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
Had this raider gotten into the open seas and taken captive a faster
and better equipped ship, it might have done a very considerable damage
to shipping, just as did the several German raiders which for a time
harrassed the Allied commerce. That her career was stopped at the
outset was due to the keenness of a legless newsboy, anxious to do his
bit for the country whose uniform he once had worn. There is enough,
let us repeat, in this very story to give hope to every crippled
soldier coming back from France—for this, taken in all its bearings,
was about as important a piece of work as this busy division had, and
is one of the biggest of all the A. P. L. cases.
The A. P. L. did not disband at the signing of the Armistice, and it
is well that it did not. San Diego, like many another city, has had
more than its share of bootlegging and vice investigations to carry
on, owing to the fact that the growing feeling of license, which had
developed since the Armistice, had spread among our troops. Among
those quartered near San Diego, there were, of course, some not above
reproach, and the bootlegger was known here as elsewhere. This pleasant
and peaceful town in the sun-kissed South also had its share of the
German-born. It would take a Luther Burbank, perhaps, to change them,
and even Luther “would need time.”
There was one man of great wealth naturalized in California in 1898,
who held a prominent position in San Diego business life. He was known
to have been in close touch with all the famous Germans, and had a
pretty good insight into affairs American and Mexican. When we went
into the war, this suspect became distinctly pro-German and was one of
the most active propagandists along the border, apparently entirely
forgetful of the fact that he owed allegiance to the United States.
Being well acquainted with the German population in Mexico, he and
others are alleged to have aided in the establishment of a wireless
plant in Mexico, and to have financed people who ought not to have been
financed, in view of their past records. It was charged against him by
fellow-citizens that he worked to some extent with German money; that
he was connected, at least indirectly, with the Hindu plot case, and
that he knew more than he should about the illicit shipment of arms
in the _Annie Larson_ steamship case. In fact, he was charged rather
openly with having been interested in the German efforts to give aid to
the ship _Maverick_ in the Pacific Ocean. The wireless plant in Mexico
was located and wrecked, which spoiled the attempts of an enemy clique
to establish wireless communication between Mexico and German ships in
Honolulu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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