Evening star., 1938-12-15

burst into F. B. I. headquarters wav-
ing letter.
Look at this" he exclaimed.
1t was strange letter which q be-
wildered young ensign in the United
States Navy had just turned over
to our military intelligence. I will
not use his real name, for he had
no idea what it was all about. The
letter was addressed to:
Ensign w. w. Blank, U. S. N,
'U. S. s. Saratoga,
San Pedro, Calf.
please forward"
"You need money. You can get it
easily from us. Put an ad in the
Public Notices column Of the New
York Times, as follows:
'Brownie-Ok for contact. WB'
do not inform Intelligence Serv-
ice, at your peril. We are powerful,
and strike hard. Act quickly-we do
not like delays. We must see you
before your transfer to the Enter
prise. BROWNIE"
No Crook Here.
A few days earlier we might have
considered it merely the work Of
crank. 1t sounded so silly. But in
view of our discovery that there was
a dangerous spy plot here, with
spies brazen enough to try anything,
it took on Importance.
Particularly, we remembered, IN.
Spielman" apparently had demanded
that his spies here get him the plans
OF the new aircraft carriers, Enter
prise and Yorktown, at any cost.
In desperation we turned to the
files of the United States Military
Intelligence. Perhaps there we
might find something which had
seemed unimportant when it came
in, but now, in view of what we now
knew, might add up to some sort of
clue.
We found something all right. We
found:
William Lonkowski. alias Lonkis.
Suspected spy. Reported by United
States customs"
And what an amazing story that
led us into later That story I will
tell you in its proper order in this
series. But at the time it gave us
no clues-only sinking feeling. For
1t made it obvious that this was no
new spy plot, just getting started,
but that Nazi spies had been active
in this country for at least three
years!
Clamor for Passports.
Baffled, we settled back to wait
for a break. BY February IA the
case began to break for us.
From Germany had come orders:
we must have American passport
blanks" Nazi spies in Russia and
France had been using forged
American seamen's certificates. They
had been caught. Now Nazi head
quarters wanted to try forged Ameri-
can passports.
The assignment went from the
Nazl war ministry in Berlin to
kapltan-Leutnant Pheiffer, to Karl
Schulter and finally to spy Guenther
Gustav Rumrich in New York.
On Monday, February IA, 1888 a
man telephoned the Denver Chemi-
cal Manufacturing Co. and reported
that one of their translators
Guenther Gustav Rumrich. was too
SICK to come to work that day.
1he call came from a booth in
candy store on Merriam avenue in
the Bronx.
He took the subway to Grand Gen.
tral station. where he entered an
otner booth. He telephoned the
United States Department in the
suo-Treasury building and asked to
De connected with ira F. Hoyt, chief
OF the Passport Division.
Hello? Mr.. Hoyt?"
"Yes."
This is Mr.. Weston, Undersecre-
tary of State"
Il require IS passport blanks"
SAID Rumrich. please have them
aelivered as soon as possible to the
1a1t Hotel here. Address the pack
age to Mr.. Edward Weston. Is
that clear?" "
Hoyt wanted to know where "Mr
weston was staying. Rumrich re-
peated the order commandinelv
Hoyt seemed impressed, and prom
iseo to deliver the IS passport
blanks. '-'
But as he left the booth, Rum
rich felt uneasy He decided tn
take no chances, and so, instead
OF going directly to the Taft Hotel
10 claim the package he waited a
nan hour and then telephoned the
MOTEL from another booth.
!here was no package for a Mr.
Edward Weston.
he called Western Union and Or
dered boy sent to the Taft Hotel
10 ask for the package.
Then he called Western Union
was there package from the Taft
Hotel for Mr.. Weston?
Inc answer was no.
IL looked, he decided, like a tran
IL was. Hoyt had been verv sus-
plclous. He called T. C. Fitch. sne-
clai agent of the State Department
dummy package was made I'M
ana left at the Grand Central sta
ton office. The clerks were in
structed to tell anyone who called
'nae the package was waiting.
Thrill for a Phone Girl.
Inc next day the girl in the Grand
central Station Western Union Office
got thrill when she answered the
telephone and mans voice asked.
is there package there from the
1aIt Hotel for Mr.. Edward Weston?"
trembling with excitement. She
managed to make her voice matter
Of fact. -AA"''ei
Yes, Mr.. Weston. We are hold
ing it for you" A'
Send it to your varick street
once" he said. II will call for II
within holf ho,v AVA ~