Mr. JOHN NEIL LEACH,
Waiter
[No Picture Provided]
John Neil Leach, 25, was the son
of a judge in Jamaica; he had many siblings. Neil was of British nationality, fluent in
German, and consorted with known World War I German sympathizers.
While in New York, boarded with a German named
Gustav Stahl at 20 Leroy Street, where the proprietors were German
sympathizers. He also knew German spy Curt Thummel from the same
boarding house.
Leach was recommended for a job on the
Lusitania by his
uncle who was a provisions importer in New York and knew Staff Captain
Anderson. Stahl testified under oath that the night before the Lusitania left, he and Leach snuck
on board and found the Lusitania
to be armed. Stahl was later convicted of perjury.
Leach's British nationality and consorting with Germans leads to the
conclusion that Leach was a mercenary spy working for the
Germans. His task on board the Lusitania
can only be speculated, but it is very likely that he was connected to
the three stowaways apprehended by Detective-Inspector William
Pierpoint
just after the Lusitania left
New York. These stowaways spoke German and did not speak English,
and the ship's translator Adolph Pederson had to assist in the
interrogation. Some accounts say that they were found with
photographic equipment, possibly looking for concealed armament or
smuggled munitions. From these descriptions the stowaways seem to
be German agents beyond a reasonable doubt. These three were then
locked up below decks to await trial for espionage when the Lusitania reached England.
When the ship was torpedoed, the three were still locked below decks
and drowned.*
According to fellow Lusitania
researcher Peter Engberg-Klarström, these three may not have been
stowaways at all, but actually members of the crew working in league
with the Germans. Leach himself might even have been one of those
arrested and locked below decks when the sea came in. Ironically,
at this point in time, German Intelligence was operating in such
secretive circles that Kapitanleutnant Schwieger could not have known
that he would be sinking a ship with fellow Germans on board.
Leach died in the sinking and his body is not on the
official list of
the recovered. Subsequent investigations into the Lusitania disaster have tried to paint Leach as a fictional invention of German propaganda, perhaps in efforts to conceal that the Lusitania was being used to smuggle contraband from the United States to Britain. Recent contact with living relatives of Neil Leach has confirmed that he existed.
Named in Hickey/Smith and Preston as Neal Leach.
* Per Hickey/Smith, Pierpoint, to
his credit, did
try
to reach the apprehended German
agents during the sinking, but the ship had flooded too quickly for him
to reach them in
time.
Contributors:
Barbara Samuelson - contact barbara.samuelson@verizon.net
Judith Tavares
References:
Ballard, Robert D. and Spencer Dunmore. Exploring the Lusitania.
Warner Books, 1995.
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkley Books, 2002.
Simpson, Colin.
The Lusitania. Little,
Brown, and Company, 1972.
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