The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-25

sell me his birth certificate and then
swear to this mans name in my appli-
cation for a passport. The necessary
money would be forthcoming. l was
promised.
81 had lived in Hoboken before my
marriage. and there met Gustav Cook.
a former pugilist and man about town.
, whom l believed would be just the agent
| for the business. I asked Cook If he
could not produce some one whose birth
certificate 1 could use in getting a pass
| port. Cook wanted to know how much
there was in it. and I said thought 800
| would be satisfactory to my people.
Had Trouble Getting Papers.
Cook told me he would have a man
by o'clock that evening. and at the
| appointed hour 1 met Cook and Richard
Madden. an attendant in the Hoboken
dance hall They showed me a baptismal
certificate and said they had a terrible
| hard time getting il. 1t was necessary
even to rout out the priest and have
Madden's mother busy herself in obtain
| ing the document. I had to have a birth
certificate from the bureau OF vital sta
| tistics.
II agreed to pay sl0O for this docu-
ment. and the next day Cook and Mad
| den showed up with the much-coveted
paper There was some pickering over
the price. AS a matter of fact before
got IT ] spent over S1S.'
MY passport was number 4ss21. II
permitted me to travel in Holland. Den
mark and Great Britain on commercial
| business OF course Madden had been
| picked out because his description fitted
| mine. There was no trouble at all in
| securing the passport.
Il was told to make the voyage on
the Lusitania. 1t was the trip on which
she raised the American flag just before
reaching Liverpool. My instructions were
as follows:
His Instructions.
stop at Liverpool. examine the Mer-
sey River. obtain the names, exact loca-
tons and all other possible information
concerning warships in or around Liver
pool: ascertain the amount OF NUM-
tons of war being unloaded on the Liv-
erpool docks from the United States; as
certain their ultimate destination: OBJ
tain a detailed list Of all the maritime
ships in the harbor. make constant in
quries, but In a most guarded way, Of
the location of the Dreadnought squad
ron which the Germans in New York I'M
derstand is anchored somewhere near St.
Georges.
From Londdn I was to Journey to
|
border and to Berlin. There / was
to receive whatever orders the head
office had for me and make my way
back to London and the United States.
Just before the date of sailing
went to room sol and saw Boy-Ed.
up to that time I had not told my wife
of that fake passport or of the pur-
pose behind il. She questioned me
closely and when she saw that l was
not telling her everything she said:
You have married an American
girl. II there is anything in this
which / should not know. you have
no right to have me as wife. Re-
member your first duty is to this
country and to me-
Wife Dissauded Him.
TT was right that / should tell her
and ! did. The thing had been burning
in my mind for days. 1 couldn't sleep.
Il asked her if my misdeed had
killed her love.
This makes no difference with my
love- she replied. That is not the ques-
ton. l know you simply obeyed orders
like a good German. But you are not
German any more. You are an American.
You already have taken your first papers.
The thing for you to do Is to break away
from this bad bushes now and forevtr.'
She said much more. and 1 never felt
before such love for the country Of
my adoption.
with the tears glistening in her eyes,
she pleaded with me to renounce forever
my fatherland. I took her in my arms
and l promised her that i would throw
away everything for her and the coun-
try of my adoption.
II went to Boyd and told him that 1
had decided not to sail. He wanted the
passport and all the other papers which
he knew I had. 1 declined to surrender
them"