Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-12-26
U. S. GRAND JURY HOLDS
BARONESS zOLLNER
Wife Of German Officer, furnished
Code by american Lieutenant,
Held Under espionage Act.
PAID SPALDINC'S BILLS
Officer Admits Love For Baroness and
Desire To Marry Her -Sensa-
tionaI Disclosures.


/ York, has been held TO the federal
grand jury without bond and in
communicate after preliminary hear
ing last two days before United
/ States Commissioner sam McAlester.
at Chattanooga, Tenn. for violation
of the espionage act The baroness
was arrested at a Chattanooga hotel
i in company with Lieut.. j. NJ. Spald-
ing OF the 9Th Infantry. stationed at
Fort OglethQrpe, on the technical
charge og vagrancy. Later she was
taken into custody at another hotel
by United States Marshal Thompson
and confined in the county Jail with
/ out bond.
| Bedford Shope, sixteen years old,
son of Baroness Zollner, and Lieut..
Spaiding were placed on the witness
stand at the resumption of the hear
| ing. Lieut.. Spalding admitted that he
was in love with the baroness and de-
sired TO marry her and that he fur
nished her code with which to keep
her informed of his movements up TO
| the time he may be called to sail for
France.
Paid Spalding's Bills.
Lieut.. Spalding also testified that
he had been assisted in many ways
by the baroness, she having paid his
hotel bills and other expenses at
various times Spalding said that he
had been bilged from the Naval
Academy at Annapolis on bills" and
had to resign, and that Baroness
Zollner aided him in getting his COM
mission in the army
At the conclusion of the hearing
Attorney Carl Alternately, for the de-
tense, asked that the prisoner be al
lowed bail, which was denied. al
though Commissioner McAlester adj
vised the attorney to apply TO Fed
eral Judge Sanford at Knoxville for
a writ of habeas corpus in order to
get his client out of prison.
Fails TO Explain Code.
/ Commissioner McAlester declared
that Baroness Zollner had explained
everything satisfactory to him except
the code which was found in her pos
session and q letter written by Lieut..
! Spalding to her which was immedi-
| ately possible Of Interpretation and
| referred to an Annapolis hotel. Bar
| oness Zoilner is held under the second
section of the espionage act, which
only makes it necessary to show
probable cause for violation in order
to hold suspect.
Baroness Zollner will be confined in
cell furnished by the federal au
thorities and win be allowed a train
| ed nurse il her health. as claimed by
the defense, requires the services of
a nurse. Baroness Zollner is the
wife of German army officer now on
| the British front in Flanders, from
whom she is seeking a divorce, ana
admits that she had communicated
with him frequently since the decla-
ration of war through the medium OF
Mrs. Rosa Taustig, of Arnheim, Hoi-
| land
| Lieut.. Spalding, who is twenty-five
years old, and who has figured in the
| career of the baroness, is a native of
| Collmore, N. NJ, and was commits
stoned in the army a year ago. He
was returned to Fort Oglethorpe in
arrest following the completion of the
hearing.
Preliminary Hearing.
! The preliminary hearing before
Commissioner McAlester at Chatta-
nooga, was begun Saturday morning
at 1890, but an adjournment was
taken over until Monday.
The evidence consisted of detailed
ramblings and actions of the woman
since the time of her marriage in 1897
to Charles Warren Shope in New
York Baroness Zollner was the last
witness called and was on the stand
from $50 until adjournment.
| The witness came ON the stand,
says the Chattanooga Times, in an
apparently weak physical condition,
and for more than an hour her voice
was hardly audible. AS the direct exA
animation went on she grew stronger,
| and when United States District At
torney Kennerly started his gruelling
| cross-examination she had herself
we'll in hand and did not falter at any
| time in her testimony In the manner
uncanny at times the prosecuting at
| torney drew out all the facts, matri-
monial difficulties, tragedies and COM
plications. in the life of the woman.
| That she was an alien enemy because
of her marriage to two German army
officers, Won Kolberg and Capt. Zoll-
ner, was drawn from her in a frank
admittance. She told of her rela-
| tions with KoIberg and his admittanca
to the German genera taft quarters
to study for a position ON the Kaisers
staff; the divorce of Kolberg and his
disgrace because of HIS degeneracy
which prompted the divorce proceed
ings. She told of having at one time
been presented to the Kaiser and EN-
press at Berlin, and her friendship
with prominent army officials in this
country and abroad
1t was established that the baroness
has been under investigation at An
napolis on complaint from the COM
mandant there. that she is an alien
enemy. and that the Investigations
have proven favorable to her. IN
Vulnerable visits to Washington dur
ing the last year were brought out,
and her friendship with congressman
and officials OF the Bureau of Inspec-
ton were threshed out, bringing in a
relationship with Lieut. Spalding.
whom she admits stayed at the same
hotel with her in Washington on