Hindu German Conspiracy Trial
Encyclopedia
The Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial commenced in the District Court in San Francisco, California on November 12, 1917 following the uncovering of the Indo German plot for initiating a revolt in India. It was part of a wave of such incidents which took place in the United States
after America's entrance into World War I
.
In May 1917, eight Indian Nationalists
of the Ghadar Party
were indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to form a military enterprise against the United Kingdom
. The trial lasted from November 20, 1917 to April 24, 1918. The British authorities hoped that the conviction of the Indians would result in their deportation from the United States back to India
. However, strong public support in favor of the Indians meant that the U.S. Department of Justice chose not to do that.
. In 1915, Germany offered the Indian Nationalists financial aid for transporting arms and Indians back to India via the United States.
The British government claimed that the United States was violating its neutrality with Britain by allowing Germany to conspire with the Indians on American soil. The first of several arrests of the Indian Nationalists were made in the Spring of 1917 with one hundred and five people of various nationalities being arrested. Eventually, thirty-five were tried for conspiracy, including nine Germans, nine Americans, and seventeen Indians.
During the war, nativists
in the United States were expressing hostility toward certain minority groups, especially radicals
and recent immigrants viewing anything un-American with suspicion. By 1917, Germans were the object of much of the American nativistic fervor. Fear of German subversion and conspiracies ran rampant throughout the U.S. after the Black Tom explosion
and the Kingsland Explosion
, both suspected to have been caused by German agents. Thus by being linked to Germany in a conspiracy, the Indian Nationalists should have been the recipients of the same hostility. Although calls for their deportation were made by government officials after the Hindu-German conspiracy trial, none of
the Indian Nationalists were deported.
. As the trial started, Jodh Singh, an Indian "whose testimony sent nine men, including his brothers to their death and condemned a score to life imprisonment in the Far East," pleaded with the court for an American square deal. The British had brought Singh to the United States to testify against his fellow Indian Nationalists. He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges and was to be a government witness in this trial. But when he took the witness stand, he suddenly refused to testify. He asked to change his plea to stand trial with his "brothers" in an American court. The judge refused his request.
The San Francisco Chronicle
described the courtroom during the testimony of one of the Government witnesses:
The Indians were placed into custody for the reminder of the trial following claims that they had been harassing witnesses by following them and attempting to bribe them. When Dr. Chakraverty's extensive confession was delivered, "the diminutive Hindoo was the target for dark glances from this fellow defendants, the subject of excited whisperings and the recipient of several notes from the Hindoos." One of the defendants even stuffed a wad of paper down Chakraverty's neck. To these notes and "to the dark scowls of his countrymen, Chakraverty responded with a broad grin." Chakraverty was followed by several of the Hindu defendants when he left court.
A woman who gave evidence in the trial described how she had met two of the Ghadar activists, Taraknath Das and Lala Hardayal, when all three were at Stanford University
. One wanted to "transform her into a modern Joan of Arc
, leading the Indians in intrigue against the British." The other wished to "inspire her to be an idealist and a teacher in India." Evidence was also produced of money paid to two American women by HarDayal in an attempt to "lure women to Europe to assist the revolutionists." The prosecution also suggested that Taraknath Das had used Camille de Berri, to store a bomb manual in her safety deposit box. When she was finally located she was revealed to be the Oakland
divorcee of a wealthy mining expert and who had had recently remarried. Her new husband had been suspended from the University of California
, upon graduating, for petty pilfering from gymnasium lockers. De Berri had come to his rescue by heading a special investigating committee to look into the affair and then by testifying as an alibi witness for him.
The defense attorney attempted to argue the accuseds' beliefs placed them squarely within American ideals. The opening address to the jury denounced the British Government's rule in India, declaring that the whole case was being tried at the initiation of Britain. Copies of Ram Chandra's Ghadar Party
paper were produced quoting liberty appeals by Patrick Henry
, George Washington
, Abraham Lincoln
, and President Woodrow Wilson
.
The trial ended with a sensational climax when Ram Chandra was shot to death in the courtroom by fellow defendant, Ram Singh. The New York Times
described the incident, which occurred just after the court announced a recess:
Chandra had been murdered because it was believed he had been diverting Nationalists' funds to his own use. A week later, the judge found the defendants guilty of violating the neutrality of the United States. The Indians, "students and revolutionists, several of them highly educated" were sentenced to serve from twenty-two months to sixty days."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
after America's entrance into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
In May 1917, eight Indian Nationalists
Indian nationalism
Indian nationalism refers to the many underlying forces that molded the Indian independence movement, and strongly continue to influence the politics of India, as well as being the heart of many contrasting ideologies that have caused ethnic and religious conflict in Indian society...
of the Ghadar Party
Ghadar Party
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...
were indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to form a military enterprise against the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The trial lasted from November 20, 1917 to April 24, 1918. The British authorities hoped that the conviction of the Indians would result in their deportation from the United States back to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. However, strong public support in favor of the Indians meant that the U.S. Department of Justice chose not to do that.
Background
From 1915 to 1917, the British government repeatedly requested that the United States government suppress the activities of Ghadar Party in the USA. However, these requests were turned down, as nothing in U.S. law prevented the Indians from seeking to overthrow the British government. Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, the Ghadar intellectual, Lala Hardayal, was arrested for anarchist activities and left the U.S. before he could be deported. With other Indian Nationalists in Europe, he enlisted the aid of Germany, who believed supporting a revolt in India would weaken the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. In 1915, Germany offered the Indian Nationalists financial aid for transporting arms and Indians back to India via the United States.
The British government claimed that the United States was violating its neutrality with Britain by allowing Germany to conspire with the Indians on American soil. The first of several arrests of the Indian Nationalists were made in the Spring of 1917 with one hundred and five people of various nationalities being arrested. Eventually, thirty-five were tried for conspiracy, including nine Germans, nine Americans, and seventeen Indians.
During the war, nativists
Nativism (politics)
Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. It may also include the re-establishment or perpetuation of such individuals or their culture....
in the United States were expressing hostility toward certain minority groups, especially radicals
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
and recent immigrants viewing anything un-American with suspicion. By 1917, Germans were the object of much of the American nativistic fervor. Fear of German subversion and conspiracies ran rampant throughout the U.S. after the Black Tom explosion
Black Tom explosion
The Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916 in Jersey City, New Jersey was an act of sabotage on American ammunition supplies by German agents to prevent the materiel from being used by the Allies in World War I.- Black Tom Island :...
and the Kingsland Explosion
Kingsland Explosion
The Kingsland Explosion was an incident that took place during World War I at a munitions factory in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.Soon after its outbreak in 1914 World War I settled in the West into an almost static line of trenches with the principal Allied armies facing the forces of Germany and...
, both suspected to have been caused by German agents. Thus by being linked to Germany in a conspiracy, the Indian Nationalists should have been the recipients of the same hostility. Although calls for their deportation were made by government officials after the Hindu-German conspiracy trial, none of
the Indian Nationalists were deported.
The Arrests
The arrests started in March 1917, with Chandra Kanta Chakraverty "a thin-faced, falsetto-voiced Hindu, a native of Bengal, and a speaker of many languages", and the German, Ernest Sekunna, being arrested on charges of conspiracy. Most of the others were arrested on April 8, including Franz Bopp, the German Consul General for San Francisco, E. H. von Schack and Deus Dekker and William von Brincken. The Indian Nationalists were accused of taking "advantage of American neutrality to plot on American soil against the allies" at "the expense of the laws and hospitality of the United States". The two men had also taken out trade names to do business as The Oriental Society, The Oriental Kitchen,and the Oriental Review, and purchased 200 acre (0.809372 km²) of land in an isolated part of New York State.The Trial
The Hindu German conspiracy trial started in San Francisco on November 20, 1917. Despite attempts to focus on the machinations of the German agents, the Indians presented their position in terms of the ideals of the American RevolutionAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. As the trial started, Jodh Singh, an Indian "whose testimony sent nine men, including his brothers to their death and condemned a score to life imprisonment in the Far East," pleaded with the court for an American square deal. The British had brought Singh to the United States to testify against his fellow Indian Nationalists. He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges and was to be a government witness in this trial. But when he took the witness stand, he suddenly refused to testify. He asked to change his plea to stand trial with his "brothers" in an American court. The judge refused his request.
The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
described the courtroom during the testimony of one of the Government witnesses:
The Indians were placed into custody for the reminder of the trial following claims that they had been harassing witnesses by following them and attempting to bribe them. When Dr. Chakraverty's extensive confession was delivered, "the diminutive Hindoo was the target for dark glances from this fellow defendants, the subject of excited whisperings and the recipient of several notes from the Hindoos." One of the defendants even stuffed a wad of paper down Chakraverty's neck. To these notes and "to the dark scowls of his countrymen, Chakraverty responded with a broad grin." Chakraverty was followed by several of the Hindu defendants when he left court.
A woman who gave evidence in the trial described how she had met two of the Ghadar activists, Taraknath Das and Lala Hardayal, when all three were at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. One wanted to "transform her into a modern Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
, leading the Indians in intrigue against the British." The other wished to "inspire her to be an idealist and a teacher in India." Evidence was also produced of money paid to two American women by HarDayal in an attempt to "lure women to Europe to assist the revolutionists." The prosecution also suggested that Taraknath Das had used Camille de Berri, to store a bomb manual in her safety deposit box. When she was finally located she was revealed to be the Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
divorcee of a wealthy mining expert and who had had recently remarried. Her new husband had been suspended from the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, upon graduating, for petty pilfering from gymnasium lockers. De Berri had come to his rescue by heading a special investigating committee to look into the affair and then by testifying as an alibi witness for him.
The defense attorney attempted to argue the accuseds' beliefs placed them squarely within American ideals. The opening address to the jury denounced the British Government's rule in India, declaring that the whole case was being tried at the initiation of Britain. Copies of Ram Chandra's Ghadar Party
Ghadar Party
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...
paper were produced quoting liberty appeals by Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, and President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
.
The trial ended with a sensational climax when Ram Chandra was shot to death in the courtroom by fellow defendant, Ram Singh. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described the incident, which occurred just after the court announced a recess:
- "Ram Chandra arose and started across the room. Ram Singh also arose. He raised his revolver and began firing. Ram Chandra staggered forward and fell dead before the witness chair, with a bullet in his heart and two others in his body."!
- "While Singh still pressed the trigger of his automatic pistol, he, too, was shot and killed by United States Marshal James H. Holohan, who fired across the room over the heads of attorneys."
Chandra had been murdered because it was believed he had been diverting Nationalists' funds to his own use. A week later, the judge found the defendants guilty of violating the neutrality of the United States. The Indians, "students and revolutionists, several of them highly educated" were sentenced to serve from twenty-two months to sixty days."