Chapter VIII: The Story of Cincinnati

Data from a Supposed Citadel of Pro-Germanism—Gratifying Reports
from the City Which Boasts a Rhine of its Own—Alien Enemies and
How They Were Handled—Americanization of America.

That Cincinnati had a vast population of German descent and of pro-German sympathies was known throughout the United States. It would be folly to say otherwise. Had open riots or armed resistance to the draft, or to the war itself, arisen in Cincinnati, there were many who would not have been surprised. Those, however, did not really know the inherently solid quality of the city on the Ohio River. They may find that from the study of the able report of the Cincinnati Division.

Perhaps a very considerable amount of the quiet on the Rhine at Cincinnati was due to the fact that there was such an organization within its gates as the American Protective League. The members of the League were on the watch all the time for anything dangerous in the way of pro-enemy activity. That the division had a certain amount of work to do may be seen from the summaries.

There were 2,972 investigations for disloyalty and sedition; 4,232 selective service investigations; 3,004 suspects taken in slacker raids. Of propaganda by word of mouth, there were 7,000 examinations. Three hundred and seventy civilian applicants for overseas service were examined. There were eighty-one examinations made into the character of persons identified with the I. W. W., the People’s Council, and other pacifist or radical bodies. The Secret Service had fifty examinations made for it and the Post Office three. There were fourteen thousand visits made at homes and places of business of alien enemies, and twenty-eight alien enemies were required to report to the supervisor every week. Heatless Mondays required three hundred investigations and gasless Sundays one thousand, five hundred and seventeen. In 250 instances the A. P. L. rendered automobile service to various Government departments. These figures show that something was doing in Cincinnati. As to the exact nature of the activities, it is much better to give the sober and just estimate of the local chief, as gratifying as it is admirable:

From its inception the Cincinnati Division of the American
Protective League was vibrant with possibilities. Cincinnati was
known from coast to coast as a city settled by Germans. It was
presumed, of course, to be very largely pro-German as a result
of this reputation. “Over-the-Rhine” meant Cincinnati to many
who lived outside of its confines. The reputation of the city
was at stake. Those who knew Cincinnati, however, felt that
this reputation which came to us from abroad was unjustified,
and that although there was no gainsaying that German blood
flowed in the veins of a very large number of its people, it was
still ninety-nine per cent loyal; and the record of the war has
demonstrated the truth of this statement.

Under the direction and supervision of Calvin S. Weakley, Special
Agent in charge of the Department of Justice, work was carried on
with quietness and despatch. He approached every matter with an
open mind, and it is to his excellent judgment and his avoidance
of brass-band methods that the record of the Cincinnati office
of the Bureau of Investigation and its auxiliary, the Cincinnati
Division of the American Protective League, has been clean of
criticism. In the burglar-proof steel cabinets, however, repose
documents and reports which would create a sensation in the
community, and perhaps the day of reckoning is not far. While
the fact that many of these acts occurred before the United
States became an active participant in the world war may mean
legal immunity, yet the record is made, and in many cases public
opinion has been the sternest prosecutor of those individuals
(many of whom enjoy the rights of American citizenship), whose
sympathies as well as activities will always brand them as having
been unfit for the privileges which they still continue to enjoy.
It has brought to many of those individuals social isolation—a
punishment incomparable with anything that can be meted out by
judge or jury—and they cannot help but feel the ignominy of their
unpatriotic actions. Loyalty to the country and a fine patriotism
for the cause was the keynote which seemed to animate the
membership.

Hardly had the ink dried upon the President’s signature to the
document which made operative the original Selective Service
Act, when word filtered through to the office of the Cincinnati
Division American Protective League that there was an undercurrent
of opposition developing which would culminate on Registration
Day, June 5th, 1917. So-called Socialists, who were in fact German
propagandists, were the most active in their criticism. Venomous
advice was being offered to young men, who, upon that historic
day, would enter their names upon the rolls of the prospective
great National Army.

The preliminary information which was gathered left no doubt in
the mind of Special Agent Weakley, at Cincinnati, that unless
an example was made of these so-called pacifists, there was
danger of an incomplete registration, and it became very apparent
from the preliminary investigations made that the opposition to
registration centered in a local unit of a Socialist organization
known as the Eleventh Ward.

Out of four operatives who entered into this particular case,
three were dropped, and one became a member of the inner circle.
The open meetings of the club divulged nothing, but the secret
sessions of the inner circle developed the plan which would
make as ineffective as possible registration in Cincinnati and
which undoubtedly would have succeeded. Circulars and posters
were secretly printed, and on the night of June 1 they were to
be distributed broadcast throughout the northwestern section of
Cincinnati. This literature not only was seditious in character,
but in the opinion of the District Attorney, treasonable.

The League plan was so carefully and thoroughly developed that not
a guilty man escaped. There was quite a scene at several police
stations when operatives of the League, detailed with local police
detectives, brought in their men, each with his pile of circulars.
A. P. L. had direct evidence of where these circulars had been
placed—in letter boxes, on door-steps, or handed to individuals on
the street—and thus made each case complete in itself; and when,
the next day, the newspapers told in detail the story of how this
plan had been nipped in the bud, anti-conscriptionists became
enthusiastic registrants. Even men who were arrested asked for
the privilege of registration. Cincinnati not only gave the quota
estimated for it, but a percentage so much higher as to elicit
surprise.

After the investigation had developed the real culprits, the
printing shop also was located, the form from which the circulars
had been printed confiscated, and the complete chain of evidence
was sufficient to bring a unanimous report from the Grand Jury,
charging everyone involved with conspiracy against the Government.

This was the first real big work successfully undertaken by
Cincinnati Division of the American Protective League. It was
carried out with thoroughness and dispatch, and nothing was left
undone that was necessary to make the cases complete. It was
wonderful training for the men who had come from their business
to the work of the League, and it developed some of Cincinnati
Division’s best operatives, who from that time on approached every
assignment with enthusiasm and understanding.

Cincinnati Division supervised the parole of enemy aliens from
Fort Oglethorpe and the Federal jail in this district. These
paroled men, being released from prison, were ordered to report at
the office of Cincinnati Division once each week. The day selected
for them to report was Saturday morning. Failure on the part of
a paroled man to report on the date set resulted in a prompt
investigation. So thorough was this supervision that Cincinnati
Division could at any time put its hands on these paroled men,
whose ranks included actors, draughtsmen, electrical engineers,
art glass designers, chefs, waiters, barbers, bakers, auto
experts, laborers, machinists, farmers, and merchants.

Only one man refused to mend his ways and live up to the
regulations. He is now at Fort Oglethorpe. When he first was
released, he tried to induce the Federal authorities to give
him permission to talk pro-German so he could “find others who
were against this country,” as he put it. He was informed by the
Special Agent in charge of the Cincinnati office, Department of
Justice, that he could do better work by telling all his former
associates how foolish they were, trying to work for the Kaiser
in this country. He had claimed that his prison term had changed
his opinion and that now he was “for the United States.” He was
instructed to tell this to his friends as he would thereby be
doing more good. His term of freedom did not last long, for he was
soon at his old tricks again. He was interned for the “duration of
the war.”

After the German campaign against conscription in this country
had fallen flat, the active propagandists looked for new fields
for their malicious and insidious work. The notorious German
propaganda alliance known as “The People’s Council,” newly formed
in New York, was in its infancy when word of its activities was
brought to Cincinnati by an advocate of the single tax, who up
to that time had been considered an extremist, but honest in
intention. He became associated with a certain Cincinnatian,
American born of German descent, an attorney of some reputation.
These two men contemplated organizing in Cincinnati a branch of
The People’s Council.

From the beginning, the League was represented at both the private
and secret meetings of the Council, which, for a time, were held
in the attorney’s office, where four or five gathered; but as
new recruits were enrolled by the Council and larger quarters
were required, they were transferred to an office in Odd Fellow’s
Temple occupied by a former minister, a Socialist radical, a
man whose career marked him as an advocate of extreme measures,
and who carried with him a considerable following which he had
organized several years before. Pacifism was the big keynote
of its original platform. Without interference, however, the
speakers became bold. The intellectuals who enlisted under its
banner included a leading Sinn Feiner, a professor of a well-known
college of Cincinnati, who was chairman, a pastor of the Lutheran
Church, and, of course, the attorney and organizer.

It was the day of the original Espionage Act, and it was difficult
under this unamended Act to find violations; but some of the
speeches rang with treasonable utterances. After months of this
sort of thing, the Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice,
decided it was time to act. A meeting had been called for Friday
night, at the office of the former pastor, at which many things
were expected to happen, and on that night it was decided to make
a search, not only of the meeting place, but of the homes of the
leaders. The District Attorney asked every man present—League
operatives, agents of the Department of Justice, deputy United
States Marshals, and local police detectives who had been assigned
to the work, to set their watches with his. At 8:30 o’clock
prompt, the search, under due warrant of law, was made in all
parts of the city, and the papers and documents which were brought
to the office of the United States Attorney made it impossible
forever after for The People’s Council to carry on its nefarious
activities.

From that day Cincinnati was rid of openly organized
anti-government activities. Some of the papers found, proved of
great value to the Government. A special solicitor from the office
of the Attorney General at Washington was assigned to Cincinnati
to go over these papers, and the information which he gathered was
of great use in many other cities. As a result of this search, the
professor who had taken such an important part in the work of The
People’s Council was censured by his Board, and eliminated from
the local theatre of activities.

The case of The People’s Council was one of the high spots in the
work of Cincinnati Division, American Protective League, and the
record in this case is one of which it can well be proud. Later,
the former pastor, much to the regret of Cincinnati Division,
was taken in hand by citizens of Kentucky for special treatment.
His experience on that dark night in the foot-hills of Kentucky
evidently broke his spirit enough to dishearten him. He is no
longer a factor in Bolshevism in Cincinnati.

After the reorganization of Cincinnati Division had been effected,
to conform to the new plan of the National Directors, Chief Gerson
J. Brown decided that it would be good policy to keep in close
touch with the fifteen hundred male enemy aliens in Hamilton
County. Accordingly, after fully considering the matter, he
organized the Enemy Alien Bureau. The operatives were instructed
as to all regulations governing these aliens, so that they could
give advice whenever called upon by their charges, who did not
know just what the Government expected of them. All delinquents
were taken to the office of the Marshal by American Protective
League members and made to complete their registration. Following
out their instructions, American Protective League members fully
explained to the aliens the object of their visit and just what
their privileges were under the regulations. In a majority of
the cases, it was found that the alien really had never fully
understood what the Government regulations were.

Many peculiar situations were found. In several cases it developed
that aliens, who had passes issued by the Marshal permitting them
to go to their places of employment and return by the most direct
route, lived above the store in which they worked. Arrangements
were made with the Marshal whereby these men, when found worthy,
were given permits entitling them to enjoy more privileges. Others
were found who went direct to their work, and on returning in the
evening, feared to go out of the house. Others would not go to
church, fearful that they would be arrested and interned.

There were also cases of men who were in business which made
it necessary to go into zones not mentioned in their permits.
Many other odd cases, too numerous to mention, were found. All
were taken up separately with the Marshal, and where the League
records showed that the alien was trying to obey the regulations,
necessary permits were issued.

There were found by American Protective League operatives aliens
who wanted to become citizens but who did not know what to do.
Others had tried to pass examinations in court, but failed. All
these were sent to citizenship schools and now are on the road to
becoming desirable citizens. The work of the Bureau has been such
that many aliens now have a different opinion of what it means
to live in a country where all men who behave themselves have an
equal chance. In one day, after citizenship schools were opened in
Cincinnati, the Enemy Alien Bureau issued over two hundred permits
to aliens who desired to gain knowledge which would permit them to
apply for the necessary papers.

This close supervision also forestalled attempts by agents of the
Kaiser to induce aliens to commit acts against this Government,
if they were so inclined. No meetings could be held without an
American Protective League member hearing of it, as they visited
the alien at his home and place of employment at irregular
intervals, and never less than once a month.

After the war, there will be many, now classed as enemy aliens,
who will thank Cincinnati Division for having helped them at a
critical time when they were floundering about under regulations
which they did not understand, and feared to ask anyone how to
become loyal citizens of this country. Of the many curious cases
Cincinnati handled, we may report at least one, which shows how
well the A. P. L. sometimes took care of a man who didn’t deserve
it.

An emergency telephone call came to the office of the American
Protective League from an official of one of the largest trust
companies in the city, to send an operative to the bank as quickly
as possible. The two men who answered the call found they had what
appeared to be a German agent in prospect.

During the afternoon a telegram came to the bank from the Empire
Trust Company, New York, authorizing it to place $25,000 to the
credit of Frank K——. K——, on his arrival at the bank, seemed
to be a man about fifty-five years of age, typically German,
with all the Hindenburg ear-marks. An over-anxiety to display
his naturalization papers in proving his identity led the bank
officials to put him off until they had been able to communicate
with the League. He had given his room number at the Gibson Hotel,
and with this information in hand and a code message to the New
York Division to investigate at that end, the scene shifted to the
hotel.

His room was searched but absolutely nothing was found that could
possibly throw light on the use he intended to make of the money,
or the purpose of his visit to Cincinnati. He was “covered” that
night by operatives of the League, and on the following day was
taken to the office of the Special Agent in charge, and there
questioned for two hours, without his disclosing anything of
importance. K—— finally told his story, and from this point on the
plot quickly unravels.

He was born near Hanover, Germany, emigrated to America at the age
of sixteen, settled in New York, married, and was naturalized at
the age of twenty-two. Three children blessed his union. He was
a stone-mason by trade for ten years after his marriage; then he
entered the contracting line and continued in it for some eighteen
years, later removing to East Orange, N. J., where for some five
years he operated a saloon and road house, later retiring from
business and removing to West Hoboken, N. J.

After a severe siege of rheumatism, he was ordered by his
physician to Mount Clemens, Michigan, early in the spring of
1918. At that resort he came in contact with two very affable
gentlemen, “Fred B. Grant” and “Jack Connel.” They made a lavish
display of wealth and finally were successful in getting him to
ask where these large amounts came from, whereupon Grant, who
was the spokesman of the two, told K—— he was a wealthy coal
operator of West Virginia and that he had a special system of
playing the races. After taking K—— behind one of the buildings at
Mount Clemens, he swore him to secrecy, and “let him in” on his
get-rich-quick plan.

The party left Mount Clemens and went to the Vendome Hotel,
Newport, Ky. They took K—— to a supposed pool-room and in less
than a week he had won upwards of twenty-five thousand dollars
in bets, whereupon the proprietor of the pool-room told him that
he could not withdraw this money, under the laws of the State of
Kentucky, unless he had an equal amount on deposit in the State.
K—— told his daughter in Hoboken that he must have twenty-five
thousand dollars to complete a business deal. He put up some of
the money himself, and she secured the rest by a loan from the
Empire Trust Co. Again the shuttle moved back to Cincinnati, where
he arrived on Monday, August 5, 1918, and the League came to his
rescue. K—— was now convinced that he was marked for a victim, and
he did all he could to help land his supposed friends. All these
were taken and the prisoners were held in $15,000 bond. They were
notorious confidence men!

The pool-room was found with its complete telephone and telegraph
outfit, which was not connected with any outside line. The money
which Kaiser saw in this pool-room was paper cut from a New York
Telephone directory to the size of a dollar bill. This paper was
placed in stacks of probably four or five inches thick, with a
hundred dollar bill placed on top and a hundred dollar bill on
the bottom. The “money” lay around in great profusion. K—— stated
with bulging eyes that he saw “at least a million dollars in this
room.” At least, the A. P. L. saved him $25,000 by taking him for
a Cincinnati German spy!