New-York tribune., 1919-01-08


commercial informers. were gathered
in New York to meet Boy-Ed. He said
he refused permanent employment at
that time and soon got job with the
Burns agency.
While there the agency did two
pieces of work. one for DR.. Rumely
and one for the Hamburg American
Line. In both instances, he said, the
agency reported that there was no case
for the Germans. The first was an
attempt to prove that the British were
their cruisers, and the second that the
Fore River shipyard was building sub
marines for the Allies. Mr.. Bielaski
had intma:ed that Means's methods
in the first case were such that the
possibility of indicting him was con-
sidered
Denies 1t WAS for Kaiser
Means denied that either of these
jobs could be considered work for the
German government, and said Burns
had repeatedly refused offers of this
kind of work, owing to his desire to
preserve strict neutrality. Senator
Nelson pointed out that the informa-
ton sought would have been used by
the Germans to help Germany, but
Means could not see it.
Meanss first job for Boy-Ed was in
the spring of 1915, he said, when Dr.
Rumely asked him to attend to a per
sonal trouble BoyEd was in, a fight
between two men over some woman.
While he was on this job, he said, he
learned the details of the Huerta plot
from some German friends, and re-
ported this to Mr. .Tumulty, secretary
to the President Also, he learned that
Won Papen had secured through the
German insurance companies, data on
large numbers of men, he said, and
was making up lists of chemists, ma
chinists and others to be used in bomb
Cutrages.
This, Means said he reported to Sec
retary Daniels. Later he declared, he
had furnished much information to
Rathome. editor of "The Providence
Journal" who was exposing German
plots, including tip that the Ger
mans were going to destroy the Parlia-
ment House at Ottawa and the Montreal
water supply system Major Humes
seemed little skeptical about these.
He pointed out that the officiol invest-
cation in Ottawa had shown that the
Germans had nothing to do with the
fire there, and that the other proposed
crime had never taken place.
Says Boy-Ed Approved
Wasn't it part of your work to lead
Rathomc astray by these tales, since
he had been getting along too we'll with
actual 1hings?" ?" he asked.
absolutely not" replied Means. 81
was working for Boy-Ed. but he ap-
proved of this"
Means did not know that Boy-Ed had
been involved in the Welland Canal
plot or other activities of that kind.
He said he had fought Bernstorff and
Won Papen both to prevent bomb out
RACES and secret propaganda, urging
open work instead. and had nearly been
tried for it after he went back to Ger
many.
Before these things happened. how
ever. Means said he had been dis
charged by Boy-Ed for telling about
the Huerta plot. But he had soon been
reengaged and was paid S10o day
succeeded in doing what he was set to
do.
He told of many individual activities
while in Boy-Eds employ, and insisted
that he believed they were all for the
good Of the United States. One was
connected with a scheme to force up
the price of munitions to the Allies
by means of "phony" buyers; another
was to hire newspaper men to write up
sort out the people Boy-Ed ought to
see from the hundreds who tried to get
at him; fourth was to attempt to
buy engines for submarine chasers, and
the chasers themselves, to prevent the
Allies getting them.
Boy-Ed's Papers Sent Him
When BoyEd was sent home his
papers were turned over to Means, but
later, when there was a chance that
Boy-Ed would be tried in Germany
some of these were sent to him, Means
said. The others had been turned over
to an officer of the Military lntelli
gence, and had been used by Deputy
Attorney General Becker in examining
these papers that he got the commit
tee into executive session. his lawyer
stating that there was doubt whether
they would ever reach 'proper govern
ment officials" if a public statement
concerning them were made.
In the spring of 1916, Means said,
he went to work for Rudolph H. Otto,
Boy-Ed's successor. This time, he de-
clared, his work was largely CONNER
cial, although he was also involved in
the attempt to prevent "The New York
ling's papers. During this period he
bought rubber from stevedores, who
stole it from shipments to this coun-
try, and it was reshipped to Germany,
mostly hidden in tar barrels. which
were manifested as "rubberized tar"
He denied that this process involved
false manifests in any way Much of
this stuff was shipped direct to Rus
sia, he said.
"The Germans were in close touch
with Russia" he said, "and many of
the supposed Russian buyers here were
really working for Germany"
He also said the idea that most of
the shipments had gone from New
York was wrong, that Germany was
making heavy shipments from Gulf
ports.
Means worked for the Germans, he
explained, purely for commercial
work and for what | could get out of
it," He declared that he quit when
he was told by Otto that Germany was
going to resume submarine warfare,
as he knew that meant war with the
United States.
Several matters rather far removed