FRENCH SPY SENSATION

Hokitika Guardian, 10 December 1925, Page 2

FRENCH SPY SENSATION

GAINING |{()M ANTIC INTEREST. * Australia A* N.Z. Cable Assoi.iutijti ] I’A It IS. December 8. The espionage affair is hourly gaining a romantic interest. Ihe Paris police. after arresting the woman Marcell,■ Aloiiscil. ail artist’s model, arrested three British subjects on a charge of spying ill connection with Frent'll a vial ton. and also a mail named Lionel Wiet. who posed as a naval officer. Ihe Britishers are Phillips, the Director ol the Wireless Telegraphy Company: William Fisher, his employer: and John I .i'll I her. an engineer. John Leather is well-known in the British colony in Paris, and lus lrieiids find it difficult to believe hint guilty: while the police have no serious suspicion of Phillips, who only was arrested as the associate ol Leather. The woman Marcello Moused seems

to suffer I nun a In-i ol notoriety, which makes even her confession most doubtful. .Marcello spent her girlhood in a reformatory. whence she emerged with a nurse’s diploma. Daring parachute descents have been a big element in her successes. After she descended at the Nantes Aerodrome, she was the guest of honour at a banquet given by aviatrns to celebrate her courage. IDENTITY OF ARRESTEES. PARIS, December S. The Ereach police declare that both Leather and Phillips now admit that they belong in idle British Intelligence Service. The British Embassy iii Paris may intervene on their hehall. The woman .Moused eon l miles to liiti iMi:i i n a cynical attitude. She defended her action in turning a spy by declaring: ” A girl must live somehow!” She said that she preferred to sdl her country's secrets for a thousand francs to starving as an artist’s model. Marcello .Moused stales that she was introduced to Phillips by her lover. Phillips offered her twelve hundred francs monthly to operate under his directions, .'■the then consecrated her-.-ell entirely to spying. She visited the principal Kreiieh Air Ports, there winning the affection- ol youthful officers. and obtaining from them information concerning the number and the quality of ilie aeroplanes, and also inhumation on leeiiuical matters, relative especially to a secret five-engined aeroplane that has been under const ruction.

.Marcello Alonseil says .she believed that the espionage was conducted on behalf of Britain. PRESS COAIAIENT. LONDON, December 8.

The ’’ Evening News” say-: “ Inquires in London suggest that the Ereneh police have been over zealous and have made a. mistake in charging the Englishmen with espionage. The lima Department Wireless Company, London, point out that the arrested mep control their Company's Paris agency. Their work naturally entails inquiries at the aeroplane works. They are the only English company competing with French manufacturers on a large scale. The men’s characters are unimpeachable. They probably merely acted indiscreetly. Phillips is the manager ot the Burn Department Wireless which is a Paris agency for the Burn Department ol Lonodn. Me was a prominent Rritisn Intelligence Officer in war time.” LONDON, December Ik The " Daily New’-” Palis correspondent says: "Tile charge against three Englishmen of espionage acting lor Britain has caused a most painful impression. The polite escorted the prisoners to the Rum Department's Bloirot offices, which were scrnpulousdy searched, and several boxes of documents were removed. The police “lis-tened-in ’’ to a number of wireless sets, hoping to interept secret information but they heard only Eiffel Tower messages. and musical programmes."