United States, and that he had the names and addresses apparently of every German in the United States. It further developed that he had cards made in Seattle, representing himself as being connected with a bank in Detroit. He was placed under arrest and sent to the Detention Station in the Department of Immigration to establish his nationality and status. He claimed to have been taking orders for a toy balloon concern on W Avenue, the proprietor of which stated that B had worked for him on a commission basis, but that his total commissions for the first year would amount to about $86.00, approximately. This was the merest trifle compared to the totals believed to have been spent by the subject, and he evidently had some other source of income than that derived from toy balloons.
The subject was well educated, spoke four or five languages, and it developed that he had formerly held a commission of lieutenant in the Austrian army. B was a sketch artist, very clever, and in passing through the country, was accustomed to make landscape scenes of various places of interest from a military standpoint—which sketches, together with certain puzzle sketches, were believed by the officers of the organization to be for the purpose of furnishing information to the enemy.
The specific charge was thought by him to be that he was an I. W. W., and he requested the permission of the Immigration authorities to address a letter to a friend, which permission was given. This letter, which, of course, was censored by the authorities, addressed a German at Bremerton, close to the Navy Yard, and complained of his arrest as an I. W. W. He informed this friend that he had done a great many things which he "had been ordered to do," but that he was not, nor had he been, requested to be an I. W. W., and he requested aid for his release.
A very complete examination was made of B and his entire movements since arriving in this country. It developed that he was born at Frankstock, Moravia, in Austria; that he was twenty-four years of age, had had military training, had just completed same prior to departing for this country, and was a Second Lieutenant in the 54th Royal Imperial Infantry. He was in Hamburg and Paris during 1914, and just prior to the outbreak of the war, he came to New York, passing through England on this trip, since which time it developed that he had been receiving money from Germany, and had been operating in the cities of Hoboken, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle, Helena and Spokane. Regardless of the fact that he was heir to an estate in Austria and was supposed to have
