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
The wily captain had been cruising rather busily through the Caribbean,
over the Isthmus, and into South America. His passport connected him
with Mañaos, the British message established his presence at Panama
and Trinidad, a German war communiqué dated “December 20,” and signed
by the German consul, Lehmann, in Guatemala, showed that he was an
acceptable guest at the outposts of the German Empire. And he had
visited Nicaragua before he entered Panama in 1915, for we found in his
possession this letter:
“Managua, May 5, 1915.
“Imperial German Consulate
for Nicaragua:
“It is a pleasure for me to recommend to you, my countrymen,
the bearer of this, Mr. Fritz Duquesne, Captain of Engineers to
the Boer army, very warmly.
“The same gentleman has on many occasions given many notable
services to our good German cause.
“The Imperial German Consul,
“UEBERSEXIG.”
Enclosed in the envelope was Uebersexig’s personal card, reinforcing
his recommendation of Duquesne as an accredited German agent.
Trinidad is a good jumping-off place into the far tropics, and it
is quite possible that as Ashton said Duquesne disappeared into the
interior of Brazil, and “explored the unknown regions of Brazil and
the Amazon.” It is not hard to find unknown regions of Brazil within
a few miles of the coast. He probably did not penetrate far into the
interior, for in January of 1916, he showed up in lower Brazil.
He emerged from the interior as a valiant explorer, preceded by native
carriers whom he had hired to transport his precious movie-film. As
he approached the port of Bahia Duquesne’s personality underwent a
perceptible change. Duquesne suddenly became George Fordham. Among his
papers we found an application for shipment by a Brazilian broker which
read as follows:
“Honorable Superintendent.
“Francisco Figuerado requests a permit to ship for New York
via steamer _Verdi_ to sail on January 28, 1916, a case as
described below:
“Bahia, January 27, 1916.
“Raul E. de Oliveira, Custom House Broker.
“1 case weighing 80 kilos 00$500
“One case of potter’s earth in dust (samples)”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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