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
“Wagoner,” who was Paul Koenig himself, met the youth, and playing
on his patriotism drew from him the information that he had access
to many cablegrams to and from the Allied governments through the
bank concerning the purchase and shipment of war supplies. Offering
Schleindl a retainer of $25 a week, Koenig told him to steal from the
files all such messages he could lay his hands on, together with
copies of express-bills showing when the goods were delivered to the
piers for shipment, all data relating to the prices paid, detailed
descriptions of the purchases, and any other particulars which would
help the German Government to complete its knowledge of what supplies
America was shipping abroad. Schleindl grew quite enthusiastic in the
work. Starting with light thefts, he gradually grew bolder, until he
was in a position to steal documents night after night, take them
to his appointment with Koenig, have them copied, and arrive at the
Bank early enough the following morning to put them back where they
belonged. Friday night was the regular appointment, but often messages
of big shipments came in and he relayed the news at once to his chief.
The extra $25 a week practically doubled his earning power, and made
devotion to the Fatherland very attractive--so much so that he began
to be afraid that Koenig, who was merely the receiving station for
his reports, and who took no risks himself, would receive more than
his share of credit. If there were any iron crosses to be given out,
or any ribbons for foreign service, Schleindl felt that he had earned
his, so he forwarded to his brother in Austria from time to time
stenographic notes written in the Bavarian dialect which would be
especially difficult of translation. In order to evade the censor he
tore them into scraps and sifted them into the folds of newspapers
which went unmolested through the British mail censors at Kirkwall.
These scraps, pieced together and translated into reports, were
forwarded by his brother to German officials.
[Illustration: Alexander Dietrichens]
[Illustration:
_International Film Service. Inc._
Frederick Schleindl]
[Illustration: Schleindl and Dietrichens at a German party]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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