AMAZING SERIES OF CRIMES.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 October 1918, Page 3

AMAZING SERIES OF CRIMES.

MYSTERY MAN IN AMERICAN LUNATIC ASYLUM. An astounding story of German spy methods has lxeen brought to light in an investigation into the cause of an explosion on a steamer three days, after she had left a South American port for New York, Three lives were lost, and only by strenuous labour by the captain and. crew was the vessel taken into port. Included in the cargo were fifteen cases of "minerals” and one case of "cinematograph films,” space for which had been applied for by a licensed Custom House dispatcher. These cases must have contained bombs. The text link in the chain of evidence was a document sent to Berlin by way of a neutral country. In this it was stated that a German employed at the port had informed the German Vice-Consul immediately after the departure of the ship that a South African Boer had given him the bomb which had caused the explosion, and that he had seen to its shipment. The Vice-Consul gave the B'oer, who had several times been to the Consulate, money to escape. Subsequently ia clerk confessed his complicity in the crime, and papers were discovered revealing an elaborate plot. From a safe the police seized a number of documents and a sum of over £1,200 in American bills, which were found in an envelope marked "On His Majesty’s Service,” bearing a name which it is believed, was one of the many used by the man who actually brought the case of "cinematograph films” to the ship. LUNATIC ARRESTED. Then there is a break in the story, and the thread is taken up in New York, where, after a lapse of nearly two yqars, a man was arrested. Ho had made a claim against an insurance company in respect of sixteen cases and it was for attempted fraud in connection with this claim that he was arrested. It was established that he was of unsound mind, and he was detained in a criminal lunatic asylum. When arrested he was passing as a captain of the Australian Light Horse He was in uniform, and weaxing ribbons of the South African, Matabele, and Long Service Medals and the Croix de Guerre with palm. Amongst the papers found upon him was a cutting describing the career of a man who was thought to be the chief instigator of the outrage. In this it was stated that when the man’s crime was published in South America it caused a shock in Allied circles, for he had always cultivated their society in every possible way. He was ever loud in his denunciation of the Germans. The extract concluded:— "It is believed that he and his confederates escaped in a powerful motor boat, of which he was the owner. A list of the crimes committed by these men staggers belief. Since their operations in South America the s.s., Salvador was completely destroyed by fire, the s.s. Vauban was barely saved from complete destruction by the same cause, the coaling- station in Bahia was burned, the magnificent Pembrokeshire was destroyed in the Atlantic, the boilers of the liner Ligcr burst through dynamite, being mixed with the coal, the s.s.-Tennyson was dynamited, an illicit wireless station was. built north of Pernambuco, four ships have loft South American ports and have never been heard of. INCRIMINATING DOCUMENTS The story is then taken back to the days of the South African War, when the correspondent of a paper in Brussels was arrested, proof having boon secured that he was engaged in hostiltics against England. He was sent as a prisoner of war to Bermuda, whence ho escaped. There is reason to believe that he was later employed as an intelligence officer of the German Government. Found on the main detained in New York -was a letter referring to the arrest of the correspondent in Cape Town during the Boer War. Naturally the question was asked, were they one and the same man? An interesting letter in his poses- ■ sion was from an Austrian Vice Consul and in the following terms: —"It is a pleasure to me to commend in the highest manner to my countrymen Mr army, who has in many circumstances rendered notable service to our good German cause. Uebersezig, Imperial Vice Consul.” This was accompanied by a card. "Imperial captain upon Service Carl Uebersezig, Imperial Austrian Vice Consul.” Nor were these the only documents found which aroused suspicion for ho had also a photograph of original bill of lading for the 16 cases and a receipt given by the dispatcher for "payment for services.”