The Wisconsin weekly blade. [volume] (Madison, Wis.) 1916-1925, 1920-01-15

Development of Secret Code Devices
Renders This Country Well Nigh in
vulnerable in Event of Our Ever Be-
coming Involved in Another War
Has System Of Code Transm ission
Which Can Defy All Experts in the
World
When Nine Marie X. de Victorica.
daughter of the Prussian general to
whom Marshal Bazaine handed his
sword in 1870 at the surrender of
Metz, set out from the Wilhemstrasse
to conduct an espionage campaign in
America during the recent war, two
silk muflers We're an important part
of her equipment.
OF her equipment, not Of her ward
robe!
For the muflers were impregnated
with secret ink chemical, So that
when she saturated them in water and
Wrun. them out she obtained the need
cd invisible" dujd for her code mes
sases - Germany. BY dissolyins in
vinegar iodine tablets manufactured
by British chemists, secret agents in
Berlin set up the necessary reaction
TO make the writing visible
Nine. de Victorica, you perceive,
was au old-fashioned spy, product
and tool Of old-world diplomacy and
duplcity, the New York Times ex-
plains. So-called invisible ink is one
of the oldest tricks OF the trade. 4
close mouth is one of the personal re-
quirements, too, and however well the
madame may have been provided with
silk muffierS, She was wOefully def
cient in vocal muf1ers. She talked too
much. and in Consequence of her indis-
Greet bOasting Oh the steamship which
bore her to this country watch was
set on her which baked most Of her
spying and ultimately brought arrest.
Tricks of the Modern Spy.
The modern spy, as evolved from
the world war differed as widely from
Nine de Nictorica and her secret ink
as the Woolworth building differs
from the Pyramids, to which time Sc
Nltl lin BiObobAH btiOhSSs ~ NS~b
code, TO be sure, but it was the kind
of code which would have robbed Ed
gar Allan Poe of picturesque part of
his reputation had ii been in use in
his day, for it was transmitted not by
ink but by electricity, and 1t was so
ingenious that even the operator send
Ing the message could not possibly
decipher 1t.
That statement is made on the au-
thority of Maj. f. Alexander Powell,
who is entitled to write an imposing
string of letters after his name, but
who uses his military title in signing
his latest book, "The Army Behind
the Army" about to be published by
Charles Scrbners Sons. He takes d
casual and somewhat cOntemptuous
glance at Mrne. De VictOrica and her
ink, for he is much more interested in
the unasSuming and undisguised mod
ern detective spy partly because when
he entered the war he was one of the
four officers in the military intelli-
gence division (the army secret serv-
ice) and he cheats the censorship 10
the extent Of telling some new facts
about It's work.
Nine De NictOrica, II may be said in
passing, was a kinswOman of the kai.
serin, and had received a high educa-
| ton in German universities. She
spoke four languages, had worked as
d German spy and propagandist in
! South America and other countries
and had been thrice married. Her last
! husband was a South American, who
died suddenly soon after the marriage
| Her first husband was Prof. Otto Eek
mann of Heidelberg university. Her
| German title was the Baroness Maria
| Kretschmann. She used various
aliases, among them Mile. Marie de
VesSiere, and Frau Maria Kretsch-
! mann.
Secret Code Devices.
Perhaps no revelation Major Powell
makes is more interesting than that
about the secret code devices. II am
! not permitting myself to indulge in the
| slightest exaggeration." he writes,
"when / assert that these devices place
| in the hands Of the United States
weapons which would render this
country wellnigh invulnerable in the
| event Of our ever becoming involved in
| another war" And later he adds that
"as universal peace is not yet in sight,
| even with the aid Of a telescope, and
| as this invention would prove Of in
calculable benefit to the United States
! In the event of our becoming again in
volved in war IL IS obviously out OF
! the question TO discuss the principle
on which il is based. much less the de-
tails Of its construction and operation.
II is enough 70 say that this nation is
now the poss assOr Of a system Of code
! Transmission which can defy all the
experts in the world, a message sent
by its means being absolutely unde-
cipherable by the inventor himself.
Possibly there is a clue to the secret
In Major Powells description Of an
other invention, unSuccessfully tried
our before the successful device was
found by the American Telephone and
Telegraph company. He says:
Confusing the Enemy.
Another system had as its basic
principle the breabine no of the groups
OF Morse dots and dashes which rep
resented the letters Of the message
and routing these mangieG fragments
over widely separated wires 10 The re