GERMAN SPIES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7812, 3 June 1909, Page 1

GERMAN SPIES.

There has been a German spy scare m France—a scare, based on the., persistent appearances of German balloonists on the north-eastern frontier. In most cases (according to the Standard) the balloonists represent themselves as tourists, but as m nine instances out of ten they carry with them elaborate photographic apparatus and show ! much diligence m the acquisition of i maps of the district—as at Brest on I one occasion—French people are beginning to receive the "tourist" explanation with scepticism, and to look m other directions for explanations of these descents. . . In some cases the aeronauts have been detained by the authorities, and enquiries made respecting them, with ) the result that not infrequently these "tourists'' have turned out to be German officers, who seem latterly to have develo/ped quite a craze for balllooning, and to find a special attraci.tioh" m the: north-eastern line of fortresses.' • - - ■' ■■'. - Recently three aeronauts made a descent at Santeny-Servou, m the Department '. of Seine-et-Oise. For de-. 'scent it would be, perhaps, more correct to say '.'fall," for the envelope,: or balloon, had been badly torn, and when the balloonists reached earth it was m no gentle manner. ' When at length they raised themselves and brushed the mud from their clothes, they found themselves . surrounded by a circle of villagers whose aspect was, to say'the least, unfriendly, and the cry was raised, "They are spies. Don't let them go !'' The hostility of the crowd became still more, marked when it was found that the aeronauts, who spoke only German, respectively described themselves, m answer to the queries of M. Besancon, son of the Mayor of Marolles, as a pork butcher of Frankfort, a gymnastic instructor, and a mechanical engineer. The last-named carried a camera, and had also a number of films, and on these being developed by Mme. Besancon, they were found to reveal views of the Chalons camp and the surrounding fortifications, and of Reims and the district. The "gymnastic instructor" had a notebook filled with entries of a character which hardly accorded with the description given by the aeronauts as " members of a Berlin ballooning society who had taken advantage of j the holidays to make a short excursion, which a contrary wind had unfortunately prolonged." The local gendarmerie officials, having completed their investigations, telegraphed for further instructions to the gendarmerie captain of Corbeil, but the reply of the latter arrived too late to prevent the departure of the balloonists (whose German passports were quite m order) by the first train for Metz.