HEAVY SENTENCES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1912, Page 3

HEAVY SENTENCES.

ESPIONAGE IN GERMANY. A SECRET TRIAL. •VROyL OUR OWN COEKESPONDENT.] LONDON, 15th December. The Supremo Court at Leipsig has not erred on the side of leniency in regard to the five persons accused of espionage in the interests- of England. They are all sentenced to penal servitude — the^ engineer Hipsich for twelve years, Max Schultz for seven years, yon Maack and Frau Eckermann for three years, and Wulff for two yeara. Schultz and Hipsich were_ found guilty of obtaining and communicating secret information, yon Maack and Eckermann of aiding and abetting them, and Wulff of attempted espionage. The trial has been conducted in camera, and the Court has published an official version. The guilt of the condemned persons depends upon the reliability or otherwise of the statements made by Schultz, who was arrested at Hamburg in March. He turned informer, and incriminated the others, but the connection between the prisoners and any official quarters jn England seems to be established only by insinuation. The German police declaA that, they have discovered a band of spies who were selling the highest military secrets to England. When Schultz was arrested, and some one remarked that this was unlucky for him, he said : "Oh, no, it was lucky ; because if I had not been arrested I should have done a' great deal more, and I_ should not have got out of Germany in lefs than twenty years." According to the statement of the Court, Schultz used the journeys which he made to Germany as a ship-dealer in order to get into touch with all sorts of people with a view to learning military secrets. In particular, he addressed himself to Hipsich and Wulff, acted as_ intermediary in their communications with th« English Intelligence - Service, supplied them with code addresses and code words for their correspondence,' and himself assisted in despatching their communications. THE WESER YARDS AT BREMEN. Hipsich 'is by birth an Austrian. Ho has been employed for more than twelve years at the Weser yards, and became a German subject in- 1909, after the German Admiralty had forbidden the employment of foreigners in places of this kind. In his official capacity ho had an opportunity to learn about plans for battleships and to obtain knowledgo of many secret, nia-tfere. He had made a. large collection of drawings and other important materials, and he handed over the whole of it to the English Intelligence Office. The great value of this material is best proved by the surprise and unconcealed pleasure .expressed ,by the Englishmen at the fact that it was at all possible to supply such material. Hipsich was promised £2 a week, and was given an advance of £20. SUBSIDISED CRUISERS. The prisoner, yon. Maack, made the acquaintance of Schultz in August, 1910, and on the first day they met Schultz asked him whether lie would correspond with "his English friends interested in naval matters." Maack eventually expressed his readiness, , and recommended Hipsich, of the Weser yards, as a suitable person. He gave Schultz a , written statement concerning tho use of the ships of the North German Lloyd, HamburgAmerican Line, etc., in the event of war. This statement wa's sent to England by Sehultz. In December, 1910, Maack himself went to England, and thero met agents of the English Intelligence Service. To them aljso he recommended HipBich as a suitable man for obtaining secret information; and he explained the best means of securing him. He also promised to obtain information from a South German engineering works concerning a motor about the use of which in warships the English d?sired information. ' • THE NEW BATTLESHIPS. v j The prisoner Wulff has been for six yeans employed at the Norddeutsche Maschinen nnd Armaturenfabrik ab Bremen, and was engaged chiefly in installing and testing submarine bells for warships and submarines. When Schultz was iri Germany in 1910 Wulff gave him to understand that he was prepared to supply him with material. In March, 1911. he had detailed negotiations with Schultz, and, among other things, received inhtructions to make communications about the battleship Ersatz Odin, which was being built at Kiel. These instructions he carried out. ' As regards further instructions from Schultz, nothing definite has been proved, and it has not been proved that he actually delivered secret information. The prisoner. Eckermann was the landlady of Wulff and Hipsich. and at times occupied the same house with them. She called the attention of Schultz to Wulff, and procured the employment of Wulff and Bipsich by Schultz as his spies. She had perfect knowledge of what Schultz was doing.