GERMAN WOMEN SPIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 348, 28 December 1915, Page 3

GERMAN WOMEN SPIES.

OPERATIONS IN FRANCE. THE TWO EXECUTIONS. DETAILS OF THE CASES. German writers have sought to excuse the execution of Miss Cavel! in Brussels by alleging that two German women, charged with a similar offence, have been executed by the military authorities in France. In the following despatch Mr W. Philip Simms, a Paris journalist, who has had full access to the official! records, completely disposes of this contention.

"Although the French authorities decline to be drawn into any controversy with Germany over such questions ,they have given me permission to examine the complete records of the Ottillie Voss and Marguerite Sehmitt espionage cases, with full authority to publish the facts. According to these records, there is absolutely ro similarity with the Cavell case. a c ihe following shows: "On February 27 last Secret Service agents arrested at Bourges a woman calling herself Jeanne B'ouvier. She wa s provided with papers, bearing this name, but, after being interrogated, she confessed that the papers were fraudulent and that her name really wa s Ottillie Voss. She was born in the Rhine Provinces, of German parentage. She was unmarried, and aged 33. For seven year s before the war she had lived in the Agen region of Bordeaux, where she had been giving lessons in German. ENGAGED AS A SPY. "At the outbreak of hostilities Voss returned to Germany. Being out of work, she accepted employment as a spy, whereupon she was sent to France, with orders to visit Nice, Montp&ieir, Marseilles, and Lyons to report on important new trcop formations, the frequency of railway military transports, and direction of the same, the sanitary condition of the army, and the number of the wounded; also the debarkation of troops at various ports, especially the black soldiers.

"The woman was likewise instructed particularly to- report on the state of mind of the population in regard to the war. She confessed further that she had been given 400 francs (£l6) expense money. From February 3 to February 11 she travelled as directed, then returned to Germany, where she was given 160 marks (£8) as an expression of satisfaction with her work. On February 20 she returned to France on a similar mission, having been provided with 500 francs (£2O) expenses money. Two days after her arrest at Bourges she made a full confession, and wa s unanimously condemned to death by a Council of War on the charge of espionage. On April 20 her application for a re-trial was rejected, and on May 14 her appeal to the Chief of the State for clemency

was refused. She was therefore executed on May 16. WATCHING BRITISH TROOPS.

"Marguerite Schmitt, aged 25, born at Thiaucourt, France, of French nationality, was arrested at the railway siaticn in Nancy as*a suspect on February 17. She had travelled via Switzerland from Anoux, near Briey, now occupied by the Germans. After

a lengthy examination she confessed that the Germans had sent her to obtain information concerning the presence of British troops reported as being in the region of Nancy, also concerning divers regiments encamped between Bar-le-Duc and St. Meuohculd. A friend had put her into relation with the Germans. They had offered her money, which she at first 'refused, but later accepted 200 francs (£S). The German s took her by automobile to the Swiss frontier.

"This woman asserted that, although sent by the Germnas, she had not intended to spy upon the French. It was- her purpose to tell the Germans, upon her return, that she had been held by the French as a suspect. Her presence at Nancy refuted this claim. In addition, there was found in her possession a book of questions, prepared by a German officer. When tried before a Council of War, to all questions she replied simply T am sorry.' She was condemned to death en March 20 for espionage .and on March 22 she Avas executed."