As the investigation gathered pace, the Bureau began to suspect that Weinstein was involved in business deals with those under suspicion of being German agents. The Elliot Bay Shipbuilding Company, for example, alleged that Weinstein had been involved in a recent, questionable shipbuilding transaction and that he possessed plans and specifications belonging to the company which must have been stolen.14 He had apparently been introduced to them by Nicholas Kousnetzoff, who was involved in a wireless contract backed by Germany in 1917. It was noted that he had employed as his valet a German, Frederick Herron, who was apparently connected with Louis Miller, a saloonkeeper on West 30 Street, who had been charged with being an anti- American propagandist.15
Antoine Jahalsky, alias Tony Farraway, was an even greater concern to the investigators. He, too, was referred to as a womaniser and gambler. They believed him to be the author of a pamphlet entitled ‘Why Poland Should Stand By Germany’.16 He claimed to have been born in Russian Poland, although Hunneman and Smith suspected that he was in fact Austrian, and may have been connected with the sale of Russian military documents to the Austro-German consuls-general in New York.17 Their suspicion appears to have been kindled by a statement from the actress Clare Kimball Young, who related that he had told her on one occasion that he had a brother who was an officer in the Austrian army.18 She firmly believed that he was an Austrian and added that she knew him as Tony Farraway. The actress Nita Naldi, a former mistress, also mentioned that he had told her about his brother, who had served in the Austrian army.19
The statement of another female acquaintance of Jahalsky only added to the suspicion that he was a German spy. Former chorus girl and actress Peggy Marsh had met Weinstein in London in 1915, where she said he had a great reputation as a spender and was constantly showering money and presents on the chorus girls. She said that few women liked Weinstein because of his appearance (he apparently had very prominent teeth), but were willing to accept his friendship because of his extravagant generosity.20 Marsh’s testimony also asserted that her friend and fellow chorus girl Gertie Millar had been Weinstein’s mistress before he left for America. When she herself returned to New York a short while later, she had met Weinstein again. He had introduced her to Jahalsky, with whom she had an affair, and who had in turn introduced her to Sidney and Nadine Reilly. In 1916 she had travelled with him from New York to the west coast. In her opinion Jahalsky gave every impression of being a German spy21 – he had apparently asked her to mix with officers and businessmen and get as much informa-tion from them as possible. She said he was interested in the study of maps and had taken photographs, one apparently of the Roosevelt Dam, with a ‘remarkable camera’. She recalled that he had made a mysterious visit to the mining country outside Phoenix, Arizona, to visit a Polish miner he had known ‘in the old country’. She eventually left him in California and returned to New York.22
At the time Jahalsky made the Phoenix trip, Kurt Jahnke was co-ordinating a desperate, half-baked plan to slow down US troop movements to France by creating trouble for the US on the Mexican border.23 German agents were to foment a wave of strikes among Arizona’s copper miners with the connivance of the radical Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). These mines had a history of militancy, and it was hoped the strikes would soon lead to violence. In conjunction with inducing mutiny among black army units in Arizona and attacks on US border posts, Jahnke hoped this cocktail would send US troops rushing south. It was also noted that the British Secret Service had stated that Jahalsky was a ‘most dangerous German spy’, and was acquainted with Col. Nekrassoff of the Russian Commission.24
The third associate, former Russian naval lieutenant T.N. Agapeef, came to New York in 1917, taking an apartment at 29 West 52nd Street. The Russian Navy Department had purchased a converted yacht for use as a patrol vessel in the White Sea. Although commissioned under the Russian flag it had not left New York due to the ‘present conditions in Russia’. According to the report:
The commander of the ship, Lt T.N. Agapeef, was instructed to put the ship out of commission, send the crew to Russia and deliver to the representative of the Russian Admiralty the letter of credit which he had received in his capacity as commanding officer for the expenses during the voyage to Russia. Lt Agapeef did not comply with the order to return the letter of credit and disappeared from his post. Investigations showed that all the money of the letter of credit had been drawn.25
Agapeef had clearly thought better than to return to a country in the midst of revolutionary turmoil and could not resist the temptation to redeem the letter of credit, valued at $40,000. The Russian Embassy had requested his arrest, but this had been refused by the US State Department because of ‘the present Russian situation’. He soon joined Weinstein in Reilly’s office suite, where he also sought out commissions on war contracts.
Beatrice Madeline Tremaine, Reilly’s twenty-eight-year-old mistress, lived with her mother at 140 Wadsworth Avenue, New York. Sometimes referred to as Reilly’s ‘ward’, he had first met her at ‘Lucille’s’, a dressmaking establishment in the spring of 1916, where she worked as a model. Shortly thereafter Reilly had taken her from Lucille’s, sent her to a finishing school in Orange, New Jersey, and paid her an allowance of $200 per month.26 She had then entered the ‘moving picture’ industry and was clearly making some headway. According to her testimony, Reilly had stated that Nadine intended to divorce him, and as a result she and Reilly were to marry on his return to New York.
Beatrice Madeline Tremaine also corroborated the fact that Reilly had been forced by the Mann Act to marry Nadine. Her account was supported by two former acquaintances at Lucille’s, Madame Paul, the head of millinery and Madamoiselle Chauson, a salesperson. Madamoiselle Chauson also stated, however, that Miss Tremaine was a ‘most skilled and dangerous liar’.27 It was from Chauson that the investigators got the name and address of Norbert Rodkinson, who they were told knew a great deal about Reilly and Weinstein. Investigators later spoke with Beatrice’s friend Delores Rose, an English chorus girl in the Follies show. Miss Rose is described as ‘not of the best reputation, but loyal to her country’.28 She worked at Lucille’s at the time Beatrice had been a model there, and said it was an open secret among the models that Reilly had taken a liking to her. She also corroborated Beatrice’s claim that Reilly had asked her to marry him, and related how she had told Beatrice of Norbert Rodkinson’s claim that Reilly had deserted a family in Russia.29 Denying that this was true, Beatrice had become angry and almost slapped her face. At the instigation of the investigators, Miss Rose met Beatrice again at her apartment and engaged her in conversation on several topics the investigators were interested in. Beatrice said that she did not believe that Reilly was in anyway disloyal to his own country. She confirmed that she was still receiving the monthly allowance from Reilly, even though he had not returned in June as she had expected.30