The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1917-06-09
PL0I AGAINST DRAFT
UNITED STATES AGENTS DiScov.
Err CONSPIRACY TO BALk
CONSUMPTION.
GERMANS BUSY IN TEXAS
Department Of Justice Declares Society
Was Organized to Intimidate Per-
sons Subject to Registration
Many Arrests Made.

washington, May 30.-Oficial an.
nouncement was made Of a plot to
hinder registration and to resist con-
scription by an armed uprising against
the government. Eleven arrests have
been made and nine Indictments have
already been returned by federal grand
juries.
The conspiracy is declared by the
department of justice to have had
its origin in Texas, where society
was formed several months ago for
the ostensible purpose of co-opera-
tive buying. The members were re-
CURED to take n secret oath.
after the enactment Of the Sc
lective draft law" says the depart
ment's announcement, "a strong Ger
man influence succeeded In inducing
the organization to turn its efforts to
combating CONSUMPTION and high
powered rifles were obtained TO In
timidate persons subject TO registra-
ton and the officials who Will be
appointed TO perform the registra-
ton"
Two of the men arrested were
brought to Roanoke, Va, and landed
in Jail. They are William Vernon Nc
Coy. a grizzled mountaineer OF sixty
five, who gained nbtoriety in the ia
nous Hatfield Mccoy feuds, and his
lieutenant, j. w. Phipps. These men,
IL is alleged, were the organizers or
an armed company in the mountain
districts of Virginia.
Similar conspiracies have been dis
covered in the middle West, where
the influence of the |. w. w. is be-
lieved TO be responsible for the at
tempts 10 combat conscription. Re-
ports received from government
agents indicate that this organiza-
ton is doing its utmost to arouse
armed resistance to the law.
The nine men indicted were promi-
nent members of the Texas organiza-
ton. They were dealt with prompt
ly, il is stated. as Il warning to the
public generally of the stringent pol
icy which the attorney general pur-
measures
Mccoy and Phipps were arrested In
st. Paul, little town in Whyte coun-
~, I'm the extreme southwestern part of
Virginia. Dispatches from Roanoke de-
clare that the plot which they were
preparing to execute included the
murder of well-to-do property owners,
the seizure of their property and a
virtual declaration of war against the
government of the United States.
Three hundred mountaineers whom
they had provided with arms, 1t is
alleged, had taken an oath to extermin-
ate the land owners.
The declaration Of war follows:
The country is ours and all
therein. We only have to come to-
gether and demand 1t. The big land
owners, the spectators and the rev.
enues shall no more be known. There
will be no fighting; we have already
learned that. Get ready"
A. ]. Devlin, an agent of the de-
partment of justice, who arrested the
ringleaders, is said to have in his pos
session all the discriminating papers
of the revolt. Other agents of the de-
partment are rounding up numbers Of
the band and 1t is expected that scores
more Cof the conSpirators will be
brought into the Roanoke jail.
In commenting on the IL arrests in
various parts Of the country that have
already been made, Attorney General
Gregory said:
'These arrests should be accepted
by the country generally as warn
ing against interfering with the en-
forcement Of the provisions Of the
new army law. They merely demon
strate what the department of justice
proposes TO do in every case where at
tempts are made to hinder or discour-
age registration.
"There have been few reported in
stances of threats to interfere with the
of this law. Wherever they
come to the attention of officials of the
department arrests will be made and
the offenders arraigned before United
States commissioners for commitment
70 nwait Indictment nv grind iuries"