CHARGED AS SPIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 292, 10 December 1925, Page 7

CHARGED AS SPIES.

I ■ • ENGLISHMEN IN FRANCE. THE STORY OF MARCELLE. . AN ADVENTUROUS GRISETTE. , (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, December 9. Dispatches from the French capital state that the affair involving the arrest \ of five persons on charges of espionage ;in connection with aviation secrets is ■ gaining in romantic interest every hour. ; One of the three British subjects who J were arrested. Mr. John Leather, engineer, well known in the British colony of Paris. His friends find it difficult • to believe he is guilty. ; The police have no serious suspicion • of Mr. Phillips, the British director of .a. wireless telegraph company. Ho was ■ only arrested as an associate of Mr. 1 Leather. Marcelle Monseil, the artists' model, ■ who was the first to be apprehended, seems to suffer from a lust for notoriety. 1 This makes her confession very doubtful. Marcelle spent her girlhood in re- • formatory homos, from which she > emerged with a nurse's diploma. Daring narachute descents have con- • stituted an important element in her success. After she had descended at the Nantes aerodrome on one occasion I she was the guest of honour at a ban- ! quet given by the< aviators to celebrate ■ her courage. THE MODEL MARCELLE. The Paris pblice state that Messrs. Leather and Phillips admit they belong to the British Intelligence Service. The .British Embassy may intervene on their behalf. The girl Marcelle continues to mainitain a cynical attitude. She defended her notion in turning spy, saying: "A girl must live somehow/'* She said she preferred to sell her country's secrets for 1000 francs to starving as an artists' model. Marcelle was introduced to Mr. Phillips by her lover. She says Mr. Phillips offered her 1200 francs a month to operate under his direction. She then con- ; seerated herself entirely to spying. The girl says she visited the.principal air ports, won the affections of youthful officers, and obtained information concerning the number and quality of the aeroplanes. She also gained knowledge on technical matters relating- espocially to a secret five-pngined aeroplane which was under construction. She believed the espionage was conducted on behalf of Britain. The "Evening Xows" says inquiries in , London suggest that the' French police have been ovor-zoalous and have "made ; a mistake in charging the three Englishmen with espionage. I THREE ENGLISHMEN. The Burndept Wireless Company, of London, states that the arrested men control thn company's Paris agency. Their work naturally entails inquiries ;at aeroplane works. This is the only English company which is competing with French manufactures on a large ! Bcale. The characters of the three men are unimpeachable. They probably merely acted indiscreetly. Mr. Phillips is man,ager of the Burndept Bleriot Company, I which i.o the Paris agency for the Burnjdepfc Wireless Company. He was a prominent British intelligence officer in the war. . The Paris correspondent of the "Daily News" says the charge against the three Englishmen of espionage on behalf of Britnin has caused a most painful impression. The Paris police <»scorted the prisoners to the Burndept Bleriot Company's offices, which were scrupulously searched. Several boxes of documents were removed. The police listened-in t-> n number of wirelpss pets, hoping to intercept secret information, but. they only heard messages and musical programmes transmitted from the Eiffel Tower. —(A. and N.Z.—"Sun.") LOCARNO ANTI-CLIHAX. THE BEGINNING OF PEACE ? MAGISTERIAL INQUISITION. i fßprelvpil 11 n.m.l I • LONDON, December fl. The Paris newspapers, commenting on the disclosures in flic espionage case, declare the nrrest of three Englishmen i« occasioning the belief that England is involved in a strange anti-climax to Locarno. A search of the premises of the wireless company in which the arrested Englishmen were employed,'was carried out by a magistrate and a representative of the War Ministry. Letters and a list of air officers were found. The arrested Enelrshmen, when questioned by the magistrate, denied any knowledge of the espionage activities of Marcelle Moruil, with whom only one of them was acquainted.—(Reuter.) i ======