The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-05

I China than those in the mix up between l Turkey and Italy, for they are fought with more far reaching possibilities to l Europe.
 Sentence of six months imprisonm mt was passed at Leipzig on the French wom- | an, Madame Thirion, who was charged with attempting to obtain possession or | mobilization plans of one of the German army corps. From the term of punishment will be subtracted the four months she
 has spent in jail awaiting her trial. As the evidence was taken in camera, it is impossible to form a clear idea of the degree of the accuseds guilt, but re- ports on the judgment published in the evening papers contain implications 0: so remarkable character that they had bet ter be left to speak for themselves. The kepzig correspondent of the Berlner Tageblatt says:
 In the grounds for the judgment stress is laid on the fact that the accused was
 not g. French spy, but respectable teach CT of languages, who had been regularly employed in families since 1905 and who | had received the best testimonials from all sides. She was betrothed to a German captain Unfortunate misunderstanding l led to the suspicion that she was a spy. | A penalty must, however, be imposed. be-
 cause the accused in reply to letter which reached her from Paris, declared
 herself ready to participate in a crime of l espionage, which, however, in reality, was not intended.
 A little more light is let in upon the case | by telegram in the Lokalanzeiger, which, summarizing the judgment, says: | There Is no proof whatever that she l showed an interest in military affairs, | though her pupils included lieutenant | from whom she could have got any in | formation about such things if she had
 wished. It is to be ascribed to the un- | fortunate misunderstanding that her | fiance, an officer, assumed that she was | a person in the service of the French gov 1 ernment who resided in Germany for the | purpose of espionage, and in order to un-
 mask her got in touch with her.
 According to another account, the judg-
 ment says that the accused made her
 attempt solely under the influence Of her | fance." Finally a fourth message states
 that the judgment "expressly emphasizes
 that principal in the offence did not ex- l ist.'
 The reader can be left to judge for him l self as to how the respectable teacher of | languages came to attempt to assist "the | principal who did not exist in the "es- l pionage which was not intended" and is
 thus compelled to spend six months of her life in jail.
 
 legal action showing the extent to
 which fussy officialism can be pursued by the German police in the safeguarding of public morals has just been heard at Matnz. The case in question was an &C., ton for libel brought by the second buygo- | master of Manz, Herr Berndt, and the fe- male police assistant" Frau Dr. Schap- fro, against Herr Heinrich Hirsch, editor | of the "Mainzer Neueste Anzeiger., The | Hitia nP tho tso ccic
 pears, consisted in watching the conduct
 of the young woman in the city and re- 1 porting to the police If she regarded them | guilty of unmaidenly behavior In the ! offending articles she was accused to pe grossly exceeding her duties and general l ly speaking the object of the articles was
 to show that the office of female police i assistant was pernicious one, which did | more harm than good. The prosecution
 had summoned more than 1bO witnesses to
 the trial, these including police and civic
 authorities. doctors, officers of the resi-
 ment quartered in Mainz, who were al- legged to have maintained illicit relations
 with some of the girls In question. hotel
 proprietors, waitresses, milliners, tailor
 esses, domestic servants. besides a num-
 Der of somewhat dubious characters. l The president of the court pointed out that the accused had made personal ac- cusations against Herr Barndt, who was
 alleged to have illicit relations with wom- 1 cn. The accused replied that his object | was only to show that on account of his l past Herr Berndt was not exactly the l person to pose as censor of public nor | as
 | The testimony of Meta Gmund, aged 20. daughter of the chief machinist of the "Neueste Anzeiger,' aroused much inter- est She said:. "In March, 1910 a police man, who was known to my family. brought me a form with the signature of | Frau Schapiro. The policeman said :
 Meta, what have you been doing? You are summoned to the surveillance poice I only laughed about 1t, as knew I had | done nothing wrong. She went to Frau 1 Shapiro. who asked her whether she went
 about with certain Betty Lowenstein She replied that she did. and that she knew nothing to the girls disadvantage l Frau schapiro said that she had heard ] the names of lot of girls who were al- | ways going about with officers and asked | witness whether she had anything to do with them. At first she did not know ex- actly what was meant. Frau Schapiro then put the question more plainly, and
 added that if witness did not tell the truth she would have to be examined. Witness said she was ready for that as she was pc, fectly innocent.
 A bookkeeper named Seifer, declared that one day the police assistant came to