DRAMA OF DOCKLAND SPY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 179, 30 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

DRAMA OF DOCKLAND SPY.

CODE MESSAGES IN FOUNTAIN PENS

SECRET SERVICE MAN AS SHOP ASSISTANT-SHADOWED IN MOONLIGHT—WILHELM OF BUTTON ISLAND—HIS LUCKY BUTTON FAILED HIM.

(By an Ex-Secret Service Officer.—All Eights Reserved.) (No. IV.)

Here is the story of "Wilhelm of Button Island." If he had not purehased so many fountain pens he might never have brought himself within the grip of the British Secret Service, and Germany might have received valuable information regarding what was going on at one of our most important naval centres. For years Wilhelm Muller had been just plain William Miller, but for some unknown reason many people in the English dockyard town where he lived called him "Dutch Joe." In his earlier years Wilhelm was thrown into the town by an adventure which happened thousands of miles away at a tiny island in the Dutch East Indies, bo small that on the largest map it is a mere dot. Sailo-s know it as Button Island, and they are fully aiive to the danger of the reefs -which surround it. A few years before the war Wilhelm was a sailor on a vessel which struck the reef during a gale, and was carried into the deep water between the reef and the island. Eventually Wilhelm and his companions were taken off and landed at a port near the dockyard town where Wilhelm took up his residence. In order to celebrate the good fortune which carried hia vessel over the reef instead of leaving it there to be broken up by the gale, Wilhelm carried a bone button, which he always rubbed when he was in need of good luck. The button Tiroved a powerful charge until Wilhelm became a buyer of quite ordinary fountain pens of the cheapest make obtainable. It was never discovered when Wilhelm be"an to work for the Fatherland, but when other agents in the same area were "gathered in" a few hours before war broke out, he rubbed his lucky button and carried on with the work of getting information through to Germany.

Suspicious Stationer. Money reached him regularly,* and Wilhelm found that his increased wages, coupled with his pay as a spy, were bringing him in a nice round sum each week. He made his great mistake when ha became an enthusiastic buyer of fountain pens, and purchased them all at the same shop, Wilhelm's money was welcomed, but eventually the stationer became suspicious, and ifc was then he remembered that his customer was often called "Dutch Joe," and that sailors often referred to a man as being "Dutch" when they meant that he was German. The stationer went to the authorities, and not long after a man who worked in a tall building not a stone's throw from Piccadilly Circus was asked to give his opinion on "William Miller" and his fountain pens. That man had spent many yeara studying the methods of spies _ m many countries, and without hesitation he pointed out that there is no need to put ink into a fountain pen. Quite a large roll of paper, he added, could be placed in the barrel. Wilhelm, in the course of his work, had access to mapping perns and fine paper. He also had a code which he carried in his head, but the authorities knew nothing of that. Quiet men who had one mission in life — to find out all about Wilhelm and his fountain peme—went to the dockyard town. The stationer obtained a muchneeded assistant who did not want any wages, and there came a day when Wilhelm entered the shop, demanded fountain pens, and was served by the new assistant. A signal was given, and, although he did not know it, Wilhelm was followed to his home. About an hour later Wilhelm went oiit to call an a girl, and it was at once decided to search his room.

In the Moonlight. A few seconds before a man slipped a master key into the lock of Wilhelm's door a drunken brawl broke out at the end of the street. Wilhelm's landlady, and everyone else in the house, went to see the fun, and it was then that the man almost drifted into the house, slipped the key into the lock, entered the room, and closed the door. The fight went on until he had made his search, and, after carefully relocking the door, had drifted out into the street. He had found the four fountain pens Wiihelm had purchased that day, but thought it strange that there were only four pens, when Wiihelm had purchased quite two dozen in a few weeks. From that moment Wiihelm was constantly shadowed, and two nights later, when close to the outer wall of a tumbledown building in one of the meanest streets of the town, he stooped down apparently to tie his bootlace. Before he did so Wiihelm ought to have rubbed his lucky button, for just at that moment the moon came out from behind a bank of cloud, and the watchers saw what they had been waiting for. Wiihelm went on and vanished round the corner, and an eager search of the wall was at once started. There was an exclamation of satisfaction from one of the searchers, and Wilhelm's secret was known. Behind a loose brick was a small cavity which had been made by chipping away part of another brick in the middle of the wall. Inside this " wall safe " was one of the four pens purchased by Wiihelm two days previously. There was no ink in the pen, but inside the barrel was a small roll of fine paper on which was a brief message in code. An exact copy of the message was made. The paper was replaced in the pen, which went back into the " safe," and the outer brick was replaced.

tracked failed to find the pen containing the vital message. The day before he was clue to sail the mail met a number of altable strangers in a publichouse near the clocks. Ihey met casually, but soon became friends. One drink led to another, and so on, until the messenger had to be carried out by his new " friends." While tie was engaged in the time-honoured custom of sleeping it off" skilful fingers went through his clothing. " Faked " Messages Sent. The pen was found in an inside pocket, but when it was replaced a eimilar roll of paper containing a different message in code was in the barrel. It referred to the same vessel, but gave a totally different sailing date. The messenger sailed and delivered the faked communication, but the British vessel was safely out of the danger zone before the submarine which had been sent to find her even arrived in the Channel.

Wilhelm was arrosted and promptly collapsed, probably because he expected to have to face a firing squad. Actually he was interned, and he went quite happily. Use was, however, still made of the hole "\ . t . he il wall ' and many fountain pens, wmeli tlie sailor messenger thought had come from Wilhelm, found their way abroad. This went on for several weeks. until the authorities on the other side found the information they were getting was entirely false. When the vessel on which the messenger had sailed again arrived he was not a member of the crew Aa usual, M.l.' had the last laugh. During the weeks that the false information was being sent, and it took the German secret service a remarkably long time to get " wise " to the fact that they were being fooled—Wilhelm's money continued to come through. It was intercepted, and actually used to help to finance the activities of our own clever agents in enemy countries!

Tho Man on the Wall,

The moon had vanished and a eteady drizzle*had started to fall. Protesting slightly, one man was pushed to the top 01 the wall, where he lay at full length, ao that he could command a " bird s-eye view of the " safe deposit." Others concealed themselves nearby.

The drizzle increased to a steady downpour, but the man on top of the wall did not move, and the others waited in tense silence Nearly two hours had passed when footsteps were heard. Up the street came a man muffled in an oilskin coat. He reached the wall, had trouble with his bootlace, and a second or two later passed on round the corner, but he did not go alone. Two silent figures detached themselves from the surrounding shadows. Rubber-soled shoes made no noise, and the man was followed until he reached an apartment house a few streets away.

A quick investigation showed that there Was no back entrance to the house, nor was the roof flat—suspecte had gone that Way before! One of the "shadows slipped away to report, while the other remained to keep observation. In the meantime it had been discovered that the mysterious stranger had taken the fountain pen from the space ill the wall. Ahe copy of the code message contained in tho pen had been sent to London by special meesenj?er. An expert soon found the code simple to read. The message referred to the sailing date of an important vessel, and the information would be of great Value to a German submarine commander.

The matter was so urgent that the men engaged on the inquiries in the dockyard town worked day and night. They soon discovered that the stranger who had removed the pen was a member of the new of a neutral vessel which often called at the port where Wilhelm had landed years before, after his Buttdli Island adventure. A search of the man's bedroom at the apartment house to which he had been