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Sunday, July 2, 2017

GERMAN AGENTS ACTIVE ON GREAT LAKES

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2358

GERMAN AGENTS UP TO NEFARIOUS ACTIVITY ON THE GREAT LAKES

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) It was learned 100 years ago today, July 2, 1917, that the State, Navy and Justice Departments of the United States were cooperating in an effort to bring unnamed German agents to justice.

These agents were attempting to "destroy or hinder shipping on the Great Lakes" in a conspiracy to delay organization of American armies and "check the flow of food and munitions...from the western states to the Atlantic coast."

The Germans were blamed for a series of "accidents" to American shipping on the Great Lakes during the past month.  The government of the United States made this information available so that the public would be aware of these activities "in a general way."

SOURCE

"German Agents Cripple Vessels on Great Lakes, Many Ships Taken Over For War Targets; Plotters Sought by U.S.",  The Chicago Daily Tribune, July 3, 1917.



Chicago Skyline
Downtown From the Lakefront
September 18, 2009
Copyright Photo by J. Crocker