The Washington times., 1917-09-24

young man to escape without a fur
ther explanation.
mills then said: That young man
came from Morgan & Co. They win
protest against the shipment of these
boats from this country. They have
blocked the deal
81 took issue with him. Morgan &
Co. do not play melodramatics,' l said.
If they want TO stop any deal they
can readily do so without sending
young men to issue warnings. You
gave your whole plans recently to a
boat builder who is financed by Nor
gan. You knew II a. well as / did.
II you are afraid Of Morgan & Co.
your fears are very recent, IL seems
to me-
Calls on the Deal
mills insisted that the deal was
all OF. We waited until 1880 D. m
and CASTOR, williams 4 wigmore
telephOned they would be delayed an
hours. Means and his attorneys then
went to luncheon.
81 remained in the room with Col.
Morgan and when the other parties
to the supposed contract came, 1 told
them OF the dramatic young man with
the warning and Of Mills assertion
that the deal was all on
"They then said that "Aiilis'" attor-
ney had a paper which they wished to
obtain. This paper. am told, was
an affidavit relating to the fact that
the boats to be delivered would be
counterparts OF the Russian boats.
They left without the paper. I then
left and do not know whether they
ever recovered the document. 1 have
never seen my client since.
81 do not know what his game was.
can only conjecture. Fantastical as
f. may seem, It Is possible that he
did the work for German agents. II,
by his dealing with CASTOR, williams
& WlEmore, he could have given in
formation which would have disrupt
ed Britain's relations with Morgan 4
Co., II would have been Q feather in
the cap Of Germany.
"lf. on the other hand. Bernstorff
sought only an affidavit or a COPY OF
the plans of the motor boats with
which to back up q protest to Secre-
tary Lansing OF unneutral conduct by
the United States. II Is possible he
might have devised the plan which
mills" was set to carry out.
Only Outline Sketches.
An official of CASTOR, Williams /
Co., when told last night the story OF
Means negotiations with them. said:
Neither myself nor any OF the frm
to my knowledge ever met q Mr.
Mills. We did not know a Colonel
Morgan" Negotiations for thirty
motor boats at a price OF about
$50, 900 each were carried on. The
deal fell through suddenly for come
mysterious reason. We never heard
from any OF the proposed buyers
afterward.
1--WE wsre never asked for an af
fidavit which would set forth any
thing more than the boats would be
modelled after those made for Rus
sla. We bever agreed to ship them
abroad. We never gave Colonel Nor
gan any papers OF any value ex
cept some rough outline sketches OF
the motor boat The sketches were
of no value to q boat builder nor to
any one else. We never gave Colonel
Morgan nor other member OF his
party any money. Nor were we ever
asked for money"
1t is reported that Count Won Bern
storff in an official protest to the
United States Government charging
that American neutrality had been
violated by permitting the motor
boats to be shipped to Russia, used
designs Of the boats in supporting his
claim that the boats were for war
purposes and were in substance war
ships. 1t Is not known whether
these designs were those which
Means obtained by his alleged ef-
fort to buy a fleet built on similar
lines.