The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-01-23
AGED LAUuORESS
WAS GERMAN SPY
Her Drying Wash Was a Sig-
nal to German Flyers.
TOLD OF TROOP MOVEMENTS


man Airmen Where Troops Were Con-
centrated-Another Spy Used Plow
Horses to Signal information.
Several days ago the Paris papers
contained a brief paragraph telling OF
young girl, a milliner, In the neigh
borhood of Grenoble, who had been
caught playing the spy for the Ger
mans and sentenced to long term Of
Imprisonment, says Fred b. Pitney In
the New York Tribune.
1--WE don't shoot women spies any
more" said soldier friend of mine
on permission from the Somme front
to whom | spoke Of the story. There
have been no women shot for a long
time. They generally get about twelve
years at hard labor
Are you as much troubled as ever
by spies?'' | asked.
He laughed. "As long as there is
war there will be spies," he replied
you remember when we took Bou-
chavesnes? Long enough ago, 1t was
Well, there was not much left of the
village when we got It, Our artillery
had knocked 1t pretty well to pieces
but we found an old woman there She
had remained all through the German
occupation and had even managed to
hide and stay behind when all the rest
OF the civic population had evacuated.
The Old Washerwoman.
She stayed and did our washing for
us. You could see soldiers shirts and
underwear all around the cellar where
she lived and hanging on all the posts
and pieces of wall.
The old woman pottered around and
worked most industriously at her tubs
She always came out when there were
troops going through the village. and
she would talk to the men, find out
where they We're going, where they
came from and how long they expect
ed to be there. And whenever she
came out from her tubs she would go
to her wash, lying out to dry. examine
1t, turn 1t over. rearrange 1t. She was
q wonderful washwoman. 1t was a
mania with her. having everything
Just right for the French soldiers.
Germans Knew Consultations.
But the Germans seemed to know
every concentration of troops we made
In that region. Their shells received
us every time. We set three men to
the special duty Of finding out how the
Germans got their information. The
frst thing they found out was that
there We're more air flights over Bcu-
chavesnes than at any other part OF
the line. They decided that there must
be something about Bouchavesnes
which made 1t particularly good OBJ
servatiOn point. As the old woman
was the only thing that distinguished
the place from any other ruined vii
lage. they arrested her.
"At first she denied everything, but
the German accuracy In bombarding
our concentrations ceased with her ar
rest. 1t does not take long argu-
ment to convince drumhead court
martial, and the old woman saw that
the game was up She got twelve
years at hard labor"
The Three Plow Horses.
''Spies work all kinds Of tricks" my
friend continued There was the old
fellow who came back to his farm just
behind the lines and started to do his
fall powing with three horses, red,
white and black. He did his sig
mailing by changing the position Of the
white horse In the team. He was easy
to catch. as team, especially plOw
team. always works In the same order
Some OF our men who were farmers
ing his horses about They talked
about 1t among themselves a bit. and
at. last one of them spoke of'it to an
officer. The alleged farmer was In
vestigated and shot.
Blacksmith jolly Dog.
We ran across a blacksmith q
couple Of months ago who was one
ofnthe most congenial fellows you ever
met. He had his shop right beside one
Of the main roads used by the troops
In going back and forth to the trenches
and he always had a. stock Of wine
and. something to eat. His shop did
not keep him very busy. and he was
nearly always at his door. He would
talk to the soldiers. give them drink
ask where they were going and want
to know how long they would be gone
&C. that he would be waiting to give
them another glass OF wine when they
came back. He was very popular with
the soldiers because he was such q
good fellow, always ready with joke
and \ glass OF wine
But our concentrations were known
to the enemy. Our men were being
shot down. Some Of our Spy, catcher
got n work tn and tn. LAX NAy