Evening Star Newspaper, September 11, 1936, Page 36

'B—12 % Mata Hcri and Mlle. Docteur Supreme Among Woman Spies Both Agents of Elaborate Service of | Germany—Former Died Before Fir- | ing Squad but Latter Escaped. BY DEWITT MacKENZIE. Copyright, 1936, by the Associated Press. Two names stand supreme in the history of woman spies in the World War—stories which read so much like yellow-backed fiction that they are well-nigh unbelievable. Both were agents in the highly developed and elaborate secret service of Germany. They are “Madamoiselle Docteur” and Mata Harl—Mlle. Docteur, “the Blond Demon,” who was perhaps the greatest of her kind for all time and was feared by many nations; Mata Hari, “the Red Dancer,” a courtesan whose sensual beauty robbed men of reason and placed in her lovely hands the hearts and secrets of scores of personages, including even royalty. Mile. Docteur, as she was called by the French secret service, was a German, Anne Marie Lesser, daughter of a widely known Berlin art dealer and an Italian-born mother. The girl was about 20 when the war broke out—a striking blond with a magnificent mind which worked with such cold and remorseless precision that she could kill without & quiver in Discovered Talents at 17 Anne Lesser was only 17 when she discovered by accident her extreme talents for secret service work. While on a visit to St. Petersburg with her father she became acquainted with a German officer, who told her he was trying to get possession of the plans of a new Russian gun. The papers were in the hands of a Russian general with whom Anne's father was doing business. Having access to the general's house, the girl got hold of the drawings and copied them perfectly without discovery. So great was the thrill she got from this spying that she decided to make espionage her profession. She was coached by German offi- ‘cers and secret service operatives and quickly developed the master touch. Her unusual intelligence and her knowledge of foreign languages were & great asset. She progressed s0 well that she was made director of spy training. When the war broke out, she was put in charge of the German #py organizations in France, Belgium snd England. Mile. Docteur made numerous trips to Britain and France and became such a menace that she was eagerly carrying out her duties. and born in Holland. - There is no record of her ever having been in.the Far East. { Mata Harl was born in 1876 and was already in the German secret service, with headquarters in Berlin, before the World War. Both France and Britain spotted her as a spy, but it was long before the war started before they secured ;nouxh evidence for action against er. When at home she lived like a princess in a palatial residence, where she entertained lavishly the men who could serve her. Sometimes they were foreigners whose secrets she sought; sometimes they were Ger- mans whom she twisted to her will and sent out to their deaths as spies. She traveled a great deal, too, and all the capitals knew her, for she continued the professional dancing, which not only brought her the adula- tion she loved, but was a useful blind for her real work as spy. Wherever she went she left & wake of flutter- ing male hearts. After the war broke out Mata Harl devoted much of her time to espionage THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,. 1936. friends among the admiring Prenche men. actually applied for work in the French secret service and was ac- cepted. . Bhe gave the French some useful information (with the knowledge of her superiors in Berlin), but her real purpose, of course, was to be in a position where she could serve the fatherland better. The PFrench were not fooled, and having her under close observation, they finally managed to get hold of some of her secret messages to Berlin. Then came court-martial and sen= tence of death. They executed Mata Harli near Paris. Prominent men who had loved her stood weeping openly among the sev- eral thousand spectators at this last act of a great human drama. True to her penchant for the the- atrical, and exhibiting the bravery which had carried her through so many dangers, the “Red Dancer” re- fused to have her eyes bandaged when she faced the firing squad. She stodd smiling across the green- sward toward her friends. As the order was given to fire she kissed her hand to them. B — U. S. FREES 2 JAPANESE IN.ARSENAL PHOTO CASE Development of Film Reported to Disclose No Suspicious Pictures. By thc Assoctated Press. DAVENPORT, Iowa, September 11.—Nobuzana Tsumura and Miss Toniye Yanari, young Japanese couple held here over night on suspicion of taking pictures of & Government arsenal at Rock Island, Ill, left Davenport last night immediately after their release. They were arrested Wednesday on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River after police received a report they were photographing the arsenal. The film in Tsumura’s camera, developed at the arsenal laboratory, “showed no pictures of the arsenal or other Gov- gought by the secret service of both | in France. The French suthorities |ernment buildings,” Kelly said. countries. Many times she barely | watched her closely, but she covered | Release of the couple came after escaped capture. Arfest would have | her trail so well that they could not | several hours of questioning by & meant the firing squad. arrest her, for she had powerful' Department of Justice agent. Got Valuable Documents. During one trip to Paris she re- ceived valuable documents which she decided to take to Berlin herself, via S Switzerland, although the French Y0ur Wintel. C‘)at ] LANSBURGH'S INVITES YOU TO THE OPENING OF A FASCINATINGLY MODERN were seeking her everywhere. When she arrived at the Swiss border she was stopped by a guard. < : She shot him dead with her pistol. 5 : : : The next day when she appeared over b % 5 3 : % the line in Switzerland another guard 4 : y was found dead. ; i - Mile, Docteur was ruthless in her (| —1S perhaps the most; * [y 5 ° dealings with those who worked for important fashion pur- -~ £ % . her, and they feared her. As illus-|}. his 3 ” : E tration, her punishment of . young chase of the year. . 9 A . v Belgian secret service man cited. % o 7 He had outsmarted her—something Choose ?Ve" a mo'de" : i s i that rarely happened to m; blond || ately priced coat in o = 1) | demon—and had so inspired her con- || ¢ £ % A < fidence that she had actually taken fine shop ond you will G He made the mistake of betraying || 5 o one of her spies on the strength of || * standards, and dis- fnformation possessed only by Mile. crimination. whe!he} PDocteur and himself. No one ever || : % ¥ Do add up two and two for her. |[ You pay much or little. She called the young man into her office, took & pistol from her desk and Excellent exa"tpiex fl"e killed him. . coat sketched in black After the war Mlle. Docteur dropped > & ; grom sight. The last heard of her _with Bomboy Lamb. by the public she was living in seclu- 69.75 - him into her employ. ‘benefit. by its taste, FOR GROWING FEET FOR 7 TO 10-ERS AND 11 TO 16-ERS. sion in Switzerland. She came into a large fortune from her parents, which was taken as evi- dence that her spy work was not done e omeiary saii, but because &he X-RAY METHOD OF SCIENTIFIC FOOT MEASUREMENT Joved the adventurous life and in- e ~ as trigue. 7 Favorite of Music Halls. 3 - A i e e o Mata Hari was an entirely different type. She was a lovely nnhix;x:‘l, p:;- 4 { sessed of a sinuous grace which made . . L f NAME OF GRACES OUR MODERN SHELVES ° : . Artists raved about the beauty of her figure, especially her arms and shoulders. An Oriental cast of fea- tures and a slight duskiness of skin edded to her fascination. And she was supremely clever. Princes, statesmen, diplomats and other personages vied with one an- other for her favors. ‘And she smiled upon them all, and one by one she wrung from them the secrets which would be useful to Ger- We are proud to present a more extensive and com- many. When finally she came to the NE D FEAR ITS lNDleDUALlTY. SPECIALLY R R S i plete assortment of our own & 3S <) line of scientifically designed guess as to the total number of her T lovers. L iiitoite a iz ] \:4,\,, Mata Hari cla! to be a u. % She said she had been reared as a TRA' N ED EXPERTS /) gacred dancer in & temple of the god M Siva in India, and by the time she ) 4 ™ ; was 13 she already was swirling her SEVENTH, EIGHTH STREETS slim figure before the image of the e Sirs great deity. [ ] But along came a handsome British officer and carried her off to marriage. 1 O D A Y S A L E | Ultimately she arrived in Europe. - “The Red Dancer” actually estab- . | Shoes for Childr ... a name that stands for fished herself as a sort of high priestess of & Siva cult which prac- ticed all sorts of license. Oriental Appearance. It was easy to believe Mata Hari's story, for she had a hypnotic per- suasiveness, and she possessed that Oriental appearance. Actually, however, she was Dutch, Itvin S: Cobb Says: SOOTHE THE TURBULENT MINDS OF CHILDREN quality in footwear ' GENU.INE ‘GROUND-IN AND EASE THE STRAIN OF TIRED MOTHERS — Rules in Soviet to - American Pinks. 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