Theodore Hotacker was a young German man who had come to Canada to learn farming techniques and was also working as a clerk at the Merchant Bank. Unfortunately, his new farm clothes caused him to receive suspicious looks on King Street as the cut of the suit was similar to that of a German soldier and was tucked into black boots. He caught the attention of Chief of Police O’Neill, who asked to speak with him privately. After learning that Hotacker wanted to become a Canadian citizen and had not realized the similarities between the suit he had made for farm work and a German soldier’s uniform, O’Neill advised Hotacker to only wear the suit on the farm, to which Hotacker agreed. This incident, despite the tensions between those of German heritage and non-German heritage, was depicted as a simple misunderstanding and is favourable towards Hotacker’s character.
“Outfit was too German,” Berlin Daily Telegraph, May 12, 1915.