GERMAN OUTRAGE AGENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 277, 18 November 1918, Page 2

GERMAN OUTRAGE AGENT.

INSANE BOER'S DEEDS. "'

An astounding story 'of, German epy methods 1 has been brought to light in ian investigation inito the cause of an explosion on a .steamer three days after she had left a. South American port for New York, says the Daily Chronicle. Three lives were lost, and only by'strenuous labour by the captain and crew was the yesse} into port.' Included/ - in the cargo--were IS cases of "minerals" and one case of "cinematograph films," space for which had been applied for by a licensed Cuetoin 'House dispatcher. These cases must have contained bombs. .' The next linkin: the chain' of evidence was a docuL ment sent to Berlin by way of a neutral) I country. In this it was stated that a '•■■ German employed at the port had in- < formed the' German ;Vice,-Cbzisul imme- [•? dfateiy .after the"departure of ' that a South-xAfrican -Boer had given I hiih the foomb" which _ had caused the .explosion!, and.ihat lie had,seen to , its. shipment.-. The Vice? Consul gave the Boer, who had several tiriies been, .to the [ Consulate,' nioney to' escape. -. ■Subsequently 'a clerk confessed, his complicity in the. crim£ and papers were - ah elaborate ■ plot;. From/ ft" safe/ ; pp'lice seized a number of docirments;,.'-.and a sum of over £I2OO "in " bills, which were '" found ; " iri//an Veriyelope marked '*on His 'Majesty's -. Service, bearing a name which, it is hplieved,- was ; one of the. mairy used by the mam who actually' brought, the; case ! of "cinemato- '.. graph films" "to" the &hipy ;. • t -Then there-is .': a break in the story, "aritf-the" thread" is taken up" in New York, where, ':•!■ after-' a -lapse of nearly two yearsy a;-man was arrested. He had made- a claim- Jgadfet! coi?r pany ini respect-, of 'the-lo' cases, arid it was -for: 'Attempted':, fraud!in connection with .this claim- that; he -was arrested. It was estimated -that he was of unsound 1 minid,. arid;"he^/was detained an a, cfiriiinal lunatic asyltim.- , „ When arrested.i he,was. passing; as, » captain of the Australian "Light Horse. He was in uniform jand- wearing ribbons of the South : Matabele, and ■Long Service Medafo-and 'the Croix -de Guerre with. palinV : A'moijg the .papers found upon him . was, a cutting describing the '" career-of the man who was thought to-be the chief instigator of the-outrage. In this it was stated that when the man's crime was published .in. South America it caused! a shock in AdHed circles, for he.had cultivated" their society in every possible . way. He was. ever loud in ;his denunciation of /the Germans. .The extract concluded'- ','.'.-■ It 'ls believed that he and his confederates escaped, in a powerful motorbqat, of which he was Ae owner list of the crimes committed- by these men staggers ; belief. 'Since their operation-? America the steamer Salvador was completed destroyed .by fire, the steamer . Vauban was barely saved from, complete destruction hy fee same cause, the coaling station , in Bahia was burned, magnificent Pembrokeshire was destroyed; in the -a*--lanticfthe boilers of; . thfe hurst' through , dynamite, with the coal, the steamer; Tennyson was dynamited, an illicit ■ wireless-sta-S£ was To*/ north of f ou* ships have left South American PO-rte and have never.again been'teard ° f /The story is then taken back to -the divs of the South. African. War, when the correspondent of a paper in Brus--1% was arrested, prooi having .beep secured that flie was engaged in hostilities against England. He was eent as a prisoner of war to Bermuda whence he *_ ! >heve : >? reason to brieve thai! tfe wa s Uaber employed as an intelligence officer of .the German Government. Found on the man detained in New York was a, letter referring to the arrest of the correspondent in Capetown. during xho Boer War Naturally ithe question was asked Were they one and the same man.' An interesting letter in his possesion was from. an. Austrian Vace-Con-sul, and in the following terms:— it ,is a pleasure to me to commend in the highest 'mariner to my. countrymen Mr _.. captain'.of Engineers in the Boer Armvy who Jias in. many circumstances rendered notable, service to our good German cause.'— Uebersezig, Imperial ViceConsnl." 'This was accompanied bv a card, ' " lmperial Captain upon Service Carl Uebersezig, Imperial Austrian Vice-Consul.'" Nor were these the ■ only documents ■found which aroused .suspicion, for he .had.also a photograph of .the original • bill of Jading, for the 16 J cases, and a Teceipt .given l>y the, dispatcher foT "payment for, services,.."