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Reported Cases of Supected Disloyalty

IMG_20161104_120449447neighbor kid is disloyal and reported 1.jpg

Hartford Ct
Feb. 4, 1918
American Council of Defense
Gentlemen,
Owing that I am a American citizen, I think it is my duty to inform you that a boy named Francis Quigley 70 Vanblock Ave. city. is tearing down quite a number of those zone warning cards in the neighborhood of Charter Oak Ave.

While the citizen choose to remain anonymous, he reported a neighbor’s child for removing warning signs in areas deemed important to the war effort and off limits to the general public. While a child is an unlikely German spy, the child’s actions prompted a nationalistic citizen to alert the Council of Defense to actions he thought were detrimental to the war effort. While it is unlikely any action was taken against the child by the Council of Defense, this letter is representative of the popularized idea of reporting suspicious activity. Many reports were received from citizens that were similar in the nature. They were not real threats but were reported as a product of extreme suspicion.