Evening star., 1936-08-02

storm cracking over the
" head of the former naval Of
4 f1cer charged with selling ma
val secrets to Japan and the l5-
year sentence imposed on Harry
Thomas Thompson are "just Dust
showing that a wind is blowing ac-
cording to Mai Charles E. Russell,
U. S. A, retired, who adds, Whats
behind it is lot more sinister"
Maj. Russell. considered among
the country'S leading experts in the
tricky trade of espionage and its pre-
vention, is the author of text book
for the Army and the United States
Military Academy at West Point on
the subject. In the course of his
spy-catching adventures as provost
marshal on Gen. Pershing's staff, he
saw Mata Hari shot He says he
took the title of provost marshal be-
cause it gave him the power to ar
rest any one up to and including
brigadier general.
Men in the position of Thompson"
the major said would have 10 have
lot of plain dumb luck to get hold
of anything that was really impor-
tant-even if they wanted to. Then
why all the fuss and feathers? Be-
cause this country is Uttered with
mercenary spies of the Thompson
type-free- lance snatch thieves who
hang around army dumps and navy
yards and try to put their hands on
whatever is loose. Even a snatch
thief who goes around lifting change
purses and pearl studs is likely to
find a great big diamond necklace in
his pocket one day.
Warnings for Mercenaries.
well. my thought is that the wallop
at Thompson and the indictment of
the ex-oficers are warnings directed
toward this army of mercenaries in
the hope of soaring them out OF busi-
ness and maybe onto relief. It's
notice from our undermanned espion-
age service that the blasting has
started"
The major-a jovial, hearty man,
red-faced, gray-haired, bulky-laughed
right out loud when asked if it were
true then that spies operated on this
continent.
Why, bless you, yes" he said. This
country is literally lousy with them.
And while the mercenary type-the
fellow who sells what he can lay his
hands on to whoever is interested-is
generally just annoying the so-called
patriotic spy is downright dangerous.
Not much more than year ago
they caught a couple of this latter
type at an Army chemical laboratory
in Maryland. This pair-trained
chemists both and both still retaining
commissions in foreign army-en-
listed in our Army as privateS and
worked their way up carefully to posi-
tions of trust. Then they sneaked out
of safe a formula for a new type
of poison gas. Fortunately, the theft
was discovered a few minutes after
it had been committed and the Army
pest was shut up tight, with nobody
let in or out. One of the boys wrote
the formula on the back of the other
in invisible chemical and then re-
turned the original formula to the
safe. After about three weeks, when
some smart intelligence work un-
covered the fact that the fellow never
once took a bath, the commanding
officer forced both of them under a
shower and scrubbed their backs raw
with soap and water. After that they
were given permission to commit sui
eide, permission that they accepted
gratefully.
Many Left in Country.
"But there are lots like them left in
this country-talented men who come
over here through routine channels
and work their way up over period
of years into responsible positions,
and 1 have no doubt-and our coun-
ter espionage service has no doubt
that there are some Of them right
now sitting in positions of command
in our Navy and Army and air force,
and maybe right in our counter espi-
onage service, too.
"You know, Victor Barocs Deltour,
the German interpreter for the
French general court martial during
the war, was a German spy, and he
never was caught, although he held
down job that permitted him to do
invaluable service for his country.
His job gave him the private ear OF
every time spy and gave him un-
limited opportunity to get hold OF
their information and help them
prove their innocence"
The major said the spies in this
country now are chiefly after the
formulae and blueprints of new
weapons of defense and attack. "The
chances are pretty good" he said,
that they're getting them, too.
"such things. ter instance, Is the