The daily worker., 1924-05-14
OUR BOOK REVIEW
SECTION
A Great Adventure
Ry EsTHER LoWELL.

Company, CnlcagO.
Truly, this is the "story of a great
adventure" as the subtitle reads;
but rather of great adventures than
of a single stirring experience. 1t is
volume from which could be drawn
tales for thousand-and-one nights
entertainment. And yet all the in
cidents are hung on the life thread of
one man, the author Of this unique
autobiography.
Ralph Chaplin, whom Wehde met
in Leavenworth, characterizes Wehde
well when he says: 'In an age which
has for its ideal the meaningless pur-
suit of meaningless wealth, Albert
Wehde has seen fit to follow the shin
ing road of adventure-lea where it
might"
From the beginning, when the
youngster in Germany valued most
among the treasures of the family
chest the reminders of three uncles
who had met death far abroad in their
romantic venturings, Wehde was a
restless, eager seeker after the dis
itant places of earth and from then on
led life of hazard and uncertainty,
almost each day bringing startling
events. Startling events to any but
the daredevil, care-free descendants
Of the spirits of the old explorers and
buccaneers, soldiers-of-fortune in the
better sense.
The more melodramatic parts of
Wehde's life would make corking
yarns for Adventure" magazine
They are fascinating in the condensed
form which the autobiography COM
pels. But the most interesting Incl
dents of the authors career to class
conscious readers are those which
deal with his early life as an immi-
grant to this country.
The lad came with cousin to st.
Louis in the early eighties and fell
prey to the many takers of that
rough-and-ready day. (The takers are
still with us, more suave, more glib,
better-financed) The under side of
the young industrial America was not
the smooth, golden road to a high
position that it is painted by others.
When his puritanic uncle cast him
out, the young lad fell among thieves,
some respectable on the surface and
rotten beneath, some kindly inside
and hardened only as life made them
steal to live. The boy wandered down
the Mississippi and found the life of
a migratory worker in the south more
precarious than ever, involving COM
petition with the Negro.
Exotic Central American Exploits.
Wehdes Central American exploits
were as exotic as the countries in
which they took place. They reveal
the ready interference of British inn
perialism in the affairs of the theatri-
cal little republics. They are packed
full of the jungle atmosphere, achiev-
ed by keen-sensed description. They
range from prospecting for gold to
participating in revolutions and to
searching for ruins of ancient civiliza-
tions. All of them wonder-tales.
For fourteen years in the middle
of his life, Wehde lived quietly with
his family in New York and later,
TChicago, learning and working at
fjewelry designing. Then the 1914 war
came and the long-latent German feel
ing combined with the lure of daring,
the unknown made the man offer
himself as secret agent to the Ger
man government. His work in the
Orient was nearly all made futile by
the power of Britain over Japan, Chi
ma, and the neutral Holland and Unit
ed States.
This country's entrance into the
war came while Wehde was returning,
after China's severance of diplomatic
relations had blocked the chances for
him to continue his work. On his ar
rival in Honolulu, he was arrested
and brought on to Chicago, where he
was railroaded to Leavenworth before
that eminently self-righteous old wolf
in-the-sheep's-garb, Judge Kenesaw
Mountain Landis.
Finger Prints Can Be Forged.
Prison disgusted the man who had
endured innumerable hardships inn
posed by adventuring, and the only al
leviating circumstances were his
friendly relations with some of the I.
w. w. political prisoners. among
them Ralph Chaplin. There. too, he
and a political prisoner who was Sc
cretary to the head Of the Bureau of
Identification, wrote the now deposed
William J. Burns that fingerprints
could not be forged, altho Wehde had
many times proven to himself that
they could be. Prison officials would
not allow them to admit the discovery
Wehde had made for fear Of losing
prestige
The outrageous practice OF buying
pardons became common knowledge
to Wehde and he knew well the high
handed manner the Inspector of Pris-
/, ons Rev Heber Votaw brother-in.