The Web : $b The Authorized History of the American Protective LeagueHough, Emerson
History
The Web : $b The Authorized History of the American Protective League
Hough, Emerson
American Protective League; Propaganda, German; World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- United States
There was also in this war, as in all other wars, a certain percentage
of the sullen and rebellious, of the weak and cowardly, men of no mark
and no convictions in any cause, men who never rise above themselves
and their selfish concerns in any situation. Beyond these, again, was
a small class whose natural home longings or home bewailings or home
pleadings led them to desert. Because of many reasons, then, a certain
percentage of deserters marked this war as every war.
In the eyes of the law this was every man’s war, and all must get
under and back of it with no exceptions. A deserter was a deserter.
Some were dangerous men, and some no more than yellow slackers. We
could not in these pages give a great many instances of either type.
One A. P. L. report, however, that comes from Birmingham, Alabama, is
peculiar in that it gives details regarding several investigations and
arrests of deserters.
One of the most remarkable cases handled by the Birmingham Division was
that of Dan D—— of Tuscaloosa County, who deserted from the regular
army of the United States on November 27, 1917, and was not captured
until September 1, 1918. Information having been received by the Chief
on the 23rd of August, 1918, that Dan was hiding near Reno Mines, he
immediately ordered a number of his men under Special Agent M—— to go
after the deserter. The trip was taken in automobiles on the afternoon
of August 23, and through very heavy mist. Arriving at Reno Mines, some
information was given the party as to the location of the man’s home,
which proved to be a four-room boxed house in front of which and about
sixty feet away was a small frame barn about twenty by thirty feet,
built of rough plank, with four horse stalls in the main building and
some cow stalls in the lean-to shed.
A careful search of house and barn failed to show any signs of the
missing man, his parents and sister denying any knowledge of his
whereabouts. The mother said, “The last I hear’n of Dan was a letter
from Long Island two months or more ago,” and she remarked, “Of course,
you’uns know he was home on a furlough last November.” A request to
produce the letter was met with the reply, “The chillun tore it up.”
The search of the barn was again renewed by the men, and the loft was
searched with the aid of a ladder from the outside. It was found to be
filled with fodder, hay and grass, and prodding with poles and forks
convinced the parties that there was no chance for any one to be hiding
under same.
Very much mystified, and yet satisfied by the demeanor and sullen
manner of the father, mother and sister that Dan was somewhere close,
the Special Agent divided his men, leaving part of them to watch, while
the others sought for outside information.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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