The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1919-01-08
GERMAN SPIES
PRIOR TO WAR
Were Making Preparations To Use
The Isle OF Wight As Landing
Place


work of the British Secret Service
now revealed show that German spies
or agents of the German government
were making active preparations, even
before the beginning of hostilities, 10
use the Isle of Wight as landing
place for German forces and for the
hcmbardment of Portsmouth. One OF
the first precautions taken in Aug
ust, 1914, was toplace close restric-
tlans on persons trying to land upon
or leave the island From Harwick
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 mr.
gent tasks Of the British Secret Ser
vice was to stamp out the operations
Of these men.
For long time the authorities
were unable to discover the origin of
Morse signals that were being flash
ed out to German submarines from
the seafront at Pevensey Special
watch was kept on certain cottage
and, although no lights were shown,
the patient observers finally solved
the mystery They learned that after
dusk several persons near an upper
window manipulated what appeared
TO be the dial Of an ordinary clock,
A raid on the cottage disclosed thar
the clock dial was fitted with a dark
prism. BY focusing the prism on the
strong headlight of fishing smack
anchored off shore it was possible 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 of
a British army corps, a band of gyp-
sizes made the rounds of villages I'M
disturbed until an officers made the
significant discovery that none Of
them could converse in Romany, the
gypsy tongue. Investigation by Se- !
cret Service men proved conclusively |
that the masqueraders while pretend
ing to trade with the country folk AMI
tell fortunes secured important infor- /
nation as to the movements Of troops
in the Southern command, Prompt I
and drastic action followed these rev
elations.
At the beginning of the war num-
erous instances came to light Of aliens
attempting to enlist under false pre-
lenses. If the recruiting officers were
dissatisfied with a mans appearance
or accent, he was taken aside and the
oath was administered to him separ
ately. 1t is practically impossible for
a foreigner to repeat the usual phras-
ing Of the oath without betraying his
origin, and in that way many danger
GUS spies were captured,
About Christmas, 1914, a foreign di-
plomat in London received an anony-
nous gift of pate de foie gras, Sus-
picion was aroused and analysis /
showed the presence Of deadly pols-
on. 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 T
then under surveillance. Accordingly, |
to each of them was sent anonymous
ly can of fote gras exactly I
similar in appearance to thescan CON
tanning the poisoned stuff.
The landlady of one Of the trio OPP
ened and served it for his supper and
it was not until late in the evening
that she told him that the can had |
been addressed to him. Thinking that
he had eaten his own poison, the man
actually became i'll. He was prompt
ly arrested