New-York tribune., 1920-02-22
Night Watchman Nearly
Caught Men at Work

Instead Of trying to remove the seals
and unwind tho tape, they removed the
little invisible cottcr- pin which held
the grip part of each handle in place.
Then the whole mass of tape could be
! slipped right over the knob of the
handle.
The handles showed slight blemishes
where tho pins had been removed, but
this was quickly remedicd simply by
polishing the abrasion in the nickel
plating and applying a little nickel
| plating solution.
The job of opening the safe, remov-
ing the contents and restoring the safe
to its previous condition occupied tho
five men from about II O'Clock at night
until toward daylight. It was many
days before they dared return to con-
tinue their search. While the nature
of the papers in this safe was disap-
pointing, the Germans. with typical
German inefflciency, had left in the
exactly the same kind that they had
used in sealing up the drawers Of the
metal filing cases. The possession Of
these seals greatly simplifed the Job
OF opening those drawers later on.
On certain night while the Amer.
cans were at work on these files, a man,
now supposed to have been the night
watchman, came along and nearly
stumbled upon them. One of the five
men had established himself as look
out in public washroom down the
corridor, few PAGES from the outer
Qoor oh the consulate.
Man on Guard Gives
Warning of Danger
1t was arranged that if danger should
threaten he would walk down the cor
rldor and give two quick taps on the
door. On the night mentioned he did
hear some one coming up stairway.
Quickly he gave the alarm and then
hastened back to his secret post in the
lavatory. The men who had been oper-
atlng on the filing cases hicked off their
electric light, which was a specially
arranged one that illuminated ONLY q
limited area. They gained hiding places
under tables and behind desks barely
IN time to be out of sight when the
Watchman, If such it was. opened the
door and rcered inside. But he was
there evidently just as a matter of
routine, IN the course of his regular
rounds, and did not chance to notice
anything unusual about the Office
though one Of the scarchers was lvinc
within four feet OF him. After n mo,
ment or two he continued on his way.
Every detail of the plan Of restoring
the safes and filing cases to their usual
condition was carefully thought out.
One man was even assigned to the ioh
ct seeing to it that the dust on the
ming cases was about as it had been
ne swept up dust from the floor and
placed 1T where finger marks might
have showed.
The visits Of the Ave men continued.
q IN inc hoi> i>1, H.
tne early part of July. and it is be.
Fourth Of July, by way of patriot;c
coincidence, the last of the German
documents were removed from Tho
consulate.
Steel Strongbox
And Filing Case Empty
On this final visit the five men ar
ranged to open section Of fling cases |
ana also the steel trunk, which was |
locked and sealed about as the safes |
mad been. 1t had been left until the
last, because, for some reason, the men
had an idea that the papers it con.
tanned might be Of the least impor-
tance. The truth was that the Germans
had intended this trunk to contain tho
most important documents of all. Wv
But when the men succeeded in omen
ing the one remaining section of the
filing cases and this steel trunk thev
had surprise that left them breath
less
Both the filing case and the stec,
strong BOX were already empty!
They had been carefully sealed IN nv
the Germans without containing any
papers at all.
1t is now pretty we'll understood +ho+