GERMAN PLOTTERS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 306, 20 September 1921, Page 5

GERMAN PLOTTERS

♦ MONARCHISTS’ SECRET MURDER CLUB FOMENTING CIVIL WAR CONNIVANCE OF BAVARIAN GOVERNMENT The existencs of a secret murder club among the German monarchists has been proved by evidence' gained in connection with the assassination of Herr Erzberger. The aim of the organisation is said to be to force tho Socialists to violent, measures z which will give the signa] <or civil war. By Telecranh—Press Association —Oonyrieht London, September 18. The "Daily Mail’s” correspondent at Berlin states that the existence of a secret murder club among ths Monarchists has been proved beyond doubt by cumulative evidence arising out of the recent arrests at Munich in connection with tho murder of Herr Erzbergsr. A militarist club in Central Bavaria, protected and connived at by the Bavarian authorities, certainly planned and effected Erzberger’s ' assassination. The Central Government has learned that the next victims on tho list were the Chancellor (Herr Wirth), tho Minister of Reconstruction (Herr Rathonau), and a member of a great electrical trust who is at present negotiating with the French Minister of Reconstruction (M. Loucheur). Most of the members of the organisation aro Royalist ex-officers, employing a Swastika badge, which was tlio emblem of the earlier Royalist bands, notably those which engineered the Kapf coup in Berlin in 1920. Many belong to the Government services, they do not hesitate to use official authority to assist the league’s aims. The plotters were nowise dismayed by the failure of tlie Kapp coup, and are definitely planning a rising when the time is ripe. The aim of these preliminary assassinations is to force the Socialists to violent measures, which, will give the signal for civil war. The Royalists rely on tho notorious Baltic Corps, the members of which participated in the Kapp coup and are still-concealed by the Junkers on East Prussian estates as farm labourers, where there are stores of munitions. They\,have the same leaders today as in Kapp’s .time —Bauer, tho Ehrhards. and Pabst, with Ludendorff friendly but passive. The leaders frequently meet in secret councils nt Rosenheim. near Munich, where the Bavarian Government connives nt their activities. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. EXODUS OF HOHENZOLLERNS OWING TO INSTABILITY OF SITUATION. , (Rec.' September 19, 5.5 p.m.) London, September 19. The Doorn correspondent of the "Daily Express” states that the Holienzollerns still residing in Germany are preparing for- a general exodus to Holland and Switzerland, owing to the instability of tho German political situation. The Duke and Duchess of Brunswick and Prince Adalbert have already, arrived m Doorn unexpectedly. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.