Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-07-26
German Spies Actin NonDay as III y. s..

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matter. He came to this country 81
our friend. He had studied here. he
had been our guest and our geogra-
phical society had honored him. And
he came for the purpose Of keeping
intact the good relations between the
two countries. The methods he en-
ployed seem to have been general
among Germans in all neutral scoun-
tries. But nowhere have they sreach-
ed the goal they were said to be work
ing for II IN all Germany there still
may be found those who think 1t Of
some importance to remain friendly
toward the neutrals. 1t lie high time
that they step forward and point to
other methods than those used by Or.
Kitchener.
AS the reader will easily see, there
are many points OF similarity between
the Kitchener case and those of
numerous Germans in this country
who posed az Americas friends ever
mention the automatically i~nviolable
Count Johann ". Bernstorff. All of
EtheHe and many more had come to
America as the guests OF the country
and professed to be it's friends. How
that turned out, Is recent history.
Among the other men implicated in
the Norwegian espionage plot was an
agent named Paasche who was the
.go-between for: Monsen and the Ger
mans and later took care Of all the
information that was to be forwarded
from Monsen to Kitchener. In June OF
last year Paasche had taken over all
OF Mcnsen's work and was aided by
two men, Captain Kapelen and IA.
Kroeger, a. ships mate.
Dirty Work for Little Pay.
s.
been cheap. The trial, recently held
Kappelenl and Bruun received each
about SIS per month and others re-
ceived even smaller salaries. Paasche
admitted that he had received alto-
gether about $500 Of the German
money.
The methods employed BY the con-
spiracy were analogous to those used
In Denmark and Sweden.
1t appears that the chief task of the
spies was to keep all information alb
solutely inaccessible and secret. For
conspirators the use Of cipher-writing
and the production OF invisible ink.
Letters were written by the thous-
ands, and In their contents was moth
ing whatever that might arouse sus-
picfon; only when certain chemical
ingredients were applied, the real
contents of the messages appeared In
the cipher-writing produced In In
visible ink.
It has been proved that Important
information about tho steamers.
Vega" and "Lysland" had been for
warded in this manner, and it is
known that at least the latter, boat
was %torpedoed on Its next trip. It al
go was proven that when captains and
members of the crews OF Norwegian
ships agreed to do spy-work, the Ger
mans promised them that their YES
sci would not be sunk. Some defend
ers Of the sailors implicated In the
case mention this fact in justification
OF the acts OF some OF the men.
Sentences Farcical.
In June the case came before a
court in Berger, and when all the evil
dence had been digested and the ac-
cused men. had given their testimony
the court imposed sentences, as fol-
lows:
Monsen who was evidently the chief
Of the plot, was sent to prison for
nine months; Hansen, Kroeger, Bruun
and Kappelen were given 80 days;
prison, and Moe, oegaard and Strand
witz to 80 days.
The surprising fact Of these sem
fences Is their ridiculous leniency. A
Norwegian paper in Tacoma, COM
menting upon the sentences, says that
the 9 really should have been shot.
It mentions the fact that even a Ger
mar spy may be said to be In legiti-
mate business when he gathers infor-
nation for his country, but when Nor
wegians sell information to q belliger-
ent power, enabling 1t to destroy Nor
wegian lives and Norwegian shipping,
they should be dealt with >summarily
and baked up against a walla as trait
ors Of the meanest sort.
The press in Norway does not ad-
vocate such extreme measures. Nor
way Is geographically too close to
Germany,
But some Of the papers commenting
on the case. speak out very plainly.
The "Gula T%idende.' says, for in
stance:
"We have never thought that spies
were such men: Merchants, ship
owners, captains. stewards-men with
secure incomes, most OF them. We
have never believed II: possible that
such f~ar-reaching intrigues could be
discovered in our country, and we are
certain that this is reason against our
country. The spies knew that their
information might lead to the killing
of their cornpatriots. It Is impossible