New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-19
CHIEFS SOUGHT
IN GERMANY'S
MEXICAN PLOT
Meloy, Held in Passport
Fraud, Reported Will
ing to Tell All.
MORE IS LEARNED
OF Won NUBER MOVES
information Expected to Lead to
Further Indictments, Depart
ment of Justice Announces.

That government agents we're close
on the trail of the leaders Of that
branch Of the German conspiracy
which had for it's especial mission the
embroiling of this country with Mex
leo, was indicated yesterday after the
Federal Building had been buzzing for
hours with rumors that Andrew ID.
Meloy, under indictment for alleged
connivsnce In passport frauds, was
seeking to make "dicker" with those
who are to prosecute him. A correlated
report was that should Meloy's ad-
vanees meet with favor, Franz Rinte-
len -Gasche- Hanson, now under
arrest In England, might also have in
teresting information TO divulge.
Joseph NJ. Proskauer, Meloy's lawyer,
was surprised when the question OF
his clients alleged Willingness to talk
was put to him. Proskauer at first de-
MED he had visited II. Snowden Mar
shall, United States District Attorney,
recently. Later, it was said, he ad-
mitted the visits.
1t is believed that Meloy, should he
decide to talk, might greatly increase
the governments stock of information
bearing on the successfully nipped
Huerta uprising. Rintelen, who is held
have come 70 the United States TO
foment trouble with Mexico, which
would have turned the output Of Amer
lean munitions into channels leading to
points nearer home. II was soon after
the plot was supposed to have been
Matched in Barcelona that General
Huerts emerged from retirement in
that city.
Might Like to Return.
While Rintelen is under indictment
in connection with the passport frauds,
the offence is not extraditable. How
ever, the extremely delicate situation
in which he finds himself in England,
where the mortality rate among spy
suspects is notably high, tends to lend
color to reports of his willingness to
return 70 the United States.
With the reports in regard to Meloy
and Rintelen. there were evidences OF
unusual activity in the Federal Build
ing. Assistant United States Attorneys
Wood, Knox and Sarfaty, who are in
charge OF various prosecutions growing
out Of German conspiracy exposes, held
q conference with Superintendent Will
lam Offley and other officials OF the De-
partment of Justices bureau of inves-
tigation.
A clew to the direction taken by the
conference was supplied by transla-
tion Of the war book of the German
General Staff, which was obtained from
Judge K. Henry Lacombe, of the Fed
eral court, and repeatedly consulted by
the conferrees. At the close of the
meeting these paragraphs in the trans
lation were found to have been under
scored:
Bribery of the enemy's subjects
with the object Of obtaining military
advantages, acceptance of offers of
treachery, reception Of deserters, uti-
lization Of the disconnected element in
the population, support Of pretenders
and the like are permissible. Indeed,
international law is in no way opposed
TO the exploitation OF the crimes Of
third parties assassination, incendiar-
ism, robbery and the like-to the preju-
dice Of the enemy.
Must Not Let Advantages Slip.
considerations of chivalry. generos-
ity and honor may denounce in such
cases a hasty and unsparing exploita-
ton Of such advantages as indecent
and dishonorable, but law, which is
less touchy, allows it. The ugly and
inherently immoral aspect Of such
methods cannot affect the recognition
of their lawfulness. The necessary aim
of war gives the belligerent the right
and imposes upon him according TO
circumstances the duty not TO let slip
the important-it may be decisive-ad-
vantages to be gained by such means
Another report in circulation was
that Special Agent Niece, of the De-
partment of Justice, had located in
house on the East Side documents con-
Meeting secret agents OF the Central
Powers with recent strikes and explo-
sions in munitions plants. Like the
other rumors this could not be veri-
fed. All that came from official sources
was a hint that italian Secret Service
men are very busy"
Alexander Won Nuber de Pereked,
Austro- Hungarian consul in New YORK,
took occasion briefly to deny reports
that his recall was imminent. over
the telephone from his quarters in the
Metropolitan Club, he said:
~ know nothing about it. and |
49,, TO- husv IN bother with GOSSIP"