The record-union., 1899-09-05

adopted as a means of communication
between the two countries?"
"Oh no." replied Mr. Blentheim,
several times 1 received documents or
this kind in the regular United States
Consular envelopes / remember 1t
distinctly. 1t was a large white en-
yelope, with the usual official business
only and something about penalty
on it and sealed on the back with
white paper seal about the size of nall
dollar, and had serrated border on 1t.
The eagle was the center figure ana
above it in a semi circle were the words
United States Consulate and on the
other half of the circle and below the
eagle was the single word 'Sonnenburg.
There was, of course, considerable
correspondence going on between those
few people regarding the War Office
traffic and this was always done on
the letter heads bearing the one line
inscription United States Consulate,
Sonnenburg.' Nearly all the descrip-
tions of war vessels, new inventions,
armor plate, underground mines, fort1-
! fcations, ETC., We're on letter heads bear
ing the inscription Ministre De La Ma
1ine, Paris or Ministre De La Guerre.
/ Paris Whenever Frigate Captain
| Sigl, who was in charge of this work
| at Berlin went out on scouting trip
| by himself, he carried a supply of Unit
| ed States stationery, and L have seen
| information of this kind from the
French War Office come into the staff
headquarters in an envelope barring the
/ Consular seal of the United States Gov
ernment. This, you will know, was
safeguard as nobody would open let
/ ter with this seal on it. Florscheutz,
/ however did more travelling from Ger
many into France than either Sigl or
Franz, and he always had some of this
paper in his satchel. He would not
| go into France direct, as that would
bring upon him too close scrutiny at the
| frontier. He would go first to Brem1 II
and from there to Southampton. Here
! he would board a steamer, either for
1. t.Cherbourg or Toulon, and land without
any trouble.
Il will tell you how Florschuetz got
the plans of the new submarine boat
Goubet, while it was being built at
| Toulon. This FlorschuetZ told me he
himself made. A few hours later the
original paper was returned to the
office from whence it came. The next
move was to get these papers to Ser
lin. Herr Franz, a toy manufacturer
at Sonnenburg, Germany, aided in
this He would send dolls to Paris to
be dressed. In the body of these little
playthings the copies of drawings and
descriptions were securely seWed and
started on their journey to fatherland.
From Paris they were sent by post to
Holmrook, a village in England Here
another agent was located. He was
Herr Lindau, at that time a partner
in some mining operations being car
ried on there. Lindau performed his
duty by remailing the doll messengers
to Herr Franz at Sonnenburg and once
there they were safe. From Sonnen-
burg they were brought to the great
headquarters by Herr Franz. Once
recollect a document of this nature
was brought in by the BureOmaster of
Leipsic, whose name I cannot recall.
Herr Alvin Florschuetz. bank direc-
tor of Sonnenburg, was also in the
scheme.
About this time. by the way" said
Mr. Bentheim Herr Florschuetz was
recommended by the German Govern
ment to the United States as Consul
for this country at Sonnenhurg. He was
accepted at a theater in Berlin a week
or two after he returned from the ex-
pedition. He landed at Toulon, and
went tc a hotel Here he sent a note
to Madame Jansen. telling her what
he wanted Then proceeded to Monte
Carlo for a day or two at the tables
1t was arranged. of course, that If
there was any trouble over the work
word would be sent him. Madame
Jansen is the wife of a naval officer
and had the entree to the arsenal at
Toulon. She secured all the :nforma-
ton desired and it was handed to Herr
Florschuetz on his return to Toulon in
less than one week. Information re-
garding the construction of the war
vessel Gymnote. at that time building
at Cherbourg, was obtained in the same
manner.
II will cite another case to show how
easily anything that Germany wanted
could be obtained. A Sergeant in the
naval arsenal at Toulon, Thomas by
name, at the request of one of the five
or six women skirmishing around there
at the time, purloined a drawing which
gave clearly the inside of the fortress
with the location of the submarine
mines in the harbor. This information,
I know, went to Esterhazy, but it took
half a dozen women to get it to him.
This drawing was copied at the home of
one of Prince Pless' sweethearts III
Paris. and the original drawing return
ed two days later to Toulon. Thomas
was found out in this matter, however,
and is now in prison. The espionage
system was such that Germany was
advised of the meeting of all boards
connected with any arsenal or fortiti-
cation
For instance, if a new gun We're to
be tried, a German agent would be loi-
tering near the testing place and
remember that on one occasion when
an experiment of this kind was con-
cluded, a rough sketch of the result
was handed the German agent before
the officers left the grounds. This was
sent post haste to Germany. Often q
report on the test of a new invention
would be in the hands of the German
Government before it reached the Min
lister of War in Paris This caused
many laughs in the Office at staff head
quarters. During all this time I never
heard of Captain Dreyfus, and did not
know there was such a person until i
hear of his arrest"