The San Francisco call., 1899-09-07
BENTHEIM
RElTERATES
HIS CHARGE
Insists American Consul
Florschuet Was a Tool
of the Germans.
GIVES FURTHER FACTS
Willing to Aid the Government to
Prove That the Official Dealt
in French Secrets.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

ATLANTA, Ga, Sept 6.-Charles E.
Bentheim to-day reiterated the declar-
alton that he told the absolute truth in
his statement involving Vice Consul
Florschuetz in the German secret ser
vice work between Berlin and Paris
"Of course FlOrschuetz will deny
this" said Bentheim, but it can be
easily fastened upon him. The point in
the investigation really is this: To in
quire in the right direction. There is
no use going TO Florschuetz about this
thing. He will naturally deny it and
the rage of the Germans will turn on
us. If Florschuetz denies his cOnneC
ton with this matter let the question
be put to him:
For what purpose did Florschuetz
hand over to me (Bentheim) money
order calling for 1900 marks, signed by
the Emperor?
What the honorable Secretary Of
State, Mr. Hay, says about the Vice
Consul beginning in 1888 is correct. The
German Government wanted him made
a Consul, but this position he was not
allowed to fill because he was Ger
man. l do not know positively that
he was cashier of the bank at Some
a director and his bank often figured
in the handling Of secret service funds,
as | have told you. | Will be willing
to respectfully submit to the honorable
Secretary of State the direction in
which to look for convincing evidence
of all that l charge.
II say again: FlOrSchuetZ was using
his official position as vice and deputy
consul to aid the German secret ser
vice in obtaining information from
France. He placed his services at the
disposal of the German secret service
and between the years 1890 and 1894 he
was actively engaged as confidential
agent of the secret service. Let the
Secretary of State request the Ameri-
can ambassador in London TO get per-
mission from the Commissioner Gen
eral Of Postoffices in London and go to
the village of HOlmroe and examine the
Postoffice records which are not de-
stroyed Evidence there in black and
white will show the truth of every as
sertion / have made
What course do you suggest for the
securing of information regarding the
German branch of this service"
1T would be manifestly impolitic to
make that public AS l say, l am will
ing to respectfully submit any sugges-
ton to an accredited representative of
the United States Government regard
ing a way in which this matter may be
ferreted out. Once our hand is shown
the German Government will effectual-
ly destroy every bit of evidence which
will yet confirm what / say.
While it will be difficult to prove
from physical evidence furnished by
the papers themselves that the letter
heads and envelopes were used by Flor
schuetz, because the papers are in the
secret archives in the War Office in
d. no
it can be proved that between 1890 and
1894 FIorschuetz was engaged in the
purchase of French War Office mer-
chandise the presumption that he pros
tituted his office will be strong. Flor
schuetz handled the German secret ser
vice money in this matter. | can give
dates and details regarding the hand
ling of the money
Bentheim was pressed further for his
recollection of the appearance of the
documents from the French War Office
as they reached him.
Il can recall many of them" he said,
"and / think If ! were to put myself to
1t | could write you description of the
war vessel as handled by me. You
know at the top of the sheet descrlb-
ing a certain boat would be the word
Rapport This would be underscored
and on a line by itself under this was
generally written Upon the expert
ments made with the GOubet submarine
boat. Here would follow the mode of
construction and method of maneuver-
ing the boat Over at the left-hand
side of the paper on the bordereau, say
two inches, was clear. This was used
for comments on the matter in the re-
port. For instance, such notes as
Gould not get models minimum 1000
would be seen. These comments were
found in the description of the sub
marine boat Goubet.
''In cases where the information was
not complete this paper would be taken
by Sigl, who would write in this bcr-
der. 1000, 5000, 10000 This meant
marks and was to be used in procuring
further details. This showed what the
German Government was willing to
pay for it."