MASTER SPIES

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17704, 7 May 1929, Page 4

MASTER SPIES

(By JOSEPH GOLLOMB. Author of “Master Man Hunters.”)

The net of postal censorshp which had caught, among others, Mueller and Hahn, proved itself still finer in mesh in another case. A letter addressed to Rotterdam was in the ordinary course of events read by a censor in a Post Office on the English coast. There was nothing in the least remarkable about the contents; the writer seemed to be one of those mechanical-minded people who assimilate only trite phrases and think it worth while passing them on to others. The censor was about to allow' the letter to go through when a thought struck him. It was really remarkable, the censor decided that anyone should take the trouble to write a letter that apparently said so little. From the vague 'impression of character which handwriting sometimes gives, the censor visualized a heavy personality who would not easily he moved to write. •Acting purely on his guess the censor had the letter taken to the laboratory of Special Intelligence. There a series of chemical reagents was an-

NO. 4.—A NETFUL OF SPIES.

plied to tne paper with visible resutls. Out came a report of a trip across the Atlantic Ocean on a steamer named; the warships seen on the voyage were also named and described, and, the letter added, “ to-morrow I leave for Dublin.” The signature was a numeral “ 5.” The invisible ink was plain lemon juiceThe letter was written with a ballpointed pen. The stationery was hopeless as a clue, so common was it in kind. And the postmark was Liverpool. As will be seen, Special Intelligence had little to work with other than the fact that the writer was either leaving or had already left for Dublin. But Scotland Yard detectives scrutinized every passenger on the next boat to Dublin. Anthony Kupcrflo. The result did not seem encouraging at first, the most promising suspect being a man whose American passport gave his name as Anthony Kupl'erle, a member of the firm of Kupferle and Co., manufacturers of woolens in New York. He had come to England several days before on the Arabic, his passport showed; and he gave as his reason for coming to England, ” to sell my products." He was stiff and Teutonic in type and his accent and English distinctly foreign. His passport said lliat he was a Dutchman by birth and he | volunteered this information, had' moved to America too late in life to i acquire cither grammar or American - accent in his English. He had a square, blunt face, narrow intense eyes of pale blue, broad check bones, the flaring nostrils of a fanatic and a stubborn mouth. His mind like his body moved heavily, but there was a power of passion in the man that was the only thing impressive about him; for in intelligence he seemed commonplace. He had been examined exactly as the other passengers and when told he could proceed he had little reason to suspect that he had been singled out for further investigation. As a matter of fact the Scotland Yard men looked further into his only because of two vague indications. He \vas rather the kind of personality the handwriting on the intercepted letter would indicate; and his accent was more German than Dutch. The Scotland Yard men permitted themselves to look at his handwriting. The trail got warmer; it was the handwriting of the report on the warships seen on the Atlantic voyage. Without troubling him in the matter the ’detectives then searchd his belongings while Kupferle was out oi Ids hotel. The only thing they took away was a ball-pointed pen. But another exactly like it in appearance was left in its place. The pen was taken to the laboratory of Special Intelligence. Under chemical tests it was found that traces of lemon juice were found on the penpoint. Lemon juice it will he remembered, makes invisible ink and was used on the incriminating letter. For some lime Kupferle was allowed to roam about while he was being investigated. Invited to Scotland Vard. Then on his 'return to London as. he got off the train two men quietly invited him to Scotland Yard. Kupferle glared at them with his icy blue eyes. •• Vat for?” he demanded. He was told. But the man's indignation was so lacking thal (lie implications ■ of the arrest did not move him. He

most without flinching. When court adjourned that afternoon, the case against Kupferle, although to be continued the following day, was already complete. He -would have his chance for defence to-morrow; but Kupferle knew. As he ieft the court room he wound a long silk scarf about his throat with the absent air of a man whoso mind was so intensely elsewhere that his bodily movements • were automatic. Back in 'his cell in Brixton Prison Kupferle could not sleep. He called the keeper and begged him to bring a certain book he had seen in the prison library, a huge volume on philosophy. The keeper, knowing how limited Kupfcrle's life span was likely to be, obliged him, then he went back to his post. Half an hour later he heard a curious sound from Kupfcrle’s cell. Aproaching it he looked in. Then he raised an alarm. One end of Kupfcrle's long scarf was tied to the ventilator grating high on the wall; the other was in a noose about Kupfcrle’s throat, lie had used the big volume to stand on, then kicked it away. His Last Word In Life. On a prison slate he had written his last word in life: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: My name is Kupferle, nee to i born in) Sollingen, A/Raslatt r j/B (Baden). I am a soldier with rank I do not desire to mention, in regard on my behalf lately. I can say that I have had a fair trial of the U. Kingdom, but 1 am unable to stand the strain any longer and take the law in my own hand. 1 fought many a battles and death is only a saviour to me. I hope the Allmighty Architect of this Universe will lead me in the Unknown Land in the East. I am not dying as a spy, but ns a soldier; my fate I stood as a man, but can’t be a liar and perjure myself. Kindly I shall permit to v ’ ask to notify my uncle, Ambrose Droll* Sollingen, A/Rastalt 1/B Germany; and all my estate shall to him. " ’* What I done, I have done for • my country. I shall exxpress my thanks and may the Lord bless you all, Yours, ANTON KUPFERLE.

The bad luck the German Secret Service had been having with sending German spies to England must have caused a change of tactics in Berlin For those who were thereafter caught in the net spread by the British Intelligence were practically all from neutral countries, rnen and women whose sole interest was money and the zest of the game, in the Telegraph Service. Let us go hack once more to that widespread net, the British postal censorship. This time- the scene is laid in the telegraph and cable service. . . For some time censors scrutinising cablegrams directed to Holland gradually came to the conclusion that there must he a heavy demand in England for costly cigars. Orders for “3 009 Coronas," *‘-1,000 Rothschilds,’’ ‘‘lo,ooo Cabanas" and other cigars' became quite common. These ' orders were cabled from such pieces as Portsmouth, Dover; \ Chatham, Dcvonport, ait naval bases. I The cable censors applied intctli-

thought his passport would still explain everything satisfactorily, and wont with the police silent but as yet un- j alarmed. Meanwhile Scotland Yard learned that he had been a soldier in the German Army but had been sent to America from there to make his way j to England as a spy. In America he i was helped by the German secret j system to secure a false passport. " While awaiting trial Kupferle must have begun to brood on the chances that awaited him. His face grew gauntly fierce and he retired into a , silence he seldom broke. On the day of the opening of his Irial he wore a black frock coat buttoned tightly across his chest. There was an oddly pathetic effect to his appearance as if he were dressed for his own funeral. ' As the Attorney General laid before i the court with deadly precision and j j completeness the case against Kup-1 j i'erle, the prisoner took in each individ- ! i uni word with (he stoic glare of a man | 1 meeting a challenge to endure the lit"

"price to these despatches. Curious, I hey decided, that the flood of orders for cigars not at al! from the large inland cities but from ports only. Quietly a canvass was made of these ports. Cigar dealers were interviewed. An approximation was reached of about the number of cigars sold, say in Portsmouth, before the coming war. It was then found that judging from the cabled orders there would have to be an overnight multiplication of the demand for cigars in Portsmouth. Now the arrival of considerable numbers of crews of war vessels of every kind migh"'"’possibly account for some of the increase in the demand for tobacco. But what puzzled the representatives of Special Intelligence and the cable offices was the knowledge that sailors do not favour cigars. Some other explanation therefore had to be found as to why Portsmouth overnight had to have 3.000 Coronas, -1,000 Rothschilds and iO,000 Cabanas.

Some of the cable orders were signed “Roos,"others "Janssen." But when. Scotland Yard men quietly 1 searched—one of their dogged, widespread, thorough efforts—nobody was found to answer to such names who in the least interested the police. . Special Intelligence then sent word to its agents in Rotterdam to investigate discreetly "Dierks and Co." at such-and-such an address. A Tiny Office. The answer came buck that Dierks and Co. hud a tiny office where u few mouldy sample cigars were on exhibition. Very little commercial activity. was visible about that office. This, decided Special Intelligence, ' was remarkable, because judging by the orders sent Dierks and Co, by Roos and Janssen alone business must be i booming. | Thereafter letters and cables com- 1 mg from Rotterdam into England were scrutinised with increased care ami the recipients were investigated without arousing too much attention to Ihe fact; In this way the interest of Special Intelligence operators gradually concentrated on two Dutchmen. Each was shadowed. One of thorn, a lull, black-bearded man, was found to lie sending the cablegrams signed Janssen. The other was a smoothshaven, powerfully-built youth with round, clear, gray eyes, with a sort of devil-may-care light in (hem. lie, 100. sent frequent cablegrams and signed them Roos. Thereafter every one of these cables, unknown to their senders, was studied from every possible angle of meaning. Experts in ciphers worked hand in hand with investigators who reported to them the various changes in the places from which these cablegrams were sent. Working together thus the following conclusions were arrived at: When four battleships arrived in Portsmouth Janssen sent at once a cable for 4000 Cabanas. If along with Hie balllcships five cruisers and eight destroyers came, Janssen or Roos sent cable orders for 5000 Rothschilds and 8000 Coronas. Suspects Qathorod In. After the chain of coincidence became long enough, Janssen and Roos were gathered in and brought to s-jinlland Yard. Janssen was questioned first. He was self-possessed and even imperturbable. His story was that he was a Dutch citizen, followed the sea for a living until war made it hard for him to get a ship. When, therefore, Dierks and Co. approached him and offered to let him travel for them in England to drum up orders for cigars, he accepted. That was his story, and with Dutch tenacity he stuck to it. “Were you able to secure any orders for cigars?” Janssen could not produce a single one. “And yet you sent all these cablegrams ordering great quantities of liiem ?” “j didn’t send any cablegrams.” "Do you know Roos?” “No." Roos was brought in next. Janssen tried to catch his eye with a mute message. Rut Roos was either 100 stupid or ton gayly indifferent to the situation to show concern. His story was that he knew Janssen and like him was a travelling salesman for DPrks and Co. j Then from Janssen's face lie saw I that llioir 'hvo stories did not tally I and that I here were distinct signs in the weather of trouble ahead,

Each, with wrists handcuffed, was taken to a different cell in the police station. Janssen remained dour, imperturbable, ltoos made ins guardians l'eel as if he were either a l'ool or gayly heroic. For lie seemed to be llmling liie situation almost a joke. Toward evening, however, lie said to (lie cell-keeper: “It's a bit stuffy in here, isn’t It? I wonder if you would mind very ■ much taking me out into the yard for a little air.” it was a reasonable request and, although the man was an important prisoner, there seemed to be no harm m doing as lie asked, since an effort !o escape would be senseless, so well was tlie police station yard closed in and guarded. Willi his wrists still In handcuffs and the keeper by his side ltoos circled the yard several times, his spirits apparently rising every moment. He came to a door the panels of which were of heavy glass over which was a widely spaced grille of iron bars. A Way Out. “Where does this door lead to?” ltoos asked. “To the upper cell tier,” his guardian told him. “If you were in my place now ami wanted" to escape you wouldn't consider that door, would you?” ltoos asked with a grim smile. “Hardly!” the guard smiled hack. “Well —I would!" And before the guard could stop! Idm, ltoos dashed at ttic door and with his manacled hands smashed Iho panes. The guard was dumfnunded at his sudden change in mood and for some moments could not make out what he was trying to do; certainly lie was nol hoping to escape through that door. Hut lie was. ltoos was trying to cut the blood-vessels of his wrists against the broken glass. He failed in Ids attempt at suicide and thereafter he no longer put on his gay disguise. All through the trial of himself and Janssen for espionage lie seemed indifferent to what there was In store for him. They were found guilty and sentenced to be shot.. Janssen was first and went through his ordeal stolidly, without flinching. Then ltoos was led in. For Iho first time since his aUempted suicide his wide, blue eyes were alight again with lTe. “May I smoke a cigarette?” he asked. He was dven one. The hand that

lit it was steady. But each pull at his cagarotlo ho inhaled with a greed that was almost sclsual. i Ills eyes narrowed and his nostrils dilated with the inlensencss of his last minute of life. Close to Ins fingers came the lighted end. A last deep puff and the fire touched him. Slowly too 'crivAed it out between thumb and forefinger and looked at the bit of still smoking ash. Then he Hipped it away, this consumed symbol of his own end. Till-] END. __