Evening Star Newspaper, March 30, 1930, Page 97

THE SUNDAY 'STAR, WASHINGTON, /D. € TMARNCH 8), 1558, e Work of Famous Woman Spies During War Ladies of the Espionage Service Loved Intrigue, but Sometimes Carried It Too Far—Many World War Officers Found Themselves Surrounded by Beauties 1Who Plotted Blackmail. Chorus Girl Who Failed as Spy, but Won Herself a Title. i o o~ s / 7/ “Must be a dictograph,” he said to himself. He ran to the heavy curtains and ripped them aside. By Thomas M. Johnson. EDITOR'S NOTE—This is one of a series of tru e rican spies in the World War. lnct: official record or by word o men and women who had the experiemce themselves. Bach story is complete in itself. FAVORITE German game Americans and other allied at- f' taches, diplomats and officers had always to be dodging in Switzer- land was a variation of the fa- miliar “badger game.” Woman spies would endeavor to lure them to hotel rooms, where they would be discovered by “husbands,” and threatened with exposure if they did not leave Switzerland at once. Sometimes the lure was a promise to give valuable information. The same American who played a part in trapping the Master had a piquant experience. Among the sisterhood with Bella Donna and . Turkish Delight was an Italian woman, with besutiful oval face, splendid figure and = “Come-and-get-me” manner. ‘She tried all three on the American, who reported the ex- to his chief. “See what she wants,” the chief ordered, *but watch yoursell.” "“So" next evening when they met in the Bellevue Palace lobby, things progressed almost ‘4s rapidly as they had for Bella Donna. As “thie Italian arose to go, she whispered, “Come in & few minutes to my room, and I will tell you something your Government wants to know.” The American nodded and shortly rapped softly but with some trepidation upon her door. He could not but wonder what trap waited, even though comrades were “covering” him The door opened, disclosing about what he had expected—his hostess clad mostly in a peignoir. The fair enchantress was at her most enchanting as she led him in and indi- cated a chaise longue. Then, as he moved to- ward it, she stoopzd, as if she had dropped something, locked the doer and slpped the key into her bosom. The American leaped across the room. “What are you doing?” he cried, and seiz- ing both arms, shook her like an old coat. As he had hoped, from somewhere or other the key fell to the floor. He pounced upon it, unlocked the door. Nobody in the hall. He stepped back into the room, past the amazed woman evidently struggling with very mixed émotions. He ran to the heavy curtains swath- ing the windows, ripped them aside, disclosing “Must be a dictograph,” he said to himself, sitting down on the edge of the primmest chair in the room, as far as possible from the chaise Jongue. “And now, signora, what was that in- formation you were going to give me?” HE had outrared the signora’s finest feel- ings. How cculd he suspect her? Was she not Italian, a friend of the allies. But there was room for two on the chaise longue No? Reluctantly she began to tell about a new German plan she had heard of “on the Yery best authority,” to beat the British at ‘their own “Q Ship” game. There would be a . merchant ship with neutral flag, Swedish, Nor- E:hg; whatever, steaming along the surface. king beneath, always following, would be a submarine, to stab whatever patrolling allied war vessels should reich the neutral. They (F amous War Correspondent.) Next day, so did she, and the hotel saw her no more. Pique, or was her job done? coup that deserves i g on history’s page, because it played a ¥eal if hitherto un- known part in the dawnfall of the central powers. It helped prépsre the defection of the first, Bulgaria, which asked armistice Sep- tember 25, 1918. About a weck before a 50~ called baroness of dubiots reputstion came 10 “I can help you get Bilgaria’ out of the announced: “Their deéfeat in Mace- woman centinued: A “This is no fake. Al you haye to do is listen to what he says. I'm going to have a dicto- graph there and you can have the -record-— and I'll sell it to some one eise, 100.” C Too big a chance to lose. The Bulgarian diplomat and his mission turned out quite real. The Americans transmitied the message to Washington—and the reply seemed encourag- ing. All of which, recorded verbatim, the nimble-witted lady sold first to the Germans, as proof that their Bulgarian allies were de- serting them, then to the Swiss, as proof that they were violating Swiss neutrality. As the American chief exclaimed when he heard it: . “What a woman!” THOSE inquisitive instruments—the dicto- graph—played a part in American secret service, as in any other. For a time it was a G-2-B of the A. E. F. asked number of them, whercupon a bill reached Chaumont for several thousand dollars, but no dictographs. A search started. “Dic, dic, who's got the dic?” became an indoor sport. Nowhere could they be found, though the most expert sleuths took the trail. A second bill came. The joke wore thin. Then G-2-B found the dictographs—in the Paris office of G-2, 8. 0.'8.; the spy-hunters of the rear areas, who were using them enthusiastically. How .many of the A. E. F. remember that hotel, in the Rue D, not too far from the Boulevard des Capucines patrolled by, those charming and .friendly boulevardieres. A find, that hotel, with unobtrusive entranee, and de- spite regulations, always hot water and other “confort moderne.” 8o , S0 safe. That was where some of the dictographs were. Through long Winter evenings, stenog- raphers, American and French, listened to inany a conversation between American officer and pretty lady, perhaps a German agent seek- ing information, or a French agent helping spot loose tongues that should be sent where they could wag harmlessly. Time after time, listening stenographers wrote: It was in’ May, 1918, time of great anxiety . for the German high command. Their powerful offensive started March 21 had almost Broken and séparated British and Prench—but through " mot quite: Succeeding ‘blows, however stagger- ing, missed the great resuli the Gérmans mwust Prevot-Martin, Geneva. ‘That cellar held uniforms of all sorts of French regiments, with batige of rank com- plete, decorations, kepis, calots. At a corner workbench were cobbled proper papers for who- ever wore these outfits, slipping across the fron- tier into France by any of several low drinking places dirvectly astride the border line, rendez- vous of spies, deserters and smugglers. Cafes and cellars were the burrows used by a polyglot pack of foxes headed by a French deserter, a desperate youth whose cutthroats would take on any dirty job, especially of espionage against the allies. - ’l‘o them came orders to send two women'into France to find out: How many Americans were no in France? How many more were com- ing each week? At what ports were they land- ing? Anything about them, in fact. And ex- actly what damage were airplane bombs and Bértha shells doing in Paris? So Yvonne Scha- deck and Anne Garnier, both in their twenties, packed their handbags and found in the cellar passporis to get them by the frontier. This was not Yvonne'’s first such trip. She had spent part of the previous Winter in Paris, with re- sults profitable to the Germans. < . But the cellar was beginning to be known, and the girls aroused suspicion at t'ie frontier, Every step on French soil was watched. For nearly “’Ave dreenck?” they would ask, and the prey would reply: “Yer darn shoutin’ I'll 'ave dreenck! Lead me to it kiddo!” kg 18§ a young ‘lady called, perhaps, Estelle. She was . of French descent, spoke French perfectly, had taught it in a smart American girls’ schoel. In manher and appearance, she was attraetive, Continusd on Twenty-“rst Page