defence of the German Consul
Bopp, who had been arrested on a charge of con-
spiring to foment sedition within the United
States.

From the Pacific coast Boy-Ed had gone to
Kansas City and had bought off a witness who
had intended to testify for the United States in
the trial of certain German agents. Thence, after
a private errand of his own, he had made his
way to New York, en route to Newport and
Germany.

It may be well here to comment upon one
feature of the Zimmermann note which has gener-
ally escaped attention. It was through no blunder
of the German Government that that document
came into the possession of the United States, as
I happen to know. I must remind you that
diplomatic negotiations are carried through in the
following manner. The preliminary negotiations

254

The Complete Spy

are conducted by men of unofficial standing, and
it is not until the attitude of the various Govern-
ments involved is thoroughly understood by each
of them that final negotiations are drawn up.
Now, although no negotiations had taken place
between Germany, Japan and Mexico, the form
of the Zimmermann note would seem to indicate
that there was a thorough understanding between
these countries. They were drawn up in this form
with a purpose. Germany wished the United
States to conclude that Mexico and Japan were
hostile to her ; Germany had hoped that America
would be outwardly silent about the Zimmermann
note, but would take some diplomatic action
against Mexico and Japan which would inevitably
draw these two countries into an anti-American
alliance.

Did President Wilson perceive this thoroughly

[Teutonic plot? I cannot say; but, at any rate,

\upon February 28 he astounded America by re-

|vealing once again Germany's evil intentions

towards the United States, and by so doing not

only defeated the German Government's particu-

/ lar plan, but effectively cemented public opinion

in the United States, bringing it to a unanimous

support of the Government in the crisis which was

slowly driving towards war.

The Complete Spy

That marked the last stand of German in-
trigue as it was conducted before the war. Now
there is a new danger — a danger whose concrete
illustration lies before me in the account of that
first engagement between United States warships
and German submarines.

The people of the United States, just entered
into active participation in the War, are faced
with a new peril — the betrayal of military and
naval secrets to representatives of the German
Government working in America. Not only was
it known to Germany that American troops had
been sent to France, but the very course that the
transports were to take had been communicated
to Berlin. It is probable that other news of equal
value has been or is being sent to Germany at
the present time; and the United States is con-
fronted with the possibility of submarine attacks
upon its troopships, as well as other dangers
which, if not properly grappled with, may result in
serious losses and greatly hamper it in its conduct
of the War.

What exactly is this spy peril wrhich the United
States now faces and which constitutes a far
greater, because less easily combated, danger than
actual warfare?

How can it be got rid of?
256

The Complete Spy

These are the questions which the American
people and the American Government are asking
themselves and must ask themselves if they are
to bear an effective share in the War in which
they are engaged.

Because of my former connection with the Ger-
man Government and my work as a secret agent
both in Europe and America, in the former of
which I was brought into intimate contact with
the workings of the secret service in other countries,
I am prepared to give an accurate account of the
general structure and workings of the German spy
system in the United States as it is to-day.

It is important to remember that the secret
diplomatic service, as it was conducted in America
before the War, and with which I was connected,
is entirely different both in its personnel and
methods from the spy system which is in opera-
tion to-day. I shall point out presently why this
is so and why it must be so.

Before the entry of the United States into the
War the principal activities of the German
Government's agents were confined to the
fomenting of strikes in munitions plants and
other war activities, the organising of plots to
blow up ships, canals, or bridges — anything which
would hamper the transportation of supplies to

R 257

The Complete Spy

the Allies — and the inciting of sedition by stir-
ring up trouble between German- Americans and
Americans of other descent. All of these acts
were committed in order to prevent the United
States from aiding in any way the enemies of
Germany ; and also, by creating disorder in peace
time, to furnish an object lesson of what could
be done in time of war.

These things were planned, supervised and
executed by Germans and by other enemies of
the Allies, under the leadership of men like von
Pap en, who were accredited agents of the Ger-
man Government and who were protected by
diplomatic immunity.

Now that War has come an entirely new task
is before the German Government and an entirely
new set of people are needed to do it. War-time
spying is absolutely different from the work which
was done before the War, and the two have no
connection with each other — except as the work
done before the War has prepared the way for
the work which is being done now.

And whereas the work done before the War
was conducted by Germans, the present work,
for very obvious reasons, cannot be done by any-
one who is a German or who is likely to be sus-
pected of German connections.

258

The Complete Spy

I venture to say that not 1 per cent, of the
persons who are engaged in spying for the Ger-
man Government at the present time is either
of German birth or descent.

I say this, not because I know how the German
secret service is being conducted in the United
States, but because I know how it has been con-
ducted in other countries.

Let me explain. It is obvious that such activi-
ties as the inciting to strikes and the conspiring
which were done in the last three years could be
safely conducted by Germans, because the two
countries were at peace. The moment that
War was declared every German became an object
of suspicion, and his usefulness in spying — that
is, the obtaining of military, naval, political and
diplomatic secrets — was ended immediately. For
that reason Germany and every other Government
which has spies in the enemy country make a
practice during War of employing virtually no
known citizens of its own country.

At the present time more than 90 per cent,
of the German spies in England are Englishmen.
The rest are Russians, Dutchmen, Roumanians —
what you will — anything but Germans.

One of the former heads of the French secret
service in America was a man who called himself

259

The Complete Spy

Guillaume. His real name is Wilhelm and he
was born in Berlin !

For that reason to arrest such men as Carl
Heynen or Professor Hanneck is merely a pre-
cautionary measure. Whatever connection these
men may have had with the German Government
formerly, their work is now done, and their deten-
tion does not hinder the workings of the real spy
system one iota.

HOW THE SPY SYSTEM WORKS

It is difficult to distinguish between the work
done in neutral countries by the secret diplomatic
agent — the man who is engaged in fomenting
disorders, such as I have described — and the spy
who is seeking military information which may
be of future use. The two work together, in that
the secret agent reports to Berlin the names of
inhabitants of the country concerned who may
be of use in securing information of military or
naval value. It is well to remember, however,
that the real spy always works alone. His con-
nection with the Government is known only to a
very few officials, and is rarely or never suspected
by the people who assist him in securing informa-
tion. Here permit me to make a distinction be-
tween two classes of spies : the agents or directors

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The Complete Spy

of espionage, who know what they are doing;
and the others, the small fry, who procure bits of
information here and there and pass it on to
their employers, the agents, often without realising
the real purpose of their actions.

In the building of the spy system in America
Germans and German-Americans have been
used. Business houses — such as banks and in-
surance companies, which have unusual oppor-
tunities of obtaining information about their
clients, most of whom, in the case of German
institutions in America, are of German birth or
descent — have been of service in bringing the
directors of spy work into touch with people who
will do the actual spying.

The German secret service makes a point of
having in its possession lists of people who are
in a position to find out facts of greater or less
importance about Government officials. House-
maids, small tradesmen, and the like, can be of
use in the compiling of data about men of im-
portance, so that their personal habits, their
financial status, their business and social relation-
ships become a matter of record for future use.
These facts are secured, usually by a little
" jollying " rather than the payment of money, by

the local agent — a person sometimes planted in

261

The Complete Spy

garrison towns, State capitals, etc. — who is paid
a comparatively small monthly sum for such
work. This information is passed to a director
of spies, who thereby discovers men who are in a
position to supply him with valuable data and
who determine whether or not they can be
reached.

Now, just how is this "reaching" done?
Mainly, I think it safe to say, by blackmail and
intimidation. If from this accumulated gossip
about his intended victim — who may be an army
or naval officer, a manufacturer of military sup-
plies, or a Government clerk — the spy learns of
some indiscretion committed by the man or his
wife, he uses it as a lever in obtaining information
that he desires. Or he may hear that a man is
in financial straits. He will make a point of
seeing that his victim is helped, and then will
make use of the latter's friendship to worm facts
out of him. In this way, sometimes without the
suspicion of the victim being aroused, little bits
of information are secured, which may be of no
importance in themselves, but are of immense
value when considered in conjunction with facts
acquired elsewhere.

Ultimately the victim will jib or become sus-
picious. Then he is offered the alternative of

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The Complete Spy

continuing to supply information or of being
exposed for his previous activities. Generally
he accepts the lesser evil.

In this manner the spy system is built up even
in peace times. The tremendous sums of money-
that are spent in this manner amount to millions^]
The quantity of information secured is, on the
other hand, inconceivably small for the most part.
But in the mass of useless and superfluous facts
that are supplied to the spies and through them
to the Government, are to be found a few that are
worth the cost of the system. By the time war
breaks out, if it does, the German Government
has in its possession innumerable facts about the
equipment of the army and navy of its enemy —
and, more important still, it has in its power men,
sometimes high in the confidence of the enemy
Government, who can be forced into giving addi-
tional information when needed.

Now, the moment that war breaks out, what
happens? The German Government has, dis-
tributed throughout the country, thousands of
men and women who have legitimate business
there ; it has its hands on men who are not spies,
but who will betray secrets for a price either in
money or security ; it is acquainted with the
strength and weakness of fortresses, various

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The Complete Spy

units of the service, the exact armament of every
ship in the Navy, the resources of munition
factories — in a word, almost all of the essential
details about that country's fighting and economic
strength. It also knows what portion of the
populace is inclined to be disaffected. And it is
thoroughly familiar .with the strategical points
of that country, so that in case of invasion it may
strike hard and effectively.

What it must learn now is :

First, what are the present military and naval
activities of the enemy.

Second, what they are planning to do.

Finally, the German Government must learn
the how, why, when and where of each of these
things.

That, with the machinery at its command, is
not so difficult as it would seem.

Here is where the value of the minor bits of
information comes in. A trainman tells, for
instance, that he has seen a trainload of soldiers
that day, upon such and such a line. A similar
report comes in from elsewhere. Meantime
another agent has reported that a certain pack-
ing house has shipped to the Government so many
tons of beef; while still another announces the

delivery at a particular point of a totally different

264

The Complete Spy

kind of supplies. Do you not see how all these
facts, taken together, and coupled with an accurate
knowledge of transportation conditions and of
the geographical structure of the country would
constitute an important indication of an enemy's
plans, even failing the possession of any absolute
secrets? Do you not suppose that weeks
before you were aware that any United States
soldiers had sailed for France, the Germans
might have known of all the preparations that
were being made and could deduce accurately
the number of troops that were sailing and many
facts of importance about their equipment ? There
is no need for the betrayal of secrets for this
kind of information to become known. It is a
mere matter of detective work.

But mark one feature of it. These facts are
communicated by different spies — not to a central
clearing-house of information in the United States,
as has been surmised, but to various points
outside the country for transmission to the Great
General Staff. They are duplicated endlessly by
different agents. They are sent to many different
people for transmission. And even if half of
the reports were lost, or half of the spies were
discovered, there would still be a sufficient
number left to carry on their work successfully.

R* 265

The Complete Spy

Germany does not depend upon one spy alone
for even the smallest item. Always the work is
duplicated. Always the same information is
being secured by several men, not one of whom
knows any of the others; and always that in-
formation is transmitted to Berlin through so
many diverse channels that it is impossible for
the most vigilant secret service in the world to
prevent a goodly part of it from reaching its
destination.

How that information is transmitted I shall
tell in a moment. First I wish to explain how
more important facts are secured — the secret
plans of the Government, such, for instance, as
the course which had been decided upon for the
squadron which carried the first American troops
to France.

It is obvious that such facts as these could not
have been deduced from a mass of miscellaneous
reports. That secret must have been learned in
its entirety. Exactly how it was discovered I
do not pretend to know, nor shall I offer any
theories. But here, in a situation of this sort
unquestionably, is where the real spy — the
" master spy," if you wish to call him so—
steps in.

Now, it is impossible, in spite of the utmost
266

The Complete Spy

vigilance, to keep an important document from
the knowledge of all but one or two people. No
matter how secret, it is almost certain to pass
through the hands of a number of officials and
possibly several clerks. And with every additional
person who knows of it the risk of discovery
or betrayal is correspondingly increased. If in
code, it may be copied or memorised by a spy
who is in a position to get hold of it, or by a
person who is in the power of that spy! Once
in Berlin, it can be deciphered. For the General
Staff and the Admiralty have their experts in
these matters who are very rarely defeated.

You may be sure that Germany has made her
utmost efforts to put her spies into high places
in America, just as she has tried to do elsf-
where. You may be sure, also, that she has?
neglected no opportunity to gain control over
any official or any naval or army officer — how-
ever important or unimportant — whom the agents
could influence. That has always been her
method ; nor is it difficult to see why it frequently
succeeds.

Imagine the situation of a man who in time of
peace had supplied, either innocently or other-
wise, a foreign agent with information which
possessed a considerable value. It is probable

267

The Complete Spy

that he would revolt at a suggestion that he should
do it in time of war — but with his neck once in the
German noose, with the alternative of additional
compliance or exposure facing him, it is not hard
to see how some men would become conscious
traitors and others would be driven to suicide.

By a system of blackmail and intimidation the
Germans have attempted to force into their ranks
many people from whom they extort information
that would now be regarded as traitorous, although
formerly it might have been given out in all
innocence.

Undoubtedly it was for purposes of intimida-
tion that von Papen carried with him to England
papers incriminating Germans and German-
Americans who had been associated with him in
one way or another. And why did von Riritelen
return to America and aid the Government in ex-
posing the German connections of people who had
no German blood in them? The obvious answer
is that those people had refused to aid him in some
scheme he had proposed. Therefore he made
examples of them, with the double purpose of
demonstrating to the United States the extent
of German intrigue and of filling other implicated
people with fear of the exposure that would come
to them if they were not more compliant.

268

The Complete Spy

Once in possession of secret information, the
spy is faced with the necessity of transmitting it
to Berlin. Here again the spy who is a German
would meet with considerable difficulty. He may
mail letters if no mail censorship has been in-
stituted; but these are liable to seizure and are
not so useful in the transmission of war secrets
as they were in informing his Government before
the war of more or less standard facts about the
strength of fortifications and the like. He may
use private messengers — as do all spies — but the
delay in this method is a severe handicap.

In sending news of the movements of troops
speed is the prime essential. Consequently he
must communicate either by wireless or by cable.
How does he do it?

There are innumerable ways. There may be in
the confidential employ of many business houses
which do a large cable business with neutral
countries men who are either agents or dupes of
the German Government. These men may send
cables which seem absolutely innocent business
messages, but which if properly read impart facts
of military value to the recipient in Holland, say,
or in Spain, or South America. It is not a dif-
ficult matter to use business codes, giving to the

terms an entirely different meaning from the one

269

The Complete Spy

assigned in the code-book. Personal messages
are also used in this way, as is well known. As
to the wireless, although all stations are under
rigid supervision, what is to prevent the Germans
from establishing a wireless station in the Ken-
tucky mountains, for instance, and for a time
operating it successfully?

But in spite of all cable censorship, the spy
can smuggle information into Mexico, where it
can be cabled or wirelessed on to Berlin, either
directly or indirectly by way of one of the neutral
countries. Even in spite of the most rigid censor-
ship of mails and telegrams this sort of smug-
gling can be accomplished.

When I was in the Constitutional Army in
Mexico I used to receive revolver ammunition
from an old German who carried it over the border
in his wooden leg. Could not this method be
applied to dispatches?

There are numerous authenticated cases of
spies who have sent messages concealed in
sausages or other articles of food. Moreover,
the current of the Rio Grande at certain places
runs in such a manner that a log or a bucket
dropped in on the American side will drift to the
Mexican shore and arrive at a point which can be

determined with almost mathematical precision.

270

The Complete Spy

I mention these instances merely to show how
little of real value the censorship of cables and
mails can accomplish. The question arises :
What can be done? I shall try to indicate the
answer.

HOW TO GET RID OF THE SPY SYSTEM

I say frankly that I think it absolutely im-
possible to eradicate spies from any country.
Certainly it cannot be done in a week or a year,
or even in many years. It is more than probable
that the German spy systems in France and Eng-
land are more complete to-day than they were at
the beginning of the War. Three years ago the
spies in these countries were made up of both
experienced and inexperienced men. Now the
bunglers have been weeded out, and only those
who are expert in defying detection remain. But
these are the only men who were ever of real use
to Germany ; and fortified as they are by three
years of unsuspected work in these countries, they
are enabled to secure information of infinitely
more worth than they formerly were.

What is the situation in America?

I have shown you the structure of that system.
Let me repeat again that Germany has installed

in America thousands of men whose nationality

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The Complete Spy

and habits are such as to protect them from sus-
picion, who work silently and alone, because they
know that their very lives depend upon their
silence, and who are in communication with no
central spy organisation, for the very simple
reason that no such organisation exists. There is
no clearing-house for spy information in the
United States. There are no " master spies."

Do you think that the German Government
would risk the success of a work so important as
J,7f this by organising a system which the arrest of
any one man or group of men would betray ? The
idea of centralisation in this work is popular at
present. In theory it is a good one. In practice
it is impossible. By the very nature of the spy's
trade he must run alone, and not only be un-
suspected of any connection with Germany now,
but be believed never to have had such a connec-
tion. If the secret service were a chain, the loss
of one link would break it. With a system of in-
dependent units, endlessly overlapping, eternally
duplicating each other's work, they continue their
practices even though half of their number are
caught.

Now with these men, protected as they are by
the fact that not even their fellows know them,
with their wits sharpened by three years of silent

272

The Complete Spy

warfare against the agents of other Governments
and the American neutrality squad, the task of
ferreting them out is an utterly impossible one.
You cannot prevent spies from securing in-
formation.

You cannot prevent the transmission of that
information to Berlin without instituting, not a
censorship, but a complete suppression of all com-
munications of any sort.

But you can do much to counteract their
methods by doing two things :

I. Delaying all mails and cables, other than
actual Government messages.

II. Instituting a system of counter-espion-
age, which shall have for its object the detection
but not the arrest of enemy spies; and the dis-
semination of misleading information.

The war work of the spy depends for success
upon the speed with which he can communicate
new facts to Berlin. If all his messages are de-
layed his effectiveness is severely crippled.

If, in addition to that, all persons sending sus-
picious messages anywhere are carefully shadowed ;
if their associations are looked up, it may be pos-
sible to determine from whom they are getting
information, and by seeing that incorrect reports

273

The Complete Spy

are given them, render them of negligible value
to their employers.

Public arrests of suspected men are worthless.
Such disclosures only serve to put the real spies
on their guard. But if the spies are allowed to
work in fancied security, it will be possible to find
out just what they know, and the Government can
change its plans at the last moment and so stultify
their efforts.

Eternal vigilance, here as elsewhere, is the
price of security. Germany has regarded the work
of her spies as of almost as much importance as
the force in the field. She has spent millions of
dollars in building up a system in America whose
ramifications extend to all points of its national
life. And since upon this system rest all her
hopes of rendering worthless American participa-
tion in the war, she will not lightly let it fail.

I toss aside my clippings and sit looking out
into the New York street which shows such little
sign of war as yet. Defeat ! That is the end of
this silent warfare, this secret underground attack
that has in it nothing of humanity or honour. I
think of Germany, a country of quiet, peaceful folk
as I once knew it, bearing no malice, going cheer-
fully about their work, seeking their destiny with
a will that has nothing in it of conquest. And I

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think of Germany embattled, ruled by a group of
iron men who seek only their own ambitions as a
goal — who have brought upon the country and the
world this three-years' tyranny of hate.

What will be the end? Will the war go on,
eating up the lives and honour of men with its
monstrous appetite? Or will there be peace — a
peace that will bring nothing of revenge or op-
pression; that will carry with it only a desire for
justice to all the peoples of the earth — that will
kill for ever this desire for conquest which now and
in the past has borne only sorrow and bloodshed as
its fruit? Will the peace bring forgetfulness of
the past, in so far as men can forget?

That would be worth fighting for.

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