OCR Text |
Show PLOT CHIEFS ARRESTED MANY UNDER ESPIONAGE I FREDERICK SCHEINDL and, below, Paul Koenig, two spies and plotters who have been taken into custody on orders from Washington. . I .. L .. t ,,,,, ,i , , , , k V Government Orders Sixty-five Sixty-five Apprehended; Attorney Attor-ney General's Warning. TEEXTOX, X. J., April 7. Two men, who were said to be acting suspiciously, were shot and wounded here early today by national guardsmen on duty at the Pennsylvania railroad tunnel under the Delaware & Earitan canal and an approach ap-proach to the Delaware river bridge of the railroad company. ' Trie men shot were Frank McGrat.h, 35 years old, and Frank Henry, 25, both of this city. Neither was seriously hurt, according to nhysicians. McGrath was walking along the tow path near the Greenwood avenue tunnel, tun-nel, where the railroad crosses the canal, when he was challenged several times. The guardsman claims when McGrath ignored his warning lie opened fire, one shot taking effect in the man's stomach. stom-ach. Henry was shot at the approach to the Delaware river bridge over the Xew York division of the railroad. Samuel Glazer, of the Pennsylvania national guard, who was on duty at the bridge, said Henry was acting suspiciously and that after he had ordered him to halt at least six times, he finally fired. - The bullet lodged in Henry's jaw. Henry stid lie was looking for- a boat, when challenged by the guardsman. There are no lioats iu the vicinity. The two incidents occurred within fifteen minutes of each other. U. S. Dragnet Set. of sixty alleged ringleaders in German plots, conspiracies and machinations in the United States was ordered today by Attornev General Gregory immediately after President Wilson had signed the war resolution. Every man whose arrest was ordered is a German citizen, is known by the department of justice, it was authoritatively authori-tatively stated, to have participated actively ac-tively iu German intrigues in this country and is regarded as a dangerous person to be at large. FSail will be reiused in each case, it was said, and the entire group will be locked up unless there is a change in present plans, for the duration of the war. Indications are that a number of other arrests will be ordered within the next few days. Plot'.ers Sought Out. The men are placed in thrpe groups: Those who have been cnuvicted of vio-l;iTinn vio-l;iTinn of American neutrality in furthering furth-ering German plots of various ports and are at liberty under bond awaiting the I action of higher courts: those who have I (Continued on Page Eoven.) U.S.G01E1IIT ORDERS ARREST OF 65JBERHUNS Attorney General Singles Out Enemy Aliens to Protect Pro-tect the United States From Injury. (Continued from Page One.) been indicted by federal gTand juries for similar offenses and are at liberty under bond awaiting trial, and persons neither indicted nor convicted, but whose activities have been under long I surveillance by the secret service or the ; department's bureau of investigation, i For the first time in more than a cen- ; iury arrests of alien enemies under the j attorney general's order will be made, without reference to the courts or ob- i Wrng warrants. The president is em-i em-i fowered to adopt this course in time of J war under an act of congress passed in 7f8 and not invoked since the war ; with Great Britain in 1812. j Suspects Are Watched. The department has under strict surveillance sur-veillance thousands of German reservists reserv-ists resident in the United States who are suspected of having been connected with plots already brought to light or abandoned before perfection, or who have been active in German propaganda or because their accentuated leanings toward the German government are regarded re-garded as likely to work against the interests of the United States during the war. How many German reservists are residents res-idents of the United States, a high official of-ficial said tonight, has never been accurately ac-curately determined and is largely a! niatter of conjecture. This official's belief be-lief was that the number ranged be tween 150,000 and i00,000. The great majority, it was said, are men in middle life or beyond or men who have been in this country for so many years that their sympathies in the present struggle are considered virtually as having been transplanted to the United States. 18,000 Reservists Here. There is, however, it was said, an army Of hetween 15,000 and 18,000 young Gorman reservists in this country in the prime of life who have been here so short a time not. more than from three to five years that they may be properly regarded as potential sources of trouble. Upon this army the secret service and the bureau of investigation have concentrated much of their energy. For obvious reasons the department of justice withheld the names of per- sons apprehended today, but it was said thatpdrtually all of them could be jccl as quasi-of ficials of the Ger-i Ger-i jnaii government. Many of them, it is alleged, were the instrumentalities through which Captains Boy-Ed and von Papen carried out their activities 1 in this country against the allies. A I w of the number, it was said, could j rpery be classed as spies. Expect Court Fights. The department is prepared to contest to the highest court uny effort made to oh t pin. the liberation under bond or by habeas corpus proceedings of the men ordered or-dered a n ested today. The manner in which the arrpsta were ordered made liy United States marshals, forthwith, without reference' to the courts is a purely war-time step, unauthorized In time of peace,, and there are but two precedents on the statute hooks to Ruide lc.Riil authorities in the fiRht in the ourta which is expected to follow. These precedents concern one man, Charles Lorkington. a British subject residing re-siding in Philadelphia at the outbreak of the war of 1S12. In conformity with President Madison's proclamation requir-iiiR requir-iiiR all alien enemies living within forty miles of tidewater to report their presence pres-ence to the nearest United States marshal, mar-shal, TjOckinRlon reported to the marshal at Philadelphia and was removed to Reading, where he was given limited liberty lib-erty under parole. Later he wan found nt large In Philadelphia and appealed to the courts against the order to convey . htm back to Heading. Case Never Passed On. Ills case came up first In the Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania courts and later before Justice Washington of the United States supreme court, sitting as a federal circuit court judge. Justice Washington sustained the president's action under the act of 17it8 In an opinion In which he said: "The power of the president under the first section of the law to establish by his proclamation or other public acts, rules and regulations for apprehending, rostra i n InR. securing and removing alien enemies, under the circumstances stated In the section, appears to be to be as unlimited un-limited hs the legislature could make it." The case was never carried to the su- premc court of the United States, and the r 4. ancient law has. therefore, never been pnsed upon by the highest court of rec-ord. rec-ord. The following notice signed by United Tvites Attorney General Gregory was sent to Ml United States district attorneys: No German alien enemy in this count rv, who has not hitherto been implicated tn plots against the Interests Inter-ests of the United States, need have any fear of action by the department nf'lusllce so long as he observes the following warning: Obev the law; keep your mouth shut. Paul Koenig Arrested. N F, W YORK. April 6. Paul Koenig. Tvho was nt liberty on bail on an Indictment Indict-ment crowing out of the plot to blow up the Welland canal, was taken Into custody cus-tody tonicht by federal officers. Others arrested included : Captain Otto Walpert, superintendent of docks for the Atlas service of the lluniburc-American steamship line. Kredcrtco St alt fort h, an Importer. Dr. Carl von Bauer Pre it en fold, a chemist . William Orth, Tloboken, one time clerk to Koenlr. Frederick S'-helndl, formerly clerk in German consul's office. Now York. lv J. Justice, UrocUlvn, an associate of Koentg. The Kev. Herman Prucknrr of TTobo-keu, TTobo-keu, the minister who. at the time of the sinking of the Ltisltanla. made affidavit affi-davit that the ship was carrying guns 1 when she was torpedoed. There are, in add! t ion, six men under prrest in New ark whose names arc refused re-fused by the federal authorities. Koenig Pleaded Guilty. It was said that a safe in the office of one of the men was forced open and n number of papers and documents seized hv the agents of the department of jus-t jus-t ice. Koenig last June pleaded guilty in the stale courts here to a charge of purchasing purchas-ing from a clerk of the National City bank telegrams and other documents con-t.-JriR information concerning shipments Vminlllons to the entente allies. Ho cseaped with a suspended sentence. His trial on the Welland canal plot indict- ,V - mont is vet to be lieM. When he was arrested he was described as the head of the secret service of the Hamburg-American Hamburg-American line. Captain Walpert also has been at liberty lib-erty on bail on an indictment charging ; him and Captain Lno liode of the Ham- : hurt;-American line with having induced Charles von Kleist, convicted and sentenced sen-tenced today to Atlanta to two years' imprisonment, to engupe in the making of tire bombs for tiie destruction of ships carrying sugar to the entente allies. Haled for Contempt. j Stallforth. more than a year ago, was haled before the federal court for .contempt .con-tempt for having refused, according to the authorities, to account for moneys which Kranz von Rintelen, a German agent, was said to have drawn from the Trans-Atlantic Trust company, and concerning con-cerning which Stallforth was alleged to have had knowledge. Von Rintelen was indicted with former Congressman Frank Buchanan and H.Robert H.-Robert Fowler. David Lamar and others connected with "Labor's National Peace council,'' the organisation alleged to have fomented strikes in munition plants and on steamship piers. The police were directed tonight to notify all enemy aliens tn the city to turn over any and all firearms in their possession posses-sion to the authorities, in accordance with 1 President Wilson's proclamation earlier In the day. The police, it was said; had their names and addresses carefully listed on cards aa a result of a census recently taken. Six Germans Sentenced. NEW YORK, April 6. Six Germans convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to destroy steamships carrying food and munitions from this port for the entente allies with incendiary bombs manufactured in Hoboken, N. J., were sentenced today to serve prison terms varying from two years to six months, In addition to paying fine3 of from $5000 to $500. Captain Charles von Kleister, a chemist and a naturalized American citizen, and Karl Schmidt, chief engineer of the German Ger-man steamship Friedrich der Grosse, one of the ships seized by-the government today, to-day, were given the heaviest punishment two years in the federal penitentiary at Atlanta and a fine of $5000 each. Prison and Fines, Friedrich Karbade. George Priedel and Wllhelm Parades, assistant engineers on the Friedrich der Grosse, and Ernst Becker, Beck-er, electrician on the same vessel, got six months In jail and were fined $500 each. The plot was to place the "fire bombs" in the cargoes of steamships. Their chemical chem-ical construction was of such a nature that fire would not break out until the vessel had been at sea four or five days. Captain Alfred A. Fritzen, indicted a year ago in an alleged German conspiracy to blow up the Welland canal, today pleaded guilty in the federal court and was sentenced to eighteen months In the penitentiary and to pay a fine of $1. |