The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-12-06

From the first days of the peace con-
| ference 1t was evident there was a leak.
The negotiations had been opened under
n most solemn oath of secrecy. AS to
the progress of the conference, on.y
such information or misinforma tion--if
the diplomats considered ii better-as
was mutually agreed upon by the pleni
pOtentiarics was given to a waiting
world. But each morning, in addition
to the official report of the proceedings
of the day previous, one newspaper, tn"
Times, published an account which diff
fercd from that in every other paper,
and which undoubtedly came from the
inside. In details it was far more gem
erous than the official report; 1t gave
names, speeches. arguments it de-
scr.bed the wordy battles of the dipo-
mats. the concessions. bluffs, bargains.
After three days the matter became
public scandal. At first tire plenipoten-
tiaries declared the events described in
the Times were invented each evening
in the office of the Times. but the pro-
Cccdngs of the dry following showed
! the public this was not SO.
Some one actually present at the
conference was telling tales out of
school. These tales were cablcd to
! Belgrade, Sofia, Athens, Constantinople.
and hourly from those capitals the
plenipotentiaries We're assalcd by hd
vice, abuse and threats. The whole
| world began to take part in their
| negotiations; from every side they were
| attacked. from home by the Young
| Turks or the ON to Constantinople
party and from abroad by peace So
cieties, religious bodies and chambers
of commerce.
Even the armies in the field instead
Of waiting for the result of their de-
| lIberations told them what To do and
that unless they did it they would
better remain in exile. To make mat
ters worse in every stock eXChanE"
gambling on the news furnished 10y the
Times threatened the financial peace
Of Europe. To work under such con-
itions If publicity was impossible. The
delegates appealed TO their hosts of the
British Foreign Office.
Unless the chiel amang them takin'
notes was discovered and the leak
stopped they declared the conference
must end. Spurred on by questions In
Parliament. by appeals from the great
| banking world by criticisms not alto
gether unseltish from the other news
papers the Foreign Oiii'e surrounded
st. James's Palace and the office of the
Times with an army of spies. Every
secretary, stenographer and attendant
at the conference was und = suryei-
| lance. his past record looked into, his
present comings and goings noted.
Even the plenipotentiaries themselves
were watched, and employees of the
| Times We're secretly urged TO tell the
! Government the man who was selling
secrets to them. But those who were
willing to be urged" did not know the
man; those who did know him refused
| to be bought.
By a process of elimination suspicion
finally rested upon one Adolf Hertz a
young Hungarian scholar who spoke
and wrote all the mongrel languages of
the Balkans, who for years as a copy
ing clerk and translator had been en-
ployed by the Foreign Office. and who
now by it had been lent to the confer
.nce. For the reason that when he lived
N Budapest he was correspondent of
the Times the police in seeking for the
leak centred their attention upon Hertz
| But though every moment he was
| watched and though Hertz knew he was
| watched no present link between him
| and the Times had been established
and this in spite of the fact that the
hours during which it was necessary
to keep him under closest observation
We're few. Those We're the hours be-
tween the closing of the conference ant
midnight, when the provincial edition
of the Times went to press. For the
remainder of the day, so far as the poo
lice cared, Hertz could go to the devil
But for those hours, except when on
his return from the conference he locked
himself in his lodgings in Jermyn street
detectives were always at his elbow.
1t was supposed that it was durinl
this brief period when he was locked
in his room that he wrote his report
but how later he conveyed it to tn,
Times no one could discover. In his
rooms there was no telephone; his dour'
and windows were openly watched, an,
after leaving his rooms his movements
were--as they always had been
methodical, following a routine open t.
observation. His programme was in
variably The same,
Each night at : from his front doc,
he walked west. At Re gent street h
stopped to buy an evening paper from
. the aged news Nendcr at the corner
he then crossed PiCCadilly Circus int,
Coventry street, skrted LciCestc
Square, and at the end of Green stree
entered PaVOnis Italian restaurant
There he took his seat always at tn,
same table, hung his hat always on th'
same brass peg, ordered the same Hun
garian wine and read the same eve
ming paper. He spoke to no one. II,
one spoke to him.
I. When he had finished his coffee an,
his cigarette he returned to his lodg
, lngs, and there he remained until IN
, rang for breakfast. From the time "A
which he left his home until his return
to 1t he spoke to only two persons
the news vender, to whom he hande'
\ halfpenny; the waiter who serve'
, him the regular table d'hote dinner
between whom and Hertz nothing
passed but three and six for the Dime
and sXpence for the waiter himself,
Each evening the moment he move'
into the street a plain clothes man fel
into step beside him, another followe'
at his heels, and from across the stree
more plain clothes men kept their eye
!, on every one approaching him in from