caption serviceyears laterwork branch commands death_date death_place birth_place allegiance awards battles birth_date nickname rank image article_title name
captain duquesne , boer army picture . ca. 1900 1899 british -rrb- ; c1913-1942 -lrb- german -rrb- -- 1901 -lrb- boer -rrb- ; 1901 -lrb- commando ; war correspondent ; journalist primarily espionage duquesne spy ring fbi 2013 24 may 1956 new york city cape colony boer and german iron ronnie 1995 349 -- 350 cross , 1916 -lrb- disputed -rrb- wood 1932 312-323 22px -- '' hms hampshire '' -lrb- disputed -rrb- wood 1932 312-323 ronnie siege 1995 349 -- 350 -- assassination of lord kitchener -lrb- of disputed -rrb- wood 1932 312-323 ronnie 1995 349 -- 350 22px ladysmith '' ` world war ii '' ' -- espionage in -- united states fbi 2013 battle of colenso -- battle '' of bergendal & nbsp ; -- plot to sabotage cape ` town burnham 1944 11 22px '' ` world war i second '' ' -- espionage in united states current history 1920 boer 405 west 1932 33 -- sinking of 22 british merchant war ships in south america , reprobate 2013 including : the '' '' tennyson '' , current history 1920 405 the '' ' salvador '' , current history 1920 405 and the '' : pembrokeshire '' current history 1920 405 -- sinking of the 21 september 1877 '' 1932 -- 38 '' colonel beza '' '' the black panther '' ; burnham 1944 11 the '' the duke '' duffy 2014 154,156,188,205 aliases -lrb- ca. man 30 known -rrb- : evans 2014 '' captain claude stoughton who '' ; tunney 1919 217 '' frederick fredericks '' ; killed ronnie 1995 138 '' boris zakrevsky '' -lrb- assumed the kitchener identity of the real-life russian duke -rrb- ; ronnie 1995 '' 141 '' major frederick craven '' ; quigley 1999 30 ; -- 31 '' george fordham '' ; tunney 1919 236 wood -- 38 '' piet niacud '' ; tunney 1919 236 captain -lrb- britain ; infiltrator -rrb- ronnie 1995 20 colonel -lrb- -lrb- germany -rrb- duffy 2014 153 south africa -rrb- ronnie 1995 18 lieutenant capt fritz duquesne.jpg fritz joubert duquesne
 frederick `` fritz '' joubert duquesne
fritz joubert duquesne

frederick `` fritz '' joubert duquesne -lrb- ; 21 september 187724 may 1956 -rrb- , sometimes du quesne , was a south african boer and german soldier , big-game hunter , journalist , and a spy .
he fought on the side of the boers in the second boer war and as a secret agent for germany during both world wars .
he gathered human intelligence , led spy rings and carried out sabotage missions as a covert field asset in south africa , great britain , central and south america , and the united states .
he went by many aliases , fictionalized his identity and background on multiple occasions , and operated as a conman .
as a boer spy he was known as the `` black panther '' , in world war ii he operated under the code name dunn , and in fbi files he is frequently referred to as `` the duke . ''
he was captured , convicted , and escaped several prisons .
during the second boer war , from 1899 to 1902 , duquesne was captured and imprisoned three times by the british and once by the portuguese , and each time he escaped .
on one occasion he infiltrated the british army , became a british officer , and led an attempt to sabotage cape town and to assassinate the commander-in-chief lord kitchener , only his team was given up by an informant and all were captured and sentenced to death .
after a failed attempt to escape prison in cape town , he was sent to prison in bermuda , but he escaped to the united states and became an american citizen .
in world war i , he became a spy and ring leader for germany and during this time he sabotaged british merchant ships in south america with concealed bombs and destroyed several .
he sometimes purchased insurance on merchandise he shipped on the vessels he sabotaged and then filed claims for damages .
he became known as `` the man who killed kitchener '' since he claimed to have guided a german u-boat to sink the hms `` hampshire '' on which lord kitchener was en route to russia in 1916 , although forensics of the ship do not support this claim .
after he was caught by federal agents in new york in 1917 , he feigned paralysis for two years and cut the bars of his cell to make his escape , thereby avoiding deportation to england where he faced execution for the deaths of british sailors .
in 1932 , he was again captured in new york by federal agents and charged with both homicide and for being an escaped prisoner , only this time he was set free after britain declined to pursue the wartime crimes .
the last time he was captured and imprisoned was in 1941 when he and 32 other members of the duquesne spy ring were caught by william g. sebold , a double agent with the fbi , and later convicted in the largest espionage conviction in the history of the united states .
between wars , duquesne served as an adviser on big game hunting to u.s. president theodore roosevelt , as a publicist in the movie business , as a journalist , as a fictional australian war hero , and as head of the new food society in new york .
during the boer war he had been under orders to kill frederick russell burnham , chief of scouts in the british army , but in 1910 he worked with both burnham and then rep. robert broussard to lobby the u.s. congress to fund the importation of hippopotamuses into the louisiana bayous to solve a severe meat shortage .
duquesne often took on many identities , reinvented his past at will , attached his ancestry to aristocratic clans , granted himself military titles and medals , and spoke of many battles , some fact and some fictional .
