Chapter XI. To New York for England

It was in December, 1912, that I again felt the thrill of the old game as I moved about London under the plausible name of "Trenton Snell,"

engaged in guarding or obtaining state secrets, but this time for a new master. English secret agents are allowed liberal expense money and my work in London and other points in the British Isles was not so arduous as to prevent my taking frequent holidays. I judged that Downing Street was holding me for something big should the occasion arise. In London, my chief work for a time was counteracting the machinations and influences of German agents, forever infesting the British capital. Many a neat little plan inspired by the gentlemen of the Wilhelmstra.s.se went wrong during those next few weeks and back in Berlin they began to think that their spies had lost their cunning.

During this period I was under the direct orders of Captain Robinson, who, you will recall, had been the go-between for Downing Street in closing the bargain for my release from Barlinney Prison. Robinson, an ex-captain of the Hussars, was well up in subterranean affairs and to him Sir Edward Grey was no stranger.

Along in January there came to the ear of Downing Street rumors of a possible meeting between German and j.a.panese envoys. Moreover, the meeting ground was to be the United States. It may surprise Americans to learn that of late years their country has become a favorite meeting place for European diplomats, secret and otherwise. These men invariably sail from Europe, remarking something about taking a trip to the Rockies or visiting some noted fishing streams. They may be going into Canada or the Western States for the shooting; and when these gentlemen leave Europe on these little "vacations" they are generally shadowed, or attempts are made to shadow them. In the course of a few days after the English foreign office learned of the supposed meeting of German and j.a.panese agents to be held in America, I received official instructions. They were sharp and very much to the point. I was to find out what the meeting in the United States was about, and, if possible, to learn the nature of the diplomatic proposals likely to be considered by j.a.pan and Germany. England herself having an alliance pending with Germany, was decidedly wary of this new diplomatic conversation with the yellow empire of the Pacific. What was in the wind? Why was Germany conniving secretly with j.a.pan? What effect would it have on the English-Austrian-German alliance secretly discussed in the Taunus Hills only the autumn before. Obviously the mission was an important one.

The first step was to locate one of the German envoys. To do this I had to cross to the Continent, a dangerous proceeding, at best, for there were abundant possibilities of recognition. Especially was it sticking one's head in the mouth of danger to be seen in Germany.

Nevertheless to Germany I had to go to locate my man. It must be understood that the big missions of Secret Service are accomplished by many cooperating agencies. True, Great Britain had been rather slow in perfecting a continental system of espionage, but by 1913 the machinery was operating well. Downing Street had special lines of intelligence from all the European capitals. I lost no time in making use of the resources of these lesser agents, in fact a system of spying on spies, and soon had information at my disposal that led me to go to Berlin.

It was in Berlin that I learned that a man known as Carl Schmidt would be the messenger for the Wilhelmstra.s.se, bearing the instructions too important to be trusted to transatlantic cable cipher. Exercising infinite care and tremendous patience--for should I be recognized in Berlin, the German Foreign Office would have been thrown into consternation: "What's this? A man we believed safely looking through the bars of an English prison is at large in our own capital.

Hm"--completely effacing myself so far as possible, I managed to keep track of the whereabouts of Carl Schmidt.

It was drawing near to February 4, the sailing day of the _Kaiser Wilhelm II_, and I kept the quarry in sight night and day. It was with the most satisfied of smiles therefore that I ascertained the purchase of railroad accommodations by Carl Schmidt for Bremen, the sailing port of the big North German Lloyd liner. Taking care to secure a seat in the same compartment with Herr Schmidt, I watched him all the way from Berlin to Bremen. Now, whenever I have carried a doc.u.ment of any description while traveling for any length of time, I have always let my hand wander toward its hiding place to a.s.sure myself that it was still there. Sometimes I fished in my pockets for a match, or used any pretext to locate the paper without betraying myself. There is not a human being who will not give some little sign of concern, perhaps only once an hour, but often enough to betray himself to the trained observer. Accordingly I set myself to watch Carl Schmidt's hands. Not for a minute did I relax my vigilance, yet not once on the way to Bremen did the German envoy betray himself by an apparent motion. Whereupon I became positive that Herr Schmidt had not the doc.u.ment upon his person. Where then was it?

It was an easy matter at the steamship offices to find out the number of Schmidt's stateroom. He had engaged room 48 on the first promenade deck. I immediately asked for the rooms on the other side, and by a judicious use of my favorite "palm oil" I secured them. It was imperative now to board the steamer and keeping out of sight until she left port. I had made up my mind to try and obtain the doc.u.ment between Bremen and Cherbourg. This being successful I should be able to leave the ship at the latter port and return at once to London.

From the moment the big North German Lloyd liner steamed out of port, I kept a close watch on Schmidt, still to no purpose. There was only one moment day or night, when the messenger left his dispatch box unguarded and when I finally got at it, I found no doc.u.ment.

Obviously the dispatch box was a blind. Herr Schmidt was not guilty of a single piece of carelessness that would betray the hiding place of the _dossier_. All this had to be done between Bremen and Cherbourg, and when the liner pulled into the French harbor nothing had been accomplished. It was a question of remaining on board and solving the problem before reaching New York.

Now it was risky business to attempt anything for the next few days for I was traveling on a ship of a line that was subsidized by the German government. Once Herr Schmidt realized that there was anything in the wind, it would mean a check to my activities. Schmidt could send a wireless message to the Wilhelmstra.s.se, and back would be flashed a message to the captain of the _Kaiser Wilhelm II_ authorizing any action Schmidt deemed advisable. Thus could he easily put me under custody on some trumped-up charge. Still, there was no risk involved in watching Schmidt to locate a possible confederate who was carrying the dossier. I watched him unceasingly but confederates there were none. Only one play remained and to make it I must wait patiently until the ship was almost at its dock in New York. Then Herr Schmidt could use the wireless and command the captain's a.s.sistance to his heart's content. It would be too late.

During the few days immediately following, I kept my activities well concealed. In fact, I made it my business to avoid Schmidt. My method of handling the situation did not necessitate my striking up an acquaintance with the man. On the contrary to disarm him of all possible suspicions I shunned him. I even contrived not to sit at Herr Schmidt's table in the dining salon. Meanwhile, Robinson, back in Downing Street, kept his hands on the situation, sending me two wireless messages on board the steamer.

All dispatches sent to "Buzzing" London, find their way to Downing Street. It was very probable that being in the diplomatic service, Herr Schmidt would know this term "Buzzing." I thought it unwise to risk a reply. So I kept in the dark waiting for my chance. During the voyage nothing had occurred to arouse the suspicions of Herr Schmidt and he began to relax his vigilance after the ship was four days out. But I was careful not to take the slightest advantage of his ease at this point. I would wait until the ship was almost in port; then make my play.

To prepare for this I had days ago begun to cultivate the acquaintance of one of the baggage men. This man at once attracted me by his shifty eyes and unhealthy red complexion. It hag often been a Secret Service precept with me: "Give me a hard drinker or a man who is fast and I'll land him nine times out of ten." Well, the baggage master was no exception. I decided to ply him with liquor to make his tongue run away. I made it my business to see that this particular baggage man was in an incompetent state afternoon and night. One night as he was chin-chucking a stewardess with whom he was infatuated, this red-faced gentleman said:

"Well, Doctor, we're going to get married, the little lady and I.

We're going to set up in business. Do you know of any small hotel that we could bug cheap?"

At this I was all attention; I had been waiting for some lead of this sort.

"Ho, friend," I said; "ready to buy a hotel eh? There must be plenty of gold in your job."

The lout winked heavily.

"Sure," he said. "Just as we are about to reach port we ask everybody on board to prepare for us a statement of the things they have to declare. We give it to the customs officers when they come on board in the Lower Bay of New York. Well, some of those fancy rich people always want to do a bit of smuggling and don't declare lots of things.

I have known that for years. What do I do?" Becoming boastful, he patted the stewardess on the shoulder, at which she glanced at me a little frightened. She seemed to realize that her future spouse was talking too much. She tried to remonstrate with him but he was too full of his theme and good spirits.

"Nonsense, my girl; I will tell my friend. Aren't we all drinking together?"

Turning once more to me he said:

"What do I do, Doctor. Well, first I look over the lot of declarations. Then I pick out two or three that look pretty good. I make a list of the things they claim to have in their trunks. Then I get at their baggage and give it a smash, accidentally of course--things are apt to be broken in the hold you know, the boat pitching, carelessness by the porters and all that. So the luggage of my fancy folks is broken open. We look it over. If my lady has held out anything from her declaration, out of the trunk that comes and into my private quarters."

I winked knowingly as if to praise his cleverness.

"We reach the bay; the customs officers come on board. We give them all the declarations. The fancy folks are standing round their baggage waiting for the customs man to get through. Suddenly one of them cries:

"'Oh, my sealskin coat is gone!'

"I step up and politely say:

"'But you must be mistaken. Madame said nothing about a sealskin coat on her declaration so she could not have had one.'

"Ha! Ha! The customs man hears this so she can say nothing. Finish!

Ah yes, your old friend baggage man knows a thing or two."

Needless to say this was all grist to my mill. It was just what I wanted. When the ship was a day from New York, I said to the rascal:

"My friend, I want to look at the luggage of Carl Schmidt for ten minutes. It is check number 31694 and is a _kiste_."

The baggage man was very sorry but that could not be done. If it were found out he would lose his position.

"Either I get at that kiste," I said, "or up you go."

The baggage man attempted to bl.u.s.ter.

"No heroics now, my friend," I smiled. "I know enough about you and your little ingenious piece of graft to tell a pretty story at the North German Lloyd offices in New York. Now do I get a look at Herr Schmidt's kiste?"

With a growl the baggage man yielded, whereupon I gave him $75 to bind the bargain and handed the stewardess $25 so as to a.s.sure her support.

Still, it would not do to meddle with the chest until the liner was steaming into port, for were Schmidt to discover that his luggage had been tampered with and the dispatch abstracted, since by the process of elimination I concluded it must be there, the alarm would go throughout the ship and every pa.s.senger would be searched. Remember this was a German reserve ship.

The chance came after the _Kaiser Wilhelm II_ had steamed past Sandy Hook and was moving up the Lower Bay of New York. With his destination in sight, with no signs in any way suspicious during the trip over, Herr Schmidt had become very easy in mind. With many of the other pa.s.sengers be went forward and from the deck watched the looming horizon of New York's skysc.r.a.pers. A most interesting sight the skyline, something to engross your attention. I was interested in something else.

I was interested in the luggage that was being prepared for the customs officers. On a lower deck the kiste of Carl Schmidt had been conveniently set apart from the other trunks and boxes and the German agent himself was waiting for the customs man to pa.s.s upon it. This done, Schmidt was guilty of an unwarrantable piece of carelessness.

He tipped the baggage master and left him to lock up the kiste while he went up on the promenade deck to enjoy the view. This did not surprise me, for I had been expecting some such blunder to make my way easier. I had conjectured as nothing had occurred during the entire voyage to excite Schmidt's suspicions that he would be careless as his destination was neared.

Accordingly, when I saw him leave his luggage to the mercies of the baggage man, I stepped forward. Quite unconcernedly in view of the other pa.s.sengers who were still standing waiting their turn, acting entirely as if it were my own, I opened the unlocked kiste and rummaging among its contents soon brought to light a plain, large envelope sealed with wax. Breaking the seal I took out the only paper it contained, glanced at it, smiled to myself and went to work--swift work, for at any moment Schmidt might return.

If I had not made my plans long ahead, the simple taking of the doc.u.ment would only have added to the problem. Understand, I did not want to steal the doc.u.ment, merely its contents. Now, in the brief minutes that I had beside the luggage, it was impossible to memorize all the contents of the doc.u.ment. So I judged would be the case and I had come prepared.

Under my arm was a popular novel and between the pages of this lay a sheet of special lotion paper, chemically treated in a way known only to the German Secret Service and capable of taking a quick clean print of anything written in pencil or ink. As I lifted the dossier from the kiste I noticed that it was embossed on a greenish white paper, not unlike a bank of England note in color. It was written in German and signed with a foreign office cipher, the letters W and B intertwined. Following this was the numeral 24, the Wilhelmstra.s.se serial number of the doc.u.ment.

Taking a chance that Herr Schmidt would be fascinated just a minute longer by the magic skyline of New York, I slipped the dossier against the special lotion paper and took an accurate print by sitting on it for two minutes. I then replaced the doc.u.ment in the dispatch envelope and being sure to leave everything appearing as it was, even to fixing the broken seal as best I could, lest by chance Herr Schmidt should return and glance at his kiste.

It was a case now of getting safely off the ship and reaching the nearest cable office for had Schmidt suspected anything, the boat would never have docked until everybody on board had been searched.

There was small danger of this, however, for nothing had occurred to alarm Herr Schmidt. The lotion paper used by the German Secret Service has been perfected to such an extent that when taking the print it does not leave any signs on the original. Accordingly, there would likely not have been a clew--only on close scrutiny would it be seen that the seal had been tampered with--even had Schmidt examined his kiste again before landing.

My luggage pa.s.sed, I made my way to the nearest cable office outside the zone of the steamship offices. At Fourteenth Street and Broadway I entered a Western Union office and wrote out this message to "Buzzing" London. A copy of this being herewith reproduced:

February 12, 1913. Buzzing, London.

Obtained sample. Letter most important. Not safe writing. Will take to-morrow night's steamer Queenstown. Not sufficient fare. Wire twenty-five pounds W. Union, Broadway 14th.

Trenton Snell.