The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-19
CARDINAL Who
FLED WAS SPY
FOR GERMANY
Plot Out-Rivaling Fiction Barred
by Italy Secret Service.
Find Maze of German Intrigue
in Prelate's Residence.
SAFECRACKERS GET PAPERS
Pay Italy Convicts $4,000 to
Rob Embassy in Vienna.
Safe Intricately Protected by
Deadly Gas Device.
SAFECRACKERS GET PAPERS
BY FRANK GETTY.

dC TEACHING INV liz 80
cles of the vatican. involving the hasty
flight of Cardinal Gerlach from Italy,
the cracking of a safe in the secret
headquarters of the German embassy
at Vienna, and the mysterious escape
from prison of Italy's two most notori-
Gus criminals, was told for the first
time today to the United Press by
reliable authority.
Stranger than fiction. the true story
of the inside workings of the Italian
secret service in tracking down the
pro-German element of the pope
court forms a dramatic chapter in the
secret history of the war.
On the 9Th of April, Vienna dis
patches announced the burglary of a
house, adjoining but having no con-
nection with the German embassy A
large sum of money was said to have
been secured by the robbers, who
escaped.
Cardinal Gerlash F1ees.
The same night a sensation was
caused in Rome by the flight of Car
dinal Gerlach across the Swiss border.
italian secret service agents burst in
the doors of his eminence's house
two hours after his escape and discov.
cred the Vaccinations of score of
pro-German plots The next day more
than three hundred arrests resulted
thruout Italy.
This, for ten days, was all the world
knew concerning the workings OF the
German espionage system. No one
connected an insignificant robbery In
the Austrian capital with the cardinal S
disappearance and the wholesale ar
rests of German agents.
Another event which caused little
interest at the time of its occurrence,
yet which had a direct bearing on the
successful breaking up of the Teuton
spy-nest, was the reported escape,
earlv IN January. of two of Italy s
most notorious safe-crackers, who had
been incarcerated for life in prison in
Rome.
Paid Yeggs $4,000 Each.
What has never been disclosed until
TODAY is the fact that a warrant for
their release was signed by the prefect
of all the Italian police himself, and
that each of the criminals was later
given $4,000 by the Italian govern
ment. The service they rendered the
government proved we'll worth the
price.
For more than two years the italian
secret service, extending its research
over a far greater ground than one
realizes even today, had succeeded ir
tracing certain pro-German plots and
intrigue in Italy to Vienna. In the
Austrian capital, spies succeeded in
narrowing the search down to GER
tain house, adjoining but having no
connection with" the Germany en-
bassv-
Had they acted hastily, the spies
might fave burgled the house, robbed
the safe, and even laid hands on a
certain set of precious papers the 1tal-
ian government was keenly interested
in. But that is as far as they would
have gotten. For attached to the bun
die of documents so highly desired
by three governments was an intricate
series of wires. With almost devilish
ingenuity the Germans had provided
that if the safe were opened and the
papers moved, cloud of poison gas,
deadly in effect, would envelop the
disturber and render the entire room
in which the safe was located unin-
habitable. At the same time a clever
ly devised burglar alarm would call
sufficient military police to the scene
to deal with any number of intruders.
Were Struggled to Vienna.
When every detail of the hiding
place of the papers had been learned,
the secret service agents reported in
detail to Rome. On a favorable dark
night the escape of the famous safe
crackers from the prison outside of
the Italian capital was arranged and
effected. Promised their freedom, and
$4,000 apiece if they succeeded, the
criminals had agreed to undertake the
dangerous mission.
How they were smuggled into Vi
emma no one will ever know, but when
they did undertake the robbery of the
safe, they were provided with gas
masks and every tool for safe opening
known to the police or criminal world.
Cracking the safe and evading the GER
tain death of the alarm signals was a
comparatively simple matter for these
Jimmy Valentines of Italy, and the pa
pers, which incriminated prominent
personages turnout Italy, were soon in
the possession of the secret service
Round Up Hundreds Plotters.
For obvious reasons they could not
instantly communicate their knowl-
edge to headquarters at Rome and
in the meantime, while announcing
the robbery of a large sum of mon
ey," the Austrians succeeded, by means
of a secret wireless, in communicative
with Cardinal Gerlach. who departed
unceremofiously from the papal
court With the evidence in hand.
however. the Italian police were able
to round up several hundred of the
most dangerous German plotters, and
to strike into the heart of a Teutonic
element in the highest church circles
of Rome.
HnnHrn 40 rAVIanrN