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
The specific charge was thought by him to be that he was an I. W.
W., and he requested the permission of the Immigration authorities
to address a letter to a friend, which permission was given.
This letter, which, of course, was censored by the authorities,
addressed a German at Bremerton, close to the Navy Yard, and
complained of his arrest as an I. W. W. He informed this friend
that he had done a great many things which he “had been ordered to
do,” but that he was not, nor had he been, requested to be an I.
W. W., and he requested aid for his release.
A very complete examination was made of B—— and his entire
movements since arriving in this country. It developed that he was
born at Frankstock, Moravia, in Austria; that he was twenty-four
years of age, had had military training, had just completed same
prior to departing for this country, and was a Second Lieutenant
in the 54th Royal Imperial Infantry. He was in Hamburg and Paris
during 1914, and just prior to the outbreak of the war, he came
to New York, passing through England on this trip, since which
time it developed that he had been receiving money from Germany,
and had been operating in the cities of Hoboken, Pittsburgh,
Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle, Helena and Spokane. Regardless of the
fact that he was heir to an estate in Austria and was supposed to
have reported to the consul (Austrian) in Seattle, he claimed he
had not done so.
In explanation of the alias, W. J. H——, he claimed to have adopted
that name simply because his name was funny. It developed that
B—— had been previously arrested and released, and had in his
possession documents covering his entire experiences, as well as
information concerning his particular case. Certain documents,
undoubtedly codes, were taken from B——, and the only information
or explanation he would give concerning them was that they were
puzzles. The subject was well acquainted with the German element
in each of the towns he had visited, many of whom were held under
suspicion by the authorities. It further developed that he had
made frequent visits to the ship-yards and to the Navy Yards, and
that he was intimately associated with certain leaders of the
order of the I. W. W. He was ordered interned, and sent to Utah.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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