Part 17

"No," he smiled. "It's all a subscription matter."

"I see. Do you know Captain George Trauernicht?"

Schwinn shot a startled glance at me and nodded slowly. "Yes," he said, "he's Captain of the Hapag Line ship 'Oakland.'"

"Do you ever visit him?"

"Yes; he was here last week."

"Doesn't he bring batches of World Service and other propaganda for you every time he comes into port?"

"No," Schwinn said sharply. "The visits I pay him are purely social. Just to drink a glass of good German beer."

"Do you usually pay social visits carrying a brief case?"

"Now, wait a minute," he protested. "Don't write down the answer until I think."

I stopped typing on his office machine which he had permitted me to use to take verbatim notes of the interview and waited while he thought. After a lengthy silence I added:

"You had a brief case on Thursday when you visited him."

He continued thinking for a little longer and then said that he thought he had had a brief case on that trip.

"But why do you ask me that?" he demanded. "There was nothing in that brief case."

"Sure there was. The brief case always contains reports you send back to Germany and instructions from Germany are brought to you by Captain Trauernicht as well as other captains of German ships docking here and in San Diego."

"I have never taken off propaganda nor given nor received reports," Schwinn insisted. "Somebody told you something and you've got it all wrong."

"Suppose I mention a few instances. At four o'clock on Monday afternoon, March 9, 1936, your beer-drinking friend, Captain Trauernicht, waited for you at the gangplank of his boat--for your 'social' visit. What he wanted was the package of sealed reports from Nazi agents throughout the United States which you were bringing in your brief case. In due time you arrived and gave him the reports. Then you started on a drinking spree--"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Schwinn interrupted.

"Maybe I can refresh your memory. That was the evening the Captain took a lady from Beverly Hills, to the first mate's cabin--remember? You know, the lady who lives on North Crescent Drive--shall I mention her name?"

Schwinn's face turned an apoplectic red and he became quiet.

"On Monday, February 10, 1936," I continued. "Reinhold Kusche, leader of the O.D. unit in your organization and a 'patriotic' naturalized American citizen, was on board the steamer 'Elbe' docked in Los Angeles harbor. He telephoned to one of your Nazi agents, Albert Voigt, that the Captain was sailing at five o'clock for Antwerp and was furious because the agents' reports had not yet been delivered to him. Kusche told Voigt to bring the reports in a hurry--which Voigt promptly did.

"On Tuesday evening, May 12, 1936, the Captain of the Nazi ship 'Schwaben', which had just arrived from Antwerp, Belgium, came to your office and handed you a sealed package of orders and propaganda. He laid it on your desk in this room. The package contained copies of World Service--which is obtainable, you remember, only by subscription at a dollar and a half a year."

"It is not true--" Schwinn interrupted excitedly.

"I have a copy from the batch he brought to you. But let's continue. On Monday, June 8, 1936, you yourself went to the Nazi ship 'Weser' and gave the captain secret reports to take back to Germany and left with secret orders he had brought over--orders sealed in brown, manila paper--and a large package of Fichte-Bund propaganda. I have a copy from that batch, too."

Schwinn stared at me and then smiled. "You can't prove anything," he said with assurance.

"I have affidavits about all these items and more--affidavits from men on board the Nazi ships."

"It's impossible!" he exclaimed. "No German on the ship would dare to sign an affidavit!"

"But I have them," I repeated.

"You intend to publish them?" he asked, a cunning look appearing in his eyes.