[NJARC] WW ONE spy radio

[Tomas L]

*http://earlyradiohistory.us/1917spy.htm
<http://earlyradiohistory.us/1917spy.htm>The Electrical Experimenter*,
June, 1917, page 110:
*Remarkable  Radio  Outfit  Built  By  German  Spy* [image: Max Wax]
    A LITTLE black box of mystery, seized recently by the police in the
belief that it was nothing more than a modern adaptation of a time worn
contrivance for swindling unsophisticated persons out of their savings, was
revealed as a clever wireless telegraph outfit, capable of receiving
messages from as far away as Berlin.
    Police and government experts who examined the mechanism in the box
declared it to be as perfect in construction as any they ever had seen. It
is (or was) the property of Max Hans Ludwig Wax, a German citizen, and
graduate of the University of Berlin. Wax, as soon as he found the police
had learned the real nature of the intricate contents of the box, assumed
an air of stolid indifference, denied he knew the box could be of service
either in sending or receiving telegraph messages or that he knew anything
of telegraphy, and asserted that apparently useless bits of paraphernalia
contained in the box had been placed there by him merely to make the
contrivance "look pretty."
    Then, the police say, Wax informed prospective dupes that the little
black box contained machinery devised by German scientists for reproducing
American banknotes and currency bills. If he would place a one-thousand
dollar bill in the "press" inside the box the contrivance would print ten
duplicates of that bill. It then was the duty of the "loyal" German, the
police say they were informed, to pass the spurious notes off for American
gold, so that eventually this country would be flooded with counterfeit
notes and persons loyal to Germany would be in possession of most of this
country's gold.
    Just after Wax was arrested the police learned that he had left the box
in a machine shop in New York City. The police finally located the box in a
trunk which they said was equipt with a false bottom. It was not until
Sergeant Pierce, in charge of the police wireless station, rigged up as
part of the scheme for military defence by Arthur Woods, Police
Commissioner, looked at the contrivance that it was recognized as a genuine
and extremely effective portable wireless outfit.
    The box is about two and a half feet square. It is covered with black
enamel and has silver handles and brass hinges and clasp. It must have cost
at least $800, according to the estimate of experts.
    As soon as Sergeant Pierce recognized the use to which the queer
arrangement might be put the outfit was rigged up, its batteries were set
in motion, and in a moment the hissing sounds and sputtering and flashing
sparks that attend the operation of a wireless outfit were in evidence.
    Wax persisted, despite the effectiveness of this demonstration, in his
assertion that the batteries, tiny dynamo and intricate coils were placed
in the box by him to make the apparatus "look pretty." Eventually he said
he intended to use them to give color to a motion picture scenario he
intended to write.
    Persistent questioning, however, drew from Wax, according to the police
statement, the admission that he, having bought the materials, the box and
its outfit were put together for him by a seaman on board one of the
interned German ships lying at Hoboken. He refused to reveal the identity
of the man, asserting he knew him only as "Frank" and had met him only a
few times.
    When the examination of Wax had proceeded that far L. R. Krumm, chief
radio officer of the federal government for the New York district, arrived
at Police Headquarters. He examined the machinery contained in the box
carefully and then verified Sergeant Pierce's declaration that it was a
wireless outfit of great strength. He agreed with Sergeant Pierce that the
apparatus was easily capable of receiving messages from as far away as
Berlin. Both experts, however, declared the apparatus probably could not be
used to send a message much farther than one hundred miles.
    Despite the readiness with which Mr. Krumm and the police wireless
operators were able to set the wireless outfit in motion, many contrivances
in the box were a mystery to them. It appeared as if there were three sets
of batteries, where only one was necessary. The operators exprest the
belief, however, that any one of the three battery sets might have been
connected with the rest of the apparatus, so that, even if two batteries
failed, there still would be power to keep the contrivance in operation.
    The only incomplete thing about the outfit was that the police were
unable to find a sending key and a transformer, both of which would be
necessary if the machine were to be used for sending wireless messages.
Wax, however, is described by persons who stayed in the house where he
lived as having been in the habit of carrying a small hand grip. The grip
has not yet been found.
    After the police were satisfied of the nature of the equipment in the
box they asked Wax to operate it. He fingered several parts of the
mechanism for a moment or two and finally succeeded in causing a short
circuit, which effectually put the whole thing out of commission. The
damage, however, can be repaired easily.
    In the examination of Wax the police drew from him the statement that
he came to this country from Germany in June, 1914.
    He denied he had served in the German army, asserting he was rejected
for military service because he had a weak heart. Dr. Baker and Dr.
Hamilton, police surgeons, were called in to examine the prisoner. They
pronounced him an almost perfect physical specimen and said there was no
indication that he ever had suffered from heart disease.
    Considerable interest was manifested by the police and federal
investigators in papers and letters found in Wax's possession. They
declared some were written in code. All of them were in duplicate. One of
the papers, according to the police, was a draft for $12,000 and another
was for 2,300 marks. The latter was drawn on the Deutsche Bank, of Berlin.
It was declared by the police that Wax received some of these papers thru
the office of the German Consul in this city several weeks ago. The money,
the police said they learned, was sent to Wax by relatives in Germany, who
the prisoner declared were both wealthy and influential there.
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