TORPEDO WORKER SEIZED

Gisborne Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 4815, 12 March 1918, Page 7

TORPEDO WORKER SEIZED

PLOT AGAINST U.S. NAVY. MECHANISM FAKED TO INJURE AMERICANS. Revealing a German plot to render ineffective thousands of torpedoes supplied to United States warships now in service against Germany federal authorities in Brooklyn last month arrested Paul Hennig, a naturalised German, accusing him of treason. which in war time carries witli it the penalty of death upon conviction.

Evidence gathered against Hennig ■shows, according to the indictment, that torpedo parts which had passed through his hands had been so altered that they would not only have been worthless as weapons, but they would have proved of extreme danger to their users. Navy officers who were concerned in the investigation declared they were convinced the imperfect torpedoes might easily have caused the destruction of the very ship from which they .were discharged, instead of sinking the target at which they were launched. Hennig was foreman of the gyroscope department at the South Brooklyn plant of the Fi. W. Bliss Company, and had, been employed there for several years. In that iimo many thousand torpedoes have come within his reach which now arc on board American warships in service in European waters. As a iresult, it was strongly intimated by federal authorities that the matter will be laid "immediately before the Navy Department with a suggestion that all torpedoes supplied to the navy by the Bliss plant since the United States entered the war be re-examined.

Specifically, Hennig is accused! of mutilating delicate parts of the gyroscope which controls tho course of the torpedos. The work of mutilation was so effectively done, according to the -federal authorities that the entire torpedo in which the gyroscope was installed was rendered useless tor offensive purposes. Emery dust, imperfectly fitted hearings,, and wheels which were either cracked or scratched, were found by inspectors of the Navy Intelligence Bureau in gyroscopes which had .been handled by Hennig. Under close guard by deputy United States marshals, and denied the privilege of bail, Hennig was remanded to gaol to await examination in the United States Court in Brooklyn. _He entered a formal plea of not guilty, and appeared but slightly interested in the proceedings which followed his arrest.

Investigation of the work of Hennig was begun several months ago, at the request of Lieutenant Francis D. O’Shea, who was detailed by the Navy Department shortly after the United States entered the war to inspection duty at tho Bliss plant.