The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-02-11
GERMANY HAS A REAL "SPY SCARE"-THE HID- DEN PASSPORT-GETTING MARRIED UN- DER DIFFICUL LTIES-INSULTS TO THE U. S. FLAG
I wanted to keep the old one.

II wanted to keep the old one. l put it in a vase in the pension where l was staying at the time. and went to the American embassy and said I had lost it. They questioned me closely. but insisted l had lost 1t. Then they said they would see what could be done. had to adver- Iise in the paper several days. l thought everything was going along smoothly. when one evening, a German soldier came to the pension and asked for me. He said he wanted to search my room. I didn't know what was wrong, for I never thought of the passport. He searched it and, believe me. if l had been trying to hide a pin. l think he would have found it.
 Of course he found the passport. And the look he gave me! My knees just buckled under me. "You said you lost your passport" he said. Il just found it," managed to gasp out, land haven't had time yet to report it." That was all that saved me.
 was so frightened that 1 looked him straight in the eyes as said it and he believed me.
 Later l got new passport. but certainly did not keep the old one. I realize now that I never would have gotten out of Germany with it., for it would have been found at the frontier.
 Insults to American Flag. had narrow escape from prison, lor if they had not believed my "losL Ind found" story they would have .nousnt 1 was spy, sure. Livery .Ittie suspicious circumstance is tax n rlght up to have a deep meanlng over there. That is why they do not permit any person to speak ln Lng- .lsn, not even over the telephOnv. lney are afraid that, by using sou. unusual word, lnlOimaIion Ot sonv sort may be passed along You wlll De cut off if you try to speak Eng. .Ish on the telephone.
 The first year Of the war. catching spies was almost as common as catching flies. But this last year, oniy once Tn long time did We heal oI any spy being caught. Really 1 uont see how a spy can live very .ong ill Germany, so close watch ls Kept on every person m its borders, especially in the big cities. I'll venture to say that, from tho time the war broke out, the German war office has record of every place 1 went. every person l talked to or wrote to and. almost every thought 1 thought. Hardly the last thought, Or never would have gotten out. Even before the United States en. tered the war, the American flag was
 nsuIted and treated lightly. To wear 1t was no protection to any person. And after the United States and Italy both entered the war, had hard lines. The Germans hate the ltaI- lans, as they say Italy broke her agreement with the Central powers when she entered the war. The Ger mans say they never, never will enter Italy, except as conquerors. My name before l married was very Italian, and received many slurs because of 1t. Then when l would say was American, that was worse yet. As much as could l supported my parents' country, Italy, and my own, America, but sometimes had to take surs and insults to save my
 liberty and, l do not doubt, my life. Getting Married.>
 When MT. Brown came over to marry me, he asked me one day where he would go to get a little American flag to wear in his button hole so people would know he wasn t English. told i,im l didn't know and, if l did, wouldn't get it, for ] would not dare go in a store and ask for it. That was hard for him to understand at first but, after he had been there a few weeks, he under stood.
 When we did get married, we had more trouble than if we had wanted to rob a bank. We had to be mar ried by lawyer eventually. We had to go to the American embassy and get an interpreter to go with us. We had no birth certificates or papers of that kind and we had to make affidavits without number. know. when finally we presented our. selves for the actual marriage cere. mony, we each had stack of papers on which we had sworn various things, four inches thick. It seemed, at times. that the whole machinery of the German nation was in force to prevent our getting married. But, finally we did.
 My husband left Germany before 4