Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1915 — CONFESSES BERLIN PLOT IN U. S. [ARTICLE]

CONFESSES BERLIN PLOT IN U. S.

German Army Officer Admits Plans to Blow Up Ships Originated in Germany. New York, Oct. 27.—-The plot to blow up ships leaving American ports with ammunition for the allies, for which five Germans are now under arrest on charges of conspiracy, was engineered in Germany by officer of the German secret service.

This was indicated definitely in a signed confession made today by Lieutenant Robert Fay, said to be leader of the five, to officers of the United States secret service, in the presence of District Attorney Marshall. Details of the confession prove beyond doubt the part of the German secret agents in preparing the plot and also furnish an Interesting illustration of the German spy system’s methof of operation and identification.

A high official of the German foreign office said in Berlin during the day that the foreign office had no secret agents and that Fay had not been sent to this country by German authorities to start his campaign of destruction. But whatever may be the exact technical status of the German secret service —a body which, official statements to the contrary notwithstanding, is generally believed to exist, whether it is under the control of the foreign office or of some other branch of the imperial German government—the fact remains that federal officials-are convinced that Fay's statement proves the responsibility of the German secret agency for his actions.

United States secret service agents are continuing their search for the men who furnished Fay with the money for his conspiracy; in addition to the $4,000 given to him when he started; for the yarn confident that the large sums he mentioned are not altogether fanciful. The statement also indicates a connection, though so far as known an indirect one, between Dr. Herbert Kienzle, another of the defendants on the conspiracy charge, and the German secret • service.

Early last spring, before Fay set out from the other side, Dr. Kienzie, then living in New York, wrote a letter to his father, Herbert Kienzle, who is head of the Black Forest Clock Company of Schwenningen, in Wurttemberg. With his letter 'he inclosed newspaper clippings showing the sailings of various ships from American ports with munitions for the entente allies; detailing manifests of their cargoes and specifying various railroads engaged in the transportation of munitions. Other clippings told how various firms, including the Allis-Chalmers Company, manufacturers of machinery, with plants in Chicago, Milwaukee, Scranton West Wis., and the Brown-Sharp Company of Providence, had turned over their plants in great measure to the manufacture of munitions.