The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1917-09-27
GERMAN PLOTS
ARE DISCLOSED
u. S. Gives Proof That Berlin Oi-
rected Violence and Intrigue
In America.
SPY SYSTEM
Committee on Public information Re.
veals Startling List of Teuton
Underground Activities Against
u. S. Government.

Washington, Sept. 24.-Further dis
closures of far-reaching German pro-
paganda, intrigues and plots in this
country prior to the diplomatic break
with Germany have been made by the
committee on public information.
In a bulletin styled official expose"
the committee quotes the numerous
letters and extracts from letters seized
by the Department of Justice in April,
1916, in a raid upon the New York
Office of Wolfe Won Igel. Won Igel, in
carrying on his manifold pro-German
and anti-American activities, the do
cuments show, was in constant touch
with the German embassy and with
Count Won Bernstorif, then the Ger
man ambassador to the United States.
banning Evidence Found.
in the form of letters, kilograms,
notations, checks, receipts, registers,
cash books, cipher codes, lists of spies
and other memoranda and records"
the committee says, were found in
d~ications-in some instances of the
vaguest nature, in others of the most
damning conclusiveness-that the Ger
man Imperial government through its
representatives in a then friendly ma
ton was concerned with
Violation of the laws Of the United
States.
Destruction of lives and property
in merchant vessels on the high seas.
Irish revolutionary plots against
Great Britain.
"~Fomenting ill feeling against the
United States in Mexico.
"Subornation of American writer's
and lecturers.
Financing of propaganda,
Maintenance of a spy system under
the guise of a commercial investiga-
ton bureau.
"Subsidizing OF a bureau for the
purpose of stirring up labor troubles
in munition plants.
The bomb industry and other re-
lated activities"
Holland a German Way Station.
The committee. Of which Secretaries
Lansing, Baker and Daniels are men,
bers and George Creel, chairman, has
this to say concerning Holland:
1T has long been an open secret
that Holland is merely a way station
for shipments d co%ntraband and into
Germany. Here is official conirma-
ton from the Won Igel records which
would seem to indicate a suspicious
and confidential relation between the
Holland commission and the German
diplomatic officials accredited to this
country, or possibly q belief by the
Germans that they could not success
fully get the munitions to their own
country. The message in code with
interlinear translation is entered as "A
24993' and headed German embassy,
Washington, d. c.. April 6, 1916 1t
runs as follows:
kilograms from Berlin by secret,
roundabout way for Carl Heysen: Con-
sent sale Holland three hundred
thousand chests tcartridges1 and two
hundred tons powder. Please get in
touch with Holland commission. Sen
der. wal minister, foreign office, in
representation.
"~(Signed)S Hatzfeldt."
Prince fiatzfeidt was AN official OF
the German embassy.
neutrality-suspicious. Line Involved.
The Hamburg-American lines bur-
eau of investigation, the committee
states, an Innocent pretending agency
was at the outset the secret service of
the Hamburg-American Steamship
company. Under Paul Koenig, it's man.
ager, II became an adjunct of the Ger
man diplomatic secret service. A letter
dated July 20. 1915, from %. r., one of
its operatives to 1000 characterized
by the committee as Captain Won Pa
pen, former German military attache)
tells OF the payment of $3.50, to an un-
named person under peculiar precau-
tons, after the recipient had made
this statement:
Il intend to cause serious damage
to vessels Of the Allies leaving ports
of the United States by placing bombs,
which l am making myself, on board
These bombs resemble ordinary Jumps
OF coal and ] am planning to have
them concealed In the coal to be laden
on steamers of the Allies"
Money for irish Rebels.
Money apparently went from Ger.
man sources in the United States
through embassy channels to Sir Ro.
ger Easement, the Irishman executed
in London.
Several lines of communication be.