Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-01-11
EDITOR
I'NrovERING THE "BOMB rLOTTERS-'

! It is no surprise to those who have been following
he "IInpp ra& in the san Francisco papers thai
! the German consul general ut San Francisco and
his associates have been found guilty Of conspiracy
% blow mp shp s and trains carrying munitions 70
! tho Allies
! Those trial Were. ConsuIti"ner;I Franz B"pp
Vicp-C Onsu f.. II. Won Setback Lieutenant Wilhelm
won Brincken an at1achP: Confidential Agent
Il Charles Z. Crowley and his secretary. Mrs. Mar
garrt W. Cornell.
AS witness after witness for he prosecution took
the stand. there was revealed amazing story of
activity by German agents in which iiIp German
consulate was plainly involved. The work of the
IT.. = secret service was indica ed i'm the perfect ion
of detail with which Crowley and his fellow agents
had been tracked. The evidence built mp against
them was overwhelming. Their movements were
shown TO be in close connection with the dynamit-
ing jobs or attempted jobs. Documents letters and
fsmar matter had been collected in such mass that
when Crowley went to the stand for the defense his
on Y course general blanket denial. which he
made. But to offset almost every point in his de-
NAL. the government had witnesses who rOntradctcd
him. =
The main defense Of Consul General BOpp and his
associates is that the agents in their employ were
not hired to do dynamting jobs by other illegal
means TO block the munitions traffic OF the Allies,
but to secure information ms to this traffc-infOr
nation later to be used in a claim, on behalf of the
German government that I. S. neutrality was be-
ing violated.
Against this, the government offered evidence to
prove that after dynamiting jobs had been pulled
off, confidential agents of the consulate and even
Of it's officials concerned in the payment
of money TO the men who did the jobs
Bit by bit the fabric OF evidence was built mp
against the German officials. Blanket deniaS could
not suffice to dscredit this evidence.
1t was soon apparent either that the German Off
Gals were the victims of series of damning coinc
dencs as strange as ever conceived in fiction else
that they were the motive forces in Illegal plots
against the peace and safety of the United States.
Evidently the jury took the latter view To explain
all their activities on the ground of coincidence was
TOO much 49,
The conviction ought to convince Germany and
German sympathizers in this country-if any fur.
ther convincing is necessary-that such plots and
plotters will not be tolerated These San Francisco
cases are the last remaining Of considerable NUM-
Der which the u. s. sleuths worked upon shortly
after the beginning of the war. The Lieut.. Fay case
the Stahl case. and particular the Won Papen and
Boy-ed cases, have shown beyond any reasonable
doubt that these bomb plotters felt that they had
the support of their government in their nefarious
operations. Not until the United States uncovered
plots which led into the very doors of the embassy
at Washington, did the German government disavow
for or sympathy with the law-break>
ers 1t was left for the United States government
to run the malefactors sterny to earth and reveal
the amazing extent OF theirswork. The singing
rebuke to Germany through the demand for the re-
call of Won Papen and Boy-ed then followed.