LADY OF THE LARK'S NEST

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1933, Page 18

LADY OF THE LARK'S NEST

A Secret Agent Who Tricked the Germans -

"Among the names appearing in the latest list of those on whom the Legion of Honour has been conferred by the French Government, is that "bf the French widow of an Englishman. The distinction has been awarded her "for extraordinary services to her country" —a laconic official announcement which doe? but bare justice to the most dangerous and devoted deeds ever inspired by the fires of patriotism. Volunteering for the perilous and tortuous task of espionage to avenge the death of her first husband, who was killed in 'battle, this remarkable woman matched "her wits against one of Germany's craftiest agents in Spain and frustrated some- of the most sinister plots that were hatched in this centre of intrigue during the war. Among her achievements were the unmasking of the German plans for the landing of arms in Ireland at the time of the Eoger Casement episode, and a similar project designed to stir up revolt in Morocco.

It was this woman's information which led to the arrest of the notorious Mata Hari, when the dancer returned to France at the behest of her German employers. Most, of the intelligence ■which enabled the British Admiralty to get the upper hand of the U-boat campaign, oft' the coast of Spain came from this intrepid widow, some of whose enthralling war exploits are now Tevealed for the first time by a writer in the "News of the World."

There is a link with Lancashire in the second marriage of this heroine of the Secret Service whom France has honoured fourteen years after the conclusion of the war. , Mme. Marthe Eichard Crompton, who now proudly ■wears the ribbon of the Legion of Honour, is the widow of a native of the County Palatine directly descended from the inventor of the famous "mule" which revolutionised the textile industry in the early days of the nineteenth century. No mention is made officially of the deeds for France for which the honour is conferred, but it can be stated that Mrs. Crompton is the famous Marthe Eichard who rendered great services to the Allies as a secret agent in Spain. It was to avenge the death of her husband, who was killed in battle early in the war,-that Mrs. Crompton, then Mme. Eichard, offered her services to the- famous Second Bureau which directed French counter-espionage. Mrs. Crompton was only twenty-two at the time, but she had much to reeominend her for the dangerous work she undertook. A year previously she won an air pilot's certificate for a daring flight in. Paris round the Eiffel Tower. Moreover, she was "comely 'and fascinating, but yet imbued with all the resolution of an embittered, bereaved woman. ;

Armed with the love letters he had written, and proof of his many indiscretions due to his infatuation for her, Mrs. Crompton went to the German Embassy at Madrid and denounced the baron, how she had fooled him into believing that: she was serving Germany, when in reality she wa^ serving France. Yon Krohn was recalled at once, but he refused to take the i risk of falling into the hands of fhe'vAllies'or being sunk if he accepted transport by submarine.

Spain was chosen as the snhere of Mrs. Crompton's activities because of her knowledge of the German and Spanish languages, and her mission was to checkmate the machinations of one of Germany's most dangerous agents there, Captain Baron yon Krohn. It was known that the Germans were provisioning their submarines from the port_ of San Sebastian, and that all inquiries into their plots would be attended with very real peril. "Without hesitation Mrs. Crompton Bet herself out to worm herself into the confidence of the chief spy. She deliberately "vamped" Baron yon Krohn.and soon he .fell a victim to her cajoleries and charm. So completely was he under her spell that none of his secrets were kept from her.

Mrs. Crompton pretended to fall in with the baron's suggestion that she should enter the German. Secret Service, and to enable her to carry on her work the baron set her up in a beauty parlour which was known throughout San Sebastian as "The Lark's Mirror." Mrs. Crompton, by the way, was the "Lark."

During this part of her career Mrs. Crompton furnished the baron with g, mass _of information • supposed to emanate from the agents she" was enrolling through her beauty parlour, but in reality "information" concocted by British and French agents and designed to mislead the Germans.

What was more important, Mrs. Crompton garnered wonderful information, either direct from the baron or his friends relating to U-boat and other activities, which, she got safely through to Paris. Not a single hour of a single day for three years was she free, from the most deadly, hazard. She realised it, and on many occasions she had hairbreadth escapes, but she never faltered; the memory of her lost husband kept her enthusiasm for her. task alive.

To the "Lark's Mirror" came Mata Hari, the notorious dancer spy, and it was information furnished by Mrs. Crompton that led to the arrest of the dancer when she returned to France and her subsequent execution in the courtyard of Vincennes fortress.

About the same time Mrs. Crompton, who was' actually taken to private conferences of the German agents by the infatuated baron, learned of large shipments of arms being sent from Germany to Ireland and Morocco. She reported; this to her chiefs, with the result that the arms for Morocco were seized at Santander by the Spanish Government, and.those<for Ireland by the British Fleet, when Boger Casemeut was captured at the same time, When the Second Bureau in Paris decided that it w.as in the interest of France and her Allies to put an end to the career of Baron yon Krqhn in Spain, the bold policy of denouncing Mm, to his employers for his indiscretions was decided on.

Finally an. arrangement was made between the German and French Governments whereby, in return for a concession regarding a French, agent, the baron-was allowed to travel across France into' Switzerland in a sealed van attached to an express goods train. - After her visit to the German Embassy in Madrid a price was put on Mrs. Cromptbn's head, and German' secret agents Teeeived instructions to "execute" her; but she continued her work right up to the end of the war. Shortly after her retirement Mrs. Crompton went to live in London, and there she met her second husband, Mr. Crompton, who afterward, migrated to the .United States with her, and he died there four years ago. When on a visit to Berlin last year Mrs. Crompton encountered .Baron "yon Kroim, the man she had so cleverly '' vamped' 'ahd vanquished, but ho was sportsman enough to shake hands arid admit that she had been too clever for him.