The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

October, 1918 because of Jensen's conviction. "t decided to eliminate him,' Wag- ner said to Mr. Garvan, "by paying him back the money that he had advanced for the ships, and as I was ynable to pay the money in cash I sent him my notes for the amounts he had advanced. I cabled him to that effect on July 9 and sent my notes a few days later in a letter." Wagner then told Mr. Garvan that his cousin, Edmund Wagenknecht met Cousin Jensen on the street in Copen- hagen, and that. Jensen had told Wagenknecht of Wagner's difficulties in connection with the American Transatlantic Co., and of the struggle that Wagner was having in this coun- try to obtain American registry for the ships. Then, without the slightest warning, the sum of approximately $1,300,000 fell into Wagner's lap. It was sent by Edmund Wagenknecht, who is now in Germany and is on the enemy black list. Jensen is also on this list. More Money Promised "On or about July 28," said. Wag- ner, "I received a letter from a rela- tive. Edmund Wagenknecht, who is a native of Uruguay, South America. This letter, however, came from Copenhagen or some city in Sweden. In that letter he told me that he would send some money to take up Jensen's interest. That money ar- rived at about the same time at the Hanover National bank in New York. I used that money to take up a part of Jensen notes." The mysterious letter from Cousin Wagenknecht appeared about two weeks after Wagner 'had sent his hotes for $2,600,000 to Jensen, and. the $1,300,000 began to "loop the loop." It passed from Copenhagen to a bank at Malmo, Sweden; then to Cousin Wagner at New York, and_ then through the Bankers Trust Co. and the Equitable Trust Co. back to Copenhagen to Cousin Jensen, in pay- ment of about.50 per cent of Cousin Wagner's notes, some of which were not due on their face for two years. Asked by Mr. Garvan if he had a 'opy of the letter sent to him by Wagenknecht, Wagner said that he destroyed it because he did not want it to become publicly known, fearing he would not get American registry for the ships. Mr. Garvan asked _ if agenknecht had requested any se- curity or receipt. Wagner replied that Wagenknecht had asked him to acknowledge the receipt of the $1, 1000, which was done. Wagner told Mr. Garvan that he had destroyed all of the correspondence, both to and from Jensen, relating to the substitu- Pe Of notes for stock, and when asked why he had'done this and why he had destroyed other personal papers, he said that he had always made it a point never to save personal vouchers 'or correspondence beyond one year and that this correspondence and the vouchers connected therewith were, to his mind, unimportant, in view of the fact that their usefulness had been served. Wagner took full advantage of his ability to show that money had really left the United States and had been sent to Jensen. He again renewed his drive on the commissioner of navigation and by insisting urgently upon his legal position that the text of our law required registry under Wagner in Trouble ATTER Wagner had acquired a fleet of ships, he sought to transfer them to American regis- try. Here his troubles began. He met with considerable difficulty, owing to the fact that his agents in Europe were unable to convince the A:erican consular officers that the transactions were in good faith, and that the ships were entitled to the American flag. Wagner got into a controversy with the commissioner of naviga- tion and, with typical Prussian arrogance, sought to bulldoze and deceive. The commissioner insisted upon being shown that the Amer- ican Transatlantic Co. was a bona fide American industry. ,He was aware of the fact that Jensen had been the .Copenhagen agent for ' Hugo Stinnes and that he had been sentenced for an _ attempt to smuggle copper into Germany. For this reason he, naturally, was sus- picious of Wagner. the American flag upon a mere show- ing of record title to a ship in an American company, he finally suc- ceeded in acquiring registry, though Secretary Redfield wrote Wagner that this registry was granted solely be- cause of the technical requirements of the law ,and warned Wagner that the department felt his (Wagner's) con- duct throughout had been such as to increase suspicion of the good faith of his ownership of the ships rather than to allay it. Mr. Garvan had discovered in the files of the company a letter written by Theodor Lahr, under date of Aug. 3, 1915, which is most illuminating. The money had reached Wagner on July 29, 1915, and Lahr under date of Aug. 3 wrote to Wagner asking THE MARINE REVIEW as why certain remittances had not been made by cable "so as to enable quick return of the sums advanced by your bankers." Lahr continued: "It was our intention to show your remittances to the United States consuls at Rotter- dam and Copenhagen so as to prove to them also the money really comes from your side." It is obvious from Lahr's letters that Wagner was not returning the money as fast as the "bankers" on the other side had ex- pected he would do it. Wagner perhaps thought it would look more natural if he made the transmissions in small remittances rather than in the lump sum. His decision clearly gave great anxiety to those who had advanced the money. Lahr, it will be recalled, represented Hugo Stinnes. Wagenknecht was the medium through which the money was forwarded, but Wagner was not able to explain to Mr. Garvan how Lahr _ happened to know that Wagenknecht had sent the money and happened to be so interested in getting it back. Four Vessels Are Seized After obtaining American registry, Wagner assumed that his difficulties were ended, and so he chartered the ships for overseas trade. There were 11 ships altogether, and of these four were seized. The first seizure was of the. steamship Sacrnaw, formerly the SoLveIc, by the French, on June 6, 1915. The others were seized by the British, the steamship Hocxr1ne on Oct. 28, 1915, the KANKAKEE on Oct. 31, 1915, and the GENESEE on Noy. 6, 1915. These seizures by the British were made the basis of a master effort of Bernstorff's German propagandists in the. United States. . Resort was' had to every device to arouse hatred and ill feeling in this country against Great Britain. Under the direction of von Bernstorff, the agitation assumed nation-wide proportions. Wagner, a. native born American, persisted in his statements that the $1,300,000 sent to Jensen was American money, and claimed that his '"American investors" were entitled to protection, and left nothing undone to take advantage of this agitation against the British. Being faced with difficulties due to the obviously German origin of his directors, Wagner sought to get men with American names to act as direc- . tors for his companies, offering to place stock in their names. He sent out a form letter, which Mr. Garvan discovered in Wagner's files. Edward B. Elcock, Chicago, was one of those 'who received this letter. Mr. Elcock is a loyal American citizen, and re- fused to be made a party to Wagner's scheme. He told him so in unmis- takable terms. The correspondence.