New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-17
RosenthaI, Executed in
London, Swore High Off
Gals Were Guilty.
OTHER DOCUMENTS
ALSO DUPLICATED
False Birth Certificates and
Naturalization Papers Turned
Out in Berlin.
From III. TrIbun. Bure.u.l

Washington, Aug. 16.-Documentary
proof of forgery of American passports
by the German Admiralty became
available here to-day in the form of a
statement made by Robert Rosenthal, a
German spy, to the British detective
service. Rosenthal was charged with
espionage last May and was executed
on July 10 in the Tower Of London.
Rosenthal swore that he saw blank
American passports in the Offices of
German Admiralty officials and that
they were signed "W. J. Bryan" and
bore the seal of the United States.
There was pile of these passports,
according to his statement, and what
appeared to be a counterfeit Of the
United States seal.
The State Department has been in
vestigating statements made by Rosen-
thai and other convicted spies, which
tend to establish the existence of
passport factories" operated by Ger
man officials both in Germany and in
neutral countries, notably Holland.
Representations have been made to the
German government concerning these
operations.
Other Forgeries Asserted.
Rosentha's statement, made at New
Scotland Yard on May IS, indicates
that the German government engaged
in the forgery of birth certificates and
American naturalization papers, as well
as passports. The United States uses
various rubber stamps on passports,
and these also, according TO Rosenthal.
we're duplicated IN perrin.
Captain Prieger, of the German Ad-
miralty, told NE that he could get me
a passport" says RosenthaPs state
ment. 81 saw in his possession pass
rort signed w. J. Bryan The pass
port was blank. I also noticed what
locked TO be like a pile Of them there.
There was a seal already on it. On
ore occasion | saw bronze or brass
seal'in his Office which was about the
SIZE of the seal on the passport. There
was a photograph affixed to this pass
rort, but | cannot say whether it was
sealed, because Captain Prieger COW
cred it over with his hand.
He told me he could get me birth
certificate and naturalization papers. |
think he is a captain in the German
navy. He asked me TO have my picture
taken, but | do not know for what
reason. | had it done and he kept
some. I do not know anybody else
who has obtained a passport through
Captain Prieger.
81 told the embassy that | was a
Iatent engineer, and gave the date |
left the United States as being the
middle of April, 1914. said that my
father was in the United States and
that he was naturalized.
"Mr Tuschek is, think, a captain in
the German navy. He has an Office at
the German Admiralty, and he was the
officer who got me. He met me one
afternoon and took me about in his
motor car. Captain Prieger told me
that he had rubber stamps for Ameri-
car passports; also that he had other
kinds of stamps which had been spe-
cially made"
Passport Obtained by Fraud.
When Rosenthal was arrested he had
a passport issued by the American En-
bassy in Berlin, based on his repre-
sentation that he was native Ameri-
can, the son of a nsturalized citizen.
He later admitted that he had sworn
falsely in obtaining the passport and
was a German subject.
Rosenthal wrote letter to the
American Ambassador in London just
before his execution protesting that
he was not guilty of espionage and
that the revelations he had made to
the British authorities should in any
scase have operated to commute his
sentence. Ambassador Page took no
action in the matter, as Rosenthal
lever had been an American citizen.
What action the State Department
can take in case of disavowal by
Germany OF the frauds committed by
German officers has not been deter
mined. There is no way of reaching
the individuals concerned, as they are
outside the jurisdiction of the United
States. Officials believe that Germany
will make scapegosts of certain officers
,,o,,nJ - Tho copnnlaiptq "a SON IN