The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-25

had his female counterpart in tWen- ty-four year old Dora Charlton, the beautiful American girl-spy who has just committed suicide in Turin af- ter being arrested by the Italian po- lice All who came into contact with this amazing woman agree that she had the power to fascinate men of the most diverse characters, and if she did not destroy her victims in the same manner as Landru destroy ed his, she certainly sent many Of them to a. certain death and involved others in the ruin.
 Beyond the fact that Dora was an American with much of the charm and more of the go-aheadness of her race, little Is known of her before her appearance on the scene at Rome in the carly days of the war when Italy was still debating the question of entry on the side of the Entente She was supposed to be in Italy for the good of her health, but she man. aged to give a great deal of time to certain functions and at these gath erings she made the acquaintance of many persons of note in the military and diplomatic sets at Rome From the first she was great social suc- cess and everybody talked of the beautiful and bewitching young Am erican girl.
 Officers Evil Genius
 She was & favorite with army offic- CTS in particular, and when war was declared by Italy she seemed to be at the height of her social power She was more than ever in the company of Italian officers. Soon the capital began to fill with British and French naval and military officers, and later at Torino allied airmen made their appearance. Among these men the bewitching American girl made many fresh conquests, and she was to be seen nightly in the company of some of the most highly placed men In the French and British Military Mis- sions in Italy. Such was her hold over her male victims that quarrelS were frequent, but in spite of every thing Miss Charlton seems 10 nave been able to convince each of her admirers in turn that he alone was the favored swain.
 No one suspected for a moment that in this woman with many lovers Ger many had one of the most dangerous spies then on the European contin- ent. At one time she was carrying on lfaisons with officers belonging to the Italian, French and British forces, and she appears to have had amaz- ing success in extracting information from these men.
 It was from a young British officer that she obtained particulars of the new type of aerop1ane that the Al lies were preparing to put in the field in 1915, and thanks to that fn- format ton the Germans were able to go one better, and produce new aeroplane that for fighting power and speed was far ahead of anything the Allies had. Too late this young ster discovered that he had been trapped into betraying a, valuable se- cret, but he never for a moment be- lieved that 1t was this beautiful wom- an who had been his evil genius.
 Together they agreed to die, after she had convinced him that it was some one else who had been guilty of treachery. It was decided that they should both take poison on certain night in the early part of 1916. The young British officer was found dead at his quarters in Rome, but the woman was still alive to car ry on her devilish worK.
 Victim of a Judicial Murder
 "The most beautiful and most be- widening devil I have ever met" was how another of her victims described her. and the description was well IHcGlleu- w illie OlIACeI with whom she hsd played so shame fully was being carried to a suicides grave this woman was posing a friend of the Allies, and denouncing as a traitor an obscure French off cer whom she had first of all tried to corrupt. Strange as 1t may seem her denunciation was believed, such was her influence in high places, and this unfortunate man was shot as a traitor to France.
 New facts that have come into the possession of the Italian Secret Ser vice suggest that this man was the victim of judicial murder of a par ticularly cruel kind, and one of the matters to be gone into in the in quiry by the Italian authorities is the responsibility for the condemnation of this officer. The strange thing is that the French government made no effort to save him, but left him to be dealt with by the Italians, who condemned him on the perjured evil dence of Dora Charlton and her friends.
 The next event of importance in the career of this terrible woman is in connection with the great disas- ted of Caporetto. There is not the least doubt that she 1t was who sup piled the Standardization command with the secrets of the Allied posi- tions in Italy that enabled the disas- trous blow to be struck at the mo- ment when Italy was least prepared for it. She wormed the secrets out of officers whom she had fascinated, and some of these unfortunate men perished in the crovning disaster of Caporetto, victims of this terrible woman as much as any of the women who perished at the hands of the French Bluebeard.
 The truth about the perffdy of this woman was discovered not in Rome. but in Berlin, and it was sent to the Allied government, who had inquir- ies made, and satisfied themselves that there was no doubt she had been carrying on her nefarious work from the early days of the war. Orders for her arrest were issued the other day, but from some of her associates she seems to have received timely warning. She fled, and was follow l ed to Turin. where she committed sui