During World War I, anti-German sentiment swept across the United States. This was reflected in the Espionage and Sedition laws passed to protect the home front. In North Dakota, the Reverend John Fontana was arrested and charged for violating this act.
A German minister in New Salem, he had been arrested in 1917 with several other men from the area, all accused of making “unpatriotic charges against the United States government and to have been otherwise unloyal.” One of the charges against Fontana was that he had interfered with the sale of Liberty bonds. During Fontana’s case at federal district court in Bismarck in 1918, there was even discussion that allegedly, a Bible was presented to Fontana’s church at New Salem by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany.
Yet many testified that Fontana was pro-America and that he had prayed on behalf of President Wilson and the government, asking “that this terrible war might be ended.” Even the witnesses’ characters seemed to be inspected in the public eye. The newspaper reports commented on how well English was understood, noting that “at least two [witnesses] …spoke it not at all,” despite one of them living in New Salem for two years. Newspapers noted the draft status of some. The witness questioned about the Bible allegedly from Kaiser Wilhelm was described as someone who understood, spoke, and read German, but was an American.
Fontana was convicted under the Espionage and Sedition Act and sentenced to time in prison. During that time, his congregation in New Salem rejected an attempt to get rid of their pastor, though an article in the Grand Forks Herald commented that this might have been because they weren’t aware of “the gravity of the crime.”
Fontana was released after appealing to the federal circuit court of appeals in St. Louis. And in 1920, a notice appeared in various newspapers that he planned to publish a German newspaper in New Salem.
On this date that year, as reported in the Bismarck Tribune, some local American Legion posts objected to the proposed paper and publicly requested that the Postmaster General deny the paper’s distribution by mail. Even later that year, a report noted that a man who recently died was not buried in the German Evangelical church cemetery, reportedly because he had testified against Fontana.
Fontana continued to be viewed by many as as a convicted seditionist. Yet he also had supporters. His unfortunate case serves as a reminder of the national, frenzied concern around World War I that in some cases may have gone too far.
Dakota Datebook by Sarah Walker
Sources:
- https://news.prairiepublic.org/show/dakota-datebook-archive/2022-05-19/espionage-trials
- Grand Forks Herald, November 9, 1917, p3
- Grand Forks Herald, July 31, 1918, p3
- Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, July 31, 1918, p5
- Bowbells Tribune, September 27, 1918, p1
- Grand Forks Herald, September 20, 1918, p4
- The Bismarck Tribune, Feb 13, 1920, p1
- The Weekly Times Record, September 16, 1920, p1
