Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-02-12

irving home one night I noticed that
my dress suit was arranged in a diff
ferent way to what ! had left It. I
called my landlady and casually in
quired IL my tailor had been there.
She said, mo, Doctor"
WELL" l replied, what reason have
you then to rearrange my clothes?"
Her face Redeemed and she seemed
1ustered.
81 wasn't in your ROOM" she fall
tered. 81 remember now. I believe the
tailor was here. One Of the servants
let him in"
1 made it my businags to go around
to my tailoT's within an hours time
and he c~ontradicted hM story. He had
not been at the house.
recognized 1t Rsi an occasion where
/ had to make a right royal blum. I
went at once to poliHf headquarters in
Edinburgh. I asked for Chief Con-
stable Ross, and sentlin my card bear
ing DR.. A. K. Graves, Turo, s. Austria
liza. Presently l was shown into the
chiefs room and was received by a
typical Scottish gentleman. opened
fire in this way:
Have you any reason to believe
that ! am a German spy?"
/ saw that it had knocked him off
his pins.
"Why, no." he said, startled. 81
don't know anything at all about It"
TITS not by your orders, then, that
l am followed?"
Certainly not" he replied.
He bowed me out. OF course, I
knew | still would be Swallowed, which
I did not mind in the least. | reasoned
that my visit to the police might make
them slow down a bit. Right along
l communicated by cables and letter
with Berlin and went the eve tenor
of my way.
A Wrongly Addressed Letter.
About a week after my experience
with Constable Ross, l received mfor-
nation that William Beardmore & Co.,
of Glasgow, were constructing some
new 14-inch guns for the British gov
eminent. That meant a change Of
base.
l at once made 1t my business to go
to Glasgow and get particulars. in
stalled myself in the Central station
hotel, and in a few weeks gained all
the information l wanted. While in
Glasgow l received letters addressed
to me as James Stafford. I received
two such letters, and upon calling at
the General Post Office for a third,
was informed that there was a letter
for A. Stafford.
"Oh, yes, that is my letter" l said.
The clerk demurred and replied:
you asked for James Stafford. I'm
der those circumstances I cannot hand
you this letter. 1t is against the postal
law"
Not being in a position to raise a
question, l let 1t go at that. eve for
a moment thinking that my employers
would be SO culpably careless as to
put any discriminating evidence In the
mail. Events proved that that is just
what they did. Moreover, l later came
to know why that particular letter
was addressed not to James but to A.
Stafford. All my previous letters were
addressed to me as DIR. A. K. Graves
and we're enclosed in the business en-
velope of a well-known chemical firm
of Snow Hill, London, e, (Which
paper had been fabricated for the pur-
pose. OF course, the letters were sent
from the continent to London and
there reposted.
When I left Edinburgh to find out
about the 14-inch guns, | gave u
people in London instructions to use
plain envelopes and to address them
to James Stafford, G.. P. O., Glasgow.
The first two letters were addressed
correctly and plain envelopes were
used. The third was not only mis-
addressed, but was enclosed in one of
the Chemical company's envelopes
this, as l later learned, for a reason.
No one having called for it, the let
ter was returned to the chemical COM
pany. At their office 1t was opened
and found to contain a typewriter
letter in German language and five
ten-pound notes on the Bank Of Eng
land. The contents of the letter was
such as to lead the firm to call in the
police.
There's a Gentleman Down stairs to
See YOU"
On the evening of April ID. | had
just put-on my evening clothes and
gone to the upstairs writing-room. l
was awaiting a party of gentlemen
who were coming to dine with me in
the hotel. There came a buttons"
who announced:
There's a gentleman downstairs tt
Sc you, Doctor"
A premonition stole over me-. l
knew that my guests would not have
sent for me to come down but would
have been announced. / realized that
If | was going to be caught there was
no avoiding 1t. Secret service makes a
man a fatalist.
had hardly reached the last step of
the grand stairway when four big
plain-clothes men bounced upon me.