Chapter I: Front Matter

MY ADVENTURES AS A GERMAN SECRET AGENT

My Adventures
AS A
German Secret Agent

BY
CAPT. HORST VON DER GOLTZ
FORMERLY MAJOR IN THE MEXICAN CONSTITUTIONAL ARMY.
SOMETIME CONFIDENTIAL AIDE TO CAPTAIN VON PAPEN,
RECALLED MILITARY ATTACHÉ TO THE IMPERIAL
GERMAN EMBASSY AT WASHINGTON,
GERMAN SECRET AGENT.

_ILLUSTRATED_

NEW YORK
ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY
1917

Copyright, 1917
by
ROBERT M. MCBRIDE & COMPANY

Published, 1917

“One must at times separate a gentleman and a diplomat from his official acts performed under orders from his home government, otherwise great confusion and injustice will occur. Some governments have a little way of telling those who represent them abroad ... to get such and such a thing done, and done it must be. Nor would those high Government officials at home care often to hear painful details of the successful execution of many such orders which are given.”

from _“The Strangling of Persia,” by W. Morgan Shuster_.

TO THE
UNITED STATES OF GERMANY—WHENEVER
THEY MAY COME TO BE—I
DEDICATE THIS BOOK AND MY HOPES.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Foreword 1

I—I find an old letter, containing a strange bit of scandal—and
its contents draw me into the service of the Kaiser 5

II—I Impersonate a Russian Prince and steal a treaty. What the
treaty contained and how Germany made use of the knowledge 22

III—Of what comes of leaving important papers exposed. I look
and talk indiscreetly—and a man dies 45

IV—I am sent to Geneva and learn of a plot. How there are more
ways of getting rid of a King than by blowing him up with
dynamite 61

V—Germany displays an interest in Mexico, and aids the United
States for her own purposes. The Japanese-Mexican treaty
and its share in the downfall of Diaz 88

VI—My letter again. I go to America and become a United States
soldier. Sent to Mexico and sentenced to death there. I
join Villa’s army and gain an undeserved reputation 111

VII—War. I re-enter the German service and am appointed aide to
Captain von Papen. The German conception of neutrality and
how to make use of it. The plot against the Welland Canal 151

VIII—I go to Germany on a false passport. Italy in the early
days of the war. I meet the Kaiser and talk to him about
Mexico and the United States 173

IX—In England—and how I reached there. I am arrested and
imprisoned for fifteen months. What von Papen’s baggage
contained. I make a sworn statement 190

X—The German intrigue against the United States. Von Papen,
Boy-Ed and von Rintelen, and the work they did. How the
German-Americans were used and how they were betrayed 212

XI—More about the German intrigue against the United States.
German aims in Latin America. Japan and Germany in Mexico.
What happened in Cuba? 236

XII—The last stand of German intrigue. Germany’s spy system in
America. What is coming? 264

ILLUSTRATIONS

The false passport upon which Capt. von der Goltz went to
England FRONTISPIECE

FACING PAGE

Photograph of Capt. von der Goltz taken outside the Cuartel at
Juarez 28

Raul Madero and his staff 42

A group of recruits in Villa’s Army 42

Von der Goltz’s commission as Major in the Mexican
Constitutional Army 64

Colonel Trinidad Rodriguez, Capt. von der Goltz’s first
commander, and General Villa 88

General Raul Madero 88

A telegram from General Villa to Capt. von der Goltz 112

A group of Constitutional soldiers 124

The six months’ leave of absence from the Mexican Army, granted
to Capt. von der Goltz at the outbreak of the European War 140

A letter of recommendation given to Capt. von der Goltz by Raul
Madero 140

A letter from Dr. Kraske, German vice-consul at New York to
“Baron” von der Goltz 152

Captain von Papen’s letter to the German consuls at Baltimore
and St. Paul, asking for their assistance in Capt. von der
Goltz’s enterprise 166

How Capt. von der Goltz secured explosives for his Welland
Canal Expedition. Two communications from Capt. Tauscher 178

Bills from the du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. for “merchandise”
furnished Capt. von der Goltz 180

The check which almost cost Capt. von der Goltz his life 196

Safe Deposit receipts for papers which von der Goltz left in
Rotterdam 210

The British order for the deportation of Capt. von der Goltz 240

Photograph of the cover of the British white paper containing
Capt. von der Goltz’s confession 256