FRANCO-GERMAN TROUBLES

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 48, 1 October 1887, Page 2

FRANCO-GERMAN TROUBLES

London, September 29. Further particulars respecting the recent shooting on the Franco-German frontier state that a soldier who was assisting the keeper declares that he challenged the sportsmen thrice before firing. The Paris press are excited over the affair, but the Berlin papers treat it with calmness.

In connection with the present position between France and Germany the latest Home papers give an account of a sensational trial for treason against an ex-French officer and two others. The prisoners in the case were three in number the most culpable of them being one Tobais Klein, lately employed as a commercial agent, but formerly as a mason and architect. An Alsatian by birth, he served through the war of 1870 as a sergeant in the French army, but became a German subject, and as such found occupation on various works of fortification in the Strasburg district. The treachery consisted in keeping the French Minister of War accurately informed of all the military measures and preparations of tho Germans in Alasace-Lorraine, especially in the fortresses of Metz and Strasburg, while the activity of the accused extended also to Mayence. Everything that could be of interest or value to the French was reported on by Klein and his accomplices—the German method of mobilisation, the commisareat of the troops, their garrison distribution, their armament and equipment, tho nature of their storming gear, artillery armaments, the dimensions of forts, ditches, &e. Klein, who is a clever man and possessed of a surprising amount of technical knowledge, drew up and sent in sections to Paris a complete plan on the scale of 1 in 5,000 of the fortifications of Mayence, while at the same time he indicated the positions at which attacking batteries might be thrown up. With regard to Strasburg and its fortification, he furnished most detailed information; and some of his reports were i i answer to precise inquiries sent him direct from Paris, through the agents

of the Minister of War. In particular, the French War Office having come to the knowledge that the German Government meant to connect the river 11l at Strasburg with the Rhine by a canal, Klein was asked from Paris whether a beseiger in possession of this canal could deprive the fortress of water. In the course of the trial Klein made a confession in which he stated he had been in the regular pay of the French War office since 1880. The trial caused great interest, and was attended by representatives of the Press of the chief countries of Europe. An interesting feature in the case was the allegation that the accused W'ere incited to commit their crime by responsible French officials, ostensibly in direct connection with the French Minister of War, The most conspicious of these was Schnaebell whose arrest and subsequent release caused a nine days wonder a short time ago. The case occupied several days, one of the accomplices being discharged. The sentence to be passed on the other two has not yet come to hand. One of the witnesses, who had not given evidence, committed suicide by hanging himself.