Famous Spy.

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXIII, Issue 3251, 20 February 1933, Page 6

Famous Spy.

MATA HARPS CHARACTER WAS DEVELOPED WITH CHANGE OF NAME. Had the symbolic name of Mata Hari anything to do with the development of the character of the famous adventurer and spy? A German graphologist and character reader believes it had. Mata Hari was shot by the French’ during the war. She was Dutch, and her upbringing was on strict Calviuistic lines. She was married and divorced when very young. She went to Paris, where she became a dancer, and began a life of self-indulgence and adventure. It was at this stage of her career that she abandoned the name of (Mrs) Margaret Telle for the curious appelation which she bore to the time of her death. “Mata hari” is Malayan for “Eye of the Day.’’ It is a symbolical phrase meaning the sun in its dazzling bril-

xance. The graphologist says that the change in the dancer’s character began with the changing of her signature from plain “Margaret Zelle ” to the flamboyant “Mata Hari.’’ ’ From the time she adopted her new name the change in her handwriting he says, is marked. A little later, her handwriting demonstrates the development of her character towards fuller independence and a realisation of her own importance. It differs in many characteristics from her handwriting when still under the influence of her religious upbringing. In spite of the acknowledged pleasure loving adventurcous nature which she acquired, the Germans still continue to think of Mata Hari as a counterpart of Nurse Edith fa veil, who was shot as a spy by the Germans in Brussels.