FRENCH AVIATION SECRETS

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12315, 9 December 1925, Page 6

FRENCH AVIATION SECRETS

BRITISH SUBJECTS ARRESTED ON CHARGE OF SPYING WOMAN’S STRANGE CONFESSION SECRET INSTRUCTIONS CARRIED INSIDE HER GARTER Australian and New Zealand Cable Association. (Received December B,''-7.20 p.m.) PARIS, December 7. Following the arrest of Marcelle Monseil, an artist’s model, the police arrested three British subjects for alleged spying in connection with aviation. They also arrested Lionel Wiet, who posed as a naval officer. The Britishers are: Phillips, a director of a wireless telegraphycompany; William Fisher, his employer; and John Leather, an engineer.

They admit that they knew Marcelle, but deny spying. Marcelle made a full confession, giving the names of two foreign agents for whom she was spying in connection with naval aviation secrets. She says she heard of Wiet’s arrest when returning to Paris with secret instructions hidden in a curved tube inside her garter. Fearing disclosures, she emptied the tube, and also destroyed papers she had concealed in her cloak. Her torn clothing confirms her confession. Marcelle is a Frenchwoman, described as a second Matahari, the actress and spy, who was shot at Vincennes in wartime. The authorities are secretive about the Power employing the woman, but state that it is not Germany. The discovery was due to mere chance. Wiet was arrested for attempting to defraud the officers of the Versailles garrison, but during the magistrate’s examination he chanced to mention Marcelle. The police immediately recognised the name as that of a woman who visited many porta and aviation grounds. .Marcelle denies that Wiet was her accomplice. She told the police she was about to become a parachutist, in order to descend into the aviation camps at Versailles and Villacoublay.