SPY DRAMA

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 113, 6 February 1937, Page 22

SPY DRAMA

Briton’s Son Pays Price

lu the background of yet another high treason drama enacted in Berlin recently when the head of a young man of . British origin fell under the executioner’s axe,- appears once more Marie Louise, who figured in the “officer in the tower” case. Question and answer in tlie House of Commons relating to the German refortification of Heligoland cost the heads of three men in all. The last of the three was Robert Wendell, the German-born son of an English father and a Scots mother. Wendell was in the employment of a German firm responsible for carrying out part of the plans for the refortification of Heligoland and other German naval bases dismantled under the Versailles Treaty. The first intimation the German Government had that there had been a leakage somewhere regarding these plans was when, in reply to questions iu the House of Commons, British Ministers confirmed the rumours that refortilication was yet another "fait accompli.” ami gave details that left no doubt that the closely guarded secret was iu the possession of the British. Tlie German Secret Service set to work at once to solve the mystery of the leakage, and three arrests followed. Two of the arrested men were beheaded. but the third had his life spared in return for information about those associated with them. The information he supplied pointed to Robert Weqdell as the man who was still supplying information to I lie mystery woman believed by the Germans to be the brain behind the British agents operating on the Continent, but so far untraced. There was nothing more than suspicion against Wendell until Marie Louise, who figured so prominently in the case of Lieutenant Baillie Stewart, the "Officer iu the Tower,” appeared on the scene to use her sex appeal in the hope of delivering the young man to his enemies. The intervention of the notorious

siren succeeded where other efforts had failed, aud after she had east her spell over Wendell, the "vamp” introduced into his flat, of which she had the key. Secret Service agents who took copies of compromising documents. Wendell’s arrest followed, but. lie denied everything. When the trial came off behind closed doors, however, he was confounded by the appearance as principal witness against him of the woman for whose sex appeal he had fallen so completely. As in the other two cases the prosecution demanded the death penalty, but after it had been passed Wendell was offered his life on condition that be disclosed the name of the English woman agent with whom he had been collaborating. The lives of the other two condemned men, arrested months before him, had been offered on the same, terms, but like them Wendell refused to give any information. As in Ibe other cases the authorities tried the ruse of sending his mother to plead with him in his cell to save his own life by revealing the woman's name. The mother refused as firmly as the son to be a party to such a transaction, and now she is menaced witli expulsion from Germany and loss of the pension she has because of the distinguished services of her husband to scientific research. Extraordinary efforts were made t<> conceal the details of the trial and tin' identity of the witnesses appearing against the accused man. but it can be revealed now for the first time tint! the real name of Marie Louise is Maria Louisa Baeckemlorff, a unlive of Sile sia, aged about. 30. Tlie daughter of a distinguished German civil servant connected with a family of ancient lineage, she has been employed in secret service work for Germany for at least 10 years, and it is stated that she has undertaken missions to countries abroad, including Britain and France. As recently as March of last year she made an incursion into France and had a narrow escape from arrest. Several photographs of tier in different disguises, and her fingerprints are now in possession of the French autho rities. In the dim light of the prison courtyard where the execution was carried out the other morning, Wendell wa* given one last chance of saving iiis life by speaking. For answer lie placed his head on tin block and signed to tlie executioner !<■ get on with bls Job. “It is useless making such a demand. Nothing will make me speak,” he said.