ESPIONAGE IN EUROPE

Otago Witness, Issue 3019, 24 January 1912, Page 29

ESPIONAGE IN EUROPE

TWO MORE SENTENCES.

RUSSIAN SEVERITY.

LONDON", January 17

A recent letter from Captain Trench, who is confined at Glatz, discounts the theories of his attempted suicide or of a ■desire to escape. He does not complain of his treatment, and severely criticises Captain Lux (o fthe French army) for escaping when it was perfectly understood that his lenient treatment was conditional on his not attempting to escape. BERLIN, January 18. The news about Trench is still unconfirmed. Increased precautions, however, including the erection of insurmountable barbed-wire barriers, are being taken. The War Office here alleges that it had knowledge of Trench’s plans of escape. A Russian lieutenant named Vinogradorff, was sentenced to thi'ee years in a fortress, and the Austrian lieutenant, Voncerno, to three years’ imprisonment at Leipzig, for espionage in the interest of Russia.

January 19. The commandant at Glatz states that Captain Trench’s attempt to commit suicide was due to a belief that he would not be permitted to continue in the army after his release.

In view of the mild sentences passed on Russian spies in Germany, military circles are bitterly indignant with the Russian court for sentencing a German captain charged with espionage to five years with the convict gangs in Siberia. It is stated that Voncerno, the Austrian lieutenant, offered his services to the Russian Intelligence Bureau, which sent him to Kiel, where he was for 12 months. His report was unimportant. Vinogradorff, an active officer in the Russian navy, was sent to Germany to watch Voncerno.

January 20.

The Cologne Gazette asserts that official statements confirm the report regarding Captain Trench’s attempt at suicide.