The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1917-11-16
Calumnious Story About Pa
triotic Aviatrix Is Posi-
lively Untrue
ANOTHER INSIDI0US
PRO-GERMAN ATTACK
Shows Earmarks OF Being
Kin OF Many Other Made
In Germany Stories

Within a few weeks Mt. Vernon. in
common with other cities in the mid
die west, has been given concrete ex.
amples of the workings of German
sympathizers, if not actually persons
drawing pay direct from Berlin for
their dirty tactics that stop at moth.
ing, no matter how big or how little.
that would have the least tendency to
affect the United States government
and impede it in carrying on the war
with the kaiser.
Stories tending to hinder the hui.
manitarian work of the Red Cross
have been a common occurrence and
it is likely they have reached the
ears of at least a few gullible persons
who swallowed the bait despite the
odor of "Made in Ger
many clhlging to them. Stories also
were circulated actively in a futile
effort to defeat and injure the food
conservation campaign and made .
their way to Mt. Vernon. That these
attempts were futile is shown by the .
response of patriotic, clear-thinking
housewives throughout the entire .
United States, but they no doubt did .
have some small effect
WORKED" HERE
Mrs. w. f. Allgire, county chair.
man OF the food conservation cam
paign in this county, reported recent |
ly that some of the workers on the
committee had encountered persons
who refused to sign the food cards .
under the erroneous impression that
to do so would lay the signer's food
supply open to confiscation.
The absurdity of such stories ap-
parently does not impress itself upon
a few persons at least and in view of |
the serious troubles threatening the |.
country it would be well for every
loyal citizen to spend portion of
his time analyzing rumors before let
ting them affect what his love of
country should prompt him to consid- |
er the right thing.
The recent attack upon the govern
ment that bears Enthusiastically the blot
Of German invention is the preposter-
GUS story of the arrest of President
Wilson's private secretary, Mr.. Tum-
ulty, on a charge of treason and his
Incarceration in the federal prison at
Leavenworth.
That story could have been circulat.
ed for no other purpose than to cause
feeling of distrust for the highest
government officials on the part of
the common people in the opinion of
prominent, thinking citizens for
tunately the whole thing has been
exposed, but only after it had been
repeated and spread by word Of mouth
until fears and doubts were in the
hearts of thousands of loyal citizens.
ATTACK WOMAN NOW
AS a climax to all these came the
story only few days ago that Miss
Ruth Law, the daring aviatriX whose
activities during both of the Liberty
bond campaigns won for her the ad-
miration and esteem of the nation,
had been arrested on charge of es.
pionage in Georgia and had been
found to have blueprints of the loca.
tions and arrangements of the entire
system of military training camps in
her possession, presumably for the
use of the German government.
This story probably reached The
Banner before it gained general circu-
latiCn in this community and work
was begun at once to trace it to its
source. A telephone call to The Ban
ner from young woman who refused
to give her name, gave the informa
ton that one of the members of 4
Battery at Camp Sheridan had writ
ten the informant q letter in which
he said that he had heard of Miss
Laws arrest and understood that the
papers in Montgomery had published
the story. The tale was so perposter-
Gus, however, without doubling the
sincerity of the soldier, who apparent
ly thought he was merely mentioning
something that the recipient of his
letter also knew, that The Banner be-
gan an investigation through the med
ium OF The Associated Press. The in
vestigation resulted late Wednesday
in a positive and absolute denial of
/ the rumor
ABSOLUTELY FALSE
Ruth Law is still a loyal American
and is still the foremost woman await
or of the nation, if not of the entire