Evening Star Newspaper, September 23, 1928, Page 86

2 Austrian Officer Who Was a BY JOSEPH GOLLOMB Author of “Master Man Hunters.” VERY government, without ducts a “war college.” A any exception worth noting, con- I don’t mean academies where fresh-faced cadets are taught the A B C of war; youths who unfold to the first sym- pathetic listener their plans, their hopes, their dreams; whose dress parades are pleasant public functi A “war college” such as I refer to by a picked handful of army and masters of the science of war wh The public emphatically is not invited to their sessions. And the last thing in this world these students are likely to do is divulge to outsiders the least syllable of the plans about which their studies center. What is it that they study in a war college? Briefly, how to win wars against any and every other nation on the globe. It will be remembered that when, in 1870, Prussia declared war on France, an officer went to the of the Prussian war college, and, waking him, told him the news. “Go to cabinet No. 3 and take “Follow the directions you find th Then he turned over on his other side and went to sleep again. But “the directions there” were from ‘the first moment of war down to tbe terms of armistice to be dictated by Prussia. And we know how minutely these plans became history. The war college hatches such plans. service of any country is twofold: To kee] secret learning the secrets brewing in it. war college secrets of other countries. This is a story of the vital role spies play in the success or failure of a war college. e N the early part of 1900 Alfred Redl, a major m the Ausiro-Hungarian army, was made chief of the secret service of the Dual Empire. He was still in his early thirties. He was a slender man of medium height, precisely groomed. His black-brown eyes, when he thought he was unobserved, “ad a greedy look: otherwise they were in- scrutable. His nose was sharply point- ed. His mouth, though thin-lipped, vivid and sensual; but a carefully iv{d and pomaded mustache partly t. office in Vienna at the Kund- ts Stelle—“Information Depart- . as it was familiarly known, ‘K. S."—was a remarkable room. furnished as if -it were to be used only as the living room of an ex- cecdingly sociable, luxury-loving man. Maj. Red] was all that. But although he entertained there frequently and lavishly, such occasions were not always what they seemed. xx o x T AKE, for instance, the case of Ito Onaki, a seuve young Japanese. quein the Central Cafe. i, o edl struck up a drinking ac- nce with him one afternoon at On parting Maj. said: ou like a good glass of Tokay, to see me tomorrow, say, about e gave Onaki a number and a street. said Tto. N J Redl nor Ito had told the other his real business. But each had a shrewd idea of it. And Ito rec- ognized the address as that of the office of the secret service of Austria-Hun- g8 nexi the r ““Whe: claime: Ur foot were thick silken rugs. ‘The ylight was subdued by heavy brocaded window _draperies except where 2 sharp shaft of sunlight fell athwart a luxurious srmchair by the' side of Maj. Redl's flat-topped writ- ing desk. The air was heavy with in- ense. On the walls were old paintings in o usly carved ebony frames. Maj. Redl, with a gesture of invita- tion, indicated the armchair by the Ito sat down with the sunlight » him. His host went to a cabinet with mother-of-pear] and fous woods. From it he took an age-incrusted hottle- .of Tokay and pourad & glass for his visitor, another for himself. The sat own chair at theieess, a consciously, tapped fogether the edees of a pile of imnortant looking papers. “Your health, Herr Onaki!” he said, ¢ his glass. “And yours, Herr Korgold!” Maj. Redl had glven that as his name. They drank, and Onaki was sincere in what he said about the wine. “A cigarette?” Maj. Redl said, nod- ng &t a gold cigarette box which stood at Onaki’s hand. The top was in-rusted with jewels of barbaric splendor, but the gold at the sides was smooth. Ito declined, with the apolegtic smile of the non-smoker. “Then you'll find some delicious bon- bons inside that dish.” Ito raised the cover of a bit of ex- quisite res; and the bonbons were deliciou: The visit had lasted agreeably for about 10 minutes when Maj. Redl's toe, unseen by Ito, pressed a slight bumo under the thick rug where he stocd chatting. Whereupon his desk telephone rang. Maj. Redl “answered.” A short “conversation” followed. Then ths host turned to his guest. “A neighbor wants to see me ur- gently for about 10 minutes,” he apol- ogized. “I'd hate to have you leave $0 soon. Won’t you make yourself at hom= here until I come back?” “Thank you, I will,” said Ito. A 'TO heard the door close with heavy dign His eyes craftily made sure thet he was alone in the room. And outside the windows a wide city square ¢ unlikely that any one could, even with a spygless, see Ito. For some moments he seemed con- tented to rest comfortably in his arm- chair. Suddenly he stood up over the desk and, with swift expert fingers, went through the pile of papers lying there. In a large envelope marked “Very confidential” he looked at a sheaf of Togit Each was marked with the n'®e of some country. He glanced at e h only long enough to note what « ¥ the report covered. But the pa- per marked Serbia held him. H 1o longer suave, darted over the wtents. In his -agerness to read, he ti the paper full into the shaft nlight. w 10 minutes later, Maj. Redl returned, the papers on his desk were as he had left them and his looked up from a volume of Per- poetry. | fome casual talk followed, sophisti- ¢ ted anecdotes, comments on women and wine. Then Ifo rose and made a graceful little speech of appreciation. Redl escorted him to the door nd the guest left. No one hindered his leaving. And in the street Ito's training told him, after several tests he made, that no one was shadowing him. But he had, so to_speak, left a broad trail behind him. It was true he had er Ma, erth: morx m, where Msj. sss he showed up g and was ushered into Redl rose to im. t a delightful room!” Ito ex- ra al touched the gold cigarette box| smooth sides were covered with minum but there were his fingerprints clearly retained by the minium on the s bonbon dish, and an expert was dy photographing them. When Ito sat in his chair the shaft of stnligr+ Was on his face, as I have said. In the scrollwork on two of the elaborately carved picture frames on the walls were openings, in the depths of which camera lenses had been fo- cused on Ito’s face. Now two photo- graphs were laid before Maj. Redl, Ito in full face and in profile. In the cabinet from which his host had taken the bottle of wine a phono- graph had silently recorded Ito'’s voice. Each sheet of the specially faked reports Ito had examined been treated with a sensitive substance that responded to the action of light. By comparing them, Maj. Redl knew now that it was the report on Serbia which had the longest engaged Ito's interest. All the data on Ito, unconsciously contributed by him, were filed away in ions. is not attended by cadets but navy chiefs. They are'crafty past- o0 study there. bedroom of Gen. von Moltke, head down file No. 7,” Von Moltke said. e plans for the conquest of France And the function of the foreign spies from S own war colgege and to spy .uub Maj. Redl's “Who's Who" among_for- eign spies operating in Austria-Hun- gary. And what began as a pleasant visit to sip Tokay ended soon after for Ito g';lh an enforced stav behind prison TS, That room at the K. S. and many other scientific and psychological traps for foreign spies were only part of Maj. Redl's equipment, the mechanical part of it. Even more effective was the deftness of his personality. The illustration I select may seem curious, in so much as it shows Maj. Redl getting the best of a child. But spies and detectives have told me it is easier to fish in the well stocked, if guarded, minds of adults than in the unformed, rambling and shy mind of a child. i oxox FOR decades there had been bad blood between Austria - Hungary and its neighbor, Serbia. Peace and delicate equilibrium. Now Serbia by itself would not have given the “war college” of Austria-Hun- gary any great concern. But behind Serbia was its powerful ally, Russia. And allied to Russia was France, with England as another probable ally. In back of Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, was the German empire. As every schoolboy now knows, this line-up of powers made the great war. ‘And even in 1900, when Maj. Redl had charge of the secret service of Austria- Hungary, in every war college in Eu- rope there was uneasy knowledge that trouble was brewing. ‘Taking the German Gen. von Moltke’s degree of preparedness as model, the war college of Austria-Hungary, with Gen. Conrad von Hoetzendorff, com- mander-in-chief of the army, as “pro- fessor,” studied particularly how best to invade Serbia at the instant of war. It takes years to mature such a plan. “Plan Three,” for the invasion of Serbia between Drinamundung and Savemundung. was the slowly matur- ing pet project of the war college of Austria-Hungary. And it was Maj. Redl's duty to see that no one outside of the war college learned a syllable of Plan Three. He succeeded apparently so well as chief of the secret service that he won promotion after promotion, until he be- came Col. Redl and was made a mem- ber of the Prague Army Corps, and as such was a participant in the formula- tion of Plan Three. At about this time Redl took stock of himself. As a brilliant and quickly rising Austrian army officer he com- manded a ble salary. But Col. Redl's lust for luxury was anything but respectable, in proportion to his income. From his own country Redl could count on only a colonel's salary. From Russia—if he chose—he could confi- dently expect the income of a prince. One day there came on a visit to gay Vienna a Russian nobleman who held the purse-strings of the secret service in his country. Col. Redl, as a sort of “friendly enemy” colleague, helped to make Vienna still more gay for the visitor. Then one day the two, apparently to recuperate from too much Viennese night life, went out into the country for a stroll. Col. Redl led to a hilltop from which there was a fine view to be had in every direction. There was not a soul in sight. Whereupon Col. Redl and the Russian began to talk business. Then the visitor went back to Russia and Col. Redl went back to work. * k% X NOT long after this the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Arch- duke Francis Ferdinand, visited Russia, where he was so lavishly entertained that he felt grateful. Like most royal princes, he was rather out of touch with hard reality. As a graceful gesture he asked Col. Redl that Austro-Hungarian espionage in Russia be reduced. - But just about this time a Russian colonel privately came to see an Austro- war between the two were in a state of |- THE SUNDAY 'STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. SEPTEMBER 23. 1928—PART 7. Brilliant Leader of Secret Service Double~Crossed Nation's War College and Sold Plans for Invasion of Serbia, but Was Caught by Men Who Owed Their Skill to His Training. colonel's offer, but took the papers and the terms of sale directly to Col. Redl. The Colonel read them. “Did you examine these plans?” he asked sharply. “No, but I have an idea of how im- portant they are,” said the military attache. Col. Redl went to his private safe— this was in the living room I have described in the K. S.—and securely locked up the papers. “I shall cite to your superiors—dis- creetly, of course, but to your benefit— your keen judgment in this matter, lieutenant,” Col. Redl said softly. “You l) e v KN HE WAS HANDED A REVOLVER. __“GOOD_NIGHT, did exactly the right thing not to trouble the archduke and to come straight to me. “I am sorry to inform you, however, that" your Russlan colonel is not a traitor as you hoped, but a charlatan. These plans for which he asks a fortune were drawn up not by the Russian War College but in his own none-too-brilliant imagination. Tell him we will have nothing to do with him.” The lieutenant was disappointed. But he need not have been. For the plans were of the highest importance. They were returned quietly and safely to the archives of the war college whence they had been stolen. And not long after that Col. Redl anonymously bought a house in Vienna: two shining motors; and luxuriously furnished a private apartment—very private indeed—in Prague. But the Russian colonel who had offered the plans for sale was visited one night by several of his fellow officers. As regimental comrades they accorded him the privilege of blowing out his own brains with a revolver. ‘Which he did. ERE I THERE followed, for Col. Redl, a long period of prosperity. Financially he flourished far beyond the knowledge of his colleagues. But he also won rapid promotion for his apparent services to his country. One foreign spy after another was lured by him to destruction, much as the Piper of -Hamelin lured the rats. It was true that this success was somewhat offset by the number of dis- tressing fatalities among Austro-Hun- garian spies in Russia. Col. Redl's men were bewildered by the bad luck that seemed to follow his field workers in the Czar's country. But they were dazzled by the com- tence and success of their chief at me. Finally, the Austro-Hungarian gen- eral staff began to feel that Col. Redl was too brilliant & man to be wasted on even such an important position as head of (tl:)e secret service. He was promoted be chief of staff of the 8th Army Corps stationed at Prague. This was the corps which would have “Plan Three” when it came to invading Serbia. Col. Redl was succecded by Capt. Ronge as chief of the K. S. Capt. Ronge was a sterling officer, and almost sentimental in his worship of his prede- cessor’s genius. Hungarian military attache in Warsaw. The Russian colonel, like Col. Redl, had REDL SEEMED TO BE LISTE! appetites too rich for a mere colonel’s salary. S0 he quietly offered to sell to Austro- Hungary something that had been care- l!ully matured by the Russian war col- ege. This was a detailed plan for a Rus- sian military invasion of Germany and Austria-Hungary at the outbreak of war. The military attache knew, of course, of Archduke Francis Ferdinand's desire to reduce his country’s spylng on Rus- sia. But these plans were far too im- portant to pass by, the crown prince notwithstanding. The military attache therefore did not disturb Archduke Francis Ferdinand with the consideration of the Russian “I shall attempt to follow worthily G TO THE STRAINS OF A WALTZ. in your footsteps, colonel,” he said. This was at a farewell affair to Col. Redl. “But I am afraid I cannot fill your shoes.” Col. Redl put his hand on Ronge's shoulders and looked proudly at others of the K. S. staff. “Capt. Ronge and colleagues!” he E sald. “My greatest achievements are the men I leave behind me at the Kundschafts Stelle!” It was & graceful speech and perhaps a true one. But Col. Redl himself did not realize how truly he had spoken— until it came home to him years later. most to do with the carrying out of i . corner. : The two men looked at each other written by him. They were all in manu- script and were not in the least for gen- eral circulation. They were manuals on how to trap foreign spies; and how to keep from being trapped while spying on_foreign soil. Then he took his new and lofty place in the war college of Austria-Hungary. * * WE come now to the year before the world-wide explosion of 1914. ‘The studies in the various European war colleges were ripening with their dev- astating projects. The atmospnere of Europe, as th2 world learned only too soon--and too late—was as dangerous as a vast storc- house of dynamite. A spark, a revolver shot would set the whole thing off. In Vienna the secret service was watching the mails. The postal au- thorities were told that the government was on the lookout for a great orgari- zation of smuggiers. This was the reason given why secrct service men opened private lettefs in the general post office, read them, and seal- ing them up again let the mail proceec. What was really going on was a hunt for foreign spies. One day the secret service men opened an envelope addressed rather oddly: Opera Ball, 13, Poste Restante, General Post Office, Vienna. Inside was found about $2,800 in Aus- trian kronen—and not a word of expla- nation. The postmark was Eydtkuhnen, in East Prussia, a tiny town on the Russian frontier. Eydtkuhnen! Known to the secret service as the corridor most fa- vored by spies of half a dozen countries for passing from one country to another. The envelope was sealed up again and put back in its place to await its owner. An electrician was called. Under the ledge over which the letter would be handed by the postal clerk to the per- son who should call for “Opera Ball, 13” a push button was installed. From it a wire led across the street to a brancn police station ir the Fleischmarkt. “The moment the letter is called for,” the postal clerk was instructed, “push this button and be as slow as you can n_handing over the letter.” In the police station two secret service detectives were assigned to do nothing but wait for the newly installed electric bell to ring. They waited. They waited a week, two weeks, three, a month. Not a ring from the post office. A?rfl passed. May was almost gone Still not a sound. And there in the post office still lay un- claimed an envelope with $2,800 in it. Had news of the trap leaked out? On the eighty-third day of waiting one of the recret service men was negli- gent enough to go out for a cup of cof- fee several doors from the station house. The other was also out of the room washing his hands in the corridor, But to his ears came a sound that shocked him. The little electric bell was * * ringing. Dashing back into the room to make sure, he snatched up his coat and hat and started for the gencral delivery window of the post office. But he made a slight detour to call out to his partner at the cafe. Both hurried breathlessly to see who had called for Opera Ball, 13. They found no one but the clerk at the window. ““You've missed your man!” exclaimed the clerk. “He left by that door about half a minute ago.” The detectives rushed to the street just in time to see a taxi turn the And not another taxi in sight! in dismay. Assigned to such a simple task, with so much depending on it, they had bungled and failed! The fact that they had caught the number on the taxi's license plate cheered them but little. The fox would know enough to double on his trail at the first convenient corner. ~What would Col. Redl have said to such bungling! What rotten luck! But it turned out that the two men had little reason to complain of their luck that day. As one of them later expressed it when I talked to him in Innsbruck, “We had hunter’s luck that day—Jagergluck!” For, 20 minutes later, a taxi rolled by them and there on the license plate was the number they had noted. They hailed the taxi. “I saw you driving by with my brother-in-law 20 minutes ago,” said one of the detectives to the driver. “Where did you take ti “To the Kalserhof Cafe,” the driver ald. “Take us there.” R ON the way to the Kalserhof the two men searched the taxi. They were products of Redl's system of train- ing detectives, and though they had ufx‘iu 2 little reason to hope for results in this In addition to the organization he had raised to superb efficiency, Col Redl left behind him several books ¢ case, they burrowed between the cush- jons of the taxi, largely from force of habit, the habit of minute se: (B2} v Y3 o They found the sheath of a pocket knife, a little sack of gray suede. But at the Kaiserhof Cafe they found no one but the waiters. And no one had come there within an hour and a half. Again the detectives bewailed their luck, and again luck favored them. Near the cafe was a taxi rank. An old man who got small coins for opening carriage doors remembered that a gen- t'zman had taken a taxi there some 20 minutes before and Hotel Klomser was where the gentleman told the taxi driver to take him. To the Hotel Klomser, therefore, went th~ two detectives. One of them sat down at a table of periodicals near the door and pretended to read. The other approached the dignitary who presides at the entrance to every Continental hotel, the porter. Had any one arrived at the hotel within the half hour? asked the de- tective. “Yes, several people,” replied the porter. “The couple for room 5, Herr Womser of No. 11 and the young lady in No. 2. Oh, yes, Col. Redl also ar- rived. He has his usual room, No. 1.” “Do you mean the Col. Redl?” one of the detectives asked. m“Col. Redl of Prague is all I know of The detective almost blushed as he thought again of what Col. Red! would say if he learned how he and his part- ner had blundered that day. He stooped and pretended to pick something up from the floor. “Some one seems to have lost this little pocket knife sheath,” he sald, giving it to the porter. “You might ask whose it is.” Then the detective leisurely strolled out of the notel and crossing the sireet gave himself over to an idle study of the weather. His partner inside seemed to be as idly engrossed in a copy of Simplicis- simuss, smiling at what he read. From the interior of the hotel a dap- perly dressed gentleman strolled over to the portier's desk and laid down the key to No. 1. The portier touched his gold-braided cap. “Pardon, colonel, but have you per- haps lost this pocketknife sheath?” he asked. The gentleman looked at it and took it. “Yes, thanks, I must have dropped it—"" There was only a look of idle speculation as he began. His leisure, his whole manner was that of a man very much at ease in this world. But suddenly the detective over the top of his Simplicissimuss, saw the face of the gentleman grow deathly white. He remembered now where he had lost that sheath—in the taxicab where he had used his penknife in opening the envelope he had called for at the post office. Later, when in the second cab, he took out his penknife again he found that he had lost the sheath. If now the portier gave it to him, what did 1t all mean? Who was it knew enough to bring the sheath to'the Hotel Klomser after such pains as he had taken to throw possible shadowers off his trail by changing to another cab near the Kaiserhof Cafe? ERE HIS posture perhaps a little too stiff | for one who was trying to appear at ease, the gentleman strolled out of the hotel. With the alertness of the born detec- tive, he had noted the stranger reading Simplicissimuss. He would have won- dered, had he noted the further fact that the reader of the famous satirical weekly had himself turned pale. As soon as the gentleman had left the hotel this detective hurried to the telenhone booth and tightly closed the door, 1233408!" He was given his telephone number quickly, for it was that of the Kund- schafts-Stelle. Capt. Ronge, successor to Col. Redl, himself answered the telephone. What he heard made him snap. “Blockhead! Do you realize what you are trying to make me believe?" Nevertheless, it was Capt. Ronge him- self who rushed in a taxi to the gen- eral postoffice. Here he secured the receipt signed by the man to whom had been delivered the envelope marked “Opera Ball, 13." The name signed was unknown to Capt. Ronge. That didn't matter; a false name was to be expected. Back to the Kundschafts-Stelle Capt. Ronge drove. From a well hidden file ne took down several handsomely bound little books in manuscript—the books written in Col. Redl's own hand. Capt. Ronge opened one of them en- titled “Organization der Auskund- schaftung fremder Militarverhaltnisse und die Abwehr: fremder Spionage im Inlande.” On a leaf of this book telling how to guard Austro-Hungarian military secrets and at the same time ferret the secrets of other war es, Capt. Ronge laid the signed recelpt for “Opera Ball, 1 There was no evading the conclusion. The handwriting on the receipt and the handwriting on the manuscript were one! “Good God!"” Capt. Ronge whispered. * X ¥ X M EANWHILE Col. Redl was strolling, apparently in a mood of leisure, down the Herrengasse. At the corner of Strauchgasse he looked into a haber- dasher’s window. Yes, reflected in the mirror he saw, half a block behind, coming in his direction, the man who had been reading _the Simplicissimus in the Hotel Klomser and another he had observed standing across the street from the hotel entrance. No wonder his face was ghastly. He, Col. Redl, chief of staff of the 8th Army Corps, had been trailed from the General Post Office, to the taxi rank where he had changed vehicles, to the Hotel Klosmer. The pocketknife sheath had been traced to him. And now he was being shadowed in his own city with a technique he had himself taught his men in the Kund- schafts-Stelle. He must gain a little time to think. He must throw the men off his trail, if only long enough to catch a train for Prague and destroy the contents of his desk in the apartment there. Whether even lack of documentary evidence would pow save him, he did not allow himself to speculate. He was drown- ing, and one catches at straws at such a time. Down the Wollnerstrasse he turned and the men in his wake also turned the corner. Col. Redl put his hand into an inside pocket and taking out some papers he tore them into bits. He did not look to see what he was tearing up. It did not matter; addi- tional evidence could not increase his peril. Time, a little time, a few min- utes’ gain on his shadows, was all he could hope for. If they stopped to pick up the bits of torn paper—he had trained his men to do that—he might shake them off long enough to escape into the old Ex- change Building, which had exits on three streets. Only, one of the men stopped to pick up the bits of paper. With these in his pocket, this man rushed in a taxi to the Kundschafts-Stelle. There Capt. Ronge pleced together the papers Col. Redl had torn up. They were receipts for registered let- ters sent to Brussels, Lausanne and Warsaw. The addresses of the letters registered were all familiar to Capt. Ronge. One was the joint office in Brussels of the Russian and the French secret services. Another was the foreign headquarters of the Italian secret service. The third was that of one of the principal offices of the Russian Secret Service. “My greatest achievements,” Col. Redl had said, “are the men I leave behind me at the Kundschafts-Stelle. One of them was now dogging his steps, and in a little while there were again two. ‘Tricks seemed useless now; escape “HE MUST BE CAUGHT,” THE G| hopeless. Col. Redl turned to go back to his hotel. A hearty “hello” arrested him. was Dr. Victor Pollack, & close friend of Col. Redl’s and one of the leading prosecutors in Austria in espionage cases. “We dine at the Riedhof, Alfred!" Dr. Pollack exclaimed. Redl nodded acceptance. “I'll go home and dress and meet you at the f at 7,” he said. ok Kk As yet no one interfered with him, and at 7 o'clock exactly he entered the dining room of the Riedhof im- maculate and glittering in his uni-/night, there was a sharp kno Traitor Had to Die by Own Hand form. But as he sat down his friend | noticed that Redl was profoundly dis- tressed. “What is it, Alfred?” Pollack asked. Redl did not have to exert his con- siderable talent as an actor on this occasion; the depression he felt was genuine. Nevertheless he was playing a game, perhaps his last. He leaned over the table and be- gan to confess to his friend. He con- fessed moral lapses, degeneracy, & strain of insanity in his family and a fear that he was himself going insane. He confessed enough to justify gloom in any man, but he said not a word of the real reason for his depression. “Do something for me, Victor, my friend!” he entreated softly. A waiter was hovering about, and without con- sclously suspecting him Col. Redl spoke only when the man was away. “1 fear for my sanity at this very moment. I want to go back to Prague. To my little apartment. I shall feel quiet there. Then you can come and take me to any sanatorium you wish. “But I don't want to go to Prague alone tonight. You know Chief of Police Gayer. Ask him to send one of his detectives with me as escort to Prague!” Dr. Pollack rose. “That's easy, Al- fred,” he said. “Tll be back in a few minutes.” He went to the telephone booth and called up the chief’s home. Herr Gayer was still at his office he was told. Dr. Pollack then called up police head- quarters and found his man there. “You're working late today, friend,” Pollack said. “Important case,” Gayer said cau- tiously. “Well, it's lboult (iul. Rctdl 1 want to speak to you,” Polack went on. p“Your're dining with him at the Riedhof?” Gayer asked. 5 “Why, how do you know?” “Oh, I_learned it What can I do for Col Redl?” % Dr. Pollack told him what Col. Red! had said to him. “ Gayer seemed to sympathize. But, 1 can spare no one tonight.” he said. “Calm the colonel and fell him to | come to me first thing in the morn- ng. The secret service man who, in the guise of a waiter, had been listening to Dr. Pollack speaking over the telephone was puzzled. He knew the numbers that the man had called up and who it was that over the telephone appear- ed to promise to do as Col. Redl wished. Did it mean that, after all, the whole affair was to be hushed up? That the scandal was so great that there must scandal? befin:t Col. Redl's face, when Dr. Pol- lack reported to him what Gayer had promised, showed no sign of relief. He said little during the rest of the meal. An orchestra—and it seems to me that nowhere in the world as in Vienna can orchestras woo_ the heart with such light-hearted charm—was my ‘accidentally. | door. Without invitation four officers in full uniform entered. Col. Redl, white-faced immaculate, holding himself very straight, rose as they entered. “I know why you come,” he said slowly. “I have written it all in these letters.” “Any accomplices?” “None.” “Your activities, how long and td what extent?” “In my apartment in Prague you will find all the proofs.” “Colonel, have you a revolver?" “May I borrow yours, major?” He was handed a revolver. “Thank you,” Redl said. “Good night, gentlemen!"” The officers left without a word. One of them posted himself across the street from the hotel. The others went to the Central Cafe and waited. At 5 in the morning one of the two secret service men who had shadowed Col. Redl was summoned to the cafe. “Go to Col. Redl's room at the Klomser with this letter,” Gen. Ur- banski ordered. “If his door is locked use this pass key. No matter what has happened in his room you are to raise no alarm. Report back here.” The secret service man went to the hotel and showed the night porter his badge of office. “Col. Redl expects me to deliver this letter in person,” he told him. But there was no reply to his knock on the colonel's door. The detective found it unlocked and, entering, closed the door behind him. The lights were on. The silk shades of two of them were so tilted that strong illumination must have fallen on the face of the man who had stood up before the cefling-high mirror in the -oom. It was by this light that Col. Redl had put the muzzle of the revolver to his right temple. He lay now at the foot of the mirror, dead. The secret service man left the hotel aquietly and reported to his superiors in the cafe. A quarter of an hour later the tele- phone bell at the reception desk of the Hotel Klomser rang. The night porter answered it. “Request Col. Redl to come to the instrument you are using,” a voice said over the wire. ‘He is sleepini “Who are you?" “Do as you're told!" The porter recognized the voice authority and obeyed it. It that the “regrettable suicide” of " protested the port~r ot thas Col. .y Redl was made known to the world. But the small group which knew real circumstances was now closeted with Gen. von HoetzendorfT. “Gentlemen” he said sternly, “I shall roquire of every one of you a i! vow of absolute silence in the playing one of Strauss’ _ravishing to_it. In reality he was brooding over hie latest failure. He had played his jas card. His hope had been that the chi of policep:'mlld send him a detectiv as escort that night; that the secr~ service, seeing this, would be con tent to let the detective be the so but unsuspected watch over the colon® —until they should decide to take hin into custody. With only a city detec tive to outwit, perhaps there might have been a chance. 3 At 8:30 Dr. Pollack saw his frien” to his room at the Hotel Klosmer an: left him apparently in a more cheerfu frame of mind. g * ok k¥ MnANWl-m.E. at the Grand Hotel, Gen. Conrad von Hoetzendorli commander-in-chief of the Austro- Hungarian Army, was host to a gav dinner party. !‘rencpl: vintage champaigne; the famcus string ensemble of the Grand Hotel in those days; the faces of lovely Vienese women; good news sent to by some of his spies in Paris—they all helped to make the chief designer of Plan Three feel pleased with life that evening. In the midst of the dinner a waiter brought him the card of Gen. August Urbanski von Ostromeicz. “May I speak to you privately?” was written cn the back. “I am n the office of the hotel manager.” Gen. von Hoetzendorfl excused him- self to his guests. “General, who is it?” exclaimed a lovely lady. “I'm jealous!" “It may be something pleasant I shall share with you,” the general con- soled her. In the manager's private office he found Gen. Urbanskl pacing agitatedly. “As serious as that? Von Hoetzen- dorf asked, with a bit of banter. “General—" The head of the united secret serv- ices of Autria-Hungary then told his commander-in-chief his news. He told it with the brevity of a soldier making his report. He told it in so low a tone that the strains of the orchestra drift- ing into the room seemed at times loud- er than his voice. Gen. von Hoetzendorfl seemed to be aging as he listened. His face furned livkii A fine dew broke out on his fore- head. “He must be caught!” he ecried hoarsely when the other had finished.” “He's under surveillance!” “He must be made to reveal the ex- tent of his treason!” “It shall be done!” grimly. “Then he must die!” Gen. Urbanski saluted. And under no circumstances must the manner or reason of his death be made known!” Waitzes. Redl seemed to be listening | 't of Col. Redls treason! Not 1 our Emperor must know of it!” . The world was informed that “fol- wing a long period of melancholia “ol. Alfred Redl, ‘chief of staff of the Jth Al Corps, committed suicide last "ight.” ‘The newspapers of Austria-Hungary vave top space to the amnouncement, but made no comment. First, because they knew of no comment to make ther than obituary praise. Second, he newspapers of Austria-Hungary in those days were under the heel of the military. ERE A SPECIAL train took Gen. von Hoetzendorff, Gen. Urbanski and Capt. Ronge to Prague, where they went at once to Col. Redl's apartment. Strong, specially constructed locks on the door halted them. Capt. Ronge went in search of a locksmith and found a young fellow by the name of Wagner. “Come with me!” he ordered. “But I don't work on Sundays,” (V);:g;e; x():{eséfil. !"And I'm fullback leam which ye Union V. this morning!” g Then the young man found that he had no choice; he was drafted for temporary military service.” He broke open the locks on Col. Redl's doors and others in various strong boxes and desks. The three military men pounced on 'the ‘contents. Wagner caught glimpses of maps, sketches. pho- 't?ugl?sph;,{ :lued;;\;lmts.d reports of all . He heard the oldest T exclaim with horror: gk “How was it possible!" And he caught scveril times the mui- mh‘l‘r, of the word “Russia.” agner was a good locksmith and as m ‘:Bftllx;},ba:kwgu: lfickcd curiosity or 3 at he had seen im- pressed him but little. Because of his absence his team lost that day. His captain, who during the week was assistant sporting editor on the Prager Tageblatt, lectured him next dll}l’ for not showing up to play. 1 couldn't,” Wagner explained. “The military made me break open some locks for them. It was Col. Redl's apartment. zgley must have been looking for his And he told his captain as much as he knew of what had happened. The assistant sporting editor was no fool. Putting together the official ac- count of Col. Redl's suicide with what Wagner told him the captain realized :}nt he had a sensation in his posses- on. , He took it to his editorial chief. There ;tsul’u:un‘l,ist;eke. they decided. Col. Redl en u st nearthed as a spy for But it was a dangerous bomb for a newspaper in Austria-Hungary to handle; truth would not protect the pa- per from the explosion that was sure to follow. And yet the story was too big to let go. So'this is what appeared in ::“;.Pr"er Tageblatt on Tuesday morn- “We are asked by a high authority to contradict rumors which have been spread, particularly in army circles, about the chief of staff of the Prague Army Corps, Col. A. Redl, who, as al- ready reported, committed suicide in Vienna on Sunday morning. The ru- mors are to the effect that the colonel had been guilty of betraying military secrets to a foreign power, believed to be Russia. As a matter of fact. the commission of high officers who came to myh\:eytohcarry out a ’senrch in the dead 's house were investigatin, another matter——" e e An uproar followed: for, of course every one read between the lines. Re- porters mobbed news sources of the | story. In Parliament there was commo- 1 NERAL CRIED. “I understand, general!” “If Russia should learn that we have discovered Redl's—— Oh, why doesn’ that hellish orchestra stop!” Then a thought struck him. “Good God, if Plan Three should be known—— Gen- eral, everything must take place to- night!” “At your orders, general!" “You, Capt. Ronge, Maj. Hofer and Wenzel Vorlicek will see to it. en report at once!” * ok ok ok A‘!‘ the Hotel Klomser Col. Redl was writing in his room when, at mid- ck at the tion. And telegraph wires and cabl-s fairly burned as the story spread throughout the world. o A YEAR later a Serbian student, backed by high Serbian authoritics. emptied his revolver in Serajevo at the ‘A;chdukl-‘ff";:\ncI.LPl'rdin!nd. heir to the rone o ustria-Hungary, a illeg hl.mhand his wife. ] e e ‘The rest is schoolboy history. he great war broke out, . i Hoping against hope that his Plan Three was still a secret. Gen. von Hoetz- endorfl hurled the Austro-Hungarian army across the border into Serbia And at every point of attack. the Serbians, under Marshal Putnik, were there mysteriously prepared. Three times von HoetzendorfI tried variants of Plan Three—and each time he met ca- tastrophe. If ghosts ever meet, thousands of Austrians killed on Serbian sofl will have something to say to Col. Redl. But I traveled a hundred miles t~ Salzburg to ask one of the principals i this story a single question: ‘Suppose Col. Redl had refused obey your orders to blow out his brains ‘The man looked grimly across th~ vista of time and great change and viously was back to the hour of w! we had been speaking. “It would not have done him an: good!” he growled. THE END. (Copyright. 1928.) L