Evening star., 1941-09-28

use; a sore, green, for booklet use,
and a 100-ore, yellow, for auto
matte" A special cancellation was
furnished for first-day covers.
The statue of Rouget de Lisle,
pictured on Frances 20c Prussian
green of 1886, was created by F. A.
Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue
of Liberty in New York Harbor.
Philately and international es-.
pionage would seem to have little
relation, but Richard Wilmer Rowan
in his STORY of the Secret Service
tells of a so-called school of spies"
at Antwerp, maintained by the Ger
mans, then relates: There was
Joseph Marks, a great billow of a
man, ingenious, craven and pre-
posterous as a spy, who came into
q certain renown as the first to
bring out of Belgium authentic
tidings Of the terrible Dr.. Eliza
beth. Marks, like the other Antwerp
spies, in order to get out OF the
country, past the field gendarmerie
and frontier guards, had TO carry
as a form of service identification
banknote marked with code signs
on one margin. He was face to
face with his perilous career in
espionage when he landed at Til
bury, and the British customs, the
reminded him that he was alone in
the midst of a numerous foe, in
cluding the counterspies of New
Scotland Yard.
There was nothing in his lug
gage to excite curiosity, unless it
proved to be the stamp album
which Elsbeth Schragmuller had
provided, not invariably part of
the travel burden of rotund busi-
nessmen from Holland, or, in fact,
from anywhere else. Marks did not
wait, however, to see how the Of
f1cials at Tilbury would take it. AS
he waited in line he was blocking
the path of other incoming passen-
gers. Somebody spoke to him
curtly: Stand aside, please-your
turn will come!" The spy misun-
derstood a gruff tone, assumed that
they already were suspicious of
him. And when they laid eyes on
that stamp album
Nov Fraulein Elsbeth had Gre
ated this dodge expressly for his
sort of naval mission. The album
was well stocked, and sets of stamps
which he was to post to cover ad-
dresses in the Netherlands from
various British seaports would indi-
cate that, on the date of the post
mark, So many different types of
war vessels were in harbor, accord
ing to the number of each variety
of, stamp he inclosed. Battleships
were represented by European coun-
tries, while African stamps stood for
battle cruisers, South American for
heavy cruisers, Australian light or
scout cruisers, North American de-.
stroyers, and Asiatic countries de-
noted large naval auxiliary craft. |
But Joseph Marks, gross and
palpitant, never gave himself a
chance to test this novel and de-
ceptive contrivance. Setting foot
on English soil finished him as
spy. All his schooling went over
board, literally, at Tilbury dock, for
he sought the nearest police official,
and, to that busy Britisher's aston
ishment, confessed on what errand
he had come ashore and surren-
dered.
Later, he answered the questions
put to him at Scotland Yard in
manifest anxiety to please. He had
been q reputable businessman of
Aix-la -Chapelle, but there German
agents had taken him into custody
three times, continually processing
an absurd suspicion that he was
acting for the French intelligence.
To convince them of his loyalty
being physically united for army
service-he had agreed to enter the
school at Antwerp and learn to be
a spy.
MARKS was tried on the less
serious charge of having come to
England after being in communi-
cation with q secret-service agent
of the enemy, and tears of gratitude
actually ran down his bulging cheeks
| when he was sentenced to five years
imprisonment. Only If securely
locked up for the duration Of the
war, he assured his 1ailers, would he
feel safe from that dreadful woman
at Antwerp"
Eight members Of the Polonus-