Hellfire Boys
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In late December: Letter from George E. Hale and G. N. Lewis to Daniel Williard, chairman of the National Industries Board, Dec. 22, 1917. NAS-NRC, Executive Board, Committee on Gases Used in Warfare, 1918, National Academy of Sciences Archives.
Chapter Eight: Over There
It was the strangest Christmas: Letter from Jabine to mother, Jan. 1918.
When he wrote home: Ibid., Dec. 18, 1917.
“This sudden activity”: Ibid., Dec. 21, 1917.
On Christmas Eve: “Santa Claus in Camp,” Washington Post, Dec. 25, 1917, 5; “Christmas Greeting Carried to Soldier, Sailor, Marine,” Evening Star, Dec. 25, 1917, 7. The Washington Post and the Evening Star have slightly different accounts of Baker’s speech. In the Star article, he said “sons of the entire nation,” but in the Post he was reported as saying “children of the entire nation.”
Dawn was still: Presumably the burning of mattress ticking was to kill bedbugs or lice, which carry typhus.
As the men peered through: “President Wilson’s Sheep,” Gas Attack, May 1979, 2.
At 4:00 p.m.: President Grant logbook, Jan. 5, 1918, Logbooks of US Ships and Stations, 1916–1940, USS President Grant, Aug. 2, 1917–Dec. 31, 1918, RG 24, entry 118-G-P, A1, box 1, NAB, Washington, DC.
Four days later: Ibid., Jan. 9, 1918.
On the morning of January 10: Addison, Story of the First Gas Regiment, 15.
“We are billeted”: Letter from Jabine to mother, Feb. 3, 1918.
The arrival of the gas and flame regiment: History of the First Gas Regiment, part 2, section 1, “Training, Companies A and B,” First Gas Regiment Collection, CCM.
He kept at his work: Letter from Amos Fries to Bessie Fries, Dec. 26, 1918, Amos A. Fries Papers, 1896–1953.
There was a feeling: Ibid., Dec. 31, 1917.
“Frankly, I don’t see”: Ibid., Jan. 8, 1918.
The next day: Confidential letter from John Pershing to William Sibert, Re: Pessimism, Dec. 13, 1917, Papers of General John J. Pershing.
his new assignment: “Relieve General Sibert!,” Tacoma Times, Jan. 2, 1918, 5.
in charge of distant camps: “Pershing’s Split with Sibert Caused Recall,” New-York Tribune, Jan. 3, 1918, 5.
“About time”: Letter from Amos Fries to Bessie Fries, Jan. 3, 1918, Amos A. Fries Papers, 1896–1953.
he now had: Ibid., Jan. 10, 1918.
Fries and the AEF’s chief ordnance officer: Memorandum from Augustin M. Prentiss to Chief of Gas Service, Dec. 10, 1917, War Department Records, CWS, General Amos Fries Papers 1918–1920, A–C, CWS, RG 175, finding aid PI-8, entry 7, box 15, NACP.
Both would be near Gièvres: Memorandum from Chief Ordnance Officer, AEF, and Chief of Gas Service, AEF, to Chief of Staff, AEF, Dec. 12, 1917, War Department Records, General Amos Fries Papers 1918–1920, A–C, CWS, RG 175, finding aid PI-8, entry 7, box 15, NACP.
“When available for use”: Memorandum from B. C. Goss to Amos Fries, Chemical Fillings for Aeroplane Bombs, Jan. 28, 1918, Technical Document Files, 1917–1920, Flame Bombs—Gas Masks, CWS, RG 175, finding aid PI-8, entry 8, box 7, NACP.
Fries described the rapid growth: Letter from Amos Fries to Bessie Fries, Jan. 15, 1918, Amos A. Fries Papers, 1896–1953.
One of the biggest challenges: Major Jason A. Moss, Officer’s Manual, 6th ed. (Menasha, WA: George Banta, 1917), 79.
“The arrangement now in Washington”: Letter from Amos Fries to Bessie Fries. Dec. 29, 1917.
“The situation is satisfactory”: Van H. Manning, Research Work of the Bureau of Mines on Gases Used in Warfare for the Month of Jan. 1918, Chemical Research (Offense Problems), 3, “War Gas Investigations, Special World War I Work,” BOM, RG 70, finding aid A-1, entry 45, box 2, NACP.
Over the months: Burrell, “Contributions,” 99.
Mustard topped Manning’s list: Van H. Manning, Research Work of the Bureau of Mines on Gases Used in Warfare for the Month of Jan. 1918.
In the freezing labs: Captain William B. Loach, “Mustard Gas Production in the United States,” Chemical Warfare 1, no. 10, Oct. 23, 1919, 8–14.
“The British Authorities”: Memorandum from Office of the Military Attaché, American Embassy, London, to Chief of Gas Service, War Department, Washington, on Manufacture of B.B. Dichlorethyl Sulphide, Jan. 26, 1918, Technical Document File, 1917–1920, Correspondence, CWS, RG 175, finding aid PI-8, entry 8, box 5, NACP.
For two grueling weeks: James B. Conant, Progress Report, Organic Section, Feb. 18, 1918, Technical Document Files, 1917–1920, CWS, RG 175, finding aid PI-8, entry 8, NACP.
The British method: James B. Conant, Organic Section Report 8, Progress Report on Preparation of G-34 from Sulfur Dichloride, 1, call no. UAI 15.898, box 142, Papers of James Bryant Conant, 1862–1987, Harvard University Archives.
extremely unstable: Bancroft, History of the Chemical Warfare Service, 71; Conant, Progress Report on Preparation of G-34 from Sulfur Dichloride, 2.
A third was tucked: First set up on Mar. 12, 1918. General Electric, Story of the Development Division, 176.
The judge advocate general: Memorandum from Newton Baker to surgeon general, Establishment of a Government Operated Plant for Gas Mask Manufacture, Nov. 20, 1917, Technical Document Files, 1917–1920, CWS, RG 175, PI-8, entry 8, box 6, NACP.
the Jackson Avenue building: Memorandum of Lease, Nov. 15, 1917, Technical Document Files, 1917–1920, CWS, RG 175, PI-8, entry 8, box 6, NACP.
On January 1, 1918: Bradley Dewey, “Contributions from the Chemical Warfare Service, USA,” Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 11, no. 3 (Mar. 1919): 189–90.
The spot he pinpointed: Memorandum from Major General Henry Jervey, Director of Operations, General Staff, to Assistant Secretary of War, Nov. 4, 1918, USACE.
“Our work is growing”: Letter from Van H. Manning to Frederic V. Abbot, Jan. 19, 1918, USACE.
Born in 1878: Winford Lee Lewis, “An Autobiography of an Ordinary Man” (unpublished manuscript), 46, L. Philip Reiss Collection.
The Lewis farm: Ibid., 68.
there were eight children: Ibid., 69.
Lee Lewis was about five: Winford Lee Lewis, “Why I Became a Chemist, and If So, to What Extent,” Chemical Bulletin 11, no. 4 (Apr. 1924): 100.
In the back of one: Winford Lee Lewis personal data, L. Philip Reiss Collection.
A stint followed: J. A. Hynes, “W. Lee Lewis, the New Chairman,” Chemical Bulletin 7, no. 6 (June 1920): 166.
Charles Parsons, a captain: Letter from Frank Genhart to W. Lee Lewis, Oct. 1, 1917, L. Philip Reiss Collection.
He decided against the former: Telegram from W. Lee Lewis to Myrtilla Lewis, Oct. 8, 1917, L. Philip Reiss Collection.
moreover, he didn’t relish: Winford Lee Lewis, “Certain Organic Compounds of Arsenic” (speech delivered to Rochester chapter of the American Chemical Society, Nov. 21, 1921), 3, L. Philip Reiss Collection.
Lewis had wired Myrtilla: Telegram from Winford Lee Lewis to Myrtilla Lewis, Oct. 9, 1917, L. Philip Reiss Collection.
When the bureau sent Lewis: Lewis, “Certain Organic Compounds of Arsenic.”
To the east: Catholic University Bulletin, Dec. 1919, 271.
Unlike American University’s: Ibid., Nov. 1917.
Luckily for the bureau: William L. Sibert, “Summary of Achievements 1917–1918” (partial document), L. Philip Reiss Collection.
After the bureau approved: Lewis, “Certain Organic Compounds of Arsenic.”
“At last, my real war job!”: James Thayer Addison diary entry, Jan. 19, 1918, Louise Cass Collection.
That night, an officer: Ibid., Jan. 20, 1918.
Addison’s ardor for camp life: Ibid., Jan. 26, 1918.
On one of his return trips: Ibid., Feb. 15, 1918.
A few days later: Ibid., Feb. 18, 1918.
Chapter Nine: “A Constant Menace”
Day after day: “Snow! Snow! Beautiful Snow!,” Washington Times, Jan. 30, 1918, 1.
A storm on January 28: “Snowstorm
Equals 1910 Record; More, and Cold Wave, Predicted,” Washington Post, Jan. 31, 1918, 2.
Public schools ran out: “Obeys ‘Heatless’ Day,’” Washington Post, Jan. 22, 1918, 1.
The rushed renovation: Jones, “Role of the Chemists in Research on War Gases,” 118.
Three train cars: “Coal Seekers Kept at Bay by Soldiers,” Washington Herald, Jan. 31, 1918, 1.
On February 4: “Coldest February Day Here in Years,” Evening Star, Feb. 5, 1918, 1.
The frozen Potomac: “Potomac in Greatest Flood Since 1889,” Washington Times, Feb. 14, 1918, 1.
The two privates: Jason F. Adams, Report of Explosion at American University, Accidental Explosion at American University—Feb. 16, 1918, 3–5, USACE.
The campus safety engineer: G. E. McElroy, safety engineer, Report of Chemical Explosion at American University Experiment Station of the Bureau of Mines, Feb. 16, 1918, Records Relating to War Chemical and Gas Investigations, 1918–1919, BOM, RG 70, finding aid A1, entry 80, box 2, NACP.
He fired off: Letter from E. H. Marks to Lauson Stone, Mar. 17, 1918, Correspondence Relating to Military Affairs, 1918–1923, Camps, Posts, and Stations, OCE, RG 77, finding aid NM-78, entry 104, box 98, NACP.
“The location of such grounds”: Letter from Lauson Stone to E. H. Marks, Mar. 21, 1918, OCE, RG 77, finding aid NM-78, entry 104, box 98, NACP.
Sometimes the stench: Letter from Burton Logue to his sister Marion Logue, Sept. 24, 1971, American University WWI File, University Archives and Special Collections, American University Library.
A few days: Memorandum from Sanitary Inspector to Camp Surgeon, Subject: Conditions in area surrounding Experiment Station, Mar. 20, 1918, OCE, RG 77, finding aid NM-78, entry 104, box 98, NACP.
Marks forwarded the report: Memorandum from E. H. Marks to General Frederic V. Abbot, Subject: Sanitary condition at Bureau of Mines Experiment Station, Mar. 20, 1918.
Abbot fired off: Memorandum from General Frederic V. Abbot to Van Manning, Mar. 20, 1918.
Manning’s reply was prompt: Letter from Van Manning to Abbot, Mar. 21, 1918.
On March 1: Historical Report to the Secretary of the Interior on the Origin and Development of the Research Work of the Bureau of Mines on Gases Used in Warfare, Feb. 1, 1917, to Mar. 1, 1918, 5, BOM, RG 70, NACP.
By mid-May: Report to the Secretary of the Interior on the Research Work of the Bureau of Mines on War Gas Investigations, July 1, 1917 to May 15, 1918, 1.
On April 3: Confidential memorandum from Colonel Van Deman, Chief, Military Intelligence, to camp intelligence officer, Camp American University, Apr. 3, 1918, USACE.
In Van Manning’s office: Report from Agent S. D. Bradley, Apr. 4, 1918, Richmond Levering report to Bruce Bielaski, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Abandoned by his country: BOI report, Apr. 6, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
After he had fled: Summary of Walter T. von Scheele, “Associates,” Apr. 3, 1917, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Living in seclusion: Scheele statement to Cuban Police Captain Llaca, Schedule A, Richmond Levering report to Bruce Bielaski, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
De Pozas had worries: Military Intelligence synopsis, Walter Theodore (von) Scheele, June 1, 1918, 6, and Richmond Levering, BOI Report, no date, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
In a solitary cell: Summary of Scheele Case, Mar. 4, 1921, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
In late February: Richmond Levering to A. Bruce Bielaski, Mar. 15, 1918, First Section Report of Dr. Walter T. Scheele, 1, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Several men had been arrested: Scheele statement to Cuban Police Captain Llaca, Schedule A. Levering’s reports back to the BOI are not definitive as to the identity of the third man, referring to him as “the man who had kept Scheele in hiding and who was a Cuban citizen.”
All three were being held: Report from Richmond M. Levering to BOI chief A. Bruce Bielaski on arrest of Walter T. Scheele, Dr. Scheele’s Proposition for Immunity, Mar. 15, 1918, Key West, Fla., Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Darkness had fallen: Strother, Fighting Germany’s Spies, 261. This account, while colorful, is a bit suspect. It’s impossible to know whether this account describes the first or second trip from Havana to Key West, although presumably it is the first, as it specifies that Scheele was on the SS Flagler. (On his second trip to Key West, he was on a Cuban naval vessel.)
Agents met the boat: Report from Agent Arthur E. Gregory, Mar. 13, 1918, Re: Dr. William Scheele, et al.—Espionage—German Agents, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Levering warned Scheele: Levering, “Dr. Scheele’s Proposition for Immunity.”
Scheele began to talk: Agent E. P. Martin report on Scheele interrogation, Mar. 14, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Thomas Edison came: Report by Agent Arthur C. Gregory, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
“So far Mr. Silver”: Richmond M. Levering, Report to BOI chief A. Bruce Bielaski on arrest of Walter T. Scheele, “Second Section of the Report by Levering,” Mar. 16, 1918, Key West, Fla., Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Copies of the interrogation reports: Richmond M. Levering report to A. Bruce Bielaski, Mar. 21, 1918; letter from Bruce Silver to Richmond M. Levering, Correspondence of War College Division and related general staff Offices, 1903–19, WDG, RG 165, microfilm publication M1024, reel 355, NACP.
Silver questioned Scheele: Letter from Bruce Silver to Richmond Levering, Mar. 21, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
“I would therefore”: Ibid., Mar. 16, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Even Thomas Edison: Levering, “Dr. Scheele’s Proposition for Immunity.”
Rage against Germans: “Draped in US Flag, Victim Is Marched to Destruction,” Washington Times, Apr. 5, 1918, 1.
In New York: “Crowd Threatens to Hang Germans,” Washington Herald, Apr. 6, 1918, 1.
“Please keep his presence”: Telegram from William M. Offley to Bruce Bielaski, Key West, Fla., Mar. 15, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
“We are keeping the information”: Letter from Bruce Bielaski to Charles F. Lynch, U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Mar. 25, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
The message streaked: “Long-Sought Data on Spies Given by German Plotter,” New-York Tribune, Mar. 27, 1918, 16.
The new Bureau of Investigation: “New Hunter of Spies in New York District,” New York Times, Mar. 31, 1918, sec. 4, 8.
The group set out: Agent Arthur E. Gregory report for Mar. 17, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
This time, the weather: Photos of Jacinto Llama, Walter Scheele, Ricardo Guttman, and group, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
On the m
orning: Report from Agent C. B. Treadway, Mar. 20, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
The following evening: Telegram from Agent C. B. Treadway to A. Bruce Bielaski, Mar. 21, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
When the train: Report of BOI Agent S. D. Bradley, Re: Dr. Walter T. Scheele (German Matter), Mar. 23, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Scheele spent the day: Report by Agent J. E. Elliott in Washington, DC, Re: Dr. William Scheele, et al.: Espionage—German Agents, Apr. 4, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Warren Grimes, a bureau agent: Letter from Warren W. Grimes to A. Bruce Bielaski, Apr. 8, 1918, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
The vice president: Agent Warren Grimes report for Apr. 7, 1918, written Apr. 20, 1918, Dr. Walter Scheele: German Matter, Investigative Case Files of the BOI, 1908–1922, NARA M1085, OGF, 1909–21, case no. 8000-925, roll 279, NACP.
Hundreds of men: Addison diary entry, Feb. 24, 1918.
They said a wrenching goodbye: Ibid., Feb. 25, 1918.
The USS Agamemnon: USS Agamemnon, NavSource Photo History: Photographic History of the U.S. Navy, http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/173004.htm.
At 6:30 p.m.: Addison diary entry, Feb. 26, 1918.
Starlight illuminated the ship’s path: Ibid., Feb. 28, 1918.
Fries didn’t grouse: Letter from Amos Fries to Bessie Fries, Mar. 18, 1918, Amos A. Fries Papers, 1896–1953.
Still, the offices hummed: Ibid., Apr. 16, 1918.
all of them men: Ibid., Apr. 9, 1918.
Fries managed to make: Ibid., Mar. 22, 1918.
A few days before: Ibid., Mar. 24, 1918.
“an awful bonehead”: Ibid., Feb. 10, 1918.
He had great respect: Ibid., Mar. 12, 1918,
During the Paris gas conference: Ibid., Mar. 5, 1918.
about restructuring his service: History of Chemical Warfare Service, AEF, 24.