The Private Wire to Washington
(The Inside Story of the Great Long Island Spy Mystery that Baffled the Secret Service)
(Harper & Brothers, 1919)
Mortimer Ellis is a highly paid government operative with a spacious summer home called "Comfort" located on Long Island. He has three telephones in his study: one for business, another for private use, and a third that puts him in direct contact with Washington. Ellis has several guests staying at his place. Among them are two young officers in military service, who are recovering from some injuries. Then there's Captain Falconet, a Frenchman. Also there's a young inventor named Winthrop, who suffers from a species of eye trouble. He's in love with Ellis's daughter Molly. But Molly thinks he's a slacker-- for he claims his eye trouble prevents him from joining the draft. Is this really the case, or is he joshin' her? Comfort is also staffed with a retinue of servants, two chauffeurs, and a gardener. It has its own wharf and tennis courts, and a golf course that's been converted into a Victory Garden. Here Ellis labors for two hours every day, to help raise crops for Uncle Sam. All this involves strict economy, for the country is at war. The Great War!
For some time, the U.S. government has had secret intelligence of German U-boat operations in the vicinity of Long Island. Ellis believes that there is enemy wireless hidden in the dunes somewhere-- for a recent transport he engineered went bad. The mystery gets deeper when he finds one morning that someone was in his study the night before using his private telephone to Washington. The glass mouthpiece is broken. And after questioning all the servants, he and Captain Falconet decide there's a spy at Comfort who is working for the German intelligence. This spy is getting top-secret information from Washington, and then relaying it by means of enemy wireless to German U-boats off the Sound. But who could it be? Captain Falconet decides to do some detective work.
One night, during a blinding storm, he sees a shadowy figure enter the garage and take Molly's motorcycle out for a ride. When the chauffeur is questioned, he tells Falconet that Molly has gone for a spin. Later it's found that she was in her room all along. A few nights later, two unknown persons break into Ellis's office, and a scuffle ensues. The two intruders escape, however. And Falconet finds a button on the floor that is identical to one worn by the butler Antoine. The other thief takes off in a bi-plane that was landed on the beach. A German bi-plane? When Falconet airs his suspicions, he and Ellis decide to play it tight. But Falconet goes a step farther. He suspects Winthrop, for that young man has been acting strangely. Moreover, he was seen coming home late at night with mud on his clothing. As they begin putting the pieces together, an alarming conspiracy comes into view. This involves a network of German spies linked to a blackmailing operation, and the selling of U.S. intelligence to the enemy. Will Ellis and the Captain bust the operation before it is too late?
Here is an interesting and fast-moving piece of fiction, which deals with many facets of WWI that have long been forgotten. The Germans-- sometimes called Heinies and Teutons-- are identified as the culmination of that relentless Imperialism that threatened to crush European civilization. Captain Falconet tells his friend Ellis: "It isn't the boche's body we must kill; it is the Idea in his head, the Idea that blinds him to all considerations except those of his bombastic Nero, which makes him see virtue in murder and arson and slavery. For forty years his brain has been absorbing this poison. His emperor is a Captain Kidd, educated, scientific, and resourceful. Educated pirates-- that is what we're fighting today." In a later chapter, a German operative tells his wife: "Rosa, you will obey me or I will kill you. When we have conquered Europe, you and I will be a man and a woman again. But until then we are mere cogs in the great war-machine of our Kaiser. Remember, whatever is done for the state is noble, and the German God will condone it."
On the allied side, "slackers" are seen as the personification of yellow-bellied cowardice. This brings us back to the America of 1919, when enlistment was viewed as the duty-- not the option-- of every able-bodied American. Similar sentiments are prevalent in the motion pictures of that era-- a good example being D.W. Griffith's The Girl who Stayed at Home (1918). But whatever modern readers may think about the stereotypes used here, Private Wire to Washington is a great mystery novel of thrilling intrigue and dynamite action. The mechanism runs in MacGrath's usual masterful way. The elements of the tale are gradually unfolded, as hints are dropped here and there which serve to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. Although the last quarter of the book shows signs of hasty writing, the finished product is an admirable early specimen of the spy genre-- a genre by no means advanced at that period, though John Buchan and E. Phillips Oppenheim had already provided trendsetting examples. All in all, it is a novel readers won't want to miss. It also has distinct value as a work of "cult" significance.
Despite all of this, it happens to be one of MacGrath's rarest books. As such, copies are very difficult to come by. I tried ordering this from three different booksellers, who sent me "out of stock" and "no longer available" responses, before I finally located a decent unjacketed copy for $15. As far as I know, there are only five or six of these in circulation, and most of them round off near the $100 mark. Notwithstanding, this is worth chasing down if you have the inclination --and the mazuma-- to make the hunt worthwhile. The Harper & Brothers edition contains four color illustrations by C.H. Taffs. It is a novel of 236 pages, and is nearly identical in typeset and format to MacGrath's The Yellow Tycoon, which was published the same year. Both books deal heavily in German espionage and secret service motifs, and may be read together for best effect-- although the two works are unconnected. Due to its public domain status, it is hopeful that Private Wire to Washington will eventually be rediscovered and republished by some enterprising outfit. It would be nice to see fresh copies on the market. But the future will take care of that.
--B.A.S.
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