we can respect lody; we can have no other feelings but the bitterest scorn and contempt for such traitorous miscreants as the ex-naval gunner, charles parrott, who, early in 1913, was sentenced to four years' penal servitude, under the official secrets act of 1911, for selling official secrets likely to be useful to the enemy.
the class of traitor to which parrott belongs represents the spy in his very lowest and most contemptible guise. about these wretched agents among us there is no redeeming feature. patriotism is, to them, a word of no meaning; to their country they have no attachment: their one idea is to make money, and to do this they are willing to risk the very existence of the nation to which they belong. show them gold, and there is no work on earth too dirty for them to undertake! and we have, i fear, many such men in our public services. it is men of this stamp who have made the very name of "spy" a by-word in all countries and all times—not the men who risk their lives in order to gain an advantage for the cause[pg 153] to which they are attached by every sacred obligation of honour.
parrott, up to august, 1912, was a gunner attached to h.m.s. "pembroke" at sheerness. he was a warrant officer, and as such would have opportunities of obtaining information which would be denied to those of lower rank. the charge against him was, of course, not one of spying, since the offence was not committed in time of war. it was couched in the following terms:—
that he being a british officer did feloniously communicate at ostend to a person unknown certain information in regard to the arms, armaments, dispositions and movements of ships and men of his majesty's navy which was calculated, or intended to be, or might be useful to an enemy.
in considering parrott's case we have to remember that he was an englishman, in the service of the crown in the navy, and a british officer. he was in a position of responsibility, and his pay, with allowances, would work out at about ￡260 a year, so that he had not even the excuse of poverty to urge in mitigation of his horrible offence. he had been in the navy for a number of years, and he was regarded as an efficient and trustworthy officer, so that he was able to become acquainted with matters which it was his obvious duty to guard with the most jealous care. he had been associated with the building of the "agamemnon" on the clyde, so that he was intimately acquainted with all those particulars of guns[pg 154] and armaments which, in the event of war, it would be of the utmost interest to an enemy to know. he knew, in fact, of confidential matters of the utmost importance.
parrott, on july 11th, 1912, asked for and obtained leave of absence, on the plea that he wanted to go to devonport. on the same day he sent a telegram, not from sheerness, where he lived, but from sittingbourne, to "richard dinger," at an address in berlin, saying, "coming eight o'clock saturday, seymour." the same day he left sheerness by train. a lady travelled with him as far as sittingbourne, and then he went on alone to dover.
apparently he had already become an object of suspicion, for on the admiralty pier at dover he was questioned by detective-inspector grey. he was searched, and on him was found a piece of torn paper on which were the words: "when there is a chance," "coming over on saturday of that same week," "you telegraph probably saturday, then i make all my arrangements to leave the moment i get order." on the other side of the paper were the words, "richard dinger, esq.," and "with much love, yours, r."
parrott's explanation of all this was that he had been writing to a woman in the name of another man, and that he was going to meet her at ostend. in his pocket was found a naval signal-form, and in answer to the inspector he admitted that he was a naval[pg 155] officer, and asked that his wife should not be told about the "lady." the inspector decided to let him go, but kept the paper.
parrott evidently thought that the detective had no suspicion as to the real motive of his visit to ostend, or he would surely have taken the alarm. he crossed, however, to ostend, carefully shadowed all the time by no less acute an observer than ex-inspector melville of scotland yard. when the boat arrived at ostend, parrott went through the station, and was joined by another man. there was no greeting, no welcome, no handshaking, not a sign of recognition; the other man simply sidled up alongside parrott and they went off together. mr. melville formed the opinion that the man was a foreigner, and probably a german. they went about together for a time and then parrott returned to dover.
an inquiry followed, and ultimately parrott's name was removed from the navy list. the case against him was not, however, complete, and it was not until october that the police were able to lay him by the heels. it was then found that he was having letters addressed to him in the name of couch delivered at a tobacconist's shop at chelsea. five or six letters came to him, and on november 16th two police officers went to the shop, where another letter had arrived. during the day parrott called, the letter was given to him, and he was at once arrested.
[pg 156]
in his presence the letter was opened. inside were two ￡5 bank of england notes—which, it was afterwards shown, had been in circulation in germany—and a letter bearing the postmark "london, e.," which was as follows:—
dear mr. couch,—i am very much obliged to you for your prompt reply to my last letter. now i beg to place in your hands some questions in addition to my last letter. have the goodness to leave as soon as possible for firth of forth, ascertaining about the following:—which parts of the fleet are in or off the forth since november 5. only the vessels of the first and eighth destroyer flotilla, or which other men-of-war of any kind else? where is the second destroyer flotilla now? have there been mobilising tests of the flotillas and coast defences in the firth of forth? what are the flotillas doing or proposing now? what number of royal fleet reserve class a are called in now for the yearly exercise? where do they exercise? are any of these men kept longer than a fortnight? i think it will be necessary to stay some days at firth of forth for gathering information about those questions. i should be much obliged if i could be informed as soon as you have got satisfying statements about one or several of these points. do not wait to answer until you have found out all i wish to know.
enclosed ￡10 as travel expenses for the last and this journey. please tell me in the next letter after having returned to london your expenses that i can hand you the balance if the ￡10 should not do it. i beg you to keep yourself ready, if possible also in the near future, to run over immediately to any place as soon as rumours as to extraordinary preparations of material and personal are running. in such a case please do not wait until you have received an order from me, but leave on your own[pg 157] accord, and at the same time send your address and make your doings known to me with particulars of the reason.—yours truly, richard.
i have given this letter in full for several reasons. parrott was not definitely charged with giving information to germany, but the letter is obviously the work of a german, and, moreover, a german who was working in london—for it was posted in the eastern district! it suggests, moreover, that the germans suspected that some naval movements were on foot, and were willing to pay handsomely to get the news; it will be noted that parrott was practically given carte blanche to spend what he liked without waiting for authority from his master. a subsequent examination of his banking account showed that he had paid in about fourteen ￡5 notes, some of which had been in circulation in germany. he had also been in hamburg and flushing, two centres of german espionage.
parrott's own explanation of the affair was that he met a woman in a london music hall and went over to ostend to see her. while he was there he failed to meet the woman, but a man came up to him and asked him if he was expecting to meet anyone. he replied that he expected to meet a lady, and the man then professed to know about her, and said she was unable to come. after that he received a letter from the man he met at ostend. at that time he had been dismissed from the service, and the letter[pg 158] expressed the concern of the writer, and the lady had offered to help him. he replied asking what assistance they could give, and had a letter asking him to go to hamburg. he went and met the man, who said he was a newspaper correspondent, and asked him to write an article once a week dealing with naval matters—a story curiously like that told by the spy schulz. he afterwards received a letter from "richard" outlining the kind of article required. the man said: "let me know the progress of warships building, ships launched, ships laid down, and the movements of ships. send me a specimen article dealing with the subject." he then bought a copy of a naval paper and from it wrote an article, which he sent.
then parrott described how he got a letter from the lady asking him to go to rotterdam to see her. this he did, hoping, as he said, "to induce her to come to england, as he wished to raise the question why he was dismissed from the service." not unnaturally the lady declined to come, but parrott admitted that she told a man who was with her to pay his expenses, and then gave him 100 francs.
"i have little doubt but that you were entrapped by a woman," said mr. justice darling, in sending parrott to four years' penal servitude. "you have been long under suspicion," his lordship added; "i do not believe for a moment it was a first offence."
[pg 159]
even the liberal journals which had long insisted that there were no german spies in england thought this sentence was inadequate. "it will strike most people," said the daily chronicle, "as not erring on the side of over-severity." the case was a flagrant abuse of a most sacred trust, and deserved all the punishment the law allowed; as a matter of fact, it deserved a good deal more, and parrott was more than lucky that he was on trial, not in germany, but in england.
the case of karl gustav ernst is of very great interest, not only as revealing some of the methods of the kaiser's "master-spy," the man steinhauer, but also as showing the utter futility of relying on "naturalisation" of germans to protect us against spying.
we are constantly told that it is impossible for us to take steps against "naturalised" germans, as we have solemnly undertaken to treat them in all respects as englishmen, and we have even "naturalised" many germans since the outbreak of war. the ernst case ought to have been sufficient warning of the danger arising from the naturalised alien, but apparently there is no limit to the innocent trustfulness of our sleepy home office. how long it will be before we learn that a german no more changes his nature by adopting naturalisation than an ass does if he clothes himself in a lion's skin i cannot say; i only hope it will not be brought home to us by some terrible catastrophe[pg 160] which will seriously affect our fighting power. ernst, be it remembered, was not even naturalised; he claimed to have been born in england, and posed as an englishman. yet he was a spy; how much more, then, have we reason to suspect the recently "naturalised alien" whose national sympathies have not been blunted by birth and long residence in this country? the leopard cannot change his spots, and "once a german, always a german," is the only safe rule for us in the present crisis.
ernst, who was a hairdresser in the caledonian road, london, had been for sixteen years in business there. his function was to act as a sort of "post-office" for steinhauer of potsdam, by whom letters were sent to him for distribution throughout england. in order to minimise risks of detection, these letters were posted in various parts of london. ernst, of course, besides acting as "post-office," made inquiries on his own account, and did some of the work of getting into touch with other agents. he was paid all out-of-pocket expenses and a kind of retaining fee, first of ￡1 a month, and then, when he pointed out that the business was both risky and important, ￡1 10s. a month.
ernst first came under suspicion of the nameless department as long ago as october, 1911, and we ought to admit with cheerful gratitude that he was a very valuable ally to us! from the very commencement the authorities were, i happen to know, alive[pg 161] to what was going on, and the closest observation was kept on the hairdresser's shop. all letters were opened by the postal authorities, their contents were carefully copied, and a most useful accumulation of information thus came into the hands of the astute director of the department. it was not specifically stated that parrott was detected in this way, but as letters were sent to him by ernst we may well assume that by such means the authorities were put on his track.
one of the most useful pieces of information picked up was a list of names and addresses of persons to whom letters from germany were sent for distribution, and who were spies at chatham, sheerness, portsmouth, rosyth, and other places. an amusing feature of the case was that after all these letters had been carefully examined and copied by the post office they were delivered in the ordinary course with only a very slight delay, and thus the suspicions of the spies, if indeed they entertained any, were most effectually put to sleep. the nameless department was not quite the fool the germans had some excuse for thinking it!
an important discovery made early in the case was the nom de guerre of steinhauer of potsdam. he had at that time become "mrs. reimers." "mr. j. walters, c/o k.g. ernst" was soon found to be ernst himself, who had long before suggested the adoption of that name to avoid suspicion.
[pg 162]
it will illustrate the thoroughness of german methods to mention that most of the letters sent to ernst were written on english paper, so that when he posted them there would be nothing to call special attention to them. one of the letters from steinhauer read in court was a request for english paper and envelopes, which ernst duly forwarded as "samples." many of the letters intercepted by the post office contained money, mostly in the shape of bank-notes.
the work that ernst was doing was sufficiently important to justify a visit from the redoubtable steinhauer himself, as we learn from ernst's own statement. during the time he was in custody ernst made a statement to a detective in which he said:—
i am sorry i was introduced into this business. kronauer introduced me. i thought it was only a private inquiry business. i have only seen steinhauer once. that was just before christmas in 1911.
he came to my shop on a sunday morning. my shop was open and i had several customers there. he said to me, "are you mr. ernst?" and i said, "yes." he said, "do you know me?" i said, "no." he said, "you have heard of me, i am steinhauer. i see you are busy now. i want to have a quiet chat with you. i will come back after the shop is closed. what time do you close?" i said, "twelve o'clock."
he said, "all right, i will come back after that, and went away. he returned later and came into my parlour, where we sat down and had a long talk."
this statement is exceedingly interesting,[pg 163] as we know that steinhauer, as described in another chapter, was in london about this time, when he actually went to buckingham palace as a member of the kaiser's suite. that he should be able to spare time to visit a man in ernst's position shows what work the latter was doing, and also throws a good deal of light on the class of agent most useful to the germans—the "small" man, whose insignificant position does so much to guard him against suspicion.
in one of his letters ernst represented himself as "a zealous stamp collector," of course to explain, in the event of detection, the constant remittances he was receiving from germany. this letter, addressed to "miss reimers," ran:—
dear mr. steinhauer,—best thanks for the 100 marks, which were handed to me mid-day to-day. if you think it right you can in future send my advance direct to me without having recourse to a third person—namely, in the following way. i am a zealous stamp collector. many of my customers and also my assistants know this. on the occasion of the next remittance copy the following letter:—
"dear mr. ernst,—your last parcel of stamps arrived just in time to be included in last month's sale. messrs. kurt moeser and also koehler, the berlin stamp auctioneers, are realising good prices at their sales. i have enclosed 100 marks on account, and will forward balance later. a receipt for the enclosed by return will oblige."
i have sent you last sunday's paper. what i can see from the case henschel will go over to the british secret service just as the doctor from glasgow has done. it has also occurred to me that[pg 164] henschel's wife's maiden name was miss riley, and that one of scotland yard's special service inspectors, who had the case in hand, was also called riley. in conclusion, many greetings.—i remain, yours, j. walters.
it may be mentioned incidentally that the "doctor from glasgow" was armgaard carl graves, a well-known spy. henschel was a german who was accused in london on his own confession of disclosing naval secrets and of conspiring with the ex-gunner parrott. it was suggested that certain information he gave was communicated under the understanding that he should not be prosecuted, and under the circumstances the crown withdrew the case, the accused giving an undertaking that he would not in any way make known the matter with which he had become acquainted.
ernst's case was hopeless from the start; in fact, so complete was the evidence, that as soon as mr. bodkin had opened the case for the crown, his counsel withdrew, explaining that the prisoner had assured him he had had nothing to do with espionage, but that he (counsel) was sure mr. bodkin would not make an opening statement he could not justify.
ernst was sent to seven years' penal servitude. "you are a mean, mercenary spy," said mr. justice coleridge in sentencing him, "ready to betray your country to the enemy for money; equally ready, i dare say, to betray germany to us for an increased[pg 165] reward." the case could not have been better summed up.
i will now pass on to the case of armgaard carl graves, which is remarkable chiefly for its extraordinary sequel. graves, who was arrested in glasgow, had been receiving letters at the post office in the name of "john stafford." when he was taken into custody a memorandum-book found in his pocket was found to contain a number of leaves gummed together at the open edges. when they were cut apart the police found groups of figures opposite german phrases, apparently constituting a code. in a pocket-case several more groups of figures were found, the number 271 being subtracted from each. that afterwards supplied the key to the code. there was also a note in german relating to a new gun under construction by beardmore and company, and three code telegrams from amsterdam. there were also found a number of maps covering the firth of forth and the vicinity, and a bundle of cartridge cases, including two of the latest british army pattern. the description of the new gun was said to be practically accurate, and it was also stated that graves' code appeared to indicate every class of ship in the navy, and also such strategic points as scapa flow, moray firth and cromarty—the same code which is probably being used by the naval spies still amongst us to-day.
this code, used for the telegrams between[pg 166] the prisoner and his continental correspondents, was, said counsel for the crown, a very deadly one to be found in his possession. if the person utilising it were in a certain place on a certain day and found that mines were being laid, he would telegraph the figures 11,719 to 11,729. "he seems to be the ideal character for a spy," counsel added; "he has a very high intelligence, and is sociable, genial and affable, while his moral character is not of a very high standard." he was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment. "well—exit armgaard carl graves," was the prisoner's only remark on hearing the decision.
graves was sentenced on july 23rd, 1912. on june 7th, 1913, came the amazing announcement that he had been released. when, and why he was set at liberty, no one outside official circles knows; all the information given was that "graves was released in due course of law, but there is no further information to give." graves's own story was that he was released in order that he might join the british secret service, but this fact, and even the fact that he had been released, came to us from america. the sensational story of his release and subsequent adventures was published by the new york american in the following narrative:—
armgaard carl graves, former secret agent in the german service, who was convicted of espionage in england last july and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, declares that shortly after[pg 167] his sentence he was released in order that he might join the british secret service.
he was sent to america, and there discovered that envoys of germany and japan had met in new york with the object of completing an anti-american agreement. he succeeded in making a copy of the document and cabling it to the british foreign office.
he never got any payment from england, however, so has decided to make the contents public. the agreement binds germany not to interfere in a great japanese scheme of colonisation in the south seas.
graves afterwards published a book in which he professed to give away many of the secrets of the german spy system. information we have received from other sources shows that a great deal of the book is well founded, and it may well be that on the whole it is a fairly reliable exposure of german methods. but the last thing one should do is to trust or believe the spy!
according to graves—whose account we should accept with considerable reserve—the heads of the departments of the spy-organisation in berlin are all german officers, recruited from "the old feudal aristocracy." he declares that though they plan the work, they never execute it. "no active or commissioned officer," he says, "does secret service work." he shows, too, that whatever ethics they may hold about doing dirty work themselves, the german officers wash their hands entirely of the methods their subordinates may choose or find it necessary to adopt. one of them explained the matter[pg 168] to him in terms which admit of no misunderstanding. he said:—
we cannot afford to be squeamish. the interests at stake are too vast to let personal ethical questions stand in the way. what would be required of you in the first instance is to gain for us information such as we seek. the means by which you gain this information will be left entirely to your own discretion. we expect results.
it was also made clear to him that he had only himself to depend upon, and if he got into trouble he would get no help. "be pleased to understand," was the official warning given at the first interview, "that this service is dangerous, and no official assistance could be given in any circumstances."
as to the agents employed in this work, graves says the personal branch, the most important, is managed from the wilhelmstrasse, the german foreign office, the emperor in person, or his immediate privy councillor. he adds:—
the personnel consists of all classes of men and women. princes and counts, lawyers and doctors, actors and actresses, mondaines of the great world, demi-mondaines of the half-world, waiters and porters, all are made use of as occasion requires. it may well happen that your interesting acquaintance in the saloon of an express steamer, or your charming companion in the tea-room of the ritz, is the paid agent of some government.
a sinister side of the profession is also revealed; grave risks are run by the spy even[pg 169] from his own side. a woman named olga bruder, whose death in a hotel on the russian border was described as suicide, is said to have been poisoned; a lieutenant von zastrov was compelled to fight duels until he was at last killed. they knew too much, graves declares, and the death sentence came from their own employers. one can well believe it, for the records of german espionage show that in their own interests the germans stick at nothing.
one episode which graves relates concerns a famous dancer, still living, whom the germans believed to be a russian government spy. they suspected that she had an "affair" with a young officer in the potsdam garrison, and one night they became interested in a gold "vanity bag" which the young officer had given to her; they believed it contained some secret military intelligence. how they got possession of it was very clever.
the dancer was at supper at the ice palace in berlin, and her bag lay on the table. a "clumsy" waiter upset a glass of champagne on the cloth. instantly the cloth was whipped off, and, with the bag inside it, was taken away. a moment or two later back came the waiter with the bag and many apologies. the waiter was a clever spy, and in the moment or two that he had been absent the incriminating letter had been secured. the bag was offered to the dancer, who at once opened it, and finding the letter had disappeared, promptly said the bag was not[pg 170] hers. but she was put over the frontier just the same.
many more cases might be cited to show the ramifications of the german spy system in england, but i have selected the foregoing as typical, and most of the others follow more or less the same general outline. they all point to the same conclusion: that the number of german agents in england is endless, that they are to be found in all places and in all ranks of society, that they are clever and daring to the last degree, and that nothing is too large or too small for their attention. many of them, no doubt, have been interned; many of them, no doubt, are still at work, risking everything in their ceaseless efforts to bring about our undoing. there is only one effective protection—to make a clean sweep of all germans and austrians, naturalised or not, and confine them in the concentration camps until the war is over. treat them properly, by all means, but put them out of the way of doing us harm.
this drastic measure, it is true, will not protect us against the traitor within our gates, but it would at least do much to remove the greatest source of peril.
