New Britain herald., 1917-03-23
FLEEING SPY DROPS
 MAP OF FACTORIES

AuuVA VI WVuA M1WAulOVlul1u6
 Plants Left by Fugitive
 CHASE AT TRAUT < HINES Night Watcllman Prsues Suspicious
 Character Without Success-Police
 Anticipate Trouble From Hostile
 Element in This City If War Comes.
 Apparently verifying previous sus- picions of local police and manufac- turers that spies, representing the Central powers or paciflsts at home. have been making maps and glean- ing other information relative to New Britain's factories and commercial resources for use in case of war. a document, supposed to be a code ir- dex of 8 map, came to light Wednes. day night when an unidentified skulk- CT eluded the armed private guards ct the factory of the Traut & Hins
  He Is believed to be one of the two strangers for whom detectives have been searching in response to conn., .plaints of several weeks standing from other factories relative to sus- picious conduct, including the making of roughly drawn sketches and maps. The document not only gives tech nical description of local factories but contains detailed information rela- tive to details. such as exits, rail- road spurs and other parts. It was dropped by the unidentified skulker when Peter Lambert, a guard, dis covered his shadowy form in the fac- tory yard, close to one of the build- ings and making an attempt to avoid detection.
 Index Drops From Pocket.
 Lambert tried to get between the skull<er and the yard fence before the unknown's suspicious could be aroused. He feared to summon aid from fellow guards on the ground that the stranger would take alartn and get away. Apparently not an amateur, the. skulker scented dis covery before Lambert could make little progress towards him. made a break for the fence and got over it in spite of Lambert's orders to halt. As he started to get over the fence the code index dropped from one of his pockets. Momentarily he stop nd with the apparent intention Of recovering 1t and nearly wrecked his chances Of escape by doing 50. Jump inx the fencc he escaped into the darkness.
 The suspected code index is com prised of cheap paper. of fiber known as ''scratch paper" in lower grade schools. The names and figures are written coarsely with pencil, the rough appearance, authorities be- lieve, being due to the paper having been placed against a brick or wall while the notations were made. Names of all the large local factories are included, divided into sections and accompanied by letters and fig ures, written singly and in combina- tion, clearly indicating some type Of code. Authorities are convinced that 1t is code index or map for inter- pretation of other maps and other descriptive matter already prepared. There is a belief that New Britain factories have been marked for att tcntion, in case of war. An unveri- fled rumor is current that paper published in Germany was received in this city some time ago in which New Britain with it's "munition plants'' was cited as one of the places against which there would be offen- sive campaigns, in case of war. Police Anticipate Trouble.
 That there win be trouble that must be guarded against, in case of war, is the belief of police authori- ties. One high official is quoted to- day as saying that he believes there will be much trouble locally. if there is war, and that 1t is highly impera- | tive that proper precautions be taken , and the utmost vigilance followed. ! Whether this belief is simply his per- 1 sonal opinion or based on secret in- i formation obtained. he will not state. ! Cities of ths state. Rhode Island and Massachusetts, New Britain included, will be in great danger, in case of war, in his opinion, not only from the coast with possibility of attempted in- sasion but even more so from for eign sympathizers and agents of the Central powers.
 It is known that local manufactur- ing concerns are taking the utmost precautions against possible trouble and looked for trouble by adding to their armed guards at night and close inspection of day employees, suspected of being in sympathy with the Cen.
 tral Powers or of foreign birth. As much as is possible these guards are being augmented by former police men, supernumerary policemen who are available, men who have seen former military service and Nationa Guardsmen. It is today reported that at several of the factories plans are
 under consideration to. have the
 guards armed with loaded rifles with ! IA in aanass3fy NJ