The New York Sun had a flurry of dispatches in its August 7, 1914, issue regarding wireless and U.S. neutrality. In the first, the French steamer Rochambeau, docked in New York, was reportedly sending wireless messages to the French cruisers Conde and Descartes. U.S. radio inspectors were investigating.

The Telefunken station at Sayville, Long Island (Google Books)

The report even mentioned that there were hundreds of licensed amateurs in the New York area, along with many more unlicensed operators of receivers. It pointed out that neither was allowed to divulge the contents of any message heard, but that “eager boys in Hoboken and this city who have been listening to war messages and then posting their friends are running the risk of $250 fine and three months in jail or both.”

Hiram Percy Maxim

One of the reports originated with none other than Hiram Percy Maxim:

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Aug 6–Hiram Percy Maxim, inventor of the Maxim Silencer, who is also an amateur wireless operator of note, said to-day that he had picked up messages flashed by the Telefunken tower at Sayville, L.I., to German merchantmen and warships. He has several messages in code and has advised Washington, accusing the Telefunken company of breach of neutrality.