Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-12-13
GEIER WIRELESS, SECRET AGENTS,
USED FOR PLOT COMMUNICATIONS

With the proposed furnishing OF mi
itarv passport. which would neCessar,
ity have 10 be forged, TO a DR.. SchWlek
who had arrived in Honolulu from Ma
. MIA and Trinansu THE identity 0;
this latter point is in doubt. Possibly
il i TSingtauD
, Here is the entry which ushers up
on the stage the secret agent, K II.
USE OF FORGED PASSPORT
REFERRED TO
/ November II, 1914: This afternoon
the consul came on board with a DR..
Schwiek from Manila and Trinansu.
He has a secret message. | will giE e
him military passport from July 25
to August H. knorr will give him
! transportation beyond.
Later: Have decided not 70 give
! Schwiek a passport because kirchei-
sen, the quartermaster Of the China,
warned me against him, saying sus-
picion had been directed on Schwiek
| on the China. Kircheisen gave me
and the captain of the Ponmern a ra-
do code for sending news. He
! (Schwiek) claims to be a L. S. agent
for the suppression Of white slavery
and the opium traffic
ABOUT MUNITIONS ON
BOARD S. S. HoLsATIA
A little less than a month later the
diary reveals an apparent plan to send
weapons and ammunition from the
cargo of the Holsatia to Japan. In this
connection appears the name of Capt.
Bernhard" supposed to be Capt. Ed
mnnd Dienart or Dienat, master of the
refugee steamer Holsatia. Dienat was
one of those indicted for the Hindu
conspiracy, the trial of which is now
in progress at San Francisco He was
interned at Angel Island after his Ho-
nolulu activities. The entries below
tell the story in chronological order:
December ~, 1914: Captain Dein-
hard and Mr.. Klebahn came on board
and requested information as to
whether some boxes OF sporting rifles
and -- which were among the
cargo Of the Holsatia could be sent to
Japan. / told him the articles were
eontraband and could not be sent"
April 4, 1915: Telegram from the
Embassy, Washington-'In case the
weapons on the HoIsatia have only
been partly paid for. refuse to deliver
them, as In this case the German au.
thorities. will arrange for their pur-
chase. Let us drop them down by
courses e., e. few at a time) with
caution in the bay. and let them be
covered with, care
RoDIEk's NAME USED
IN 5fioLSATIA WEAPON CASE
April 10, 1915: "on the sixth of
April the following telegram was sent
to the Embassy, Washington: In re-
ply to your inquiry, 81 shotguns, Sc
stock, So barrels, Ia boxes of ammuni.
ton. Not known whether paid for or
not. (Signed) ! - 49,
April %, 1915: Had a conversation
with Messrs. Klepahn. and Schroeder
regarding weapons on the Holsatia.
We decided to write to the embassy
and call their attention to the danger
of some one getting into difficulties
II the American authorities found
these things on board"
TWO GERMAN OFFICERS
WITH FORGED PASSPORTS
Next there Is a reference made to a
Lieut.. Telt or Peltz, and to a German
naval officer, both of whom were using
forged passports. OF this incident
Capt. Grasshof says:
December e, 1914: The Mongolia
came in from Shanghai in the evening,
having on board Naval LIST Lieut.. Telt
Cor P.). The first named was an avi-
ator at Tsingtau and escaped the
day before the surrender. He landed
in the vicinity of Marking, was in
termed there and that evening went to
Shanghai by rail. The latter was an
officer on the Jaquar attached to
headquarters, Shanghai. They are
both travelling as merchants under
forged passports"
INTERNED GEIER WAS
USING WIRELESS CONSTANTLY
The Geier, although interned was U.s.
ing her wireless all the time, the diary
shows. Grasshof under examination
later stated that he thought they
caught practically all transpacitic
messages. Herei~is one entry show.
ing successful wireless .communica.
ton:
December q, 1914: Telegram re-
ceived from consulate: 'Geier will
transmit messages to Cormoran.
FALSE STORIES SPREAD TO
ALARM PACIFIC SHIPPING
Such acts as those given above did
not by any means constitute the range
of activities of the Germans at that
time. They were persistent and mis-
chievous spreadeEs of propaganda de-
signed to alarm Pacific shipping or to
foment trouble between friendly ma
tons.
= In line with this policy is the story
told piecemeal in the diary of a myth
ical Japanese expedition to Mexico.
Apparently the Germans hoped to
spread such stories partly by mes
sages which would be caught by 9TH
ers than themselves and believed. This
method, they hoped, would result in
the spreading of all sorts of alarming
rumors.
JAPANESE EXPEDITION
TO MEXICO" Is HOAX
The following clew to a pretended
belief In Japanese expedition to Mex
leo is a very patent sample of German
propaganda. The government has
known that much of it has gone on.
One rather ridiculous feature is to be
noted-that the message speaks Of