PRESIDENT SLAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1932, Page 23

PRESIDENT SLAIN

' The incredible suggestion that President Wilsoii, of America, may possibly have been Jpoijioned by the Allies-iis put.forw.ard;i>ssMajor Herbert O. Yardloy,.who was ia charge of the code and cipher; section/fof the military intelligence branch of the American General Staff during the war. • ■-..,-■

Major Yardley makes this amazing' insinuation ;in;ian astonishing book, "The American, Black Chamber" (says a London paper).

In this bqofcj'Major Yardley discloses that his Department tapped the • secret* diplomatic; messages passing between* Governments and their Ambassadors, both diiring and after the war, ,and he alloges|"that the great Powers" all maintain "plack chambers" for this purpose.; : &'■'.'. , ; All' secret qpde cablegrams sent by Governments and Ambassadors seeraj according to tiis American report, to be an open boijk to all the other Governments.; ;*\.' " ■■■[!;?> ;«•> .m; v"/. •.;:;.; '/r. :

~' MajorfYardfey was ihPafis for tlie Peace Conference, and he says that his work was e'nliyened with, •exciting mo--ments. He;gqes on:— , \. :. "Extremely^ important."telegrams' dealing with espionage came through my own private code, and I was obliged to them - personally. There were many such telegrams, for Paris" swarmedlhvith Allied and Entente

spiesv.^ft..,;-.,v '' • , ■':. ■:■■ ■a Though- I.had presupposed that there-Would'rbe marked cards . . .'my heart skipped several beats as I slowly' deciphered a telegram which gave information to the effect that a certain woman' associated with one of our peace_-Commissioner3 before his marriage,;',was in England under pay from the British Government of twenty-five thousand pounds sterling for services until the end of the Pea^e Conference.' "The, report stated ticat if his atti-

ASTONISHING ASSERTION

In other words,-blackmail!

tude at. the conference did riot satisfy the English Government; they; ivould use this woman to embarrass our; Com-, missioner." ■"■ ' '?,i

"There was another report that a certain woman—let us call hep;Mme. X—was in Paris in the employ )6f one of the Allies : for the purpose ;of influencing the decisions of another of our Peace Commissioners." : •-

This was perhaps > merely a case of vamping in high life—for a consideration!' •.■'.' .;■. ■,;■ ■•'■'.;■ .- ■■--■.■■■•■

Now Major " Yardley comes.to, the climax. ' : : , ■'■■- " ' ';<

"If," he says,'"! was unprepared for the sort of espionage that engages women to influence the decisions! of-our Peaoo - Comnvi3sioners (though., one should. never be amacctt at whflt ocburs either, during a war or at.the divisions of spoils), the reader may well appreciate ". the shock I receivedi as I -deciphefed'/,it s tde^a.m:' r .wliich reported an Entente plot to- assassinate President Wilson, either by administering a slow poison^ or; by ; giving him disease in ice.-.1 . ..... '.-■ ■ ,:..- ; '.' -. .... .- ..'■ ■;:'■. ■~-■- ■■;

■J '■'Our informant; ;iri whom we; had the' greatest confidence,' begged the authorities for God's sake to warn the President." "' -•

Major Yardley then adds this comment:— ..; ", ;': ; '■:': '

"I have no way of knowing whether this plot had any truth in fact, and, if it had, whether it succeeded. But there are these undesirabler facts: President Wilsons-first sign--of. illuess occurred while he was in Paris,.and he was soon to die a lingering .death." ,j

If this means anything it means that Major Yardley thinks that after all the Allies may possibly have done. President Wilson to death by slow poison! Such are the effects of dabbling- in black chambers. < ..•■•;.. '