George Vaux Bacon
George Vaux Bacon was an American journalist sent to Britain in September 1916 by German intelligence officers in New York City. The journalism occupation was no cover story, though. At home, Bacon covered celebrity news for magazines such as Photoplay. In Britain, he gathered information for the Germans on anti-aircraft defenses, fighting-ship technology, and the morale of the general population. When British authorities arrested Bacon in mid-December 1916, they found incriminating evidence among his possessions, including secret writing materials and the name and address of a known German intelligence contact in the Netherlands. He confessed to spying, was put on trial in Britain, convicted, and sentenced to death. Through the intervention of US authorities, Bacon returned to the US to offer testimony against the German officers who recruited him. Bacon told the judge he only accepted the assignment because he had “always wanted to go to Europe.” According to a New York Times article from March 27, 1917, Bacon “was sentenced to serve a term of a year and one day in the Federal penitentiary at Atlanta, Ga., and to pay a fine of $1.”