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by Fiona G. Holter, USAICoE Staff Historian
On April 16, 1918, the Corps of Intelligence Police (CIP) made a break in a multi-national case against a German intelligence asset in New York City. Through investigation and surveillance, CIP agents were able to identify and locate the German asset, later arresting her on charges of espionage.
In late 1917, British authorities alerted U.S. intelligence to an undercover German intelligence asset living in New Jersey. The asset, Madame Maria de Victoria, had been dispatched to the U.S. to spread pro-German propaganda. She was a native Argentinian who had been studying language in Germany before the outbreak of the First World War. Whilst in Germany, she was recruited by Colonel Walther Nicolai, the chief of German intelligence.
After arriving in the United States, Victoria assisted another German agent, Herman Wessels, in a scheme to locate and target American munitions manufacturers in the tri-state area. The two planned to hide explosives inside imported toy blocks and plant the explosives on cargo ships. However, while Victoria and Wessels plotted their attacks and even recruited Irish dockworkers to assist, their plan never came to fruition.
Alerted by British authorities that a wanted enemy asset was nearby, CIP agents based in New York began to investigate. British intelligence explained they had intercepted a letter intended for an “A.C. Fellows” in Hoboken, New Jersey, whom they suspected was the asset. CIP agents visited the address but found it abandoned. Hoping the lead was not a dead end, they posted agents to watch the house.
Their surveillance paid off in January 1918, when a postman delivered mail to the vacant property. The agents intercepted the mail and discovered that a letter addressed to a Mrs. Gerhardt had a message written in invisible ink. In the message, the writer explained that he believed he was under surveillance and could not assist the recipient in their plan. To the surprise of the CIP agents, the letter had a return address.
Following the leads from the letter, the CIP tracked down Mrs. Gerhardt and visited the return address on in the letter. The writer of the letter was a ship steward on the S.S. Kristianiafjord and had mistakenly switched two letters he was sending: the letter intended for Mrs. Gerhardt went to A.C. Fellows and vice versa. The CIP investigation revealed Mrs. Gerhardt was a victim of identity theft; the enemy assets used her name and address to exchange letters but intercepted her mail before she received it. In her interview with the CIP, Mrs. Gerhardt revealed she had previously received strange letters, several addressed to someone named Victoria.
Using this information, CIP agents deciphered cables related to Victoria received from British intelligence and successfully identified several of her contacts. On April 16, 1918, the CIP followed one of Victoria’s known associates to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. The man entered the church, sat in a pew, and picked up a newspaper dropped by a young woman. Between the pages of the paper were twenty-one $1,000 bank notes sent by German Minister von Eckhardt. The man then traveled to Hotel Nassau on Long Island to deliver the money to Victoria, leading CIP agents directly to her.
On April 27, 1918, the CIP arrested Victoria and confiscated enough evidence in her hotel room to charge her with espionage during a time of war. She was indicted on her charges but died from pneumonia before facing trail.
| Date Taken: | 04.11.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2022 11:14 |
| Story ID: | 418242 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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