BILL FOR DAMAGES

Hokitika Guardian, 17 November 1930, Page 7

BILL FOR DAMAGES

AMERICA’S CLAIMS ON GERMANY MIXED COMMISSION MEETS. The Mixed German-American Claims Commision, under the Treaty of Berlin, 1920, has been deciding on claims by the citizens of the United States and Germany covering losses suffered by the Great War. Matters which have been settled include claims arising out of the submarine sinkings and the seizing of German ships and other properties by the United States Government and also out of infringement of patents. The most contentious claims are those by United States citizens for losses stated to have been caused by German agents in the United States during the period of’ the latter’s neutrality. The present claims arise from the destruction of the Black Tom terminal on July 29, 1916, and the Kingsland ammunition plant on January 11, 1927. Both these properties were in the State of New Jersey. The Black Tom terminal was a wharf where explosives were loaded into barges for shipment oversea*. Four persons were killed in the explosion. No lives were lost in the blowing up of the Kingsland ammunition plant, as it occurred at the week-end. German Cables Intercepted. Reuter’s correspondent has been supplied with the following particulars from an American source:—

The United States Government, in presenting the claims of its citizens, has produced many contemporaneous dopuments from its files, and has been supplied with hundreds of cables sent from Germany to the United States which were intercepted by the British Government, These cables and documents, it is contended, prove conclusively that Germany, as early as January, 1915, cabled to Washington authorising its representative to conduct sabotage against munition factories and supplies in the United States. In January, 1916, after a year of such activity, which resulted;in the recall at the request of the. United States Government of Von Papen and Boyded, Germany decided to continue sabotage operations in the United States under the direction of American-born Germans, and three such men named Hilken, Herrmann, and Dilger are alleged to have been sent to the United States with incendiary devices and germs for the innoculation of cattle to continue the work which had formerly been under the control of the Embassy.

Incendiary’s Confession. Of these three men, Dilger died in the service of Germany. The other two men have now made complete confessions to the American authorities, stating that they were sent to the United States to attempt to stop by all meansthe flow of ammunition and other supplies from the United States to the Allies. They gave specific details of the Kingsland disaster. They also stated that the Black Tom destruction was claimed as a success by one of their agents, Hinseh, and, that this man claimed and was paid considerable money immediately after the event. Of the actual incendiaries in the Black Tom case, an Austrian named Kirstoff made a contemporary confession as to his participation. Kirstoff is now dead. An Austrian’s Activity. As to the Kingsland disaster, the alleged incendiary, an Austrian named Wozniak, disappeared after the fire, and has since been identified by about a dozen people as having been in Mexico City with other German agents. Wozniak, who has been held under cover by German counsel in the United States for some time, has submitted an affidavit to the effect that the fire was an accident, claiming an Jilibi with respect to the report of his presence in Mexico, denying that he was there, and stating that lie was at the time in question engaged as a lumberjack in New York State. The United States Government claims to have effectively upset this alibi, and called upon the German Government to produce Wozniak for cross-examination. This Germany failed to do, stating that she did not know of his whereabouts.

Some time later, only a few months ago, United States officials surprised Woznink in company with German counsel in New York State attempting to strengthen his alibi, and as a result of this Wozniak was subsequently produced for cross-examination. It, is interesting to know that British Intelligence reports dated two days before the Kingsland fire described Wozniak as being in the pay of the German Secret Service, Herrmann has been confronted with Wozniak, and identified him as the man to whom be paid money and to whom he gave incendiary devices with which to cause the Kingsland fire. It is significant to know that before the testimony of Herrmann he was claimed by Germany to have been one of her confidential agents and a most reliable man. German Official Admission.

Germanv officially admits that Herrmann and the others were supplied with incendiary devices in January, 1910, but that they were not to b D active unless and until the United States declared war against Germany. What actually banpened was that Herrmann’s activities during the n°riod of neutrality were so extensive and incriminating that he fled from the United States to Mexico in Feh rnnrv, 1917. War was not declared by the Upited States until April, 1917.