Evening Star Newspaper, February 26, 1922, Page 59

- of many it appeared that the United Part 4—8 Pages WASHINGTON, D. C, MAGAZINE- SECTION The Sundiy St SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 26, 99 19 Spy Plots and Counter Plots in This Country and at the Front Editor’s Note—This is the sec- ond article by-.an officer who served with the United States Army in this country and abroad throughout the war. He was in constant touch with the G-2 in France, and had an unusual op- portunity of securing this infor. mation, which ‘has never before been made public. URING the late war one heard much of the wonder- ful spy system of Germany,' of the work, done by the| French and, the cleverness of the British and Italians. One heard lt- tle, however, of the activities of:l American agents, and. to the minas | States lacked men enough cleverness to combat and, vgnquish the spies and agitators of ! the central powers, both in this | country and abroad. While it is| true that the central powers had a | Jarge number of clever agents scat- tered throughout the United States | and also placed in our Army and| Navy, their work was minimized by | the activities of those who served | faithfully and well, but without thought or hope of public recogni- | tion. It is true that we were com- | paratively new at this sort of work, but it was not long before those in charge of operations realized that | the forces of this country contained men and women of extraordinary | intelligence. and the slurs which the central powers used to frighten and for | propaganda purposes were ignored. It was the far more sensible plan and showed that those in charge of | the secret service, the Department | of Justice and the intelligence sec- tion of the Army and Navy. all work- and women of ing in harmony. were not to be stampeded or rushed into making any false moves. Expedients of all sorts were employed to destroy the | morzale of the nation by “gravevine telegraph” and poisoned utterances. | The enemy tried to break down the faith of the people in the power of this goverament fo protect its citi-: zens against plots that meant the | 1 ot s and money and de-. struction of much property. | in preparing this second wriicle | the ~writer has confined himsel: largely to a recital that came under his per: ion during -his servi Army in this country amd in France. and to} happenings that were described to Fim by officers and officials who intimately connected with combating a foreign Fon governmental and names of those who were ver the work of spy system. other reasons, sarved their country so well have ! Teen omitted. . ! For a dozen years or m prior to! the beginning of the war in 1913 two | forelgn governments, members of the central powers. commenced the ac work of placing spies in the United States. Some of these ugents took out their naturalization papers, oth- ers visited the United States as rep- resentatives of {o gn commercial concerns, while still others came in the capacity of lecturers und pub- licists.. They came to this count through the port of New York. they sailed Into San Francisco harbor. they crossed the Canadian border, they came over the Rio Grande from | Mexico. Each was charged with per- forming a certain duty and to report at stated intervals to subheads of} the system. These subheads in turn reported to ten lieutenants. who. in| turn. reported to five captains, and they in turn reported to the chief ot | ‘the system in this country. The | »gents knew hut one or two of. thel Tellows as agents. The responsibility | yesting upon each agent was not 1arge as to area, but he was compell- ed to be accurate in his reports, for his operations were checked ‘ever so often and he was given to understand | that his work was being checked. The majority of these agents were | engaged in some labor by which they | carned their daily bread, and thej money paid by their home govern-| ment was in the majority of cases, a| snere pittance. Their rewarad was| Jargely in the form of a seeret whis pered communication that the home government was deeply grateful for| the manner in which they were car-| 2ying on their work. P ve * % k% B EFORE the call came from Europe that war had been declared the maijority of the agents in this country were mnotified that before many months eve of an unusual character were to trangpire in Eu- rope. n the declaration of war and the call from the zllies to this country for the manufacture of mu- uitions, the purchase of horses, cattle, | w E XCLUSIVE Story of Secret Activities in the World War—Spies in America—How They Attempt:d to Destroy Standing of the United States Government—Plots Against' Munition Works, Troop Trains and Waterways—Thousands of Lives | Saved and Millions of Dollars’ Worth of Property Safeguarded by Activities of the Intelligence Section of the Army—Incidents | From Reports of Officers—The German Spy in Paris and at the Front—Experienc - of U.§. Officers—Work of Women in Pay of German Secret Service—Thrilling Stories of Special Cases at Home and Abroad—Facts Stranger Than Fiction. - foodstuffs for immediate export. His |work was so crude that he was | speedily picked up and placed where { he could do no further damage. i Not alone did the M. I D. have to {round up criminals, but they had to run down every possible suspicious incident. There were numerous hon- est cranks and harmless liars; there were fake confessions galore, one of { which is rather interesting. It con- {cerns the confession of a beautiful | sixteen-year-old Italian girl of New | York city, who wove such & web of | | H | ARKED GRAVE, NO NOTIFICATION OF DEATH; IT SIMPLY they had not secured employment. | San Antonio, Tex., who had a wéek or One of these indiviuals, after having so before crossed the Rio Grande for imbibed too much in a Turk street | the ostensible purpose of making ar-| saloon, let drop a remark or two|rangements for a cattle shipment to which resulted in his being closely | the United States. watched du; the time that he was| oOpe of the cloverest pieces 6f act- in the city by the Golden Gate. This ing ever done in this jountry was by information was transmitted to Wash- | 3 husky young Irishman employed in ington and also to 10 Downing | pyffalo. On several occasions while reet, London. The spy. for such he |y, ang his fellow workers were re- omehow disappeared from Sab | goling themuelves at the noon hour Francisco, thus breaking the first| o, their dinner pails disputes arose link in the chain, and, when his dis- /a9 1 what position America would appearance became known to his 8s-|yike in the war. The young chap soclalesk there w. con;llorna:;on i: | usually maintained silence. One day, the ranks, the very coudition desired | A B | thisks ‘weito. wére Dentiax thelitor: laor oowt o Tos SUPECRERSB A R 1ol PSR et sflinouiaty | n The ouDE N smelled 2 mouse njithe fedu and contented himself with saying very quiet-manncred man reglstered | St U PRS0 Stousiot the scallar hoteln theinext| it ne hadirather keep hisiopinions dno peking Inguiries B to) whers| 0 el when his guostionsr employment conld. be secured along | PFeUSht up the subject of England he hatiis Tiiee: oo olerk at the}halt rose from where he was sitting, | Hotel who, by one of those peculiar | clenched his fists and for a moment ! twists of fate, happened to be a mem- | 2n8er.showed in his eyes. A The, sy ber of the St. Louis group of faithtul| Who Was trying to draw him. out Americans. had an idea that the man | was satisfied that he had hit the was not all he appeared to be.|right chord, but was too clever to pur-| Whether it was intuition or not is{sue the subject further at that time. In a question that the clerk even today |less than a week, however, he was is unable to answer. Acting on the; impulse of the moment, he told the| stranger he thought he knew where | he cuald get a position und that when | he went off duty he would lock it up! for him, advising him ‘of the result| the next day. That evening he com- | municated his suspicions to the head of the St. Louis group, who,in turn, informed the proper authorities. The man was given the desired job and, woman and it was not long before he was invited to call at the place where she lived, and for three months they went about together. It was a month or so before the woman gom- menced - to try to secure from him an expression as to his views in re- gard to the war. By every art and H | i blandishment known to the fair sex | letters they were arrested introduced to a very charmmg young ctc., the heads of the foreign spy sys- tem in this country were busily en- waged in putting into execution the plan that had beeh mapped out sev- cral years before. The plan might have been success- ful had not's number of Army and Navy officers, government officials and n few patriotic Americans been quiet- 1y watching for several years certain individuals in the country whose ac- tions had aroused their suspicion. These citizens had from time to time placed in the hands of government officials information concerning the work that was being carried on by these foreign spies. In 1914 representatives of the San Francisco exposition received letters from certain individuals asking in-! formation as to space for exhibition .purposes, etc. A number of these let- ters resulted in the allotment of space in the exhibition buildings. At alater date, the summer in which the expo- sition was held, there came to San Francisco several individuals who were immediately placed under the watchful eye of government officials. At the same time there appeared along the docks of San Francisco a number of longshoremen and sallors who did not appear to suffer becausa did she try to enslave him. Finally, he supposedly yielded and from that point on their courtship progressed rapidly,_ and when he proposed mar- riage she consented on condition that he assist in blowing up the Welland | canal. Cleopatra’s appeal to Mark | Antony was no more impassioned | than her entreaty to him. He finally i consented and it was then that his | | fellow worker made known his real | although nothing came of watching him tor over three months, he was finally caught in the act of sending out information regarding certain stra- tegiv points in_the United States. It is a mystery, even to this day, how he managed to secure the information he possessed at the time of his cap- ture. i * ok kX e . i status. 1f her attitude had boen h C i A\O"“"HL“ ‘"“’"’“"’ni "‘s_‘:"“’fl : kindly previous to this agreement, it the case of a. man Wwho firSt| ;4 more 5o after he had consented aroused the suspicions of a well known -and successful physician in Reading, Fa. The doctor, who ren- dered heroic service during the war, has what might be called a “camera eye,” and upon seeing the man In Reading one dav on the public square was struck by the resemblance to a man he had met in Berlin five or six years before. The man. at that time was serving as an oberlieutenant in the German army. The doctor fol- lowed the suspect and after he lo- cated his place of abode notified the authorities. The suspect was fol- lowed. from this Pennsylvania town into a dozen or more cities, but was not taken imto custody until some)and wife; the hero of this instance time later, when he attempted to com- | served with the American forces dur- municate with & German agent at ing the period of war, No acter on |to act for a foreign cause. They | spent many hours in discussing, their | future, talking of the lttle things | that only lovers utter, until one day came the ctash. The male conspirator was arrested; but before either. the young woman or her lover had received news of the arrest the man had disappeared. ‘Whether the Canadian authorities had found him wandering around on the suspension bridge just below Niagara} Falls and had taken charge of him or not no one seemed to be able to find out. A few days afterward the young woman vanished. It developed afterward that- the sples were man ah the stage has ever played a part more | the invention of an American genius cleverly than did the young Irishman. | played an important part in the ex- * %k K ok ! plosion. In justice to the inventor, HORTY after this country entered | it is but fair to state that the in- the war government agents pick- | Strument used was stolen from a ed up the trail of three foreign spies | Warebouse in which he had placed it. and followed them for several! There were eleven well defined enemy months. These men appeared in the | Attempts to wreck troop trains during uniforms of one of the allies and car- | ried with them forged letters of in- tral structions. After presenting these,cured a in the lobby of one of Washington's hotels. For a number of years prior to the war the correspondent for a weil known paper published in Germany | had sent extensive cables to the paper | he was supposed to represent in the United States, but an infinitesitfal | portion of his storles was ever print- ed in the paper he represented. For| several months prior to the time powers: An t Rosine, on July 28, THEIR. REWARD WAS LARGELY IN THE FORM OF A SECRET WHISPERED COMMUNICATION THAT THE HOME GOVERNMENT ‘WAS DEEPLY| GRATEFUL FOR THE the United States entered the war | CARRYING ON THEIR WORK. this man was under constant surveil- lance, and when he attempted to put across the first part of what appeared to be a carefully prepared program he was rushed to the Department of Justice and from that moment gave no more trouble to the authorities. As to just how he was silenced is a matter that it is better not to write about, even at this late day. The readers of this article will, no doubt, recall that one of the large munitions plants near New York was the scene of a terrific explosion, in which a number of workers were killed or injured, and, while-it has never been officially proven, yet it is known to a small group of men that 1918, when ties were cunmingly placed wreck a train bearing soldiers who had just finishéd a course of Intensive train- ing. Through the work of the M. I D. one man was caught and sent to Camp Taylor for trial. attempt to wreck a train occured on May 21 of the same year, when the 619th Aero Squadron was on board a train bound for the. port of embarka- tion. < There were different cases of food sabotage from the time. the United was declared. For Instance, the wife of a grocer of Salt Lake City, Utah, E e time we were at.war with the cen- interesting case oc- | | MANNER IN WHICH THEY WERE between the rails in an endeavor to Another spectacular States went to war until the armistice : MEANS THE END. discovered numerous pleces of glass in the meat she had purchased from the corner butcher. Glass was also found in the sausage of the Headquarters { Company No. 121 at Camp Wheeler on April 18. Half a dozen or more inci- dents of like character were discovered {in different parts of tae country, and ympathizers were responsible for these outrages, the main object was to create while it is true that German agents or a Telgn of terror. It was a bit of propaganda, but it had the effect of | forcing the manufacturers to take| | sreater precautions. 1t also acted as a boomerang and caused many who ! | heretofore had been lukewarm in their patriotism to take an active interest in the war. It was quite in line with| some of the other stupld propaganda put out by Germany. At the time the Liberty motor plans were being worked out in order that the United States might be able to pro- duce in quantities a motor for its planes, a young woman emploved in a well known automobile factory was arrested for giving a 'man a set of plans of the Imben)' motor. | A workman in. a Detroit plant con-{ | ceived the iden of seliing the plans of | the Browning gun to the euemy, but unfortunately for him, he made a mis-! take of talking to the wrong man. The } result was that—well, he “retired.” * K X ¥ | e plant where gauges were made it was found that while the ar- ticles passed the test required by gov- ernment officials when they were put into actual use they did not function properly. An intelligence of- ficer was put on the job, and he soon found that by means of an ingenious device placed in the cellar the action of the test was nullified. A workman conceived the ldea of so riveting gas tanks for airplanes as to cause them tc leak after one or two flights. It is not necessary to say that the fellow stopped making gas tanks. In the little town of Granite, Va, was a family who had long been sus- Germany, mail that, to say the least, was suspicious, and should this ar- ticle come to the eyes of members of |tae family it will no doubt surprise them to know that the intelligence section of the Army were thoroughly in touch Wwith their correspondence at all times. - | circumstantial evidence about herseif | that the authorities were puzazled for | the moment as to how so young a | girl could have been responsible for 180 many overt acts. When her father was notified of her arrest he ex- { claimed: “You got her, did you? | That's good; then keep her!” Further I investigation speedily brought to |light the fact that she had always |1ived in the 1and of romance. | * % % % ITHE greatest hoax perpetrated upon the German high command | was that of being absolutely frank to the date and hour when & cer- tain advance would be made by the American troops. In one instance every one in the larmy was talking about an attack 1 and reports brought in indicated that { the intelligence section of the Ger- | man army at first had taken it seri- |ously and then had looked upon it {as @ stupld American bluff and did not make as adequate preparation as | they might otherwise have done. It !1was a daring stroke, but it succeeded. A charming actress who was en- joying popular favor at one of the French theaters. skillfully 1aid her {plans to entrap 2 well known army !officer. She showered special favors upon him and spoke longingly of desire to live in the United States and very delicately suggested thut ishe might be induced to leave ~he | stage if some American Army officer | could win her heart. Cozy little aft- er-the-theater suppers were arranged {at her apartment and chess seemed {to be her favorite pleasure. One | evening she prepared a problem and. clapping her hands delightedly. asked | the officer if he would not have the {problem printed among the chess | notes of certain of the French papers | He replied that he would and, jottinz | down the posttion of the pleces, left her. saying that he would be absent from the city for several days, bu! | tpat upon his return he would pre- pare the problem for the papers. The next morning he was in cou- | sultation with an intelligence officer from the British army, one from the | French and one from our own serv- {ice. The chess problem not only gave | the position of the reserve forces at Paris, but it also designated the i places where American troops had been posted. The falf actress never lappured after that on any stage ® % ¥ ¥ _\.\' American sce, one of the & gamest men who ever sat in an airplane, was seated in a cafe a’ Nancy, together with some fellow o.- | ficers of the air service. They were | enjoying their after-dinner coffee 'smoking and talking, when two | young women entered, and they soou ‘were engaged in conversation with the group of officers. One of the { young women appeared to take spe- fclal interest in the ace, While the other singled out as her specisl proy another captain of the air service During the course of the conversatiox the young women learned tnat only one of the party was going to stay in Nancy for several di the other man being the man who was then 1 captain in the air service. Gradually the party dispersed. with only Cap: X—— and the womsan remaining. She t0ld him how she admired the brave American aviators how they had come to save her beloved France, what ' handsome, stalwart men they were. {how brave and yet so gentle with women, and’invited the officer to dine | ! l that the man in charge of the censor- ship section had to perform. To illustrate the many devices used by the enemy in order to “get over” his message, it is best to relate the story of how a large New York firm was, the authorities say, unconsciously made a party to the spreading of military information. The firm had requested that an illus- tration be made of a girl in blouse and skirt. but when the M. I D. peo- Dple saw it they discovered that while there was nothing wrong with the skirt, the embrofdery shown on the blouse was a very fine code message. One group was very actively en- &aged in work that soon stamped it| i per at her chateau. ::s :nh:r;emy of‘ this country. Madame | nothing loath and perhaps scenting ~luad] ::;::: :. lh'er mllrrla‘e. | adventure, the officer accepted the in- Cures and In these interiudes she had | L1 o o T D evening no. dabbled in literature, public np&:kln.[ }‘l hee hfl"}l S “‘: evz'“nl: n“'” the study of langueges and European | oy verced oo el e t | construed as having more than & e - intrigue. She had attracted the at-|)jse interest in the air service or in tention of the German government,| matters concerning the A. E. F. An With the result that she was sent|engagement was made the next day to the United States in 1916 to act|for junch in Nancy and dinner again as the directing head of a Kroup gr her home. This continuel for busily engaged in what the War De-1¢pree or four days, until the last even- partment claimed were unlawful 8cts. | jng, when the officer spoke of having The main trend of the leader's mind | ¢y return to his post. It was then by appeared to be to blow up every-|clever questioning that she cndeav- thing he possibly could, and one of | ored to ascertain where certain air his pet schemes was t0 have high eX- | squadrons were located. It was very plosives sent to this country in the|peayutifully done, but the officer was form of toy blocks. Another mem-|ynoi quite as stupld as he pretended. ber of the band brought in secrct|Tpe information he gave her was not ink from Holland, and another trans- | quite correct, with the result tbat ported invisible ink. This Writing|Baron Richtofen and his “Tango,” fiuid had every appearance of being|composed of crack German flyers, had pected of having received mail from | An . unusual case that came tnder the jurisdiction of the press censor- ship section was that of a music pub- lisher who proposed to put out a song, thé title and words of which did not quite harmonize with the views of the officer in charge of that section. The song was never published. There were 460, German papers and magazines being printed in the United States when this country went to war, 8o one may have an idea of the’ work plain water, but when developed by the aid of iodine tablets, the ink ap- peared on the surface. Day by day the net grew tighter around the heads of this group until Madame X— was forced to flee from a New York hotel. She also changed her name. Again becoming suspicious, she moved to a fashionable hotel at Long Beach, N. Y., and it was at this place she was taken into custody by government agents. Upon being questioned by the police, she at first assumed haughty airs, but when de- rived of the stimulant to which she had become accustomed she finally broke down and gave the details of the activities of herself and those en- gaged with her. * x % * THE men and women who serve the M. 1. D. must always be on the alert, and that they are is shown by the unmasking of an electric sign in New York vcity, which sent out the following code message: “Tuscania sailed Hoboken 2.000 troops.” Three individuals who attracted the attention of the M. I D. went to Port- land, Ore. One represented himself to be the agent of several large ori- ental purchasing companies and en- deavoreq to buy large quantities of a twenty-four-hour search in vain for a supposed new airdrome. The French authorities gathered In the young woman and sent her to some place in France. Just before the St. Mihiel drive started French and American intel- ligence officers picked up a woman in the uniform of a French Red Cross nurse. Her papers appearcd to be in perfect order and she told a straightforward story. She was sent back from the front to the Jjail at Neufchatcau, where, under severe grilling, she showed sigu» of weak- ening. The coup de grace was given by a G-2 man, who burst into the rooms in which the hearing was being held, exclaiming: “The war is over! The kaiser was killed this morning by an airplane bomb and Ludendorff has surrendered”! Thump- ing the dignified colopel, in- charge of the questioning, on the back, he exclaimed: “And now’ we can go home!” From the lips of the woman came a startled “Mein Gott!" and then she told her story. Afterward, when she found that the news Wwas untrue, she raved for 2 day or two, finally calm- on