100 years ago in The Record
Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1918
“That the government is taking more vigorous action against draft evaders and alien enemies becomes apparent in the daily work before United States Commissioner [Clark] Cipperly,” The Record reports, “and a demonstration case came before him to- day.” Dedrick Wilkins is a bartender who’s worked in Troy and Colonie. He’s accused of having failed to register for the wartime draft. Born in Germany and never naturalized, Wilkins is an “alien enemy” under wartime rules that require him to register with local authorities and limit his freedom of movement. Deputy U.S. Marshal John J. O’Connor claims that Wilkins has “repeatedly violated the law barring alien enemies from established zones, such as within fixed distance of the Watervliet arsenal and certain factories in Troy where army equipment is being made.” The marshal further alleges that Wilkins “had been in company with pro- German suspects.” With Troy solders in the thick of the fighting in Europe, “the least [alien enemies] can do is to obey the law and keep their mouths shut in relation to the war. That condition was declared to be absolutely necessary early in the war, and it was quite well respected for a while, but within recent time alien enemies have apparently felt safe in disregarding the conditions upon which they have escaped jail or the internment camp.”
Cipperly is already considering the case of Max Youz, a Lansingburgh man accused of making disloyal statements and desecrating the American flag. Just as Youz has been denounced by two female roommates, so Wilkins may owe his legal jeopardy to domestic troubles.
“It was said he had a wife in Troy, but he denied that, admitting, however, that he had been living with a woman here who is not his wife,” our writer notes, “and it was intimated jealousy on her part may have had something to do with charges against him, there being, it is claimed, ‘another woman’ in the case too.”
Represented by Albany attorney Lester Bloch, Wilkins “positively denied association with pro- German or alien enemies suspected of propaganda work” and claims he never knowingly trespassed where alien enemies weren’t allowed. Bloch tells Cipperly that “If I thought he was engaged in enemy alien work against the government I would not appear for him.”
Bloch contends that Wilkins didn’t realize that he had to register for the draft, but Cipperly says “It is the duty of all to get acquainted with the law…. Merely reporting to the chief of police in Troy as an alien was not enough.”
If found guilty, Wilkins may be sent to a federal internment camp or serve a year in jail.