Frustrated Diabolism
A Ruthless Tool of German Duplicity Fails Only Because He Trusted the Wrong Man With His Secret
One of the most nefarious of the schemes formulated in Germany and financed by the German government for operation in this country in the period of our neutrality, and of which von Papen was aware, was that which one Robert Fay undertook to carry out in 1915. This man had invented an infernal machine, the purpose of which was to blow up ships at sea to prevent the transportation of munitions and food supplies from this country to France and England. The story was well told in the World’s Work after Fay and his accomplices had been jailed.
The device was a box containing forty pounds of trinitrotoluol, to be fastened to the rudder post of a vessel, and so geared to the rudder itself that its oscillations would slowly release the catch of a spring, which would then drive home the firing pin and cause an explosion that would instantly tear off the whole stern of the ship, sinking it in midocean in a few minutes. Experts in mechanics and experts in explosives and experts in shipbuilding all tested the machine, and all agreed that it was perfect for the work which Fay had planned that it should do.
Fay had three of these machines completed, he had others in course of construction, he had bought and tested the explosive to go into them, he had cruised New York harbor in a motor boat and proved by experience that he could attach them undetected where he wished, and he had the names and sailing dates of the vessels that he meant to sink without a trace. Only one little link that broke—and the quick and thorough work of American justice—robbed him of another Iron Cross besides the one he wore.