The German Secret Service in America 1914-1918Jones, John Price
History
The German Secret Service in America 1914-1918
Jones, John Price
World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- Germany
"I have a warrant for your arrest!" shouted Baker. Von Igel jumped for
the doors of the safe, which stood open. Baker sprang simultaneously
for von Igel, and the two went to the floor in battle. The German was
overpowered, and the attendant cowed by a flash of revolvers.
"This means war!" yelled von Igel. "This is part of the German Embassy
and you've no right here."
"You're under arrest," said Baker.
"You shoot and there'll be war," said von Igel, and made another
frantic attempt to close the safe doors. A second skirmish ended in
von Igel's removal to a cell, while the agents took charge of the
documents. The collection was a rare catch. It contained evidence which
supplied the missing links in numerous chains of suspected German
guilt, and the matter was at once placed in the safe keeping of the
Government.
One letter was dated Berlin, February 4, 1916, and addressed to the
German Embassy in Washington. It reads:
"In future all Indian affairs are to be exclusively handled by the
committee to be formed by Dr. Chakravarty. Dhirendra Sarkar, and
Heramba Lal Gupta, which latter person has meantime been expelled
from Japan," ...
(Gupta was at that moment between the walls of the Japanese
politician's house.)
... "thus cease to be independent representatives of the Indian
Independence Committee existing here.
"(Signed) ZIMMERMANN."
The Embassy on March 21, 1916, wrote von Igel as follows:
"The Imperial German Consul at Manila writes me:
"'Unfortunately the captured Hindus include Gupta, who last was
active at Tokio. The following have also been captured: John
Mohammed Aptoler, Rulerhammete, Sharmasler, No-Mar, C. Bandysi,
Rassanala. Apparently the English are thoroughly informed of all
individual movements and the whereabouts at various times of the
Hindu revolutionists.'
"Please inform Chakravarty."
The name "Chakravarty" occurring in these two memoranda makes it
necessary here to turn back the calendar to 1915, in order to outline
another conspicuous Hindu-German activity. Not only were the East
Indian students and sympathetic educators in America prolific in their
verbal advocacy of revolt in India, but with German assistance they
attempted at least one clearly defined bit of filibustering, which if
it had been successful would have supplied the would-be mutineers in
the Land of Hind with the arms they so longed to employ against the
British.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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