Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-29
Continued from last week

OOutluueu IfOtu lA5t week
20, where the intelligence department
Of the admiralty is quartered. For
my career as a German secret service
agent.
The Rules Of the Service.
I did not enter the service out of
pure adventure or for monetary rea-
sons alone. Money has never appealed
to me as the all-powerful thing in life.
! have always had enough for creature
comforts. and as for adventure I had
had my fill during the Boer war and
my world wanderings. No, l Joined
the German secret service for quite
q different reason. l was thinking
of the influences that had pressed me
out of my destined groove, by every
human right my own. l remember
how sanguine | was that through the
service l ought to gain the power I
had lost. But had occult powers been
given me / never would have taken
up secret service work. But n is
not quite as wise at twenty-four as at
thirty-nine.
| shall never forget the initial in
%structions I received from Herr Won
Stammer, private secretary of Captain
Tappken, then head of this depart
ment of the secret service. A very
aetute and calculating gentleman is
Herr Won Stammer. Suave, genial,
t~alkative, he has the plausible and un
studied art Of extracting information
without committing himself In turn.
A marvellous encyclopedia of devious
secret service facts, an ideal tutor.
When we were alone In his office,
Won Stammer began by saying abrupt
ly:
From now on, you must be entirely
and absolutely at u service. You
will report daily at twelve noon by
telephoning a certain number. At all
times you must be accessible. You will
pay close attention to the following
rules:
Absolute silence in regard to your
missions. No conversation with minor
officials, but only with the respective
heads of departments or to whomever
you are sent. You will make no mem
oranda 0 carry written documents.
You will never discuss your affairs
with any employee in the service
whom you may meet. You are not
ziikely to meet many. 1t is strictly
against the rules to become friendly
or intimate with any agent. You must
abstain from intoxicating liquors. You
are not permitted to have any women
associates. You will be known to us
by a number. You will sign all your
reports by that number. Always avoid
telephoning, telegraphing and cabling
as much as possible. In urgent cases
do SO, but use the cipher that will be
supplied to you"
The German School for Spies.
I was in Herr Won Stammer's Office
all the forenoon, and when he ushered
me out l half expected to be called
into Captain Won Tappken's presence
to be sent on my first mission. In
stead of that, l : had to wait FIVE months
before l was given my first work and
an exceedingly unimportant thing it
was. During those five months l was
kept sat a steady grind Of schooling in
subjects that were essential to eff
Client secret service work.
Broadly, they could be divided into
four classes-topography, trigonome-
try, naval construction and drawing. My
tutors we're all experts in the imperial
service. A secret service agent sent
out to investigate and report on the
condition, situation, and armament of
a fort like Verdun in France must be
able to make correct estimates of dis
tances, height, angles, conditions of
the ground, etc. This can only be done
by a man of the correct scientific
training. He must have the science of
topography at his finger tips; he must
be able to make quick and accurate
calculations, using trigonometry, as
well as possessing skill as a drafts
man. In a mission to Port Arthur (be-
fore the Russian-Japanese war;, where
| had to report on the d~efenses, 1
found this training invaluable.
The same applies to the subject Of
naval construction. Before entering
the German secret service, 1 certain.
ly knew the difference between a tor
pedo and a torpedo boat destroyer,
but naturally could not give an ac-
curate description of the various types
of destroyers and %torpedoes. MY in
structor in this subject was Lieut..
Capt. Kurt Steffens, torpedo expert of
the intelligence department of the i'm
perial navy. After a month Of tutelage
under him, I was able to tell the vari-
GUS types of torpedoes, submarines,
and mines, ETC., in use by the principal
powers. I could even tell by the Pc
culiar whistle it made whether the
torpedo that was being discharged
was a Whitehead or a Brennan.
l was also drilled in the construction
of every known kind of naval gun.
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