HOAXING A TOWN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 33, 8 February 1913, Page 5

HOAXING A TOWN

WOLTER'S LITTLE JOKE ALL GERMANY LAUGHING SPECTACLE WITNESSED BY 30,000 PEOPLE. By Telegr*ph.— PfM* Association.— Copyright. BERLIN, 7th February. AH Germany is laughing over Wolter's hoax in having the garrison of Strasburg called out, and the town decorated, by means of his false telegram stating that the Kaiser was to visit the town for the purpose of witnessing a test alarm. It appears that Wolter sent a telegram to himself and then tubbed out the contents and substituted the following : " Will arrive 12. Coming by motorcar and proceeding to Polygon parade ground. Entire garrison to be alarmed. (Signed) Wilhelm." The prisoner also forged the special marks indicating that the telegram was from the Emperor. The Governor of Strasburg, General Baron yon Egloffstein, oblivious to the fact that the Kaiser was 1 1000 miles away, summoned the garrison as directed. The populace of the city believed that war was imminent, and the women were in tears. For two hours 18,000 troops stood on the parado ground. A new Zeppelin airship was also hovering overhead. The spectacle was witnessed by 30.000 spectators, including Wolter, who was overheard to say that he wished he could also set the fleet in motion. Finally the chief of police motored to Strasburg, two miles and a-half distant, and telephoned back that he had learned that the Kaiser was at Koenigsberg, in Eastern Prussia. The Morgenposfc recalls that the Kaiser, in 1893, unexpectedly stopped his train, and himself alarmed the Strasburg garrison.