Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-02-19
Tricks of the Prussians.

ihS WhofS story VI tne dCtlVtleS OF
the German spy system in the United
States will never be written, but many
interesting facts have already appear
ed in print and many more will soor
be told, for there is no longer any
urgent reason for concealing the ex-
cellent work OF our own secret service
in checkmating the moves OF the
enemy at home.
Early in the war it became apparen
that there were German operators a
certain commercial wireless stations
who were dispatching communications
to Berlin and to the raiders. Inter-
spersed in commercial messages, says
that interesting book, The German
Secret Service in America, the agents
OF the enemy sprinkled code phrases
words, numbers-a meaningless and
apparently innocent jargon. There
were Americans shrewd enough, how.
ever, to become suspicious of this
specifically careless sending, and
their suspicious were confirmed
through the invention of another
shrewd American, Charles E. Apgar
He combined the principles OF the
monograph and the wireless in such
way as to record on a wax disc the
dots and the dashes of the message
precisely as it came through the re-
ceiver The records could be studied
and analysed at leisure.
At three O'Clock every morning the
great wireless station at Nauen, near
Berlin, uttered a hash of language
into the ether. 1t was apparently not
directed to anyone in particular, nor
did it contain any known conference
Unless the operator in America wore
DeForest audian detector, which
picks up waves from a great distance
he could not hear it, and certainly dur
ing the early part of the war he paid
no attention to it, The United States
decided, however, that it might be well
10 eavesdrop, and so for more than
two years every utterance from Nauen
was transcribed and filed away. or
run of on the phonograph, in the hopo
mat repetition might reveal the code
Until the code was discovered else.
where, the Photographic records told
no tales, but then the State DEPART
ment found that it had a priceless H.
brary Of Prussian secrets.
The diDlOyn rio coJa ,,,.. =.
tionary, the pages of which were
designated by serial letters and the
words by serial NUMBERS. Thus The
message "12-B-15-C-7" sipnifed the
twelfth and fifteenth words on the
third page. The dictionary wos one
OF rare edition.
10 complement the diplomatic code
the Deutshes Bank, the German for.
eign Office and their commercial rep.
resentatives, Hugo Schnud. and Or
Albert, had agreed upon an arbitrary
code that proved to be one Of tine mos,
difficult that the American authorities
nave ever had to decipher.
Simple phrases, such as mich,
readily pass any censor without arous.
ing suspicion, passed frequently
through the Sayville station. The mes.
sage Expect father Tomorrow
meant 1.-The political situation be.
tween America and Germany grows
worse 1t is imperative that you take
care OF your New York affairs" De-
pot' meant Securities; "Depo,
Pritchard" meant "Securities to be
held in Germany; "Depot Cooper
meant Securities to be forwarded &c
some neutral country in Europe >
Schmidt himself had the following
aliases: John Maley, Roy Wooden, Sid
ney Pickford, George Brewster, IFS
Congress Street. Brooklyn, lanes
Frasier, or Andrew Brodie. Dr. AL.
bert was mentioned as John Herbin.
sen, Howard Ackley, Leonard Hadder
or Donald Yerkes. James w. Gerard
the American ambassador at Berlin
was Wilbur Mcdonald. America was
Fremessi or Alfred Lipton. The
phrase Hughes recovered" was trans.
iataoie as agreed" whereas "Percy
died" meant disagreed"
The chief significance OF the dis.
covery Of the two codes is the con.
elusive proof that, while Bernstorf
was protesting to the American gov.
ernment that he could not get mes.
sages through to Berlin or replies
from the foreign Office, he was actual.
~ In daily, if not hourly, communica.