Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1917 — THREE ARRESTED IN HUNT FOR SPIES [ARTICLE]

THREE ARRESTED IN HUNT FOR SPIES

U. S. Agents Seize Three Sailors and Unstamped Mail for ' - '■ Germany. SUSPECTS IN THREE CITIES Letter Reveals Action of Spies Hovering, About Transport Fleet—Knew Number of Guns and Soldiers on Board. New York, July 7 G.—Seizure by the government of documents which will lead, it Is said, to the identity of hitherto unsuspected men in this city, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago as German spies was disclosed by the arrest of three sailors from the Danish steamship United States, A large quantity of “irregular’;’, mail unstamped, it is alleged, also came into the possession of department of justice operatives: -

Bank's Mail Called O. K. 'There vvere several sacks of mall consigned to the Transatlantic Trust company of 67 William street. This Was the institution in which Franz Rintelen, recenlly convicted German spy, kept his funds. The company in 1915 advertised to send money .to Aus-tria-Hungary by a German submarine. Nothing unlawful was found in the trust company’s mail, it is said. Practically all of the Danish steamer’s irregular mall, according to the three arrested sailors, was sent from Germany, Austria and Hungary, to Switzerland, and thence was forwarded to Denmark, finally bCing stowed away In the hold of the United States. The sailors told, it is said, of large quantities of contraband mail regularly sent between the United States and Germany, through Switzerland, and by Way of Danish, Sweden and Norwegian ports. Spies Outwit U. S. Censors. Washington, July 6.—l'liat American cables and wireless sj-slems can be used by clever organization of spies, that methods pursued by the government to block transmission of military information have failed, and that the entire system must be changed rftge-eonvictlohs of American naval officers in charge of. cable and wireless 0 censorships, who have reported their conclusions to Secretary of the Navy Daniels. Agents of every secret bureau of the government are working together in the hope of bringing in the biggest roundup of spies that the country has ever seen.

Had Inside Information.

Information reached Washington that a German community in Brooklyn, N. Y., was in possession of detailed information Concerning the American troop ships. A letter demonstrating this has been received by a prominent American citizen residing in Washington. The letter follows: “This morriing Mr. B , a prominent insurance man, came into Doctor X— —’s office and asked him, concerning his son (on board one of the transports).. Doctor X told him he knew nothing except the meager information in a letter he had received from his sori* “Then Mr. B told Dr. X —— that he (B.) knew when the boat sailed and what was on board and that one of B- ’s agents (insurance) had visited a house in Brooklyn where some Germans lived and there was told that the ship would sail such and such a time; that there were so many soldiers aboard, and that there were several hundred pieces of artillery on the ship.” German Risk Agents Active? Another element that is engaging attention of the authorities in the espionage hunt is the German marine insurance companies in this country. When the steamship Manchuria, which was leading .the American troop transports out of New York bay, collided with a barge, agents of German companies boarded the craft to conduct an examination. This inspection gave them an opportunity to discover the other transports and to approximate the number of men aboard.