The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-01-10
HUN AGENTS ACTIVE IN ISLE OF
 WIGHT LONG BEFORE TIE WAR
Spies and German Agents Planned to Lombard Ports mouth From This Landing Point, and Extensive Pre- parations Were Made to Turn the Island Into Base for Submarines and German Raids

London, Jan. 10.-(Correspondence of the Associated Press)-Secrets of the war work of the British Secret Service now revealed show that Ger man spies or agents of the German government were making active preparations even before the begin- ming of hostilities, to use the Isle Of Wight as a landing place for Ger man forces and for the lombard ment of Portsmouth. One of the first precautions taken in August, 1914, was to place close restrictions on persons trying to land upon or leave the island. From Harwich to Hampshire, along the south and southeast coasts of England, nests of German spies and agents were en- gagged in desperate missions in the early days of the war. One of the urgent tasks of the British Secret Service was to stamp out the opera tiOns of these men.
 For a long time the authorities were unable to discover the origin of Morse signals that were being flashed cut to German submarines from the seafront at Pevensey. Special watch was kept on a certain cottage and, although no lights were shown, the patient observers finally solved the mystery. They learned that after d,usk several persons near an upper window manipulated what appeared to be the dial of an ordinary clock. A raid on the cottage disclosed that the. clock dial was fitted with a dark prism. By focusing the prism on the strong headlight of a fishing | smack anchored off shore it was pos sibIe to send forth signal flashes These flashes were not visible to a person standing on the beach, but | out in the channel they could be read easily.
 Between the coast and Tunbridge Wells, which was the headquarters l Of g. British army corps, a band of gypsies made the rounds of villages ] LII disturbed until an officer made the | significant discovery that none of them could converse in Romany, the gypsy tongue. Investigation by Se- | cret Service men proved conclusively l that the masqueraders while pre- | tending to trade with the country folk and tell fortunes secured im- portant information as to the movB- ments of troops in the southern com- rnand. Prompt and drastic action | followed these revelations.
 | At the beginning of the war nu- 1 merous instances came to light of aliens attempting to enlist under l false pretenses. If the recruiting of dcers were dissatisfied with a mans | appearance or accent, he was taken aside and the oath was administered 1 to him separately. It is practically l impossible for a foreigner to repeat l the unusual phrasing of the oath 1 without betraying his origin. and in
 that way many dangerous spies were
 captured.
 About Christmas, 1914, a foreign
 diplomat in London received an
 anonymous gift of pate de foie gras. 1 Suspicion was aroused and analysis 1 showed the presence of a deadly poi
 son. Secret Service agents were call
 ed in and they proceeded to work on
 the theory that the pate de foie gras
 had come from one of three aliens
 then under surveillance. According.
 ly, to each of them was sent anony-
 nously 8 can of fote gras exactly
 similar in appearance to the car
 containing the poisoned stuff. The landlady of one of the trit
 opened and served 1t for his supper
 and 1t was not until late in the sgen.
 ing that she told him that the car
 had been addressed to him. Think.
 ing that he had eaten his own poi,
 son, the man actually became il. H
 was promptly arrested.