New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915: April-September, 1915Various
History
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 4, July, 1915: April-September, 1915
Various
World War, 1914-1918
Gustav Stahl, the former German soldier who made an affidavit that he
saw four guns mounted on the Lusitania on the night before it sailed
from this port on its last voyage and who disappeared immediately
after the affidavit was made public, was produced by Secret Service
men before the Federal Grand Jury yesterday afternoon at a proceeding
to determine whether Paul Koenig, alias Stemler, who is the head of
the detective bureau of the Hamburg-American Line, and others unnamed,
had entered into a conspiracy to defraud the United States Government.
The fraud is not stated specifically, and the charge is a technical
one that may cover a variety of acts.
Stahl, who speaks little English, affirmed through an interpreter to
the Grand Jury that he had seen the guns on the Lusitania. He was
questioned for two hours and a half and told his story with great
detail.
As he was leaving the Grand Jury room he was arrested by United States
Marshal Thomas B. McCarthy on a complaint made on information and
belief by Assistant District Attorney Raymond H. Sarfaty that Stahl
had committed perjury in his testimony before the Federal Grand Jury.
Stahl was held in bail of $10,000 by United States Commissioner
Houghton and locked up in the Tombs.
Stahl was the only witness heard by the Grand Jury in the proceedings
against Koenig. It was learned that Stahl had been in conference with
Koenig before he made the affidavit, and that his affidavit had passed
through Koenig's hands before it went to Ambassador Bernstorff, who
submitted it to Secretary of State Bryan.
The proceedings against Koenig were initiated to establish the charge
that Koenig used improper influence to induce Stahl to make the
affidavit.
While Stahl was waiting in the Marshal's chamber in the Federal
Building, after his arrest, for the arrival of Edward Sandford, a
lawyer, of 27 William Street, who had been assigned to act as his
counsel, he was asked, through an interpreter:
"Would you be willing to spend twenty years in jail for your
Fatherland?"
"Make it a hundred!" he replied, in German, and then broke into a
hearty laugh.
Stahl is about 27 years old and slightly under middle size. He has a
round, somewhat rosy countenance, dark hair getting very thin in
front, and parted in the middle, dark-brown eyes and a small,
closely-cropped dark mustache. He was calm and smiling, ready with his
answers, and very insistent and emphatic in repeating that he had seen
the guns on the Lusitania.
He was neatly dressed in a dark mixed suit, with a new straw hat, a
green tie on which was a stickpin with a dog's head in porcelain,
brightly polished tan shoes, and lavender socks with scarlet-embroidered
flowers.
Following is the complaint on which he was held:
Raymond H. Sarfaty, being duly sworn, deposes and says that
he is an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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