History of the World War : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest warMarch, Francis A., Jr.
History
History of the World War : $b An authentic narrative of the world's greatest war
March, Francis A., Jr.
World War, 1914-1918
The German secret service report from which the above excerpt is taken
states that the maker of the bomb was paid by check No. 146 for $150
drawn on the Riggs National Bank of Washington. A photographic copy of
this check shows that it was payable to Paul Koenig, of the
Hamburg-American Line, and was signed by Captain von Papen. On the
counterfoil is written this memorandum, "For F. J. Busse." Busse
confessed later that he had discussed with Captain von Papen at the
German Club in New York City the plan of damaging the boilers of
munition ships with bombs which resembled lumps of coal.
Free access to Allied ships laden with supplies for Vladivostok would
have been invaluable to the conspirators, and in order to obtain it
Charles C. Crowley, a detective employed by Consul-General Bopp,
resorted to the extraordinary scheme revealed in the following letter to
Madam Bakhmeteff, wife of the Russian Ambassador to the United States:
MME J. BAKHMETEFF, care Imperial Russian Embassy, Newport, R. I.: DEAR
MADAM:--By direction of the Imperial Russian Consul-General of San
Francisco, I beg to submit the following on behalf of several
fruit-growers of the State of California. As it is the wish of certain
growers to contribute several tons of dried fruit to the Russian Red
Cross they desire to have arrangements made to facilitate the
transportation of this fruit from Tacoma, Washington, to Vladivostok,
and as we are advised that steamships are regularly plying between
Tacoma and Vladivostok upon which government supplies are shipped we
would like to have arrangements made that these fruits as they might
arrive would be regularly consigned to these steamers and forwarded. It
would be necessary, therefore, that an understanding be had with the
agents of these steamship lines at Tacoma that immediate shipments be
made via whatever steamers might be sailing.
It is the desire of the donors that there be no delay in the shipments
as delays would lessen the benefits intended to those for whom the fruit
was provided ....
Respectfully yours,
C. C. CROWLEY.
The statements of Louis J. Smith and van Koolbergen, combined with a
mass of other evidence consisting in part of letters and telegrams,
caused the grand jury to indict Consul-General Bopp, his staff and his
hired agents, for conspiracy to undertake a military enterprise against
Canada. Among the purposes of this enterprise specified in the
indictment was the following:
"To blow up and destroy with their cargoes and crews any and all vessels
belonging to Great Britain, France, Japan or Russia found within the
limits of Canada, which were laden with horses, munitions of war, or
articles of commerce in course of transportation to the above
countries...."
The following descriptions have been made by the United States
Government of the tools of von Bernstorff in German plots:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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