New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-01
GOLDMAN CLEW
TRAPPED KAPLAN
Detective Tells How WOm-
an Anarchists Talk Re
vealed Hiding Place.
SCHMIDT BETRAYED
BY BERKMAN BOAST
Los Angeles Fugitives Would
Have Been Safe but for
Friends, II Is Asserted.

When Guy p. B,ddinger, head Of the
Val OFarrell Detective Agency, wa.
shown a letter yesterday from Emma
Goldman denying that David Kaplan,
the Los Angeles dynamiter, would be q
witness against Matthew Schmidt, his
fellow conspirator, he declared that II
was through Emma Goldman that Kap-
Ian was found, after five years'
search extending around the globe.
"More than that" said Mr.. Biddinger,
at was Goldman's friend Berkmsn who
enabled me TO get Matthew Schmidt
here in New York"
Miss Goldman's letter, dated Phls-
delphia, where she Is lecturing, was
provoked by the announcement in The
Tribune last Wednesday that Kaplan
WAS negotiating with District Attorney
Woolwine, of Los Angeles. and prob
ably would be a witness for the govern
ment In IL she said:
Permit me to inform your readers
that there Is not a word Of truth in the
story. I am In daily communication
with the defence and the two accused
men, Kaplsn and Schmidt. I have
known Kaplan for fifteen years. and
know that he is the kind Of man who
would rather die than implicate q com
rade, even If he had anything to con-
TESS. Furthermore, have received, only
few days ago. communication from
one Of the men connected with the de-
fence and publicity work to the effect
that it was Detective McLaren who is
guilty of the vilifcation of David Kap-
Ian; that the latter has protested
against this contemplate method, and
that he has announced he will In the
future see no one connected with the
prosecution until his own trial comes
up.
THE prosecution must be in a sorry
state with It's evidence il il will stoop
20 such desperate and despicable
methods TO sweat and grill a man who,
according TO American law, must be
considered innocent until he is proven
guilty.
"Kaplan's revolutionary traditions,
coupled with character and integrity,
preclude any possibility of be5raying
a comrade."
There is not a particle Of doubt"
said Mr.. Biddinger yesterday, that
Goldman knows Kaplan as she says she
does. When we picked him up in the
anarchist colony on Breckenridge ISL
and, near Seattle, her private address
and telephone number were In his note
book. SO also were private numbers of
Retman, Berkman and the others Of
the inner circle of anarchists in this
city.
at is because Goldman knew Kaplan
and because of her big mouth that it
was possible for us to get him. We
had looked all over the world for him,
tracing him here, there, everywhere.
the pair had been clever enough to
split. making il much more difficult TO
trace them. The first that ! knew that
Schmidt was in New York was after
the Caron bomb explosion, when Berk-
man boosted that the real guy is here
in New York now A little more Of
that sort of boasting and 1t was clear
that Schmidt could be got right here in
little old New York.
1--WE located him and waited a while
for Kaplan to show. He did not. Then
Captain Deevy and | picked Schmidt up
on Broadway. We did not then know
where Kaplan was.
About that time Goldman vent West.
When she came back she announced
that she had seen Ksplan recently and
that all was we'll with him. As we knew
that Goldman had just come from the
anarchist headquarters on Brecken-
ridge Island, it did not require many
mental revolutions &C. see that that was
the place to look for him. II was Just
trip West, the 8 o'clock boat to the
island and we had our man. He had
been there for weeks. His whereabouts
had been known TO any number of
anarchists, and he was safe just as
long as Goldman kept her mouth shut"