GERMAN SPIES IN HOLLAND

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2929, 15 November 1916, Page 14

GERMAN SPIES IN HOLLAND

A-NOBLE HOTEL-PORTER

''(By "Tho Han Who Dined With'the ', Kaiser," in the "Daily Mail.") ThiS is an amazing story of German 'spies and spying in Holland. It is the hearer of one of the most distinguished names in contemporary German history, whose "war work" consist of acting as hall-porter at a fashionable iDutch hotel 1 He is Baron von Wanf;enheim, a younger brother of the late mperial German Ambassador to Turnkey, and his place of occupation is the Hotel des hides, at "the Hague. There he was, spying and prying, for Kaiser and Fatherland, in tho gorgeous livery of af; flunkey, when I visited tho politi-cal-capital of ;Holland lately; 1 shall iell • to-day how -I discovered his identity and o$ my conversation with him. Before leaving England private information reached me,that a German Bobleman of high rank was engaged in Bomo sort of service" at a, prominent /Dutch hotel._ My informant could supply no particulars. Both he and I, conversant with the strange Hbings which happen in the tortuous "German secret service, were inclined to idoubt the story: But I made a men'tfil note of it, and decided to get to the ■hottom of the tale'while I was on Dutch soil.

Diplomatists' Hotel. •}■ My efforts were crowned with surgood and prompt results. In [tay first talk with a certain important jDutch military official I asked him 'point-blank if he had ever heard of the baron-in-an-hotel story, jTo my [attonishment he knew all about it! 'iWhat was still better, he did not hesiWate to tell mo who and whero tho man •»as. So at my earliest opportunity ftwhich I saw to it should not be long 3n coming) I wended my way to the "des hides," which means "The In.{jMe6,". i tho finest and-most aristocratic •Tiotelin the.Claridge's of the Netherlands.- It faces the magnificent Eneiit'erdyk;S(juare, close to'.tho" pal-sace-:,'of the Queen-mother. Every traveller to the Hague knows the "'Hetejvdes Indes."

:'. Baron foti-Wangenheim's decision to 'Acquire the iall-portership was based knowledge that practically every foreigner of importance who comes to the Hague lives at the Hotel des Indes. It has in its day, sheltered the world's mostfamousv diplomats. ' Under'its roof, on the occasion of the Hague Peace-Conference of grotesque memory,, probably as much diplomacy was cairied on. as in the 'Huis ten Bosch" (House in the Woods), where the first conference was held,, or in the "Ridderzaal" (Hall of.the Knights), which .was. the; scene-of 'the e'econd. ittfilG..e'ffort to <o3liief ate or humanise" .war by_resolutions: ...',

wool clip,, Mr. Hunter said: the safety ■The name of von Wangenheim Was iriore than ordinarily familiar" to me! ITbe Kaiser's late Ambassador in Constantinople'had passed away shortly beiarij my. arrival in Turkey in December, 1915;"' My inquiries into war conditions in Turkey-brought me/of course, ircquently into, contact with von Wanwork : a'nd'name, for the diplomat who succeeded the famous Baron Maischall von Yieberstein as Germany's chief 'henchman "at the. Golden : Horn was, with the possible exception of Enver Pasha, the most formidable personage'in the Ottoman Empire. It was Wangenheim who conducted the final ''negotiations , whereby?,' Turkey was dragged into the-Germanic--Alliance in the autumn of 1914 J. %; ; '< '■ i 'I

A Balkan-Zug Link. ' I had never met the late Ambassador or- any of' his people' until, by chance, 1 -found myself a passenger in ; the Balkan Express—the great railway' ser- . vice no\y threatened by the Rumanian adyance. along the Danube—with von .Wangenheim's widow,and three chikl- . ren, all little girls. I had on the day before dined with the Kaiser at Nisli, and, having boarded the Balkan-Zug' there en route to Vienna, found the von Wangenheim family occupying the apartment next to the one in which I had been assigned a place. 'They were On. their way home to Germany from Constantinople. King Ferdinand of Bulgaria travelled in the same train for about an hour and a half, and spent. . most of his time with the widowed barone'ss and'her daughters. ;>I decided to make mv Nish-Budapest ]ourney "with his sister-in-law the pretext for striking •up an ■ acquaintance .' with .tie hall-porter of. the (Hotel des' Iftles.rMen have-met and become communicative .with-one another, I thought, on much flimsier grounds! I sauntered lip to the.hotel entrance as nonchalantly a s I could. The hall-porter was standing on the threshold—a wellgroomed figiu-e, clad in the regulation regimentals of'the Continental hotel de luxe—green livery, with massive bands of gold braid";round;'. the collar' and sleeves. He appeared to'be a man close. •- on fifty years of age, of medium height, wearing a heavy black moustache, hair slightly tinged with grey. His complexion was sallow and his carriage was • marked by the.suggestion of a stoop. I had heprd that for eight or nine years this yon AVangenheim had been an officer in the Prussian Guard. Ob- | viously the man' before me was no longer militarily "fit." There was little of the Guardsman type about him and hardly anything to mark the German nobleman except a conspicuously white pair of long-fingered hands. At first' I was disappointed to find the hallporter in'conversation with'a'stranger,, for I was eager to talk with him at

once myself. Yet the interval gave me a good opportunity to look-him over. As I came closer I saw that beneath his green and gold tunic be sported an immaculately white waistcoat, '-'across which Stretched a largo gold chain. ' The Baron's Visitor.' I the' revolving door, which led into the hotel lounge.' 'Asi I went by him the nail-porter,' in the best manner of his profession, bowed obsequiously, '.but continued his animated conversation with the stranger in the tall hat. Since then I have wondered whether:"th'e Tatter might not have'been one. of tho emissaries of Here -yon Kuhlhiann, the German Minister at _tho Hague, giving the ."hallporter", important instructions." As-I was crossing the lounge a Dutch pageboy 1 addressed me in his native tongue. J replied in German, though it happens that I speak Dutch fluently:

"I want to speak to Baron von the hall-porter," I said to the page in a low voice. The lad, who might have been eighteen years old, gazed at mo full of suspicion. "Don't worry," I reassured him—in the way in which page-boys all over tho world can best be reassured—"l know the von Wangonlieims in Turkey." "Oh," replied tho page, "you mean his brother the Baron, who died _last winter ?" My gratification at this tell-tale query was boundless. My doubts as to tho identity of the hall-porter of the Hotel des Indes were now at rest.

"Oh, yes," I said—not I fear, without some traces of excitement—"t knew tho German Ambassador to TurJtey. I-shall perhaps ho returning to Constantinople before long. Bui do you mean.to say that tho hall-porter's identity is generally known in the hotel?" , , „ : At this moment I saw tho hall-porter and his- visitor, the stranger, in tho shiny tall hat, shako hands, and the visitor departed. The baron came toward the page: and inc. I wondered if lie had by any ohance gathered that I had been "pumping" ■ his assistant.

So, deciding to disarm . any suspicions ho might have, 1 abruptly turned from the page and walked towards tho "hallporter." Addressing him in German, 1 said, "Herr*Baron: may I speak with you for a minute? The hearing of his full. title in colloquial ' German, "Mr. Baron," evidently startled tho hall-porter. • For a flcqting second or two the colour left his cheeks. His largo black eyes were turned on me with a piercing glance. I worked hard to appear natural and self-possessed. "Es ist schon gut" (It's quite all right), I began in' German. "I knew your sister-in-law, Fran BotschaftersWitwo (Mrs. Ambassador's widow) von Wagcnheim very well. I travelled with her and the children some months ago from Nish to Budapest in the Balkan-Zug. The Ambassador had died a few weeks before."

"Quite right," responded Hall-Por-: ter von Wai.genhem. "She did not remain long in Turkey after my brother's death." Then,'with a serious frown, he added: "Eine traurige Geschichto (a sad story). He*!was a clover man who worked himself to death."

"I am hoping to go back to Constantinople before long," I ■ intervened, trying hard to "make conversation."

"Do you know.Bassermann there?" asked the Baron.

Not Keen to Fight. 1 answered tliat I knew there was a 'ivclMtnown German poli'tieaj leader named Bassermann, and had a slight recollection that ho .-had been doing some sort of civilian-military work in Turkey during the war, but that I did not have the honour of his acquaintance. .

Von Wangenhcim by now, I observed, was beginning to wonder what •sorK of German accent I had, for he looked mo straight in the_ ; face and asked: ''You're an Austrian, niciht wahr (is-it not so?)?" "Oh, no," I said, "my name's Ballin" (a subterfuge, of course).' "I am Dutch-born, of German parentage, and .am, of course, German at heart."

This (which, of course, was contrary to the truth) seemed to satisfy him. Ho "opened up" a p little. Ho told me he had heen an officer in the German Army for fourteen 'years.. Hedid not like his present ocupation, hut, being no longer sturdy, he thought he was of more service to "der grossen Saclie" (the Ercat cause) in the disguise of a • humble hall-poTter at a strategic point like The Hague. Besides, he was not particularly "keen" about the front. Things were 'far from satisfactory in or for the Fatherland, he went on to say, and Ko was anxious about the food problem.' Everybody was, ho explained. But a victory for the 'Allies was ganz ausgosclilossen (utterly out of the question).

. We parted company. The BaronPorter wished me "jlucklicho Reise" (happy journey to Constantinople), and bade mo come in and chat with 'him again before"! left The Hague.