He was a product of the "Kaiser's Own"--the Hamburg-American Line. He had been a detective in the service of the Atlas Line, a subsidiary of the Hamburg-American, and for some years before the war was superintendent of the latter company's police. In that capacity he bossed a dozen men, watching the company's laborers and investigating any complaints made to the line. His work threw him into constant contact with sailors, tug-skippers, wharf-rats, longshoremen, and dive-keepers of the lowest type, and there was little of the criminal life of the waterfront that he had not seen. He had arms like an ape, and the bodily strength of one. His expression suggested craft, ferocity, and brutality. Altogether his powerful frame and lurid vocabulary made him a figure to avoid or respect. Waterfront society did both--and hated him as well. [Illustration: _Copyright, International Film Service_ Paul Koenig, the Hamburg-American employe, who supplied and directed agents of German violence in America] Von Papen saw in Koenig's little police force the nucleus of just such an organization as he needed. The Line put Koenig at the attaché's disposal in August, 1914, and straightway von Papen connected certain channels of information with Koenig's own system. He supplied reservists for special investigations and crimes, and presently Koenig became in effect the foreman of a large part of Germany's secret service in the East. As his activities broadened, he was called upon to execute commissions for Bernstorff, Albert, Dr. Dumba, the Austro-Hungarian ambassador, and Dr. Alexander von Nuber, the Austrian consul in New York, as well as for the attachés themselves. He acted as their guard on occasion, served as their confidential messenger, and made himself generally useful in investigation work. The guilt-stained check-book of the military attaché contained these entries: March 29, 1915. Paul Koenig (Secret Service Bill) $509.11 April 18, Paul Koenig (Secret Service Bill) $90.94 May 11, Paul Koenig (Secret Service) $66.71 July 16, Paul Koenig (Compensation for F. J. Busse) $150.00 August 4, Paul Koenig (5 bills secret service) $118.92 Those entries represent only the payments made Koenig by check for special work done for von Papen. Koenig received his wages from the Line. When he performed work for any one else he rendered a special bill. This necessitated his itemizing his expenditures, and this Germanly thorough and thoroughly German system of petty accounting enabled our secret service later to trace his activities with considerable success. Koenig and von Papen used to haggle over his bills--on one occasion the attaché felt he was being overcharged, and accordingly deducted a half-dollar from the total.