Conquest of America: A Romance of Disaster and Victory, U.S.A., 1921 A.D.

by Cleveland Moffett

  CHAPTER VI

  VARIOUS UNPLEASANT HAPPENINGS IN MANHATTAN

  I shall never forget the horror of that hoarse cry:

  "The Germans are in the streets!"

  What followed was still more terrifying. Somewhere at the back of theGarden, a piercing whistle cut the air--evidently a signal--and suddenlywe found ourselves facing a ghastly tragedy, and were made to realise theresistless superiority of a small body of disciplined troops over adisorganised multitude.

  "_Fertig! Los! Hup!_" shouted a loud voice (it was a man with amegaphone) in the first gallery opposite the platform. Every face in thattremendous throng turned at once in the direction of the stranger'svoice. And before the immense audience knew what was happening, fivehundred German soldiers, armed with pistols and repeating rifles, hadsprung to life, alert and formidable, at vantage-points all over theGarden. Two hundred, with weapons ready, guarded the platform and theCommittee of Public Safety. And, in little groups of threes and fives,back to back, around the iron columns that rose through the galleries,stood three hundred more with flashing barrels levelled at the crowds.

  I counted fifteen of these dominating groups of soldiers in the northernhalf of the lower gallery, and it was the same in the southern half andthe same on both sides of the upper gallery, which made sixty armedgroups in sixty strategic positions. There was nothing for the crowd todo but yield.

  "Pass out, everybody!" screamed the megaphone man. "We fire at the firstdisorder."

  "Out, everybody!" roared the soldiers. "We fire at the first disorder."

  As if to emphasise this, an automatic pistol crackled at the far end ofthe Garden, and frantic crowds pushed for the doors in abject terror.There was no thought of resistance.

  "Use all the exits," yelled the megaphone man; and the order was passedon by the soldiers from group to group. And presently there rolled outinto the streets and avenues through the thirty great doors and down thesix outside stairways that zigzag across the building such streams ofwhite-faced, staggering, fainting humanity as never had been seen onManhattan Island.

  I was driven out with the others (except the Committee of Public Safety),and was happy to find myself with a whole skin in Twenty-sixth Streetopposite the Manhattan Club. As I passed a group of German soldiers nearthe door, I observed that they wore grey uniforms. I wondered at thisuntil I saw overcoats at their feet, and realised that they had enteredthe Garden like spies with the audience of citizens, their uniforms andweapons being concealed under ordinary outer garments, which they hadthrown off at the word of command.

  We stumbled into the street, and were driven roughly by other Germansoldiers toward the open space of Madison Square. We fled over red andslippery pavements, strewn with the bodies of dead and wounded policemenand civilians--the hideous harvest of the machine-guns. At the corner ofMadison Avenue and Twenty-fifth Street I saw an immense coal-carryingmotor-truck with plates of iron covering its four sides, and throughloopholes in the plates I saw murderous muzzles protruding.

  It appears that shortly after midnight, at the height of the debate, fourof these armoured cars came lumbering toward the Garden from west andeast, north and south; and, as they neared the four corners of theimmense yellow building, without warning they opened fire upon thepolice, which meant inevitably upon the crowd also. In each truck were adozen soldiers and six machine-guns, each one capable of firing sixhundred shots a minute. There was no chance for resistance, and within aquarter of an hour the streets surrounding the Garden were a shambles. OnMadison Avenue, just in front of the main entrance, I saw bodies lyingthree deep, many of them hideously mutilated by the explosive effects ofthese bullets at short range. As I stepped across the curb in front ofthe S.P.C.A. building, I cried out in horror; for there on the sidewalklay a young mother--But why describe the horror of that scene?

  With difficulty I succeeded in hiring a taxicab and set out to findGeneral Wood or some officer of his staff from whom I might get anunderstanding of these tragic events. Who were those German soldiers atthe Garden? Where did they come from? Were they German-Americans?

  It was four o'clock in the morning before I located General Wood at theplaza of the Queensborough Bridge, where he was overseeing the placing ofsome artillery pieces. He was too busy to talk to me, but from one of hisaides I learned that the soldiers at the Madison Square Garden were notGerman-Americans and were not von Hindenburg's men, but were part of thatinvisible army of German spies that invariably precedes the invadingforces of the Kaiser. Arriving a few hundred at a time for a period ofmore than three years, 50,000 of these German spies, fully armed andequipped, now held New York at their mercy. More than that, they had intheir actual physical possession the men who owned half the wealth of thenation. That New York would capitulate was a foregone conclusion.

  After cabling this news, I went back to my hotel, the old Brevoort,for a snatch of sleep; and at half-past eight I was out in the streetsagain. The first thing that caught my eye was a black-letteredproclamation--posted by German spies, no doubt--over Henri's barber shop,and signed by General von Hindenburg, announcing the capitulation of NewYork City. The inhabitants were informed that they had nothing to fear.Their lives and property would be protected, and they would find theGermans just and generous in all their dealings. Food and supplies wouldbe paid for at the market price, and citizens would be recompensed forall services rendered. The activities of New York would go on as usual,and there would be no immediate occupation of Manhattan Island by Germantroops. All orders from the conquering army in Brooklyn must beimplicitly obeyed, under penalty of bombardment.

  I could scarcely believe my eyes. New York City had capitulated! I askeda man beside me--an agitated citizen in an orange tie--whether this couldbe true. He said it was--all the morning papers confirmed it. The immensepressure from Wall Street upon Washington, owing to the hold-up ofmultimillionaires, had resulted in orders from the President that thecity surrender and that General Wood's forces withdraw to New Jersey.

  "What about John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan andthe other hostages?" I asked.

  "The _Sun_ says they have been taken over to Brooklyn where the Germanarmy is, and they've got to raise a billion dollars in gold."

  "A billion dollars in gold!"

  "Sure; as an indemnity for New York City. You'll notice we could havebought a few defences for that billion," sniffed the angry citizen.

  Things moved rapidly after this. All the shipping in waters about theisland metropolis, including ferry-boats, launches, pilot-boats,everything that floated, was delivered over to the Germans. The SandyHook defences were delivered over, and the rivers and bays were clearedof mines. All motor-cars, supplies of gasolene, firearms, and ammunitionin New York City were seized and removed to Brooklyn. The telephoneservice was taken over by the Germans and operated by them, chiefly formilitary purposes. The mail service ceased. The newspapers were orderednot to appear--with the exception of the _Staats-Zeitung_, which becamethe official organ of the invaders and proceeded to publish editions inEnglish as well as German.

  "What will happen if we go ahead and get out the paper in spite of yourorder?" inquired the city editor of the _Evening Journal_ when a youthfulPrussian officer informed him that the paper must not appear.

  "Oh, you will be shot and William Randolph Hearst will be shot," said theofficer pleasantly.

  About noon on the day of capitulation, May 25, 1921, a company of Germansoldiers with two machine guns, two ammunition carts and a line of motortrucks landed at the Battery and marched quietly up Broadway, then turnedinto Wall Street and stopped outside the banking house of J. P. Morgan &Co. A captain of hussars in brilliant uniform and wearing an eyeglasswent inside with eight of his men and explained politely to the managerthat the Germans had arranged with J. P. Morgan personally that they wereto receive five million dollars a day in gold on account of the indemnityand, as four days' payment, that is twenty million dollars, were now due,the captain would be obliged if the manager wo
uld let him have twentymillion dollars in gold immediately. Also a match for his cigarette.

  The manager, greatly disturbed, assured the captain that there was not asmuch money as that in the bank, all the gold in New York having been sentout of the city.

  "Ah!" said the officer with a smile. "That will simply put you to thetrouble of having it sent back again. You see, we hold the men who ownthis gold. Besides, I think you can, with an effort, get together thistrifling amount."

  The manager vowed it was utterly impossible, whereupon the captainmotioned to one of his men, who, it turned out, had been for years atrusted employee of J. P. Morgan & Co. and had made himself familiar withevery detail of Wall Street affairs. He knew where a reserve store ofgold was hidden and the consequence was that half an hour later theGerman soldiers marched back to the Battery, their motor trucks groaningunder the weight of twenty million dollars in double eagles and bullion.

  "You see, we need some small change to buy eggs and chickens andvegetables with," laughed the officer. "We are very particular to pay foreverything we take."

  An hour later the first show of resistance to German authority came whena delegation of staff officers from General von Hindenburg visited thecity hall to instruct Mayor McAneny as to the efficient running of thevarious municipal departments. I had the details of this conference fromthe mayor's private secretary. The officers announced that there would beno interference with the ordinary life of the city so long as the resultswere satisfactory. Business must go on as usual. Theatres and places ofamusement were to remain open. The city must be gay, just as Berlin wasgay in 1915.

  On the other hand any disorder or failure to provide for German needs inthe matter of food and supplies would be severely dealt with. Everymorning there must be delivered at the foot of Fulton Street, Brooklyn,definite quantities of meat, poultry, eggs, butter, vegetables, flour,milk, sugar, fruits, beer, coffee, tea, besides a long and detailed listof army supplies.

  "Suppose we cannot get these things?" protested the mayor. "Suppose thetrain service to New York is cut off by General Wood's army?"

  "Hah!" snorted a red-faced colonel of artillery. "There are two and ahalf million Americans on Manhattan Island--and we'll see that they staythere--who will starve within one week if General Wood cuts off the trainservice. I don't think he will cut it off, Mr. McAneny."

  "Besides, my dear sir," drawled a slender English-looking officer,wearing the iron cross, "if there should be any interference with ourfood supply, remember that we can destroy your gas and electric lightingplants, we can cripple your transportation system and possibly cut offyour water supply with a few well directed shots. Don't forget that, Mr.McAneny."

  The trouble began as these German officers walked down Broadway with asmall escort of soldiers. Whenever they passed a policeman they requiredhim to salute, in accordance with published orders, but a big Irishmanwas defiant and the officers stopped to teach him manners. At which acrowd gathered that blocked Broadway and the officers were insulted andjostled and one of them lost his helmet. There was no serious disorder,but the Germans made it a matter of principle and an hour later the_Staats Zeitung_ came out with a special edition announcing that,inasmuch as disrespect had been shown to five German officers by aBroadway crowd, it now became necessary to give the city an object lessonthat would, it was hoped, prevent such a regrettable occurrence in thefuture. That evening five six-inch shells would be fired by German siegeguns in Brooklyn at five indicated open spaces in Manhattan, these beingchosen to avoid losses of life and property. The first shell would befired at seven o'clock and would strike in Battery Park; the second at7.05 and would strike in Union Square; the third at 7.10 and would strikein Madison Square; the fourth at 7.15 and would strike in StuyvesantSquare; the fifth at 7.20 and would strike in Central Park just north ofthe Plaza.

  This announcement was carried out to the letter, the five shellsexploding at the exact points and moments indicated, and the peoplerealised with what horrible precision the German artillery-men heldManhattan island at their mercy.

  The newspapers also received their object lesson through the action ofthe _Evening Telegram_ in bringing out an extra announcing thebombardment. My own desk being in the foreign editor's room, I witnessedthis grim occurrence. At half-past five a boyish-looking lieutenantsauntered in and asked for the managing editor, who was sitting with hisfeet on a desk.

  "Good-evening," said the German. "You have disobeyed orders in gettingout this edition. I am sorry."

  The editor stared at him, not understanding. "Well, what's the answer?"

  The officer's eyes were sympathetic and his tone friendly. He glanced athis wrist watch. "The answer is that I give you twenty minutes totelephone your family, then I'm going to take you up on the roof and haveyou shot. I am sorry."

  Twenty minutes later they stood up this incredulous editor behind theilluminated owls that blinked down solemnly upon the turmoil of HeraldSquare and shot him to death as arranged.