The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-01-29
P PREDICTED WAR, SEIZED AS SPY
 AND LOCKED UP
Maine Man Reported tc Washington That War
 Was About to Break

Bangor, Me, Jan. 29.-To a Maine man, Francis E. Mallett of Lee, who has been visiting in Bangor this week, fell the honor of being the only man in the United State Consular service who had his ear close enough tc the ground in 1914 to predict the com ing of the great war.
 By the irony of fate this brought him, not recognition or praise, but Imprisonment on the charge or peIng a spy. Russian officials had him ar- rested while on a visit to Petrograd in December, 1914, on the ground that any man who knew enough to pre- dict the war had inside sources of in- formation only open to those who practiced espionage.
 The dispatch predicting the war was sent from Budapest, Hungary where MT. Mallett was vice-onsul, OH July Is, 1914 but did not reach the state department until July 30.
 A New York newspaper of July 30, 1914 in referring to MT. Mallett's pre- diction, printed the following from its Washington correspondent:
 He was incorrect in only one con- lecture, expressing the opinion that Austria would wait until the crops were harvested before bringing mat ters to an issue. His dispatch is con- sidered as of the greatest importance at the state department, snce II sup ports the general contention that Aus tria had been preparing for the clash with Servia and that the murder of the Austrian heir apparent was only all excuse employed to cover the Aus trian design to crush Servia-
 ''No ambassador or minister in Flu ope or any of the higher consular of ficials gave any information of i'm pending trouble. MT. Mallett is con sidered one of the most efficient mem hCrs of the consular service. He speaks Hungarian fluently as we'll as severa other languages, and has a wide ac- Quaintancs in Hungary, where he has been stationed since 1906.''
 This newspaper reference to his in tinate knowledge of conditions abroad proved to be disastrous to MT. Nal lett.
 After the start of hostilities, ht took over the conSuJates of the allied powers and conducted their business He inspected prison camps in Austria where allied soldiers were held, ant in the latter part of December wen tn Russia on a similar mission. HI was at the Hotel de France in Petro grad when, on the morning of Jan l, 1915, at o'clock, a maid knocked at his door and told him there was messenger with a telegram Waitinl outside.
 q opened the door," said MT. Nal lett, "and six soldiers, two officers an three civilians rushed inside, threw m to the floor and forcing me to si there undressed facing g. stove, the informed me l was under arrest protested and requested that be per mitted to notify the American ambas sador, offering my passport as ere dential.
 This request was refused, and afte they had searched various articles c clothing peered at the soles of m feet and at the seams of my pajama to sec if anything was concealed 1 them, they permitted me to dress an was driven to the office of the gov ernment secret service.
 Here I was questioned again an an official drew from a formidabl looking envelope a clipping that look ed strangely familiar. He presente it to me without a word, and it wa the article in the issue of July 30 ( the New York Herald, relating ho l alone of all American officials i Europe had notified my governme1 of the coming war. I had sent tw notifications one in January and or T,,1vv of hostilities-
 'I had no comment to make on tf article, which was shown to me as ev dence that l had sources of secret il formation. So I was taken to tf prison for political criminals and pla ed in a dungeon beneath the stre level. It was pitch dark and silel and I spent 24 hours there before again was removed to another prtso l was held here for IS days incon municado, while Russian officia searched through my correspondence had more than trunkful of it on var ous official matters and it took son time to go through it
 "It was impossible for me to g any word to the outside, but it
 happened that Miss HellaE F. mel, u daughter of a Russian official, who l had helped get out of Budapest the beginning of the war, heard accident that I was under arrest. Sl enlisted the aid of her father and was released.
 T left Russia and went to Vien, on business and while there I was a preached by foreign officials and T quested to explain how 1 had obtain the information spoken of in an Anne