New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-24
THE GERMAN SPY SYSTEM
IT, Ilos Gu o Which the Atrocities OF FLAMES ana
aLy-Nob hin Germany '""
hTreahcr

ouch ITcaCncIy' N"' O
= alive. They sen, him back to tho enemy
lines TO say;
"Tcll your men how wo fight when you
bayonet our wounded
That sudden act OF fnlseness was the
product Of slow, careful undermining OF
moral values.
d One OF the best known women In Belgium,
whose name dare not give, told me OF her
friends. tho G 3, az L (she gave me
name and address, When the first German
rush came down on Belgium tho household
was asked to give shelter to German officers
one Of whom tho lady had known socially In
peace days The next morning soldiers went
through the house, destroying paintings with
tho bayonet and wrcckng furniture. The
lady appealed to the officer.
81 know YOU" she said I'VE have met "a
equals and friends. How can you let this be
done?"
This IS war" he replied.
No call Of chivalry OF the Royalties Of
guest and host, f. TO be listened to. And
for the pcrpctratlng OF this cold programme
ycara Of silent spy treachery were a perfect
preparation It no sudden unrelated hor-
ror TO which Germans had TO force them
selves. It was an astonishing thing to sim
pie Belgian gentlemen and gentlewomen TO
see the old friendly German faces OF tourists
and social guests show up. on horseback
riding into tho cities as conquerors where
they had so often been entertained as friends.
Let mo give you the testimony Of Belgian
lady whom we know. She Is now inside the
German lines, so | cannot give her name, ss
the Germans would visit reprisal on her
Social Friends Return as Conquerors.
when the German troops entered Brus-
sells" she states, I'VE suddenly discovered
that our good friends had been secret agents
and were now officers in charge Of tho In
vaslon. As the army came in, with their
trumpets and flags and goose-stepping, we
picked out our friends entertained by US In
our salons dinner guests for years. They
had originally come with every recommenda-
ton possible-letters from friends, them
selves men Of good birth They had worked
their way into the social-political life Of
Brussels They had won their place in our
friendly feeling And here they had returned
10 us at the head Of troops 10 conquer US,
the years OF friendly social intercourse
After becoming proficient in that kind OF
betrayal the officers found It only slight
wrench 20 pass over TO the wholesale murder
Of the people whose bread they had eaten and
whom they had tricked. The treachery ex-
plains the atrocty. 1t is worth while to re
peat and emphasize this point. Many persons
have asked me, How DO you account for
these terrible acts Of mutilation?" The an
swcr is, what the Germans did suddenly by
flame and bayonet IS only continuation o.
what they have done for years by poison.
One mile from where we were hilleted on
the Belgian coast stood villa owned by q
German. 1t lay between St. Iddesbald and
Coxyde Bains, on sand dune, commanding
the Channel After the war broke out the
/ Belgians examined IL and found II was q
fertilization. It's walls were Of a six-foot
thickness, Of heavy blocks Of stone and con-
crote. It's massive flooring was cleverly dis
guised by a layer OF fancy thing. Its interior
was fitted with little compartments for hy-
draulic apparatus for raising weights, and
there was tanele OF wires and pipes. Dyna-
mite cleared away the upper stories. Work
men hacked away the lower story piece by
piece, during several weeks of our stay. Two
members Of our corps inspected the interior.
from st. Iddesbald TO Coxyde Bains, up which
ammunition could be fed to it for its coast
defence work The Germans expected an easy
march down the coast, with these safety sta
tions ready for them at points Of need.
A Belgian soldier rode into a Belgian VII
lage one evening at twilight during the early
DAYS Of the war An old peasant woman, de-
ceiyed because OF the darkness and thinking
Kim 10 be a German Uhlan, rushed up 10 him
and said. Look out the Belgians are here.
IL was tho work OF these spies 20 give in
formation 20 the marauding Uhlans as 10
whether any hostile garrison was stationed In
the town. II no troops are there TO resist, a
band OF dozen Uhlans can easily take an
entire village. But If the village has pro-
,ecting garrison tho Germans must BIO fore
warned
The Village Spy.
Three day, after arriving in Belgium, IN
the early fall OF 1914, met German out
post one of the Hussars, named Rhinbeck.
We fell into conversation with him and be-
came quite friendly. He had no cigarettes
and We shared ours with him. He could
speak good English and he let US walk beside
him as he rode slowly along on his way to
the main body Of his troops. The Germans
had won the day and there seemed TO be
nothing % stake, or perhaps lie did not ex-
pect our little group would be long lived, nor
should we have been II the German plans had
gone through II va, their custom to use
civilian prisoners as protective screen for
their advancing troops. Whatever his mo-
tive. after We had walked along beside his
horse for quarter OF milo, he pointed out
10 US the house OF the spy whom the Ger
mans had in that village OF NELLIE. This man
was "halfbreed" Englishmsn, who cams out
of his house and walked over TO Rhinbeck and
said:
you want to keep up your English, for
you'll soon be in London"
In a loud voice, for the benef. OF his Bel
gian neighbors, he shouted QUIT