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
As to the odd and interesting stories noted by the Los Angeles
operatives, the latter as usual seem to take more delight in telling
of their fiascos than they do of their successes, but saving grace
was usually there. For instance a woman and her husband living in
Glendale were very rabid about the war, and hence received a visit. The
informants turned out to be church members and apparently desirable
citizens. The female suspected fell into hysterics, cursed the
Frenchman who lived next door and the Englishman who lived several
houses beyond, and declared she had bought Liberty Bonds and had up
flags enough to be left alone. The German himself demanded to know
by what authority he was visited. The League man told him there was
plenty of authority all right, and that he did not need to specify. The
suspect took a good hint, and from that time neither the man nor his
wife was guilty of any public utterance of any sort whatever on war
matters.
One Herman F. H—— claimed that he was a “secret service man” and showed
a badge and some handcuffs, but still talked very pro-German. He said
among other things that the American people would wake up—that the
Kaiser would show them something—that we could not win the war. His
nearest friend was an army sergeant by the name of Paul S—— of Fort
McArthur. These two would talk together in German. The doughty U. S.
sergeant was also of the belief that our army had no chance and said
the soldiers were all dissatisfied. They were both investigated. The
sergeant was put in jail at Los Angeles. Military Intelligence took
over the rest of the case—and M. I. D. has never been noted for its
mercifulness.
An over-zealous woman in one instance reported suspicious activity
on the part of a family which had a great many mysterious packages
delivered at their address. She said they had quantities of large pipe
which they would fill with guns and ammunition, also boxes of rifle
cartridges. Investigation proved that some of the mysterious packages
were only lunch baskets; that the trucks were hauling large pieces
of well-casing and sometimes small articles of grocery or hardware
were slipped into the pipes to save space. They had no packages of
ammunition at all, and the packages of cartridges were only pasteboard
boxes containing shelled walnuts. Jumpy times.
A man by the name of M—— came from Chicago, and closely following him
came a report that he was wanted by the Chicago police. Operatives
located the man and thought he would look well in the uniform of the
United States Army, but the recruiting office, inquiring into the
reason for the Chicago telegram, found that the man had served a term
in the penitentiary. He was not, therefore, classified even as a
slacker and he did not get into the Army, which will not receive anyone
who has served a prison sentence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account