The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1941-09-29

ing his way around. having good
contacts and al that. so he was
assigned to checking up on Ger
man operations in South America.
One Of the facts Of life this
counter-espionsge agen had OBJ
served in New York was that
Nszi agents. when closing a deal.
always produced a roll OF bills OF
fantastic denominations like $500.
or $1,000 or even $4,000 Bills in
those sizes are rather rare. as you
may have noticed, and because OF
that they can easily be traced,
merely by noting their serial num-
bers every time they are banked.
Knowing this. the rieh-man-eoun-
ter-espionage agent started TO trail
the movements OF some Of these
big bills.
GETS COMPLICATED
L1RST off. he found that along
l. in March. 1910. a roll Of these
ox-chokers had been used TO open
an account in New York by a cou-
pie Of gentlemen who a short time
previously had entered the United
states as refugees. kicked out of
Germany BY Hitler persecution.
Little by little. IL was found that
this account, adding up to SELL
500. was being transferred by
cable TO the Bank OF Panama,
credited to the account of a man
who lived in Rio de Jsneiro.
Then a bank in Rio began to
draw on the Panama account, and
10 transfer the funds in L. s. dol
lars TO bank in johannesburg,
South Africa. The purpose of all
this international banking was
apparently an effort to hide the
trail. L. s. big bills were used
wherever possible because they
are sound currency the world over,
and the jugglers tried to make the
exchange look like normal business
transactions.
As the money finally got to
South Africa, however. 10 was
traced and found 10 be used
for the purchase Of industrial
diamonds In the inegitimats
diamond trade. Diamond pro-
duction Is OF course closely
controlled by the British In
South Africa. but a certain
amount of bootlegging In the
lower grade industrial dia-
moBds Is carried on. The fact
that the NaIis were forced 10
20 through all this interna-
tional undercover stuff shows
how desperately the German
industrial machine needed
these diamonds for their preci-
sion cutting and machine tool
ing.
Once the diamonds were bought.
the problem was 10 get them back
10 Germany. and here is where the
really fascinating game of intrigue
began.
From South Africa. the dia-
monds were smuggled back to Rio.
Now Rio itself is quite a diamond
market. center for the Brazilian
fields which supply a part of L. s.
industry's low grade diamond de-
mand. but not enough 10 meet the
world demand for the better quail
ity stones. So the Germans. still
trying 10 cover up their trail from
South Africa via New York and
Panama. took their smuggled dis-
monds right back into the diamond
fields Of Brazil and there went
through a fake discovery" and
mining operation. to make ii sp-
pear their supplies were obtained
on the open market.
AND so TO BERLIN
nSTENS1BLY legitimate dia-
~ monds the German supply was
now taken in the open back 10 Rio.
and here II was legitimate freight
which could be taken as legally
+ declared cargo back to Europe.
That was easy. Just last month.
the diamonds were put on board
the plane OF an Italian sirlin. run
ming from Brazil TO Italy and off
they went.
Discovery Of all this tangled
web was unfortunately not
made In time 20 prevent the
shipments covered by this par
ticuiar Sol 500. hut from her.
on this daisy chain 10 broken.
freezing the bank accounts Of
Germans prevents transfer Of
funds outside the United
states. Blaeklistinr Of firms
acting "a German agents has
blocked their further CONNER
cisl activities. And the British
are lot wiser than they wer.
before this began. 80 a closer
check Is being kept on the out
Law diamond trade.
All this intrigue has two rather
amazing morals. First. no matter