The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-03-11
HOLLAND HOUSED
10000 HUN SPIES
Placed There to Keep in Touch
With Britain.
Use DUTCHMEN AS COURIERS

USc DUIIlMMtN Al GUUkIEkS
Carry Messages to Enemy Agents In
EnoIand-Loose Passport System
Made Things Easyat First-some Of
the Spies Were Highly Educated
Men, Others Were Mere shadowers
and Touts-Danoerous Band Broken.
There were 10000 known German
agents In Holland during the war. A
Dutch police inspector explained to
the New York Sun that to expel them
would simply mean that their places
would be taken by other and unknown
agents.
They drifted into Holland on vari-
Gus pretexts. Some were highly edu-
Gated men, capable Of moving in the
best society; others were mere shad-
overs and touts. They took up all
sorts Of positions The case Of the
porter at the Hotel des Indies, the
Waldorf-Astoria of The Hague, who
proved to be brother Of the then
German ambassador at Constantinople,
is already known. But that is only
one Of hundreds of similar incidents.
The chief task Of this army Of men
was Of course to keep In touch with
Great Britain. In the early days OF
the war there was no more difficulty
In thjc thon ~ fhorn
British passports in those days were
not worth the paper on which they
were produced.
A young journalist who was in Hol-
land but had no passport got one from
the local Consul Ia Dutchman Of
course) simply on the production Of a
letter from home. Later on 1t was
rendered very difficult to get British
passport, but curiously enough the pre-
vious issues Of useless paper were not
withdrawn until the war had been in
progress for thsee full years. It need
hardly be said that the German secret
service made good use of the careless
ness.
@&~N W SV-SF~S 0ssVsss
Again the spies benefited from the
lack Of cooperation between the diff
ferent British departments. Thus in
one large town the British community
was unofflcially warned against patron
izing a certain music dealer, who was
known German agent. Yet that man
was one of the few Dutch music deal
ers who had license for the import
of British music. ,-.. AZ.
Dutchmen were largely used as cou-
riers between the German agents in
Holland and the spies in Britain. Loose
women and night clubs were employed
as means Of ensnaring young men
for this purpose.
Another aspect of the activities of
these human moles was that of gather ="
ing information in Holland. The Or
ganiZatiOn behind them was marvellous.
Enormous prices were paid to Dutch
telegraphers for copies Of entente
code wires passing between the Legal
tons and Downing street or the Quay
dOrsay. So rampant did this evil be-
come that the Dutch authorities had
to sinsist on each operator submitting
tn search before going on duty and
again afterward.
Photography was used to an extraOr-
binary extent. Passengers boarding
the boats for England were snap
shOtted and the photos all carefully
filed. Photography was chiefly used to
ensnare possible victims On one occa-
sion French attache. riding In the
woods near Wassenaar encountered q
lady who had. been thrown from her
horse. With the gallantry of his race,
he went to her assistance. A few days
later he was confronted with photo
graphs Of himself kneeling beside the
"injured' lady. He was told that the
lady was not injured at all, and would
tell her own story.
Dangerous Band Broken Up.
With the threat of exposure as q
lever. great effort was made to turn
him into traitor. Fortunately. he
acted promptly and with courage, and
IN consequence dangerous band was
broken up. This was by no means an
solated instance.
One characteristic of Teutonic meth
IDS was the adoption Of great precau-
ions to get the odium, IN the event Of
discovery, thrown on Britain. On one
occasion an English" yacht manned
" "Englishmen," was found strand
ID in forbidden waters near the mouth
# the Scheldt. The yacht was seized
md the crew arrested. On board was
ound fairly complete plan Of the
Dutch mine field protecting the mouth
+ the Scheldt. The odium was thus
brown on Britain. Happily, a few
lays later the plot was discovered and
he dO-Englishmen found to be
'eutons from Hamburg.
Finally, an instance may be given of
low the practice Of spying has been
ngrained In the German people. A
butch family living at HARLEM had
herman boy Of eleven staying with
hem in the summer of 1917. They