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
Mr. Hans D——, a German waiter in Boston, belonged to a German club
where considerable advance news of German operations circulated. Mr.
D—— said he sent money to Germany; said that Germany would win the war;
drank to the health of the Kaiser on hearing that an American ship had
been torpedoed. In short, Mr. D—— ran quite true to form in all ways.
A photograph was found which looked like him in a German uniform—he
must have been a German officer, because they found in his possession
a half dozen spoons which he had stolen in New England, in default of
better opportunity in Belgium. At least he was prosecuted for larceny
and was fined $15.00. Later his reputation was found to be so bad as a
propagandist that he was interned on a presidential warrant.
It occurred to the fertile brain of Mr. Julius Bongraber that a varied
spelling of his name might prove useful to him in times of draft.
Sometimes he wrote his name as Graber, sometimes as Van Graber, and
sometimes as Julius V. Gaber. His classification card named him as G.
V. Gaber. When interrogated as to all these matters, he admitted that
the initial “G” ought to have been “Y,” because that was the way Yulius
was pronounced, anyhow, in his country. At the same time he left a card
over his door signed J. V. Gaber. He declared that he was a German,
also an Austrian, also a neutral, but had sympathies with Russia. To
others he said that his name was Von Gaber; that he was an alien, but
would go where he liked. He had taken out first citizenship papers, but
had registered for return with the Austria-Hungarian Consul. A. P. L.
got this multifold party on the carpet, but on his statement that he
intended to go to New York, the prosecution seems to have been dropped,
although the dossier was forwarded to New York after him.
There was a draft evader in Boston by the name of R——, who did not file
his questionnaire. He was found at his home by an agent of A. P. L. and
agreed to accompany the latter. It was the intention of the operative
to turn over his man to a policeman, but policemen seemed to be rare
in Boston, for in two miles not one was sighted. The draft evader then
evaded yet more, and was not found for several days thereafter. The
man’s mother, however, when found, averred she had not seen her son
for two months. A plain patriotic talk was made to her with the result
that after a while, she found the said son and turned him over to the
authorities for service in the army.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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