A WAR STORY

Hokitika Guardian, 4 November 1929, Page 8

A WAR STORY

A BEAUTIFUL BLONDE. During the war the German Secret Service included a particularly, daring and beautiful blonde, who kept herself surrounded hv an aura of secrecy as far as the Ailio,s were concerned. Try as they would, they could not .even learn her name, though experience, often bitter, left them her numerous aliases, and her agents, when caught, referred to her with picturesque nick-names. Romance cast a glamour over her, and to the French she became “The Queen of Soics,” a not unmerited title.

Her first piece of work came as the result of her own efforts. The German military attache at St. Petersburg was seeking information about a new gun which was being manufacture at Putilow—the Russian Essen. Having met with scant success, he was not adverse to allowing her to hole him. The reputation of her father—ail art agent—among the aristocracy, and her own beauty, soon made her prominent in society. Gaining the confidence of an art-collecting. Russian general, whose position caused him to know all about the gun, “lie asked for permission to copy a oicture in his study. Her request was immediately granted, and then she set to work. ..

She copied the picture—not throne she asked about, but one which came out of a desk, and with it a technical description of the piece. Then she enlisted in the German Secret Sendee, receiving her tuition from its head. Colonel Nicolai, personally. She worked in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Smiin, Italy, and Rumania. The British Secret Service knew her as “Frau Doktor Elizabeth,” and to the French she was “Mademoiselle le Docteur.” When in Britain she was “Mrs Captain Heinrichsen,” while she stayed in Paris as “Mademoiselle Charles Dupont.” or “Mademoiselle Albert Henry,” and Madrid knew her as “Madame Von Bruyn.” Her agents called her “The Blonde Lady,” “The Black Cat,” “The Rod Tiger,” and “La Grande Patronne” (“The Big Boss”). She ruled her agents with a sceptre of stool. If she suspected one, she would send another after him to act as a sleuth, and if her commands were not obeyed, the Allies were allowed to get ample evidence of treachery of those who would cross her will.

She was a familiar figure in the streets of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and she drove her motor-car through the streets and she was always guarded by men of gigantic stature. Each of them was armed to the teeth. Only once did she allow her enemies to sec her alone—and then she fell into their hands. Being in France, and unable to communicate some valuable information 'to Berlin, she decided to take it herslf. She was arrested at the frontier, and then meekly followed her captor. Clark! A revolver bullet found its home. The* soldier fell, and “The Blonde Imdy” flew. Next morning another frontier guard was found shot, and at the same time she made her appearance in Basle, Switzerland. Last April it was reported that she had become an inmate of a Berlin asylum, and that drugs had brought her there.