LESE-MAJESTE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8349, 8 February 1913, Page 5

LESE-MAJESTE

GARRISON ALARMED FICTITIOUS TELEGRAM BY DISMISSED OFFICIAL. By Telegraph—Press Association—Oopyrlghi BERLIN, February 6. A telegram was received at Strasburg stating that the Kaiser was arriving at midday to witness a test alarm for the garrison. . Tho Commander-in-Chief mustered the troops in the drill ground, including Prince Joachim of Prussia, Tho town was decorated, and great crowds waited for four hours, when a telephonic inquiry revealed that the message was- a hoax. It has since been found that a man named Keller, formerly in the Paymaster’s Department, who was recently court-martialled and dismissed the service as not being responsible for his actions, in order to demonstrate that ho was in full possession of his faculties, disguised himself as a postal official, and delivered tho telegram. He has been arrested on a. charge of lese-majesto. ALL GERMANY LAUGHING POPULACE BELIEVED WAR TO BE IMMINENT. (Received February 7, 10.10 p.m.) BERLIN, February 7 All Germany is laughing at the hoax perpetrated by a man whoso name is now given as Welter. He sent a telegram to himself, rubbed out the contents, and substituted the following: “Arrive at twelve. Coming in motor-car. Proceeding to Polygon parade ground. Entire garrison to be alarmed. (Signed) Wilhelm." Tho prisoner forged special marks indicating that it was from tho Emperor. General Elgotfstein was oblivious ot the fact that the Kaiser was a thousand miles away, and he summoned the garrison. Tho populace believed that war was imminent. The women burst into tears. In two hours eighteen thousand troops were on tho ground, a now Zeppelin airship overhead, and thirty thousand spectators, including Wolter, who was overheard to say that he wished ho could set tho fleet in motion. Finally the Chief of Police motored to Strasburg, two miles and a half, telephoned, and learned that tho Kaiser was at Koenigsberg. Tho “Morgen Post” recalls that tho Kaiser, in 1893, unexpectedly stopped a train, and himself alarmed the Strasburg garrison.