Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-07

ing back and forth, in and out of Eng
land and within its borders, like some
vast tide with simultaneous come and
go; and on any given day perhaps a
single one of these letters, innocent on
the face Of it-ever so innocent--is the
fish for which the net has been spread.
One looks but for the slimmest catch,
II any, in such circumstances Yet here
is netful Of spies and the stories Of
how they were captured.
X X X 4
TOR some time post Office censors had
L been noticing that from various
parts of England advertising sections
of English newspapers were being sent
to certain address in Amsterdam.
each newspaper showing at least one
advertisement marked with pencil.
Usually it was an advertisement offer
Ing none too remarkable bargain in
tobacco
seem to be little in this to attract the
attention of any one but dealers in
tobacco
But British Secret Service men had
previously been shopping about In AM
sterdam and found themselves inter-
ested in a shabby little Office, presuma-
bly, that of Dutchman in the tobac-
co business. 1t was to this address that
the marked advertisements were being
sent from England. Hence the special
notice given to them by the postal CEN
Sors and the secret service.
Each newspaper was sent to the lab
oratory of the secret service There the
mailing wrapper was carefully removed
so as to betray no signs of tampering
The marked advertisement was treated
with series Of chemical reagents in
the hope that writing with invisible ink
would be thus revealed.
These tests yielded nothing, so the
advertisements were photographed.
Then the newspapers were put back
in their original wrappers and sent on
to the address in Amsterdam as II
nothing had happened to them on the
way
But the photographs of whole series
Of such advertisements were now being
studied at secret service headquarters
by experts in uncovering cipher Sys-
teihs.
Of ciphers there is an infinite va
riety and discovering the key to one Is
almost always a task, difficult accord
ing to the ingenuity of those who drew
up the cipher.
German secret service experts were
no children at the game Of secret COM
n1tnieation. Nevertheless Special In
tellfgence" in London began TO learn
the real alphabet employed in the in
noeent-appeartng tobacco advertise
Inents.
For such words as tobacco" they be-
gan to read ammunition, for leaf"
the word shell" for cigar" a war
ship" for shipment" fleet" and the
like. $50 s
And one day an announcement of a
bargain in Honduras tobacco was de-
eiphered as really reading thus:
Have first-class information for one
hundred and twenty pounds in refer
ence to shipment of ammunition to
Italy
Something, of course, was gained by
this discovery: but not much; and until
the sender of these advertisements was
located nothing could be done but to
watch for other messages sent to the
same address.
Then one day letter was melted. 1t
was short and said something hopelessly
commonplace, ending with Love and
kisses to the family" The signature
was H. Cohen" and an address was
given; mo. % High street, Deptford."
Cautiously-Very Acknowledgements
Intelligence looked up 81. Cohen, No. 20
High street, Deptford." The letter might
be test to see if the secret service was
on the trail of the correspondence.
Some one might be watching to see
If l.. Cohen would be looked for. This
caution on The part of Special Intelli-
gence proved wise, for no l.. Cohen
could be found at that address or any,
where near it.
Evidently L. Cohen felt satisfied with
his test and other messages to Arnster-
dam came with increasing frequency.
And literally between the lines of
these messages. written with invisible
Ink, revealed in the laboratory of the
secret service, appeared the real con-
tents of each letter.
The writer was becoming decidedly
angry with the tobacco dealer in Am
e.erdam.
How do you expect me to get YOU
valuable information If you do not send
me money!" complained one letter. In
another: Il am sending you news which
! is Of enormous value, and am daily in
peril of my life"
Evidently these complaints had their
effect, for the letters grew less plaintive.
But the less complaining the more I'M
happy was the British secret service.
Money was flowing into England, and
special intelligence knew enough about
paymasters in the German secret serv-
ice to be sure that there was value re-
ceiyed for that money in the form of
news out of England.
x \ Xxx
kTNHEN one day special intelligence
= felt little better; a message was
Melted that read in invisible ink:
&c. has gone to Newcastle, so I am
writing this from 201 instead"
There was no signature. But the
postmark was "Deptford."
At first sight there would appear to
be little in this note to cheer UP the
British secret service. Nor was there
ut first.
But special branch" of Scotland
Ysrd-which. took over the less secret
activities Of special intelligence of
which 1T was part-proceeded on the
basis that "20l" was part of an ad-
dress Tt was ready to Investigate every
house in the United Kingdom that bore
the number. But it did not have to go
so far.
The men began with Deptford and
found that In that town only High
street was long enough to achieve SO
high number. Discreet investigation
brought out the fact that at that adj
dress there lived a baker by the name
Of Peter Hahn. 4.
In all countries the secret service
Ssens under cover as much as possible,
even In the matter of making arrests;
for obvious reasons it does not want its
agents known to the public
When an arrest is to be made the
fob is handed over to the police au-
thorities It was two Scotland Yard
men, therefore, who went to the bakery
shop of Peter Hahn for look about.
When they entered they found a
stolid young man selling bread behind
a counter The Scotland Yard men
waited till every customer got out of
the shop. Then when they we're alone
with him they began to ask pointed
questions.
who is 'C'?'
The young man proved stolid in
deed Don't know"
.eIIIl,nre &c he9n "Find him y