Lothar Witzke Lothar Witzke ( 1895 in Posen – after 1923 ) was a German spy and saboteur active in the United States and Mexico during World War I . Naval career . Born in Posen ( now Poznań ) , Witzke was educated at Posen Academy then entered the German Naval Academy as a seventeen - year - old cadet . By the beginning of the war he was a lieutenant in the Imperial German Navy on the light cruiser SMS " Dresden " . After many months of excitement , during which the " Dresden " played havoc with Allied shipping and hid from British warships , she was eventually caught and sunk . Witzke ' s leg was broken in the action . Together with other survivors of the crew he was interned in Valparaíso , Chile . Sabotage activities . Early in 1916 he escaped ; and as a seaman , under an assumed name , he succeeded in reaching San Francisco in May 1916 on board the SS " Calusa " . There he reported to German Consul General von Bopp , who put him in touch with another saboteur , Kurt Jahnke , based in Mexico City . At this time the American authorities knew nothing of Jahnke ' s and Witzke ' s surreptitious activities . Both showed special aptitude for secret service work and were of a caliber far superior to von Bopp ' s other agents . So cleverly did they cover their tracks that they were never even suspected during the neutrality period . In addition to their work on the West Coast , they made frequent trips east on sabotage missions . After von Bopp ' s arrest they gradually shifted their operations to the industrial Eastern Seaboard . Witzke was connected to the March 1917 munitions explosion at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in San Francisco by double agents of the U . S . Military Intelligence Corps . Later , Witzke himself implied that he had taken part in the massive Black Tom explosion in New York harbor on July 30 , 1916 , which killed four and was heard as far away as Philadelphia . Imprisonment . He was arrested at 10 a . m . on February 1 , 1918 , in Nogales , Arizona at the Mexican border . He claimed to be a Russian - American , " Pablo Waberski " , returning to San Francisco . A 424 - letter cryptogram was found sewn into the left upper sleeve of his jacket . Several months later this cryptogram was broken by Herbert Yardley at the fledgling MI - 8 and identified the bearer to the " Imperial Consular Authorities of the Republic of Mexico " . He was convicted by a court martial at Ft . Sam Houston and sentenced to death . Twice he attempted to escape and once got out , but he was caught the same day emerging from a Mexican shack . Upon return , a razor blade was found in his cell , and since suicide was feared , his top clothes were removed . On November 2 , 1918 his sentence was approved by the Department Commander . On May 27 , 1920 , President Wilson commuted his sentence to life imprisonment , and Witzke went to Leavenworth Prison . Meanwhile German officials were exerting every possible pressure for his release . On April 30 , 1923 , the German Ambassador asked for his release on the grounds that other countries , including Germany , had released all prisoners of war including spies . At the same time a prison report showed Witzke had heroically prevented a disaster by entering a prison boiler room after an explosion . On that basis Witzke was released on September 26 , 1923 , pardoned by President Calvin Coolidge , and deported to Berlin . Upon his return to Germany , Naval Lieutenant Witzke was decorated with the Iron Cross , First and Second Class .