Throttled! The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb PlottersTunney, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
History
Throttled! The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb Plotters
Tunney, Thomas J. (Thomas Joseph)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Secret service -- Germany
We found in his effects a program of the lectures he gave, its cover
decorated with a small round photograph of Colonel Roosevelt in hunting
costume and a large studio photograph of Duquesne in khaki, wearing
boots and a revolver, and looking sternly out of the picture as
tradition says a lion-hunter should look. Page two carried a synopsis
of his lecture, of which one topic was “Hunting with Roosevelt,” and
a reproduction of a number of newspapers which were then publishing
his “Hunting Ahead of Roosevelt,” an article written for _Hampton’s
Magazine_. On page three Captain Duquesne figured again in effigy, this
time standing beside the prostrate form of “A Rare Specimen--the ‘White
Rhinoceros,’” and we are to believe that he killed the beast. Page four
(and last), reproduced a cartoon from the _Washington Star_ of January
26, 1909, which portrayed President Roosevelt pointing to a picture
of an elephant, and enthusiastically inquiring of a hairy hunter
labelled “Duquesne”: “I want to know his vital spot!”
[Illustration: Fritz Duquesne prepared for a Lecture Tour as Captain
Claude Stoughton]
A quotation from _Hampton’s Magazine_, also printed in this program,
gives a new vision of the man’s life from 1900 to 1909. It is probably
as truthful as any--here it is:
“When the British succeeded in cutting cable communications between the
Boer Republic and the rest of the world, Duquesne carried the news of
the Boer victories over the Mozambique border, and from there he wrote
his despatches to the _Petit Bleu_, the official European organ of the
Boer Government. He was once captured by the Portuguese and thrown into
prison at Lorenzo Marques. Later he was taken a prisoner to Europe at
the request of the British Government. When the ship that conveyed him
and his guard touched at Naples, he was suffering from a fever and in
consequence was placed in an Italian hospital. On his recovery he was
allowed to go free. He went to Brussels and was sent back to the front
by Doctor Leyds, with plans for the seizure of Cape Town by the Boer
commandos then mobilized in Cape Colony.
“Everything was ready for the taking of the city when, a traitor
having revealed the plot, Duquesne and a number of others were captured
in Cape Town inside the British defenses. This was the climax of what
has come to be known as the ‘Cape Town Plot.’ Some of the prisoners
were shot and some sentenced to death who later had their sentences
changed to life imprisonment. Captain Duquesne was among the latter.
Ten months later he escaped from the Bermuda prisons, got aboard the
American yacht _Margaret_ of New York while she was coaling at the
dock, and was conveyed to Baltimore.
“Back to Europe he went again, as war correspondent and military writer
on the _Petit Bleu_; thence to Africa, where he took a commission on
the Congo. In East Africa he hunted big game for sport and profit, and
finally he came to New York to do newspaper and magazine work.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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