Republican farmer., 1918-02-01
War,
SEIZED AS SPY
ANO LOCKED UP
Maine Man Reported to
Washington That War
Was About to Break


who had his ear close enough to the
ground in 1914 to predict the COM
ing of the great war.
By the irony of fate this brought
Elm, not recognition or praise, but
Imprisonment on the charge OIL oe1ng
a spy. Russian officials had him ar
rested while on a visit to Petrograd
III December, 1914, on the ground that
any man who knew enough to pre-
dict the war had inside sources of I'M
formation only open to those who
practiced espionage.
The dispatch predicting the war
was sent from Budapest, Hungary,
where Mr.. Mallett was vice-onsul, on
July IS, 1914 but did not reach the
state department until July 80.
A New York newspaper of July so,
1914 in referring to Mr.: 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
tiers to an issue. His dispatch is con-
sidered as of the greatest importance
at the state department, since 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 Eu-
ope or any of the higher consular Of
f;cials gave any information of i'm
pending trouble. Mr.. Mallett is con-
sidered one of the most efficient MEM
hers of the consular service. He speaks
Hungarian fluently as we'll as severa.
other languages, and has a wide &C
quaintance in Hungary, where he has
been stationed since 1906"
This newspaper reference to his in
innate knowledge of conditions abroad
proved to be disastrous to Mr.. NAL
lett.
After the start Of lostilities, he
took over the consulates of the allied
powers and conducted their business
He inspected prison camps in Austria,
where allied soldiers were held, and
in the latter part of December went
tn Russia on a similar mission. He
was at the Hotel de France in Petro-
|
1, 1915, at o'clock, a maid knocked
at his door and told him there was a
messenger with a telegram waiting
outside.
IT opened the door, said Mr.. NAL
lett, land six soldiers, two officers and
three civilians rushed inside, threw me
to the floor and forcing me to sit
there undressed facing a stove, they
| r T
protested and requested that be per-
mitted to notify the American ambas-
sador, offering my passport as Gre
dential./
This request was refused, and after
they had searched various articles of
clothing peered at the soles of my
feet and at the seams of my pajamas
to see if anything was concealed in
them, they permitted me to dress and
was driven to the office of the gov
: eminent secret service.
Here I was questioned again and
an official drew from a formidable
, looking envelope a clipping that look
ed strangely familiar. He presented
it to me without a word, and it was
the article in the issue of July 80 OF
| the New York Herald, relating how
I alone of all American officials il
Europe had notified my government
of the coming war I had sent two
. notifications, one in January and one
, in July, just preceding the outbreak
of hostilities.
81 had no comment to make on the
article, which was shown to me as evil
dence that 1 had sources of secret in
formation. So I was taken to the
prison for political criminals and plac-
ed in a dungeon beneath the street
= level. 1t was pitch dark and silent
= and I spent "a hours there before ]
again was removed to another prison
I was held here for Is days incom-
municado, while Russian officials
, searched through my correspondence
/, had more than trunkful of it on vari-
, Gus official matters and it took some
time to go through it. -
| y"It was impossible for me to ge'
I any word to the outside, but it Sc
happened that Miss HellaR Rumel, the
D daughter of a Russian official, whom
, 1 had helped get out of Budapest a
= the beginning of the war, heard BY
accident that [ was under arrest. Sht
enlisted the aid of her father and
was released.
81 left Russia and went to Vienna
on business and while there I was ap
lproached by foreign officials and re
lquested to explain how l had obtained
the information spoken of in an Amer
} lean newspapers as furnished to the
United States. And once more tn
clipping was shown to me. 1 repliet
10 that I got it in the ordinary way b,
st merely using my eyes and observing
Il the trend of events"
ID On his return from Europe, MI
% Mallett resided in New York cit
,s where he was at all times in toucl
l. with the Russian revolutionary ele
ment, having known many revolution
lists during his stay in the old coun
/ tries, among them Leon Trotzky. &c
came in frequent personal contac
l. with Trotzky,'' said Mr.. Mallett, "an
L. I regret to say but little of the com
IS piimentary can be said regarding hi
~ character. 1 remember when he wa
re married a few of his friends made u
a purse and bought furniture for hin
D. But his married life was short, as h
NJ deserted his bride and took up wit
IL al affinity. Trotzky was not indus
IN trious but, unlike others of his type
s. he was always neatly groomed and in
variably made fine impression upo
people he met for the first time.
'@Trotzl1y was opell4y ~--4.~ cted i
:, 1.-THE Russian colonies of being in til
~ Lay Of Germany, and with good rea
son L believe. I knew the Russia
a. woman who had been detailed by tn
as Cars government to watch Trotzk,
j. and I understand that she had docu
IN r4entary evidence of his guilt. 70
a know Trotzky was driven from Eng