Evening star., 1933-12-10

Hari, high priestess of mill
tary espionage, is only dust 7
and memory-hke the men
she helped to kill. But the
thunder rumble of new war jars the
horizon and once again France has to
deal with woman spy.
They have already started calling her
"a second Mata Hari." Probably that is
because every woman spy for the next
half century will remind people of the
sinister, exotic half dancer who died
before firing squad during the climax
Of the last war.
But outwardly there is little resem-
blance.
This Second Mata Hari" is one Sophie ~
Drost She's a trif1e plump; in fact, they
call her "fat Sophie in her own neigh
borhood She has very little in common
with the famous Mata Hari-
Except for the fact that She too. apparently
has tried to get hold of French military secrets
for foreign power.
And her arrest has brought to light the fact
that espionage is in progress along the Franco
German border at rate not seen since the
war ended.
Sophie fell into the hands of the French
authorities while on her way to Germany in
a taxicab. In the cab with her she had one
OF the latest model French machine guns. She
was Immediately taken into custody and ques-
toned. and sweeping investigation into her
activities was launched.
THE Importance of the case can be seen
from the fact that France is just about to
complete the most elaborate network of forti-
fications along her northeastern frontier that
the world has ever seen-a shield of iron, con-
crete and earth to protect the nation forever
from another invasion like that of 1914.
Thousands of men. millions of francs and
years of time have been involved in the work
All along the borders of Alsace and Lorraine
runs this chain of forts. Little is known about
them; French military authorities insist on
keeping their important features dark secret
And Sophie. it seems. was busily engaged
In trying to ferret out those secrets for the
benefit of people beyond the Rhine.
1t was in 1928 that Sophie first made her
appearance in the little village of st. Avoid
She was accompanied by her husband, gentle
man known as Jupp, and the two of them soon
acquired bar in the towns public square
They named it the Cafe des Sports.
Now there is a large infantry barracks in
st. Avoid, and its soldiers soon became listed
among the Jupps steadiest customers. The
Cafe des Sports prospered- particularly 50 since
the Jupps installed q number Of extremely
pretty barmaids and made little attempt to
regulate their morals.
In the course of time affairs got rather
scandalous and Jupp was invited to leave
France at once. He obeyed but Sophie stayed
francs, and keeping her eyes open, watching
her customers.
Eventually, it is charged, she started an
acquaintance with one of them named Alphonse
Choppe, who was a sort of foreman on Bloc
No. 1, the fortifcation being built at nearby
Coume.
TO HIM, when the time was ripe, Sophie
revealed her desire to get hold of detailed
plans Of the Notifications which he was
working-her desire, and her willingness to
pay good money for them. So Choppe. it is
charged. delivered two sets of blueprints to
her, each one an elaborate affair.
For these blueprints Sophie is said to have
paid him 10000 francs apiece-about $400 per
blueprint at par
Having done this, she dispatched the plans
to her employers somewhere beyond the FROM
tier.
That being finished, she now set out to get
hold of one of the latest types of machine
guns. civilian like Choppe couldn't do her
any good on job like this. So Sophie returned
to the Cafe des Sports and began to cultivate
the military.
Finally she struck upa friendship with
young cavalryman. one Rene Plestan. And
before long he was just as willing as Choppe
had been to do what she wanted done.
So one night not long ago. Plestan slipped