The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-03-31
Isy ARTHUR KILDARE.


! II took the British secret servics
almost as many days rs there ar,
words i'll thls story 10 solve the myst
terry Of the devihsh accuracy Of fht
Cboats in locating ships at sea.
( And the mystery was so absurd
/ ly simple. II reviewed around a sim
pie card upon which was printed q
map of the North Atlantic the Nortf
sea and the channel The simple
map was divided off into simple
squares and each square had mum
Der.
Ostenslbly the foreign Office Of Nor
way cleared up the mystery But the
facts OF the case are that the British
secret service--unofflciaiy of coarse
laid their own cards down before thu
astonished gaze Of the Norwegian
minister of foreign affairs. Where
upon he laid down the law to the
postal telegraph department Of his
country, and the siukings Of beliigerent
and neutral ships lowered by "A con
siderable percentage.
British Puzzle Out Code.
Night after night for month after
month the powerful German wireles
stations had been crashing out cor
messages to the submarines Of the all
highest. even as they do today And
the British wireless stations picked
them up, copied them and sent their
efforts along in duplicate 10 the Brit
ish naval intelligence once. There
past masters OF the puzzles of code
wrestled with their hidden meaning.
Most code can he dec'phered.
Most of the wireless messages cor
tanned numbers, bur as these mum
bers made no sense after the MESA es
had been decided the experts Inferred
that they had been inserted as 81
blind"
Then 1t was that the British secret
service got into the came. Its agents
AT every port in Norway. Sweden.
Russia. Denmark and Holland were
the espionage system in relation to
their instructions 10 submarines
Norway Renders Great Aid.
Norway happened to be the great
est sufferer in losses by submarine.
Hence the service put it's greatest eff
forts into that country. knowing be-
forehand that Bergen was the head
quarters OF the spy system was an ad-
d4tIohal advantage. knowledge n adj
dition that svery German in Norway
was potential spy was a handicap.
For every natllNe spy had IL he
eliminated. SO one by one every Ger
man IN bergen was checked on rim =
ally it was definitely decided that the
organization numbered ten principals.
Now the work was easier Careful
shadowing revealed that two Germans
in Berg~1 We're in touch with every
Norwegian seaport. Daily they re-
ceived telephone messages,
Listening in on the line ny night
and by day revealed that the name.
nationality, tonnage, cargo, speed and
route OF every vessel leaving Norwoy
for England was I'm possession of she
Germans an hour or two after the til
of their departure. The route was all
important. since no vessel sailed over
the same route a second time. 1t was
perfectly obvious that German gold
had reached" someone in high office.
Letter Carrier Caught.
1t was not easy to discover how
this information was sent along to the
German admiralty, Every message
leaving the watched house was stolen
after 1t reached the telegraph office
But the secret service men soon found
out that these messages were blinds"
and nothing else. .
Someone was acting az an inter
mediary. Again the process of elm
nation. One by one everyone that
called at the house was checked off
IT was tedious process, for there
were many callers.
Came the turn of the letter carrier
and the very first days surveillance
let the cat out OF the bag. For when