The Washington herald., 1919-01-08
GERMANY CAVE
VILLA S3So,0oo
Mexican Bandit S Source Of
Income Revealed in Prop
aganda Probe.

IdllCUO llld SOulCt VI
during his campaign of 1915 was re-
vealed at yesterdays hearing of the
Senate judiciary Subcommittee in
the records submitted by Mai. L.
Lowry Humes, counsel for the sub
committee conducting probe into Ger
man propaganda
Villa received nearly ssso.ooo from
German agents in this country,
| through the shipment of ammunition
purchased from the Western Cart
| ridge Company. of Alton, Ill. to the
Mexican bandits agents at FL Paso.
The "go-between" was Felix Somer-
field, now interned at Fort Ogle-
thorpe. the money being paid to hom
through the Mississippi Valley Trust
Company of st, Louis and transferred
from the Guaranty Trust Company of
New York.
Mai. Humes told the subcommittee
that he is endeavoring to discover
who deposited the money with the
Guaranty Trust Company. Further
! investigation of this subject. he said.
would have to be postponed util GER
tain witnesses are secured. The mat
ter, in all probability, will b taken
up next Monday.
I.ured to Her Fate.
CASTOR b. Means, acquitted in a
North Carolina court of the murder
of Mrs. Maude A Kin, whose business
manager he had been, testified that
the Lusitania had been lured to her
/ fate by a decoy wireless message sent
I by the German submarine that sunk
. hnF tho hainc Snnt in rhr
English code, copy of which had
| been secretly obtained by Won Papen
! from a Canadian.
The message informed the ship that
the sender was a British convoy ves-
sci, and instructed her to alter her
course. so that she might meet the
alleged convoy. The code, Means said,
had been in possession of the Ger
mans for some time. and had only
been waiting for a ship that would be
worth while"
Means admitted his confidential re-
lations with the German agents, but
declared that they had ceased some
months before the United States en-
tered the war. He told of his aCtivi-
ties while in the employment of Capt.
Boy-Ed. When BoyEd left the Unit
ed States he entrusted his private pa
pers to Means. the witness declared,
some of which had been sent back TO
Germany when there was a chance
that Boy-Ed would have to stand trial
! in his own country. The remainder
had been turned over the to the Off
Ger of the Military Intelligence Bu-
reau. Means said, and had been used
by Alfred Becker in examining Means
in New York. He asked that the
committee go into executive session
to discuss these papers on the advice
of his lawyer that in all proba ability
they would never reach the proper
government officers If their where
abouts were made public.
Might Find Bonds.
Means also declined to make any
statement concerning certain bonds
said to be worth s25,00O,000 and
owned by the German government,
which had been in Chicago at the
declaration of war by this country
and which he had agreed to sell,
without receiving any payment for
his services. He said that he could
still find these bonds. In his testi-
mony to the alien property custo-
dian Means failed to make any ref
erence to these bonds.
Means gave a rambling account of
his work for the German govern
ment and with the Burns Detective
Agency, but declared that neither he
nor his chief, William J..Burns, had
at any time been pro-German or
anything but loyal Americans with
pro-ally sympathies.
Referring to his trial for the murder
of Mrs. King, he intimated that il
had been a part of the persecution
to which he had been subjected by
agents of the Department of Justice.
He made several vageu charges of
misconduct against A. Bruce Bielaski
former chief of the departments bu-
reau of investigation.
Means stated that he had been paid
800 a day by the Germans and given
a bonus of $1,000 a week when his plots
succeeded. He insisted that his work
had been in the interest of his coun-
try, and that his Connection with the
German agents had ceased Immediate
ly upon learning that the German gov
ernment intended opening unrestricted
submarine warfare.
Capt. G. B. Lester, of the Military
Intelligence Service, submitted records
showing that the Albert Bureau had
raised and spent s34, ,000,0o The rec
ord was based on deposition by Carl
Heinan, one OF Albert's confidential
agents. now interned in this country,
and by Burgmeister. Alberts account
ant.