Ogden Daily Standard | 1918-12-07 | Page 3 | Treason Charge Against Fricke and Wessels

TREASON CHARGE AGAINST FRICKE : A1WESSELS NEW YORK, Dec. 6 Indictments i charging treason were returned by a ; federal grand Jury here today against Herman Wessols an, officer of the German navy, and Albert Paul Fricke of Mount Vernon, N. Y., American representative of a German toy manufacturing man-ufacturing company. The men have been in tho Tombs prison several months, having been denied bail after previous indictment on charges of conspiring with Jeremiah Jere-miah O'Leary, Marie K. Devictorlca, Wlllard J. Robinson, John T. Ryan and others to forward secret messages through Holland to the German government gov-ernment Fricke Is an American citizen. The treason charge against him is based on the alleged aid he extended to Wessols, Wes-sols, in giving to agents of the federal government "false Information regarding regard-ing Wessels to conceal with the fact that he was a secret representative of the German government." Wessels, it is charged, came to the United States on November 12, 1916 with false passports issued In Switzerland Switzer-land under the name of Carl Rocdlger and in Holland under the name of Haro Schroeder. Fricke Is accused of harboring him and, with the aid of the forged passports, conspiring wilh Hugo Schweitzer and Rudolph Binder, residents of the United States and with tho representatives In neutral countries coun-tries that Wessels should communlcato with the then imeprial government. It is specifically charged that, as part j of this plan Willard J. Robinson, on March 21. 1917, left this country for Holland with secret messages to the Hohenzollorn government and brought back instructions and funds for Wessels. Wes-sels. ' Fricke also is charged with having I given funds to Wessels and having at tempted to arrange meetings between him and Oscar Englehardt, Ernst Bis-choff, Bis-choff, Huga Schweitzer and others, with an intent that they should assist the German government in its war against the United States." oo