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Celebrated Spies and
Famous Mysteries of the Great War

By GEORGE BARTON

The following, each, $2,00

THE PEMBEOKE MASON
AFFAIR

THE AMBASSADOR'S TRUNK

THE MYSTERY OF THE
RED FLAME

THE STRANGE ADVENTURES
OF BROMLEY BARNES

The following, each, $2.50

CELEBRATED SPIES AND

FAMOUS MYSTERIES OF

THE GREAT WAR

THE WORLD'S GREATEST
MILITARY SPIES AND
SECRET SERVICE AGENTS

THE PAGE CX)MPANY

53 Beacon Street, Boston

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LORD KITCHENER

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FAMOUS MYSTERIES

THE GREAT WAR

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By GEORGE BARTON

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Axithor of " The World's Greatest Military Spies,"

" The Ambassador's Trunk," " The Strange

Adventures of Bromley Barnes," " The

Mystery of the Red Flame," etc.

Illustrated

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THE PAGE COMPANY

BOSTON © MDCCCCXIX

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Made in U.S.A.

First Impression, October, 1919
Second Impression, February, 1929

TO
JOSEPH MORGAN ROGERS

THE KINDEST OF CRITICS

INTRODUCTION

This book, while complete in itself, may be accepted
as a companion volume to my earlier production, *' The
World's Greatest Military Spies and Secret Service
Agents." The previous work pictured the notable
spies of the past from the days of the first Napoleon
until the Spanish-American War, while the present
narrative deals with the secret romance and adventure
of the world's greatest war.

It will be noticed that the subject matter of these
pages covers not only the celebrated spies of the war,
but also the great mysteries of the awful conflict.
Thus we have a combination of real stories which, for
absorbing interest, will compete with the most thrilling
tales of fiction. These actual men and women fur-
nish the color to the sadness and the gray monotony of
the war. Some of the characters rest under deserved
obloquy. One of the saddest reflections is that every
war produces its Benedict Arnolds, and the present
one furnishes no exception to this rule. But human
nature is a complex thing. To understand motives, it
is necessary to study the personality of the subject
and all of the details leading to the act, and even then
we are often inclined to suspend judgment. Such a
bundle of contradictions are the creatures known as
men and women.

This is not a history of the espionage of the war.

It is not a story of the German intrigues in America

viii INTEODUCTION

and elsewhere. These things have already been told
in great detail in other publications. It is rather a
series of pen pictures relating to certain dramatic fig-
ures of the war. Even while we condemn the deeds,
we wonder at the audacity and the courage of the
criminals. Could there possibly be a more startling
difference than is shown in the character of the three
women whose stories are recounted ? The sublime de-
votion of the martyr-nurse and the recklessness of the
Javanese dancer and the Turkish beauty will be re-
membered long after the war has passed into history.

Bolo Pasha, the lobster dealer, decorated by the
Khedive of Egypt, who handled millions of dollars
and was finally brought to trial by the American Secre-
tary of State, is a more fascinating character than any-
thing to be found in the pages of history. Yet he is
fairly matched by the man who manufactured bombs
to destroy Allied ships, and the childlike German who
dynamited the Vanceboro bridge. Quite different, and
yet as absorbingly interesting, are the stories of the
curious fate of Lord Kitchener and the strange mys-
tery concerning the last end of the Czar of Russia.

Wherever it has been possible to present documen-
tary evidence it has been done. This is particularly
true of the story of the mad adventure of Sir Roger
Casement. His case has been difficult to classify with
anything like precision. But it is clear that it could
not be omitted from a book which pretends to relate
the picturesque, dramatic and mysterious sides of the
war. Was he patriot, traitor or lunatic? Opinions
differ, according to the point of view. Not less re-

INTEODUCTION ix

markable than his exploit and trial was the attempt
to obtain clemency for this strange man. Conan
Doyle led in this movement, and associated with him
were other public and literary men whose patriotism
and devotion to the British Empire cannot be ques-
tioned. They inclined to the opinion that Casement
was not mentally responsible, although those who were
with him in his last hours insist that his mind was as
clear as a bell.

The writer desires to express his indebtedness to
Michael Francis Doyle for the photograph of Sir
Roger Casement; to the report of the Casement trial,
published in the series of " Notable English Trials "
and ably edited by George H. Knott, barrister-at-law
of the Middle Temple; to Mr. M. H. de Young, of the
San Francisco Chronicle, for excellent portraits of two
of the defendants in the case of the Hindu Plots; to
Mr. A. Bruce Bielaski, former Chief of the Bureau of
Investigation, for his polite answer to certain queries;
to Mr. Carl Ackerman and the New York Times for
permission to use the report of his investigation into
the mystery concerning the last end of the Czar; to
Earl E. Sperry, professor of History in Syracuse Uni-
versity, for extracts from his able reports on German
plots in the United States during our period of neu-
trality, and to all others who aided in the gathering
of the material presented.

The stories speak for themselves, and they are
offered with the assurance that every effort has been
made to present them fairly and accurately.

G. B.

CONTENTS

eHAPTER PAGE

I The Curious Disappearance of Lord

Kitchener 3

II Miss Edith Cavell — First Martyr of

THE Great War 21

III The Fate of Nicholas II — The Great-

est Mystery of the War 47

IV Consul-General Gottschalk and the

Mystery of the Cyclops 93

V The Judicial Murder of Captain Charles

A. Fryatt 115

VI Eugene Van Doren and the Secret Press

OF Belgium 143

VII The Mad Adventure of Sir Roger Case-
ment 157

VIII The Mystery of the Turkish Beauty . 189

IX The Romantic Life of the Dutch- Java-
nese Dancer Who Was Shot as a Spy . 201

X Amazing Adventures and Tragic Death

OF BoLO Pasha 215

XI The Story of Lieutenant Robert Fay and

THE Ship Bomb Plots 251

XII Ram Chandra and the German-Hindu

Plots in the United States .... 265

XIII The Soldier of Fortune Who Became a

German Spy 279

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XIV The Artless German Who Dynamited

THE VaNCEBORO BrIDGE 29I

XV The Unsolved Mystery of the Master

German Spy : 309

XVI The Dark Mystery Surrounding the

Murder of the Archduke Ferdinand . 329

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAQB

Lord Kitchener {See page 2) ... Frontispiece

Miss Edith Cavell 22

Nicholas II 54

The Cyclops 96

Captain Charles A. Fryatt 120

Cartoon Depicting the Kaiser in Hell . . . 147

Sir Roger Casement 164

Madame Despina Storch ....... 192

Mlle. Mata-Hari .......... 208

BoLo Pasha ....:....... 220

Lieutenant Robert Fay . . . ,., ., „ . . 254
Ram Chandra ........... 272

Henry Bode 284

Werner Horn 296

Wolf von Ingel . 312

Archduke Ferdinand and His Consort . , . 342

THE CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF
LORD KITCHENER

THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

THE CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF
LORD KITCHENER

WHEN the armistice was signed, and the order
was given to quit firing in the great World
War, more than one person half expected to
see Lord Kitchener emerge from a German prison
camp.

The fact of their having been disappointed does not
in any way help to explain the strange disappearance of
the celebrated soldier. It is known that Lord Kitch-
ener embarked on the Hampshire on the afternoon of
June 5, 19 1 6, bound for Russia, and that the vessel
was sunk by a mine or a torpedo that night. The pre-
sumption, of course, was that the famous soldier was
drowned, but the circumstances surrounding the sink-
ing of the vessel, and the fact that no one could be
found who could testify that he was on the ship when
it actually sunk, only served to intensify what may be
justly regarded as one of the curious mysteries of the
war.

One of the seamen on the Hampshire testifies that,
in his opinion, Lord Kitchener went down with the
ship, but this was, after all, simply an opinion, and it is

4 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

matched by others who expressed the belief that the
great English soldier had reached land and was then
taken prisoner and concealed by the Germans. The
theory may be fantastic, but so were many incidents of
this strangest of all the strange wars of history.
Kitchener, in his time, was called "the greatest per-
sonality " of our day. He was certainly one of the
most interesting characters of his generation, and when
he stepped out of the limelight there was a void that
was never afterwards quite adequately filled.

There have been greater soldiers than Lord Kitch-
ener; there have been clearer thinkers, and there have
been men who attracted the loyalty of their subordi-
nates to a stronger degree, but it is hard to recall any
man who combined all of these characteristics in such
a striking way, and who, at the same time, had such a
puzzling personality as the man who was last seen alive
standing on the deck of the Hampshire, and stolidly
looking forward to what seemed to be certain death.

Lord Kitchener had all of the earmarks of a fatalist.
His personal traits helped to bear out this impression.
He Was as brave as a lion, and had no fear whatever
of danger or death. He was an exacting soldier, but
fair to his men. He was reticent to an unusual degree.
He has often been called sphinxlike, and the descrip-
tion is a fair one, even though it is known that he could
relax and become a most entertaining talker in the
privacy of a circle of intimate friends. He had premo-
nitions about the length and character of the war that
were almost uncanny in their precision, and the accu-
racy with which they were afterwards confirmed. Hi«

CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 5

years in Egypt, and his association with the people of
that strange land threw about him an atmosphere of
mysticism which set him apart from the ordinary run
of public men, and made him a marked man to the
people of England, and, indeed, to the world. All of
these things combined to throw a strange glamour
about the stories of his disappearance.

Before taking up the evidence in the case it is de-
sirable to briefly pass over the life of Lord Kitchener
from the time war was declared by England until the
moment he was last seen alive. It was on the fifth
of August, 19 14, that he was appointed Secretary of
State for War, and on the very next day he made a
request in the House of Commons, through Mr. As-
quith, for five hundred thousand additional men for
the army. At the same time he advertised for one
hundred thousand recruits. These were the men who
afterward achieved fame as " the first hundred thou-
sand," and the story of how they were drilled and
whipped into shape will always be one of the inspiring
tales of the great war. The British people were en-
thusiastic, to be sure, but they did not think the nation
would have much difficulty in winning the war. It
was Lord Kitchener who gave them the first inkling
of the gigantic task that lay before them. He boldly
declared that the war would last three years or longer.

That assertion, which was repeated on more than
one occasion, did not serve to enhance his popularity,
but it was eventually the means of arousing the British
bull dog spirit, and of creating a preparedness move-
ment which undoubtedly saved the nation from the

6 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

perils of over-confidence. When the British Expedi-
tionary Force began to embark for France the Field
Marshal gave each man a message of cheer and of
caution. " You are ordered abroad," he said, " as a
soldier of the King to help our French comrades
against the invasion of a common enemy. You have
to perform a task which will need your courage, your
energy, your patience. Remember that the honor of
the British Army depends on your individual conduct.
It will be your duty, not only to set an example of
discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also
to maintain the most friendly relations with those
whom you are helpyig in this struggle. The opera-
tions in which you are engaged will, for the most part,
take place in a friendly country, and you can do your
own country no better service than in showing your-
self in France and Belgium in the true character of
a British soldier.

" Be invariably courteous, considerate and kind.
Never do anything likely to injure or destroy prop-
erty, and always look upon looting as a disgraceful
act. You are sure to meet with a welcome and to
be trusted. Your conduct must justify that welcome
and that trust."

Lord Kitchener's ideals of a good soldier, as thus
set forth, were exemplified in his own conduct. In-
cidentally, it might be stated, that in the early stages
of the war in England there was much opposition to
the idea of sending English soldiers into France, just
as in the United States there were protests against
sending our own soldiers abroad. Mr. Winston

CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 7

Churchill is authority for the statement that men of
great power and influence, who afterward labored tire-
lessly and rendered immeasurable service in the war,
were found resolutely opposed to the landing of a
single soldier on the Continent.

At the very outset, Lord Kitchener emphasized his
belief — then held by so few — that the war was
likely to be a long and difficult one. In his first speech
in the House of Lords he said, among other things:
" While associating myself in the fullest degree, for
the prosecution of the war, with my colleagues in His
Majesty's Government, my position on this bench does
not, in any way, imply that I belong to any political
party for, as a soldier, I have no politics. The terms
of my service are the same as those under which some
of the finest portions of our manhood, now so will-
ingly stepping forward to join the Colors, are en-
gaging— that is to say, for the war, or, if it last
longer than three years, then for three years. It
has been asked why the latter limit has been fixed.
It is because, should this disastrous war be prolonged
— and no one can foretell with any certainty its dura-
tion — then after three years' war there will be others
fresh and fully prepared to take our places and see
this matter through.''

From that date until the evening of his strange
disappearance. Lord Kitchener worked unremittingly
for the success of England and the Allies. We find
him making speeches in the House of Lords, taking
the stump and going about the country encouraging
enlistments, hurrying over to France to assist Joffre,

8 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

holding midnight conferences at his home for the pur-
pose of solving perplexing problems, calling on Queen
Mary to supply hundreds of thousands of belts, and
knitted socks for the troops, and in a score of other
ways doing the work, seemingly, of a dozen men.

In one famous speech at the Guildhall, he said im-
pressively : " I shall want more men and still more,
until the enemy is crushed."

It was in the fall of 1916 that Field Marshal
Roberts, better known as "Bobs,** died suddenly.
Lord Kitchener paid a tribute to his memory in the
House of Lords, and the words of eulogy he spoke
on behalf of his dead comrade might easily be applied
to himself. Kitchener, on that occasion, said : " He
would himself, I feel sure, have wished for no hap-
pier end than to pass away, the greatest soldier of
our day, in the midst of the greatest Army the Em-
pire has ever put in the field, with the sound of the
shells and the cheers of his comrades still ringing in his
ears. ... He was one of the most tried and proven
leaders of men the British race has ever produced, and
the country at the present crisis can ill afford to lose
the services of so eminent a military adviser. ... I,
more than most men, had occasion to learn and admire
his qualities of head and heart ; his ripe experience and
sage counsel were fully and freely offered to me to
the end. To us soldiers, the record of his life will
ever be a cherished possession. We mourn his loss,
but hope to profit by his illustrious example.**

Shortly after that Kitchener made another notable
recruiting speech at Guildhall, in the course of which

CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 9

he said : " Napoleon, when asked what were the
three things necessary for a successful war, replied:
* Money, money, money/ To-day we vary that phrase
and say : * Men, material and money/ *' He added :
" It has been well said that in every man*s life there
is one supreme hour to which all earlier experience
moves, and from which all future results may be
reckoned. For every individual Briton, as well as
for our national existence, that solemn hour is now
striking. Let us take heed of the great opportunity
it offers, and which most assuredly we must grasp
now and at once — or never. Let each man of us
see that we spare nothing, shirk nothing, shrink from
nothing, if only we may lend our full weight to the
impetus which shall carry to victory the cause of
our honor and our freedom."

Soon after Lord Kitchener left England for a short
visit to the Eastern Theater of War. During his
journey through France he conferred with General
Joffre. Later he visited Anzac and met General Sar-
rail. It was the first time the two men had met since
the beginning of the war, and General Sarrail said that
he spoke for every soldier at the French front when
he paid a tribute to Kitchener's extraordinary genius
for organization, and the firmness, tenacity and thor-
oughness with which he carried out all the military
and other work he undertook.

'* I well remember,'* said this general, " our two
meetings. What struck me was the fine, tall figure and
its soldierly bearing. We discussed at length many
important and delicate questions, and I was charmed

10 THE WORLD ^S GREATEST SPIES

not only with the manner and extent of Lord Kitchen-
er's knowledge to the minutest details of the subjects
discussed, but his wonderfully complete knowledge
of the French language, and more especially, of the
technical terms and phrases relating to all such topics,
whereby the deliberations were immensely facilitated,
and an interpreter was wholly unnecessary."

Presently Lord Kitchener reached Athens and had
a long audience with King Constantine, and an in-
terview with the Prime Minister of Greece. From
thence he went to Rome, had interviews with Signor
Falandra and others, and left for the Italian General
Headquarters at the front. Here he was received
by King Victor Emmanuel. On the way home he
stopped in Paris, had an interview with M. Briand,
lunched with the French President, and afterwards at-
tended a war council.

On his return to England his activities became more
pronounced than ever. He not only paid close atten-
tion to his military duties, but spent considerable time
in arousing the enthusiasm of the English people, and
in impressing upon them the necessity of constant
economy during the continuance of the war.

We now come to the most eventful incident in the
life of this unusual man. On the second of June
he had a private audience with King George, and three
days later he traveled to the extreme north of Scotland
with the members of his staff, and embarked for
Russia on the Hampshire. It was said at the time
that he was going on a special secret mission but,
of course, no inkling of the character of this mission

CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 11

was given to the public. Two destroyers had been
sent with the Hampshire as an escort, but the weather
was so rough that they were sent back. At eight
o'clock that night, while the watch below were stand-
ing by their hammocks, ready to turn in, an explosion
occurred. All the lights on the vessel immediately
went out and a terrible draught came rushing along
the mess deck, blowing off the men's caps. No one
knew exactly what had happened, but while the sailors
were standing on the half -deck, an officer came with
Lord Kitchener from the captain's cabin. He called
out " Make room for Lord Kitchener," and the men
made a passageway to let him pass. He went on the
deck and stood there as passive and unconcerned as
though he were in his office in London. On the fol-
lowing morning the Admiralty received a telegram
from Admiral Jellicoe, in which he reported " with
deep regret that His Majesty's Ship Hampshire, with
Lord Kitchener and staff on board, was sunk last night
about eight o'clock, to the west of the Orkneys, either
by a mine or torpedo."

That was the curt, official manner of announcing
one of the greatest disasters of the war. Observers
in the neighborhood afterwards reported that four
boats were seen to leave the ship. Patrol vessels and
destroyers at once proceeded to the spot, and a portion
was sent along the coast to search; but only some
bodies and a capsized boat were found.

Seaman Charles Walter Rogerson gives the follow-
ing narrative of the tragic event : " I was the last of
the survivors to see Lord Kitchener before leaving

12 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the ship. In the papers I notice that his Lordship
is said to have been drowned by the overturning of a
boat, but this is not correct. Lord Kitchener went
down with the ship. He did not leave her. I saw
Captain Savill helping his boat's crew to clear a way
to the galley. The captain at this time was calling
to Lord Kitchener to go to the boat, but owing to the
noise of the wind and the sea Lord Kitchener ap-
parently could not hear him. When the explosion
occurred Lord Kitchener walked calmly from the cap-
tain's cabin, went up the ladder and on to the quarter-
deck. There I saw him walking quite coolly and col-
lectedly up and down, talking to two of his officers.
All three were wearing khaki without overcoats. In
fact, they were dressed just as they were when they
boarded the ship.

" Lord Kitchener did not seem in the least per-
turbed, but calmly waited the preparations for aban-
doning the ship, which were going on in a quiet, steady,
and orderly way. The crew went to their stations,
obeying orders steadily, and did their best to get out
the boats, but that proved impossible. Owing to
the rough weather no boats could be lowered; those
that we got out were smashed up at once. No boats
left the ship. What the people on shore thought to
be boats leaving were three rafts. Men did get into
the boats as they lay in their cradles, thinking that
as the ship went from under them the boats would
float. But the ship sank by the head, and when she
did she turned a complete somersault forward, carry-
ing down with her all the boats and those in them.

CUEIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 13

I do not think Lord Kitchener got into a boat at
all. When I sprang on to a raft he was still on the
starboard side of the quarter-deck talking to his offi-
cers. I won't say he did not feel the strain of the
perilous situation like the rest of us, but he gave no
outward sign of nervousness, and from the little time
that elapsed between my leaving the ship and her
sinking I feel certain that Lord Kitchener went down
with her, standing on the deck at the time. Of the
civilian members of his suite I saw nothing."

"Although I do not really know what happened,
my belief is that the Hampshire struck a mine, which
exploded under her fore-part. It could not have been
a submarine in such weather. An internal explosion
in one of the magazines would have ripped the ship
apart. It was hard luck to come to such an end
after going through the Horn Reef battle unscathed.
In that battle we led the Iron Duke into action, and
our shells sank a German light cruiser and two sub-
marines. We did not have a single casualty on our
ship, although big shells fairly rained into the water
all around us."

These and other statements were made immediately
after the disaster, and under the stress of great ex-
citement, but a reference to the reports of the finding
of the Admiralty does not differ very greatly from the
stories of the seamen as told at that time. This
official report reads as follows :

" The Hampshire was proceeding along the west
coast of the Orkneys ; a heavy gale was blowing, with

14 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the seas breaking over the ship, which necessitated
her being battened down.

" Between 7.30 and 7.45 p. m. the vessel struck a
mine and began at once to settle by the bows, heeling
over to starboard before she finally went down about
fifteen minutes after.

" Orders were given by the Captain for all hands
to go to their established stations for abandoning ship.
Some of the hatches were opened and the ship's com-
pany went quickly to their stations.

" Efforts were made without success to lower some
of the boats, one of them being broken in half during
the process and her occupants thrown into the water.

" As the men were moving up one of the hatchways
to their stations, Lord Kitchener, accompanied by a
Naval Officer, appeared ; the latter called out, * Make
way for Lord Kitchener,' and they both went up on
to the quarter-deck, and subsequently four military
officers were seen on the quarter-deck walking aft on
the port side.

" The Captain called out for Lord Kitchener to
come up to the forebridge near where the Captain's
boat was hoisted; he was also heard calling for Lord
Kitchener to get into the boat, but no one is able to
say whether Lord Kitchener got into the boat or not,
nor what occurred to this boat, nor did any one see
any of the boats get clear of the ship,

" Large numbers of the crew used their life-saving
belts, waistcoats, etc., which appear to have proved
effective in keeping them afloat.

" Three rafts were safely launched, and, w^ith about

CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 15

fifty to seventy men on each of them, got clear of the
ship.

"A private soldier appears to have left the ship
on one of the rafts, but it is not known what became
of him.

" It was light up to about 1 1 p. m.

" Though the rafts with these large numbers of
men got safely away, in one case out of over seventy
men on board, six only survived; the survivors all
report that men gradually dropped off and even died
on board the rafts from exhaustion, exposure and
cold. Some of the crew must have perished trying
to land on the rocky coast after such long exposure,
and some died after landing."

In concluding this narrative of the strange disap-
pearance of Lord Kitchener, it is hard to resist the
temptation to quote the tribute which was paid to
Kitchener's memory by Lord Desborough, who was
an intimate personal friend of the great soldier. His
remarks will give, perhaps, a more vivid portrait of
the creator of " the first hundred thousand " than any-
thing that might be written in a formal biography.

Lord Desborough spoke at the Canadian Red Cross
Hospital at Cliveden, and his remarks are given in
the London Daily Telegraph of June 17, 1916. He
said :

" When I first knew him, he was a most striking
figure, tall, spare, with the most wonderful, piercing,
bright blue eyes set very far apart. His eyes were
what he called * burnt out * afterwards. He was doing
a desert ride on camels with a Bedouin Arab tribe

16 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

with whom he was * blood brother/ and the sun off the
sand in their long ride, like sun off snow, nearly ruined
his eyes. I asked him why he did not wear colored
glasses, but he said a * blood brother ' of an Arab
tribe could not wear glasses. I remember my brother,
who was in the loth Hussars, saying that Kitchener
was always working, up at sunrise drilling his men, and
learning Arabic, of which he knew even the dialects.

Another physical calamity befell him when his horse
fell on him when he was riding alone in India. Some
natives saw the accident, but were too terrified to go
near him, but at last they summoned up courage
to bring the news that the 'Lord of War,' psthey
called him, was lying seriously hurt. He ffered
much from his broken leg afterwards. Indet when
he came back from India he determined to get his
leg broken and set again, but he could not find a
surgeon who would do it, and this was one of the
few occasions on which he did not get his way. The
feelings of the natives of India were shared by those
in Africa. On the field of Omdurman I met one who
had been through the advance up the Nile. He said
Kitchener never slept, and appeared when least ex-
pected among every unit of the force, which his spirit
pervaded.

" Once again when he was at Taplow I asked him
about South Africa, and he told me everything with-
out the slightest ' swagger * or self-praise ; in fact, I
think modesty was one of his greatest qualities. He
looked just the same as before the war, except that
he was a little more sun-burnt. He said he wondered

CURIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 17

what the Boers would think of our life over here in
the summer, going lazily on the river in boats and
lounging about all day, and he said that they * did
not look at life that way/ Whatever was going on
he seemed to pay the greatest attention to it, even
if it was not of the slightest importance.

" Lord Kitchener was not in private life the stern,
unbending sphinx of popular imagination. Indeed,
no one to his friends was a more stimulating com-
panion. When alone with you he was very talkative,
and his curious humor and his quaint summing-up of
individuals and situations was an unfailing source of
intere§J|^ and surprise. He was absolutely unaffected,
and h^.l -^n ingrained distaste for popular demonstra-
tion, S| ^^^chifying and banquets.

" Children accepted him as a natural friend. I re-
member my little girl once meeting us as we came in
for tea from a walk, outside the tea room (she was,
I may say, his god-daughter), and she immediately
said to the great Lord Kitchener, * Don't go in there,
they are making such a chatter ; come up and have tea
with me,' and up he went right to the top of the house,
with his lame leg, and sat down with Imogen and
her nurse and had a long talk.

" There is one short story about him and the Army
I think I may tell, as it helps you to understand him.
A high staff officer, who has now a command, came
to see him from the front, and he put searching ques-
tions to him about mtmitions, and then he said : 'I
hope the Army does not think I have let them down,*
and two large tears rolled down from his stem eyes.

18 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

The munitions difficulty was part of our unprepared-
ness for war. The contractors undertook to carry
out contracts, but owing in a great measure to their
best men leaving for the war, found themselves un-
able to do so, and Lord Kitchener had terrible dis-
appointments.

" Work was the keynote of Lord Kitchener's life,
and work is the legacy he leaves to us. Amusements,
as such, did not amuse him; his aim was always to
get something big accomplished, and he accomplished
it. And now he is gone, and it feels, as I have seen
it described, * Like Nelson's column falling — some-
thing national, almost symbolic, gone,' but his work
and his example remain, and, if it had to be, I hope he
may lie where he is with a British warship for his
coffin."

The disappearance of Lord Kitchener under such
circumstances furnishes a dramatic close to a remark-
able life. Is it any wonder that the imaginative should
seek to envelop his exit in a cloud of romance and
conjecture? The average hard-headed Britisher will
have no doubt but that he found a watery grave. The
unusual man, with a well-developed sense of imag-
ination, will construct a tale of mystery such as no
novelist would care to risk on paper. The writer
does not presume to speak for either side. The plain
facts in the case, so far as they are known, have been
given in an impartial manner. The reader will have
to draw his or her own conclusions.

MISS EDITH CAVELL — FIRST MARTYR
OF THE GREAT WAR

Ill

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II — THE
GREATEST MYSTERY OF THE WAR

Ill

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS U — THE
GREATEST MYSTERY OF THE WAR

IT would be difficult to name any event of the war
of more dramatic interest than the deposition of
the Czar of Russia, and the overthrow of the
greatest autocracy in the world. While these lines
are being written, that country is still in an almost
hopeless state of chaos, and time alone will tell the
place it is to occupy in civilization. After centuries
of despotism the whole false fabric has gone down
into hopeless ruin. For the moment the last state of
Russia seems worse than its first, but eventually it
must work out its salvation on the lines of sanity and
justice. The peasants, coming out of the darkness
of absolutism, are dazed by the light of liberty. Rev-
olutions inevitably bring the least desirable elements
to the surface. Scoundrels and beggars on horse-
back will have their day. Law and order must come
in the long run, and when it does come the experi-
ment of a free Russia will be watched by the world
with much interest.

The purpose of this volume is not to deal with the
history of the war, but rather with the unusual per-
sonalities who played their part in the grim struggle.
Few possess such interest as the unfortunate Czar of

48 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

Russia. His overthrow was followed by a disappear-
ance which constitutes, perhaps, one of the greatest
mysteries of the great war. To some it is no longer
a mystery, but to others who demand absolute proof,
it is likely to remain one of the unsolved puzzles of
the ages. The present article pretends to do no more
than give the facts so far as they are known. The
unbiased reader will form his or her own conclusion,
but whatever that may be all will agree that the story
of Nicholas II contains more drama, more thrills
and more human interest than are to be found within
the pages of the most popular works of fiction.

Nikolai Alexandrovich, better known as the Em-
peror Nicholas II, was bom on May i8, 1868, and was
trained and fated to become the ruler of the great
Russian Empire. His education was all based upon
the assumption that he was to eventually ascend the
throne of his forefathers. To that end he was taught
several languages, and was made especially conversant
with Russian history. If he had had a quicker, more
observant mind, that, in itself, should have filled him
with forebodings, because the history of Russia is a
succession of intrigue, of bad faith and of political
assassinations. We are told that as the future head
of the " mighty armed strength of Russia,'* Nicholas
studied the art of war, and served in each of the three
branches of the national defense. To further broaden
himself for his big job he traveled extensively, and
special stress was laid on his journey through Asia to

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 49

Japan and the return by way of Siberia. On that oc-
casion the future Emperor hahed at Vladivostok and
laid the first stone of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Furthermore, he was permitted to take part in the
meetings of the Council of Empire, and was chairman
of the Far Eastern Committee. He succeeded to the
throne on November 2, 1894, immediately after the
death of his father.

It might be said at the outset that the new ruler of
Russia was a man of good intentions. He was really
kind-hearted, but without the strength of character
needed for such a trying position. An autocrat must
be strong and merciless, or else he is not likely to be
a successful autocrat. He had inherited a long suc-
cession of wrongs, and he was scarcely the man to
right them. His troubles began on the very day of
his inauguration. The faulty arrangements for his
coronation resulted in a panic during which two thou-
sand persons were killed or injured. It was but an-
other instance of the graft and inefficiency which
cursed Russia for years. As an evidence of the great
kindness of heart of the young Czar, we are reminded
that he gave a large sum of money for the relief of
the victims and that their families were remembered.

Russia had had thirteen years of peace, and, curi-
ously enough, the thought of the governing powers of
that country was that it had been gaining, strength and
wealth only for the purpose of crushing those who
might try to block its growing power. As one writer
puts it, Russia " was crouching, but had not yet
sprung." The war with Japan came, but even that

50 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

humiliating defeat does not seem to have taught a
lesson to the Czar and the array of conscienceless
Grand Dukes who strutted about and oppressed the
people and lived on graft.

In the meantime the poor Czar tried his best to be
a wise and generous ruler. He gave himself faith-
fully to the performance of the small duties of his
position. He read papers and telegrams, he worked
ten and eleven hours a day, and it is told with pride
that he kept a diary of the happenings of each day.
And while he was immersed in small things, those upon
whom he depended were engaged in oppressing the
people and feeding the dissatisfaction. It was boasted
that he never rested during the daytime, and that he
personally wrote all of his directions to his subordi-
nates in his own handwriting. For instance, what
could be more childlike than the following claim to
the good will of his subjects?

" Expensive writing materials and luxurious condi-
tions for work make no appeal to him. He carries
on in this respect the wise economy of his father, and
uses the same material for work as the majority of
his subjects, and is sparing even of those. For in-
stance, he uses his pencils till they are all but finished,
and only then does he hand over stumps to his little
son to play with.''

And all of this while millions of money were being
wasted by those in whom he trusted. Yet it is cer-
tain that Nicholas was doing the best he could. He
undoubtedly wanted to do right. He constantly re-
peated: "I like to hear the truth." But is it con-

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 51

ceivable that he did hear the truth? If history is to
be believed, we must conclude that it was one of the
things he rarely heard. But he continued doing his
routine work day by day, laying corner stones, taking
part in the elaborate ceremonies of the court, and
always hoping that he would leave behind him a better
Russia than he had found when he ascended the
throne. From time to time he made notes on various
subjects that were brought to his attention, and they
prove that he had a really sincere desire to do the
right thing. Here are a few of these notes :

" I am firmly persuaded of the necessity of a com-
plete reform of our law statutes to the end that real
justice should at last reign in Russia, so, with the
help of God, let these things begin."

" Serious attention should be paid to Eastern Si-
beria in general, and the province of Okhotsk in par-
ticular, and the work should be put in hand at once."

" The Ministry of national education should con-
cern itself particularly with a special preparation of
school mistresses, taking measures at the same time
to protect them from the hard moral and material
conditions which place defenseless female workers in
such a helpless position."

These recommendations indicate that the Czar had
a real desire to improve the condition of his sub-
jects. There is no doubt about his good intentions.
His relations with those around him were always
marked by great kindness and affability. His kindness
and consideration also marked the attitude of the Im-
perial family towards their servants. They showed

52 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the same interest in their private affairs and an anxiety
to overlook the difference of position and treated them
with a consideration due to them as men and woinen.
These facts should be kept in mind in forming an
estimate of the personal character of the Czar.

It was his ambition to be known as the " little
father " of his people. He was interested in measures
that would improve the condition of the agricultural
peasant, and on various occasions he expressed him-
self formally in these words :

" It is my chief pre-occupation to discover the needs
of the peasants who are so dear to me."

** I am specially concerned with the welfare of the
peasant."

" I am earnestly considering the condition of the
peasantry, and the question of giving them the land
they need."

"Of all the bills introduced by me into the Duma,
I consider the one which deals with the reform of the
land tenure of the peasantry to be the most im-
portant."

" I will not forget the peasant ; your needs are near
to my heart, and I shall always keep them in mind.*'

The personal participation of the Czar in the con-
duct of affairs is also shown in his attitude towards
the law makers of Russia. On one occasion, in an-
swer to the expressions of loyalty of the Senate, he
said : " I thank you sincerely, gentlemen, for the
sentiment that you have expressed. I greatly appre-
ciate your unselfish work which so completely fulfills
the object of your institution. The Senate's two cen-

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 53

turies of good work for the good of the State have
proved the necessity of its place in the organization
of the Russian State. During the past two hundred
years the Senate has undergone many changes, but
they have never shaken its foundations so firmly laid
by the strong hand of Peter the Great. Remember-
ing, on this memorable day, the glorious past of the
Senate, I am glad to recall that in the days of revolt
and disorder the Senate remained a firm bulwark of
law and order. In the future, follow the example
of the past Senators, who kept fixed in their minds
the words of their founder; and honestly, not idly, but
with zeal fulfill your duties and may God help you
in your further work for the good of our dear country
and the glory of the Russian Empire."

There are numerous instances of the Czar*s good-
ness of heart to those who served him; for instance,
after the Central Asian Railway was built, much
difficulty was caused by the shifting sands which
threatened to interfere with the trains. It was not un-
til 1895, when M. Paletski, of the Foreign Depart-
ment, entered the service of the railway as Supervisor
of Plantations, that the problem was solved. By great
study and hard work, Paletski found a means to
prevent the sand from shifting by sowing plants in it at
a small outlay. In this way the area covered by
artificial plantations along the Central Asian Railway
covers more than ten thousand acres. The Emperor
was delighted with this work, and knowing that
Paletski could not be rewarded by a mere grant of
money, he promoted him, in spite of regulations to

54 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

the contrary, to the rank of actual Counsellor of
State.

Again, in 191 2, Dr. Deminski and a female student
of medicine died oiF the plague contracted while at-
tending patients in one of the villages. The Emperor,
on hearing of the heroic end of these modest workers,
gave orders that the Minister of the Interior should
furnish him with all of the details of the sacrifice that
had been made by these two Russians. Then he or-
dered that the widow of Dr. Deminski should be given
a pension equal to her husband's full salary, and that
her children should be educated at the expense of the
State. At the same time, the parents of the student
who had died, were given an annual sum equivalent
to the salary their daughter would have received had
she passed through college and received her degree of
doctor. These incidents, small in themselves, indi-
cate that Nicholas II was anything but a tyrant in
dealing with his subjects.

When the war began the Czar found himself con-
fronted by the most critical events in his life. There
is every reason to believe that he did the best in his
power for his country and the Allies. There is one
incident which is told by Count Gaston de Merindal,
a French writer, who was in Petrograd at the time.
He says that he stood in front of the Winter Palace
and a mass of people was kneeling as though in mute
adoration in front of a man who had just made his
appearance on one of the balconies. This man was
the Czar. He said : " I swear I will not put my
sword into its scabbard until they, who have at-

NICHOLAS II

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 55

tacked us, shall have been vanquished. People of
Russia, pray for victory."

A great shout came in response. This cry was a
menace, an oath, a prayer. It ended in a song, and
the song was *' God preserve the Czar."

In telling this, the Frenchman tried to make it clear
that the peasants really cared for the Czar, and that
after his downfall there was remorse and shame in
the eyes of many of them when one mentioned the
name of Nicholas II.

There is no need in this place to enter into the story
of Russia's part in the great war. It is enough to
say that rumors were heard from time to time that
that country was anxious to make a separate peace
with Germany, and that those high in power were not
in sympathy with the cause of the Allies. On March
15, 19 1 7, came the astounding story of the success-
ful revolution in Russia, and the report that the
Emperor Nicholas had abdicated. The Grand Duke
Michael Alexandrovich, the younger brother of the
Czar, became Regent, but in a short time he, too, was
swept out of power. The scenes in the Russian capi-
tal were thrilling in the extreme. The killing of Count
Freederiks, Minister of the Imperial Court, and aide-
de-camp to the Emperor, was one of the incidents of
the revolution. His house was burned, his aged wife
carried out fainting, and his daughter ill-treated by
the drunken mob. There were arrests and murders,
and the Duma joined hands with the revolutionists;
regiment after regiment revolted, and in less than
twenty-four hours the whole fabric of Russian autoc-

56 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

racy crumbled to dust. Evidently the whole popula-
tion was against the Government. The early period
of the uprising seemed more like a mock revolution,
and although much fighting took place, the casualties
were not large, and finally, with the abdication of
the Grand Duke Michael, the Romanoflf dynasty came
to an inglorious end.

The Czar was not in Petrograd when the revolu-
tion began, but a telegram w^as sent to him by the
Czarina, telling him that an uprising had broken out
in Petrograd, and to come home at once. Even then
he did not realize the full meaning of the news. He
was told that a crowd of students, hoodlums and
young soldiers had terrorized the Duma, but that a
few detachments of troops would be able to put them
down. One of his staff told him that seven hun-
dred of the St. George cavalry were on their way
to present a cross to the Emperor, and had arrived
at a nearby station. He was informed that it would
be sufficient for him to appear in the midst of these
heroes and go to the Duma, but one general in the
party could restrain himself no longer. It was Gen-
eral Zabel. He said : " There are sixty thousand
troops with officers backing the temporary Govern-
ment. Your Majesty has been declared dethroned.
It is impossible to go further."

The Czar was completely taken aback at this an-
nouncement. When he was able to speak, he ex-
claimed: "Why was I not told before? Why tell
me now when all is finivshed? " After a moment he
added with a gesture of helplessness : " Let it be

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 57

so. Thank God! I will abdicate if that is what the
people want. I will go to Levidia to my gardens.
I am so fond of flowers."

But he was not destined to go to his flowers. Two
or three hours after making these statements he signed
his abdication. His chief concern from that moment
was of the Czarina. He turned to those around him
and said : " What has Alexandra to do with poli-
tics? I refuse to believe that she is unpopular among
the people."

By this time the Czar had been formally taken into
custody. Four members of the Duma looked after
that formality. The deposed Emperor was taken im-
mediately to the Alexandrovsky Palace where the
former Empress had already been interned. Nicholas
was met at the door by Count Benckendorff, who was
First Marshal of the Court, and who was now, him-
self, under arrest.

To add to the distress of the occasion, all of his
five children were in bed with the measles, for which
reason the Empress had not been outside of the palace
walls for two days. She was given a certain amount
of liberty, although forbidden to use the telephone and
telegraph, or have any communication with the out-
side world.

The Czar held himself erect and seemed calm and
indifferent while he was with his captors, but once
within the privacy of his room, he broke down and
wept.

Speaking to those of his own party, he said that he
had undertaken more enlightened projects than any

58 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Czar since the time of Peter the Great. In 1898 he
appealed to the world to establish international peace,
and this at a time when Russia had the largest stand-
ing army. This led to the Hague conference. He
also pointed to the fact that he had established the
Duma in August, 1905, and he concluded by exclaim-
ing bitterly : " Why do my people persecute me when
I have tried so hard to help them? '*

The two things that he had feared most — revolu-
tion and assassination — were now partly accom-
plished. He had meant well, but that was not suffi-
cient for a Czar of Russia. He has been compared
to Louis XVI. Both were amiable and well-mean-
ing, but both were weak and dominated by politicians
who looked solely after their own interests, and in
the case of Nicholas II, came the loss of his crown and
the overthrow of an already tottering throne.

The Czar's own record of his downfall is one of
the curiosities of the great war. As already men-
tioned in the earlier part of this narrative, it was
his practice to keep a daily account of his life. Part
of this fell into the hands of the Revolutionists, and
a portion of his diary, relating to his last days, was
prepared by a Bolshevist commission, and printed
in the Isvestia, a Petrograd newspaper. It is repub-
lished here, not only for its own inherent interest, but
because it gives a vivid picture of the events of those
thrilling days:

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 59

March ii, 1917. Disturbances have been oc-
curring for several days at Petrograd. Troops have
unfortunately taken part in them. It is an uncom-
fortable feeling to be so far away and to receive
only brief, unfavorable reports.

March 13. Went to bed at 3.15, because I had
a long talk with Ivanoff, whom I sent to Petrograd
with troops to restore order. Slept till 10.
Traveled all day, and arrived at Lichoslav at 9
o'clock.

March 14. Returned from the station at Visher
because Liuban and Tossno are occupied by the in-
surgents. Went to Pskoff, where I spent the night.
Saw Russky. He, Daniloff , and Savitsh dined with
me. Gatschina and Luga are occupied by the in-
surgents. It is a shame and a disgrace. It was
impossible to proceed to Tsarskoe Selo. All my
thoughts and feelings are all the time there. How
hard it must be for poor Alex to go through all this
alone. May the Lord God help us !

March 15. In the morning Russky read me a
long conversation he had by telephone with
Rodzianko. His opinion was that the situation at
Petrograd was such as to render powerless any
Ministry representing the Duma, owing to the op-
position of the Social Democrats. My abdication
is necessary. Russky communicated this conversa-
tion to headquarters, and Alexeieff to the army com-
manders. Their replies arrived at 1.30 in the after-
noon. The main contents were that the decision to
take this step was necessary to save Russia and ap-
pease the army at the front. I agreed. A draft
manifesto was sent to me from headquarters.

In the evening Gutchkoff and Shulgun arrived
from Petrograd, with whom I had a conversation
and to whom I handed a rewritten manifesto which I

60 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

had signed. Left Pskoff at one o'clock in the
night, my experiences weighing heavily on me.
All around are treachery, cowardice, and decep-
tion.

March i6. Slept long and well. Only awakened
far from Dvinsk. A sunny and frosty day. Dis-
cussed with my people yesterday's events. I read
much in Julius Caesar. At 8.20 I arrived at Mogi-
leff, where the whole staff awaited me at the station.
At 9.30 I went to my house. Alexeieff came with
the latest news from Rodzianko. So Mischa [the
Grand Duke Michael] has resigned! His mani-
festo closes with a wag of the tail for the Constitu-
ent Assembly, which is to be elected in three months.
God knows what moved him to put his signature to
such nonsense. In Petersburg the unrest has ceased.
If only it had lasted longer!

March 22. Began to fast, but the fast did not
begin with joy. After midday mass Kerensky was
here. He begged that we might restrict our meet-
ings to meal times, and sit apart from the children.
This was to a certain degree necessary for him in
order to pacify the famous Soldiers' and Laborers'
Council. To avoid any violence one must adapt
one's self.

March 30. Slept well. At 10 o'clock the good
Alex [one of the Grand Dukes] arrived. Hereupon
a conference. At 12 o'clock I went to the station
to receive dear mamma, who had come from Kieff.
I took her with me, and we breakfasted together.
She stayed and talked for a long time. I received
at last two telegrams from Alice [the Czaritsa].
Went for a walk. Horrible weather, cold and snow-
storm. Received after tea Alexeieff and Freederiks.
Dined in the evening with mamma, and sat with her
until II o'clock.

TH;E fate of NICHOLAS II 61

March 31. The day is clear and frosty. At 10
o'clock to midday mass. Mamma came later. She
breakfasted, and remained with me until 4 o'clock.
At tea received General Ivanoff, who came back
from the requisitioning. He had been to Tsarskoe
Selo, and had seen Alice. What has become of
poor Counts Freederiks and Wojesloff, whose pres-
ence excites everybody? They have gone to
Freederik's property near Pensa. In the evening
with mamma.

April 3. Last day in Mogileff. At a quarter to
1 1 read a farewell command to the army. Went to
the house of the officer of the day, where I took
leave of the staff and authorities. At home farewell
to the officers and Cossacks of the Guard and the
Free Regiment. My heart was breaking. At 12
o'clock with mamma, in her carriage, where we
breakfasted. Remained with her and her suite until
half-past 4. Took leave of her, Sondro, Sergei,
Boris, and Alek. Poor Nilow was not allowed to
come to me. At a quarter to 5 left Mogileff. It
was touching, the crowd of people who accompanied
me. Four members of the Petersburg Soviet in my
train. Am heavy, woeful, and full of longing.

April 4. Arrived quickly and safely at 11.30 at
Tsarskoe Selo. God, what a difference! On the
streets, around the castle, and even in the park
sentinels. Before the entrance some ensigns.
Went upstairs and saw Alice, my soul, and the poor
children. She faced things bravely and healthily.
All were in a dark room, on account of the measles ;
but they felt well, except Marie, who was only then
beginning with the measles. Breakfasted and also
dined at midday in the playroom of Alexis [the
Czarewitch]. Saw good Benckendorff. Went with
him for a walk, and worked with him in the gardens,

62 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

as I was not allowed to go further. After tea
brought my affairs into order.

April 5. Outside the conditions under which we
live here, the thought that we are together rejoices
and consoles me. Received in the morning Benck-
endorff, looked through papers, regulated and
burned many. Sat with the children until 2.30.
Went for a walk with Dolgorouki, accompanied by
ensigns. To-day they were more pleasant.

April 6. Received Benckendorff in the morning.
Learned from him that we shall remain here for a
rather long time. It is pleasant to know this.
Again burned letters and papers. Anastasia has the
earache — the same as the others. Went in the
afternoon with Dolgorouki for a walk, and worked
in the garden. At a quarter to 7 went to night mass.
Afterward went to Anna [a lady of the Court and
a favorite of the Czaritsa] and Lilly. Thereupon
to rest.

April 12. At 10 o'clock we went to mass, at
which many took communion. Walked for a short
time with Tatiana. To-day the burial of the " vic-
tims of the revolution " took place in our park oppo-
site the center of the Alexander Palace. Sounds of
funeral music and the " Marseillaise " were to be
noted. At 6 o'clock we went to a religious service.

April 18. In the morning a short walk. Regu-
lated affairs and books. Began to lay on one side
everything which I will take with me when it comes
to the journey to England. Work in the garden.

April 21. Passed quietly the twenty-third anni-
versary of our betrothal. In the morning walked
for a long time with Alexis.

May II. Abroad to-day is the first of May.
Our asses have therefore decided to celebrate this
day by processions through the streets with music

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 63

and red flags. Apparently they came into our park
and laid wreaths. Walked for an hour and a half
and in the evening began to read aloud to the chil-
dren " A Millionaire Girl." (This book title ap-
pears in English.)

May 14. In the morning went for a walk. At
twelve o'clock a geography lesson with Alexis.
During the day again worked in our vegetable gar-
den. In the evening learned that Korniloff has re-
tired from the post of upper commander of the
Petersburg military district, and also of the resigna-
tion of Gutchkoff. Always on the same grounds —
irresponsible interference with the orders of the
military authorities by the Labor Deputies' Council
and by some organization or other standing much
further to the left.

June 16. After morning tea Kerensky suddenly
appeared in auto from town. He did not remain
long with me. He requested that some documents
which had relation to internal policy should be sent
over for the inquiry committee.

July 2. Before midday came good news about
the beginning of the offensive on the southwestern
front. In the direction of Sloczow, after two days'
artillery preparation, our troops broke through the
enemy's positions, taking 170 officers and 10,000
men prisoner, and capturing cannon and machine
guns. I thank Thee, O Lord! God has sent us
this in a good hour. I feel myself quite different
after this joyful message.

July 9. Our good commander. Colonel Komblin-
sfki, requested me not to shake hands with the officers
in the presence of strangers, and not to call out any
words of greeting to the guards. This I have done
sometimes, but they, however, do not respond.
Studied geography with Alexis. Then we felled a

64 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

gigantic tree in the gardens behind the orangery.
The guards even wanted to help in this work. Read
to the end " The Count of Monte Cristo."

July 1 8. In Petersburg to-day there were riots
and fighting. A number of soldiers and sailors ar-
rived from Kronstadt to oppose the Provisional
Government. Complete confusion. Where are the
people who could take this movement in their hands
and could end the struggle (without) shedding
blood? The root of the evil is in Petersburg itself,
not in the whole of Russia.

July 19. Happily the tremendous majority of the
troops in Petersburg remain faithful to their duty
and order has been restored in the streets. Worked
the whole of the day in the woods, felled four trees
and sawed them up. In the evening began to read
" Tartarin of Tarascon."

July 21. Worked in the park. To-day, like yes-
terday, the guards of the ist and 4th Regiments of
Guards were correct in service, and did not patrol
during our walk in the garden. Changes have taken
place in the Government. Prince Lvoff has gone;
Kerensky becomes Minister-President and at the
same time Minister of War and Marine, also has the
leadership of the Trade Ministry. This man is de-
cidedly in the right place at the present moment.
The greater power he has, the better it will be.

July 22. Three months we have passed here
since I left Mogileff and came here, and we are pris-
oners. It is hard to be without news of dear
mamma. All the rest is indifferent to me.

July 24. In the morning walked with Alexci.
On my return learned of the arrival of Kerensky.
In our conversation he mentioned our probable de-
parture for the south on account of the proximity
of Tsarkoe Selo to the disturbed capital. 01ga''s

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS n 65

name day, therefore went to church. Worked well
in the garden. Read the third part of the trilogy
of Mereschkowfki's "Peter" (trilogy: Julian the
Apostle, Leonardo da Vinci, and Peter). Well
written, but leaves a heavy impression behind.

July 27. Since the last few days bad news from
the southwest front. After our defensive at
Halisch many divisions which were completely
soaked with the humiliating defeatist teaching did
not carry out the command to attack, but withdrew
without any pressure from the enemy at some posi-
tions. The Germans and Austrians have made use
of this, for them, favorable state of affairs and car-
ried out with great force a break-through in South-
ern Galicia, which may force the whole of the Ga-
lician front to retreat east. Simply weakness and
doubt. To-day at least the Provisional Government
has declared that in the theater of war capital pun-
ishment shall be restored for treachery. If only
this measure has not come too late 1 Worked again,
felled three trees, sawed up two. Began quietly to
pack books and things.

We know that Nicholas II was eventually taken to
Ekaterinburg, and we have knowledge of the house in
that city where he was last imprisoned. Was he exe-
cuted while there? How was he executed? What
became of the Czarina and her children? These were
questions which agitated the whole world for a long
time. One of the men who tried to answer these
queries was Mr. Carl W. Ackerman, a journalist and
author whose writings on the great war have made

66 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

him an accepted authority. Mr. Ackerman undertook
a long and tedious journey through Russia and Si-
beria in order to learn the facts in the much-debated
case. Through his kindness, and that of the New
York Times, I am enabled to reproduce his report.
Writing to his newspaper, Mr. Ackerman says:

" During both the revolution and the counter-revo-
lution of Russia the Czar and his family were taken
from pillar to post by the various revolutionary Gov-
ernments, sometimes for the purpose of * safety,' and
again as a part of punishment for the imperial regime,
which the people as a whole believed was responsible
for their suffering and discontent.

" In the spring of 1918, Nicholas, his wife, the
former Czarevitch and the four daughters, together
with two physicians, one maid and a valet, were in the
hands of the Bolsheviki in Tobolsk, a Russian city
three hundred miles from the nearest railroad station.
They had been taken there, upon orders from Petro-
grad and Moscow, in droshkies because the Bolsheviki
believed, as the Czar did before, that the strongest po-
litical prisons were those far removed from the rail-
road.

" During the latter part of April the former im-
perial family was removed to Ekaterinburg, which was
one of the biggest cities in the Ural Mountains, on the
direct line of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, so that they
could be quickly shifted from city to city by the Bol-
shevist Government in case the Czechoslovak echelons,
which were moving throughout Central Russia, should
turn against the Moscow Soviet. About the 25th of

THE FATE OP NICHOLAS II 67

that month one Ural District Soviet of Workmen,
Cossacks, Soldiers and Sailors' Union, sent a commit-
tee of soldiers to the home of Professor Ipatieff, to
demand that he give up his residence immediately.
They did not state their reasons, but ordered him out.

" Professor Ipatieff's home is one of the most beau-
tiful in Ekaterinburg. It was built on a hill in one
of the main thoroughfares of the city, not far from
the palace of the * Platinum King ' of the world. Mr.
Ipatieff, an engineer, was one of the leading citizens,
ranking with the great engineers and industrial leaders
who were responsible for the production of wealth in
that community and in Russia, following the discovery
of the rich platinum and gold mines in the Urals. His
house was of cement and brick construction, painted
white, and two stories high.

" This house, which was destined to be the last
known prison for the Romanoffs, is within a stone's
throw of both the British and French Consulates. In
front there is a wide, open square, in the center of
which stands one of the numerous cathedrals of the
city. To the left, as neighbors, the Czar had some
of the poorest citizens. They lived in uninviting log
or frame huts. To the right, across the side street,
was a large two-story red brick residence, surrounded
by a brick wall. From the upper windows of this
house one could see into the small garden in the rear
of the Ipatieff residence, even after the Bolsheviki built
a twenty- foot board fence around Ipatieff's house. It
was in this garden that the imperial family was per-
mitted its only recreation and fresh air during the

68 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

eighty days the members were imprisoned there.

" Ekaterinburg does not resemble any American
city I know because the streets are at least twice as
wide as any of our broadest thoroughfares. The
buildings differ in architecture from ours and none of
them is more than two or three stories high. Often,
in riding about the city, one finds beautiful modern
buildings and residences next door to frame huts.
Timber is plentiful, because the city is in the center of
a vast forest, and, until the Urals gave up their cen-
tury-old wealth of precious metals and fine stones, such
as emeralds, rubies, alexandrites, topaz, etc., all of
the buildings were of frame construction. But as the
mines were developed the city prospered and magnifi-
cent residences were built. Before the revolution
ninety per cent, of the platinum of the world came
from this city, and at least ninety per cent, of the
women of the world who wear platinum jewelry owe
their beautiful ornaments to the Ekaterinburg mines.
Even the platinum jewels which the Czarina herself
possessed were mined originally in the Urals. The
alexandrites, one of the rarest stones, which is a green-
ish blue by day and a ruby red by night light, was dis-
covered here and named after one of the Czar's rela-
tives.

"Following the Bolsheviki orders, Professor Ipa-
tieff moved without delay. He was an intellectual, an
aristocrat, and 'user of the tooth brush,* to borrow
Paderewski's description of those who were persecuted
by the Bolsheviki. He realized that the quicker he left
the safer he was. Within a few days the Caar, the

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 69

Czarina, and their daughter, Mary, arrived, accompa-
nied by the physician who attended the Empress, who
suffered from heart trouble and rheumatism. The
Czarevitch and the other daughters were delayed be-
cause of the illness of the Czarina, but within a week
the family was united inside the white house and board
fence, which was guarded by some twenty Bolshevist
soldiers, said to have been recruited especially from
the mines and factories, because Ekaterinburg was also
a large industrial city. A group of the largest fac-
tories employed more than twenty-five thousand work-
men and women.

" The former royal family entered the house, under
heavy guard, of course, by none too kindly soldiers of
the Red Army, through the main entrance, on the pub-
lic square, which led directly into the rooms on the
second floor. Professor Ipatieff had been living in
these rooms, while on the first floor lived his servants,
who used the entrance on the side street.

" The testimony of all witnesses is the same as to
the main events which followed the crossing of this
threshold by the former rulers of Russia until the
night of the fifteenth and sixteenth of July. It is only
the evidence which follows the events of those dates
which is confusing.

" Entering the house, the Czar and his wife were
'escorted,' if not ordered, through the reception hall
and past one of the private rooms, already filled with
soldiers, to the large drawing-room which Professor
Ipatieff used when receiving guests. All of the fur-
niture and carpets remained as he had left it. Hang-

70 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

ing from the ceiling was a big crystal electric chande-
lier imported from France, and on the walls hung
valuable oil paintings. The furniture was modern,
expensive and comfortable, of carved oak. To the
left, as the Czar entered, he saw another room the
other side of an arch. This room was assigned to him
as a study. The Czarina's wheel chair, which had been
brought from Tobolsk, was placed near the wide plate
glass windows looking out upon the inside of the board
fence through heavy iron bars which had been fas-
tened in the walls outside of all the windows. Di-
rectly in front of the former imperial leaders as they
stood at the entrance of the reception room were two
large oak doors leading into the dining-room. To
their left were the kitchen, pantry, bathroom (one of
the very few private bathrooms in the city) and an-
other room which was later used by the Czarina's maid.
" The Bolshevist Commissars of Ekaterinburg led
the royal couple through the dining-rooms into two
smaller rooms facing the side street. One of these
rooms was assigned to the Czar, his wife, and the
Czarevitch as a bedroom. The other was designated
as the bedroom of the four daughters, although no
beds or cots were provided. Alone for a few brief
moments in these two rooms the Czarina walked to the
window, drew aside the heavy portieres, and looked
with a fainting heart through iron bars upon the
rough interior of the board fence which obstructed
entirely what was once a beautiful view of the cathe-
dral and square and the * Platinum King's ' palace not
more than two hundred feet away. But these the Em-

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 71

press could not see. Above the fence were visible only
the vast, free, pale blue heavens. Turning to the Czar
and asking for a pencil she again drew the curtains
aside and wrote on the frame of the window, * April
30, 19 1 8,' the day of her arrival, the first day of their
eighty days of suffering and anguish in Ekaterinburg,
prisoners of their former subjects.

" During my recent sojourn in that city, I had an
opportunity on several occasions of going through the
house which had been used by General Gaida ever since
the Czechoslovaks forced the Bolsheviki to evacuate
the city. The Czar's bedroom is now the private office
of this twenty-eight-year-old Czech General. The
bars still cover one of the windows and the Czarina's
handwriting is still to be seen on the window frame.

" I have several sources of information as to what
transpired in this house between the 30th of April and
the 15th of July, 191 8, but I doubt whether even the
details which these witnesses give fully describe the
terrible torture which the Romanoffs were forced to
endure. The names of some of the witnesses I can
give, others are confidential, but their statements, un-
abridged and uncensored, are the greatest possible in-
dictments of so-called * revolutionary-red justice.'

" Although the Czar, his wife and son were pro-
vided with beds and were supposed to have the private
use of the room, it frequently happened that the Czar-
ina's physician was forced to sleep in the same room.
In the adjoining room the four daughters slept on the
floor, with scarcely any bedding. At times the Czar
was forbidden to see his wife and they were seldom

72 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

permitted to talk except in the presence of a soldier.
Although the family ate in the spacious dining-room
of the Ipatieff home, food was prepared and served by
the Red Army and was very meager. For the family
only five knives, forks, spoons and plates were pro-
vided, and on more than one occasion the rude soldiers
would help themselves by hand from the erstwhile im-
perial table. When any member of the family bathed
it was forbidden to close the bathroom door, and in
the frame of the door both at the top and sides are
literally hundred of bayonet marks showing that on
many occasions soldiers stood on guard at the door
with drawn bayonets. In fact, so many bayonet jabs
are still visible in the walls and ceilings of some of the
rooms that it seems certain beyond a doubt that the
guard in the house always had bayonets attached to
their loaded rifles.

"After examining the walls of the house I con-
cluded that the soldiers must have tried bayonet prac-
tice from time to time in the various rooms, but
whether this was done when members of the Czar's
family were there one cannot say. Whenever any
member of the family walked in the garden soldiers
stood on the balcony, leading from the dining-room
and looking out over the garden. Professor Ipatieff,
who was in Ekaterinburg, living nearby throughout
the Czar's imprisonment, stated that the soldiers often
aimed their rifles at the Czar while he was walking.
With their finger on the trigger of their rifles and eyes
on the sight-points they would follow his movements.

" The Czar was not permitted to receive any news-

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 73

papers, and many of the letters which he wrote and
which were sent to him were never delivered. Nich-
olas himself wrote scores of letters to his friends, but
they were usually simple statements about the health
of the family. The day before his trial for partici-
pation in an alleged counterplot against the Bolsheviki
he was permitted to write letters to his relatives and
friends, but as far as known none of these was sent
by the Ural District Soviet.

"That the Czar, however, was in communication
with the outside world through various secret channels
is quite certain. One of the nuns in the monastery of
Ekaterinburg, for instance, informed me that one day
she received word from Odessa saying that the Czare-
vitch was ill, and asking her, in behalf of * friends of
the Czar,' to take milk, eggs, and butter to the Czar's
house. By this name the Ipatieff residence became
known as soon as the Czar arrived, and to-day any one
in Ekaterinburg can tell you where the * Czar's house '
is. All of the drosky drivers know, as the taxi drivers
in Paris know the location of Napoleon's tomb.

" This nun — a simple, kindly faced, quiet, and pa-
tient old woman — related to me one afternoon her
experiences in delivering fresh eggs and milk. She
would not tell me how she received word from Odessa,
nor why any one in Odessa should know quicker than
the people of Ekaterinburg that the Czarevitch was
ill — that he was so ill that he often spat blood.

" At the beginning of July, however, when she began
to take food to the Czarevitch, the Bolshevist Com-
missar permitted her to take butter, eggs, and milk to

74 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the Czarina personally. Often, she said, she would
take a bottle of cream, sugar, and sweets to the house,
but it was not long until the Bolsheviki either became
suspicious or were revengeful. One day they seized
everything she had for their own use, telling her to
get out and never return. The following morning she
appeared as usual and was permitted to send in the
eggs and milk.

"On several occasions during these visits she had
very brief ' audiences * with the members of the family.
Naturally she would not tell me whether she carried
news to the Romanoffs, but from other sources I
learned that it was through this monastery that some
of the Czar's friends in Crimea were able to ' keep in
touch * with the Czar.

" It is known, also, that the former Emperor on a
few occasions received letters and news through a
member of the Soviet guard, who, despite his position,
was still loyal to the * Little White Father.' Another
route by which news traveled to and from the Czar
was through signals from the attic of the brick house
across the street from the Ipatieff residence, which I
have described. A private telephone in this house was
connected with the office of a certain prominent busi-
ness man. The man in the attic and this merchant
communicated with each other day and night, and I
remember learning from one of them some of the se-
cret phrases they used in talking, so that if any one
should by chance overhear them the Bolsheviki could
not understand. When the observer under the roof
of the house across the street saw the Czar in the gar-

THE FATE OP NICHOLAS II 75

den he would phone, * The baggage is at the station/
and then messages would be communicated to the Czar.

" Throughout the time the Czar and his family were
imprisoned here efforts were being made to release
him. On more than one occasion the Czar received a
message stating that he would soon be freed. General
Denikine, who is now commanding the Cossacks near
Kiev, an old and intimate friend of Nicholas, was en-
deavoring in every possible way to save his former
imperial master. General Dutoff, another friend of
the Czar, operating in the Urals, was seeking to deliver
his friend. The Czecho-slovaks, despite their revolu-
tionary tendencies, were bent upon snatching the Czar
from the Bolsheviki. There were independent Rus-
sian and foreign business interests in Ekaterinburg
which wanted him released. More money was spent
trying to free Nicholas Romanoff than the Bolsheviki
ever used in guarding and transporting him or main-
taining an organization to prevent his escape.

" Thus, in advance of the Czar's trial before the
secret night session of the Ural District Soviet, there
was being waged in Russia and Siberia a bitter and
ceaseless contest between the friends and enemies of
the Czar. Ekaterinburg was the center of the intrigue
and the Czar himself was playing no unimportant
part.

" After the trial, where the Czar was condemned to
death, the Moscow wireless station sent out an official
communication addressed, as are all messages from
wireless towers under control of the Soviet, * To all,
to all, to all,' announcing that the Czar had been exe-

76 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

cuted in Ekaterinburg, but that the family had been
removed from the city to a place of safety.

''But was Nicholas II killed? If so, how and
where? This is where the r^al mystery of the Czar
begins. From this date until to-day the world has
speculated. Evidence of all kinds has been published
to prove his death and to announce that he is still alive.

" It has been said that * votes should be weighed and
not counted.' So is it with regard to facts. Weigh-
ing the evidence regarding the Czar himself I should
say that six-tenths of the weight indicates that he is
dead ; four-tenths that he may be alive.

" The Czar was tried, condemned to death and taken
from the courtroom back to the Ipatieff residence.
Some witnesses maintain that he was executed imme-
diately in the basement or the first floor of this house.
Other citizens declare that he was taken outside the
city and shot. Some think he was murdered in the
house without trial.

" To show how the testimony differs I shall refer to
the published statements of Prince Lvoff. He de-
clared in Vladivostok and Japan that he and the Czar
were kept in the same prison and had the same jailers.
That cannot be true, as far as Ekaterinburg is con-
cerned, because I could not find a person in Ekaterin-
burg who had heard that Prince Lvoff was in the Ipa-
tieff residence as a prisoner. He was confined for four
months in the prison of Ekaterinburg, but the Czar
was never there. Prince Lvoff and many others de-
clare the Czar and his whole family were killed in the
Ipatieff house and they point to the bullet holes in the

THE PATE OP NICHOLAS II 77

walls of the room. The nun from the monastery who
took eggs and milk to the Czarevitch told me that she
is positive none of them was executed in this house,
and that the Czarina, the Czarevitch, and the daugh-
ters were taken away in a motor truck which she saw
standing in the grounds of the Ipatieff residence on
July 15. She believes the Czar is dead, but that the
family is still alive. On the other hand, one of the
priests from the same monastery, who held short serv-
ices upon a few occasions in the house for the impe-
rial family, assured me that * the whole family is alive
and well.'

"While I was in Tuimen, the chief city between
Omsk and Ekaterinburg, one of the members of the
Russian nobility, who was an intimate friend of the
Czarina, received a message from the * interior of Rus-
sia by courier saying, " Your friends are all well.** *
When I questioned the American, British and French
Consuls, who were in the city throughout the Bolshe-
vist occupation, as to their opinions, they stated frankly
that they did not know whether the Czar was dead
or alive, and they were still conducting their investiga-
tions. Professor Ipatieff, who is now living on the
first floor of his house, surrounded by most of the fur-
niture which was used by the former imperial fam-
ily, showed me through the house on two occasions and
described in detail how the whole family was brought
from the second floor to the main floor by way of the
servants' stairs, lined up against the wall and shot. A
member of the Judicial Investigating Commission be-
lieves the family was killed in this house, but the only

78 THE WORLD'S GEEATEST SPIES

evidence any of them possess is the bullet holes in the
walls and floors and the finding of certain property of
the Czar and Czarina in the ashes of one of the stoves.
I saw the room in which they were supposed to have
been killed en masse, but I was not convinced by the
evidence presented there for these reasons :

" I. If the whole family was executed in this room,
then seven persons were killed. The bullet holes were
in the walls and some ' blood clots.* There were no
pools of blood, and it seemed doubtful to me that
seven persons should die a horrible death and leave only
small ' blood clots ' in the bullet holes and small blood-
stains on the floor.

"2. If they were executed in this room, then the
soldiers' rifles could not have been more than five feet
from the victims, because the room is very small. If
killed here the bodies must have been removed, be-
cause they were not found in this room nor in the
house. By removing seven bodies from such a room,
in midsummer, when it was very hot and sultry, the
members of the family surely did not wear very heavy
clothing, and it seems that bloodstains should have
been found in other parts of the house, but none was
found.

"3. It is stated that the bodies were burned after
execution in this house. This I believe is impossible,
because none of the stoves in the house is large enough.
The house was heated, as are most Russian houses, by
Russian stoves built in the walls, and the opening to
each stove is not more than a foot wide or deep. Still,
in one of these stoves the investigating commission

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 79

found a military cross which the Czar once wore, cor-
set staves and a large diamond belonging to the Czar-
ina. The stove in which these things were found was
in the bedroom of the Czar's daughters. This stove
was never used by the Bolshevist guard, and it is plausi-
ble that the Czar or Czarina burned these things them-
selves at the last hour so that the Soviet would not
find them. This might be substantiated by the fact
that the investigating commission, after having the
ashes examined, failed to find traces of any human
bodies.

" I do not believe the evidence that the whole fam-
ily was executed here is convincing. I think the Czar
may have been shot in this room, but, on the other
hand, there is the testimony of the Czar's personal
valet, Parfin Dominin, that the Czar was taken away
from the house early in the morning of July i6 by a
small Soviet guard. Dominin himself remained in the
house until the morning of the seventeenth. If any
one was shot in that house that night; if twenty shots
were fired on the first floor, the valet would have heard
them, because he was in the living-room of the Ipatieff
residence, which was almost directly above the room
where the bullet-holed wall stands to-day, and no Rus-
sian house is sound-proof.

" After examining carefully all of the evidence pre-
sented by Professor Ipatieff I made an investigation of
the testimony that the Czar was taken away and exe-
cuted. The Bolsheviki claim that this is what hap-
pened. They maintained he was executed outside the
city, before a firing squad. But was he? Is it not

80 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

possible that the Czar was kidnaped after he left the
house, surrounded by only three Red Army soldiers?
Considering all of the efforts which were being made
in and about Ekaterinburg to save the Czar, does it
seem possible that his friends, who were numerous in
the city and watchful, should permit three soldiers to
take him away? Is it not possible that some of the
disloyal Bolshevist soldiers, who were accepting bribes
and transmitting secret messages to and from the Czar,
were among that guard?

" I asked these questions because they came into
my mind while I was in Ekaterinburg, and because I
asked many Ekaterinburg citizens the same. In reply
I received all varieties of answers and various degrees
of speculations. The fact is that no one knows, but all
have their opinions. Professor Ipatieff maintains that
the questions are without justification. The priest
thinks that the Czar was * saved.' The nun thinks he
was killed afterward. The valet states the same. The
investigation commission is divided. The allied Con-
suls don't know. And still there is the testimony of a
prominent Russian merchant of Ekaterinburg that he
saw the Czar and his family in the private office of the
railroad depot master on July 20 !

" Ekaterinburg is divided. Since the latter part of
July, for seven months the city and surrounding coun-
try has been searched, and no remains of the bodies,
no traces of the family have been found.

" Some day, when it is possible for investigators to
go into European Russia and question other witnesses,
the puzzle may be solved.

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 81

" Nicholas II, former Czar of all the Russias, and
his family may be dead. They may still live. Who
knows ? ''

There is confusion in the multiplicity of accounts
which purport to tell the story of the last hours of
Nicholas Romanoff, and it would serve no purpose to
introduce them in this account. But this is one narra-
tive which may be taken as representative of those
which hold that the Cz.ir was executed, although inti-
mating that his family was spared. It is given by an
Austrian who was a prisoner of war, and was printed
in the Vienna Arbeit er-Zeitung and reprinted in the
Miinchner Post of February 5, 1919:

In the course of his story the Austrian asserts that
the ex-Czar, in addition to his regular body servant,
was attended by an Austrian prisoner of war who had
been recommended for the post by the Social Democrat
organization of the prisoners of war in the Urals and
who remained close to Nicholas until the day of the
latter's execution. The implication is that this Aus-
trian was detailed to see to it that the ex-Czar did not
succeed in establishing uninterrupted communication
with the counter-revolutionary forces planning to res-
cue him. The relator of this latest version of the ex-
Czar's execution is a Socialist, and presumably ob-
tained his information from the delegate of the Social
Democratic organization referred to.

Contrary to the generally accepted versions of the
removal of the ex-Czar from Tobolsk in April, 1918,

82 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the Austrian asserts that the ex-Czarina and the rest
of the family were left behind and did not accompany
Nicholas to Ekaterinburg, where he was confined in
the house of Pro-fessor Ipatieff. After giving some
details as to how the ex-ruler was guarded, the Aus-
trian continues:

" In the middle of June his family came from
Tobolsk to Ekaterinburg because the Czarina had ap-
pealed to the Soviet to be allowed to see her husband.
Already at that time the military situation was full of
danger for the town, and for that reason the Czarina
and the children were taken away from Ekaterinburg
after a sojourn of eight days. They were taken at
night in an automobile to a distant railroad station.
But the Czar remained in the city.

** In the first week of July there was no longer any
doubt that the town could not continue to be held by
the Soviet troops. As the result of a mistake by the
army administration the Czechoslovaks had succeeded
in pushing troops forward over the West Ural Rail-
road, which now were placed like a ring around the
city and threatened to cut it off not only from Siberia
and the whole Ural district, but also from Petrograd
and Moscow. A regular cutting off of the Ural Re-
public was being prepared, and the Soviet troops were
too weak to prevent it. The Soviet wanted to remove
the ex-Czar from the city at the last moment and put
him in a safe place, so as to hold a good hostage in
case of emergency. It was a big risk, however, for
there was the greatest danger of the friends of the
Czar obtaining possession of him. For this reason the

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 83

Social Revolutionaries, the Mensheviki, and the anar-
chist wing of the Central Soviet demanded that the
ex-Czar be called before the tribunal at once, as the
indictment had been pending long enough indeed.

" On Saturday, July 13, 191 8, this question was dis-
cussed at a meeting of the Soviets, and it was decided
by a more than two-thirds vote to call the Czar before
the tribunal, to procure the sentence and to execute it
at once. On the same day the tribunal assembled and
unanimously found him guilty of treason to the coun-
try and the people, and of the criminal murder of Rus-
sian citizens, as charged in the indictment, and con-
demned him to be shot to death. At eight o'clock in
the evening the verdict was announced to him in the
drawing-room of the villa where he was being held a
prisoner. The members of the tribunal were all pres-
ent at this ceremony. He received the news rather
calmly, and said: * If God so wills it, then may my
blood at least bring about the happiness of Russia.'
After a pause, he added : * I entreat you to spare my
wife and children this fate, as they are surely inno-
cent'

" The sentence was executed at four o'clock Sunday
morning in the cellar of the villa, so that the shots
would not be heard outside. (Other versions say that
the execution occurred on July 16 or 17.) The corpse
was carried away in an auto, whither is probably only
known by the members of the revolutionary tribunal.

" This is what occurred. I can assure you that all
the other reports now making the rounds of the press
are untrue. The alleged diplomat who has given news

84 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

to the Vienna press has only recounted what has been
shown to be only a matter of sensational gossip in the
town long before the Czar was condemned. The gen-
tleman certainly was not in touch with any member
of the Soviets, and, furthermore, it was so very diffi-
cult to find out anything about the condition of the
precious prisoner that, for reasons easily understood,
nothing was said about it even in Russian (Socialist)
party circles. What some papers print about bad
treatment, and even about the outraging of the Czarina
and her daughters, belongs to the realm of phantasy.'*

On April i, 19 19, it was announced by Mr. Wilfred
Fleisher, Jr., an American newspaper correspondent,
that the Czar and all of the members of the family had
been assassinated. He quoted as his authority Gen-
eral Dietrichs, who had been delegated by Admiral
Kolchak, the dictator of Siberia, to assemble the evi-
dence gathered by the Ural Government. According
to this authority, Nicholas II and the members of his
family were murdered on the night of July 16-17 at
two o'clock in the morning in the Ipatieff house in
Ekaterinburg. The event, it was averred, followed
weeks of mental and physical suffering during which
the Czarina and her daughter were subjected to Bol-
sheviki indignities. The story had it that their bodies
were loaded into a conveyance and taken into the coun-
try, and their bodies stripped of their clothing and the
remains " probably flung down a mine shaft." The

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 85

clothing, after being searched for valuables, was
burned in an effort to cover up all evidence of the
crime.

On the same date the former Grand Duke Alexander
of Russia, in Paris, to an Associated Press representa-
tive gave expression to his views concerning the prob-
able fate of Nicholas II. He said, " I have given up
all hope of ever seeing my nephew, the Emperor.
When I left Crimea I still entertained some hope he
might be alive. Now even that hope is dead.

" There is only one member of the family who per-
sists in clinging to the hope that he is alive — the
Dowager Empress. She has made a vow not to leave
Russia unless the demise of her son is established be-
yond the shadow of a doubt and I do not dare to shat-
ter her last allusions."

The former Grand Duke spoke feelingly, with ap-
parent effort to repress his emotion, of the execution
of his two brothers in Petrograd when they were led
out from Peter and Paul fortress and shot down with-
out semblance of a trial on January 29, 1919.

Late in August, 191 9, the full text of the Omsk gov-
ernment's report, giving details of the alleged murder
of the Czar and the members of his family, arrived in
the United States. It was signed by Starynkevitch,
Minister of Justice of the Kolchak Government at
Omsk, and was addressed to the Director of Foreign
Affairs. There is a repetition of many of the things
already outlined in this narrative, and some new facts.
For instance it says that on the walls of the room in
which the Czar was confined in Ekaterinburg was the

86 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

following inscription, made in German by an almost
illiterate hand :

" This is the night on which the Czar has been shot."
It is well known that the jewels of the Imperial fam-
ily were carried away by the Empress, and in order that
they might not be stolen had been sewn into the hats
and clothing belonging to the Grand Duchesses and the
ladies of the Court. That fact gives special interest to
one phase of the report, which says :

On July 17 peasants of the village of Koptiaky
and of the volosty (bailiwick) of Verknie-Isset,
named Andrew Chemetiewsky and Michael Alferof,
and others noticed certain camps of troops belong-
ing to the Red army at a distance of eighteen versts
(about twelve miles) from the city of Ekaterinburg;
these camps had been made in the forests not far
from the village. After the departure of the troops
the same peasants, returning by the same road which
the detachment of the Red army had followed,
reached a place where the Red Guards had made a
halt, and there discovered, near several caved-in and
abandoned wells, a small camp where they had
made a fire. In scraping over the ashes they found
a cross of emeralds, four corset whalebones, some
suspender buckles, several slippers, and buttons of
false pearls. Moreover, they noticed several other
objects on the top of the wells — a cane, treebark,
planks, firtree branches, and an iron shovel.

The examining magistrate, after having looked
over the approaches to the wells, called the Isset
Mine, found an old " vanity bag,'* some rags of fine
linen, lace, and some debris which was black and
shining. He also discovered there two tarnished
fragments of an emerald and of a pearl, a heap of

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 87

cloth which smelled of oil, a stone mounted on plati-
num, very much tarnished, sea-green in color, and
quite large; it was a diamond worth 100,000 rubles,
($50,000,) according to the estimate of an expert
who subjected the stone to a most careful examina-
tion.

According to the conclusions reached by this ex-
pert, this stone must have belonged to a necklace, a
magnificent work of art. On the loam all around
the wells they found signs of the explosions of star
shells, and on the walls of the wells there were still
traces where grenades had been exploded within.
After having pumped the water from the wells and
removed the sand which had fallen in, they found a
finger which had belonged to a human hand, a set of
false teeth, some pieces of bomb, a man's scarf pin,
and other objects of little importance.

M. Pierre Gillard, to whom we showed the dia-
mond and the other objects, certified that the neck-
lace of which it had formed a part had been sewn
into one of the dresses worn by one of the Grand
Duchesses, either Olga or Titiana Nicholaevna. As
to a pearl-set earring, that was identified by the same
witness as similar to those carried by the ex-Em-
press. Derevenko believed that he recognized in the
false teeth the set used by Dr. Botkine.

In comparing the earring found on the edge of the
well with those shown in a photograph of the ex-
Empress, which was furnished the investigating com-
mission, there can be no possible doubt as to its
origin. The other earring could not be found on
the place examined. However, we discovered sev-
eral pieces of pearl, and the expert, after having es-
tablished their quality by analysis, deducted that they
belong to another earring identical to the one found.

Those who are still inclined to be skeptical may ob-

88 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

tain some encouragement from the concluding part of
the report. After stating that the objects brought to-
gether during the investigation have a historic as well
as a legal value the report adds :

In spite of all evidence establishing beyond rea-
sonable doubt the murder of the imperial family,
there are a number of persons who testified that its
members had not been shot, but that they had been
transported from Ekaterinburg to Perm, or to Ver-
koturief. Hence the investigation was expanded
along these lines, but has not been able to confirm
the truth of the rumors of the transfer nor has it
been able to find a single witness who would certify
to having personally seen the departure of the im-
perial family.

The foregoing constitute all the evidential matter
gathered by the preliminary inquiry made with a
view to establish the fact of the crime having been
committed.

The present writer makes no attempt to reconcile
these conflicting statements concerning the fate of the
unfortunate Czar. The preponderance of evidence
would indicate that he is dead, but it must be admitted
that it is circumstantial evidence, and there will always
be those who will decline to accept that sort of testi-
mony, but all will agree that Nicholas Romanoff, in
his birth and troubled life, was a victim of circum-
stances. Fated for a post of great power and respon-
sibility, he was incapable of guiding the swift running
current of events. He might have been, as a writer
has said in another connection, '' splendidly common-
place," but his life could scarcely be called " brilliantly

THE FATE OF NICHOLAS II 89

unromantic.*' In spite of his good intentions and his
shortcomings — in spite of himself, he became one of
the momentous figures of modern history, and even in
the end he was to have the distinction of furnishing
one of the greatest mysteries of the world*s greatest
war.

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK AND
THE MYSTERY OF THE CYCLOPS

THE saddest word in the maritime vocabulary is
" missing,'* and yet it is the only term that can
be applied to the strange case of Alfred Louis
Moreau Gottschalk, American Consul-General to Rio
Janeiro, Brazil, who so mysteriously disappeared with
the captain, the crew and the United States naval col-
lier, the Cyclops.

In the official records reference is made to the vessel
alone, but it is impossible to tell the story without fea-
turing the personality of the distinguished consular
officer, who has been swallowed up in oblivion just as
effectually as the ship on which he was the most con-
spicuous civilian.

On April 15, 1918, it was first officially announced
that the Cyclops had been overdue at an Atlantic port
since March 13th of that year. The vessel had on
board fifteen officers, two hundred and twenty-one
of a crew, and fifteen passengers. She was last re-
ported at one of the West Indian Islands on March 4.
The Cyclops was in charge of Lieutenant-Commander
G. W. Worley, of the United States Naval Reserve,
and was bringing a cargo of manganese from Brazil.

This grayish-white metallic element is largely used

94 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

in the manufacture of glass and paint, and would have
been particularly useful to the United States and the
Allied Nations at that time. It is this fact that caused
most of the officials of the Government to conclude
that the Cyclops had been the victim of one of the
German submarines, those assassins of the sea which
worked so remorselessly during the great world war.
That might easily account for the disappearance of
the great collier. The fact that a distinguished con-
sular officer of the United States Government was
aboard the Cyclops might have made the vessel a
tempting target for the war-maddened Germans.
They loved a shining mark, and the blood-thirsty sub-
ordinates who carried out the orders of Von Tirpitz
were sure of special commendation when the victims
included men high in the confidence of the United
States, and those with whom it was associated in the
conduct of the war.

Another suggestion was that the Cyclops might have
been sunk by a bomb placed in its cargo before leaving
Brazil. In the course of some remarks before a Con-
gressional Committee concerned with the placing of a
duty upon manganese, Senator Phelan, of California,
said he had been told by a naval officer that the port
of departure of the vessel was filled with Germans
who had been interned for the period of the war.
There were other Germans living there also, and it is
quite likely that some of them were employed in load-
ing the Cyclops. Everybody knows the fanatical de-
votion of some Germans to the " Fatherland," no mat-
ter under what flag they might be living, and it is con-

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK 95

ceivable that they might regard it as a patriotic duty
to conceal explosives amid the cargo of the ship. In
this instance it would be easy to do so without de-
tection.

So easy and so self-complacent were we during cer-
tain stages of the great world war!

Another theory was that an internal explosion might
have wrecked the vessel, and at the same* time have
destroyed its wireless apparatus and motive power.
Instances were cited at the time to prove that such a
thing could have been within the realm of possibility.

But the difficulty with all three of these theories is
that no allowance is made for the surface wreckage
that would have marked the grave of the stricken
Cyclops. In even the worst of wrecks there have been
bits of deck and masts found floating in the ocean
weeks after the event. No such evidence has ever been
found in the case of the mysterious disappearance of
the naval collier.

A list of the crew reveals the fact that there were
fifty or sixty men with German names, and one of the
investigators has hazarded the guess that there was a
midnight meeting during which the commander and
the officers were overpowered and the ship taken into
some German port. But this supposition must be re-
garded as fantastic, because, out of two hundred and
fifty-one men, some would surely have come forward
to t-ell the tale even at this late day.

Along the same line of thought is the suggestion that
the ship was captured by U-boats, a prize crew placed
aboard and the ship conveyed to Germany. The

96 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Cyclops visited Kiel a year after she was built, and
while she was there was greatly admired and envied
by German experts. Might they not be obsessed with
the idea of capturing such a valuable prize? Yes, but
common sense must dismiss this theory as one that
will not hold water.

Some of the best authorities among the naval men
in the United States are content to believe that the
collier went down in one of those tropical storms
which are so disastrous to shipping. Yet this is diffi-
cult to believe in the case of a vessel of nineteen thou-
sand tons displacement, built especially to weather the
severest storms.

Perhaps the most plausible theory of all is that the
Cyclops was caught in one of those awful West Indian
typhoons which come so suddenly in the tropical seas.
Could it be that the vessel was caught in one of those
overpowering whirlpools and sucked to the bottom of
the ocean? Who knows? The attempt to explain
away the unexplainable makes the brain reel, and only
emphasizes the finite quality of the human mind.

The loss of the Cyclops will go down into history
not only as one of the great mysteries of the sea, but it
also will be noted for the fact that its most distin-
guished passenger was Alfred Louis Moreau Gott-
schalk, American Consul-General at Rio Janeiro, Bra-
zil. Like Lord Kitchener, the circumstances of his
last end were to be shrouded in impenetrable darkness.
He did not enjoy the fame of the great British soldier,
but there are many persons in this country who feel
that his disappearance, under such strange auspices,

CONSUL-GENEEAL GOTTSCHALK 97

was a real and irreparable loss to the Government of
the United States.

In view of this fact it may not be inappropriate, in
this place, to throw some light upon the personality
and the service of this official who was not as well
known as he should have been, but whose work was
valued at its true worth by those who were charged
with the consular and diplomatic affairs of this coun-
try. He came from a noted New Orleans family, and
was a descendant of one of the most famous of the
marshals of Napoleon. He was richly endowed with
musical and artistic talent and had a most agreeable
personality. He was well known as a traveler and
explorer, and if he had been spared, would undoubt-
edly have won greater honors in the world of business
and politics.

The manner in which Mr. Gottschalk came to enter
the consular service of the Government is not only
interesting in itself, but throws an illuminating side-
light upon the character of his unusual man. He had
family connections in New York and Philadelphia,
and one of his maternal aunts married a Peterson,
member of the famous publishing firm in the Quaker
City which printed one of the pioneer magazines of
America, a publication which gave some of the earliest
efforts of Edgar Allan Poe to the world. The young
man had talent and facility of expression, and in the
natural course of events entered the newspaper pro-
fession. He became acquainted with Joseph M.
Rogers, at that time managing editor of the Philadel-
phia Inquirer, and the friendship thus formed led to

98 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

his assignment as one of the correspondents to report
the Spanish-American War for the Inquirer, the New
York Herald and the London Telegraph.

He did his work well, but after the conclusion of
the war, instead of returning to Philadelphia, decided
to embark in business in San Domingo. The venture
was undertaken as much for experience as anything
else, and in the course of time he returned to the United
States with more experience than when he had left,
but with less money. He had engaged in sugar grow-
ing in both San Domingo and Hayti, but while he
showed enterprise and industry it was evident that he
was not cut out for a business man. So, after this
excursion into agriculture, and a brief term as Col-
lector of Customs at Monte Cristo, he was once more
in New York. One of the first things he did was to
call on his old newspaper friend, Mr. Rogers, with the
request that he sign his application for a position in
the United States Consular Service. The editor did
so very cheerfully, and suggested that, of course, Mr.
Gottschalk knew Senator Piatt, or had some other
political support which he intended using to back up
his application for a post under the Government.

" No," he smilingly replied, " I do not know Sena-
tor Piatt, and have no political support of any kind,
but I expect to be appointed just the same."

He was appointed, too, and thereby hangs one of
the most interesting unpublished tales of the American
State Department.

Mr. Alfred Gottschalk walked into the office of one
of the Assistant Secretaries of State and asked if there

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK 99

were any consulships vacant at that time. That was
something new in Washington because applications for
such posts not only required Senatorial endorsements,
but were usually made with great ceremony. The
official had to take a second look at the young man, and
then seeing that he was in deadly earnest, replied, in
effect :

" Yes, there are four consulates always vacant.
Two are in Africa, one is in the far East, and the
other is in Nicaragua. They are vacant because the
occupant is in danger of starving to death from the
inadequate pay, or of perishing from disease in the
unhealthful climate. One of them has had something
like fifty consuls in as many years, for the simple rea-
son that as soon as the appointee gets a view of his
post he wants to take the next steamer back to the
United States. Indeed, there have been cases where
the newly appointed consul has refused to get off the
ship, after getting a glimpse of the place to which
he had been appointed."

After listening to this statement the young man
calmly announced that he was a candidate for one of
these places, and after the usual preliminaries he was
appointed United States Consul to San Juan del Norte,
Nicaragua. Even after the papers had been made out,
the kind-hearted officials of the State Department tried
to discourage him from accepting the place.

" We are glad to have some one who is willing to go
down there," said one of them, " but, really, I do not
believe that you will be satisfied after you get there.
Why, I do not believe that we have had a report from

100 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

this consulate for nearly fifty years. It is in the midst
of swamps, of pestilence and of fever, and the best
man that ever went there did not have sufficient ambi-
tion to send us the usual reports that are expected from
consuls. Really, you are too good a man to waste
your time in such a place."

Mr. Gottschalk smiled in his engaging way, and re-
marked in a quiet but determined voice :

" I thank you for your consideration, but I am going
to go. After what you have told me, nothing could
prevent me from accepting this post.*'

And so, in 1902, he went as United States Consul to
San Juan del Norte, in Nicaragua. It was pretty bad,
even if it did not quite live up to the terrible repu-
tation which it had in the United States. At all events,
the friends of Mr. Gottschalk in this country did not
hear from him for a long time. Some of them were
filled with misgivings. They feared that he might
have perished from some of the tropical fevers which
flourish so well in such swampy climates. However,
they had great faith in the young man, and they
watched and waited.

In the meanwhile an episode occurred in the city of
Washington, just one year after the departure of Mr.
Gottschalk, which was to have a great effect upon his
future. There arose a vacancy in the consulate at
Callao, in Peru. As consulates go, it was a desirable
berth. One of the New England Senators wanted it
for a constituent who was very valuable to him from
a political standpoint. Under ordinary conditions he
could have had the place for the asking, but, imfor-

CONSUL-GENEEAL GOTTSCHALK 101

tunately, one of the Western Senators heard of the
vacancy and demanded it for one of his lieuten-
ants.

John Hay, the author of the " Open Door " policy
in American diplomacy, and one of the most efficient
men of his time, was then Secretary of State, under
President Roosevelt. He was very much annoyed
over the controversy that was raging about the Peru-
vian consulship, and heartily wished that it was off his
mind. He had bigger and more important questions in
statecraft to solve than this petty dispute over a con-
sulate, and did not hesitate to so inform the Senatorial
gladiators. One afternoon the New England Sena-
tor, who was also a personal friend and a strong sup-
porter of the President, called and said that he was
tired o*f waiting and wanted his man named for the
post in Peru. He intimated that if he did not get
it, the fur was likely to fly in the immediate future.
Almost at the same time the Western Senator called
and insisted upon having the post as his right and due.
The scholarly Secretary of State metaphorically threw
up his hands:

" It is utterly impossible for me to appoint two men
to one position," he said, " and if you two men cannot
come to an agreement you are likely to make me
insane."

They talked and wrangled for some time after that,
and finally declared that it w^as impossible for them
to come to an agreement. Mr. Hay, they said, would
have to settle the contest in one way or the other.

" All right," he said, " I'll put the matter up to the

102 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

President, and see what he has to say about the dis-
pute/'

Late in the afternoon, long after the usual closing
time of the Department, while Secretary Hay was mus-
ing over the difficulties of American politics, one of
his assistants entered the room, and laid a neat package
of manuscript upon his desk.

" Mr. Secretary," he remarked, " there is a remark-
able bit of work which I want you to glance over. It
is so unusual that it is deserving of your personal at-
tention."

The Secretary looked at the sheet of paper before
him, and discovered that it was a report of the history
of the United States Consulate at San Juan del Norte
from the time of the Walker expedition before the
Civil War to the present. It was carefully prepared
in the almost copper-plate handwriting of Consul Gott-
schalk, and must have taken many weary months in the
preparation. It was the very thing that was needed in
the archives of the State Department, and was the one
thing that they had despaired of getting. At that
time the question of a canal was raging, and the young
Consul, alive to the importance of the occasion, had
also prepared and mailed a set of maps showing how
the canal could be built through Nicaragua. Mr. Hay
studied the report and the maps for a few minutes, and
then he brought his fist down on his desk with a bang.

" I wonder," he said, looking at his assistant
thoughtfully, " if I have any influence with this ad-
ministration. I wonder if I have influence enough to
have a consul appointed."

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK 103

The other man grinned at the suggestion, and even
before he had time to reply, the Secretary of State in-
structed him to have a commission made out appoint-
ing Alfred Louis Moreau Gottschalk to be United
States Consul at Callao, in Peru.

" Fm going to take this over to Colonel Roosevelt,'*
said John Hay, grimly tucking the commission under
his arm, " and see what he has to say about it."

He found the President in his office at the White
House, and in a few words explained the situation
to him. Also he displayed the report and the maps
that had been sent him from Nicaragua. The Secre-
tary of State was a strong advocate of efficiency in
office. Already he had made great efforts to improve
the character of the consular service, and in this he
had the sympathy of President Roosevelt. Now he
had a concrete case, and he presented it with force
and eloquence. The man who preached the " square
deal '* was impressed, not only with the facts but with
tiie enthusiasm of his Secretary of State. He grinned,
too, as he thought of what a good joke it would be
upon his two Senatorial friends who were pressing
their rival candidates for the place.

It only took him a few moments to decide. He
reached for his pen, and signed the commission, and
thus young Mr. Gottschalk, without his knowledge, and
without any outside influence, became United States
Consul at Callao, in Peru.

He made good there, after a bitter fight with the
authorities, as he had made good in his other post,
and not long after was sent to the City of Mexico.

104 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

On the reorganization of the service two years later,
he was made Consul-General-at-Large, and was de-
tailed to inspect the other consulates in Africa, East-
ern Europe and Western Asia. He was an expert ac-
countant and was regarded as an invaluable man by
the State Department. Later he was sent to ascertain
conditions in many out-of-the-way places. The re-
ports he sent to Washington were complete and con-
clusive. He never depended upon hearsay evidence,
but always made first-hand investigations. In doing
this he underwent many personal privations. He went
to sections of the country where a man was often com-
pelled to take his life in his hands, and he braved dis-
ease and pestilence in his effort to get at the truth.
He was specially detailed by President Roosevelt to
get the facts concerning the Liberian situation, and
his special reports on that subject which were filed
in the State Department are regarded as the last word
upon a controversy that had waged for years.

When the European war began Mr. Gottschalk was
sent to assist at the American Consulate in London.
Only those who were charged with the difficult work
in those trying days know how valuable his services
were to the United States and to the Allied Govern-
ments. In November, 19 14, he was appointed Consul-
General at Rio Janeiro, Brazil, where he was instru-
mental in creating sentiment in favor of the Allied
cause. At the same time he won the good will of the
business world here and in Brazil by the industry and
the efficiency with which he promoted trade between
the two countries. Had he been spared there is no

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSGHALK 105

doubt but that he could have had anything within the
gift of the State Department. He worked hard, so
very hard that the time came when he needed a rest.
When he sailed for America, in the early part of 19 18,
it was given out that he was coming home for a va-
cation, but a few of his personal friends were aware
of the fact that he intended to resign his position with
the Government in order to enter the army. He had
served in the famous Fifth Regiment of New York,
and was certain of getting a commission.

But, alas, for human plans, he was never to reach the
land he loved so well, and never again to meet his
relatives and friends on this side of the ocean. After
the Cyclops had been overdue for weeks, the Navy
Department began a systematic search for the missing
vessel. The sea was literally combed in the effort to
obtain some trace of the collier. In this search the
United States Navy was assisted by the navies of Eng-
land, France and Italy. Never was there such a thor-
ough investigation into a mystery of the sea. But it
was all in vain. Not a trace could be found anywhere.

While this combing of the sea was going on, a story
was published in one of the American newspapers —
a most amazing story — which still further deepened
the mystery of the disappearance of Consul Gottschalk.
It stated that two weeks after the Cyclops left its port,
and long before the collier was reported missing, an
advertisement appeared in a Portuguese newspaper an-
noimcing that a requiem mass would be celebrated for
Alfred Louis Moreau Gottschalk, "lost when the
Cyclops was sunk at sea.*' It was claimed that the

106 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

announcement was signed by a number of prominent
men in Rio Janeiro, but they all disclaimed responsi-
bility for its appearance. It was suspected at the tihie
that it was inserted by German agents as a means of
transmitting a report of their operations. The writer
has no means of verifying this strange tale, but it was
one of the many rumors and wild fancies that filled the
air at the time, and it is simply repeated as a part of
the whole astonishing business.

The mother and the relatives o-f Mr. Gottschalk
hoped against hope until the very last, but after the
Secretary of the Navy published his official report in
which he directed that the Cyclops be stricken from the
registry of the Navy, they, too, abandoned further
search and mourned their loved one as dead. As a
consequence of this, the will of Mr. Gottschalk was
formally filed in the Surrogate Court in New York.
An affidavit accompanied the will, recounting the last
known movements of the Cyclops, and calling atten-
tion to the fact that the United States Navy had aban-
doned its search for the vessel. In his will, the Con-
sul-General left his books and literary productions to
the National Library at Washington. A valuable col-
lection of Inca pottery, Aztec idols, Trojan lamps,
Eastern brasses, and arms and porcelain from South
America was bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institu-
tion at Washington. The residue of his small estate
went to his mother.

It was in his annual report for 1918 that Secretary
of the Navy Daniels finally abandoned the vanished
collier to the mysteries of the sea. He intimated then

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK 107

that probably not until the sea gives up its secrets,
would the fate of the Cyclops be known. That a
modern ship of over nineteen thousand tons, equipped
with wireless and all modern devices to afford protec-
tion against sudden attack or disaster at sea, should
disappear without a vestige of evidence to tell the
tale of how it had been lost was truly one of the
strangest cases in the annals of the sea. The report
of Secretary Daniels, among other things, said:

" It was March 4 when the Cyclops put into the
British West Indies for coal. She was due in her
home port March 13.

" * Since her departure from that port there has
not been a trace of the vessel, and long-continued
and vigilant search of the entire region proved ut-
terly futile, not a vestige of wreckage having been
discovered.

" * No reasonable explanation of her strange dis-
appearance can be given. It is known that one of
her two engines was damaged, and that she was
proceeding at reduced speed, but if the engine had
become disabled it would not have had any effect on
her ability to communicate by radio.

" ' Many theories have been advanced, but none
that seems to account satisfactorily for the ship's
complete vanishment. After months of search and
waiting, the Cyclops was finally given up as lost,
and her name stricken from the registry.' "

The strange disappearance of the Cyclops naturally
directed attention to other ships that had dropped out
of existence completely. The most remarkable mys-
tery of the sea probably was that of the Marie Celeste.

108 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

A clever writer on the New York Sun attempted to
solve this curious case, or, rather to give a plausible
explanation of how it had disappeared. It can
scarcely be compared with the case of the Cyclops,
because the Marie Celeste was actually discovered with
two sails set headed towards Gibraltar. There was
no sign of life aboard the vessel, nor, most unusual of
all, was there any sign of her having been abandoned.
Everything was in order; boats were all in place and
ropes were neatly coiled. The only thing missing, as
nearly as could be found, was the ship's chronometer.
However, the captain's watch was found in the cabin.
There was nothing in the log to tell a story of storm,
disease, fire or other disaster.

** Many surmises," says the Sun writer, " have been
made regarding the mystery, and books have even
been written suggesting a solution. One of these in-
sists that the passengers must have all gone in swim-
ming except the captain. He, it says, must have been
timing a race with the chronometer, his watch being
broken, when the vessel gave a lurch, threw him over-
board and sailed away before any of the swimmers
could reach her. Another surmise, made seriously by
its author, is that all hands were standing by the rail
when a tidal wave spilled them ojff. This theory has
generally been laughed at, it being pointed out that
such a thing would not have been possible without de-
ranging the equipment on the decks. All this was
years ago, and it is almost certain that her mystery
will never be solved."

But the universal query is, " Shall the Cyclops be

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK 109

added to the list of vessels that have arrived at the
* port of missing ships ' ? " The fact that she was
modern, staunch, well-manned and equipped, makes
the disappearance of the collier inexplicable. The
writer in the Sun mentions many instances that point
to the probability that the misfortune of the Cyclops
may never be known.

One such vessel was the Naronic, a large freight ves-
sel, the first of the twin screw type to be built for the
cargo trade. The writer, speaking of this and other
curious mysteries of the sea, says :

" Just what happened to the Naronic has never been
discovered. She steamed from Liverpool; days
passed, and then cables began to hum as both sides of
the ocean queried about her delay. Finally, some
weeks later, a capsized life-boat was found with the
word Naronic on her stern. That was all. How,
when, or where she entered the * port of missing ships '
is not known, but it is there she rests. She was
equipped to resist storms and had been called the big-
gest, safest, swiftest sea carrier of her time, but the
sea included her in its toils.''

In recent years few passenger vessels have disap-
peared. In the days of sails and side- wheelers, how-
ever, a number of large vessels loaded with passengers
were swallowed up, perhaps the victims of an un-
charted rock, a heavy gale, a tidal wave, or a fire.
One of these was the City of Glasgow. In 1854 she
sailed from England with four hundred and eighty
passengers, most of them emigrants bound for Castle
Garden. No trace of her was ever found. Two years

110 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

later, the Pacific, of the Collins Line, sailed for New
York from Europe with one hundred and eighty-six
passengers. For months following her disappearance
other vessels sought for her in vain. In those days the
ocean lanes had not been adopted, and there were no
means of knowing where best to search.

Other vessels have disappeared, but few left very
definite impressions of what happened to them. One
such was the President, which is generally believed to
have foundered in a gale off the New England coast.
Another vessel, the Coventry, saw her in the midst of
the storm, making heavy weather of it. The President
left New York March ii, 1841. Among her passen-
gers was Tyrone Powers, the Irish actor. She was in
command of Captain Roberts. Two months later, a
bottle was washed up on the shores of Cape Cod, with
a cryptic message:

" President sunk in storm."

In 1870 the City of Boston, with two hundred pas-
sengers, left Liverpool, never to return. It was be-
lieved that she was the victim of a severe storm which
came up a few days after she left port. Bits of wreck-
age were seen at sea some months later with her name
on them. Such an impression also prevailed regard-
ing the sinking of the Portland, which left Boston
Harbor for Portland in the fall of 1898. There was
a severe blizzard set in, and it is generally thought an
extra heavy sea caught her under the paddle wheel and
overturned her.

On August 28, 1883, the Inchcluta left Calcutta for
Hull with a cargo of wheat. The following day the

CONSUL-GENERAL GOTTSCHALK 111

Cheruhini left Sunderland for Genoa with a cargo of
coal. Neither of these vessels was ever reported
again. On March 9, 1885, the Magneto was seen pass-
ing out of the English Channel, bound for Singapore,
with a load of cable. She also carried nine passengers.
She was never sighted again.

Had it not been for the wireless, it is doubtful
whether the world would ever have known the circum-
stances of the Titanic sinking. Undoubtedly many
other vessels, before the days of wireless and ocean
lanes, entered the " port of missing ships " through
the ice.

The U. S. collier Cyclops was the first of three ves-
sels of its type to be built for the Government, and
was launched on May 8, 19 10, from Cramps* shipyard
in Philadelphia. Mrs. Walter *H. Grove, the daugh-
ter-in-law of the president of the shipbuilding com-
pany, christened the vessel which behaved in an un-
accountable manner on its natal day. Seafaring men
have their superstitions, and they dislike anything to
mar the harmony or the smoothness at the launching
of a vessel. The ways had been careftrily and plen-
tifully greased on that bright day in May when the
Cyclops was to take its first dip in the water. A great
crowd was in attendance, but when the blocks were
knocked from under the collier she stood stock still.
There was an anxious wait of ten minutes while the
bow was raised by jacks. After that the Cyclops slid
down without any difficulty. It was said at the time
that the hitch was caused by the great weight of the
collier.

112 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

But the imaginative seafaring men shook their heads,
as much as to say that it was a sure indication of
coming disaster.

But neither the enthusiastic builders or the officials
of the United States Government shared any of these
forebodings. They felt, and with justice, that they
had produced a vessel that was to mark an advance in
craft of that character.

The Cyclops was a twin-screw steamship of the sin-
gle deck type, with a long poop, bridge and forecastle,
and constructed with cargo holds of the self -trimming
style. This was brought about by sloping the hatch-
ways from the coamings to the sides of the ship, the
space between the slopes and the deck proper being
utilized as topside water ballast tanks. The vessel was
fitted with double bottom extending from forward to
after peak bulkhead, so that when the ship was light,
ballast might be carried either in these tanks or in the
topside ballast tanks, as might be found preferable for
easy behavior at sea.

The vessel was rigged with fourteen masts, located
in pairs opposite each other at the comers of the
hatches. Masts were connected by athwartship and
fore and aft truss ties. Shrouds were thus eliminated
and a clear deck space outside of the masts provided.

She was the first vessel of this type with such ex-
tremely large dimensions to be constructed upon the
Atlantic coast Coal could be placed in the vessel's
coal bunkers or landed aft on deck in a position suit-
able for handling in coaling ship at sea.

THE JUDICIAL MURDER OF CAPTAIN
CHARLES A. FRYATT

CAPTAIN CHARLES ALGERNON FRY-
ATT, master of the Great Eastern Railway
Company's steamship Brussels, was at once a
hero and a martyr of the Great War, and the story of
his life and death furnishes one of the most illuminat-
ing, as it is one of the most thrilling, sidelights on the
international conflict.

Captain Fryatt was a typical English sailor — blunt,
rugged, conscientious and transparently honest. He
lived at Dovercourt, near Harwich, the port of the
Great Eastern Railway Company, where he was gen-
erally known and respected. He had a devoted wife
and seven children — six girls and one boy. They
lived in a cozy villa, combining comfort and beauty.
The tidy appearance of the house, its well-kept patch
of green, and its general appearance of solidity and
neatness reflected the well-ordered life of its owner.
The family life at Dovercourt was ideal, although the
necessities of his profession kept Captain Fryatt away
from his inviting home many months in the year.

With the advent of the war a condition, and not a
theory, confronted this British sailor. In the early
part of 1 91 5 — to be exact, on February 18 — the

115

116 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

German Government announced its blockade. That
is to say, it proclaimed the waters around Great Britain
and Ireland, including all of the English Channel, to
be a " war region." It declared that every enemy
merchant vessel found in the region would be de-
stroyed " without its always being possible to warn the
crew or passengers of the dangers threatening."

In a word, Germany adopted the code of the pirate
or the highwayman, but with a difference. This dif-
ference was that the pirate and the highwayman give
their victims a chance for their lives, while Germany
denied them that right. Thus, the sailors who fol-
lowed the forbidden lines of travel took their lives in
their hands. In spite of this fact, many brave Eng-
lishmen voluntarily accepted the risk in order to con-
tinue uninterrupted communication with neutral coun-
tries.

Captain Charles A. Fryatt was one of these men.
He knew very well that by the edict of February, 191 5,
the German Government " officially repudiated the re-
sponsibility of civilization, and served notice on all
merchantmen that they were liable to be sunk by a
hidden weapon from an unseen ship without warning."
As has been well said, British vessels of commerce
were clearly entitled to consider themselves attacked by
any submarine which they sighted. That was the view
taken by Captain Fryatt, and thereby hangs this plain,
unvarnished tale.

Now, with these preliminary facts before us, let us
see just what happened.

On March 2, 191 5, Captain Fryatt was on a voyage

JUDICIAL MURDER 117

from Parkeston Quay to Rotterdam. The lookout
caught sight of a strange ship in the distance. He
called the attention of the captain to this queer-looking
object, and Fryatt immediately recognized an under-
sea vessel with two masts. It was evident that it was
one of the German assassins of the sea. The subma-
rine, beyond the question of a doubt, looked upon the
British vessel as legitimate prey. The best proof of
this was furnished by the fact that it aimed directly
for Captain Fryatt's ship. He realized that he would
have to do one of two things: make a dash for Hfe
and liberty, or stop and give battle with the enemy.
He either had to do that or permit the ship to be sunk
without warning and without resistance. It did not
take him long to decide.

" All men on deck ! " he shouted, and in less time
than it takes to relate the incident, the men were
streaming up the companion way and taking their ap-
pointed places on the ship. The captain explained the
situation to the crew, and let them understand that it
was to be a race for life. He did not propose to sur-
render if he could help it. In other words, he hoped
to escape by the exercise of superior seamanship.
The men heartily entered into the spirit of the contest.
They agreed to show the enemy a clean pair of sea
heels.

In the distance the submarine could be seen in full
pursuit. The commander of the undersea vessel must
have been mad with anger. It was something new
for a merchant vessel to attempt to run away. For a
time it looked like an even race. At one point the

118 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

submarine seemed to be gaining. It was then that
Captain Fryatt went down into the engine room and
urged his firemen and coalers to renewed effort. The
grimy-faced stokers responded with a cheer and
greater activity. Up again to the deck hurried the
captain and took his post near the steering wheel.
The sea was rough and the waters dashed over the
deck. Once a sailor was hurled from his place and
nearly swept overboard. But a brave comrade res-
cued him from a watery grave and the race for life
continued.

By this time Captain Fryatt^s ship was making six-
teen knots an hour and was creaking and straining
from the effort. But there was no let-up. They were
still in the danger zone, and to hesitate meant that they
would be lost. Mile after mile they went along the
difficult course, and with every succeeding moment the
earnestness and the enthusiasm of the crew increased.
Engineers, firemen and sailors all vied with one an-
other, not only in trying to escape a dreadful fate, but
also in serving a captain they loved. Presently they
reached the safety of Dutch waters, and with one ac-
cord they surrounded their gallant commander and
joined in a shout of relief.

" Three cheers for Captain Fryatt ! " yelled out a
sailor, who hailed from Portsmouth, and all united in
that exultant yell.

The news of this exploit reached England, and
when Captain Fryatt returned to his home he was the
hero of the hour. A hero, mind you, not because he
had destroyed life and property, but because he had

JUDICIAL MURDER 119

saved the lives of his crew and his cargo. He was
presented with a gold watch by the Chairman and Di-
rectors of the Great Eastern Railway Company. He
bore his honors modestly and insisted that the credit
really belonged to his men. But they were delighted
that he had received recognition for his gallantry, and
were united in declaring that in honoring the captain
they, too, were being honored.

We now come to another important incident of the
war which has an intimate bearing upon the case o^
Captain Fryatt. On March 28, 191 5, a German sub-
marine sank the Falaba. This vessel stopped when
commanded to do so by the German commander. But
in spite of this fact, the devilish assassins did not give
the passengers time to be put into the boats. The
great liner was torpedoed while non-combatants were
still on board. These were the men who had the ef-
frontery to criticize Captain Fryatt for not stopping
when he was hailed by a submarine. He knew what
would happen under such circumstances. But listen
to the testimony of one of the survivors of the
Falaba:

" The commander of the submarine ordered our
Captain to get every passenger into the boats at once,
saying in good English : * I am going to sink your
ship.' Then followed a terrible scene. Some of the
boats were swamped and their occupants thrown into
the sea, several being drowned almost immediately.
Barely ten minutes after we received the order to leave
the ship, and before the last boat had been lowered, I
heard a report and saw our vessel keel over. The

120 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

pirates had actually fired a torpedo at her at a range
of one hundred yards, when they could distinctly see
a large number of passengers and crew on deck. It
was a dastardly thing to do — nothing but murder in
cold blood!*'

It was a dastardly thing to do, because on that morn-
ing in March one hundred and four men and women
lost their lives.

Now we are coming to a dramatic moment in the
life of Captain Fryatt. On that same peaceful Sunday
morning, when the German murderers sank the Falaba,
the British commander met the U-33 in the North
Sea. The Brussels was on its usual voyage from
Parkeston to Rotterdam. Captain Fryatt was the
first to sight the submarine. He could see that she
was at least three hundred feet long, with a high bow,
a very large circular conning tower, and without dis-
tinguishing marks on her starboard bow. He quickly
realized that it would be impossible for him to escape.
The submarine was coming toward the Brussels at a
terrific rate of speed. If he turned and tried to run
away he would be torpedoed.

What was he to do under the circumstances?
Should he allow himself to be sunk without resistance?
The thought was intolerable. He did what every red-
blooded man would do under the same set of condi-
tions. He made a fight for his life and that of his
crew. What followed is told in these plain but elo-
quent words :

" The submarine signaled him to stop, but his Brit-
ish courage revolted at the thought of surrender, and

CArTATN CHARLES A. FRYATT

JUDICIAL MURDER 121

the experience of German methods of warfare warned
that surrender would be no guarantee that the lives
of his crew would be spared. He determined, there-
fore, to take the best chance of saving his ship and
to steer for the submarine in order to force her to dive,
and if she were not quick enough in diving, to ram
her. This was his undoubted right under international
law — to disregard her summons and resist her attack
to the best of his power. It was a test of skill and
courage in which each side took their chance.

" Captain Fryatt, therefore, stood by his helm and
gave orders to his engineers to make all possible speed.
He sent all the crew to a place of safety in case the
submarine should fire upon him, and steered straight
for the conning tower. The submarine, when she saw
that the Brussels would not surrender, but was bent
upon exercising her undoubted right of resistance, im-
mediately submerged. The Brussels saw her disap-
pear about twenty yards ahead and steered for the
place where she had been. Almost immediately her
periscope came up abreast of the Brussels, two feet out
of the water. Captain Fryatt did not feel his ship
strike the submarine, but one of his firemen felt a
bumping sensation. The submarine reappeared with
a decided list and afterwards vanished from view.
Captain Fryatt held his course at top speed until he
was safely within the territorial rights of Holland."

As a result of this encounter, the British Admiralty
presented Captain Fryatt with a gold watch suitably
inscribed in recognition of his services. On the in-
side case was this inscription :

122 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

" Presented by the Lord Commissioners of the
Admiralty to Charles Algernon Fryatt, master of
the steamship Brussels, in recognition of the ex-
ample set by that vessel when attacked by a Ger-
man submarine, 28th March, 191 5."

King George, in a letter addressed to Mrs. Fryatt
from Buckingham Palace, expressed what will be
the feelings of the whole world, when he said :

" The action of Captain Fryatt in defending his
ship against the attack of an enemy submarine was a
noble instance of the resource and self-reliance so
characteristic of his profession."

Until this time no one imagined that Captain
Fryatt could possibly be charged with a violation of
international law in protecting himself and his ship
from attack. The first suggestion of anything of
the kind came in a news dispatch from Germany that
the captain had allowed the submarine to approach
for examination. This was utterly false, and the
pretense of some German papers that he had sur-
rendered and afterwards attacked the U-33, or that
he was guilty of any deception, or any underhanded
dealing is equally untrue. As was well said at the
time, these false pleas can only be attributed " to the
German desire to conceal a foul crime under a cloak
of lies."

We now come to what has been eloquently de-
scribed as " the last and longest voyage of Captain
Fryatt." He left his beautiful home at Dovercourt
one evening in June, 19 16, more than a year after
his last recorded encounter with a submarine. He

JUDICIAL MUEDER 123

kissed his wife and children good-by in the best of
spirits. He made the voyage to the Hook of Holland
safely, and on the twenty-second of that month
started for the return voyage. The Brussels had a
cargo of foodstuff and some Belgian refugees on
board. When the vessel reached the danger zone it
was found that she was practically in the midst of
the enemy. It was impossible to escape, and out of
the question to fight. The ship was captured by a
flotilla of German torpedo boats and taken as a prize
to Zeebrugge. Captain Fryatt and the members of
his crew conducted themselves in a quiet and dignified
manner. He stood in the midst of his officers as
unruffled as though he were on the bridge of his ship,
and his chief thought was to comfort the weeping Bel-
gian women, who were panic-stricken at the thought
of being taken by the Germans. So far as it can be
ascertained, Captain Fryatt and his crew were taken
to Bruges in motor cars, and removed to Germany on
the following day. Later, they were interned at
Ruhleben. At all events, Mrs. Fryatt received a letter
from her husband, sent from the camp at that place,
and dated the first of July, in which he told her that
he was leaving on a journey.

It was the middle of the month when the Govern-
ment and the public of Great Britain first learned that
Captain Fryatt was to be tried by court-martial on
the charge of ramming a German submarine. Ac-
cording to the German official pronouncement. Captain
Fryatt was condemned because:

" Although he was not a member of a combatant

124 THE WORLD ^S GREATEST SPIES

force, he made an attempt, on the afternoon of
March 28, 191 5, to ram the German submarine
U-33 near the Maas Light Ship."

It was then that Sir Edward Grey telegraphed to
Mr. Gerard, United States Ambassador at Berlin, to
inquire whether the report was correct. He followed
this with a second dispatch, urging the American
Ambassador to take all possible steps to secure the
proper defense of Captain Fryatt in the event of the
court-martial being held, and adding that the British
Government was satisfied that in committing the act
impugned, Captain Fryatt acted legitimately in self-
defense for the purpose of evading capture or de-
struction.

In a third dispatch, sent on July 25, Sir Edward
Grey announced that His Majesty^s Government con-
sidered " that the act of a merchant ship, in steering
for an enemy submarine and forcing her to dive, is
essentially defensive, and precisely on the same foot-
ing as used by a defensively armed vessel of her de-
fensive armament in order to resist capture."

On the following day, the British Foreign Office
addressed the American Ambassador, at London, as
follows :

" His Majesty's Government find it difficult to be-
lieve that a master of a merchant vessel who, after
German submarines adopted the practice of sinking
merchant vessels without warning, and without re-
gard for the lives of passengers or crew, took a step
which appeared to afford the only chance of saving not
only the vessel, but the lives of all on board, can

JUDICIAL MURDER 125

have been deliberately shot in cold blood for this
action. If the German Government have perpetrated
such a crime in the case of a British subject held
prisoner by them, it is evident that a most serious
condition of affairs has arisen.

"The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is
therefore obliged, on behalf of His Majesty's Gov-
ernment, to request that urgent inquiry be made by
the United States Embassy at Berlin, whether the
report in the press of the shooting of Captain Fryatt
is true, in order that His Majesty's Government may
have, without delay, a full and undoubted account
of the facts before them."

But the story of the judicial murder of Captain
Fryatt was only too true. A postponement of the
trial had been asked for, but this was refused on the
ground that " German submarine witnesses could not
be further detained." It was announced that on the
30th of July, Captain Fryatt had been shot on the
previous Thursday, in an enclosed part of the harbor
ground at Bruges, and that an alderman of the town
had attended as a witness. The news of his death was
officially confirmed by a telegram from the American
Ambassador. The announcement of Captain Fryatt's
death, under such circumstances, aroused a feeling
of public indignation throughout the world. It was
bitterly denounced everywhere, and on July 31, Mr.
Asquith, the Premier, made the following statement
in the House of Commons :

** I deeply regret to say that it appears to be true
that Captain Fryatt has been murdered by the Ger-

126 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

mans. His Majesty's Government have heard, with
the utmost indignation, of this atrocious crime against
the law of nations and the usages of war. Coming
as it does contemporaneously with the lawless cruel-
ties on the population of Lille and other occupied dis-
tricts of France, it shows that the German High Com-
mand have, under the stress of military defeat, re-
newed their policy of terrorism. It is impossible
to guess to what further atrocities they may proceed.
His Majesty's Government, therefore, desires to re-
peat emphatically that they are resolved that such
crimes shall not, if they can help it, go unpunished.
When the time comes these criminals shall be dealt
with, whoever they may be, and whatever their sta-
tion. In such cases as this, the men who authorize
the system under which such crimes are committed
may well be the most guilty of all."

Again, on August 15, in reply to a question, the
Premier said:

" This country will not tolerate the resumption of
diplomatic relations with Germany after the war if
no reparation is made for the murder of Captain
Fryatt. Some of our allies have suffered by brutali-
ties even more gross, and on a more extended scale
than ours by the actions of the German authorities.
We are in consultation with them as to the best, most
effective steps to be taken, and as to what conditions
should be injected in the terms of peace to secure
reparation that will satisfy justice."

But while England and the civilized world were ex-
pressing their indignation over this crime, the German

JUDICIAL MURDER 127

authorities were gloating over what they considered
a master stroke in the war. Indeed, they justified
the action in an official telegram which said :

"One of the many nefarious and franc-tireur pro-
ceedings of the British merchant marine against our
war vessels has found a belated but merited expia-
tion."

One of the German newspapers published an article
calling upon the German Government to treat Ameri-
can volunteers fighting with Allied troops against
Germany as franc-tireurs, and when captured to shoot,
or preferably, to hang them. On August lo, the
German Government issued the following statement
in reply to the utterances of English officials on the
subject :

" It is only too intelligible that the English Gov-
ernment attempts to justify Captain Fryatt's action,
for it is itself, in a high degree, a fellow culprit.
Captain Fryatt acting as he did, acted only on the
advice of his Government.

" The British Government's statement not uninten-
tionally misleads the public. Captain Fryatt's boat
was not attacked without warning. The U-boat was
above water and signaled to him, when above water,
to stop, according to the international code of naval
warfare. Therefore, he did not merely attempt to
save the lives of his cnew, because they were not in
danger. Moreover, on March 28, 19 15, Captain
Fryatt allowed a submarine, which was approaching
his ship for the purpose of examination, to draw up
close so as to ram her suddenly and unexpectedly.

128 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

His object being to destroy her and so gain the re-
ward offered by the British Government, this act
was not an act of self-defense but rather an action
planned by higher assassins. Captain Fryatt boasted
of his action, though happily he failed to attain his
object. This was brought home to him during the
trial by witnesses from the crew of the submarine in
question, whose evidence was against him. The Brit-
ish Parliament believed he had succeeded and praised
his conduct, and the British Government rewarded
him.

" The German War Tribunal sentenced him to death
because he had performed an act of war against the
German sea forces, although he did not belong to
the armed forces of his country. He was not de-
liberately shot in cold blood without due considera-
tion, as the British Government asserts, but only after
calm consideration and a thorough investigation. As
the martial law on land protects soldiers against assas-
sins by threatening the offender with the penalty of
death, so it protects the members of the sea forces
against the assassin at sea. Germany will continue
to use this law of warfare in order to save her sub-
marine crews from becoming the victims of franc-
tireurs at sea.'*

The insolence and audacity of the Germans in de-
fending their " assassins of the sea '* was never better
illustrated than this official defense on the part of
their Government. Naval experts of the United
States hold that Captain Fryatt was regarded to be
a prisoner of war, and that decisions in American

JUDICIAL MURDER 129

courts upheld his act as an act of a belligerent. It
was charged that he attempted to ram the German
submarine. An English authority, in reply to this,
says :

"And if he did, what crime did he do? Already
the Germans had destroyed without warning more than
a score of unarmed British vessels of commerce and
were now regretting that their pirates had missed so
many others."

Only a few weeks afterwards the great, unarmed
ocean liner, the Lusitania, was sunk without warning
and with a loss of upwards of one thousand lives, in-
cluding many American citizens. The decree of
February had served notice on all seafarers that when-
ever they met a German submarine, they were to con-
sider themselves attacked, since it was no longer possi-
ble to go through the formality of giving notice of an
attack. What other meaning can be put upon the
words :

" Every enemy merchant vessel found in this war
region will be destroyed without notice, as it is not al-
ways possible to warn a crew or passengers of the dan-
gers threatening."

" That resistance to such an attack is legitimate is
clear from the prize law of the great States; of the
British Empire, the United States, Italy, Spain, and
others. It is even admitted by the German Prize
Regulations. It is true that the German Regulations
speak of armed merchant vessels; but that can make
no difference. A merchant vessel is none the less a

130 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

merchant vessel because she is armed ; her officers and
crew do not become members of a combatant force
because the vessel carries guns for defense; a mer-
chantman is permitted to resist an enemy warship,
not because she has any combatant quality, but be-
cause she will be captured at the best, or, if she meets
a German submarine, probably sunk without warn-
ing; and even capture is an act of hostility to which
merchantmen need not submit.'*

The justice of these contentions has been admitted
by an eminent German international lawyer, Dr. Hans
Wehberg, in his book ** Das Seekriegsrecht,'* pub-
lished since the outbreak of the war. He writes:

" In truth, no single example can be produced from
international precedents in which the States have
held that resistance is not permissible. On the con-
trary, in the celebrated decision in the case of the
Catharina-Elizaheth, resistance was declared permis-
sible," and Article X, of the American Naval Code,
takes the same standpoint. By far the greatest num-
ber of authors and the niceties of international law
share this view. An enemy merchant ship has then
the right of defense against an enemy attacks, and
this right was meant to be exercised against visit,
for this, indeed, is the first act of capture."

The feeling in Great Britain may be understood
when it is stated that up to the time of the judicial
murder of Captain Fryatt, the lives of over four
hundred men connected with British merchantmen
and fishing boats had been lost through attacks made
upon them by German submarines. They were sunk

JUDICIAL MUEDER 131

and their crews murdered because they were not large
enough to defend themselves. As Mr. Balfour tersely-
put it at the time : " Neither enemy civilians nor
neutrals are to possess rights against miljtant Ger-
many; those who do resist will be drowned, and
those who do not, will be shot.'' That, in a sentence,
was the German theory of Freedom of the Seas.

There was a story in circulation at the time of the
capture of Captain Fryatt that his identity, and the
proof of his guilt, were established by the inscription
on the inside case of the gold watch which had been
presented to him by the British Government, but this
has since been officially denied by the British Admir-
alty. This watch and the watch awarded him by the
Great Eastern Railway Company for his previous
exploit, did not fall into the hands of a pirate sub-
marine, but are in the safe-keeping of his widow and
will be treasured as an heirloom in the family.

It may be well, at this time, to give an official nar-
rative of the circumstances concerning the capture, the
condemnation and the shooting of Captain Fryatt.
It was written by William Hartwell, who was the
first officer of the British steamship Brussels at the
time of its capture in 1916. He wrote this account
while he was interned in Holland, addressing it to
the chief official of the Great Eastern Railway Co. :

" Sir : This being the first opportunity since the
capture of the Brussels in 19 16, I will endeavor to give
you details of the capture and happenings up to July
27, this being the date of Captain Fryatt's death.
I beg to report that on June 22 the steamship Brussels

132 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

left Rotterdam with cargo and passengers for Til-
bury, stopping at the Hook of Holland. She left the
Hook Quay at 1 1 p. m. on that day, the weather being
very fine and clear. All saloon and cabin lights were
extinguished before passing the North Pier Light.
Directly after passing it, a very bright light was
shown from the beach, about four miles north of the
Hook, followed by a bright star, such as a rocket
would throw. After a lapse of ten minutes this was
repeated. On both occasions Captain Fryatt and my-
self remarked upon it, as we had never seen similar
lights on any previous occasions. After passing the
Maas Light Vessel, all Board of Trade Regulation
Lights were darkened. Five miles west of the light
vessel a very small craft, probably a submarine not
submerged, commenced Morseing the letter ' S * at in-
tervals. No other lights were visible.

" After running for one hour and thirty minutes, an
extra sharp look-out was kept for a steamer that
was going in the same direction and without lights,
the port and starboard lights of the Brussels being
put on for the time being. At 12.46 craft without
lights were seen at a point on the starboard bow,
traveling at a great speed in the opposite direction.
These proved to be German destroyers of the latest
type, five in all. Two came alongside on the star-
board side, and one on the port side, the other two
following close behind. During the time the destroy-
ers were approaching, their commanders were shout-
ing orders to stop, asking the name of the ship, and
threatening to fire on us. No firing occurred, how-

JUDICIAL MURDER 133

ever. As soon as Captain Fryatt was assured that
the destroyers were German, he gave orders for all
passengers to be ready to take to the boats if neces-
sary, and quietly instructed me to destroy all dispatches
and official papers. His instructions were carried
out, and as the last bag was destroyed German sea-
men, armed with pistols and bombs, appeared on the
starboard alley-way. I passed through the saloon to
the deck and met more German seamen, who were driv-
ing all the crew they could find over the rail on to the
destroyers. I was ordered over the rail, but refused
to go, and then met the officer who came on board to
take charge. He requested me to show him to the
bridge, which I did. He greeted Captain Fryatt, and
congratulated himself over the great prize.

" Satisfied that all was well, the destroyers left and
made for Zeebrugge. The course was given for the
Schouwenbank light vessel, and the order was given
for full speed ahead, but no reply came from the
engine room, as the engineers had been driven over
the side with the majority of the crew. This greatly
excited the German officer, who drew his revolver and
threatened to shoot Captain Fryatt and myself if we
failed to assist him, and to blow up the ship if the
orders to the engine room were not complied with at
once. It was some minutes before the German offi-
cer could be convinced that the engineers and most of
the crew were on the destroyers. He then ordered
his own men to the engine room, and instead of go-
ing full speed ahead, the engines were on full speed
astern. This also angered the officer, and matters be-

134 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

came very unpleasant on the bridge. I was ordered
to go to the engine room to inform the Germans of
their mistake. By this time the steam was greatly
falling back, owing to the stokers being away, and
the order was given that all on board, except Captain
Fryatt and myself, should maintain steam till the
ship arrived at Zeebrugge. On reaching the Schou-
wenbank light vessel, the German flag was hoisted, and
directly after the Flushing mail boat for Tilbury-
passed quite close.

" Captain Fryatt was assured that soon after her
arrival at Tilbury the capture of the Brussels would
be reported. The Brussels was met and escorted by
several airplanes to Zeebrugge, where the destroyers
were already moored. On arrival at Zeebrugge the
Brussels was moored alongside the Mole. The en-
gineers and crew all returned. The crew were sent
to their quarters and kept under armed guard. The
officers and engineers were placed under a guard in
the smokeroom, and Captain Fryatt held in his room.
The Belgian refugees were closely searched, and landed
at Zeebrugge. After a stay of about five hours the
Brussels left and proceeded to Bruges under her own
steam.

" For some reason Captain Fryatt was kept in his
cabin, and I was sent to the bridge, not to assist or
officiate in any way, but simply to stand under guard
and to be questioned at intervals by the Germans if
they could get the right answers. During the passage
from Zeebrugge to Bruges both sides of the canal
were thronged in places, and both the soldiers and the

JUDICIAL MURDER 135

marine Landsturm were greatly excited. On reach-
ing Bruges the crew were taken off and sent to a wait-
ing shed. Only Captain Fryatt and myself, with many
German officers, remained on board. After we had
been questioned at lunch Captain Fryatt and I were
photographed, and we then joined the crew in the
shed, being afterward taken to a building in the town.
All of us, including stewardesses and twenty-five Rus-
sians, were packed in, and there was scarcely standing
room.

" After some hours, following a request to the prison
commandant, the stewardesses were allowed separate
quarters in the top of the building. Otherwise they
were treated in the same way as male prisoners until
they were separated to go to a different camp. At
3 A. M. on June 25, orders came for all to be ready
for the train to Germany, the stewardesses joining us
at the station. At 5 a. m. we all left, closely packed,
in cattle trucks, and on arrival at Ghent we were
escorted to very dirty and unhealthful quarters under-
ground. At 5 A. M. on the following day we left
Ghent for Germany, via Cologne, where the steward-
esses and Russians were separated to go to other
camps. After being exhibited at Berlin, as at Han-
over and other stations, the rest went to Ruhkben,
where they arrived at 5 p. m., June 28. Two days
later Captain Fryatt and I received orders to the effect
that we were to be prepared to leave the camp at 8
p. M. for Bruges on ship's business.

"We arrived at Bruges at 7 A. M. an July 2, after
visiting Ostend by mistake on the part of the escort.

136 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

We reported to the port commandant at 9 a. m., and
were taken from him to the town prison and put in
cells. From then onward we were treated as crim-
inals. We were occasionally visited by German offi-
cials and questioned as to the submarine and other
subjects, on which Captain Fryatt made a clear and
open statement to the Germans, with nothing con-
demning to himself. From the time of being placed
in the prison at Bruges to July 15, I saw Captain
Fryatt and spoke to him on several occasions, after
which I never spoke to him until one hour before he
was shot.

" I will endeavor to make you understand the so-
called tribunal or trial. On July 24 Captain Fryatt
and myself were questioned and cross-questioned in
the prison, and, so far as I could learn, Captain Fryatt
never added to or departed from his opening state-
ment. It was then that we were first informed of
the tribunal that was to follow. On July 26th we
were told to be ready for the tribunal, which was to
take place at Bruges Town Hall on the 27th at 11
A. M. On July 2y at 9 a. m. the door of the cell
was opened, and an escort was waiting. To my
surprise, four of the crew were in the waiting cell.
Each man was escorted to the Town Hall, Captain
Fryatt and I being the last to go, and placed under
a strong guard until the trial began.

" At 12 noon Captain Fryatt was called into his place
before the so-called bench, and repeated his previous
statement. I followed and answered questions that
appeared to be ridiculous, not appearing either to de-

JUDICIAL MURDER 137

fend or condemn Captain Fryatt. At the same time
an officer in uniform appeared, and, approaching Cap-
tain Fryatt and myself, informed us in broken Eng-
lish that he was for the defense. The Naval Com-
mandant of the port conducted the trial, and also
acted as interpreter. At 4 p. m. the Naval Command-
ant informed us that all was over so far, and that
the decision rested with the naval officers, who had
retired to another room, and the verdict would be made
known after we had returned to our cells. The offi-
cer for the defense then spoke again, and said he
would do his utmost to save Captain Fryatt.

After being again placed in the cells, the chief
warder of the prison came to me at 5.30 p. m., and told
me I was to go and stop with Captain Fryatt, as
that was his last night. I then met Captain Fryatt,
who was very much distressed, not so much because of
the verdict, but of the unfair and cowardly manner
in which everything was done. He told me himself
that he was to be shot on the next morning, and after
having a talk for about an hour — it was then 6.30
p. M. — the prison official took his watch from his
pocket and said that in a short time the escort would
be there, and Captain Fryatt would be shot at 7 p. m.
The last twenty-five minutes I spent with him were
appalling. At 6.55 p. m. I wished him " good-by,*' and
promised I would deliver his last messages, which
were many, and returned to my cell.

" Punctually at 7 p. m., a very short distance from
the prison walls, a band commenced to play, and poor
Fryatt was no more. Late the same evening an offi-

138 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

cial came to my cell and described to me, in the best
way he could, how Fryatt died. He was shot by six-
teen rifles, the bullets of which penetrated through his
heart, carrying with them the clothes he was wearing
through the body and out at the back.

** Sir, I was and am still proud of Captain Fryatt's
manly conduct right up to the last, and I may add that
there was not a German present at the trial who could
face him.**

At the time of the murder of Captain Fryatt, one
of the leading German newspapers declared:
" Doubtless there will be among England's sympa-
thizers, all the world over, a storm of indignation
against barbarism similar to that aroused by the case of
Miss Cavell. That must not disurb us.'*

The newspaper and the Germans were not disap-
pointed. There was a wave of horror and detestation
throughout the civilized world. In Holland, the
Nieuwe Rotterdamische Courant, on July 29, con-
demned the outrage and said :

" At the time the captain of the Brussels made his
unsuccessful attempt, the submarine war was being car-
ried on in the most brutal manner in contempt of all
rules of humanity. The mere sighting of a German
submarine meant death for soldiers who are now called
* f ranc-tireur * in the German communique. To claim
for one's self the right to kill soldiers and civilians
out of hand, but to brand as * franc-tireur * the civil-
ian who does not willingly submit to execution amounts,
in our opinion, to measuring justice with a different

JUDICIAL MUEDER 139

scale according to whether it is to be applied to one's
self or to another. That is, in our view, arbitrariness
and injustice, and that touches us, even in the midst of
all the horrors of the war; it shakes the neutrals and
arouses fresh bitterness and hatred in the enemy/'

The First Lord of the British Admiralty, Mr. Bal-
four, voiced his country's condemnation of German
barbarity when he said :

" Doubtless it is their wrath, by the skill and energy
with which British merchant captains and British
crews have defended the lives and property under their
charge, that has driven the German Admiralty into
their latest and stupidest acts of calculated ferocity
— the judicial murder of Captain Fryatt.

" I do not propose to argue this case. It is not
worth arguing. Why should we do the German mili-
tary authorities the injustice of supposing that they
were haunted, by any solicitude for the principles of
international law, and blundered into illegality by some
unhappy accident? Their folly was of a different kind
and flowed from a different source. They knew quite
well that when Captain Fryatt's gallantry saved his
ship, the Germans had sunk, without warning, twenty-
two British merchant ships and had attempted to sink
many others. They knew that in refusing tamely to
submit himself to such a fate, he was doing his duty
as a man of courage and of honor. They were re-
solved, at all costs, to discourage imitation."

But the German mind is very hard to understand,
and in spite of the opinion of the civilized world, they
persist in justifying the murder of Captain Fryatt

140 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

the same as they justify the murder of Edith Cavell
and the sinking of the Lusitania.

A commission that was appointed to go into the
case, made a hair-splitting report in the course of
which they held the German authorities to be per-
fectly within their rights in condemning this gallant
Englishman to death. The only ray of light in this
gloomy business is the fact that there are individual
Germans who disagree with the official Germans, and
condemn the outrage. Two of these, Edward Bern-
stein and Dr. Bohenleden, of the Committee of In-
quiry into accusations on the viewpoint of interna-
tional law relating to the treatment of prisoners of
war in Germany, made a formal declaration in which
they differed from the judgments of the committee in
regard to the sentence and execution of Captain Fry-
att. They said :

" We declare a disagreement from the judgment
of the committee, and declare further that the ac-
tion against Captain Fryatt, and his condemnation, is
an act of serious violation of international law. We
wish to expressly state that the committee has ex-
amined this case very carefully and conscientiously,
and that we have arrived at the conclusion that the
doing of Captain Fryatt to death was judicial mur-
der."

EUGENE VAN DOREN AND THE SECRET
PRESS OF BELGIUM

THIS is a story of how a Belgian patriot and
journalist, aided by a coterie of his faith-
ful countrymen, published an anti-German
newspaper during the German occupation of Belgium
and made life miserable for von Bissing and the sup-
posed conquerors of the courageous little country.

It was one of the great mysteries of the war, was
this strange publication which, coming out at irregu-
lar intervals, excoriated the invaders and defied them
to do their worst. La Libre Belgique, or Free Belgium,
as it was called, was printed under the very nose of
von Bissing, and invariably a complimentary copy was
left at his doorstep. The daring deeds of this clandes-
tine press were heralded in all parts of the world and
did much to keep alive the cause of liberty. It may
be said to have been the one newspaper which scorned
the censor and said what it pleased, when it pleased,
and in the manner in which it pleased.

The German Governor-General of Belgium let it
be known that choice rewards would be given to
the man who would run down this pestiferous little
newspaper. A price was on the head of its publisher
and editor, but the great problem was to first ascertain

143

144 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

where it was printed, and then to arrest the culprits.
Scores of spies and secret agents were put on the
scent, but they had their labor for their pains. Time
and time again they thought they had the culprits,
only to find that they had eluded them. Free Belgium
was as slippery as an eel, as shrewd as a fox, as wise
as an owl, and as untamed as a wild western broncho.

The moment the Germans took possession of Bel-
gium the newspapers of that country automatically sus-
pended publication. The newspapers knew that they
would be German-controlled, and they did not propose
to work for the enemy. As a consequence of this, the
Germans were compelled to publish their own organs
of information, but these publications had no readers
among the Belgians. Instead, almost magically, they
had their own newspaper in Free Belgium. Never in
the history of journalism was there a more audacious
enterprise. Editors, proof-readers, pressmen, com-
positors and circulators knew that if detected they
were liable to death. It was this that made their
courage so sublime, and it was this that prompted
them to give their services free of cost to their afflicted
country. There was a sense of humor in the an-
nouncement in the initial number which stated that it
was a *' bulletin of patriotic propaganda, regularly
irregular, submitting to absolutely no censorship."

When the powerful von Bissing received a copy of
the first number he immediately issued an order that
the editors and publishers should be arrested and
brought to his presence. An army of police set out
to execute the order, but like the famous king of

SECEET PRESS OF BELGIUM 145

history, they marched up the hill only to march down
again. They could not locate the offenders. It was
very humiliating to them. It was more so to the peev-
ish Governor-General. What was the use of having
all of his power if he could not have his orders obeyed?
He sat in state in the Palace only to have the most
humble of the Belgians laughing at his impotence.
The paper was distributed free throughout Belgium,
and during the war it was read by hundreds of thou-
sands of people. With fine irony the office of the
publication was said to be at the " Kommandantur-
Brussels." The editorial rooms were shrouded in
impenetrable secrecy. Not being always in a place of
complete rest, the editors gleefully declared that they
did their work " in a cave moved about by automo-
bile." The Germans, being entirely without a sense of
humor, raged when they read this bit of foolery.

Naturally the readers of the brave newspaper were as
much in the dark concerning its origin and place of
publication as were the Germans. They were content
to read it from time to time, and when a long period
intervened between numbers they were filled with fear
lest its authors had been apprehended. But now that
the war has ended the curtain has been lifted, and the
mystery of the remarkable publication is no longer
a mystery. We know how their brave project was
conceived, how it was put into execution, and the
manner in which they eluded the clutches of their
barbarous enemies.

The head and front of the adventure was M. Eugene
van Doren, a modest, unassuming Belgian journalist

146 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

who made up in moral courage what he lacked in
physical proportions. He was the principal author of
Free Belgium, and he was aided by a staff of clever
writers and workers, of whom M. Victor Jourdain
was a shining light. M. van de Kercheve was an-
other of the staff who, under the signature of " Fide-
lis," told what he thought of the invaders in a style
which literally skinned them alive. During most of
the time Free Belgium was published in the city of
Brussels and in one of the neighboring suburbs. The
first number contained what has been truly described
as the " magnificent pastoral letter of Cardinal Mercier
on Patriotism and Endurance.'* The German offi-
cials would have given anything to have suppressed
that utterance, but, instead, it found its way into
every nook and corner of Belgium.

The expedients which these patriotic men were com-
pelled to employ were wonderful in their simplicity.
M. van Doren's wife assisted him in placing copies
in envelopes, and he personally delivered them where
they were calculated to do the most good. Each
member of the Senate and of the House of Represen-
tatives was furnished with a copy, and bundles were
turned over to the Dominicans, the Jesuits and the
Redemptorists and others upon whose discretion they
could surely depend. On one occasion M. van Doren
was compelled to place copies into the hollow of a
cane, a performance that was all the more easy because
that issue was printed on silk paper. He used every
precaution to protect the authors of the articles. Thus,
all of the manuscripts, after being put into type, were

CARTOON DEPICTING TPIE KAISER IN HELL

SECEET PEESS OF BELGIUM 147

destroyed. If he were discovered, this brave man
determined to save the lives of his associates.

Artists as well as writers contributed to Free Bel-
gium, and one of the most notable productions in that
publication was a cartoon depicting the Kaiser in
Hell. It was an adaptation of a famous illustration
on Napoleon, and was merely altered so that the face
of the Corsican became that of the Emperor William.
The Governor-General was almost frenzied at this
number of the clandestine newspaper, and he doubled
the rewards for the detection of the authors, but with-
out avail. Then, while he was still laboring under
the excitement caused by this cartoon, another came
out, holding him up to the ridicule and contempt of
the populace. That was the worst of all, because
nothing cuts so deep as satire and ridicule.

During all of this time it may be remembered that
Cardinal Mercier was supposed to be a prisoner in his
episcopal residence. But in spite of that fact the emi-
nent churchman managed to address his countrymen,
and always it was to give them words of encourage-
ment and hope. He bade them obey their conquerors
in things that were lawful, but never to concede that
they were anything but Belgians, and always to stand
loyally by their King. Many of these addressess were
given wide publicity by means of Free Belgium. One
of them which had been delivered before a compara-
tively small audience was circulated throughout the
kingdom by means of this newspaper. It said, among
other things:

" My brothers, I do not need to exhort you to per-

148 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

severe in your resistance of the invaders. I come
rather to tell you how proud we are of you. A day
does not go by without my receiving from friends of
all nationalities letters of condolence which invariably
terminate with the words : * Poor Belgium ! ' and I
answer, * No, no, not poor Belgium, but great Belgium,
incomparable Belgium, heroic Belgium ! * On the map
of the world it is only a tiny spot which many foreign-
ers would not notice without the aid of a magnifying
glass; but to-day there is not a nation in the world
which does not render homage to this Belgium.

"How grand and beautiful she is! If they could
see her as we see her, they would know there is not
a single Belgian who weeps or complains. I have
not yet met on my way a single workman without
work; a woman without resources, a mother in tears,
a wife in mourning who was sorrowing.

"This is what disconcerts the men who have been
among us for a year. It is now just one year that
they have been living among us, and they do not
know us yet. They are stupefied. On one hand no
one complains. We shall obey and shall continue to
obey the regulations which they have imposed upon
us by force, but on the other hand not one heart gives
itself to them, and by the grace of God, none will
give itself to them. We have a King, one King, and
we will continue to have one King until that great
and glorious day when afflicted Belgiimi comes into
its own once again ! "

Much of the mystery surrounding the publication
of Free Belffium was cleared up by an article which

SECRET PEESS OF BELGIUM 149

was published in the French newspaper Le Petit Pari-
sien, of January 7, 19 19. The translation of that
story, in part, is substantially as follows:

" After the third number of Free Belgium, imme-
diately following a visit of the police to the home
of Madame Massardo, wife of a bookseller of the
Galeres Saint-Hubert, who served as the intermediary
for the copy, the printer refused his help. Further,
the copy for this number had to be thrown into the
fire. M. the Abbe Demeer, to whom M. van Doren
intrusted the secret, obtained the consent of another
printer, M. Allaer, on the condition that when the
printing was done, the issues of Free Belgium be de-
livered to M. van Doren in a public street. All went
well this way. Friends and collaborators increased
and the paper produced, at each issue, a new sensation
— and redoubled the searches of the German police.

" It was urgent, however, to take new precautions.
M. van Doren, anxious about the life of his printer,
decided to compose the paper at his own house. In
consequence, he bought the necessary material — in
order to prevent the spies from following the trail by
the easy identification of characters. And he installed
the plant on the Avenue Verte, at Woluwe, in an aban-
doned house, where he could work in all security with
the aid of two professional printers, the Allaer broth-
ers. Again, Free Belgium appeared without interrup-
tion.

" As its success became greater and greater, it was
necessary to insure delivery of the paper to the houses
of its subscribers. The cooperation of an ardent pa-

150 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

triot was secured. He was Phillipe Baucq, whom the
Germans shot at the same time as Miss Cavell. The
work was divided up thus : M. van Doren kept for him-
self the delivery of the big packages, and Phillipe
Baucq effected the distribution of single papers.

" The devotion of this man was so splendid that
he alone distributed four or five thousand copies. He
made trips at night on a bicycle. Later, when the
bicycling was forbidden, he went on foot. At one
time he walked for two days without rest.

" Each new day made necessary the most minute
precautions. M. van Doren decided to print Free
Belgium, which, until then, was only set up in his
shop at Woluwe. M. Victor Jourdain furnished the
necessary funds to buy a foot-power press, which was
installed at Molenbeeck, a suburb of Brussels, in an
outbuilding of a factory belonging to M. van Doren.
From then on, the paper was set up at Woluwe
and printed at Molenbeeck.

" But the transportation of material was not al-
ways an easy matter. M. van Doren had to make
two little cases, which, when filled, weighed about
twenty kilos. Also, when he got aboard a trolley car
with packages so small, yet so heavy, he was always
an object of curiosity to passengers.

** In the midst of these inconveniences there arose
at times amusing incidents. One day, especially, while
M. Louis Allaer was carrying four thousand copies of
Free Belgium he was obligingly aided by some Ger-
man soldier, who lifted the box to his shoulder!

" The success of Free Belgium progressed with such

SECEET PRESS OF BELGIUM 151

rapidity, to the constantly growing anger of the Gov-
ernor-General, whose spies came back empty-handed
day after day, that the printing shop had to be en-
larged. A new machine was bought and carried piece
by piece to the shop at Molenbeeck. There M. van
Doren was surrounded by Germans; it was neces-
sary to prevent the noise of the motor from giving
them the alarm. Remember that there was a reward
of one hundred thousand francs for him who should
discover the ofBce of the forbidden paper! M. van
Doren secured the necessary tools and materials, and
simply walled up the press and the motor. Before the
wall he placed some furniture, and he entered his shop
by a little door hidden behind some scrap iron and
cardboard boxes.

" When the installation was done, there was pub-
lished the famous number which showed on the front
page the picture of von Bissing seated at his desk read-
ing Free Belgium. Throughout Belgium, people liter-
ally tore copies of this issue from each other's hands.

" Soon after, on the occasion of the Belgian na-
tional holiday. Free Belgium summoned the people
of Brussels to meet at Sainte-Gudule. It was the
most beautiful manifestation of patriotism that can be
imagined. Those present thundered out the ' Bra-
banconne,' then, carried away by their enthusiasm, all
followed with * Toward the Future.'

" The German spies were on the trail ; the plant had
to be broken up in great haste; the material was car-
ried to the house of a friend of Baucq, on the Rue
d'Arlon, at Brussels. These tribulations did not dis-

152 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

courage M. van Doren. The book 'J'Accuse' had
just appeared in Switzerland ; he decided to publish it
in installments in Free Belgium. Publication began in
No. 50 of the paper. Twenty thousand copies had
to be printed.

"The danger became pressing. Searches were
made without end and arrest followed arrest. Not
at all worried, M. van Doren published a new number
with a dedication in caricature, representing von Biss-
ing bowed down under the weight of a stack of search
warrants against Free Belgium^ Then he launched
an illustrated paper entitled La Cravache (The Whip),
printing ten thousand copies, which were distributed
free.

" The catastrophe happened. Discovered, M. van
Doren had time to take flight and found refuge with
relatives, later with friends, at Brussels, where he
stayed for several months, laughing at the searches
of the police. But Free Belgium did not discontinue
its irregular appearances, thanks to the devotion of
several patriotic Belgians. This one and that one
might be arrested, or sentenced, but some one would
pick up the interrupted work. Among them were
merchants, printers, bankers, priests, lawyers, poli-
ticians. Never could the Germans get hold of Free
Belgium, in spite of the years of forced labor that
they inflicted upon its successive collaborators."

Is it too much to class M. Eugene van Doren with
the heroes of the war? Scarcely, for all who read the
story of his industry and his courage in the face of
danger will concede that he is entitled to a place with

SECRET PRESS OP BELGIUM 153

King Albert, Cardinal Mercier and the other brave
men who did so much for the cause of freedom and
civilization.

VII

THE MAD ADVENTURE OF SIR ROGER
CASEMENT

VII

THE MAD ADVENTURE OF SIR ROGER
CASEMENT

WAS Sir Roger Casement a patriot, a traitor,
or a madman? That is the natural query
which must come to the average person after
reading the evidence in the case, and if there is no
answer forthcoming the difficulty must be attributed
to the puzzling and picturesque personality of the
chief figure in this extraordinary adventure. There
are thousands of persons who look upon Casement as
a patriot, other thousands who are perfectly satisfied
that he was a traitor, and a small and intelligent minor-
ity who insist that his actions are only explainable
on the score of mental irresponsibility. We have
heard of men with dual natures. Could it be possi-
ble for a man to have a triple personality? If so,
we might solve the Casement problem by regarding
him as a patriot, traitor and lunatic.

His case bears a remarkable resemblance to that of
the famous Napper Tandy, the only difference being
that Tandy was a soldier, and Casement more of a
publicist and idealist. General Tandy, who was a
favorite of the first Napoleon, organized an expedi-
tion to take Ireland in the interest of the Little Cor-

157

158 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

sican. He set sail in a vessel loaded with ammuni-
tion, and actually made a landing and issued a procla-
mation. But the expected uprising was short-lived.
Tandy was eventually arrested, and came very near
being executed. But he contrived to escape with his
life and went to Paris where he was lionized and re-
warded by the French. His story is told in full in
" The World's Greatest Military Spies and Secret
Service Agents."

But the story of the mad adventure of Sir Roger
Casement will have to speak for itself — here are the
facts in the case given as fully and as impartially as
possible.

On the night of Thursday, April 20, 1916, John
Hussey, a laborer, stood on the wind-swept shore of
the Kerry coast and gazed toward the sea. Suddenly,
out of the darkness of the night, came the flashing of
a red light. It appeared at intervals, blinking and
disappearing, after the manner of a prearranged sig-
nal. Adventure rarely entered into the lives of the
people who lived in that sparsely-settled section of
Ireland, but the unlettered man who beheld the red
light had in his heart a love of romance, and he sensed
something out of the ordinary. At the same time a
small boat approached Tralee Bay under circumstances
that aroused suspicion. The authorities learned of
these matters, and the Government boats which had
been patrolling that part of the Irish coast renewed
their vigilance.

On all sides there was a premonition of an approach-
ing adventure — a sense of something unusual in the

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 159

air. As one man put it at the time, he felt sure
that " something was going to happen."

Well, something did happen, and it proved to be
the most sensational incident that had occurred in the
crowded history of the Kerry coast.

The day following the night w^hen the blinking
light was first seen, April 21, 191 6, was Good Friday.
That morning His Majesty's vessel, The Bluebell,
sighted a suspicious-looking ship flying the Norwegian
ensign, and with four Norwegian ensigns painted for-
ward and aft on each side of the vessel. The captain
of The Bluebell hoisted a signal demanding the name
of the ship. The reply came that she was the Aud
of Bergen, and that she was bound for Genoa. She
was told in polite nautical language that she would
have to come into port.

" Where are you taking me? '* she signaled.

The answer to this query was the firing of a shot
across her bow. It was evident that the commander
of The Bluebell would stand for no nonsense. The
captain of the Aud surrendered as gracefully as pos-
sible.

He was told that he should proceed ahead of The
Bluebell, and he complied with the command. The
two vessels went their way and presently passed
abreast the lighthouse at Queenstown. Then the Aud
hoisted a signal which said :

" Where am I to anchor upon arriving in the har-
bor?"

There was no answer to this. Probably the com-
mander of The Bluebell was becoming tired of reply-

160 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

ing to questions. At this stage of the game a rather
queer proceeding occurred. The only explanation of
it was " German efficiency.** The captain had been
given certain instructions and he must have felt that
it was his duty to carry them out to the letter. At all
events, two Germans ensigns were suddenly broken
at her masts, and almost simultaneously two small
boats were lowered. The Bluebell fired one round
across the bow of the boats and the occupants imme-
diately hoisted flags of truce and the men held up their
hands in token of surrender.

In the meanwhile the Aud tossed about the water
with the air of a drunken ship. She lurched on one
side and the other in an uncertain manner for some
minutes, and then slowly began to sink. Even be-
fore the men in the boats had reached the shore the
masts of the guilty ship disappeared beneath the
waters of the Irish Sea.

All of the men were placed under arrest. There
were nineteen sailors and three officers. They talked
broken English, and when taken into custody shrugged
their shoulders with the air of men who were ac-
customed to taking things as they came. Later divers
ascertained that the cargo of the Aud consisted of
Russian rifles of the 1905 pattern. It was quite evi-
dent that this was part of a German conspiracy to
join in an uprising in Ireland.

But the curious reader may well ask : " What has
all of this to do with Sir Roger Casement? "

Well, the answer to that query was to come from
another source. At four o'clock on the morning of

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 161

Good Friday, John McCarthy, a farmer Hving at Cur-
raghane, found an apparently abandoned boat on the
shore. Filled with curiosity, he made an examination
and discovered a dagger, a tin box full of pistol am-
munition and other articles. Nearby, buried in the
sand, were three Mauser pistols, two handbags filled
with ammunition, six maps of Ireland, a flashlamp
and three coats.

In the pocket of one of the coats w^as a railroad ticket
from Berlin to Wilhelmshaven, dated April 12, 19 16.
The authorities afterwards made a great deal of
this bit of pasteboard. It was photographed and
shown to the jury as part of the proof that Sir
Roger Casement had been in Germany at the time in-
dicated. But the dramatic phases of the adventure
were only beginning. McCarthy noticed the foot-
prints of three men leading from the shore toward
his house, and continuing through his yard to a stile
leading in the direction of Ardfert. Such was the
evidence of the farmer who had been on the shore at
that unusual hour on Good Friday morning — his
presence there being prompted by his desire to say
some prayers at what is known as the Holy Well of
the neighborhood.

The story is next taken up by Mary Gorman, a farm
servant, who saw three men passing along the road
in the direction of Ardfert. The police were notified
at this stage of the proceeding and Sergeant Hearne
searched the neighborhood in the quest for the three
suspicious-looking characters. They were located
finally in what was called McKenna^s Fort. McKen-

162 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

na's Fort was in reality a cave where the three men
had sought refuge. The leader of the trio, when
asked to give his name, said :

" I am Richard Morton, of Denham."

"What is your business?" inquired the officer.

** I am a writer — an author."

The sergeant was plainly skeptical. He wanted
more detailed information.

" What have you written ? "

" Well, among other things, the * Life of St. Bren-
don.' "

"Where do you come from ? "

" I came to Kerry from Dublin and arrived at
Mount Brandon on the nineteenth. I left there on
the twentieth, slept at a farm house and intended to
go to Tralee."

The man was not Richard Morton, but Sir Roger
Casement, and most of his statements were the prod-
ucts of his imagination.

He was taken to Ardfert Barracks, where he was
charged with landing arms and ammunition in county
Kerry. He wanted to know if he could have legal
assistance, but this was a question which the local
authorities did not pretend to determine. On the way
to the barracks he was seen to drop a piece of paper.
When this was recovered it proved to be a code. It
was arranged in the form of sentences — some of them
incomplete — and each one preceded by a number.
Part of the code read as follows :

0061 1 cease communication with

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 163

00634 await further instruction

00631 await favorable opportunity

00633 agent has started for

00645 agent will start for

00657 agent is underway s for

00658 send agent at once

00659 keep agent back

00757 it is impossible to stay at

00815 nothing further is known

00836 don't send further letter
00845 further rifles are needed
00888 give me a new address for
00899 last wire has not been understood

00837 communication is again possible.

April 2j Casement was conveyed to England and
handed over to Inspector Sandercock, of the Metro-
politan Police. He was tried for treason in the High
Court of Justice, London, beginning June 16, 19 16.
The Lord Chief Justice of England (Viscount Read-
ing, who, for a time during the war, acted as Am-
bassador from Great Britain to the United States)
presided, and associated with him were Mr. Justice
Avory and Mr. Justice Horridge. The counsel for
the Crown was the Attorney-General, Sir Frederick
Smith, assisted by the Solicitor-General and a com-
petent staff. Mr. A. M. Sullivan, an eminent mem-
ber of the Irish bar, was counsel for the prisoner, and
he was assisted, among others, by Michael Francis
Doyle, of the American bar.

There are some interesting facts in connection with
the appearance of Counselor Doyle in connection with
the defense of the prisoner. Soon after the arrest of

164 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Sir Roger Casement some of his friends cabled to
the American lawyer and retained him in the case.
One of the purposes of this action was to give the case
an international aspect, as the prisoner wished to ap-
peal to the sentiment of the United States where he
had been a visitor in 1914. The indictment against
Casement charged him with the commission of crimes
in Germany and it was necessary for some one to go
there to develop the defense. As the United States
was neutral at that time Mr. Doyle was assigned for
that purpose, but the British authorities would not
permit witnesses to be brought from Germany to tes-
tify for the defense. The Government, however, con-
sented to his appearance as of counsel for the prisoner
and it is said that he was the first American lawyer
oflficially recognized in the British Courts and whose
appearance was officially recorded. It was through
the activities of Mr. Doyle that the United States
Senate adopted the resolution asking for clemency
on behalf of Sir Roger Casement.

It was an impressive scene when the King^s Coroner,
in accordance with tradition, arose to read the indict-
ment. This declared that Sir Roger Casement was
to be tried under the Treason Act passed in the days
of Edward III. It charged the prisoner with " traitor-
ously contriving and intending to aid and assist the
enemies of our Lord, the King, against our Lord the
King and his subjects," and said he " did traitorously
adhere to and aid and comfort the said enemies in parts
beyond the sea without this realm of England, to wit,
in the Empire of Germany."

SIR ROGER CASEMKNT

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 165

The prisoner was not the least interesting figure in
this picturesque setting. There was a1x)Ut him an air
of dreamy melancholy. He followed the speeches and
the testimony carefully, and when he spoke it was in
the manner of a cultivated gentleman who had an un-
usual knowledge of law and history. Indeed, in spite
of his quiet demeanor, there was a something about
him which can best be expressed by the word, mag-
netism. One writer, Padraic Collum, pictures Sir
Roger Casement as follows:

" In appearance he does not conform to any Irish
type. Tall, bearded, with black hair and remarkable
dark eyes, with measured and courteous speech, with
nervous and commanding bearing, he looks one's no-
tion of a Castilian nobleman. He has the most
romantic distinction of any man I ever saw. I often
notice people turn in the Dublin streets to look at
him. When I think of him now I always see one
picture. It is a poor, wind-swept bridge in Dublin,
and it is past midnight. There is only one figure on
the bridge — a blind beggar woman who has stood
there all day and is now turning to go home. I am
coming from a newspaper ofBce and I stop to speak
to her. Another figure comes up and halts and speaks
to her. It is Roger Casement. He speaks to her in
that voice that has such a remarkable quality — a
voice that sounds to me as if a man were speaking
so as to make some one in a drawing-room understand
a profoundly tragic thing. I am sure that if the old
woman had been able to look on him, she would have

166 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

thought that Casement was the most courtly gentleman
she had ever seen.

" We are known to each other, so we talk for a few
moments. I cannot recall his words, but I know that
the sight of that town where only the poor moved
about, and the sight of the gaunt, blind woman made
him speak of a noble thing impoverished and de-
graded, Ireland capable of chivalry and splendor, con-
demned to a shuffling existence — that was his constant
meditation. I almost believe that the bitter words
of the Gaelic poet are written on his heart:

" * Hard it is to see the Arbitress and Thrones
Wedded to a Saxoneen of cold and sapless bones/

" After hearing him talk in 1913, the writings of
most publicists seem to me obscure and ill-informed.
He foretold the most of the combinations in the pres-
ent war. He knew that war between Germany and
England would come within a few years. How could
those who hoped to support Ireland take advantage
of that struggle? Ireland might be overlooked by
Germany. Brooding upon this. Casement made a re-
discovery. The position of Ireland was such that no
nation, striving to break down the English lordship
of the seas, could overlook it. It was the position
of Ireland — the country that is the link between the
Scandinavian and the Iberian peninsula, and between
Europe and America — that gave England control
of the seas. With Ireland no longer an * island be-
yond an island,* but a part of Europe, the seas would
again be free and open. With such an idea, it was

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 167

only natural that Casement should go to Berlin, and
it was natural, too, that he should strive to land
armed forces in Ireland."

For a man who achieved world prominence in such
a short time, very little was known of the early his-
tory of Sir Roger Casement. Curiously enough the
facts were supplied in the opening address of the At-
torney-General :

" The prisoner was bom in County Dublin on ist
September in the year 1864. He entered the service
of the Niger Coast (Oil Rivers) Protectorate on 31st
July, 1892, at the age of twenty-eight. He was
appointed three years later, on 27th June, 1895, to be
Her Majesty's Consul in the Portuguese Province of
Lourenco Marques, with a residence at Lourenco
Marques. He continued in this employment for three
years, and on 29th July, 1898, he became Consul for
the Portuguese Possessions in West Africa, south of
the Gulf of Guinea. He was employed on special
service at Cape Town during the war in South Africa,
from 1899 to 1900; and he received, when the hostili-
ties ended, the Queen's South African medal. On
20th August, 1900, he was transferred to Kinchassa, in
the Congo State; and he was appointed, in addition,
on 6th August, 1901, to be Consul for part of the
French Congo Colony. From 31st December, 1904,
he was seconded for one year; and afterwards for six
months from 31st December, 1905. On 30th June,
1905, he was made a C. M. G., a recognition of his
public services which he did not disdain. He was
appointed Consul for the States of San Paulo and

168 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Parana, with a residence at Santos, on 13th August,
1906. On 2nd December, 1907, he was transferred
to Para; and on the ist December, 1908, he was
promoted to be Consul-General at Rio de Janeiro. On
20th June, 191 1, he was made a knight. In 191 1, the
same year, he received the Coronation medal. The
State of Goyaz was added to the district of the Con-
sul-General at Rio de Janeiro ; and a new commission
was issued to him on 2nd December, 19 12. From
1909 to 191 2 he was employed, while titular Consul-
General at Rio de Janeiro, in making certain inquiries
relative to the rubber industry. On ist August, 19 13,
after a considerable career of public usefulness, he
was retired on a pension.'*

The first move of the Attorney-General was to
prove by documents and oral testimony that Sir Roger
Casement had been in Germany in 19 14. In Decem-
ber of that year prisoners of war belonging to various
Irish regiments were removed from the different camps
in which they were then imprisoned, and were collected
into a large camp at Limburg Lahn. It was claimed
that this was being done for a purpose.

And so it seemed, for when the stage had been fully
set. Sir Roger Casement suddenly appeared on the
scene.

Why was he there? What did he do? Let the
answer to these questions be given in the words of
the Attorney-General in his opening speech for the
prosecution. Says Sir Frederick Smith :

"He introduced himself to them — such was the
tenor of his address on more than one occasion —

SIE KOGER CASEMENT 169

as Sir Roger Casement, the organizer of the * Irish
Volunteers.' He stated that he was forming an Irish
Brigade, and he invited all the Irish prisoners of war
to join it. He pointed out repeatedly, and with em-
phasis, that in his opinion everything was to be gained
for Ireland by Germany winning the war; and that
the Irish soldiers who were listening to his address
had the best opportunity they had ever had of striking
a blow for Ireland by entering the service of the
enemies of this country. He said that those who
joined the Irish Brigade would be sent to Berlin ; they
would become the guests of the German Government ;
and in the event of Germany winning a sea battle he
(the speaker) would land a brigade in Ireland to de-
fend the country against the enemy England. And
that in the event of Germany losing the war either
he or the Imperial German Government would give
each man in the brigade a bonus of from £io to £20,
with a free passage to America.

" Such were the temptations unfolded to his simple
listeners by the man who reconciled it with his duty
to address such persuasions to men in the straits, the
bewilderment, and perhaps the despair in which these
prisoners then were. Gentlemen, to the honor of
Ireland, let it be recorded that the vast majority of the
Irish prisoners treated the rhetoric, and the persua-
sions, and the corruptness of the prisoner with con-
tempt. He was received with hisses, and was on at
least one occasion driven from the canip. The Mun-
ster Fusileers were particularly prominent in their loyal
resentment of the treacherous proposals made to them.

170 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

One private in that regiment actually struck, so it is
recorded, the prisoner, who was saved from further
violence by the intervention of an escort of Prussian
Guards, who had been assigned to him for his pro-
tection by a nation which thinks of everything."

The prosecution had six or seven soldiers as wit-
nesses, men who had been prisoners at the Limburg
Lahn camp. They testified to the facts recited in the
indictment and in the speech of the Attorney-General ;
also they identified a copy of a leaflet which had been
widely distributed in the camp and which read as
follows :

IRISHMEN!

Here is a chance for you to fight for Ireland !

You have fought for England, your country's
hereditary enemy.

You have fought for Belgium, in England's inter-
est, though it was no more to you than the Fiji
Islands.

Are you willing to fight for your own country?

With a view to securing the National Freedom of
Ireland, with the moral and material assistance of the
German Government, an Irish Brigade is being formed.

The object of the Irish Brigade shall be to fight
solely for the cause of Ireland, and under no circum-
stances shall it be directed to any German end.

The Irish Brigade shall be formed and shall fight
under the Irish flag alone; the men shall wear a spe-
cial, distinctively Irish uniform and have Irish offi-
cers.

The Irish Brigade shall be clothed, fed, and effi-
ciently equipped with arms and ammunition by the

SIE ROGER CASEMENT 171

German Government. It will be stationed near Ber-
lin, and be treated as guests of the German Govern-
ment.

At the end of the war the German Government un-
dertakes to send each member of the Brigade, who may
so desire it, to the United States of America, with
necessary means to land. The Irishmen in America
are collecting money for the Brigade. Those men who
do not join the Brigade will be removed from Limburg
and distributed among other camps.

If interested, see your company commanders.

Join the Irish Brigade and win Ireland's independ-
ence!

Remember Bachelor's Walk !
God Save Ireland!

There is no need to go into all of the details of the
trial. There was an agreement upon the main facts
of the case. At one point Sir Roger Casement arose
to contradict the statement of certain witnesses who
claimed that he was responsible for reducing the ra-
tions of those soldiers who had refused to join the
Irish Brigade. He declared the assertion to be an
abominable falsehood. He also emphatically denied
that he had ever asked any Irishman to fight for Ger-
many. " Finally," he concluded, " I resent the im-
putation of German gold. From the first moment
I landed on the Continent until I came home again
to Ireland, I never asked for nor accepted a single
penny of foreign money, neither for myself, nor for
any Irish cause, nor for any purpose whatsoever; but
only the money of Irishmen. Money was offered to
me in Germany more than once, and offered liberally

172 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

and unconditionally, but I rejected every suggestion
of the kind and I left Germany a poorer man than I
entered."

The prosecution introduced a, letter which Sir Roger
Casement had written to Sir Edward Gray, thanking
him for his graciousness in recommending him for
knighthood, and referred at various times to his pen-
sion. The prisoner retorted that he had earned the
pension by service rendered and it was assigned by
law, and that the knighthood was not in his power
to refuse.

The accused was ably defended by Counselor Sulli-
van. His contention was that the court did not have
jurisdiction because the indictment charged him with
an offense unknown to the law. The ancient statute
under which he was being tried referred to those who
were guilty of " adhering to the King's enemies within
his realm." He made a long and brilliant argument
on this point in an endeavor to have the indictment
quashed, but without avail. After all the evidence
was in. Counselor Sullivan made another powerful
speech for the prisoner. He admitted that Sir Roger
Casement had been in Germany and had asked soldiers
to join the Irish Brigade, but he defied any human
being to say that the prisoner had ever asked any
Irishman to fight for Germany. He justified Case-
ment's activities in desiring to form such a Brigade to
fight for Ireland by pointing out that men high in the
English Government had publicly declared their in-
tention of fighting the Home Rule bill — then recently
enacted by Parliament — by force. If Sir Roger

SIR EOGER CASEMENT 173

Casement was guilty of treason, so were these high
officials.

The Attorney-General in the closing speech for the
Crown, and the Lord Chief Justice, in his summing
up, both declined to accept the justification pleaded
by the counsel for the prisoner. The case went to
the jury on June 29, 1916. It was 2.53 in the after-
noon when they retired for deliberation. Twice they
sent for documents in the case, and at 3.48 they re-
turned with the announcement that they had agreed
upon a verdict.

** What is your decision ? *' asked the King's
Coroner.

All eyes were on the foreman of the jury. He
cleared his throat and replied:

" We find Sir Roger Casement guilty of high trea-
son, and that is the verdict of all of us."

The prisoner seemed to be the least moved of any
one in the room. His eyes moved restlessly and his
face was animated as he waited for the formalities
to be concluded. He was asked if he had anything
to say why the court should not pass sentence of death
upon him.

His reply was calm, impressive and couched in the
language of a cultured man. He began by protesting
against the jurisdiction of the court. He objected to
the application of an English statute 565 years old
against him. In those days, he said, the " heretic "
met with the same doom as the " traitor." He in-
sisted that he was being tried not by his peers of the
live present but by the peers of the dead past. Loy-

174 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

alty was a sentiment and not a law. It rested on love,
not on restraint. " The Government of Ireland by
England," he said, " rests on restraint and since it
demands no love it can evoke no loyalty/* " But the
statute,'* he continued, was even more absurd than it
was antiquated and if it was potent to hang one Irish-
man it was still more potent to gibbet all English-
men. He claimed that if he had done wrong in ap-
pealing to Irishmen to fight for Ireland, it was by
Irishmen, and by them alone, that he could be right-
fully judged.

" Place me before a jury of my own countrymen,'*
he cried, "be it Protestant or Catholic, Unionist or
Nationalist, Sinn Feineach or Orangemen, and I shall
accept the verdict and bow to the statute and all its
penalties."

After asserting that lawlessness sat in high places
in England and laughed at the law, he told of his
visit to the United States to obtain money to secure
arms for the Volunteers of Ireland to defend the
Home Rule law. Then he sketched the events which
followed and thus concluded his really remarkable
address :

" Then came the war. As Mr. Birrell said in his
evidence recently laid before the Commission of In-
quiry into the causes of the late rebellion in Ireland,
' the war upset all our calculations.' It upset mine no
less than Mr. Birrell's, and put an end to my mission
of peaceful effort in America. War between Great
Britain and Germany meant, as I believed, ruin for all
the hopes we had founded on the enrollment of the

SIR EOGER CASEMENT 175

Irish Volunteers. A constitutional movement in Ire-
land is never very far from a breach of the constitu-
tion, as the Loyalists of Ulster have been so eager to
show us. The cause is not far to seek. A constitu-
tion to be maintained intact must be the achievement
and the pride of the people themselves; must rest on
their own free will and on their own determination
to sustain it, instead of being something resident in
another land whose chief representative is an armed
force — armed not to protect the population, but to
hold it down. We had seen the working of the Irish
constitution in the refusal of the army of occupation
at the Curragh to obey the orders of the Crown. And
now that we were told the first duty of an Irishman
was to enter that army, in return for a promissory
note, payable after death — a scrap of paper that
might or might not be redeemed, I felt over there in
America that my first duty was to keep Irishmen at
home in the only army that could safeguard our na-
tional existence.

"If small nationalities were to be the pawns in this
game of embattled giants, I saw no reason why Ire-
land should shed her blood in any cause but her own,
and if that be treason beyond the seas I am not
ashamed to avow it or to answer for it here with my
life. And when we had the doctrine of Unionist
loyalty at last — * Mausers and Kaisers and any king
you like,' and I have heard that at Hamburg, not
far from Limburg on the Lahn — I felt I needed no
other warrant than that these words conveyed — to
go forth and do likewise. The difference between us

176 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

was that the Unionist champions chose a path they
felt would lead to the woolsack; while I went a road
I knew must lead to the dock. And the event proves
we were both right. The difference between us was
my * treason ' was based on a ruthless sincerity that
forced me to attempt in time and season to carry out
in action what I said in word — whereas their treason
lay in verbal indictments that they knew need never be
made good in their bodies. And so, I am prouder to
stand here to-day in the traitor's dock to answer this
impeachment than to fill the place of my right honor-
able accusers.

" We have been told, we have been asked to hope,
that after this war, Ireland will get Home Rule, as a
reward for the life blood shed in a cause which who-
ever else its success may benefit can surely not benefit
Ireland. And what will Home Rule be in return
for what its vague promise has taken and still hopes to
take away from Ireland? It is not necessary to
climb the painful stairs of Irish history — that tread-
mill of a nation whose labors are as vain for her
own uplifting as the convict's exertions are for his
redemption — to review the long list of British prom-
ises made only to be broken — of Irish hopes raised
only to be dashed to the ground. Home Rule when it
comes, if come it does, will find an Ireland drained
of all that is vital to its very existence — unless it be
that unquenchable hope we build on the graves of the
dead.

"We are told that if Irishmen go by the thou-
sand to die, not for Ireland, but for Flanders, for

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 177

Belgium, for a patch of sand on the deserts of Mesopo-
tamia, or a rocky trench on the heights of Gallipoli,
they are winning self-government for Ireland. But
if they dare to lay down their lives on their native
soil, if they dare to dream even that freedom can be
won only at home by men resolved to fight for it there,
then they are traitors to their country, and their dream
and their deaths alike are phases of a dishonorable
phantasy. But history is not so recorded in other
lands. In Ireland alone in this twentieth century is
loyalty held to be a crime. If loyalty be something
less than love and more than law, then we have had
enough of such loyalty for Ireland or Irishmen. If
we are to be indicted as criminals, to be shot as mur-
derers, to be imprisoned as convicts because our offense
is that we love Ireland more than we value our lives,
then I know not what virtue resides in any offer of
self-government held out to brave men on such terms.
" Self-government is our rigKt, a thing born in us at
birth; a thing no more to be doled out to us or with-
held from us by another people than the right to life
itself — than the right to feel the sun or smell the
flowers, or to love our kind. It is only from the
convict these things are withheld for crime committed
and proven — and Ireland that has wronged no man,
that has injured no land, that has sought no dominion
over others — Ireland is treated to-day among the na-
tions of the world as if she was a convicted criminal.
If it be treason to fight against such an unnatural fate
as this, then I am proud to be a rebel and shall cling
to my * rebellion ' with the last drop of my blood.

178 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

If there be no right of rebellion against a state of
things that no savage tribe would endure without re-
sistance, then I am sure that it is better for men to
fight and die without right than to live in such a state
of right as this. Where all your rights become only
an accumulated wrong; where men must beg with
bated breath for leave to subsist in their own land, to
think their own thoughts, to sing their own songs, to
garner the fruits of their own labors — and even while
they beg, to see things inexorably withdrawn from
them — then surely it is braver, a saner and a truer
thing, to be a rebel in act and deed against such cir-
cumstances as these than tamely to accept it as the
natural lot of men.

" My lord, I have done. Gentlemen of the jury, I
wish to thank you for your verdict. I hope you will
not take amiss what I have said, or think that I made
any imputation upon your truthfulness or your in-
tegrity when I spoke and said that this was not a trial
by my peers. I maintain that I have a natural right
to be tried in that natural jurisdiction, Ireland, my
own country, and I would put it to you, how would
you feel in the converse case, or rather how would
all men here feel in the converse case, if an English-
man had landed here in England and the Crown or
the Government, for its own purposes, had conveyed
him secretly from England to Ireland under a false
name, committed him to prison under a false name,
and brought him before a tribunal in Ireland under
a statute which they knew involved a trial before an
Irish jury? How would you feel yourselves as Eng-

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 179

lishmen if that man was to be submitted to trial by
jury in a land inflamed against him and believing him
to be a criminal, when his only crime was that he had
cared for England more than for Ireland ? '*

After the prisoner had concluded, the Lord Chief
Justice arose and said solemnly:

" Sir Roger David Casement, you have been found
guilty of treason, the gravest crime known to the law,
and upon evidence which in our opinion is conclusive
of guilt. Your crime was that of assisting the King's
enemies, that is the Empire of Germany, during the
terrible war in which we are engaged. The duty now
devolves upon me of passing sentence upon you, and
it is that you be taken hence to a lawful prison, and
thence to a place of execution, and that you be there
hanged by the neck until you be dead. And the
Sheriffs of the Counties of London and Middlesex
are, and each of them is, hereby charged with the
execution of this judgment, and may the Lord have
mercy on your soul."

The newspaper views of the mad adventure of
Sir Roger Casement differ quite as sharply as those
of individuals, and it might be well, at this point, to
quote the comments of three leading newspapers in
different parts of the world. The New York World,
for instance, takes the British Government sharply to
task for condoning in others that which it was com-
pelled to condemn in Sir Roger Casement. It suggests
ironically that the Government might take Casement
into the Coalition Cabinet, doing for him that which
it had already done for Sir Edward Carson, and adds :

180 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

" Carson openly preached sedition and organized
his followers for civil war. Under his leadership they
took an oath to offer armed resistance to the Govern-
ment. They were drilled and supplied with arms se-
cretly shipped into Ireland, and the loyalty of officers
of Irish regiments was tampered with. By way of re-
ward a few months later an official place was created
in the British Cabinet for the inciter of rebellion in
Ulster. Casement was as sincere as Carson in his in-
tention to make trouble in Ireland and hardly less
loyal to Britain; but at the first opportunity the Gov-
ernment lays violent hands on him and places him on
trial for high treason.

" The promotion of Sir Edward Carson to the
Cabinet has been the great obstacle to quiet and order
in Ireland during the war. It hampered John Red-
mond and the Irish Nationalists in their efforts to
control their Irish supporters. It acted as a check on
recruiting in Ireland. The Irish Nationalist volun-
teers went to the aid of the troops in putting down the
riots in Dublin, but they had been unwilling to enlist
in the army because they had seen in Carson's entrance
into the Cabinet a threat against Home Rule. In the
circumstances, what excuse has the Government for
making fish of Carson and flesh of Casement? "

On the other hand, the official London weekly, the
Spectator, says :

" What excuse can be alleged for his treason ? We
may honor a man (even though it may be necessary to
deal sternly with him) who has always refused to rec-
ognize the authority of Parliament, and who would

SIR ROGER CASEMENT 181

rather cut off his right hand than serve the Govern-
ment of the United Kingdom in any shape or form.
With such men we know where we are, but what are
we to say of Sir Roger Casement? He was a consular
official; he took a pension and title from the British
Government and then, when war came, he took service
with the enemies of his country. Clarke, Pearse and
McDonough were ten times better men than he.

"Of course neither we nor anybody else want to
shoot a lunatic, and if true lunacy is declared by com-
petent experts in Sir Roger Casement's case, even if he
is guilty, he will not be shot, but by lunacy we do
not mean eccentricity of conduct. Again, a man can-
not found a plea of lunacy on the heinousness of his
crimes. He cannot be excused from the consequences
of his acts on the ground that nobody could have be-
haved so badly without being mad. We are not alien-
ists, and therefore, of course, cannot express any opin-
ion on the medical side of Sir Roger Casement's case.
All we or any one else can say at the moment is that if
his mental state justifies it, he must take the conse-
quences of his acts."

Midway between these two views, we find an expres-
sion of opinion from the New Statesman of London,
which insisted that the execution of Sir Roger would
be an act of imbecile stupidity. It says :

" Sir Roger Casement is a strikingly romantic, and
in many ways, a noble figure. His wits may, in a
measure, be deficient, but his patriotism, his courage,
his high personal character, and his disinterested de-
votion to what he conceived to be his duty, are quite

182 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

beyond question. He is just of the stuff of which
saints and their legions are made of. If he were to
be executed as a traitor, as the stern Mr. Pemberton
Billing demands, nothing could prevent his being can-
onized as one of Ireland's patriot martyrs. For the
moment the ludicrous melodrama of the landing on the
west coast might keep his name out of the calendar,
but the laughter can only last while he lives. Alive,
he is a harmless Don Quixote but, on the whole (e. g.,
by the convincing failure of his efforts to raise an
Irish regiment for service in the German Army) has
probably done -the British cause more good than harm.
Dead — he would be a saint and a new Irish grievance
worth, perhaps, thousands of recruits to Sinn Fein."

The sentence was appealed in the Court of Crimi-
nal Appeal, London, on July 17, 1916. Mr. Sullivan
made an impressive address in favor of his client, but
the judgment of the High Court was sustained.

Many Englishmen, whose loyalty cannot be ques-
tioned, doubted the wisdom of inflicting the death
penalty on this strange man. One of them was Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, the author. He drew up a pe-
tition which was addressed to the Prime Minister, Mr.
Asquith. This paper gave the following reasons why
the extreme sentence of the law should not be inflicted :

" ( I ) We would call attention to the violent change
which appears to have taken place in the prisoner's
previous sentiments towards Great Britain (as shown,
for example, in his letter to the King at the time of his
knighthood) from those which he has exhibited dur-
ing the war. Without going so far as to urge com-

SIR EOGER CASEMENT 183

pktc mental irresponsibility, we should desire to point
out that the prisoner had for many years been exposed
to severe strain during his honorable career of public
service, that he had endured several tropical fevers, and
that he had experienced the worry of two investiga-
tions which were of a peculiarly nerve-trying charac-
ter. For these reasons it appears to us that some al-
lowance may be made in his case for an abnormal
physical and mental state.

" (2) We would urge that his execution would be
helpful to German policy, by accentuating the differ-
ences between us and some of our fellow subjects in
Ireland. It would be used, however unjustly, as a
weapon against us in the United States and other neu-
tral countries. On the other hand, magnanimity upon
the part of the British Government would soothe the
bitter feelings in Ireland, and make a most favorable
impression throughout the Empire and abroad.

" (3) ^e would respectfully remind you of the
object lesson afforded by the United States at the con-
clusion of their Civil War. The leaders of the South
were entirely in the power of the North. Many of
them were officers and officials who had sworn alle-
giance to the laws of the United States and had after-
wards taken up arms and inflicted enormous losses
upon her. None the less not one of these men was
executed, and this policy of mercy was attended by
such happy results that a breach which seemed to be
irreparable has now been happily healed over.

" Being ourselves deeply convinced of the wisdom
of such a policy, we feel constrained to approach you

184 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

with this petition, hoping that you may find yourself
in agreement with the considerations which we ad-
vance."

This paper was not only remarkable in itself but also
for the high character and prominence of the signers.
They included :

Sir T. CliflFord Allbutt, K.C.B., Regius Professor of
Physics at the University of Cambridge.

William Archer.

Sir Thomas Barlow, Bart, K.C.V.O., President of
the Royal College of Physicians, London.

Harold Begbie.

Arnold Bennett.

Robert Blatchford.

Muirhead Bone.

Hall Caine.

The Rev. R. J. Campbell.

G. K. Chesterton.

The Rev. John Clifford.

Edward Clodd.

William Crooks.

Sir Francis Darwin (2 and 3).

W. Boyd Dawkins.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

John Drinkwater.

Sir James G. Frazer.

The Right Hon. Sir Edward Fry, G.C.B. •

John Galsworthy.

A. G. Gardiner.

Alice B. Gomme.

G. P. Gooch.

Maurice Hewlett.

Silas K. Hocking.

The Rev. Robert F. Horton.

SIR EOGER CASEMENT 185

Jerome K. Jerome.

John Masefield.

H. W. Massingham.

Sir William Robertson Nicoll.

Sir Sydney Oliver.

The Rev. Thomas Phillips, President of the Baptist

Union.
G. P. Scott, Editor, The Manchester Guardian,
Clement Shorter.
Ben Tillett.
Beatrice Webb.
Sidney Webb.

The Right Rev. the Bishop of Winchester.
Israel Zangwill.

But the Prime Minister declined to interfere with
the action of the Court, and the date of the execution
was formally fixed. His English friends hoped for
clemency until the last, but they were doomed to dis-
appointment. The prisoner personally made no at-
tempt to avoid his fate, and it is scarcely an exaggera-
tion to say that he welcomed the chance to die for what
he conceived to be a cause.

After the trial Sir Roger Casement was " de-
knighted " by the Government, and he went to his
death without the title which, under the circumstances,
was probably not a matter of great importance to him.

He was executed in the Pentonville jail on August 3,
191 6, and one who was present on that occasion testi-
fied that he ascended the scaffold "with the calm cour-
age and inflexible bearing of a martyr." The prison
bell tolled solemnly at that last moment, but above it
could be heard the prisoner's voice calling out " Into

186 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit ! " Ac-
cording to one of his attendants, the last words of
Roger Casement were : " I die for my country."

His relatives and friends claimed his body, but their
request was refused by the authorities, who interred it
in a narrow grave in the prison yard. There it rested,
at last accounts, with a plain headboard containing
the roughly cut initials " R. C./* and the date, " August
3, 1916/'

VIII
THE MYSTERY OF THE TURKISH BEAUTY

THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF THE DUTCH-
JAVANESE DANCER WHO WAS
SHOT AS A SPY

AMAZING ADVENTURES AND TRAGIC
DEATH OF BOLO PASHA

THIS is the story of the adventures, the amazing
life and the tragic death of Paul Bolo, better
known to history as Bolo Pasha. He was a
rolling stone that gathered no moss, and for sheer
audacity, bold resourcefulness and indifference to fate
his career matched, if it did not surpass, the strangest
characters depicted by the master pen of Dumas.
From the cradle to the grave, his life was a constant
succession of surprises. Born in one of the countries
on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, the son of
highly respected parents, he circumnavigated the globe,
engaged in various curious occupations, participated
in many shady schemes, and finally ended his eventful
life before a firing squad in the ancient city of Vin-
cennes.

His reckless disregard of consequences remained
with him to the last — to that last ignoble moment
when he suffered the saddest death that can come to a
Frenchman — the death of a convicted spy. This
man, who was by turns a barber's assistant, a soap
peddler, an agent for wines and liquors, an intimate
of the Khedive of Egypt, a sort of journalist and a
tool of the unspeakable Bemstorff, at last came to his

215

216 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

end through the cleverness of the officials of the United
States Government. He dealt in millions with the
abandon of one who has been born to the purple. He
engaged in international plots that would have stag-
gered the greatest adventurers of history, and his
nerve, in the face of it all, amazed those who were
engaged in the business of bringing him to justice.

The most remarkable episode in his remarkable life,
of course, was the one in which he undertook to be-
tray France. The French Secret Police, in spite of
their reputation, were unable to obtain the evidence
that would convict him, but, by degrees and with
infinite patience they helped to weave the net which
was to encircle him in the end. Scotland Yard took
part in the chase, and eventually the United States
Department of Justice took part in the game. Thus
it came about that the secret police of three of the
most powerful nations in the world participated in the
arrest and the conviction of the most adroit and the
most picturesque adventurer of his day and generation.

Paul Bolo's boyhood days were spent in quaint Mar-
seilles in an atmosphere which was conducive to the
love of adventure. It is easy to believe that the scenes
amid which he moved were very similar to those de-
picted by Dumas in his novel of ** Monte Cristo." We
can imagine Bolo standing on the watch tower of
Notra Dame de la Garde from which was signaled the
three-masted schooner that carried Edmond Dantes

BOLO PASHA 217

back to his childhood home. As a youth he must have
sat on the Quai d'Orleans and watched the vessels sail-
ing into port between two rows of ships and a veritable
forest of masts because then — as now — the harbor
was one of the finest in France.

It is certain that he played on the streets of La Can-
nebiere, that thoroughfare which caused the proud
ones of the town to exclaim : " If Paris had La Canne-
biere, Paris would be a second Marseilles!*' In the
early days of Bolo the city had its old town on the
west and its new town on the east. The narrow, ir-
regular streets in the older part of the city, with their
tall houses on either side, furnished a sharp contrast
to the broad avenues and the modern homes in the
newer section. Marseilles has always been the point
of embarkation of passengers for ports on the Medi-
terranean and the East, a sort of international gateway,
full of color and gayety and constant excitement. Is
it any wonder that an imaginative boy, living amid
such surroundings, should have yearned to see the
world, to do wonderful things and to long for a life
of adventure?

But those were the days of small things for Paul
Bolo, and he had to take what he could get, and not
get what he wanted. If he had followed the teachings
of his parents he might have had a humdrum exist-
ence, and died an unnoticed and respectable death.
It seems to have been the irony of fate that his father
and mother, and indeed, all of the members of his
family, were devoted and loyal French people. An
older brother was destined for Holy Orders, and the

218 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

domestic atmosphere was one that stimulated love of
law and order, and reverence for authority.

But from the outset Paul Bolo was wayward. His
first employment was as a barber's assistant, a strange
part for one who dreamt of being a Napoleon of
Finance and a man of affairs. Even in that he was
erratic and difficult to manage. It is true that he re-
mained at this humdrum work for several months, but
even while he mixed lather and singed hair he was
pondering over the means that he should take to be-
come a great man. Marseilles, at that time, was a
center for soap and perfumery, and finally the young
man determined to seek his fortune by the sale of
soap. Not in the ordinary way, because he was not
an ordinary person. He conceived the idea of getting
rich quick by means of a novel lottery. He began in
a modest way with a wheelbarrow, offering his soap
at five cents a cake. He prospered to such an extent
that he was soon able to acquire a small shop. He ad-
vertised that in certain of the cakes of soap there
was concealed ten-franc gold pieces. Need it be said
that he did a land office business? It became neces-
sary to obtain several assistants, and Bolo seemed to
be on the high road to fortune. But at this critical
stage of his career the gendarmes interfered, his stock
of soap was confiscated, and the first stage of the busi-
ness life of Paul Bolo came to an abrupt end.

For some time after the collapse of the soap enter-
prise Bolo lived a life of leisure, and then he cast about
for a new occupation. His mind seems to have been
bent upon some business that would bring prompt and

BOLO PASHA 219

profitable returns. He soon learned that he needed
capital to embark on anything worth while. He was
plausible and interested a man with money. And
what do you suppose they decided upon? Nothing
more nor less than the lobster business! Bolo had
little or no knowledge on that score, but his partner
seems to have supplied both the money and the experi-
ence for the enterprise. Bolo was full of enthusiasm.
He was like the lamented Colonel Mulberry Sellers
with his eye cure for the people of India. There was
to be billions in it. Everybody had to eat, and that
being the case, why not have them eat lobsters ? Fur-
thermore, why not direct things so that Bolo and Com-
pany should become the French Lobster Kings? For
many months all went well. The sales were large,
but the expenditures were greater than the receipts,
and the concern went to* the wall.

The people of Marseilles lost sight of Paul Bolo
for a time, but presently he was heard of again in the
silk manufacturing town of Lyons. He was as bright
and as gay and as care-free as ever, and he was confi-
dent that money could be made in the thriving com-
munity if he only engaged in the right occupation.
Having failed as a barber's assistant, as a soap mer-
chant and as a dealer in lobsters, he felt certain that
there must be some line of endeavor in which he could
make a success. He had money, for in spite of his
hard luck he managed to secure enough to keep the pot
boiling. He now organized a photographic company.
He reasoned this out in characteristic fashion. No
matter how poor people may be, they love to be photo-

220 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

graphed. The debonair Bolo now devoted his time
to the task of having his customers " look pleasant.'*
This elegant Frenchman had a way about him, and he
attracted customers from all classes of the population.
But the enterprise was short-lived, and once more the
young man from Marseilles scored a failure.

Was he cast down ? Not in the least. In less than
a year he branched out as a wine agent. At last it
seemed as if he had found a vocation in which his pe-
culiar talents were likely to shine to advantage. He
formed a partnership with a German nobleman, a cer-
tain Baron Saafeld. They had many traits in com-
mon, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that to this
partnership may be traced the beginning of the Teu-
tonic associations which were to lead Paul Bolo into
that fateful enterprise which was only to end in his
tragic death. At the outset he was a success. He
had all of the personal qualities that go to make up the
plausible manager of such a concern. Above all else
he was a social being. He loved good food and drink ;
he was a natural born " mixer,'* he had no difficulty in
securing entrance to the best society, and in a very
adroit manner he managed to mingle business and
pleasure. But Baron Saafeld had practically the same
experience as Bolo's partner in the lobster business.
The enterprise came to grief, and in order to avoid
unpleasant experiences Bolo found it expedient to leave
Lyons.

He moved to Paris, and there he was in his element.
He haunted the boulevards; he became a man about
town, and he was welcomed in the convivial circles of

I'hotograph from Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
BOLO PASHA

BOLO PASHA 221

the gayest city in Europe. In the course of time he
made the acquaintance of a woman who was beautiful,
and some years his senior. It seems to have been a
case of love at first sight — at least on the part of
the woman. She was possessed of a considerable for-
tune, but this was no obstacle so far as Paul Bolo was
concerned. They were married. It must be conceded
that Bolo had an attractive personality. His bright
eyes, his eager manners and his winning ways were
calculated to attract the attention of the fair sex. The
two were seen together constantly, and all of the evi-
dence points to a satisfactory marital partnership.
Indeed, it seems to have been the only partnership
which Bolo had contracted up to that time which was
even partially successful. But in a short time the lady
died, and Paul Bolo inherited her ample fortune. He
had other matrimonial adventures, but probably the
least said about them the better.

He was now, for the first time in his life, in a posi-
tion where he could follow the bent of his inclina-
tions. He was free and he had money. He had the
time and the means to satisfy his love for adventure.
He thought of the days when, as a boy, he had sat
upon the Quai d' Orleans in Marseilles, and looked out
upon the sea and wondered what lay in the dim and
misty distance. His imaginative mind turned to
Egypt, and he determined to journey to that strange
and mysterious land which has attracted men in all
ages. With that determination came the casting of
the die of destiny. He little thought that his decision
would lead him into a series of strange adventures

222 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

which was to bring his remarkable life to a most
thrilling close.

It has been said that Egypt is the Mecca of adven-
turers. It is certain that it had a strong appeal for
Bolo, and when he started for Cairo he was putting
into execution a desire that had lurked in his mind
for many years. The colorful scenes, the donkey boys,
the camels, the black-robed and closely-veiled women,
the water carriers, and the mixture of Turks, Arabs,
Syrians, Armenians, Persians and Europeans, all ap-
pealed to the imagination of the man who, as a boy,
had sat on the watch towers of his native French city
and wondered what lay beyond the horizon.

At that time Abbas Hilmi was the Khedive of Egypt,
and it was characteristic of the audacity of Paul Bolo
that his first move was to have himself presented to the
ruler of the strange land. It was not very difficult to
do this, because the Khedive seemed to be as eager to
meet Europeans as they were to meet him. When
Bolo entered the palace he found himself being es-
corted along a stairway built of Carrara marble, and
thence into a magnificent reception room. He was
cordially received and after the usual preliminaries he
was invited to take a seat on a divan, the Khedive
taking the other end, with his feet drawn under him
in the accepted Oriental style. The potentate wore a
black suit, with a single-breasted coat, with a low-
standing collar, and the never-absent red fez.

The Khedive talked French fluently, so that the two

BOLO PASHA 223

men managed to indulge in an animated conversation.
Abbas Hilmi was greatly attracted to Paul Bolo from
the start. Probably the fact that both were adven-
turers had a great deal to do with the instinctive sym-
pathy between them. In any event, that first visit was
but the prelude to many others, and in a little while
the Khedive and the former lobster dealer were firm
and fast friends. It was a little while before the
outbreak of the European war, and when the clouds
finally broke the ruler of Egypt began to see that in
Bolo he had a man who might serve a useful purpose.
Abbas Hilmi was lax in money matters, and he needed
some one who could aid him in the realms of higher
finance. Also, he was beginning to show a leaning
toward Germany. There were ominous mutterings
from England. It was the part of wisdom for Abbas
Hilmi to make friends who might serve him in the day
of his tribulation.

So, one day, he sent for Bolo, and the two of them
were presented with pipes with long stems set in dia-
monds, the bowls resting on silver plates placed in the
floor. After that, Turkish coffee was served, and then
the Khedive, as an evidence of friendship to his newly
found friend, gave him the title of Pasha. From that
day until the moment of his execution the young man
from Marseilles was known to the world as Bolo
Pasha. The two were frequently seen in public to-
gether. Bolo basked in the sunshine of the favor of
one of the picturesque rulers of the earth. He was
content — for the time being. If a record could have
been kept of the doings of those days it would have

224 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

been full of human interest. Bolo went everywhere
and he saw everything. In the company of the Khe-
dive he visited the mosques, the Arab cemetery, the
Citadel with its wonderful palaces, the alabaster
mosque of Mohammed Ali, the Pyramids, the Sphinx,
the deserts and the petrified forests. And last, but by
no means least, there were wonderful trips along the
Nile in gorgeously decorated boats that recalled the
magic days of Antony and Cleopatra.

Bolo was present at many of the elaborate court
ceremonies, and not the least of these was the occasion
when a new Consul-General was received from one of
the European countries. At the time selected the
Pasha, who was the master of ceremonies, waited on
the newly-accredited representative with two great
coaches. One of these was the royal gala coach,
drawn by richly-caparisoned white horses and accom-
panied by footmen and outriders. The Pasha was
attended by a body of cavalrymen on white and gray
horses. Thus surrounded, the Consul-General was
conveyed to the palace, there to find a regiment of in-
fantry drawn up on either side of the large square of
the entrance. Cannon from the Citadel boomed a sa-
lute and the soldiers presented arms. At the grand
stairway the master of ceremonies met the party and
conducted them to the presence of the Khedive.
There were greetings, the exchange of formal ad-
dresses, and then Turkish pipes and Turkish coffee.
Is it any wonder that such scenes went to the head
of Bolo Pasha like so much strong wine?

He was the intimate of a man who was hedged in

BOLO PASHA 225

with all of the trappings of royalty. But then, as
now, it was evident that the head that wore a crown
was uneasy. The suspicion that had been entertained
of Abbas Hilmi had now practically become a certainty.
He was nervous and apprehensive, and he began to
cast about for ways and means to save as much of
his fortune as was possible. He knew the history of
his own country well enough to realize that there is
nothing quite as helpless and as useless as an ex-
Khedive. His mind went back to the days of the de-
thronement of Ismail Pasha. Curiously enough, the
troubles of that monarch dated from the time that
Bismarck and France had entered into a sort of alli-
ance on what was popularly known as the " Egyptian
Question." Germany and England did not have a
great deal in common in those faraway days, but on
that historic occasion England entered into the French
scheme of deposing the Khedive. One historian tells
us that when Napoleon was the all-powerful monarch
in Europe, the Khedive trembled at the simple an-
nouncement of a visit from the French Consul-Gen-
eral. " What does he want now ? " the Khedive would
say, or, " He has come to insist upon the demands he
made yesterday.'*

In any event, it was a condition and not a theory
which confronted Abbas Hilmi. It was at this stage
of the game that Bolo began to scheme in favor of his
friend. It has been said that the Khedive used Bolo
as his tool, but it is quite likely that they had a com-
munity of interests in the matter. One writer who
has sized up the situation, put it aptly when he said

226 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

that "the wily Khedive used Bolo, the Frenchman
with the Egyptian title, as the means of transferring
all of his own fortune, and the trust funds in his care,
to Europe.'* It is certain that at this point the French
adventurer first became immersed in the German net
of intrigue. Who can say that at that early stage of
the game he had any thought of betraying his own
country? It seems more than likely that his thought
was of aiding the Khedive, and of making his own
fortune at the same time.

Events came thick and fast from that time until
the end of the European war. One must be patient in
order to gather all of the scattered threads of the
strange story. Abbas Hilmi was deposed, and he at
once began to intrigue to get as much out of the wreck
as possible. What followed is a matter of current
history. The details have been outlined in the news-
papers. Here they are presented in one lucid sum-
mary :

" In November, 19 14, in an effort to prevent the
permanent sequestration of the ex-Khedive's prop-
erty in Egypt, Bolo sent an Italian friend to Con-
stantinople, where Abbas then was, with two letters.
One was to the effect that Abbas owed Bolo $10,-
000,000, and the other was a promise by Bolo to
refund the money. Bolo then arranged a meeting
with Sadik Pasha, counselor to Abbas Hilmi, at
Rome for February i, 19 15, and he thereupon pro-
posed to Abbas' representative a plan for the estab-
lishment of a bank in Switzerland, which was in
reality to be used for the dissemination of German
propaganda. Bolo and Sadik Pasha went to Vienna

BOLO PASHA 227

to meet Abbas Hilmi, who refused to consider the
scheme. Bolo thereupon made an alternative pro-
posal to the effect that he purchase an interest in
some of the leading newspapers of France, at the
same time guaranteeing the publication of a number
of articles favorable to the German cause.

" Abbas Hilmi is said to have favored the last
proposition, and after a conference with Count
Monts, the former German Ambassador to Rome,
dispatched Sadik Pasha to Berlin to lay the matter
before Foreign Minister von Jagow. Von Jagow
is said to have agreed and offered to put up 10,000,-
000 marks to be paid in ten monthly installments.
A short time after that Abbas Hilmi, accompanied
by Chefik Pasha, arrived at the Hotel Savoy, Zurich,
where Bolo and Commandatore Cavallini already
were installed. It is noteworthy that at the same
time Bolo and his party were at the Hotel Savoy,
Herr Erzberger, leader of the German party, was
at the Hotel du Saint Gothard, and that Bolo intro-
duced him to many of his friends. The next day
at a conference at the Savoy, Bolo was said to have
accepted Von Jagow's proposal of 10,000,000 marks
monthly, to be paid through the ex-Khedive.

"The story has it that on March 21, 1915, the
former Egyptian ruler received the first installment
through the Dresden Bank and forwarded it to an
agent in Italy to be paid over to Bolo. The French
spy refused to accept the money in that way and ar-
rangements were thereupon made to have the money
deposited in a Geneva bank, where Bolo represented
it to be a part of the personal fortune of Abbas
Hilmi."

At this point one must be careful in trying to sift
the facts from the flood of conjecture. We are told

228 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

that one of Bolo's most ambitious schemes was his
endeavor to establish a great bank in Italy with a capi-
tal of 100,000,000 francs, and it was said that he
actually succeeded in getting the endorsement of some
of those high in authority in Rome. In some way it
was expected to interest the King of Spain in the un-
dertaking, and Bolo and a certain nobleman went to
Madrid to lay the matter before King Alfonzo. The
Papal Nuncio at that Court had heard rumors which
gave the transaction an irregular appearance, and it is
said that upon his advice the king flatly refused to have
anything to do with the proposed enterprise. There
are no means of verifying these phases of Bolo*s ac-
tivities, and, consequently, the prudent reader must ac-
cept them with a grain of salt.

When we come back to the firmer ground of cer-
tainty we find Bolo making frequent trips between Ge-
neva and Paris. In the beginning these journeys did
not excite any suspicion. At this time Bolo seems to
have been receiving money through Abbas Hilmi from
Arthur von Gwinner, head of the Deutsche Bank,
financial adviser to Von Jagow, and, as he has been
described, " one of the most commanding figures in
the commerce and industry of the German Empire.*'
It was during one of these trips that the suggestion
for the purchase of an interest in Senator Humbert's
newspaper, Le Journal, was first broached. It was
that business which led to the downfall of Bolo Pasha.

BOLO PASHA 229

III

It was on February 22, 1916 — curiously enough
the anniversary of the birth of Washington — that
Bolo Pasha arrived in New York. He came ostensibly
as a French publicist and journalist, and was pre-
sumed to be ardently in favor of the French cause.
The audacity of the man may be understood when it
is stated that he stopped at one of the leading hotels
in New York, and permitted himself to be entertained
as one who was in America favoring the Allies.

Yet, at that very time, he was under official investi-
gation in France. His relations with the former Khe-
dive of Egypt, and his hurfied visits to Switzerland,
gave an air of mystery to all of his movements. He
must have realized this, but it made no difference in
his outward appearance. He was playing a bold game,
and he was not the sort of person to weaken. Still,
in his heart of hearts, he felt that he was approaching
a crisis. He had had his hour of success. He had
known prosperity. But it was nearing the end. The
sun was going down — the shadows of suspicion were
rapidly gathering about the hitherto care-free head
of Bolo Pasha.

But at the time of his arrival in New York, Bolo
basked in popularity and success. He was cordially
greeted by the head of the Hearst newspapers.
Charles F. Bertilli, the French representative of these
journals, explains that he was largely responsible for
the newspaper standing given to Bolo in New York.
He tells it thus:

230 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

" Jean Finot, Director of La Revue, had sent him
a letter of introduction to Mr. Hearst and had
requested me to accredit him with Mr. Hearst. He
had said to me, ' Occupy yourself with the matter.
Bolo has very great political power; he is the pro-
prietor oi Le Journal, and it would be well that
Hearst should know him.' I made the voyage with
Bolo. I spoke of Bolo to Hearst, and the latter
said to me, * If he is a great proprietor of French
newspapers I should be very glad to meet him.' "

Thus came about the notable dinner at Sherry's —
that dinner which caused no end of gossip and con-
jecture. Bolo had two personal guests, Jules Bois
and Adolph Pavenstedt. That was unfortunate for
Bolo, because it gave the affair a pro-German flavor
and further roused the suspicions of those who were
watching the man and his movements.

Bolo first met Pavenstedt in Havana in 19 13 and
the acquaintance ripened rapidly, so that at the Hearst
dinner the German was looked upon as an old friend.
Pavenstedt was head of the banking house of G. Am-
sinck & Co. This is the firm through which were paid
the men who attempted to destroy the Welland Canal.

One of the ways in which Bolo won the attention of
newspaper publishers in America was by making it
appear that part of his mission in this country was
to arrange for the purchase of large quantities of
print paper. He had a letter of introduction to the
manager of the Royal Bank of Canada, stating that
he was the publisher of Le Journal, and that he had
been " commissioned by all the other large newspaper

BOLO PASHA 231

publishers in Paris to arrange a contract for 20,000
tons monthly." There was seeming confirmation of
the mission when he deposited $500,000 in the Royal
Bank of Canada. This money had been drawn from
the German Government deposits in the National Park
Bank by Hugo Schmidt and given to Pavenstedt, who
passed it on to Bolo. A sort of financial thimble rig-
ging to cover the contemplated treachery. The real
purpose was to pervert the French newspaper press.

Le Journal, of course, was to lead in the German
propaganda. None of them were to declare for Ger-
many or against France. Nothing so raw and impos-
sible as that. But the game was to appeal to a war-
weary public by subtle suggestions. Would it not,
for instance, be a good thing to make a separate peace
with Germany ? Then again, an old friend, Abbas
Hilmi, had proposed that Germany should yield Alsace-
Lorraine in return for certain French colonies.
Wouldn't that be fine ? And then the Germans would
be willing to evacuate French soil. War was a dread-
ful thing at best. Wouldn't it be wonderful if thou-
sands of lives and millions of property might yet be
saved? That was the sort of thing that was expected
in return for the millions that were being turned over
by the German Government to Bolo Pasha.

It might be profitable at this point to consider for a
moment the child-like nature of the German mind
which could hope to accomplish anything by a propa-
ganda of this kind in a country so intensely patriotic
as France. The utter futility of the scheme is as
amazing as is its audacity. In this respect it resem-

232 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

bles the ineffectual attempt to influence the press of
the United States. Hundreds of thousands of dollars
seem to have been spent for that purpose, but the re-
sults were by no means in proportion to the money
expended. It need hardly be said that it was impos-
sible to even approach any newspaper of first-class
standing. Where money was placed it was in what
might be called the riff-raff of journalism — with those
publications that hang on to the skirts of respectable
newspaperdom.

But Bolo was not concerned with the question of
whether the German Government received the worth
of its money or not. Nor did the futility of the enter-
prise bother him. He was engaged in an adventure
involving high finance and probably the fate of na-
tions, and that was sufficient for him. In this con-
nection it is interesting to note that the first place
he called after reaching New York was at the office
of J. P. Morgan & Co., fiscal agents of the Entente
Allies. He presented letters of introduction. It was
a shrewd move to divert suspicion from his real mis-
sion. But, unfortunately for himself, he did not guard
his movements. It became known that he was doing
business also with Hugo Schmidt, the New York agent
of the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, and the associate of
Arthur von Gwinner. It was also rumored that he
had visited Count Bernstorff. It is known that he
paid a midnight visit to Washington, and it is not un-
likely that he there met the German Ambassador under
cover, although the actual evidence is to the effect that

BOLO PASHA 233

the wily Bernstorff did not come into personal contact
with the elusive Bolo until the very last moment —
that is to say, on the eve of his departure for Paris.

But the investigators of the United States Govern-
ment were on the track of the debonair stranger within
our gates. They were greatly aided by following the
Germans who had shown such a friendliness to Bolo.
One morning a real clew came to hand when it was
ascertained that a balance of nearly $1,700,000 de-
posited to Bolo's credit in the local branch of the
Royal Bank of Canada had been sent there by Am-
^sinck & Co., the German banking firm controlled by
Adolph Pavenstedt. The way in which this gentle-
man was regarded by the United States authorities
may be surmised when it is stated that during the lat-
ter part of the war he was placed in an internment
camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

It was proven that the transfers had been made in
six installments, and it was noteworthy that they went
to a Canadian bank. It was then necessary to estab-
lish from what source the money reached Amsinck &
Co., and investigation proved that Herr Pavenstedt
was an intimate of Count von Bernstorff and of Hugo
Schmidt. Further investigation proved that the money
had been transferred to Amsinck & Co. by the Guar-
anty Trust Company and the National Park Bank at
the request of Hugo Schmidt, and that Bolo had re-
ceived it through the Royal Bank of Canada without
the names of either Von Bernstorff, Pavenstedt or
Schmidt appearing as a party to the transactions.

The ascertainment of all these facts required a long

234 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

time, and the story as it is given here was pieced to-
gether with odds and ends of facts picked up here and
there. In the meantime Bolo had returned to Paris
where he was arrested on suspicion. The sensation
came when Secretary of State Lansing gave out copies
of secret telegrams that had passed between Bernstorff ,
in Washington, and Foreign Secretary von Jagow, in
Berlin. The dates and the contents were damaging
to the last degree.

Probably the most important paper in the mass of
documentary evidence was a letter written by Bolo
Pasha to the New York City branch of the Royal Bank
of Canada on March 14, 19 16, three days before he
sailed on his return to France. The letter reads as
follows :

New York, March 14, 1916.
The Royal Bank of Canada,

New York, N. Y.
Gentlemen :

You will receive from Messrs. G. Amsinck & Co.,
deposits for the credit of my account with you,
which deposits will reach the aggregate amount of
about $1,700,000, which I wish you to utilize in the
following manner :

First: Immediately on receipt of the amount on
account of this sum, pay to Messrs. J. P. Morgan
& Co., New York City, the sum of $170,068.03, to
be placed to the credit of the account with them of
Senator Charles Humbert, of Paris.

Second: Establish on your books a credit of
$5000 good until the thirty-first of May, in favor of
Jules Bois, Biltmore Hotel, this amount to be utilized
by him at the debit of my account according to his
needs, and the unused balance to be returned to me.

BOLO PASHA 235

Third: Transfer to the credit of my wife, Ma-
dame Bolo with Agency T of Comptoir National
d'Escomte de Paris the sum of about $524,000, to be
debited to my account as such transfers are made
by you at best rate and by small amounts.

Fourth : You will hold subject to my instructions
when all payments are complete a balance of not
less than one million dollars.

Yours truly,

BoLO Pasha.

Was Count Bernstorff the master mind behind Bolo
Pasha in his queer adventure? The reader will have
to form his own conclusions. At all events, the fol-
lowing five dispatches made public by Secretary of
State Lansing tell their own story:

No. 679, Feb. 26
I have received direct information from an en-
tirely trustworthy source concerning a political
action in one of the enemy countries which would
bring peace. One of the leading political personali-
ties of the country in question is seeking a loan of
$1,700,000 in New York, for which security will be
given. I was forbidden to give his name in writing.
The affair seems to me to be of the greatest possible
importance. Can the money be provided at once
in New York ? That the intermediary will keep the
matter secret is entirely certain. Request answer
by telegram. A verbal report will follow as soon as
a trustworthy person can be found to bring it to
Germany.

Bernstorff.

No. 150, Feb. 29
Answer to telegram 679. Agreed to the loan,

236 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

but only if peace action seems to you a really serious
project, as the provision of money in New York is
for us at present extraordinarily difficult. If the
enemy country is Russia, have nothing to do with
the business as the sum of money is too small to
have any serious effect in that country or, too, in the
case of Italy, where it would not be worth while to
spend so much.

Jagow.

No. 685, March 5
Please instruct Deutsche Banlrto hold nine mil-
lion marks at disposal of Hugo Schmidt. The af-
fair is very promising. Further particulars follow.

Bernstorff.

No. 692, March 20
With reference to telegram No. 685, please advise
our minister in Berne that some one will call on him
who will give him passport to Sanct Regis, and who
wishes to establish relations with the Foreign Office.
Intermediary further requests that influence may be
brought to bear upon our press to press for a change
in the inner political situation in France so far as
possible in silence in order that influence may not
be spoiled by German approval.

Bernstorff.

No. 206, May 31
The person announced in telegram 692 of March
20 has not yet reported himself at the legation at
Berne. Is there any more news on your side of
Bolo?

Jagow.

Copies of these telegrams were conveyed to France,

BOLO PASHA 237

and as a result of them Bolo was recommitted to
prison and refused bail. From being merely a sus-
pected, he was now an accused, man. There has been
a great deal of curiosity regarding the manner in which
the United States Government came into possession
of these damning documents, but that is a State secret,
not to be told. It caused quite a shock in Berlin, and
tended to revise the opinion of those self-sufficient
German officials who had slightingly referred to Amer-
icans as " those fool Yankees." It was notice to the
enemy that America had awakened, and that the Ger-
mans could no longer go on with their intrigues with
impunity.

Bolo Pasha was tried by court-martial, and the case
was one of the sensations in Paris. There were other
defendants besides the Levantine financier, as he was
called, but, naturally, Bolo held the center of the stage,
a position which did not dismay him, in spite of the
fact that his life was at stake. .

It was a solemn as well as a picturesque-looking tribu-
nal. The military officers were seated in a row behind
the long table, their eyes constantly upon the man who
had been charged with an attempt to betray their coun-
try. Colonel Voyer, the President of the Court, was
stern and unsmiling; Captain Bouchardon, who col-
lected and read the testimony charging Bolo with
treason, alert and pressing one point after another;
and the defendant himself, proclaiming his innocence,
and still showing that personal magnetism which had

238 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

been at once the means of his rise and fall. He was
charged with the greatest crime that can be brought
against a Frenchman, and yet it is conceivable that
the members of the court may have felt regret at the
plight in which this bright-eyed, black-mustached, fash-
ionably-attired young man found himself.

Captain Bouchardon, in opening the case, made it
clear that in pressing the charge against Bolo, the
French Government was endeavoring to disrupt the
whole system of German intrigue and propaganda in
France, which, in the spring of 191 7, became so " bold
and effective as to threaten to defeat French efforts
to carry on the war." He said frankly that the pur-
pose was to break up what has been described as
" Boloism." This involved a series of attempts to
spread discouragement and depression among the
civilian leaders and soldiers of France. It involved
not only Bolo, but also Joseph Caillaux, one time Pre-
mier of France, two members of the French Assembly,
and several French newspapers. All of these were
charged with spreading the spirit of ** defeatism.'*
This meant encouragement of the old cry so often
heard in the United States, that " you cannot defeat
Germany." After the charges had been formally pre-
sented, Bolo denied them with vehemence, crying:

" I am no traitor. I have asked to be judged, and
I am willing to die, but not as a traitor ! "

After that he sat perfectly still for a long time,
listening to the testimony that was offered. Aside
from the nervous fumbling of his monocle, one might
have imagined that he was a disinterested observer.

BOLO PASHA 239

The defense admitted many of the activities of the
accused, but insisted that they had been wholly in the
interest of the Entente Powers.

When ex-Premier Caillaux was called as a witness
for the defense, Bolo said he would waive his testi-
mony, but Darius Pochere, a co-defendant, objected
to this, contending that Caillaux's testimony must be
heard, if not in the present case, then on behalf of
himself.

During the reading of Captain Bouchardon's report
Bolo appeared somewhat bored, but when called upon
by the President of the court-martial to explain dis-
crepancies in his previous testimony the prisoner soon
became voluble. He spoke with a patronizing air to
the prosecuting attorney and the President of the Court,
and admitted many discrepancies and altogether was
considered to have had the better of the repartee.

On being asked by the prosecutor, why, considering
the volume of business transacted by him, he kept no
books or calendars, Bolo replied:

" I am the master of money, not its slave ! "

Bolo said that the money he received from Abbas
Hilmi, former Khedive of Egypt, through Filippo
Cavallini, an Italian, who is alleged to have taken
$400,000 to Bolo's hotel in Paris in April, 191 5, was
in repayment of a loan made to the Khedive in 19 14.
He asserted that he brought about the abdication of
Abbas Hilmi, and said that he used all his influence
to have the former Khedive exert his energies in the
interest of the Entente.

The indictment formally charged Bolo Pasha with

240 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

having maintained communication with the enemy in
Switzerland in 191 5, and in Paris the same year, when
he received German money from Cavallini to further
the pacifist movement ; with negotiations with German
agents in the United States in 19 16, where he is
charged with having received through Adolph Paven-
stedt, once head of the New York banking house of
Amsinck & Co., and the Deutsche Bank, German
money to be used in influencing the French newspapers,
part of it having been advanced to the director of the
Paris Journal.

Broad smiles passed over the faces of those in the
courtroom when Pavenstedt, Abbas Hilmi, the former
Khedive of Egypt, and the latter's minister, Youssuf
Sadik Pasha, were called as witnesses, and their ab-
sence from the courtroom was formally noted.

Bolo's counsel, in demanding an adjournment, on
the first day of the trial, said that many witnesses for
the defendant, as well as some of his accusers, were in
allied or neutral countries, but their presence was pos-
sible, by extradition or otherwise. He mentioned
particularly the Director of the Royal Bank of Can-
ada, Mr. Pignatel, and Pavenstedt, one of Bolo's chief
accusers. He said it would be easy to obtain the testi-
mony of the latter, because he was interned in the
United States and could be extradited without diffi-
culty. Counsel likewise demanded that witnesses in
Spain be produced, and that even the former Khedive
of Egypt, who is in Constantinople, could be brought
to Paris, since no formal state of war then existed
between France and Turkey.

BOLO PASHA 241

The State replied to the demand of counsel for the
defendant by saying that telegrams had been addressed
to each of the witnesses, but that none of them had
answered. The State's counsel added that Pavenstedt,
the former Khedive, and Youssuf Sadik Pasha could
add nothing to the evidence, because they would simply
appear as accusers, and the State already had sufficient
evidence at its disposal.

On the second day of this remarkable trial, Bolo in-
sisted that his money had come from commissions he
had made in legitimate business transactions. There-
upon the State produced M. Doyen, an expert ac-
countant, who, turning dramatically in the direction
of the defendant, said:

" All of Bolo's statements are lies ; he never received
the commissions he alleges as the foundation of his
fortune.'*

The accountant then gave the Court a mass of
checks, receipts and other documents showing that
Bolo had received half a million dollars from the
Guaranty Trust Company of New York when that
institution acted as the agent of the Deutsche Bank
of Berlin, before the war. The papers also indicated
that the defendant had received a similar sum from the
Royal Bank of Canada. To cap the climax, the letters
showing the correspondence between Bernstorff and
Von Jagow were placed in evidence. The members of
the court passed the documents from hand to hand and
they were read with the greatest avidity. It was evi-
dent that they were regarded as ©f prime impor-
tance.

242 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Bolo's air of indifference forsook him for the mo-
ment. He watched his Judges intently as they read
this incriminating evidence. Before this stage of the
trial had been reached he had kept the spectators in
a roar by his sharp retorts to the prosecutor. More
than any other kind of people the French love to be
amused, and Bolo Pasha gave them plenty of amuse-
ment when he was not contributing touches of tragedy.
His gravity was pronounced, but a few monutes later
he burst into laughter when a letter from former
Premier Joseph Caillaux was read — a letter which
said, among other things :

" I beg you, my dear Bolo, to quit this Pasha busi-
ness. It only makes you ridiculous.'*

When he was called upon to make his explanation
of the correspondence between Bernstorff and Von
Jagow, he retorted that there was nothing to explain
so far as he was concerned. He asserted that it would
be ridiculous to consider him as the " leading political
personality " mentioned in the Bernstorff letter. Dur-
ing the course of the examination the statement was
made that Bolo had assumed the name of " Saint
Regis '* for certain purposes, and that it had been
given him by Count Bernstorff as a password. Bolo
laughed at this and said the allegation was preposter-
ous. He also dismissed the Bernstorff -Von Jagow cor-
respondence as unworthy of notice. " The telegrams,"
he said, " are fabrications."

There were many witnesses examined during the
days the trial lasted, and one of the most interesting
r— f ro|Ti a minor standpoint — was Madame Marie

BOLO PASHA 243

La f argue, who, at one time, had been a conspicuous
figure at the court of Abbas Hilmi, the Khedive of
Egypt. She had been in the room when Bolo loftily
declared that money meant nothing to him, and that
he did not even take the trouble to keep an account of
his business transactions. His nose was tilted to an
unusual altitude when she declared, on the witness
stand, that Bolo had once loaned her 20,000 francs,
but only on condition that she give him a mortgage
on her property, as well as a note signed by her
mother, her two brothers, and herself. Far from be-
ing indifferent and careless, she said he had played the
part of a shrewd and exacting business man all through
the transaction.

Bolo watched her closely while she told her story,
and after she had concluded, he remarked in a tone of
bored indifference:

" I have no recollection of ever having loaned this
woman any money."

The audience in the hearing room became quite
eager when Charles F. Bertelli, head of the Paris
Bureau of the International News Service, took the
stand. He said that he had accompanied Bolo to
New York and had introduced him to Mr. Hearst.
Bolo had talked like a true patriot, and Mr. Hearst
thought he was doing France honor by receiving the
Levantine financier, whom he believed to be a distin-
guished citizen of the French Republic.

There was a ripple of excitement when the second
wife of the defendant took the stand. Madame Bolo
proved to be a strong witness for the accused. She

244 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

took pains to deny the stories which had appeared
in some of the French papers accusing Bolo of having
dissipated her fortune. She said that he not only-
had not been guilty of that, but that he had invested her
funds so well and so wisely that her fortune had been
augmented. She was sure that he was a patriot.
She was positive that the charges against him were
false, for on landing in France after he had visited
America, he had said to her with much fervor :

" I'm so glad to be safe in France again ! I was
in mortal fear that the Germans would have me tor-
pedoed ! "

Was that, she asked, the language of a man who
was engaged in betraying his country? Was it not
more like that of one who is loyal? Bolo smiled at
her and she returned the smile. The unspoken com-
munication seemed to say " All will yet be well and
we shall be together again.*'

Senator Charles Humbert was called to the stand
to rehearse the story of how Bolo had sought to pur-
chase an interest in that publication, and how he
had actually done so. He admitted the transaction,
but insisted^ that he believed that Bolo was a true
Frenchman, and that he never suspected for a mo-
ment that there was any hidden motive in the deal
for the bonds of the newspaper. The prosecutor
subjected Senator Humbert to a grilling cross-exam-
ination, and the witness finally became very much
irritated.

" Have me arrested if you will," he cried. '* Place
me in the dock and make a frontal attack on rae, but

BOLO PASHA 245

while I am here as a witness, do not treat me as the
accused ! '*

His friends were out in force, and this declaration
was received with loud cheers. The President of the
Court rapped for order and threatened to clear the
room if the demonstration was repeated. Such are
the ways of a French court.

Monsignor Bolo, the brother of the accused, made
an earnest appeal for the prisoner. He was asked
and answered a number of questions, but his remarks
were more in the nature of an appeal for clemency
than anything else. He assured the Court that he
was an ardent patriot first of all, and that he came
there to defend his brother because he did not be-
lieve that he was mentally responsible for the mis-
takes he might have made. Whatever these mistakes
might have been, he felt certain that deliberate dis-
loyalty was not one of them. He ridiculed the idea
that a man of the world, so cynically clever as Count
Bernstorff, could have mistaken Bolo for an impor-
tant political personage. He scoffed at the notion that
any of the references in the Bernstorff letter were to
the prisoner. He made much of the fact that Hugo
Schmidt and Pavenstedt, who were among Bolo*s ac-
cusers, were now in prison detention camps as enemies
of the Allied cause. It was an eloquent effort, and
it evidently made some impression upon the spectators,
although the members of the Court listened in stolid
silence.

Albert Salles, attorney for Bolo, made the final
plea for the prisoner. He charged that a newspaper

246 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

campaign had been made on Bolo, and said that it
had been instituted by Senator Humbert, after the
Senator had failed to induce Bolo to sell back the
stock of L^ Journal at half the price he had paid for it.
He censured the Military Governor of Paris for his
pre-judgment of the case before it came to trial, and
declared that the veriest principles of elementary law
which presupposes a man innocent until he is proven
guilty, had been disregarded. He complained of a
mass of evidence which had been introduced regard-
ing the past life of the defendant and said that one
might suppose that he was being tried for theft and
bigamy rather than treason. He bitterly arraigned
the prominent men of Paris who were once glad to be
the guests of Bolo and to dine at his table, and who
had now eagerly come forward to bear witness against
him. He reviewed the evidence to prove that it was
inconclusive and circumstantial, and concluded a really
able address by exclaiming:

" Do not condemn Bolo Pasha to satisfy public
opinion. Do not condemn him to satisfy public pas-
sion. Please do not permit yourselves to be the
cause of a miscarriage of justice that will be bitterly
regretted in after years."

The Court retired to deliberate while Bolo con-
gratulated his advocate upon his address. But his
action was perfunctory. It was plain to be seen
that he was depressed. He had lost his gay and easy
manners. He acted like a man who is about to feel
the heavy hand of Fate. And he was not mistaken.
The Court was out for only fifteen minutes, and when

BOLO PASHA 247

the members resumed their seats it was to permit the
President to announce that they had unanimously
agreed that Bolo Pasha was guilty of treason. He
was condemned to death, and was shot by a firing squad
at Versailles on the morning of April 17, 19 18.

Thus ends the story of the life and adventures and
the tragic death of this remarkable man. He was con-
victed upon circumstantial evidence, but such evi-
dence in the minds of many jurists is more reliable
than direct testimony. Men may give false testimony,
they say, but circumstances never err. In France the
memory of Bolo is regarded in much the same light
as is that of Benedict Arnold in America. Yet even
those who condemn the man cannot find it in their
hearts to regard him as a deliberate and unmitigated
scoundrel. The lure of easy money was there, but
if we accept the pleas of his intimates, he may have
been the victim of a false conscience, and a distorted,
if not an unbalanced, intellect. He paid the penalty,
and with him there died in France that dangerous
thing which the authorities at the time denominated
" Boloism."

THE STORY OF LIEUTENANT ROBERT
FAY AND THE SHIP BOMB PLOTS

ONE afternoon in the summer of 191 5 a stranger
with a Teutonic cast of countenance, and a
slight German accent, called at the French
Chamber of Commerce, in New York City, and asked
if he could obtain a small quantity of trinitrotoluol
which he said he desired to use for commercial pur-
poses.

It was that incident — apparently trivial — which
let to the first clue in the amazing adventure of Robert
Fay and the ship bomb plots.

The alert official in charge of the place was quick
to scent something out of the ordinary. The extent
and the boldness of the German propaganda in the
United States was only beginning to be glimpsed at
that time, and the casual inquiry was the means of
starting an investigation which was to disclose one of
the most damnable plots of the Great World War.
The clue in itself was a tiny one, but it illustrated
the contention of a famous American detective that
the greatest criminals, despite the most painstaking
care, nearly always fail to cover their tracks. It has
been proven time and time again that the most per-

251

252 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

feet alibi has in it somewhere a flaw which is the
means eventually of bringing the guilty man to justice.
In the same manner the most carefully devised crim-
inal plots have in them a break, a crack, an imperfec-
tion which lead their inventors into the meshes of
the law.

It proved to be so in the case under consideration,
although at the time no one dreamed that the results
were to be so important and so far-reaching to the
United States and its future Allies.

The matter was immediately reported to the au-
thorities, and then began a search and a chase that is
unique in the history of the criminal records of the
nation. At that early date in the war the various
bureaus of investigation in this country were just
beginning to coordinate their work. It was realized
that the German system of treachery was so widely
scattered, and was being practiced on such a broad
scale that the best efforts of the official police were
needed to frustrate and punish the efforts of the
enemy. It is not permissible, even now, -to give the
names of those who took part in the patriotic work
of rounding up the conspirators, but it is sufficient
to say that the major part of the business fell to
the Bureau of Investigation of the United States
Department of Justice, and that Chief Flynn, of
the United States Secret Service, also deserves credit
for his assistance in this connection.

The preliminary examination demonstrated that the
man who had made the request for the high explosive
from the French Chamber of Commerce was merely

LIEUTENANT ROBERT FAY 253

an instrument in the hands of cleverer and more
unscrupulous men. It was decided that he should
be given a small quantity of the deadly stuff, and that
it should be carefully followed to its ultimate destina-
tion. That led the detectives to a man named Op-
pegaard, who proved to have some knowledge of
chemicals and explosives. So far, so good. But Op-
pegaard, important as he proved to be as a link
in the chain, was not the man the authorities
wanted. It was ascertained that the individual
with the Teutonic name had recently purchased a
considerable quantity of chlorate of potash, and
finally the potash and the trinitrotoluol were
traced to the door of Robert Fay, a native of
Germany who had been an officer in the German
Army.

The police were "getting warm," as the children
say in their game of hide and seek. Every agency
in the United States was put to work ascertaining the
story of the life of Robert Fay. It was a most diffi-
cult task, and the details involved investigations on
both sides of the Atlantic. The story of how that
biography was obtained, from the time of Fay's birth
until that day when the inquiry was made at the
French Chamber of Commerce, would require an ar-
ticle in itself. But the puzzling details would have
but little interest to the reader. It is sufficient to
say that the industry, the cleverness and the patriotism
of the investigators reflected credit upon all who were
engaged in the task, and proved that when it came
to efficiency, the boasted German system was not one

254 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

bit superior to the painstaking methods of the Ameri-
can Secret Service.

It was ascertained that Robert Fay was an ardent
German. He believed that the " Fatherland " was
the greatest nation in the world, and he felt that it
was his duty to do anything in his power to help
it conquer the earth. He came to America originally
in 1902, and worked for many months on a farm in
Manitoba. After that he journeyed to the United
States, where he found employment with a machinery
concern. Also, he took a course in electrical and
steam engineering. While here, he learned to speak
and write English. He went back to Germany four
years later — well equipped for any work the Kaiser
might have for him to do.

When the war began in 191 4, Robert Fay found
himself an officer in the German Army. He serv^ed
with distinction in the early part of the struggle,
and his name is found among those who took part
in campaigns in the Vosges Mountains and in the
Champagne sector. He attracted the attention of his
superiors on one memorable occasion when he led
a detachment of his men against a large force of
French soldiers. He came out of that alive and
was given the Order of the Iron Cross.

In the meantime he was not satisfied with playing
the part of an ordinary soldier. He was a thought-
ful man, and it began to dawn upon him that large
quantities of war material were being supplied to
the Allies by the United States. Fay went to his
superiors and told them that if Germany was to

LIEUTENANT ROBERT FAY

LIEUTENANT ROBERT FAY 255

be successful it would be necessary to head off the
constant supply of munitions of war which were com-
ing from America. They laughed at him and as-
sured him that he had not made an original discov-
ery by any means.

" Now," said the officer to whom he had addressed
himself, " if you were able to give us some method
for stopping these munitions, you might be able to
do something for the Fatherland."

The officer smiled at his own conceit. He never
dreamed that this enthusiastic Teuton had been pon-
dering upon this very point for many days and nights.

" If," said Fay, in effect, " you will give me the
authority and a sufficient amount of money, I will
undertake to stop American shipping from bringing
supplies to Europe!"

The intensity of this ardent German aroused the
interest of his superiors. He was taken to some of
the higher officers of the Army, and after he had con-
fided his plans to his superiors he was given a secret
mission to the United States. He was supplied with
passports, letters of introduction, and a large amount
of money. He sailed on the steamship Rotterdam
and reached New York on April 2^, 19 15.

A few weeks after that, curious observers in the .
neighborhood might have noticed a new place of busi-
ness in the town of Weehawken, in New Jersey. It
was called the " Riverside Garage," and was ostensibly
intended to fill a long- felt want in the community.
Curiously enough, the owners were Robert Fay and
Walter Scholz. Scholz was a mechanical engineer

256 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

who had formerly been employed by the Lackawanna
Railroad Company. He was also the brother-in-law
of Fay, a fact that might have great or little sig-
nificance, according to the point of view of the ob-
server.

The strange part of the Riverside Garage was that
little or no actual work was performed there. The
place was littered with broken-down motor cars and
parts of cars, but no one could testify that the con-
cern really transacted any business. On more than
one occasion an automobilist had his car towed in
distress to the Riverside Garage, but in each instance
he was directed to go elsewhere for his repairs.

Fay and Scholz had rooms in a boarding-house near
the garage, and it was learned that they spent all of
their time working upon a mechanical device that had
been conceived by Fay. A light in the window testi-
fied that they spent many hours of the night poring
over blueprints and making drawings.

In the meanwhile both Fay and Scholz made fre-
quent trips to New York City and returned with
material intended for the device upon which they
were working.

The special detectives of the Bureau of Investiga-
tion made another discovery about this time. They
found that Fay had purchased a little motor boat,
and when he was not at the Weehawken garage
or in the modest boarding-house, he was cruising about
the New York harbor and making himself familiar
with the shipping. He haunted the docks during the
day and went out with his little boat at night. It

LIEUTENANT ROBERT FAY 257

was noticed that he paid special attention to the
ships that were loaded with supplies for the Allies.
By this time it became perfectly clear that Fay was
engaged in the construction of a device with which
he intended to blow up ships bound for Englaild and
France.

The business of the authorities from this time for-
ward was to keep close watch on Fay, and to permit
him to go far enough to supply them with legal evi-
dence upon which he could be convicted in a court of
law. At the same time it was important that he
should not be permitted to destroy any of the ship-
ping.

Finally the conspirator reached a stage in his ex-
periments when it would be necessary for him to have
a practical demonstration of his invention. He needed
a secluded spot for this purpose, some place far from
the madding crowd and, at the same time, large enough
to experiment with dangerous explosives. He found
the place he wanted in Lush's Sanatorium in New
Jersey. He located there, and from time to time
sent to New York for materials. He needed chlorate
of potash and he managed to get it through a New
York man, Carl Oppegaard, whose name has already
been mentioned in this narrative. Oppegaard was told
to get two hundred pounds of this material, but he
did better than that — he purchased three cases, each
holding over one hundred pounds.

Fay also discovered before he had gone very far
that he would need a quantity of dynamite, and this
he succeeded in getting without any difficulty, but

258 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

when he made the mixture of chlorate of potash and
dynamite he found that it was not exactly what he
wanted. He needed a still greater explosive. It was
Oppegaard who gave him the missing link. He told
Fay that what he needed was trinitrotoluol. He could
not get it himself, so he employed a friend to secure
it for him. This friend scoured all of New York and
finally obtained it, as already indicated, at the French
Chamber of Commerce. That, needless to say, was
the final undoing of Fay and his fellow conspirators.
They had covered up all their tracks — so they sup-
posed— but one little spot was left bare, and it ex-
posed the whole damnable plot.

The Bureau of Investigation of the Department of
Justice was now constantly on the heels of all the men
concerned in the conspirac}'-. They followed them
to the sanatorium at Butler, New Jersey. It was a
dramatic scene that occurred on that afternoon in
the summer of 191 5. Fay and his friends began to
make experiments with the material which he had
prepared after so many weeks of study and hard work.
A can of it was placed in the hollow of a large tree.
Just what would have happened can never be told, for
at that moment an unexpected slip precipitated the
climax of the whole business.

The detectives had concealed themselves behind,
trees and were waiting for the explosion to occur.
Just at a critical moment one of the investigators gave
a loud and violent sneeze, and in that second the
presence of the detectives was revealed. There was
nothing for them to do but to make the arrests at

LIEUTENANT ROBERT FAY 259

once, and in a few hours Fay and his fellow con-
spirators were lodged in prison cells in Manhattan.

Word was telegraphed to New York at once, and
other investigators proceeded to carry out their in-
structions. The first party made a search of the
Riverside Garage and secured evidence which played
its part in the formal trial. The second detachment
made their way into and searched the warehouse where
Fay had a lot of his stuff concealed, and a third
party of detectives entered the house where the motor
boat was stored and confiscated it as part of the evi-
dence in the case.

The exhibits were numerous and more than suffi-
cient to prove the criminal activity of these over-
zealous Germans. The net which had been so care-
fully spread out now closed in on Robert Fay, and
he was formally committed to await trial in the United
States Courts.

The device which he had invented showed remark-
able mechanical ingenuity. It was so arranged that
it could be attached to the rudder of a ship going out
to sea. After a certain number of revolutions of the
machinery and the device a spring would drive down-
ward, strike a cap and then the explosion would occur.
It was so timed that a vessel would be several miles
from port before the explosion would occur. By this
horrible device it would have been possible — if the
conspirators had not been caught — to have practically
destroyed all of the shipping intended for the Allies.

The United States authorities were perfectly satis-
fied that this cold-blooded scheme was well known

260 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

to the military and naval officials of Germany — in-
deed, it was proven that Fay had taken his inven-
tion to Von Papen. He admitted this, but tried to
shield that functionary by saying that he had declined
to go into the business.

" What happened when you explained this device
to Von Papen?" the defendant was asked.

" Not much," was the reply. " He asked me what
it would cost, and I told him that the bombs would
not be more than twenty dollars apiece. As a mat-
ter of fact, I could have made these things in Germany
for half that price. * If it doesn't cost more than
that,' Von Papen said to me, * go ahead, but I can-
not promise you anything.' "

" Did you go back to him ? " Fay was asked.

" Yes, I did, and he turned me down. He said the
thing would be placed before the German experts, and
that he had also gone into the political condition of
the whole suggestion and he said to me : * In the
first place our experts report that this apparatus is not
sea-worthy, but as regards political conditions I am
sorry to say we cannot consider it, and therefore we
shall have to dismiss the whole business."

The trial of Fay and the other defendants was a
long-drawn-out affair, but there was never any doubt
about the result. The examination of the witnesses
and their cross-examination was valuable because it
brought out under oath many things that had hitherto
been a matter of conjecture and mere rumor. It
proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that there were
men in the United States who thought more of Ger-

LIEUTENANT KOBEET FAY 261

many than they did of their American citizenship.
But it also had the effect of asserting the majesty of
the law in a most impressive manner, and there is no
manner of doubt but that the prompt conviction of
Fay put a wet blanket on pro-German activities in the
United States.

He tried his best to acquit the German Government
of complicity in the affair, and he insisted that Von
Papen had not encouraged him, but the jury found
him guilty as charged, and he was sentenced to seven
years in a Federal penitentiary where he might have
had plenty of time for reflecting upon the folly of his
misguided zeal for the Fatherland, but it only needed
one more touch to round out this remarkable incident,
and Fay, himself, furnished it. He escaped from the
penitentiary, and, it is generally believed, went into
Mexico.

XII

RAM CHANDRA AND THE GERMAN-
HINDU PLOTS IN THE UNITED
STATES

XII

RAM CHANDRA AND THE GERMAN-
HINDU PLOTS IN THE UNITED
STATES

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, Rudyard Kip-
ling and Clark Russell, in collaboration, could
not have written a more thrilling tale of fiction
than we have in the actual story of Germany's at-
tempt to incite revolution in India. The fact that
the plot began in the United States, and that Germany
made use of our neutrality to carry on a conspiracy
against a nation with whom we were on friendly terms
is the most reprehensible phase of the disgraceful busi-
ness. The three stars in this drama from real life
were Dr. C. K. Chakraberty, Ram Chandra and Bhag-
wan Singh. The authority for the movement is fur-
nished by the following communication from the Ger-
man Secretary of Foreign Affairs :

Berlin, 4th February, 191 6.
To the German Embassy, Washington.

In the future all Indian affairs are to be handled
through the Committee to be formed by Dr. Cha-
kraberty. Dhirenda Sarkar and Heramba Lai
Gupta, who has meanwhile been expelled from
Japan, will cease to be independent representatives of
the Indian Independence Committee existing here.

ZiMMERMANN.
266

266 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

This Doctor Chakraberty had been a school teacher
and journalist in India. While there he was the mem-
ber of an organization which aimed to overthrow the
British Government in India, and if necessary to use
force to do it. He confessed that he had been fur-
nished with $60,000 by the Indian Nationalist Party,
that the money came from the German Government,
and that it was forwarded to him in this country
after he had been expelled from India by the British
Government.

The Hindu revolutionists in America were located
in San Francisco, where they published a newspaper
known as The Ghadr, meaning mutiny. If there is
any doubt about this it may be dispelled by reading
the announcement in the first issue of that paper
which says : " To-day there begins in foreign lands,
but in our country^s tongue, a war against the British
Raj. What is our name? Mutiny. What is our
work? Mutiny. Where will mutiny break out? In
India. The time will come soon when rifles and blood
will take the place of pens and ink." That this was
not mere idle gossip is proven by the events which
followed one another in quick succession. The first
move is shown by the following statement made to
an agent of the Department of Justice by Captain
Hans Tauscher, a representative of German munition
makers :

Feb. 8, 1916.
About the end of September, 19 14, I was asked

by the military attache of the German Embassy,

Captain F. von Papen, to buy about 10,000 rifles

RAM CHANDRA 267

with ammunition, and a number of revolvers with
ammunition, to be shipped for a special purpose
to San Diego, Cal. Therefore, I purchased from
several dealers in this country ... the following
arms and ammunition :

8,080 U. S. Springfield rifles 45/70 cal.
2,400 " " carbines "

410 repeating rifles, system Hotchkiss,
45/70
3*904,340 cartridges, 45/70

5,000 cartridge belts
500 Colt revolvers, cal. 45
100,000 Colt revolver cartridges, cal. 45

In order to make this shipment as secretly as pos-
sible, I decided to ship the above arms and ammuni-
tion in the name of my forwarding agent, Walter
C. Hughes, who also acted as the receiver of the
shipment in San Diego, Cal. . . . All expenses in-
volved in this transaction were paid by me, and I was
reimbursed by Captain von Papen by check.

Later on, after the shipment had failed to reach
its destination and was landed at the port of
Hoquiam, Washington, Captain von Papen in-
formed me that he had told the State Department
in Washington that this shipment of arms and am-
munition was ultimately destined for German South
African colonies.

H. Tauscher.

The scene now shifts to San Diego, California,
where the Annie Larsen was loaded with the arms and
ammunition with the understanding that they were
to be eventually transferred to another ship called
the Maverick, Through a series of misadventures

268 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the connection was never made. It seems that the
Annie Larsen was compelled to make a run to the
Mexican coast for water. Eventually the shipment
was seized by the United States Government authori-
ties at the port of Hoquiam, Washington. Later,
Count Bernstorff had the audacity to write to Secre-
tary of State Lansing, asking for the delivery of the
arms and ammunition to the German Consul in Seat-
tle. " You will note," he writes, " that my Govern-
ment is the owner of these articles, although the man-
ner and means of shipment was left to a shipping agent
at San Francisco."

The voyage of the Maverick, which the Annie Lar-
sen missed at Socorro Island, has been narrated to
the British authorities at Singapore, by J. H. Starr
Hunt, the purser. Hunt was an American and he
was asked by his employer, F. Jebsen, to sail as a purser
on the Maverick. He was told that the war material
would be transhipped to the Maverick at whatever
point they should meet in Mexican or Central Ameri-
can waters ; that a man named Page, who would be on
the Annie Larsen, was to take charge of the Maverick,
and that Hunt was to take over the Annie Larsen and
proceed to trade with her. Hunt was not to return
to any American port until after the expiration of six
months.

On the morning of April 22, 191 5, when the ship
sailed from Los Angeles, Jebsen gave Hunt a sealed
letter, unaddressed, with instruction to hand it over to
Page on the Annie Larsen when he made himself
known. He also gave Hunt another unaddressed letter

RAM CHANDEA 269

to be given to the same man. This was open and
contained a printed enclosure explaining how to work
the machine gun or a small Hotchkiss. Jebsen finally
gave Hunt a third letter, without address and open, for
Page. It contained typewritten instructions as to how
to stow the cargo transhipped from the Annie Larsen.
The narrative of Hunt continues as follows :

" It is said that the cases containing rifles were
to be stored in one of the two empty tanks of the
Maverick (she had been an oil carrier) and flooded
with oil. The ammunition cases were to be stowed
in the other empty tank, which was not to be flooded
except as a last resort . . . Jebsen had given me to
understand that we might meet the Annie Larsen
at San Jose del Cabo, but she was not there ; so we
left that port on the 28th of April and proceeded to
Socorro Island where we arrived on the 29th. . . .

" Altogether we were 29 days at that island wait-
ing for the schooner, which did not turn up after
all. By the time we had anchored it was very dark,
and the first sign of life on the island was a camp-
fire close to the shore. Shortly after a small boat
pulled alongside with two American sailors in it.
One of them came to the bridge and saw the Cap-
tain and after putting the question, ' Are you the
people who are looking for the Annie Larsen/ and
getting a reply in the affirmative, he said that the
Annie Larsen had been at the island and being short
of water had left some 13 days before.

" He delivered a note to Nelson stating that it was
left by the Annie Larsen' s supercargo. Page. Nel-
son passed the note over to me to read. It was a
short note in English saying, * This will be delivered
to you by a member of the crew of the schooner

270 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

Emma who will explain his own position. I have
been waiting for you a month and am now going to
the Mexican west coast for supplies and water. I
will return as soon as possible. Please await my
return.* Signed, * Page/ initials (I think), A. W."

Hunt then tells that on May 26, or about that date,
they left Socorro Island and returned to San Diego,
searching on the way for the Annie Larsen. After
reaching there Nelson was instructed to proceed to
Hilo, Hawaii, and then to Anjer, Java.

After leaving Anjer, Hunt read the sealed letter
given him at San Francisco for Page. It contained
instructions for the officers of the Maverick, which
were thus reproduced by Hunt from memory:

" Upon the meeting of the Annie Larsen with the
Maverick, the transshipment of the cargo must be
commenced at once. — The cases containing rifles
should be stowed in one of the two empty tanks and
flooded, and the cases of ammunition should be
placed in the other, but need not be flooded unless as
a last resort. . . . No attempt was to be made to es-
cape from British warships if encountered at sea.

" In case of her meeting a warship she (the Mav-
erick) should act in a manner absolutely open and
above suspicion. In case of her being boarded by
enemy officers all cordiality should be shown to
them, and in fact an inspection should actually be
offered to put them off their suspicion. Under no
condition was the steamer or the cargo to be per-
mitted to fall into their hands. Should the cargo
be discovered and should there be no escape from
capture, the captain was ordered not to hesitate to
have recourse to the last resort, namely, to sink the
ship. Upon arriving at Anjer the Maverick would

EAM CHANDEA 271

be met in the Sunda Straits by a small, friendly boat
which would instruct us regarding further details.
Should we not be met at Anjer, we were to proceed
to Bangkok, where we were to arrive towards dusk.
Here we should be met by a German pilot, who
would give us further instruction; should we not
he met here also, we were to proceed to Kurrache.
Outside Kurrache the Maverick was to be met by
numerous small friendly fishing craft. The fishing
craft together with the five blacks (Hindus) aboard
would attend to the unloading and landing of the
cargo.

" Two of the blacks should go ashore immediately
on arrival and proceed inland to notify our arrival
to the people. The remaining three blacks and the
friendly natives would assist in burying the cargo.
(Hunt states that they had picks and shovels on
board from the time of their departure. From
Anjer the Maverick sailed to Batavia where Hunt
met Theodore and Emil Helffereich, who were
in the plot, and gave him the following informa-
tion.) Helffereich remarked that the arrangements
made at this end were substantially the same as those
indicated in the letter (for Page).

" Emil spoke up and said that he had waited for
the Maverick three weeks in the Sunda Straits.
They deeply regretted the failure of the Maverick
in not bringing the arms and said that their ar-
rangements this side were excellent and complete
and they were only awaiting the arrival of the cargo
when they could have easily put the whole scheme
through. They observed that the people in India
were all ready and prepared and had only been wait-
ing for the arms to turn up. . . ."

There was more to the same effect. In fact, the

272 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

statement of Purser Hunt would make a story in
itself, but enough has been given to clearly expose
the purpose to create a revolution in India. It has
been estimated that it cost the German Government
a million dollars. The net result was a dismal fail-
ure— a failure that made the German conspirators
look silly.

The connection of Ram Chandra and Bhagwan
Singh with the fiasco was clearly established. Both
were working under the direction of Wilhelm von
Brincken, the military attache of the German Consulate
at San Francisco. Ram Chandra was probably the most
active of all. At one time he managed the affairs
of the Hindu Pacific Coast Association and later
he was the editor of the Ghadr. There were jealous-
ies, however, between Ram Chandra and Bhagwan
Singh. The last named was known as " the poet and
the orator " of the Hindu organization. Both were
thrifty men, and it is suggested that much of the money
which they obtained from the Germans was invested in
real estate on the Pacific Coast. At one stage of the
movement Singh accused Chandra of misappropriating
funds. As a result of this Chandra was expelled from
the Pacific Coast Association. Bhagwan Singh not
only became the head of the organization, but was
elected editor of the Ghadr. Need it be said that
these internal dissensions aided the United States
authorities in obtaining evidence against the conspira-
tors?

No one felt more bitterly the failure of the whole
scheme than Von Brincken, the military attache of

RAM CHANDRA

RAM CHANDRA 273

the German Consulate. He had the German habit of
efficiency. This caused him to write a report of his
activities. It was intended for the German Foreign
Office. It found its way to the United States At-
torney at San Francisco. In this report this servant
of Germany said:

" I complied with instructions and met Ram Chan-
dra and other leaders of the Hindu Nationalists, and
there laid the foundations for the entire Hindu work
which has since been carried out here on the Pacific.
. . . Up to the present date I have fulfilled this as-
signment entirely alone. . . . Mr. Von Schack has
seen Ram Chandra only a few times during the en-
tire period — while Consul-General Bopp saw the man
only once. I had nothing to do with the ship matters
in connection with the Hindu affair. Therefore, I am
not responsible for the failure of the Maverick ex-
pedition. I had only planned the point of landing
at Kurrache. Besides, through messengers, I had pre-
pared the populace of the Punjab for the arrival of
the Maverick/'

It has been said that the Germans thought we
wouldn't fight. They must have thought we were
stupid into the bargain. By this time it must be
clear that they were mistaken in both surmises.
All the while the German-Hindu conspiracy was be-
ing hatched the secret officers of this Government were
gathering evidence and waiting for a favorable mo-
ment to strike. It came on the day after war was
declared by the United States against Germany.
Within twenty-four hours thirty-four German-Hindu

274 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

plotters were arrested in various parts of this coun-
try.

The trial took place in San Francisco in the latter
part of March, 1918, and continued into the follow-
ing month. The Federal officials had collected a mass
of, evidence, all of which went to prove the connection
of the German Consul-General in San Francisco and
his staff with the proposed expedition against India.
The following persons were indicted by the Grand
Jury " for feloniously conspiring to set on foot a
military enterprise to be carried on from within the
territory of the United States against India . . . the
object and purpose being to initiate mutiny and armed
rebellion in India and to overthrow the Government '* :
Franz Bopp, Eckhart H. von Schack, William von
Brincken, Hans Tauscher, F. von Papen, George
Rodiek (German Consul at Honolulu), Ernest Se-
kunna, Wolf von Igel, Har Dayal, Ram Chandra,
Bhagwan Singh, Chandra Kanta Chakraberty, and
Haramba Lai Gupta.

It was one of the most remarkable trials ever held
in the United States, and it had an ending that was
as dramatic as it was unexpected. There were books,
papers, exhibits, cipher codes and testimony which
proved the guilt of the chief defendants beyond the
shadow of a doubt. On April 24 they were convicted
by the jury. During all of the dreary days of the
trial Ram Chandra and Bhagwan had been glaring
at one another like tigers. Just before the noon recess
Bhagwan pulled out a pistol and shot and killed Chan-
dra. The United States Marshal, who was in attend-

RAM CHANDRA 275

ance at the trial, fearing that this was the first move in
an attempt to save the prisoners, quickly pulled out his
gun and shot and killed Bhagwan.

I cannot conclude this chapter better than by quot-
ing from the pamphlet issued by the Committee on
Public Information of the United States Government.
In commenting on this attempt to incite revolution
in India, Professor Sperry, who assembled all of the
facts, says:

" The commander-in-chief of Germany's agents
here was Count Johann von Bernstorff, Imperial
German Ambassador to the United States. His
coadjutor and able adviser during some months was
Constantin Theodor Dumba, the Austro-Hungarian
Ambassador. His chief lieutenants in the execu-
tion of his plans were Captain Franz von Papen,
military attache of the German Embassy, Captain
Karl Boy-Ed, its naval attache, Dr. Heinrich F.
Albert, commercial attache, and Wolf von Igel, who
also had diplomatic status. Assisting this central
group were many of the consuls of Germany and
Austria-Hungary scattered over the United States,
and beneath them were the rank and file of obscure
servators who carried out the plans conceived by the
General Staff in Berlin and sent to the German Am-
bassador."

XIII

THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE WHO BE-
CAME A GERMAN SPY

XIII

THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE WHO BE-
CAME A GERMAN SPY

THIS is a movie story, taken from actual life in
the world's greatest war. That is to say
it has all of the ingredients of a movie
thriller, the only drawback being that the real facts in
the case might seem improbable to the average movie
audience. There is a real Ambassador in it, and a
trial by court-martial, and a soldier of fortune who
accepts his fate with the air of a stoic.

Henry Bode, known at various times as Herbert
Wilson, Henry Wilson, and Rafael Rodriguez, was
born at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, September 3, 1877,
of an educated and well-to-do family. Six years later
he was taken to Hawaii. He remained in that tropical
land until he was thirteen years of age, and then he
decided to see more of the world on his own account.
Accordingly, he secreted himself in the hold of a
vessel bound for San Francisco, and arrived in that
city in the latter part of 1890. He lived a Bohemian
sort of existence for a few months and then traveled
across the continent to New York. Even that lively
community could not satisfy his desire for constant
change, so he enlisted in the United States Navy,
vrhere he lived the life of a bluejacket for three years.

279

280 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

In order to round out his education in the University
of Hard Knocks, he went to Butte, Montana, where
he worked as a miner. That gave him a taste of the
gold fever, and he hurried off to the Klondyke, where
he made a fortune in three months which he succeeded
in dissipating at the gambHng table in three nights.

This brief summary of an eventful career might
seem like the complete story of an unusual life, but
the life of Henry Bode was only beginning. He found
that the First Montana Infantry was about to em-
bark for the Philippines, and he enlisted with less
thought than one might give to a journey from New
York to Boston. There was some lively fighting, and
it is to be said to the credit of the man of many names
that he was frequently on the front line, and always
gave a good account of himself. A book might be
made of his adventures in the Philippines, and it is not
hard to believe that one of his regrets was that he
was not in the party sent to find the elusive Aguinaldo,
who was somewhat of an adventurer himself.

During his wanderings over the face of the earth
Bode had found time to get married, but it is easy
to understand that matrimony did not set easily upon
this rolling stone. There was a separation, and
shortly after his experience in the Philippines the
young man looked with longing eyes in the direction
of China. With him to think was to act, and we find
him on his way to Shanghai, paying his passage by
working before the mast. Once in the East, he joined
the Russian Intelligence service and remained therein
until the close of the Japanese-Russian War. He was

A GERMAN SPY 281

alert and intelligent and obtained much information for
the Russian Government, although there is not much
evidence to show that the high officials in St. Peters-
burg profited thereby. He was here, there and every-
where, and near the end of the war he found himself
in the city of Seoul, Corea.

In the capital city of the Hermit Nation the young
adventurer found himself in an atmosphere that suited
his purposes and his temperament. The high walls
surrounding the town gave it an air of romance, and
Bode roamed about inspecting the temples, the palaces
and the government buildings, picking up information
here and there, and altogether mixing business and
pleasure in true Bohemian fashion. He made his
headquarters in a house built of bamboo and plaster
with straw thatching. While there he made the ac-
quaintance of a German officer, and the two walked the
badly-kept streets, and afterwards exchanged confi-
dences over many a bottle. Bode liked his friend so
well that he told him the story of his life. He even
went so far as to tell him that he was in the service
of the Russian Government. That was unfortunate
for him, because the other immediately communicated
the facts to the Japanese authorities. Instantly the
police were sent to take him into custody. They lo-
cated the house where he was staying. One squad
watched the front of the bamboo hut, while another
guarded the rear so that there should be no possibility
of his escaping.

While they waited for him to emerge a curious -sight
attracted their attention. An elderly woman came

282 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

forth, leaning on a cane, and evidently moving with
great difficulty. The dress of this strange creature
was fantastic in the extreme, the poke bonnet espe-
cially being a wonderfully made creation that evoked
the laughter of the police. They asked her if Bode
was in the hut, but she shook her head as though she
could not understand their words, and pointed back
at the house in an imbecilic sort of style. They
watched the stranger until the last edge of her poke
bonnet had disappeared around a corner, and then they
went into the hut. They looked at one another in con-
sternation, and well they might, for the place was
empty.

In the meanwhile things were happening in another
part of the town. No sooner had the supposed female
turned the corner than she cast aside the poke bonnet
and the dress, and stood revealed as Henry Bode. A
steamer was to sail for Yokohama in a short time and
the dashing fellow sailed with it, without waiting to
say good-by to the friends he had made in Seoul. He
did not remain in Yokohama any longer than was
necessary to ship for Shanghai. Once there he felt
comparatively safe, for the Chinese had no love for the
Japanese. Besides that, Bode felt at home in a city
that contained thousands of white men, many of whom
spoke the English language. He remained in Shang-
hai for many weeks, enjoying himself better than the
tourists, because his wants were few, and he let each
succeeding day take care of itself. Most of the Eng-
lish-speaking residents of Shanghai remain in the por-
tions set aside for foreign settlements, but Bode was

A GERMAN SPY 283

quite as familiar with the native city, surrounded by
its small wall. But this rolling stone could not remain
in one place very long. It is true that he was still
supposed to be officially in the employ of the Russian
Government, but that fact gave him no concern. He
wanted to " move on." The opportunity came sooner
than he expected. Governor Forbes' yacht touched
at Shanghai, and Bode was permitted to go to Manila
in the vessel.

It happened that General Leonard Wood was on
the yacht, and Bode managed to get into conversa-
tion with the American soldier. The amazing knowl-
edge of China which Bode displayed in his talk at-
tracted the attention of General Wood, and it finally
resulted in his employment in the Philippine Constabu-
lary. The most remarkable trait about this really re-
markable man was the ease with which he adapted
himself to conditions. He was able to Hve on rice
and dried fish, and he found his way about the coun-
try in a way that astonished his superiors. The
" little brown brothers " liked him, too, and it is fair
to say that he was a success in his new post. But
he soon returned to China, and this was followed
by a trip through the South Seas, during which he
visited many of the places made famous by Robert
Louis Stevenson. Next we find him in California,
and a little later in Madera's army. He did some
real fighting, and if the Mexican General had been
giving out medals Henry Bode would have been well
decorated. It is not easy to follow his ever-changing
career, but it is said that about this time he again en-

284 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

listed in the American service, joining the army.
Bode had a fatal facility for quitting a job when-
ever he got tired of it. He tired of the army and he
quit. Now, technically, this is called " desertion,"
and it was here that the merry adventurer made a
fatal mistake. He forgot that Uncle Sam never for-
gets, and he never dreamt that he had woven a tangled
web which was presently to be his undoing. He joined
forces with General Urbina, and he was at Torreon,
Mexico, when the Kaiser decided that treaties are
only scraps of paper, and when he started out to con-
quer the world. That was the sort of mad adven-
ture which appealed to Bode, and he was filled with a
desire to join the Germans. Also, it must be remem-
bered that he was born in Wilhelmshaven, and con-
sidered himself part of the Fatherland.

He applied to the German Consul for transportation,
but without success. But that did not deter him. He
managed to reach the coast, and eventually arrived in
Denmark. In the course of time he got into the fight-
ing in Europe, serving under Field Marshal Macken-
sen. According to the records, he was wounded twice
and received the Iron Cross on May 19, 1915. He
was also given the Austrian service medal for courage
in battle.

Now we come to that real part of this real movie

^ , which makes it rival anything the managers dare show

if' on the screen. It can best be told in the words of a

well-informed writer of the New York Sun who, with

infinite patience and skill, has rescued the story from

the records:

HENRY BODE

A GERMAN SPY 285

" In the fall of 19 15 he was summoned to Berlin and
assigned to the Intelligence Department. After hav-
ing his photograph taken, seven hundred marks were
given him and he was ordered to report to the Ger-
man Consulate at 11 Broadway, New York. It was
shortly before he sailed from Copenhagen on board
the steamship Frederick III that he called at the
American Embassy, a fact which resulted in his sub-
sequent conviction before the court-martial here.

"The Frederick III left for New York October
15, 191 5, with Bode listed under the name of William
Reed. The Prince and Princess von Hazenfeldt were
also passengers. Upon arriving here Bode at once
received $2,218 from the German Consul and started
the same night on his way to San Francisco, whence
he went to the Far East. Three months later he was
on his way back to California on board the American
steamship Maru, when a Russian general, who was a
fellow passenger, became suspicious of him. So Bode
went ashore at Honolulu, catching another liner two
weeks later. After being ordered to New York and
Havana and doing nothing in either city, Bode next
went to Madrid, Spain, where he found himself under
the surveillance of the Allied Secret Service.

" On July 19, 1916, acting on orders from Berlin,
Bode obtained a Spanish passport under the name of
Rafael Rodriguez Gomez and boarded the Maria
Christiana for Vera Cruz, via Havana.

" * I then proceeded to Mexico City,' said Bode in
his testimony before the court-martial, * and reported
to the military attache, a Dr. Mangus. I also met Am-

286 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

bassador von Eckhardt, and we talked plans over and
he told me to wait the arrival of other agents, be-
cause he disagreed with instructions I had from Ber-
lin and was not sure of my identity. My instructions
were to blow up the oil fields at Tampico and to
embroil the United States into war with Mexico.

" ' Finally agents arrived from the States — Captain
Hinze, formerly captain of the Hamburg- American
Line, and Captain Nekker, who ran the blockade from
Cuba to Baltimore in 19 14, who is at present chief
of the secret service at Mexico City, with Dr. Brown,
once a surgeon on the German cruiser Karlsruhe, as
his assistant. It was then agreed I was the most ca-
pable man to carry out a project in the United States
to blow up the Laguna Dam and destroy the railroad
bridge at Yuma.

" * Then came the opportunity for which I had been
waiting, giving me a chance to connect with the United
States Government. My instructions were to pro-
ceed to Yuma and settle there to live.

" * I was to obtain pictures of the bridge and sup-
posed trenches and artillery casements and wire en-
tanglements on the American side of the border.'

** When Bode arrived at La Bolsa, at the mouth
of the Colorado River, he was arrested by the Car-
ranzista troops. He was later released and reached
Padarones, where a German resident told him the
Mexicans were about to ship him across the border,
on suspicion that he was an American spy. Even-
tually Bode crossed the line himself because, he testi-
fied, * I saw they were still bent on murdering peo-

A GERMAN SPY 287

pie/ He was taken to San Diego, and later brought
to Governor's Island for trial."

The feature of this trial was the testimony of Mrs.
James W. Gerard, the wife of the former American
Ambassador to Germany, and Frank Hall, Mr. Ger-
ard's servant. Mrs. Gerard remembered that Bode
had called at the American Embassy in Berlin, clothed
in a German uniform, and wearing the Iron Cross upon
his breast. Besides this, Hall recalled that Bode had
approached him in Madrid, after the Gerard party had
left Berlin, and had asked him to induce the Ambassa-
dor to approach President Wilson with a view to secur-
ing his pardon for desertion.

He was acquitted of various charges, but was found
guilty of violating the Ninety-fifth Article of War,
in serving as a secret agent and emissary of the German
Government at Einsenda, Mexico, about April 6, 19 17.
The sentence was ten years at hard labor in the dis-
ciplinary barracks at Fort Jay, Governor's Island.

It is hard to bear much ill will to this amazing
soldier of fortune. It is true that he violated the
law, and that he is being properly punished, but it
must not be forgotten that he was a German by birth,
and that he was more of an adventurer than a traitor.

XIV

THE ARTLESS GERMAN WHO DYNA-
MITED THE VANCEBORO BRIDGE

XIV

THE ARTLESS GERMAN WHO DYNA-
MITED THE VANCEBORO BRIDGE

SHORTLY before seven o'clock on the evening
of December 30, 19 14, a big, light-complexioned
German, carrying a brown suitcase, alighted
from the train at Vanceboro, Maine, and stood look-
ing about him in a perplexed manner. The man was
Werner Horn, and the suitcase was filled with dyna-
mite. Thereby hangs one of the most sensational tales
of the war.

It was bitter cold and the ground was covered with
snow. Presently Werner Horn made his way to a
woodpile on one of the sidings, and concealed his
suitcase. Then he plodded in the direction of the
Vanceboro bridge. This is not a very long span, but
it is the connecting link between the United States
and Canada in that locality, and once destroyed or
put out of commission, it would be impossible to con-
vey freight between the two countries. With true
German thoroughness, Horn made a careful inspec-
tion of the structure, and then, satisfied, returned to
the village. He recovered his suitcase with its deadly
contents, and inquired the way to the local hotel. It
was the Vanceboro Exchange Hotel, and here the Ger-

291

292 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

man emissary obtained a room for the night. He
went to bed and slept like a child.

The following day, while he was absent, one of
the employees of the hotel happened to enter the room
and, in cleaning it, moved the suitcase. The woman,
for it was a woman, marveled at the great weight
of the baggage and wondered how any man could
carry it. That was one little detail that cast suspicion
upon the unknown stranger. But there were others.
A boy and two young women had seen him in the act
of hiding his suitcase behind the woodpile, and they
had told one of the men of the town and he, in turn,
had notified the inspector at the Immigrant Station.
Evidently Werner Horn was an unsophisticated per-
son, for he covered his tracks badly. Indeed, the in-
spector met him that first evening as he was return-
ing from the bridge. He demanded his name, and
Horn, with a child-like grin, said that he was Olaf
Hoorn, and that he was a Dane.

The inspector was not acquainted with the Danish
language, but from the stranger's odd way of ex-
pressing himself there was no reason to doubt that
part of his story. He wanted to know what he was
doing in Vanceboro, and Horn told him that he
thought of buying a farm in that section. Asked
where he came from, the German said that he had
come from New York by way of Boston. Evidently
there was nothing he could do in the matter, and the
inspector went his way and Werner Horn went to the
Vanceboro hotel. He proceeded to his room at once,
and during all of the following day made himself in-

THE ARTLESS GERMAN 293

conspicuous. On Monday night he paid his bill and
announced that he was going to Boston on the eight
o'clock train. He marched out of the hotel, smoking
a big cigar, and carrying the heavy suitcase. The
proprietor of the hotel imagined that that was the last
he was to see of his odd guest, but he was mistaken,
as future events were to prove.

Shortly after one o'clock on the following morning
there was a terrific explosion that shook all Vanceboro.
The glass in the windows of the hotel was shattered,
and some persons were thrown from their beds. Men
and women stuck their heads out of doorways and
windows, and wondered if an earthquake had oc-
curred. The landlord of the hotel hurried to the cellar
of his house to ascertain if the boiler had burst.
Everything was as right as right could be, and Mr.
Tague, greatly puzzled, started for his bedroom. On
the way he passed the bathroom, and to his surprise,
beheld Werner Horn there running the hot water.
The German displayed no confusion whatever, but
wished his host a cheery " Good morning."

" What seems to be the difficulty ? " asked the land-
lord.

" I freeze my hands," replied Horn, holding out his
hands for the inspection of Mr. Tague; "you see, I
freeze my hands. What should I do about it ? "

The hotel proprietor thought of the explosion, and
then he considered the unexpected return of Werner
Horn. He put two and two together, and he was
satisfied that this child-like German was in some way
responsible for the shock which had terrified Vance-

294 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

boro. He opened the window of the bathroom and
gave Horn snow to rub on his frozen fingers. After
that the German asked for his old room. It had al-
ready been given to another guest, but Horn was
placed in an apartment on the third floor, and in
spite of the excitement and his frost-bitten fingers,
went to sleep.

While this was going on, the people had hurried
from their homes and were proceeding in the direction
of the explosion. They found the bridge had been
dynamited. It was not a total wreck by any means,
but the rails, the rods and the girders had been twisted
to such an extent that it would have been dangerous
to use it. A hurried investigation showed that the
dynamite had been exploded by means of a time fuse.
The stuff had evidently been placed near a girder on
the bridge above the Canadian bank of the river.
Mr. Tague, who seems to have been wide awake, sent
out a general alarm. First, precautions were taken
to see that no train was permitted to cross the bridge.
Fortunately, the schedule showed that none need be
expected until the next morning. Next, plans were
made to arrest all suspicious persons. The landlord
felt morally certain that Werner Horn was the guilty
man, but he wanted to make assurance doubly sure by
including all possible suspects.

In the meanwhile, by the use of a special train, the
Superintendent of the Maine Central Railroad had
arrived on the scene. The first man he interviewed
was the deputy sheriff of the town. That official was
candid, even if he did not throw much light upon the

THE ARTLESS GERMAN 295

business. He said : " I was asleep at my home, which
is three or four hundred feet from the bridge; heard
a noise about i.io a. m., which I thought was an
earthquake, a collison of engines, or a boiler explosion
in the heating plant. The noise disturbed me so that
I could not get to sleep. I got up in the morning at
about half-past five; met a man who said that they
had blown up the bridge."

By this time two Canadian constables had arrived,
and then Mr. Tague informed them of the strange
German and of his suspicious actions. It was de-
cided that he should be placed under arrest. It was
a curious procession that wound its way up the twist-
ing stairways of the Vanceboro hotel. They were
representatives of the railroad, the Canadian authori-
ties, and of the United States Government. At least
two of them were armed, for they expected to be con-
fronted by a desperate character. They tapped on
the door of the third-story room, and the sleepy voice
of Werner Horn called out:

" What you want there? ''

" We want to speak to you," replied one of the con-
stables.

There was a shuffling noise inside the room, and then
the door was thrown open. As the attacking party
entered, the big, blue-eyed and fair-faced German
looked at them in amazement. Slowly he reached for
his coat which was on the side of the bed. But one
of the constables was ahead of him, and secured the
garment, which contained a revolver. For a moment
it looked as if the child-like giant contemplated re-

296 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

sistance. The sight of the uniformed Canadian offi-
cers seemed to rouse him. At this point the Deputy
Sheriff of Vanceboro said :

" I am here as an American officer/*

" Oh," exclaimed Horn, " that is all right then. I
thought you were all Canadians. I would not think of
harming an American officer."

Thereupon he consented to be handcuffed and led
to the Immigration Station, where a sort of inquiry
was held. He told a rather fantastic story. He ad-
mitted at the outset that he was responsible for the
explosion, but the details were highly romantic and
sensational. He said that by arrangement he had
come to Vanceboro with an empty suitcase, that he
had proceeded to the bridge, and going to the Canadian
side, had met another man who had given him the
dynamite, and then quickly and mysteriously disap-
peared. He said that he had been given a password,
which was " Tommy," and that by uttering the name,
he had secured the explosive.

At once it was concluded that Horn was the mere
tool of more experienced criminals, and that the
solution of the mystery lay in securing the man who
was called " Tommy." The officials of both the
American and Canadian Governments at once started
a search for this person. For days they scoured the
shores of the river. But in spite of their best ef-
forts they could not locate such a man.

In the meanwhile public feeling had been wrought
to such a pitch that it looked for a time as though
Horn might be taken and Ijmched. To guard against

THE AETLESS GERMAN 297

this, he was conveyed to the county jail at Machias, and
imprisoned on a technical charge. There, seated on
the little iron bedstead, he repeated his queer story.

" I met a white man on the Canadian side of the
bridge," he said, " a man I had never seen before, but
who was thirty-five or forty years of age, clean-shaven.
* Tommy ' — I was told to say * Tommy ' when I met
him — I cannot say anything that would involve the
consulate or the embassy — Germany is at war — I
received, however, an order which was from one who
had a right to give it, a verbal order only — received it
two or three days before leaving New York for Vance-
boro."

He was pressed to give the name of the man who
had authorized him to do the work, but would not do
so. Some time afterward he added :

" I cannot speak of the rank of the man who gave
the orders — I cannot even say that he was an officer.
No one was present when the orders were given in
New York City. I cannot tell more, for it was a
matter for the Fatherland. I would rather go to
Canada, where they have threatened to lynch me,
than to tell more about my order — this would be
impossible — at least until after the war is over."

Thus the guileless one went on, little thinking that
his child-like attempt to conceal the truth was in reality
revealing it slowly but surely. He admitted that he
had met Von Papen in the German Club in New York
City, but he would not admit that he had received his
orders from this man.

By this time Mr. Bruce Bielaski, Chief of the Bureau

298 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

of Investigation of the Department of Justice, had
arrived in Vanceboro, and he took the prisoner in
charge. He had several interviews with Horn, and
at the end of five days had obtained the complete
story — and the truthful story — of the attempt to
blow up the bridge. More than that, by piecing the
evidence that had been obtained elsewhere, he had the
full story of the life of Werner Horn. It involved
stolen passports, Count von Bernstorff and Von Papen,
and the whole crew of German conspirators who were
using the hospitality of the United States to carry
on the schemes of the German propagandists.

Horn had been in the German Army for ten years.
In 1909 he was given permission to leave the service
for two years in order to go to Central America. He
was classed as a first lieutenant on " inactive service.'^
He served as the manager of a coffee plantation in
Guatemala. He was a capable man in his line and
might have remained there for a long time, but the
war broke out, and at once he prepared to return to
Germany. He went to Galveston in the hope of ob-
taining a passage to Germany. It was out of the
question. Then he went to New York, thinking he
might sail from that port. Again he met with fail-
ure. In the meanwhile he had come in contact with
Von Papen. Presumably he had hoped that this Ger-
man agent might assist him in his desire to return
to Germany. The records are incomplete at this point,
but everything points to the fact that Von Papen had
decided to make use of Horn in the United States.
From this time on we find ourselves in the thick of

THE ARTLESS GEEMAN 299

the scheme to blow up the Vanceboro bridge. It be-
gins with the arrival of Horn in the little town. The
details of the business came out in one of the inter-
views which Horn had with the representative of the
Department of Justice.

From all the accounts of this weird adventure there
is an agreement on two points which must be put
down to the credit of Werner Horn. The first is that
while he was willing to go almost any length to serve
the Fatherland, he was resolved not to sacrifice any
lives, and the second is that he would not swear to a
lie.

The scoundrels who were utilizing him as a tool
for their criminal purposes had evidently given him
a schedule of the trains that crossed the bridge every
twenty-four hours. According to this schedule there
were to be no trains after midnight until nearly morn-
ing. Hence, he reasoned, he would not involve the
lives of any of his fellow-beings as the result of his
dynamiting the bridge. He felt assured that the ex-
plosion would arouse the village, and thus prevent
the next scheduled train from attempting to cross the
bridge. The fifty-minute fuse which he carried in
his brown suitcase with the dynamite would enable
him to escape before the damage had been done.

So he left the hotel rather blithely on that mo-
mentous morning in December. He was smoking a
big black cigar, smoking it with a purpose, because
with it he intended to light the fuse that was to ignite
the dynamite. He tugged the brown suitcase along,
and was happy in the thought that he was about to

300 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

serve his native land — and without causing the loss
of a single life. Property would be destroyed, of
course, but he reasoned that that would be justified
because it would end the means employed by the
enemy to send ammunitions which were being used
against his countrymen.

It was one of the coldest nights of the year, and his
fingers tingled as he lugged the heavy load of dynamite
toward the bridge. It was pitch dark also, and when
he reached his destination he had to feel his way
across the ties. Once he slipped and would have
fallen into the frozen stream below if he had not
caught the edge of a girder. For some moments he
hung between heaven and earth, his heart palpitating
with the fear that his end had come. But by a super-
human effort he pulled himself up to the bridge again,
and resumed his journey. Just before he reached the
point where he was to plant the explosive he slipped
for the second time. He actually went over the
side, but he caught a piece of iron work, and once
again dragged himself to a place of safety.

All seemed to be well now, but at that critical mo-
ment he was frightened by the tolling of a bell and
the snorting of a locomotive. He glanced toward
the American side and was confronted by the awful
glare of a headlight. He had been deceived. The
schedule with which he had been presented was wrong.
There was another train, and it was speeding toward
him at a frightful rate of speed. He had escaped
death twice in the river only to have it pursuing him
on that dangerous railroad bridge. For such a child-

THE ARTLESS GERMAN 301

like person he had a quick wit. Almost in the twink-
ling of an eye he slipped down between the ties, and
hung suspended in the air while the iron monster
came rushing on and past him. He managed to pull
himself up again, and in spite of the intense cold there
were beads of sweat upon his brow. He had scarcely
recovered his self-possession when another train came
along — this time from the Canadian side, and he was
compelled to repeat his performance.

Once more he was alone, but as Werner Horn stood
there under the cold and twinkling stars he felt a sense
of moral responsibility. He was as keen as ever to
serve the Fatherland, but he was more resolved than
ever that there should be no loss of life as the result
of his action. The two trains which had passed made
it clear that the schedule which had been furnished him
was unreliable. There might be another along in the
course of the next hour. What should he do? The
answer came to him even while he was thinking out
the problem. He had a fifty-minute fuse. The thing
to do was to reduce this fuse. He resolved to cut
it so that it would only take three minutes to reach
the dynamite. He did so.

In doing this, Werner Horn not only gave a sop
to his conscience, but he ran a serious personal risk.
In the first place, it would require all of the three
minutes for him to escape with his own life. He felt
that he would succeed in this, but he ran a risk just
the same. In the second place he involved his personal
liberty. The chances were ninety-nine out of a hun-
dred that he would be arrested. Arrest might mean

302 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

his death, because in Germany any man doing what
he proposed to do, if caught in the act, would be
stood up against a wall and shot by a firing squad.
Nevertheless, to his credit, Werner Horn took the
chance. He was arrested, as we have seen, but a
lenient Republic spared his life.

The course of events now takes us back to the
Machias jail where the patience and strategy of Mr.
Bruce Bielaski had succeeded in drawing a pretty com-
plete story from Horn. In order to put the matter
in legal form, the facts which he had given to the
authorities were embodied in a typewritten confession
which he was asked to sign. A part of this confes-
sion is appended herewith :

" Machias, Maine,
" February 7, 1915.
" I, Werner Horn, after having been advised that
my extradition to Canada has been asked by the Gov-
ernment of Great Britain, and that anything I may
say will or may be used against me in an extradition
proceeding by the United States or in a prosecution
by the United States if it shall be found that I have
violated any of the laws of that country and that
I may decline to talk at all or to answer any par-
ticular questions, do voluntarily, willingly and with-
out any promises other than that my case will be
dealt with by the United States fairly, impartially
and in accordance with the law, make this state-
ment.

" I am thirty-seven years of age, a citizen of Ger-
many and at the outbreak of the war was the man-
ager of a coffee plantation in Guatemala, that I am
an Over-lieutenant in the German army, in inactive
service, having had ten years' active service in the

THE ARTLESS GERMAN 303

German army, that two hours after receiving the
call to return for army service I was on my way.
I went from Guatemala to Galveston, Texas, in
August, 19 1 4, remained there fourteen days, pro-
ceeded to New York City, waited there four weeks
trying to get a steamer to return to Germany, found
that this was impossible, started to Mexico, re-
maining en route 15 days in San Antonio, Texas,
that in Mexico City I received a card from the
coffee plantation in Guatemala that another man
had my position, that I secured a position on an
American coffee plantation, that about four hours
before going from Frontera to Salto de Aguas, in
Chiapas, I received a card that all German officers
should proceed to Germany, that I returned on the
same launch on which I had intended to go from
Frontera, sailed on a Norwegian steamer from Vera
Cruz to New Orleans, was on the sea on Christmas
day, arrived in New Orleans December 26, I9i4»
proceeded at once to New York by train, reported to
the German Consul there either Jan. i or 2, asked
Captain von Papen if it was possible to go to Ger-
many, he said that it was impossible, that I stayed
at the Arietta Hotel on Arietta Street, Staten
Island, three or four weeks and then went to Vance-
boro, Maine.

" I have had the flags I wore for about two years.
I got them when in Guatemala. I got the suitcase in
a store that sells men's clothes on the first floor.
I bought the suit I am wearing for the trip on
Staten Island across from the hotel and I bought the
cap at the same place. I had the overcoat which I
bought at Wanamaker's the day I got to New York
from New Orleans. I paid about $12 for the
suit.

304 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

" I certify on my honor as a German officer that
the foregoing statements are true except as to
* Tommy ' ; that I did not buy the nitroglycerine, but
received it in New York and took it with me in the
suitcase. I cannot say from whom I received it.

"Werner Horn/'

Now the curious nature of this German is illus-
trated by this remarkable document, or rather by the
manner in which he treated the document. He was
told that he did not have to say anything, and that
his statement must be voluntary. But he cheerfully
expressed his willingness to sign it. Nevertheless,
when the time came he showed a curious hesitancy.
Mr. Bielaski was perfectly satisfied that the state-
ment was correct except in one particular. Horn was
asked if he hesitated because that part of it was not
true. Smilingly he admitted the soft impeachment.
The part of his story concerning the mysterious
" Tommy " was a pure invention. The sentences
bearing on the mythical one were stricken out of the
paper, and then Werner Horn signed the confession
testifying to its correctness on his honor " as a Ger-
man officer.'*

He was tried in due course and given a small sen-
tence — something like eighteen months in a Fed-
eral penitentiary. It is not stretching the probabilities
to say that if he had been taken to Canada he would
have been lynched. The people of the Dominion were
in no mood to deal lightly with such a serious offense.
The American courts evidently took all of the re-
deeming facts of the case into consideration — his

THE ARTLESS GERMAN 305

evident desire to avoid the loss of life, and his will-
ingness to sacrifice his liberty rather than commit de-
liberate and cold-blooded murder. But what must
the public think of the arch-scoundrels who were be-
hind this child-like German? What must be thought
of the men, high in authority, who plotted to destroy
life and property while enjoying the hospitality of
the United States of America?

THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF THE
MASTER GERMAN SPY

WAS there a master German spy in the United
States during and before the time of the
great war?

If so, was that spy a mysterious female, and did
she have headquarters in one of the leading cities of
the Pacific coast?

Was this chief female spy in charge of those who
were concerned in the plot to foment a revolt against
British rule in India — a plot that brought more than
threescore of suspects into the United States courts
in San Francisco?

These three questions have never been satisfactorily
answered. It is not possible, even at this late day,
to assemble evidence that can be accepted as conclusive.
But from time to time there were arrests, and rumors
of arrests, which it was felt might clear up the mys-
tery. Men and women were taken into custody in
various parts of the country. Some of them were in-
terned for the period of the war, and others were re-
leased for want of evidence. Incidentally, the in-
vestigators of the Government never admitted the
existence of the master spy, although some of them
might have strongly suspected that such a person was

309

310 THE WORLD ^S GREATEST SPIES

at work. They simply let each day's work take care
of itself and did not concern themselves with the ro-
mantic phases of the business. But it is permissible
for a civilian to speculate upon the subject, and there
were at least three important arrests which lend color
to the belief in the existence of the directing head of
the hundreds of German spies in America during the
war.

It may be conceded at the outset that the work of
the German minions in the United States was not
haphazard, and that there was an executive head in
this country directing the movements of the Kaiser's
secret agents, but in spite of the best efforts of the
United States Secret Service, and of the Bureau of
Investigation of the Department of Justice, it was
impossible to name this formidable person, or to ob-
tain evidence upon which conviction could be had in
an American court of justice.

It is good to know that even during the most critical
hours of the war the disposition in this country was
to proceed according to law and, so far as possible, not
to act in an autocratic manner toward suspects. When
it was found that there was not sufficient legislation
to cover the cases of dangerous aliens, Congress was
asked to vote more power to the authorities. This
was nearly always done, although the delay in ob-
taining this power embarrassed those who were en-
gaged in running down spies, and in ridding the coun-
try of undesirable men and women. The most an-
noying phase of the early part of the war was the
apparent ease with which German agents interfered

THE MASTER GERMAN SPY 311

with munition plants and factories engaged in making
supplies for the Allies. There were many arrests
and some convictions in this connection. The more
important of these have been dealt with in the
earlier parts of this book.

Bernstorff, Boy-Ed and Von Papen were regarded
as the fountain heads of the German propaganda in
the United States, but it was not easy to connect them
directly with the work of German spies. The line of
demarcation between diplomatic rights and illegal acts
was not as clear as many might imagine. Hence the
ever-present desire of the Secret Service in this coun-
try was to locate and arrest the master spy of the
German service in this country. There were many
false alarms, many arrests which were made upon in-
sufficient evidence and many official mountains which
afterward proved to be mole hills.

It was toward the close of the third year of the
war that certain government officials in the West con-
ceived the idea that the master spy of the Germans
was a woman, and that she was known only by the
initial " H." About that time a man was arrested
in San Francisco, charged with acting suspiciously in
the neighborhood of United States arsenals in that
part of the country. Papers found upon him indicated
that he had been active in promoting plans to destroy
bridges and public buildings in Canada, and shipping
and warehouses in Pacific ports. It was quite evident
that he was acting as the tool of some person higher
up, and it was believed that the person was no less than
" H," the mysterious female spy. The first clew to

312 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

the woman was obtained by a letter found in the
possession of the man. It was postmarked Cleveland,
and instructed him to meet her in Los Angeles. In-
vestigation showed that " H " had been an agent of
Wolf von Ingel, who was at one time secretary to
Franz von Papen, military attache to the German
Embassy at Washington, and the reputed head of the
German espionage system in this country.

By means of scraps of information picked up at
various times and places, it was claimed that the offi-
cials of the United States Government were able to
patch together a pretty good description of this re-
markable woman. She was a brunette, about thirty-
five years old, and of striking carriage. She had
bright black eyes, was quick in her movements, and had
altogether an agreeable personality. She was well
educated and spoke English, French and German with
equal ease. In fact, it would be no misuse of the
much-abused word to say that she was " beautiful."
It must also be said, in behalf of the strange female,
that she was as discreet as she was beautiful. Aside
from the letter that was discovered in the effects of
the prisoner, httle was found that could convict her of
being part and parcel of the scheme to abuse the hos-
pitality of the United States, and of the many plots to
blow up Government buildings. She was traced to a
fashionable apartment in San Francisco, and, at what
they considered a favorable moment, the secret service
men prepared to take her into custody, but when they
entered the bird had flown and never reappeared in
that place.

THE MASTEE GERMAN SPY 313

A further investigation into the antecedents of the
man in the case indicated that he was a German who
had been sent to this country for the purpose of assist-
ing in the maintenance of contraband wireless sta-
tions supported by the German Government for the
purpose of obtaining military information and of
transmitting it to Berlin. After that industry had
been pretty well destroyed, he was sent to the coast
to employ his talents in activities that were certainly
not in the interest of this Government. One of these
seemed to connect him with the elaborate German-
Hindu plot to foment a mutiny among the natives
of India.

It is claimed that in February, 19 15, he inserted an
advertisement in Spokane newspapers looking to the
purchase of a tract of land on which to colonize sev-
eral hundred Spanish families. These families, Fed-
eral officials said, were Hindus, and the purpose of
their colonization was to permit them easy entrance
into Canada, where they were to obtain military in-
formation and facts concerning the movements of
Canadian vessels, to assist in raider warfare conducted
in the Pacific Ocean by the Germans. The coloniza-
tion plan did not materialize.

Some of his activities, according to the authorities,
have been traced to Ram Chandra, the Hindu who
was tried in San Francisco with 'thirty other persons,
charged with attempting to foment a revolt against
British rule in India. Ram Chandra made several
payments of money to the German, officials said.

The man, according to Federal officials, was a de-

314 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

serter from the German army and was actuated only
by the hope of financial gain.

The scene shifts from San Francisco to Hampton
Roads Aviation grounds in Virginia. There a man,
who was afterwards proven to be a lieutenant in the
German Navy, was arrested on the technical charge of
trespassing upon Government property. An Ameri-
can secret service agent had been on his trail for weeks.
It was believed that he had landed in this country
from a German submarine which touched at Newport
in the latter part of 19 17. At all events, he obtained
employment with a Government contractor engaged
in construction work at Newport News. He was as-
signed to duty near the aviation field. He was closely
watched and was claimed to have been one of the
most dangerous German spies in America. It was
felt that he was under the charge and direction of
" H/* the unknown master spy, and it was hoped that,
through him, it might be possible to ascertain the iden-
tity of the famous female.

He was arrested while he was at work one night in
the early part of January, 19 18. He protested his
innocence of any wrong-doing, and denied being con-
nected with the German Government, or with any
propaganda work in the United States. After he had
been placed under lock and key, an attempt was made
to obtain evidence to make out a case against the
suspect. Disguised as an insurance agent, one of the
investigators visited the apartment of the man, and
found certain articles and papers which tended to con-
firm the charge which had been made against him.

THE MASTER GERMAN SPY 315

But at the best it was circumstantial evidence, and,
above all, there was nothing which could connect him
with the mysterious female on the Pacific coast.
The arrest caused great excitement at the time, and
after some days' consideration it was decided that he
should be interned at Fort Oglethorpe for the dura-
tion of the war.

The case was considered of such importance that
the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Navy
issued a joint statement for the benefit of the public.
This was given out after an examination of the evi-
dence. It said :

" He is a German reservist of the Twelfth Company,
Seventy-fifth Bremen Regiment, who came to this
country in 191 o. He has been engaged in various
occupations in and around Baltimore since he entered
the United States.

" In October, 1917, he obtained a position with the
contractor in charge of the construction of the avia-
tion camp at Newport News, working there as a time-
keeper. One night in October, he approached a dyna-
mite magazine in the camp and was fired upon by the
sentry, but escaped. His identity was not at that time
known, and information as to identity was not obtained
by the Navy Department until later.

" So far no evidence has been obtained tending to
show that he obtained or intended to transmit informa-
tion, or that he was at the camp for that purpose, and
he, therefore, cannot be placed on trial as a spy, but
if sufficient further evidence is found on this subject
he may be tried as a spy. A search of his effects

316 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

disclosed his German military uniform, consisting of
sword-bayonet, scabbard and sword-knot, army blouse,
duck uniform, and belt. His name was stamped on
the inside of his uniform. A number of postcards of
German manufacture of a propaganda nature were
also found.

" Last autumn he worked for a lumber contractor on
the work of Camp Meade, under a permit from the
United States Marshal. Apparently he worked un-
der another contractor at Quantico. When arrested,
he had been employed under his own name. It was
also learned from his letters that he contemplated go-
ing to Birmingham.

" The press publications on this case have contained
misstatements. It was printed, for example, that he
was a former German officer of high rank; was a mas-
ter spy known to have been in communication with one
Bemstorff, Boy-Ed and other high German officers
prior to our declaration of war; that he arrived in this
country on the submarine U-53; that after the com-
mencement of the European war he went back to Ger-
many, and later returned to the United States ; that at
times he disguised himself in the uniform of an Amer-
ican army officer; that he was arrested while in the
act of lighting a fuse or match for an American army
magazine; that money was advanced to him by the
German spy system in this country.

" Careful examination of all the evidence in the
possession of the Department of Justice and the Navy
Department failed to show any foundation for these
statements."

THE MASTER GEEMAN SPY 317

Nothing ever came of this case, and so, once again,
the searchers after the master spy were compelled to
acknowledge defeat.

Soon after this, another promising clew presented
itself in the arrest of a so-called baroness in Tennes-
see. This woman had visited Fort Oglethorpe, and
it was claimed that she had a secret underground means
of communication with Berlin. She claimed to have
been born in America, and said that her father was of
German birth but had been naturalized. She married
at an early age, and after the death of her husband
went abroad and resided for short intervals in Paris,
London, Naples, Rome, Frank fort-on-the-Main, Co-
logne, Singapore, and Berlin. In 1906 she married
a baron, who was a lieutenant in the German Army.
The subsequent career of this astonishing woman, as
it was outlined by the United States Attorney, in pre-
senting the case of the Government, is quite as inter-
esting as the pages from a romance.

" Shortly after the marriage, her husband passed
the examination for the German general staff, and the
Baroness and he moved to Berlin, where they resided
two years. The Baron attended to his official duties
and he and the Baroness were presented to the Kaiser
at a court ball.

" On several occasions, the Baroness met the Em-
press of Germany and most of the high court func-
tionaries. She also admitted that on two occasions
children of the Kaiser's sister had been her guests at
birthday parties given for her children.

"About the time of Prince Henry's visit to the

318 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

United States, when Germany was attempting to cre-
ate a better feeling toward that country in the United
States, the Baroness came to America, leaving her hus-
band and children in Germany and London, respec-
tively. She came to America on the ship with a count,
who was adjutant of the German, general staff, and
who, with other high German 'officials, was invited by
Andrew Carnegie to attend the opening of the Car-
negie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. She ad-
mitted that she revised and edited the speeches the
count was to make in America, telling him that they
were too flowery for the American people. She also
admitted that she rendered him like assistance after
he arrived in America. After three months she re-
turned to Germany.

" In 1909 she was divorced from the baron in the
courts of Frank fort-on-the-Main. Shortly after her
divorce she went from England to Naples. On this
trip she met a Bavarian, with the rank of lieutenant
in the German Army, who, she claimed, had a leave
of absence because of a slight heart disorder. She
said that he was on his way to Ceylon to hunt tigers.
She claimed that he proposed marriage to her while on
the ship, but that she had asked him to defer the mat-
ter to a later date.

" She returned to Rome, where she accepted his pro-
posal. He returned to Germany to get permission
from his regiment to be married. This was given,
and they came to America and were married in New
York. They then toured the world, sailing from San
Francisco in 191 1. They went to Honolulu, and from

THE MASTER GERMAN SPY 319

there to Japan, then on to Singapore, where he pur-
chased from the Sultan of Johre concessions for a rub-
ber plantation about twenty miles from Singapore, the
naval base of the British Government in the East
Indies.

" During the next three or four years the Baroness,
as she still called herself, divided her time between
London and Singapore. Her husband stayed in
Singapore, returning to Germany only once a year to
report to his regiment, and to have his leave of ab-
sence extended.

" When the war was declared between France and
Germany, her husband was en route to London.
While in the middle of the Mediterranean, between
Suez and Marseilles, he made arrangements to land at
Marseilles and go from there to London instead of
continuing his voyage by way of Gibraltar. How-
ever, the Baroness sent him a wireless just before he
reached Marseilles, advising him not to disembark
there, as war was about to be declared. When the
ship touched Marseilles, the Captain ofifered $1000
for an automobile to take him to the Italian frontier,
but was unable to procure one to make the trip. He
continued his voyage and landed at Southampton just
one day after England had declared war on Germany.
He was interned immediately at the Dorchester intern-
ment camp, where he remained three weeks. In the
meantime the Baroness intervened with high English
officers of her acquaintance, and obtained her hus-
band's release upon his giving his word of honor as an
officer and a gentleman not to take up arms against

320 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

England during the war. The Baroness also joined
him in the pledge.

" Shortly after his release from the internment
camp, he and his wife sailed for New York as steerage
passengers.

" The Baroness admitted that on probably fifteen
occasions she had communicated with her husband by
letter through another woman of Arnheim, Holland.
This woman understood for whom the letters were in-
tended, and would open them and mail them to the
man. He would reply through the same intermediary.
Cablegrams also were transmitted in this manner."

All of this sounded promising enough, but it never
led to any practical results. Much of it seems like a
fairy tale, but, even admitting the accuracy of the facts
as given, there still remained little or nothing upon
which the United States could proceed, and there was
no real evidence to connect the so-called Baroness with
the unknown master spy who was known only by the
cryptic initial of *' H.'* Each of the three cases cited,
the German suspect who was taken into custody in
San Francisco, the lieutenant of the German Navy who
was arrested at Newport News, and the Baroness who
was held to answer for her visits to Fort Oglethorpe,
were filled with possibilities, but no one of them, or all
of them combined, sufficed to clear up the mystery.

Thus the tale must be presented to the reader in the
form of an unfinished story, and it is no exaggeration
to say that there were hundreds of such uncompleted
stories during the war. One of the most interesting
phases in connection with the work of arresting sus-

THE MASTER GERMAN SPY 321

pects was the stubbornness and the persistence with
which the prisoners shielded those " higher up."
Many of them willingly accepted prison sentences
rather than reveal to the authorities the names of those
who had directed their work. They were fanatically
devoted to the interests of the " Fatherland," and
most of them were obsessed with the notion that Ger-
many was sure to win the war.

If they had suspected that the " All Highest " in the
person of the Kaiser would eventually flee for his life,
and that Germany was to be decisively beaten by the
Allies, they might have adopted a different attitude.
But this, of course, is mere conjecture. The fact re-
mains that they placed the interests of Germany above
those of the United States, and shamefully abused the
hospitality of the country which gave them shelter and
the opportunity of a livelihood.

In this connection it is but right to pay a tribute to
the voluntary work of the American Protective League
during the war. This was an organization of patriotic
citizens which had the approval of Attorney-General
Gregory, and which was formed for the purpose of
assisting the authorities in the work of detecting spies
and those who sympathized with Germany. It pene-
trated into every nook and corner of the United States,
and at one time was said to have a membership of
two hundred and fifty thousand persons.

It is an interesting fact that no one connected with
the organization received any pay, and that the mem-
bers were not even allowed their expenses. Each city
in the United States was divided into divisions and

322 THE WOELD'S GEEATEST SPIES

placed in charge of an inspector. The divisions, in
turn, were divided into districts and each district was
in command of a captain who organized squads and
placed them under the direction of lieutenants. These
men were to make " prompt and reliable reports of all
disloyal or enemy activities," and of all infractions or
evasions of the war code of the United States, and
to make " prompt and thorough investigations of all
matters of a similar nature referred to it by the De-
partment of Justice."

It will be seen that the members of the American
Protective League had a pretty big contract on their
hands. They delved into spy activities, sedition, lying
reports concerning the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A.
and the Knights of Columbus, and any reports or ru-
mors likely to interfere with the successful prosecu-
tion of the war. They paid special attention to indi-
vidual and organized attempts to evade the draft, and
there is no doubt but that they were instrumental in
discovering hundreds of draft dodgers who were com-
pelled to do their duty along with all willing sons of
the Republic.

Perhaps the most curious feature of this strange
association was the fact that many of the members
did not know each other. As a consequence of this,
they were able to halt a great deal of German propa-
ganda in the United States. In the beginning of the
war, it may be recalled, there was more or less out-
spoken friendship for Germany. Those who indulged
in this sort of thing did not seem to realize that they
were giving " aid and sympathy " to the enemy. But

THE MASTER GERMAN SPY 323

when they received a notice to call upon the United
States District Attorney and explain their talk, their
eyes were opened. They wondered how in the world
the Government could have found out about their
casual conversations with their neighbors, little think-
ing that these neighbors were sworn agents of the
Government for the period of the war. In some cases,
members of the organization were known to have been
watching one another in the belief that they were on
the track of enemy sympathizers. So easy it is to
misjudge and mistake the motives of our neighbor.

But in the very beginning, the treason hunters were
warned to be careful not to do injustice to any indi-
viduals or to any class of men. The membership of
the League was composed of all classes and conditions
of men. Bankers, lawyers, carpenters, dentists, brick-
layers, clerks, engineers and anybody with average in-
telligence was eligible so long as they were known to
be loyal and patriotic Americans. At the o.utset there
was a careful effort made to impress the members with
the importance of avoiding the giving of unnecessary
annoyance to aliens in the United States. One of the
first announcements to the members said :

'* Many alien residents in this country are absolutely
loyal to its institutions and laws, and many individuals
having the status of alien enemies are not only con-
ducting themselves with due respect to law, but are
of great value in industry and business. Great care
must be exercised by members to avoid unnecessary
alarm to aliens and to avoid causing apprehension upon
.their part as to the fairness and justice of the attitude

324 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

of the Government toward them. In this regard mem-
bers will be called upon for the exercise of judgment
and discretion of a high order. They should protect
aliens and citizens from unjust suspicion, but must
fearlessly ascertain and report treason wherever
found.''

It would be too much to claim that the members of
the American Protective League did not make mis-
takes. There were instances where perfectly loyal
citizens were placed under suspicion, and there were
a few cases where arrests were made without sufficient
evidence. But, in the main, the organization did a real
and important work for the Government. Their la-
bors related to enemy aliens, unfriendly neutrals, first-
paper citizens, disloyal citizens, pro-German radicals,
disloyal Government employees, I. W. W. agitators,
those guilty of seditious utterances, anti-militarists,
army deserters, food hoarders, and others too numer-
ous to mention. Men high in the counsels of the
Government willingly bore witness to the efficiency
of the work done by these volunteer treason hunters.

But soon after the signing of the armistice, steps
were taken to dissolve the organization. It was said,
with justice, that we could not afford to have an or-
ganization of this kind in the United States in times of
peace. There has always been a strong sentiment in
this country against a secret police, and the notion of
having one class of citizens spying upon another class,
and upon one another, was repugnant to the American
idea of freedom. It savored too much of the secret
police system of Europe. The Attorney-General

THE MASTEE GEEMAN SPY 325

thanked the members for the valuable aid they had
given the Government during a crisis in the history of
-the Republic, and directed that the organization be
disbanded. So, without any ceremony, the American
Protective League went out of existence almost as
quickly and quietly as it had come into being, and the
members took their places again as citizens of a free
country.

It is hardly necessary to say that the organization
was no more successful in locating the master spy of
the German secret service in America than were the
professional detectives of the Government. Their ac-
tivities dealt rather with the minor and irritating ene-
mies of the United States. Their net was widespread
and the mesh was very close, but they did not succeed
in catching the big fish which would have been the
great prize of the war.

Thus it came about when the peace treaty was signed,
the identity of " H," the master German spy, was as
much a mystery as it was in the beginning of the war
in this country.

XVI

THE DARK MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE

MURDER OF THE ARCHDUKE

FERDINAND

XVI

THE DARK MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE

MURDER OF THE ARCHDUKE

FERDINAND

THE real history of the world's greatest war
will never be written until the student of his-
tory ascertains all of the hidden facts which
lay concealed behind the cruel murder of the Archduke
Ferdinand and his Consort, the Duchess of Hohen-
berg. To the casual observer that ghastly double-
tragedy in the streets of Sarajevo, on June 28, 1914,
just " happened," but to those who look beneath the
surface, to those who study causes and effects, there
are phases of the business that are both puzzling and
understandable.

There have been many mysterious tragedies con-
nected with the war, such as the strange disappearance
of Lord Kitchener and the last end of the Emperor
Nicholas, but none of them have been shrouded with
as impenetrable a veil as the details leading to the as-
sassination of the man who had been selected to suc-
ceed Francis Joseph as the ruler of Austria-Hungary.
Before the war, no monarch seemed to be so sure of
his throne as the aged man who had presided for so
many years over the destinies of the dual monarchy.
Yet he seemed to have a premonition of impending dis-

329

330 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

aster, and in the last years of his life devoted most
of his time and attention toward insuring the succes-
sion to the throne. The House of Hapsburg had been
subject to a succession of strange fatalities. Early in
his reign an attempt had been made upon the life of
Francis Joseph by a fanatical Hungarian; later, his
wife was assassinated by an Italian anarchist in Ge-
neva, and, still later, his only son died a violent and
unexplained death. Hence, when he finally selected
Franz Ferdinand to be the heir to the throne, all of
his hopes centered about that young man.

In the closing years of his life, when he was within
the shadow of the grave, he was fated to receive a
telegram informing him that the Archduke upon whom
he had pinned his hopes had also fallen by the hands
of an assassin. Destiny had decreed that he should
die disappointed and broken-hearted. In his closing
hours he must have felt that he was surrounded by
treachery and false friends. The question that was
asked even while he was breathing his last was whether
the bullet which ended the life of Ferdinand was fash-
ioned in Vienna. He died before it could be answered.
Will the mystery ever be solved? Who can answer
that question?

The life of the murdered Archduke was filled with
romance. For years he was regarded as one of the
most mysterious characters in Austria. But it is more
likely that much of this mystery was thrown about him
by those who did not understand his shy character,
and, most of all, his persistence in marrying for love
instead of for reasons of State. From the moment.

MURDER OP FERDINA:ND 331

however, when he was selected by the aged Francis
Joseph to be his successor to the throne of Austria he
became a world figure.

He was bom at Gratz, in Styria province, while his
father was Governor, on December i8, 1863. ^^ was
the eldest son of the Archduke Charles Louis, eldest
of the three brothers of Francis Joseph. Under the
laws of the Hapsburgs the eldest son of the reigning
monarch was heir to the throne, and in pursuance of
this rule the Archduke Rudolph was educated to be an
Emperor. But man proposes and God disposes.
Archduke Rudolph met with a tragic death in the hunt-
ing lodge near Vienna on January 30, 1889. There
was something mysterious about his end — and it never
has been satisfactorily explained — but as a result of it
Ferdinand came into line as the successor to the throne.
He had been trained along military and engineering
lines, and now he was called upon to study methods of
government. The aged Emperor took a personal in-
terest in this, and made it his business to instruct him
in the intricate duties he would finally be called upon
to assume. Indeed, he permitted him to exercise many
of the functions of the ruler of Austria, and was de-
lighted to find that in Franz Ferdinand he had an apt
and willing pupil.

Then, one day, an incident occurred which threat-
ened to upset all of his plans for the succession to the
throne of Austria.

It was known, of course, that the time would come
when he would be called upon to choose a wife who
would be the Empress of Austria. In Europe, as

332 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

everybody knows, they have a way of arranging these
things for the heir to the throne. In the case of
Ferdinand this began very early. When he was only
twenty-two years old the Austrian Cabinet planned
that he should marry a Princess of Saxony. It ap-
peared to be a very desirable match from every point
of view. It pleased everybody — that is, everybody
except Ferdinand. He flatly refused to consider it,
much to the consternation of the rulers of Austria.
He said that if the crown depended upon such a mar-
riage he would forfeit his rights. To the surprise of
all, Emperor Francis Joseph upheld the young man in
this refusal. In a word, he upheld the young man's
natural right to choose his own wife.

Time went on, and it was generally felt that at the
right moment he could be depended upon to select the
right sort of a wife — that is to say, a wife who would
satisfy the Emperor and the Cabinet. He was an at-
tractive young man, tall, good-looking, highly accom-
plished, and, best of all, free from scandal. But he
was one of those men who do not make friends easily.
This was not from any want of desire on his part,
but rather because he had a retiring disposition. He
had both a practical and a poetic side to his nature.
He not only studied engineering, but he secured a de-
gree which entitled him to practice that profession. It
is not surprising to learn that he was also of an
inventive turn of mind. It has been said that if
he had the desire he could have patented many
devices, and that if thrown upon his natural re-
sources he could easily have been one of the wealthiest

MURDER OF FERDINAND 333

princes in Europe — and that by his own unaided
efforts.

On the other hand, he was a writer and a poet of no
mean order. He loved music, and was the author of
several compositions — old Styrian melodies which,
until that time, had never been placed upon paper.
He published two volumes of quaint Alpine poetry,
and he was also the author of some biographical
sketches which attracted attention outside his own
country. Add to this the fact that he was a sportsman
and a good shot, and we have an all-around man that
might well attract the attention of the young women
of the old world. Long ago it was said that jour-
neys end in lovers meeting. The girl and the place
were waiting for Ferdinand.

He went on a visit to Abbazia, the country place of
the widowed Princess Stephanie. It is a charming
spot and the vacation was all that could be desired.
Ferdinand had intended to stay but a few days, but
his visit was prolonged to weeks. Then those who
were at the court in Vienna began to gossip, just as
folks will gossip about impending matrimony, whether
it be in a cottage or a palace. It was hinted that
Ferdinand had fallen in love with his hostess, and a
charming hostess she was. The Emperor Francis
Joseph was delighted. It was precisely the sort of a
match that he would have planned for the heir to the
throne. When he returned to Vienna he was met with
playful references to his supposed love affair, but he
remained silent. If he had any matrimonial inten-
tions he was not making them public at that time. So

334 THE WORLD'S GEEATEST SPIES

the Emperor and his Cabinet waited, ascribing his
silence to the natural shyness of a love-smitten young
man. That he was in love no one doubted, because he
had all of the symptoms of the ancient disease.

The truth came out in an unexpected manner. He
paid a second visit to Abbazia. The plot thickened,
so to speak. •Could it be possible that the Archduke
was in love with one of the sisters of Princess
Stephanie? No, he was not, because after his de-
parture one of the servants found in his room a gold-
framed miniature of the Countess Sophie. This
young woman, who was exceedingly beautiful, was a
lady-in-waiting to the Princess, and had been acting as
a sort of duenna to the daughters of the hostess.
Without the poverty which is supposed to be part of
the role, she was a modern Cinderella, and Ferdinand
was the young Prince who had found her slipper and
came to claim her as his bride.

There was an emotional explosion. Hell, we are
told, hath no fury like a woman scorned, and, if we
are to believe contemporaneous reports, the Princess
Stephanie raged just like an ordinary woman who has
been jilted. As a matter of fact, the loving Ferdi-
nand had been guilty of no impropriety. He did not
make love to either the Princess or her sisters, but he
had been guilty of the bad judgment of preferring the
lady-in-waiting to the lady. He preferred the maid
to the mistress. Worst of all, rumors had gone forth
of his supposed attachment to the Princess. We have
no record of what actually took place between the
two women, but it is enough to say that within half

MUEDEE OF FEEDINAND 335

an hour after the discovery of the miniature the Count-
ess Sophie was banished from the house.

In the meanwhile the news traveled to Vienna. The
Emperor Francis Joseph was amazed. He sent for
the young man and wanted to know if the stories that
had reached him were true. The young Archduke
bowed his head:

" It is true that I love the Countess."

The Emperor conceded his right to that feeling, but
insisted that it was his duty to marry some one of his
own rank, to make an alliance with one of the royal
houses.

*' That is impossible," retorted this astonishing
Archduke. " I shall marry the woman I love.'*

" But," cried the angry Emperor, " can it be pos-
sible that you intend to renounce your claim to the
throne?'*

" Not at all," was the calm response. " I am sim-
ply taking your advice. I heard you say once that in
taking a wife an Emperor should pay no attention to
politics and should follow only the impulse of his own
heart."

The aged ruler had to turn his head aside to conceal
the smile that was provoked by this apt retort. He
knew very well that he had uttered these words, but he
pretended to be very angry, and dismissed jiis dis-
obedient nephew. From that day onward every pos-
sible effort was made to break off the attachment be-
tween the two young people. The Archduke was sent
into a sort of exile at Budweis. By a curious set of
circumstances the young Countess happened to be in

336 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

the same neighborhood at the same time. So, what
was intended as a punishment, proved to be a delight-
ful occasion. But the royal diplomats were at work
again, and it was not long before the two were sepa-
rated. Later, the information was brought to the
Countess Sophie that Ferdinand was actually engaged
to the Princess Stephanie, and that the date of their
marriage would soon be fixed. The purpose was to
provoke her jealousy and to bring about an estrange-
ment. But it failed utterly of its effect. She smiled
radiantly :

" The story is interesting,'' she said, " but I do not
believe it."

" It comes from good authority," she was told ;
" it comes direct from Vienna."

" Then it is very doubtful," was the quick retort,
" and the only person in the world who can make me
believe it is Ferdinand himself."

A tour of the world and a separation of many
months failed to wean Ferdinand from the woman he
loved. Finally the Emperor, who was a fairly good
judge of human nature, realized that further oppo-
sition would be useless. The courtship had continued
for nine years, and at the end of that time Francis
Joseph consented to the betrothal. So it came about
that the Archduke Ferdinand, on June 28, 1900, in the
presence of the Emperor, church dignitaries and min-
isters of State took an oath in the Ho f burg at Vienna,
that he and the Countess would consider their mar-
riage a morganatic one, renounced for her all future
claims as Empress, and for their unborn children all

MUEDER OP FERDINAND 337

claims to the throne. Three days later the Archduke
and the Countess were married at her native home in
Bohemia. The Emperor, who really admired the
Countess, made her Duchess of Hohenberg.

The course of true love had not run smoothly, but
after their marriage the much-opposed young couple
were exceedingly happy. The truth of the matter is
that both of them were so decent, generous and good-
intentioned that they deserved their happiness. But
while their love affairs had been happily adjusted their
political difficulties were only beginning. There were
men in Austria who were not reconciled to the idea of
Ferdinand as the heir-apparent. They were deeply
disappointed when the aged Emperor had finally for-
given the young man and taken him to his bosom again.
They were more incensed when they found that Ferdi-
nand was actually ruling Austria. He was earnest, he
was patient and he was industrious. Best of all, he
was content to remain in the background, and permit
his uncle to have all of the honor and the glory of
governing. Indeed, the complaint was made that an
" impenetrable veil had been drawn over his private
life." But behind this veil Ferdinand was working
like a Trojan. It was the Archduke Ferdinand who
was the moving spirit in the annexation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and it seemed to be fate that he should
meet with his tragic end in the capital of Bosnia.

It was quite common to hear that Ferdinand avoided
the fierce light that shines on a crown. This did not
mean that he was inactive, but rather that he had a
dislike for publicity. He was not photographed in

338 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

every conceivable position; his daily movements were
not faithfully chronicled and his likes and dislikes were
not a matter of common knowledge. Those about
him, however, soon found that he was a man of char-
acter. They found that he had the ability to govern,
and that he did not hesitate to disagree with the Em-
peror when he thought the Emperor was wrong. It
was freely predicted that when he became the actual
head of the State — a time that was never to come —
that the good old Austrian carelessness would be a
thing of the past. It is perhaps natural that such a
man should be unpopular. In this respect it is inter-
esting to reproduce an estimate that was made of him
some years before his death. An American corre-
spondent writing at that time said:

*' The Archduke is thoroughly constitutional. No
attempt will be made by him to make a breach in the
Empire or among its varied populations. And this is
why he is unpopular with certain militant sections of
his future subjects in Hungary. He fiercely hates
those who would sap the foundations on which the
dual monarchy is built. But to Hungarians as Hun-
garians he is as friendly as to Germans or Poles or
Czechs. He loves none of them, but hates none as
long as they do his will.

" Not long ago he was disliked in the army. His
coldness, his want of the spirit of camaraderie, his in-
difference to buttons, facings and gold braid worn by
officers, his dislike of parades and military show which
pleases both his uncle and his neighbor, the German
Emperor, have raised a barrier between him and the

MUEDER OF FERDINAND 339

flashy sections of the army. But there is not an officer
of worth in the Austrian Army who does not know that
Franz Ferdinand is a great soldier of the working,
plodding, diligent, watchful sort, that nothing escapes
him, and that his supreme qualities of generalship will
be of enormous advantage to the Empire when the day
of trial comes. If Austria fights she will fight with
Franz Ferdinand at the head of her forces.

" Franz Ferdinand makes no claim to be a genius
and is not one, but his head is clear and he has a habit
of thinking for himself. He has also a remarkable
knowledge of men. Immediately after he took the
reins of power under his uncle the old easy Austrian
methods of appointing unfit men to high positions were
abandoned, and only those men were chosen for office
who were suitable by gifts and experience — men like
Von Beck, Conrad von Stotzendorf and Baron von
Aehrenthal. Not one of the men named belongs to
what is known as the * high aristocracy,* and the fa-
mous foreign minister is even of Jewish extraction,
belonging to a banking family of ordinary reputation.
Prince Ferdinand has no prejudices. Like all the
Hapsburgs, he is a religious man, but it is not accurate
to say that he is a clerically minded man. He sees in
the Christian Socialist or Clerical party the best or-
ganized, most patriotic party in the Empire, and that
is why he maintains a sort of connection with them.
Were the other parties in the State to show the same
devotion to the Crown, the same eagerness to advance
the glory and power of Austria, he would join forces
with them also.

340 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

" But the fact remains that Franz Ferdinand is not
a lovable character. He is not what the Austrians
call a * guter mensch.* He lacks the amiability which
distinguishes the German and Austrian Emperors and
the sovereigns of England and Italy. His smile is
seldom seen, and when seen is usually sardonic."

In view of what has happened since this estimate
was made it assumes unusual interest and importance.
It sounds like irony to read that if Austria fights " she
will fight with Franz Ferdinand at the head of her
forces.'' Fate had decreed that Ferdinand himself
was to be the cause of the war. His assassination in
the town of Sarajevo was to be the match that was to
kindle the world-wide conflagration. Had it been
otherwise, had the war been from other causes, and
had Ferdinand headed the troops of Austria would
the result have been dififerent ? Hardly, although it is
reasonable to believe that the dual monarchy would not
have made such a miserable showing in the war.

But, from the foregoing, it is evident that there were
many men in Austria who did not look with much joy
upon the prospect of having Ferdinand ascend the
throne. We are told that when he arranged to make
his visit of State to Bosnia one of his friends in Vienna
urged him to postpone the trip. This man was filled
with forebodings. He could give no reason for his
warning beyond the prevailing political unrest, but he
simply had a premonition that there was danger in the
air. The Archduke was not greatly impressed. He
was a man of great personal courage. He was also
highly practical and he was not to be deterred by

MUEDER OF FERDINAND 341

" voices in the air." So the visit of ceremony was
carried out as planned.

The Archduke and his Consort arrived at Sarajevo
on June 28, 19 14. There was a great outpouring of
the people, and while he was not greeted with cheers
he was received with respectful interest. It was a
curious assemblage. The streets through which the
royal automobile passed were lined with Turkish ba-
zaars, mosques, churches and synagogues. In the
crowd were the Serbs, Croatians and Jews who make
up the population of the picturesque and cosmopolitan
city. Howling Moslem dervishes went through their
contortions. All of this was interesting, but Ferdi-
nand and his well-beloved wife must have had some
misgivings as they gazed upon the sea of half -sullen
faces.

He realized, for one thing, that the local Governor
and the Army Commandant had not provided an ade-
quate police and military escort for himself and his
Consort. There were some cheers, but they were not
hearty. Nevertheless, the Archduke, making the best
of a bad situation, bowed to the right and to the left
as his conveyance made its way from the railroad sta-
tion to the Town Hall. Just before the visitors
reached their destination some one — he was after-
wards proven to be the son of an Austrian official —
threw a bomb at the automobile. The crowd shrieked
in horror, but when the wall of smoke was wafted
aside it was found that the Archduke and his Consort
were sitting upright and unharmed.

" Now," the Archduke is reported to have said to

342 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

his Consort, " I know why Count Tisza advised me to
postpone my journey.'*

Some of the members of his party were wounded
by the explosion, and the Archduke would not continue
his journey until they had been cared for, and taken
to a local hospital. He was pale, but presented an
imdisturbed demeanor. Yet even after that startling
incident he was without proper police protection. The
procession proceeded to the Town Hall, where the
Burgomaster, in the robes of his office, was waiting
to deliver the formal address of welcome. But be-
fore he began the Archduke raised his hand :

" Herr Burgomaster, we have come here to pay you
a visit and bombs have been thrown at us. This is al-
together an amazing indignity. You may now pro-
ceed with your address.*'

The formalities went on to their end, but there was
a tenseness about the situation by no means agreeable.
After that the Archduke and his Consort returned to
their automobile and the line of march was resumed.
Half way to the station he directed the driver to pro-
ceed to the hospital in order that he might call upon
the injured members of his party. It was an act of
mercy. They had not gone three blocks, however, be-
fore a youth on the sidewalk produced a pistol, and
fired three shots at the royal couple. The first shot
struck the Archduke. He stood up in the automobile,
rigid and drawn, and then fell in a heap in the bottom
of the machine. In the meanwhile another shot fa-
tally wounded his Consort, and thus these two, who
had been inseparable in life, were united in death. Be-

Photograph from Underwood & Underwood, X. Y.

ARCHDUKE FERDTNAXD AXD IIlS COXSORT

MUEDER OF FERDINAND 343

fore Ferdinand expired, and while he was being as-
sisted from the automobile, he said, with a groan:

" That fellow will get the Golden Cross of Merit
for this day's work ! "

The crowd made a rush for the assassin, and but
for the intervention of the police he would have been
torn to pieces. It was quite evident that no matter
what their political grievances they had no sympathy
with murder. After he was taken to the police sta-
tion he gave his name as Gavrio Prinzip. He was a
Serbian student, residing in Sarajevo, and he had been
nursing his hatred until the time came to fire the fatal
shot. He had a confederate, a printer, and the evi-
dence showed that they had been waiting for hours for
this opportunity for a double assassination that was to
involve the world in war.

In due course of time the culprits were tried and
punished. But in the meanwhile events were follow-
ing one another with lightning-like rapidity. Those
three cowardly shots were heard around the world.
The people of all the civilized countries were shocked
by the crime. The British Government was the first
to formally express its detestation of the horrible hap-
pening. One after another followed with notes of
sympathy and indignation. But, outside of Austria
and Germany, none appeared to suspect the tragic con-
sequences that were to turn the world topsy-turvy. A
few — a very few — were asking the question :

Was Archduke Ferdinand purposely placed in peril ?

This question has never been satisfactorily answered.
More than one student of history has speculated upon

344 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

the sinister meaning of the tragedy. It has become
one of the great mysteries of history. Had destiny
decreed that Ferdinand was to be the instrument to end
the great Austrian Empire ? Trifles have changed the
history of the world, but surely this double-tragedy
was no trifle. Could the politicians at Vienna tell the
inside story of that black crime ? One historian in dis-
cussing this phase of the case says :

" There is some reason for feeling that certain in-
fluential personages in Austria realized that the Arch-
duke*s visit to Sarajevo was likely to be perilous and
that they did not, nevertheless, order any very efficient
police measures to protect him. The dark skeins in
Balkan history are innumerable, and to-day it is im-
possible to untangle this one. One fact, however, is
certain. The news of the death of Franz Ferdinand
did not leave certain influential politicians in Vienna
and Buda-Pesth bowed with anguish.'*

All newspaper readers are familiar with the events
which now followed one another in quick succession.
Austria-Hungary made demands upon the Serbian
Government for immediate satisfaction. Steps were
taken to comply with this demand. Full punishment
was promised against the assassins, but that was not
enough for Vienna. Further demands were made, de-
mands with which the Serbian Government felt that
it could not comply without yielding up its national
existence. Then followed the declaration of war
against Serbia, the intervention of Russia, and finally
Germany's announcement that the mobilization of the
Russian Army would be taken as an act of hostility

MUEDER OP FERDINAND 345

to the' Fatherland. And, before any one realized it,
the world was on fire.

Most of the momentous facts are familiar to even
the most casual reader. To attempt to recite them all
would be to undertake to tell the history of the World
War. But it must be apparent that the moment in
which the Archduke and his Consort were killed was
one of the most dramatic moments in the history of
the world.

There are many mysteries connected with this ap-
palling war, but none of them are veiled in greater
secrecy than this one in which the Archduke Ferdi-
nand was the principal, and it is fitting that this series
should conclude with this episode, which was the first
event in the greatest war the world has ever known.

THE END

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The Redmaynes

i'f

By G. E. Locke

Author of "The Golden Lotus," etc.

^* C/o*A J2mo, illustrated by Dean Freeman, $2.00. i:*

lUjllOT only can G. E. Locke devise plots of extraor-
likll dinary interest but this writer can tell a mystery
story in a way that holds the reader captive.

THE REDMAYNES tells of the murder at night
of Hubert Redmayne, English Baronet, which crime
brings to light a startling chain of circumstances that
indicates the dead man's real character, hitherto un-
suspected and unknown. And what strange secrets,
baffling situations and interesting details of the Red-
maynes' family history the plot unfolds!

He who delves into the story of the Redmajmes will
allow no interruption, or permit no ordinary affairs to
interfere with his entertainment, for this latest Locke
mystery tale entertains, grips and fascinates.

Detective stories, by G. E. Locke, each $2.00,
THE SCARLET MACAW
THE PURPLE MIST
THE RED CAVALIER
THE HOUSE ON THE DOWNS
THE GOLDEN LOTUS

% W. Orton Tewson, who writes that popular column %
^J "The Attic Salt Shaker," puts the Locke titles "at the f
i J top of the list of best mystery stories of the year.*'

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Pat and Pal

By Harriet Lummis Smith

Author of POLLYANNA OP THE ORANGE BLOSSOMS,
POLLYANNA'S JEWELS, POLLYANNA'S DEBT OF
HONOR, THE UNCERTAIN GLORY, etc.

Cloth J2mo, illustrated by Griswold Tyng, $2.00.

imi surely you know that Harriet Lummis Smith is
the author who triumphantly carried on the POLLY-
ANNA GLAD BOOKS after the series was interrupted
by the death of Eleanor H. Porter — gives us a love
story with a novel point of view. When Priscilla Irwin
and young Mr. Hollister fell in love and proceeded to
experience the ups and downs proverbially characteristic
of affairs of the heart, they doubtless supposed they
were acting on their own initiative. But Miss Priscilla's
two dogs knew better. Pat, the Boston terrier, who tells
the story, makes it quite clear that the whole thing was
planned, instigated, engineered and brought to a success-
ful conclusion by the sagacity and unremitting efforts
of himself and his friend, Pal, the philosophic collie,
whose epigrams enliven the tale.

The wish to see ourselves as others see us is more
than realized in this delightful book, for we are enabled
to see ourselves as we appear to our dogs. The book
sparkles with genial humor and occasional touches of
satire and will appeal to those who love lovers — and all
the world does that — and those who love dogs — that is
to say, to everybod5^

"There is a certain dignity of restraint with which
Harriet Lummis Smith carries on the POLLYANNA
legend that makes her work not only entirely acceptable,
but if one may say so without being accused of lese-
majeste, even more enjoyable reading than the two pre-
ceding POLLYANNA books."— A^^w York Times.

W^V* VV V W T VVVVVV^V * V V *♦* V W''!

4 *

John Vivian of Virginia |

Being the Memoirs of Our First Rebellion, by
John Vivian, Esq., of Middle Plantation, Virginia.

By Hulhert Fuller

Cloth i2mo, illustrated by Frank T. Merrill, $2.00. J*

4» frnjHE scene of this stirring romance is laid during

% mi the latter part of the seventeenth century, and

♦»♦ follows the course of the rebellion in Virginia against

4* the tyrannous rule of Governor William Berkeley,

^ giving a faithful and highly interesting account of the

f event, interwoven with the adventures, both perilous
and amusing, of the hero. Captain John Vivian.

J The thread of a delightful love affair runs through
* the story, wherein Mistress Langdon, the charming
niece of Governor Berkeley, is concerned. The quaint-
ness of the old-time diction is fascinatingly preserved,
and the character drawing is exceptionally fine. One
of the best examples is Master Seager, the brave and
swashbuckling, but double-faced villain, with whom the
hero is constantly at odds. There is keen, dry humor
throughout and the strong characterization and intricacy
of the plot sustains the interest to the last word.

"You will have to search far and wide to find a better * *
colonial romance than this." — Boston Transcript.

*^TTV'**'*

* *4^^h|h$>^>>H>^"$h$>^"$h$><. >%, »Xi .|. .|. >t. >x, .|. >t4 .|i >t. >t« ■» >l. >|> .|. >t. >!■ >:■ .|. ■!. i|. ■!. .t» >t< »
T *^

*'f

The Viking Prince I

Or, The Adventures of Harald Trygvesen

By A. L. MacKaye

Author of "The Slave Prince" *

» *'*

* * *.*

* I C/o*A /^w<7, anVA frontispiece and six other illustrations * *

1 1 front paintings by A, Thieme, unique jacket by Gris
** wold Tyng, $2.00.

* *

*:p

nN this virile tale of Viking days, Mr. MacKaye «»
I portrays the intimate life in Norway and Scotland *'^

at the end of the tenth century, when Norway was J J
ruled by the famous Viking, Olaf Tryggvessen, who *t
with nearly all of his Christian followers, lost his life f*
at the Battle of Svold, one of the world's famous naval
battles, which has inspired the writing of song and ^
story for nearly a thousand years.
|» Harald Trygvesen, the hero, is a Viking prince,
who swore before his dying father to carry out a
special vengeance, in accordance with that command
of Odin "Avenge thyself or be niddering." But during
the adventures which follow the death of the old Viking,
Harald meets and loves a Christian girl, for whose
sake he postpones his vengeance and joins the crew
of King Olaf's warship, the Long Serpent.

There are other characters in the story which stand <|»
out with cameo clearness — the giant Scotsman, Donald
the Berserker, and his father "Red Ranald"; Hulda,
the Shield Maiden of Sweden, who sails her own war-
dragon in the fleet of the Jomsberg Pirate Republic;
Sigrid the Haughty, first Queen of Sweden, then of X
Denmark; and many other famous characters live and ^
love and die in this vivid picture of those stirring old
Norse days.

«♦

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f i»

^»

A Gift Set of Appeal
The Five

Pollyanna Glad Books

POLLYANNA

POLLYANNA GROWS UP

By ELEANOR H. PORTER

POLLYANNA OF THE ORANGE
BLOSSOMS

POLLYANNA'S JEWELS

POLLYANNA'S DEBT OF HONOR
By HARRIET LUMMIS SMITH

The five volumes, uniformly bound, in handsome brown \ \
silk cloth box, with folding lid, gold stamping, $10.00. * *

HERE is no need to recite the plot of each famous

^ GLAD BOOK, but as the Christian Herald says: ^

Take away frowns 1 Draw up the window shades! J J

Put down the worries ! Stop fidgeting and disagreeing T^

and grumbling! Cheer up everybody! POLLYANNA

^ has come back!" ^^

I thank the Giver of all gladness for POLLY- ^
4 ANNA."— Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist.

Publisher's Note: This set is offered because of the
real demand. All last year, particularly during the
Holiday season we received repeated orders for "a
uniform set of the POLLYANNAS,"— *1 want to give
away a uniform set of all the GLAD BOOKS,"— "Please
send me your POLLYANNA books in brovm binding," J
— etc., etc.

i» >t' 't' » >t' 't« » 't' 't' 't« 't' 't' » 'V "I" 't« '!■ 't' 't' 't' 't' 't' 't' » 't' » i* ^ i* 'If 'V *V >t' M* 't' » 'I' i"

iit >T< J< >ti tf I At i

Gentleman Grizzly

By Reginald C Barker

Author of "Wild Horse Ranch"

Cloth i2mo, illustrated by Griswold Tyng, $2.00.

[jjjjEET GENTLEMAN GRIZZLY! Rugged patri-
lULlI arch of the middle Salmon country, trapper and
philosopher. Called "Grizzly" because of his resem-
blance to a grizzly bear, both in appearance and strength,
and "gentleman" because of his sterling qualities, he
has some startling adventures, as may be judged from
the following episodes from the book:

DOUBLE-CROSSED

THE BEAVER DAM

RED GRAVEL

THE LAKE MONSTER

ISQUAH

SUSPICIONS

WISE COWARDICE
THE AVENGER
THE SILVER FOX
TRAPPED TRAPPERS
THE MAIL DRIVER
THE MAN HUNT

THE GILDED HORSESHOE
THE GHOST RIVER MYSTERY

Here is the thrill of life in the mountain country of
Idaho — mystery, conflict, adventure. Reginald C. Barker
is known for his realistic "Westerns." In GENTLE-
MAN GRIZZLY he has created a picturesque and
altogether fascinating character whose adventures grip
the reader.

By the same author, WILD HORSE RANCH. "If
the reader wants thrills, action and mystery, he will find
them in WILD HORSE RAN Cn."— Hollywood Citizen.

The Wreck of the Ocean
Queen: A Story of the Sea

By James Otis

Author of "True Tales from American History," etc.

Cloth i2mo, illustrated, striking jacket by Dean Free-
man, $2.00.

NONDESCRIPT crew, hastily gathered from the
Hongkong docks, mans the Ocean Queen as it sets
forth for a voyage around the world. The passenger
list shows as strange a combination, as does the cargo;
and despite all precautions, the presence, in the hold,
of a large quantity of gold becomes common knowl-
edge. Three days from port, the ship runs into a storm
and grounds on a reef near a desert island. Then
mutiny breaks out I

The mutineers make trouble and thrill follows thrill I
Lack of food and water— attacks by night and day-
hand to hand fights— make this a stirring and realistic
sea tale.

"The many admirers of James Otis should not let this
story escape them, for it surpasses in excitement and
sustained interest any that this popular author ever
wrote." — Chicago Evening Post.

4'*J**H**J'<**M*^^*H^^*^t^4»4^^

I FamousAmericanAthletes I
of To-day

By Charles H* L* Johnston

Author of "Famous Scouts," etc

jj Cloth i2mo, illustrated from specially autographed %
i* photographs, $2.50.

J J major sports as follows

J! AVIATION. CoL Charles A. Lindbergh ("Lindy").

N appreciation with biographical sketches of the
leading American performers in each field of

BASEBALL. George Herman ("Babe") Ruth, Henry (Ham-
mering Hank) Gowdy.

BOXING. James Joseph ("Gene") Tunney.

FOOTBALL. Harry E. ("Light Horse Harry") Wilson.

GOLF. Robert Tyre ("Bobby") Jones.

POLO. Thomas ("Tommy") Hitchcock, Jr.

TRACK ATHLETICS. Clarence DeMar, Charles Paddock
("The world's fastest human").

SWIMMING. Gertrude ("Trudy") Ederle.

TENNIS. William ("Big Bill") TUden II, Helen Willi.

The motive of this book is to interest American youth

% in manly exercises and physical training by acquainting

i» them with the lives and feats of our greatest athletes

*; I* of the day. The appeal to educators as well as to youth

^ is the ethical and useful side of competitive athletics.

The complete athletic records and statistics are, of
it course, included.

»4.4..t..tototototot<<ototototot..tMtotMtotntotnlo|i.tot.>totot«»»>tot,»4i..t...|ot...|«

The
I Berkeley Street Mystery I

By Mary R. P. Hatch

Author of "The Missing Man,** etc.
Cloth decorative, l2mo, illustrated by Dean Freeman,

$2.00

[jjnfflN orange diamond, with a romantic history, stolen
* l«j| en route to a Boston jeweler; an Indian Kaffir to
whom the jewel rightfully belonged; smuggling across
the Canadian border ; a refreshing love story ; a murder
in the dark on Berkeley Street, Boston 1 Here are the
ingredients which make up a baffling mystery story,
which gets away from the beaten track and never
returns to it

"At last," says Mr. John Clair Minot, distinguished
literary critic for the Boston Herald, who had the
privilege of reading this story in its manuscript form,
"we have a mystery story that is different. I thoroughly
enjoyed it for several reasons. First, because the setting
is largely local — staid old Boston — whereas most of our
mystery stories have an English background; also be-
cause its author shows more attention to the decencies
of English than many of those who put together our
popular mystery tales; and thirdly because of the
interest of the story in which the suspense is splendidly
maintained. The Berkeley Street Mystery* should rank
high in mystery fiction."

» .f. >t> i^ 4. 4. .f. .t. »t» >t« >t« '!* >!■ *V >!' 't' 't' 't' 'T' 't' 't' 't« 't' 't' 't' 't' 't' 't' » » » ^ » 't' » <' <' 'I' ♦ »

Photograph by Bain News Service.

MT.LE. MATA-HARI

DUTCH-JAVANESE DANCER 209

the least sign of emotion. It was the fifteenth of the
month, and when the dancer awakened in her cell in
the prison of Saint Lazare she instantly realized that
the preparations for her execution were going on.
Captain Bourchardon, the representative of the French
Military Court that had condemned her to death, was
there, so was the warden of the prison and her coun-
sel, M. Clouet.

The Protestant clergyman, who was to offer her
spiritual consolation, paced the corridor, while two
nuns, connected with the prison, entered her cell to
assist her in dressing. Smilingly she thanked them
while declining their friendly offices. Quickly, deftly,
and with the air of one who is about to go on an ordi-
nary journey she dressed, attiring herself in a dark
dress, trimmed with fur, which she had worn at her
trial. A felt hat and a long coat completed her outfit.
Nervously the little procession lined up and marched
through the dark corridor of the prison. The men
in the party were visibly affected. Mata-Hari, as has
been said, " was mistress of herself and her emotions."
There was a pause in the office of the warden. Here
the condemned woman was given the opportunity of
writing two letters, which she entrusted to her lawyer.
Without further ado, she entered a military automo-
bile, in the company of Captain Bourchardon and the
two nuns.

Presently they came in sight of the fortress of Vin-
cennes. If any emotions stirred Mata-Hari she did
not betray them. Around about her were some of the
most historic buildings in France. The castle which

210 THE WOELD'S GREATEST SPIES

was used as a royal residence until the time of Louis
XV, and which has since served the double purpose of
a prison and a fortress, loomed up before her eyes.
She probably recalled that the structure had housed
Conde, Diderot, Mirabeau and other distinguished
prisoners, and, if so, it made her hold her stately head
a little higher. Nearby were the woods of Vincennes,
where the people of Paris came for their outings. Ab-
sent now were the signs of merrymaking. War had
changed all of that, and for the moment a grim tragedy
was being enacted within sight of the Parisian play-
grounds.

Mata-Hari was the first to alight from the automo-
bile, and with a graceful inclination she turned to help
one of the nuns to alight. The two nuns accompanied
her to the office of the Governor, and after the final
official formalities had been concluded they started for
the rifle range, this time being accompanied by a
squadron of dragoons. During the brief ride from
the prison, and in the short time before the execution,
there seemed to arise a sort of understanding between
the dancer and the nun who stood by her right side.
The one a woman of the world, and the other a woman
of God. Differing in faith, appearance and mode of
thought, they were yet both women. The one pale
and spiritual, and the other dark and almost bronzed
with an air of haughty defiance. The calm, religious
life of the little nun was reflected in the serenity of
her countenance. The pride of the tall, beautiful
dancer was shown in the stoicism of her face and man-
ner. If the unfortunate woman felt anything, it was

DUTCH-JAVANESE DANCER 211

the sympathy of the Httle nun, and in the clasp of the
two hands there was a world of meaning.

The Paris correspondent of the New York Sun has
given us a dramatic picture of those last moments.
Let him tell the rest of the story:

'* On the range all preparations for the execution
were ready. A detachment of infantrymen in their
blue-gray uniforms were drawn up, forming a hollow
square — the targets being at the further end. The
firing platoon of zouaves was in the center, the men
standing at attention. The automobiles stopped at the
entrance to the square and Mata-Hari stepped out.
She gazed unmoved, almost disdainfully, at the set-
ting prepared for her final appearance, in much the
same manner as she had regarded the audiences that
had applauded the exotic dances with which she had
startled Paris. In the background stood a group of
officers from the Vincennes garrison, many of whom
had been witnesses of the condemned woman's stage
triumphs. With her lawyer on one side and one of
the nuns on the other, she passed unshaken in front
of the silent, waiting troops.

" Arriving in front of the targets, Mata-Hari bade
these two good-by, embracing the nun as she stretched
out her hands to a waiting gendarme who held the cord
with which they were to be bound. As he fastened it
about her right wrist the spy with the other waved a
friendly little farewell to the second nun off in the
background. When both were securely fastened she
was left alone, standing erect, facing the muzzles of
the twelve rifles of the firing squad. The commander

212 THE WORLD'S GREATEST SPIES

of the platoon raised his sword and the volleys rang
out, followed a second later by the report of a single
shot — one of the squad had not pulled his trigger in
unison with his fellows. Mata-Hari fell on her knees.
A non-commissioned officer of the dragoons advanced
and fired at close range. The dancer fell backward.
She had answered her last curtain call. The troops
marched past the prostrate body and returned to their
barracks to begin the day's garrison duties, while the
corpse was taken to a military cemetery and buried
in a section set apart for the interring of executed
criminals.''

Such is the dramatic and thrilling story, so far as
it can be gathered from many conflicting sources, of
one of the most notable women spies of the world's
greatest war.

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

D Barton, George

639 Celebrated spies and famous

37B3 mysteries of the great war

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