The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1918-02-07
GERMAN PLOT
:. IN HAWAII REVEALED
Intrigue Went on Under Very
Noses of Officials, Diary
Reveals.

Honolulu. T. H.. (by maiE.-Revela-
lions recently by the naval intelligence
bureau gave to Hawaii the first ink
ling of the vast scope of German in
trigue n plotting carried on right
under the noses of government, civil,
military and naval officials while the
German gunboat Geier and German
merchantmen were interned in Hono.
lulu shortly after the world war broke
out.
Based on the diary Of Capt. Karl
Srasshof, commander of the Geier, the
revelations are an expose of the nc
lation Of all principles OF interna-
tional law and a disregard for the
hospitality and refuge extended by n
neutral nation.
All the time the plotting was going
On a Japanese cruiser was lying in
wait outside the three-mile limit to send
the Germans to the bottom IL they
ventured outside the harbor.
Centertng on the gunboat Geier
he conspiracy was notable chiefly for
the dissemination Of propaganda des-
tined to work up enmity between Japan
and America, the Geier's wireless being
worked constantly, though h was in
termed. to carry orders from agent to
agent, to listen In on official govern
ment communications and to plot to
. home German interned sailors. by
means Of forged passports.
Bernstorff 10 in Diary.
The names Of Bernstorff, former am
oassador; Captain Boy-ed n Won
Papen, sent home by Washington be-
cause Of their pernicious activities and
numerous secret agents of the German
Espionage system figure prominently
"a the diary. The plot stretched from
Washington to Shanghai, Manila, and
Hong Kong.
i. That an attempt was made to get
men from the Geier home to Germany
by use Of forged passports.
2. That A. V. Kircheisen, quarter
master on the steamer China, known as
German secret service agent XII, car
ried orders II information to n from
Ban Francisco and the Orient.
3. Tina the Geier's wireless inter-
copied government messages and filed
them away for reference, using her
wireless in violation of the "internment
regulations.
4. That desperate efforts we're made
by h Germans to start trouble be-
tween Japan and America by the dis
semination Of false rumors calculated
however to cause a feeling Of suspicion
on the part of the United States to-
ward Japan. One rumor concerned the
purported dispatch Of a Japanese army
or 3OO,OOO to q Mexican seaport.
Tried to Brighten Ally.
". Inc uellpeTdle attempts also were
made to give rise to the belief that Ger
mans in America were planning an in
vasion of Canada, evidently with the
intention of frightening de Canadians
into keeping their armies at home. The
Honolulu consulate was instructed &c
spread this story,
g. That following the sinking OF the
Lusitania preparations were made By
the interned Germans to disable theil
ships, believing war was imminent ant
In fact the Geier did destroy her guns
because Bernstorff's message not to dc
30 arrived too late.
z. That Boy-ed in q message from
Washington ordered the Germans tC
spread the story of q German submar.
Inc operating in the south seas, a false
hood calculated to brighten racirit
coast shipping men.
Captain Grasshof, following the dis.
covery Of his duplicity, was examined
by a military court n held in soil
tary confinement until his removal las
summer to Fort Douglas, Utah.
One item the diary revealed was ar
attempt to stir up trouble for the Brit
ism in China. Another reference was tC
1000 rifles buried in the environs OF
Manila"