Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1920-11-17
WOMEN SPIES
ARE Selfish
Betray Their Friends for Money
Rather Than for Patriotic
Motives.
WAS DISTANT KIN OF KAISER
Nine. Victoria In German Secret Po-
lice EmpIoy-Turkish Spy Kills
~ Self at Ellis Island to Avoid
: Deportation.

? New forK!-That little romance sur
rounded the women spies In the world
war rs shown by intimate bits of his
tory Of the more prominent women
who risked, and lost, their lives to
gain information. Money alone seems
to have been the impelling power in
the lives of these women, rather than
any heroic motive or patriotic desires.
Nine. Marie X. de Victoria, who died
Of pneumonia in New York city re-
Gently in private sanitarium, was
one Of the most mysterious figures
who arose out Of the maze of intrigue
unearthed by American secret service
agents in their delvings into the plots
Of Count Won Bernstorff. She was ar
rested in 1918 and in May, 1919 told
Q United States judge and jury what
she asserted was the true story of her
life.
Life Filled With Adventure.
1t had lasted only 40 years, but In 1t
were crowded thrills, intrigues and
hairbreadth escapes almost number
less. The indictments against her
were never pressed to trial. due to her
iii health. A distant relative of the
former German kaiser she drew a sal
airy of $1,000 a month as a spy and
lived In luxury.
Mournful was the funeral Of the
turkish spy" Nine. Despina Davido-
witch Storch, famous for her beauty
and for the diplomatic intrigues of her
Life, which lasted only % years. She
died in prison on Ellis island, the Of
6cials believing that she took poison
rather than be returned to France.
Only three mourners accompanied
her body to Mount Olivet cemetery.
They were the young Baron de Beville
and his aged father and mother. The
young Frenchman, whose infatuatioD
for the beautiful Turk entangled him
in the web of her intrigues, made all
the arrangements for her costly flu
neral. Despina was married to an
Englishman, James Hasketh, in 1918,
but she left him to take up her life of
adventure, and soon was numbered on
the German pay roll.
Her beauty and wit enabled her to
ensnare many officers, from whom she
learned military plans which were OF
value to the German war ministry. The
department of justice has many Of her
love letters, but the real secrets Of her
life were buried with her.
Mata Harris Dramatic End.
in the season of 1860 an exotic dan
Ger, Nata Hari, made a spectacular
debut in Partisan circles. The little
japanese dancer entranced all by her
graceful dancing and her charming
personality. On October IS, 1917, Mata
Hari faced firing squad at dawn In
q French prison yard. They fred and
she fell face forward, dead.
The real name of the woman was
Marguerite Gertrude Zelle, who had
been convicted Of treason. She was
arrested in Paris, February 10, 1917,
and II was proved beyond doubt that
she was a trusted agent Of the Ger.
man special police and had acted for
them for decade before the war. She
was known in Berlin by number and
for years had furnished them with
valuable information Of French mil
itary plans and equipment.
In 1914, shortly after Germany had
invaded Belgium, Marguerite Zelle left
Paris for Switzerland, which she said
was her native country. She returned
after a mysterious visit which aroused
the suspicious of the French secret
police and thereafter her activities
were directly for officers IN the Ger
man army, with whom she commune
Gated and from whom she received
large sums OF money. To them she
sent information on the construction
Of the British tasks and the infOrma.
ton was intercepted and traced to
her.
Mata, on being arrested and con
fined in fortress IN Paris, made nc
denial but stated THAI her father had
been a German officer and that what
she had done had been for the father.
land. This was false, for 1t was proved
that she was not of German origin
But had played the role of spy simply
for she money she had received.
Human Chain Saves Girl