Page:The web (1919).djvu/436

 vigilantly keeping tab on the comings and goings in the Old Hickory Powder Plant.

Chattanooga, Tennessee, did its bit and did it well. Ten prisoners who escaped from the local War Prison were apprehended by division operatives, and brought back for re-*internment. One member of the division discovered an extensive system of graft in connection with the Government construction work on the Nitrate Plant at Sheffield, Ala. Report of this was furnished to a Special Agent, who was detailed by the Government to conduct an investigation. The Chief comments: "Just what can be proven in this case remains to be seen."

Some of the most amusing Chattanooga investigations were those of the religious sect known as the "Holy Rollers." Several of these preachers had preached sermons in which they condemned the Red Cross and the Government generally. These men were apprehended, and members of their congregations testified at local headquarters. Some of these preachers were moved by the "spirit" in their testimony, but after they remained in jail a short time, they saw the Scriptures in a different light, and very few of them offended a second time.

Another Chattanooga case had in it the possibilities of great mischief. A large amount of mail to an illiterate mountaineer caused an A. P. L. operative and a Special Agent of the Department of Justice to go to the top of Sand Mountain, and in a dirty log cabin they found a wagon load of I. W. W. literature and correspondence in which were letters from Emma Goldman and other leading lights of socialistic faith. The man himself was working in a foundry turning out Government orders; he was organizing a strike at the time he was taken into custody.

Clarksville, Tennessee, is in the loyal Southern country, and is very free from alien population. There were only twenty-five investigations for disloyalty and sedition, and propaganda was almost negligible. As this is the tobacco producing section, there was considerable property investigated under the Trading with the Enemy Act, and some helpful reports were made to the Alien Property Custodian. The League members were active in all the war work.

Hopkinsville, Tennessee, had a great deal of trouble over