Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-30
SEVEN HUN SPIES SHOT
IN WAR BY BRITISH
Another Was Hanged and Many
Are Doing Long Terms
in Prison.

London. Jan. 20-In the possession of
| a sergeant-major of the British Mill
| tary Foot Police is peculiarly made
| leather strap-Or, rather. series of
straps-for which Madame Tussaud s
doubtless would pay n large sum OF
| money.
II is the strap with which German
spies caught in this country and con-
demned 10 death were fastened III a
special chair 1T the Tower of London
prior t0 being shot. Like wise man,
the sergeant major had the strap made
To his own design and paid for IL with
his own money 1t Is to him a price
less relic Of the great war.
Germanys vaunted spy system, like
the overboomed German navy, hardly
| realized expectations. There were. it
is true, a great many spies in England
both before and after the war, acting
on the behalf Of the Kaiser. Most of them
| were neutrals. and came originally from
South American States.
The British secret service reaembled
its magnificent navy II did its wors
silently and effectively, and the nec-
| cssary rcticence observed rs tn its do
nes contributed very materially 70 the
discontinue felt by the German Govern
| mcnt owing to the misleading informa-
tion VIII ch fell INTO German hands.
MYTHICAL uhRRtGE ~ cHANNFL.
A a matter of fact, the Naval Intel
Rcnce Department, under Rear Admiral
Hall, acting IN conjunction with the
ccnsor's department provided false IN
formation 20 the Germans. an instance
being the mythical Strait Of Dover
submarine harragc revealed by Sir Roger
keyes
Nearly all Gcrmany's spies in tins
country attempted TO forward their m
formation by post But thanks 10 the
asfutcncss Of the censors stay il WAS
rarely these letters, even although writ
ten in invisible ink, went undctected
All spies were not arrested lnmedi-
atcly they were detected The British
secret service. eyer conSideratc. allowed
them to send and receive letters and
collect information. but il reserved the
privilege of opening the correspond
ence both WAYS and making alterations
likely to be of more use 10 the Allies than
10 Germany.
1t IS difficult to estimate the value of
the information obtained by this method.
The Hun. with his profound disrespect
for the british, probably never will believe
that Britain could be guilty of such
astuteness.
1t is certain that Germany obtained
very little that was useful from her
spies in England From the outbreak Of
wal the ports were too carefully watched
to permit OF much leakage The Wild
stories of wireless telegraphy and signal
ing to sea had little or no substance
III fact the risks OF detection were too
great.
Up and down the east and southwest
coasts of England were, however, many
"hydros, palatial hotels. built right on
the sea, with larger copper domes twink
ling brightly tor many miles out at SEA.
And the manager Was often German.
light German spies were executed IN
this country. while many mole are un-
dergOlng long terms of penal servtude.
For obvious reasons the names of many
never were revealed. The imperial Gov
eminent continued to communicate with
them blissfully unaware that their agents
had gone TO bourne from which not
even German spy returns. The British
secret service kindly acted as the spy 5
deputy.
The execution of these spies is nat
urally an unpleasant subject, but none
the less interesting. After the secret
trial and condemnation to death the spy
was taken TO the Tower, there to await
the dread summons III the early hours
of the morning. Taken from his cell
by a party of military police the spy
was strapped to a chair IN q quadrangle
of the Tower There, facing him, about
ten spaces distant, WAS firing party,
usually eight men, from the battalion of
guards on duty at the time
The preliminaries were soon arranged
The spy was placed IN the chair and his
body and limbs were tightly strapped to
it Then his chest was barred TO receive
the bullets of the English men whose
country he had wronged
That was his last look at the world.
\ handkerchief was tightly bound around
his eyez by the sergeant-malor of the
military police The firing party, lean
ing on their rifles stood up and brought
them up to the aim as the sergeant
major sto d clear. A low instruction
from the officer In command to aim at
the heart, sharp order "tiret' burst
of flame, and the crack of eight rifles
had ended the career of another ut Ger
many's tools
Some of the spies stood their execution
stoically; others again made IA last de
spairing fight and went to their death
shrelking and curslng their Maker. Tine
OF these latter was man named Muller,
who was arrested while acting as a waiter
IN hotel ut Blaekpool. During his
incarceration in the Tower Muller broke
down completely and was carried out
struggling and shouting, cursing himself
for his stupidity aud reyiling the grim
little party in the quadrangle
One spy was hanged at Norwood
Scrubs Prison, seven were shot. The
hanging cost about SlO0, and coming
To the conclusion that it would be just
as effective TO say nothing OF considerably
cheaper, it was decided 10 shoot all spies
at the Tower. Eight cartridges at three
cents each was a much more appropriate
valuation Of German
OF the female spies much doubtless
will be written by fiction writers of the
future. Like the men, they succeeded IN
getting comparatively little information
of value out OF the country. Most of
them, neither young nor beautiful like
the spy Of the story writer, are langulsh
ing behind prison walls and viii remain
there for some years to come. British
chivalry forbade their execution.