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
New Jersey had a very blood-curdling citizen who dwelt in Newark under
the name of H. B——. He carried an American name although he was born
in Italy about forty-two years ago. He came to America thirty years
ago, when he was a small boy, in order to escape punishment for having
killed a priest. He never dared to return to Italy, but remained an
alien in this country and an enemy to about everything going. He was
a very ardent I. W. W. man, and declared that there were enough I. W.
W. men in the Army and outside to blow up the country if they liked,—a
very good example of the flourishing Bolshevik element in America. Mr.
B—— claimed that he had stabbed a detective in Providence, R. I., a
year or so ago during an I. W. W. celebration; hence he did not like to
visit Providence either. He told how in another place he had cut out
a man’s intestines, and when asked if the man died, remarked: “What
in hell do you suppose I am here for?” This pleasant gentleman often
went to Paterson and New York to attend I. W. W. meetings there. He
hoped that “every —— —— soldier the U. S. sent over would be blown up
by submarines and drowned like rats, and that if any did get across,
he hoped the Germans would choke or shoot them to death.” He said he
would like to get his fingers on President Wilson’s throat. It was his
pleasant practice to tear American flags from the coats of persons
wearing them. His home was searched, and some clock-works were found
without any dials and hands, such as have been known to be used with
bombs. It seems that nothing was done with the bloodthirsty Mr. B——
after all, and he is still at large.
In so complex an office as that of the Northern New Jersey Division,
which much resembles that of New York City, Newark alone cleared over
9,013 cases, of which twenty-five per cent were for the War Department,
forty-five per cent for the Department of Justice, other divisions of
A. P. L. work fifteen per cent, and original cases with New Jersey A.
P. L. fifteen per cent. Most of this work was for D. J., but there was
much coöperation with officers from Naval and Military Intelligence,
not to mention the local boards. This great division has a tangible
record of 4,563 cases of the second class, those handled entirely in
local units, making a total of 13,576 cases sufficiently definite
in character to warrant a record. As to the actual investigations,
recorded and unrecorded, they would without question bring up the total
of northern New Jersey cases above 30,000. They were from every point
of the compass and of every color of the rainbow.
CHAPTER V
THE STORY OF PITTSBURGH
Another Storm Center—Greatest Concentration of War Work in the
United States—The Tower of Babel and How it was Held Safe—No I. W.
W. Need Apply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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