El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-03-16
PAPER
EVADE5 GERMANS
Publication of Mystery
Continues to Appear, Re
CARELESS of Spies.
Hy JOHN IIOYD BAIDERsTON,

]
one newspaper in the world that has
an aerial supplement Copies Of the
/ supplement dribble down from the
skies. the paper itself issues from the
I bowels Of the earth German secret
agents and soldiers rush about fran
! ticalIy all over Belgium, but they
are able neither to arrest the editors
and printers Of ia Libre Belgique"
Free Belgium"-nor to stop its
circulation. nor TO prevent the aerial
| supplement, nor to prevent the aerial
aeroplanes. from reaching thousands
OF undaunted Belgians who brave the
savage penalty imposed II they are
caught with a copy
Free Belgium" first appeared on
February /, 1915, and 1t hrs been com
ing out ever since The aerial sup
plement" mostly written by contrib
I utors TO the paper who have snug
gled themselves across the frontier
and reached allied countries has
been dropped BY airmen at intervals
for eighteen months. Both the paper
itself and the supplement appear
regularly irregularly," as the title
page Of Free Belgium" announces
PrOpaEandists as Spies.
The German government now de-
clares that any allied aviator drop
ping propaganda matter in occupied
or German territory viii be shot as
a spy If caught Savage sentences
OF Imprisonment have already been
imposed on airmen for scattering
pamphlets, instead Of bombs, which
the enemy fears less These threats
I am assured will not put an end to
the aerial supplement" Just as the
death penalty would fail to deter the
editors in Belgium from continuing
their daring enterprise.
When an allied plane scattered the
dreaded leaflets over the Antwerp
and St. Nicholas region, German cav
airy patrols were sent out, and the
Uhlans for days searched the coun-
tryside, picking up stray copies, ar
resting all the peasants whom they
suspected might have found one
Nevertheless. patriots got some, they
were reproduced by typewriting or
Monograph process, and circulated
all over the country.
On another occasion two airmen
volplaned down over Brussels and
showered crowds in the Grand Place
and near the Porte de Namur Brus-
sells with aerial supplements" or
Free Belgium"
The Seez.iagIy Impossible.
But the romance OF Free Belgium" ]
Is in the paper itself written, printed ]
and distributed IN Belgium, and not
in the air supplement The latter is I
comparatively easy TO circulate. BuL Z
TO publish a paper for three years /
IN a small country under military /
occupation, without getting caught. z
when every day hOrdes OF secret ]
agents have been hunting for you, |
and when a standing rev ard OF S15,-
600 has been offered for Information /
leading to the arrest Of anyone con- !
cerned IN the enterprise, would ap- /
pear impossible II il had not been
accomplished
Something like ten thousand copies /
are distributed through Belgium /
How is Il done2 Where IS the paper l
printed2 Who writes for it, The
answers to all these questions cannot /
be given in detail until after the
war.
The circulation department has It's
troubles On one occasion Free Bel
gium" appeared very late. II col-
tanned the following EDITORIAL The
present number is delayed in publica-i
ton The reason is that We had to !
reprint It. La Libre Belgique en-
countered the enemy. II threw itself I
into the water, TO escape by swim
ming, and was drowned"
Given German Officials.
Free Belgium" appears on the day
Of publication laid out on the desks
OF all the high German officials in
the country It is especially a point
office OF the governor general The
lite Won Kissing, the Belgians say,
died Of rage, because he found the
paper regularly on his desk. often
with savage cartoons Of himself
staring at him from the first page
and all his searches and traps were
Of no avail
The system OF circulation mini
mics the chances OF treachery or
indiscredon- Three or four Of the
Belgtans know their names, the secret
has never been betrayed-take sew
eral thousand copies each after the
paper leaves the printing press,
which, Free Belgium announces. as
in an automobile" These
are undivided Into packets OF a few
hundred each and sent over the
country, one packet to e-ch locality,
concealed in the market baskets Of
peasants or artfully hid inside clothes.
When the packet reaches the local
agent ne IN turn divides II into
smaller packages, which are distrib-
ance.
Sometimes packages Of the paper.
no matter how carefully camouflaged
are seized. But the man in whose
house they are captured, never knows
where they came from. Not even
torture, should the Germans employ
IT, could wrest from his lips a secret
ne uOes not possess. ana so Free
Belgium" nourishes
Taunts the Germans.
IN a taunt addressed 70 the German
governor in its hundredth issue,
Free Belgium" said: "As for XIII
Ing La Libre BelgiQue. do not count
upon It It is impossible. Il Is IN
seizable. because Il is nowhere It
Is a will-O'-the-Wisp, which issues
from the graves OF those whom your
country massacred IN LOuvain. Ia
mines, and Dinnnt. and which is pur-
suing you. But it IS also a will-o'-
-he-wisp that comes forth from the
graves Of the German soldiers who
ell at Liege, at Walhaem. on the
User. Finally. il is the voice OF an
the mothers, the voice OF all the
Widows and orphans who are mourn
ng those they have lost. This voice
daily gaining power; its echoes
Ire heard over all our provinces and
each beyond our frontiers. II will .
De- silent only when the last of your
soldiers and your policemen have
leased to Cypress our invaded soil in
iefiance OF all justice.-Copyright
,slS, by Mcclure Newspaper Syn
Iicate.