HUNS' SPY FARM

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2825, 17 July 1916, Page 7

HUNS' SPY FARM

.STRANGE "OLD WOJIEN." . A remarkable story showing, the extraordinary yersatility of tho German spy, is related by. a British colonial officer, (says the London "Daily Dispatch"). "On tho part of tho, British front where my regiment was stationed," he said, "w'o were puzzled to know the,means by which the German Intelligence Department were able to disoover certain pieces of information, not of very great importance, but still important enough to worry .us. It was obvious that tho information could ,only have reached the enemy from someone in close contact with, our lines, and it was up to us to find, out who and where the spy was. . at the back of our lines the peasants were ploughing the fields with the admirable nonchalance and indifference to. shells which havo 60 won our admiration. We knew it could not bo any of tbein, for they were all known to us—or., at least we thought they nil were, An officer was sent out to make ii few inquiries, but he did not return, and we'all concluded'-he had fallen a victim to a fragment of one of the shells dropping behind our lines from time to time. A second officer was stint out, and, strangely enough, he never returned. Also no had fresh' evidence that the spy, whoever he was, had by no means ceased his activity. "This business was getting much too hot to be tolerated any longer, so a third officer was ordered out, but this time he took with him half a dozen men. In the course of their search they to an isolated farm, through, the door of which was passing and old and bent peasant woman, whoso face was furrowed .ivitli the usual lines of age. Our men were inclined to be suspicious about this woman, and promptly told her to hold her hands up. Having secured her, they marched inside tho farm and found three other supposed peasant women there with hoes in their hands who affected wellfeigned surprise when they wero told in turn to hold np their hands. "When all four had been marched up into lino wo started giving their faces a good scraping, and, as we suspected, tho age lines easily washed off, revealing tho unmistakcablo physiognomies of Germans. . Seeing that, tho janio was up, they promptly confessed their real identity. The first ono wo had captured was a German officer, and the other three iiou-eominissioned officers. Thev had cleverly disguised themselves as peasantwomen, painting in the necessary lines, and, to make tho deception • even more coinpleto, had. actually worked in the field, from morning till evening us hard as any of. the genuine peasant*.