A Detective’s Revelations.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17663, 14 August 1929, Page 7

A Detective’s Revelations.

Most of us, at one time or another, have had an ambition to become a private detective, and so solve the problems which have left Scotland Yard gasping. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for ourselves we are usually romantic enough to believe that the first shot in any struggle will be fired by ourselves, and get home, and that all criminals (like those of the “thriller”j go about the world like harriers, leaving a trail of clues behind them. Life and criminology, alas! are not quite so simple as all that, as we learn from “Detective and Secret Service Days” by Mr Edwin T. Woodhall, formerly of Scotland Yard and the Secret Service, and now a private inquiry agent.

“Little Willie’s” Escape, Of his watches over Royalty, Mr Woodhall has some amusing stories. The Prince of Wales, he believes, “takes a positive delight in throwing shadowens off the scent.” Far worse, however, was tho German Crown Prince of whom he tells the following ttory:—

I recall that two o'r us sliadowed him one day when he made three distinct attempts to throw us off. H<? drove to the Bank of England. Quick as lightning, knowing that .there were two doors. I left my friend at the one by which lie entered and dodged round to tiiq other — just in time. The Crown Prince had walked straight through the Bank—in at one door and out at the other. He had a friend with him upon that occasion, a Baron whose name I forget. My friend was left behind, of course, and I followed alone. Next he went to Charing Cross Station on- the Embankment, dodged through with his friend, and took another taxi. I still kept him in view.

Then lie played an exceptionally good card. He drove to Oxford Circus Station and' booked tickets for li’imself and his friend and descended to the trains. I followed. He waited until the train had stood a second or so, then he and his friend darted up and just got through the door as the train began to move. I jumped to tho door of my carriage, but it was closed, and the conductor had his back to me. I was a prisoner to the next station. I looked along the platform as the train gathered speed, and there, an amused grin on his face, was the ex-Crown Prince.

“Little Willie,” however, did not make good liis r-'npe after all. He was run to tarlli hi the Brasserie in the Cafe Royal Tho Prince’s Good Luck.

During the War Mr Woodhall, as a Secret .Service agent, narrowly escaped death by the explosion of a shell which crashed * into a derelict farmhouse some yards distant. He hurried on and came across the Prince of Wales standing near a \vall It appears that he ; had left his car in what lie considered to be a place of comparative shelter—that is to say, lie had left it protected by a thick wall that had been left standing.

He had gone out a little way, and, on his return, was horrified to find that both tho wall and the ear had been blown to

atoms

A few seconds earlier and he would have been killed.

Mr Woodhall has some amusing stories of his work as a private agent. On one occasion a millionaire, whom he refers to as “Silas Sam,” was shadowed from America to Europe by a band of crooks.

A Blackmail Plot,

The plot was a simple one of “black” (blackmail!, involving the millionaire in a compromising situation with one of the gang’s women accompli-es. s: ■>. :• *. iy photographing them together and threatening

exposure, \ The woman in the case vas “Lettie,” of whom Mr Woodhall tells us that she was the daughter of a great Methodist minister of the Middle West, and first distinguished herself when she was twelve years old by stealing the horse of a visiting holy man and selling it to a travelling tinker'. She was then sent home by the outraged father, and ultimately entered a Convent after some terrible adventures. A frightful scandal arose at the convent. She,, had hoaxed the nuns into believing that they saw the Madonna, whom she hr.d impersonated. She was removed elsewhere, but escaped, and at fourteen she was admitted into a New York maternity hospital, where she had a baby, which died. Sent into a home, she escaped again and when next she appeared she was taking part in a train hold-up. She was recognised but escaped. Then, at sixteen, she led a gang of bandits, whose daring exploits included three mail robberies and one bank raid. Rounded up, the gang were sentenced ■to varying terms, and Lettie to a heavy term of imprisonment. Four months afterwards she escaped.

, Thanks/ however., to Mr Woodliall. the little plan was frustrated. ‘Silas Sum” secured the tell-tale photographic plates all right, but “Lettie” got away with £20.000 on an open cheque and has not been heard of since! The Stolen Jewels.

But- Mr Woodtiall’s most interesting story is probably that'in which he relates how he recovered the stolen Austrian Crown jewels. It was in 1919. and a certain Count X had come to London, representing tile Emperor I£arl of Austria. His mission was'to dispose of the Crown

jewels to a famous London lawyer, referred to as “Mr Ralph,” and return with the money to Austria m time for the Emperor’s attempt to regain his throne. “Mr Ralph” entrusted the jewels to a safedeposit in Chancery Lane each night, sending for them each morning to his office, where he displayed them to potential buyers during the daytime. One evening, however, he was too late in returning them to the deposit, and so took them home to his own house for safety. That night “Mr Ralph” entertained five guests to dinner. When the conversation turned on European politics and Royal treasures he could not resist the temptation to bring the Crown jewels out of his safe and show them to his guests. The next morning on re-opening the safe he found ‘ that the jewels, worth a million sterling, had disappeared! “Mr Ralph” called in Mr Woodhall. deciding that it was not a matter for Scotland Yard, but one of the utmost secrecy. Mr Woodhall set about his inquiries, investigating the private character of “Mr Ralph’s” guests at the dinner party and of the servants. Suspicion seemed to centre in a young ex-officer whom he refers to as “Cunningham-Vicars,” and who had crossed to Paris shortly after the robbery.

WATCHDOG TO ROYALTY AND RECOVERER OF CROWN JEWELS. *

feaeed to Paris.

Mr Woodhall traced him to an hotel in the Champs Elysees, where he watched him take a well-known jeweller into his rooms. The next day he had him arrested on a trumped-up charge and made a search of his room. There, “in the false bottom of a trunk,” writes Mr Woodhall, “we found the jewels—all except the necklace, which was never traced.” The story of the crime came out later, when it was discovered that the principal part had been played by “Mr Ralph’s” butler

The but lei. it appeared, was an old associate of Cunningham-Vicars. They had met years before in one of His Majesty's gaols. The butler had provided himself,, months before, with a key to Mr Ralph’s! safe, in case it might come* in useful. When Cunningham-Vicars had seen the jewels; he had immediately conferred 'with the j butler—after which the rest was easy.

It was Mr Woodhall who engineered the mysterious escape of the Egyptian" Prince Ahmed Seif-ed-Din from the luxurious private asylum at Ticehunst, Sussex, in 1925. which completely baffled the police of Europe for a time.

Kidnapping a Prince,

One day Mr Woodhall was accosted outside the Law Courts by a stranger, who explained that he desired the kidnapping of the Egyptian Prince from the asylum where he had been detained for . over twenty years. .Among his credentials the stranger produced “a draft on the Bank of France for the equivalent of half a million sterling!”

The kidnapping arrangements were, concluded only after Mr Woodhall had 'flown to Paris'to interview Ibrahim Feridoun Pasha, the Prince’s stepfather; who Oesired his return to Egypt for the sake of the Prince’s aged mother. Then came the adventure:—

On the afternoon of Thursday, the .'fist of August, accompanied by X., 1 drove quietly along a certain Sussex road in the afternoon. We bojth kept anxiously looking behind. The car we expected was late. Had something gone wrong at the last minute? It was a g-hastly thought! At last we saw the car approaching. At a given signal from me, instead of taking ihe accustomed turning, it kept straight on, following the car in which drove X. and. I. Rapidly we covered the distance to Eastings. _ I kept glancing at my watch, for our arrival at Hastings was carefully timed so as not to risk any waiting at the pier. With five minutes to spare, Prince Ahmed Seif-ed-Din and his two attendants boarded a crowded pleasure steamer for Boulogne! The journey to Boulogne was safely accomplished, and there I witnessed the touching reunion of the Princess Novdjvani, his mother, with her son. For days afterwards there was hue and cry after.the escape'd Prince, but, thanks to Mr Woodhall’s plans, he reached Con-, stanlinople undetected.