The Washington times., 1918-12-13

me 9franger9 nat ana Dgercoob
lay on a chair. The hat was from
scotts, there was nothing except .
pair Of leather gloves in the over
coat pockets.
A bag. in size something between
small klt-bag and q large hand
bag. stood open on the table. It
contained n few toilet neeessaries. q
pair OF paJamas, . clean shirt, q pair
Of slippers, nothing Of inn
portance and not . scrap Of paper
OF any kind.
went through everything again.
looked in the sponge bag, opened
the safety razor case. shook out the
shirt, and finally took everything
out OF the bag and stacked the
things on the table.
At the bottom OF the bag I made
q strange discovery. The interior OF
the, bag was fitted with that thin
yellow canvas-like material with
which nearly all cheap bags, like
this one was. are lined. At the bot
tom Of the bag an oblong tpiece OF
the lining had apparently been torn
clean out The leather Of the bag
showed through the slit. Yet the
lining round the edges Of the gap
showed no fraying, no trace OF
rough usage. On the contrary, the
edges were pasted neatly down on
the leather.
lifted the bag and examined It
As did so / saw lying on the table
beside It an oblong piece OF yellow
canvas I picked IL up and found
the under side stained with paste
and the brown OF the leather.
1t was the missing piece OF lining
and It was stiff with something that
crackled inside II.
slit the piece OF canvas mp one
side with my 0enknife. It con-
tanned three long fragments Of
paper. a thick, expensive. highly
glazed paper. Top. bottom and
left-hsnd side Of each was trim
and glossy, the fourth side showed
q broken edge as though II had been
roughly cut with knife. The three
slips OF paper were the halves Of
the three quarto sheets OF writing,
torn in two, lengthwise. from top to
bottom.
At the top of each slip was part OF
some kind Of crest Of gold, what. 10
was not possible to determine. for
the crest had been in the center OF
the sheet and the cut had gone right
through 81.
The letter was written in English
but the name OF the recipient as also
the date was on the missing half.
? Somewhere An The silence a the
might I heard q door bang. I
thrust the slips OF paper IN their
canvas covering into my trousers
pocket. =
must not be found in that room
With trembling hands I started 10
put the things back in the bag
Those slips of paper, reflected as
I worked. at least rent the veil OF
mystery enveloping the corpse that
lay stiTening in the next room
This, at any rate, was certain:
German or American or hyphenate.
Henry Semlin, manufacturer and
spy. had voyaged from America to /
England not for the purposes Of
trade but to get hold Of that mutt
lated document now reposinG IN my
pocket. Why he had only got half
the letter and what had happened to
the other half was more than I
could say II sufficed for
me to know that its Importance to
somebody was sufficient to warrant
journey on its behalf from one
side to the other OF the Atlantic.
As I opened the bag my fingers
encountered a hard substance, as OF
metal, embedded in the slack Of the
lining in the joints OF the mouth
At first thought II was coin. then
I felt some kind OF clasp or fasten-
ing behind II and IL seemed to be .
brooch. Out came my pocket knife
Ii
star, about as big as q regimentaI
canvas. It bore an inscription In
stencIled letters I read:
O. C
Abr. VII.
Here was DR.. Semlin's real visit
ing card.
held in my hand . badge OF the
German secret police
You cannot penetrate far behind
the scenes in Germany without COM
ing across the traces OF section
seven Of the Berlin police presi-
dency, the section that is known
as that of the poll
teal police. Ostensibly It attends TO
the safety OF the monarch, and OF
personages generally,
and the numerous suite that used to
the Kaiser on his visits
to England invariably included two
or three top-hatted representatives
OF the section
The ramifcatiors OF Abteffung
Sieben are, in reality, much wider.
It does such work in connection
with the newspapers as Is even too
dirty for the German Foreign Office
to touch, comprising everything
from the launching OF personal at
tacks in obscure blackmailinE
sheets against Inconvcnient politi-
clans to the escortinG OF unpleas-
antly truthful correspondents to the
frontier.
She leant forward, and I was an
but stifed with the stale odor Of