U.S.A. SPY HUNT

Hokitika Guardian, 22 June 1938, Page 5

U.S.A. SPY HUNT

THEFT OF SECRETS

HICH GERMANS INDICTED.

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright).

NEW YORK, June 20

The United States espionage investigations took an extraordinary turn to-day when a Federal Grand •Jury named 18' individuals, the majority of whom are highly-placed German officials, charging them with the wholesale theft of military, aviation, and industrial secrets.

The Federal Prosecutor made the following statement: —‘‘The directing heads of this ring reside in Germany and are connected with the Government of Germany. They have operated through agents, residing in the United States, and they had agents among the crews of steamships plying between the United States and Germany.

“The directing heads paid these agents, all of whom are of German for furnishing information regarding American national defence.”

Only four of those indicted are under arrest here. Thirteen are resident in Germany and cannot be extradited.

One charge is concerned with the theft of plans for the United Slates Army’s pursuit aeroplane, made by the Seversky Airplane Corporation, one of the world’s fastest fighters. Another charge is brought against three men and a women for stealing and sending to Germany an Army and Navy Itadio Telephone Procedure Book containing a confidential code. The names of the 13 persons who are resident in Germany and cannot be extradited are:

Captain-Lieutenant Udo yon Bonin, Chief of the Naval Intelligence .Service. Dr. Ignatz Greibl, former leader of the American Nazis. Captain-Lieutenant Herman Mcnzl, von Bonin’s assistant. William Lonkowski, a civilian official in the Ministry of War ; Berlin. Captain-Lieutenant Erich Pfeiffer, Chief of Naval Intelligence at Port Bremen. Qaptain-Lieutenant Ernst Muller, Chief of Naval Intelligence at Hamburg. Werner Gudenberg and one Sanders, an assistant in Pfeiffer’s office at Bremen. One Schmidt, assistant in Muller’s office at Humburg. . Karl Schulter, political officer of the liner Bremen. Theodore Scliutz, political officer on the liner New York. Karl Eitol and Herbert Jainichen, former and present stewards on the liner Bremen. One of the indicted persons is Jesse Jordan, a Dundee hairdresser, who is already serving a sentence of four years’ imprisonment in Scotland for espionage. The names of four held under arrest here are:— Johanna Hoffmann, aged 26, of Dresden, a hairdresser oil the liner Europa. Gunther Rumrich. aged 27. a sergeant of the United States Army, who deserted in 1935 (he was born in the United States, but received his education in Germany, where he spent most of his life). Erich Glaser, aged 28, a private of the air defence post at Mitchell Field, New York (a native of Germany).

Otto Voss, a civilian, who was arrested on May 20 for the alleged sale of secrets to Germanv.

The story of the unravelling of the spy ring outrivals Oppenheim’s melodramatic imaginings. It reveals that there existed an indirect line of intrigue by which information obtained in the United States was communicated to Tokio. This was a sort of back-door circuit between the headquarters of the spy corps in Berlin and the Japanese army, and was used for a mutual exchange of military data in the interests of the antiCommunist alliance

Although the ring never “cracked” a vital secret, what concerns the authorities is the broad scope of the conspiracy and its potentialities for subversive action in future if it Is not scotched. United States military observers summed up the spy ring as an arm of the aggressive espionage organisation that Germany has been building up on a bureaucratic scale. Its programme is to develop progressively, following Nazi blood claims on all Germans abroad, with the growth of the German army and navy.

Extending down from the key man in Berlin was a line of agents searching for information concerniing all divisions of America’s defence. The cream of the lot consisted of Lonkowski a political and mechanical genius. and l'litel. who masked his operations behind a menial job on the liner

Europe. The activities of . the ring started in 1935, when Lonkowski fled the country one stop ahead of the United States Naval Intelligence Service agents. Now Lonkowski holds a high position in the Reich War Ministry. He worked with Gudenberg. a mechanic skilled in air design, in the Buffalo Air Factory.

■Gudenberg was employed on the Curtiss scout-bomber then in its experimental stage. He removed a blue print from the faetorv one night and Lonkowski photographed it. making several negatives covering the whole design. Gudenberg returned the plan to the file next day.

Nothing was known of this until

Lonkowski took a violin case containing the incriminating documents to a spy courier’on a German ship. Lonkowski was stopped by customs guards and the violin case was confiscated. The nature of the negatives was not recognised immediately but they were subsequently pieced together. It was then learned that Lonkowski had chartered an aeroplane and made his escape. His wife followed him by ship. Gudenberg who was still not a suspect, got a job with the Hall Aluminium Company at Bristol, Pennsylvania, which was manufacturing a torpedo-bomber for the United States Navy. In the meantime he filed an application for a post in the Nava! Aircraft Factory at Philadelphia, but before starting took fright at the reve-

lation of Dr. Greibl as an apparently willing witness, and fled while the going was good.

Botli Lonkowski and Gudenberg have been questioned before the grand jury, but neither was guarded, the Government relying on their apparent willingness to testify. It, became evident after their departure, however, that a powerful, l sinister influence had forced them to go. One Government department believes that agents of the Gestapo have established themselve here for German national purposes. This belief gained support to-day when an official disclosed that Carl Herman, who has been held as a material witness, had been identified as a member of the Gestapo. These revelations were made possible by a due from Dundee (where .Mrs Jessie Jordan was recently arrested) to a fantastic plot to abduct Colonel Eglin. This plot was concocted by Gunther Rumrich, who planned to rob Colonel Eglin of mobilisation plans for the anti-aircraft regiment. The information reached Washington in time to prepare a trap, but the plan was dropped.

Rmnrich worked with Dr. Greibl, who was regarded as the head of the New York centre of the fraternioy. Rumrich became the most active secret agent since the Great War, audaciously attempting to bribe young naval officers to betray secrets. He was able to send to Germany information concerning the strength of the troops stationed at the Panama Canal, and at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn. He was horn in Chicago 37 years ago, the son of an Austrian father. . GERM ANY J NDI (’TED. PRESS COMMENT. NEW YORK. .June 20. The “New York Times.” pointing out that 14 of those indicted are in Germany, says: “The grand jury’s action appears to lie mainly a moral indictment of the German nation. “Usually untraenable or unmentioned in such cases for diplomatic reasons, the reputed master .minds who included officers of the German War Ministry, were not only named but indicted. Furthermore, for the first time since the investigation began, Germany was officially named as the Power responsible for the under-cover force that aggressively sought to pry out the best technical and military defence secrets of the United States.” The “Herald-Tribune” says: “The indictments make the charge that tin* espionage activities started on .January 2. 1935—a few hours after Herr Hitler at a New Year reception in Berlin had called for honest cooperation between nations.” The man chiefly responsible for llic uncovering of tin* spy ring is the special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Leon G. Turroii. who was responsible for the detection of the Lindbergh baby kidnapper. Ho lias been, commended by the grand jury for. bis extraordinary piece of detection. Turnon worked 1(3 hours a day for nearly lour months. FURTHER PARTICULARS. (Received this dav at 10.3(1 a.ni.V NEW YORK, .June 21. ft was part of tin 1 conspiracy that Jessie Jordan and Otto Sanders maintain an address at Dundee for receiving documents from Rumrich in 1 cited States. and forwarding them to Pfeiffer in Germany. It cites the meeting of Hie conspirators on specific dates, at such far removed places at the Hotel Eden; Berlin. Astoria Club. Bremen; AsP;r Hotel. New York: Hotel Talt. New York; and Buffalo, New York.