The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-04-26
PLOTTERS HAD WORLD STAGE;
 29 CONVICTED

San Francisco, April 26-Twenty- nine Hindus, former German consular officers and business men were found guilty of conspiracy or plots to foment a rebellion against British rule in India, when tried before jury in San Francisco, Wednesday, John F. Craig of the Craig Shipbuilding yards at Long Beach, Cal, was the only one who was found not guilty.
 The so-called Hindu conspiracy case had the world for its stage. It brought to light a movement which admittedly was active simultaneously in many world capitals to overthrow British rule in the Punjab, and to ex- | tend revolutionary control until it | should include every principality in i the vast Indian empire. The govern ment of the United States acted be- cause it was alleged that American soil was being used to set up mili- 1 tary expedition against a friendly | power, and this was the specific charge against the defendants, of 1 whom there were more than 30. The case was more an airing of several separate conspiracies than detailing of one specific plot.
 The prosecution brought in the names of many noted men as princi- pals, agents or confidents in these al- leged conspiracies. Count von Bern storff, former German ambassador to the United States; his fellow country men, Count von Luxburg, formerly German Ambassador to the Argentine Republic, and Dr. Alfred Zimmer- man, once German Foreign Secretary, were alleged in the testimony to have been mentors of the plotters, supply ing funds, advice, and the open door to men in high places. Letters to revolutionary leaders claimed the sup- port of Sir Rabindranath Tagore, British Indian poet, but not for war or bloodshed.
 Gun running under German-Hindu auspices was the whole story of the schooner Annie Larsen and the steamer Maverick, as told by the gov- ernment's witnesses. Evidence was offered to show that the schooner left San Diego, Cal, March 8, 1915, taking a $30O,000 cargo of arms and ammu-
 
 off the Lower California coast, where the Maverick was to take over the cargo and run it into Singapore. The arms, according to the testimony were paid for by German government agents.
 The Larsen waited a month for the Maverick but missed her and was forced to return for supplies at Ho-
 quiam, Washington, where United States authorities seized her and he1 cargo.
 German intrigue ran through X nearly everything which the govern a ment recounted. According to the ev' dence, the movement was directed b1 secretary working through the "Ghadr" party, but presently there 7 was a split among the German con I trol conspirators. Thereafter it wa: testified, hundreds of thousands O. 8 dollars were poured out by Berlin ant other strongholds of the conspirac! through Dr. Chandra K. Chakravarty Chakravarty, according to the govern [ ment, worked through Wolf von Inge in New York most of the time, vol q Igel reporting to Zimmerman. 1
 tained a Berlin Indian committee, A financed partly by the Oriental Junta
 and Hindus in the United States. Tn N German Consulate in San Francisc' q was supposed to have received hun
 dreds of thousands of dollars iron z Berlin for the conspirators, in addi H tion to what Chakravarty got. The defense offered was denial 4 general and specific, coupled with tn
 accusation that the government wa 5 acting for Great Britain and not il S good faith. As to the Maverick ex m petition, the defense maintained tha B vessel was intended for the oil trad
 among the South Sea Islands Tn
 Larsen's arms were said to be flo
 Mexican revolutionists. The activitie
 of the Oriental Junta were admitted
 as were most of the allegations COT
 corning the activities of the Chad
 party in this country but were hel
 not to constitute breach of neutra n ity. The alleged military aspect ( ' 1-I-