The Washington herald., 1914-10-04
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invasion of England in. 1911 BY
the Germans, and why it failed.
/ got my data from Baron Won Goft-
lieb, at the time military attache Of the
German government with the Russian
army in the second Russian-Japanese
e4sr.. when Russia drove Japan out of
Manehuria, and reduced her to third
SITE power.
Two years before, at the time Of the
invasion, Won Gottlieb had been Carl
Schultz, the head waiter at the East
Cliff Hotel at Cromer, and spy.
The other end of the story came to
me through Lester Ford, the London
correspondent of the New York Re
public" They gave me permission to
tell it in any fashion pleased, and IT
is here set down for the first time. = " :
What led directly to the invasion
was that some weekend guest of the
East Cliff Hotel left copy of THE
Riddle of the Sands" in the coffee
room, where Won Gottlieb found, it :
and the fact that Ford attended the
Shakespeare ball. Had neither of
these events taken place, the German
flag might now be flying over Buck
ingham Palace. And, then again, it
might not.
As every German knows, "The Rid
die of the Sands" is a novel written
by very clever Engiishman in which
is disclosed a plan for the invasion of
his country. -"
What Won Gottlieb thought was evil
denced by the fact that as soon as he
read the book he mailed it to the Ger
man ambassador in London, and under
separate cover sent him letter. In
this he said: 'T suggest your excel
lency brings this book to the notice of
certain royal parsonage, and of the
strategy board"
What the strategy board thought of
the plan is matter of history. This
was in 1910. A year later, during the
coronation week, Lester Ford went to
ClarIson's to rent a monks robe in
which to appear at the Shakespeare
ban, and while the assistant departed
IN search Of the robe, Ford was left
alone in a small room hung with full
length mirrors and shelves, and packed
with uniforms that Garrison rents for
Covent Garden balls and amateur the
atricals. While waiting, Ford graft
fed long, secretly cherished desire
to behold himself as a military man, by
trying on all the uniforms on the low
er shelves; and as a result, when the
assistant returned, instead of finding a
young American in English clothes and
a high hat, he was confronted by a
German officer in a spiked helmet fight
ing a duel with himself in fe mirror.
The assistant retreated precipitately.
Ford was wondering when the inva-
sion did come whether he would stick
at his post in LOndon and dutifuTly
forward the news to his paper, or play
truant and as a war correspondent
watch the news in the making. So the
act of Mr.. Clarkson's assistant did not
sink IN. But few weeks later young
Mai. Bellew recalled them. Bellew
was giving a dinner on the terrace of
the Savoy restaurant His guests were
his nephew, young Herbert, who was
only five years younger than his uncle,
and Herbert's friend Birrell, an Irish
man, both in their third term at the
university. After FIVE years service IN
India, BelleV had spent the last
Fights" week at Oxford, and was
complaining bitterly that since his day
the undergraduate had deteriorated. He
had found him serious, given to study,
far too we'll behaved.
You're talking rot" said his duti-
full nephew. Take Phil here, for ex-
ample I've roomed with him three
years and can testify that he has
never opened book. He never heard
of Galsworthy until you spoke of him
And you can see for yourself his table
manners are quite as bad as yoursp
"WorseF sssented Birrell loyalty.
"And as for raggingl What rags,
in your day, were as good as ours; as
the Carrie Nation rag, for instance,
when FIVE hundred people sat through
a temperance lecture and never guessed
they were listening to a man from
Balliol?"." -
Ford had no part in the debate. He
had been smoking comfortably and |
with well-timed mods, impsrtialIy en-
coursging each disputant. But now he
suddenly laid his cigar upon his plate,
and, after glancing quickly about him,
leaned eagerly forward. They were. at
the corner table of the terrace, and, as
it was now past 9 O'Clock, the other
diners had departed to the theaters and
they were quite alone. **
I'm give you an idea for a rag"
whispered Ford. ''One that is. risky.
that viii make the country sit up, that
ought to land you in jail. Have YOU
read The Riddle of the Sands?'"
BeIlew and Herbert nodded; BirreII
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