The following article about the fatal treatment of spies was published in 1915, during World War I. It takes a quick look at how spies were discovered and, afterwards, their quick extermination.
How Spies are Caught and Mercilessly Shot
The tricks of the spies and the ingenuity displayed by army officers in fitting them out on one side and hunting them down on the other have been among the most dramatic features of the war.
A successful spy may do enormous harm to the side he is working against. For instance, he may indicate the position of the commanding general and his staff, and enable the enemy by a well-directed volley of artillery to wipe the headquarters organization out of existence.
The spy’s work is so much feared that when one is caught he is executed as quickly as possible and in the most terrifying manner. He does not receive the benefit of every possible doubt, like a murderer on trial in New York. The spy most feared and hated is naturally the one who is acting against his own country. There have been many of these traitors during the war.
A striking illustration of the fate that meets the traitor spy is contained in a photograph just received from France. the dead spy is tied to a tall post by the roadside where he was executed. Upon the post is a placard which bears the words, written in large letters in French, “A spy! A traitor to his country!”
This man’s body was left lying by the roadside for days outside the village of Verzy, near Rheims, which, of course, has been a center of the most ferocious fighting. He was a French farm hand in the neighborhood.
This traitor communicated with the Germans by shifting the hands of the village church clock, according to a code prearranged with the Germans. The clock had stopped worked during the fighting and devastation that accompanied the first German occupation of the village. When they retreated they hired him as a spy. A written code found in the prisoner’s possession showed that the hands at various points were to be a signal that the French heavy artillery was in the village; that the French army was in strong force; that only a French advance guard was in the village; that the French were advancing by the northern road, and that the French were going by the eastern road. He received 100 francs — less than $20 — for these services.
The extraordinary movements of the hands of the clock attracted the attention of an intelligent French officer, and the spy was seized. Overwhelming proof of his guilt was found. Twelve French soldiers put twelve bullets through his body with hearty good will, and he was left by the roadside in the dramatic manner shown in the photograph.
Another traitor, as related by the French newspapers, was a French shepherd, who led his flock of sheep just in front of a concealed French battery, by previous arrangement with the Germans. After he had lingered here a few minutes he prudently passed on. As soon as he was out of sight a storm of German shells fell upon the place where his sheep had been. This attack put three French guns out of action and killed a number of valuable French artillerymen.
Another French traitor indicated the position of his country’s artillery by means of fires at night. He was caught and promptly executed in the same way as the others.
The British have repeatedly declared that the Germans were sending spies into their ranks wearing uniforms taken from dead British soldiers. The Germans have many men who speak English perfectly or nearly so. A soldier in a Canadian Highlander regiment that wears the kilts says one of their sergeants went out to observe a German trench and failed to come back. They knew he had been killed or taken prisoner.
From previous experience the colonel of the Canadian regiment believed that a German wearing the lost sergeant’s uniform would soon insinuate himself into the Canadian ranks. He therefore obtained permission to change the position of his men in the trenches with an adjoining battalion not wearing kilts, so that the spy could be discovered more easily.
In two days a kilted sergeant walked boldly up to the trench which the kilted Canadians had occupied. The Canadian colonel easily picked him out from the ranks of the trousered soldiers. When he was questioned it was found, strange to state, that he was quite familiar with Scotland, but knew nothing about Canada. He was a German who had lived in Scotland. A short trial and immediate execution behind the trench ended this daring attempt.
The British assert that Germans have done much effective spying work in fast automobiles. Even where the Germans were suspected, they were able to escape through the speed of their cars. Some of these cars are equipped with wireless and can thus communicate any observations they make immediately to their own side, even if they are miles away.
The motor car has figured in many exciting spy exploits. One day a swift car came racing up to the British lines at Ypres. In it were two apparent British uniforms, and between them they held a burly German officer prisoner, apparently a desperate character who was determined to escape or perish in the attempt. The British officers endeavored to force their way through the lines in a peremptory way on the ground that they were taking their prisoner to headquarters, but a superior officer present insisted on stopping and examining them. He had just been fooled by some other ingenious trick, and he was intensely suspicious.
The supposed British officers proved to be Germans speaking English perfectly and wearing the uniforms of dead British officers.They had been fitted out in this way on a daring mission to get behind the British lines and signal certain things that were happening there. Of course, they were promptly executed. It hardly need be remarked that to undertake such an enterprise as this requires more nerve than to face the ordinary risks of war.
Undoubtedly soldiers often feel sympathy for a captured spy working for his own country, but such are his possibilities of causing disaster that no mercy can be shown.
The aeroplane is an extraordinary instrument of espionage. The German official reports have recently stated that the Allies were dropping spies from aeroplanes in the rear of their lines. This would appear to be a very effective trick, as the Allies have at their disposal a large number of natives of the parts of France and Belgium now occupied by the Germans. The regions from which these people come are the most critical points in the present military operations, and a few native spies, inspired by genuine patriotism, might cause serious disasters to the Germans.
From the military point of view, it is a compliment to say that the Germans have the greatest espionage system in the world. Their spies operate not only on the field of battle, but in the government offices and legislatures of every enemy country and possible enemy country.
If only a small part of Mr. Ignatius T. Tribitsch Lincoln’s admissions are true, it proves the vastness of the German spy system. Mr. Lincoln, who was very recently extradited from the United States on a charge of forgery, was originally a Hungarian by the name of Tribitsch. He then became successively a naturalized Englishman, a clergyman of the Church of England and an English member of Parliament. All these things he says he did in order to be able to furnish information to Germany about British plans.
“I went to Rotterdam just before the war and saw the German Consul,” confessed Mr. Lincoln. “In due course of time the plan I outlined to him was approved by the German government, and I was then made a member of the German espionage system.
“I was also acting as spy for the British Secret Service under Captain Hall, which I thought would prove an effective blind for what I was doing for Germany. At a given time two or three German cruisers of obsolete class were to make for the English coast.
“Knowing in advance of this movement I was to tip off the Admiralty, and the Germans were to allow themselves to be captured or sunk. This method was to be repeated again, and the trap was set for the third time.
“I was to tip off the Admiralty, as usual, on the third occasion that a raid was contemplated. A powerful German squadron was to remain close, but out of sight of the raiding vessels, and was either to concentrate against the attacking fleet sent out by the Admiralty and destroy it by overwhelming numbers or land troops at some place which we would know was unprotected at that time.
“Captain Hall suspected me, however, before I had an opportunity to carry out the plans against the British fleet. Early in January he sent for me, and at the interview I knew that I would be hanged as a spy if I did not make my way out of the country at once. I accordingly left for New york.”
The French attribute the execution of M. Seyler, Mayor of the village of Vexaincourt in the Vosges, to his ingenuity in unmasking two spies. Just before the war he noticed two dentists traveling about the country and treating teeth in the village streets. Their occupation and their habit of working in the open air gave them a fine opportunity to observe the country and make sketches. The Mayor had them examined, and they were expelled from the country. When the German army occupied Vexaincourt the two dentists appeared as German officers, and, according to a dispatch, they caused the Mayor’s execution.
Source: Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]), 31 Oct. 1915.
