SPIES IN BELGIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 111, 3 October 1914, Page 6

SPIES IN BELGIUM.

A CORRESPONDENT ARRfc,

BUB?2ISEB"tiEKMA.\

iBUULETS IXSI'K.iO W lUis,,,.

was arrested as a spy. ' VV'ritng to the pap w on tbe ~. «pW Mr Donohoe said.•like" *"*, IK T ful h'wbandmeu i.Hkc in the country whit)' looks cast towards tl.o German' frontier a,* Xm a very acutely from « py fevcr . deed, the uisidious, methods of th.. u,,rran spies have inspired mor, f.n„r than l*™ appoaraiKe of the armed maw of mvaders. To give them due vr,],i great daring has (been slnwn by th,*' secret agents of the Kaiser I„ aLmpt-' ng to penatraie the Belgian lines, for they arc awir e that when uitru !,■■■„ are caught landed the p, P .| t .v is certain

I visited a place to-day where* ihe spy mania j s particularly acute. Tn»* jtrhapsy is not to be wondered at because not far from th« outputs vusttmay. three Germans wearing Belgian i.'illtary uniforms were eaptur.-d. 1-, thi« disguise .they made their w« t . .. patently unchallenged, througn, th*.\,iu posts, and only a chance word led i u their detection. Since this quite a number of gamin... Belgian officer,- ii.iv> been haled before the authorities, and subjected to a rigorous cross-exanwna-t.on. It was not until they had furnished incontrovertible proof of their identity taint they were released. The super-heated imagination of the Belgian peasant isces spiiti everywhere- his excess of patriotic zeal leads him to denounce the first stranger he comes across, in the firm belief that he is thereby doing au incalculable duty to his country. CAFE KEEPER'S SUSPICIONS.

this kind to-day, which led to me beinr detained as a prisoner for eight hours •in company with Br. Charier Stole., iflc well known literateur. We were denounced by the keeper of a cafe where we had halted for refreshment. Tin* *wwwro told the police that lie did not take our foreign appearance, and was sure that we must ho spies. Each ot us was furnished with a Belgian militll !*? OUJ >Photog..-a a >h* attached, but tlwao apparently did no' carry any, weight either with 'the police or the, military. They suggested that we might liave stolen ttiv papwe and substituted our own photographs for those of the. original owners. Mv cher-ii-hed English passport was voted 'by tli* authorities as a thing of little value «ndi «, French police pass tearing my photograph.made no impression. Thin 4 looked' very (blade, and wo were resigning ourselves to an indefinite iperiod of detention, if, indeed, nothing worse when succor arrived in the shape; of a Brussels journalist, who was able to vouch for my identity. ll>. ,«nrolea dn the course of the day found a university professor to whom ho was personally known. So wo were eventually released, but verv reluctantly and without the rumotest suggestion of an apology. In fat*, up to the" very last "the police official persistently dung to tlie theory that my held-glasses were some wonderful new-fangled ind of tamers stored full of photographic impression* of thu Belgian positions, lie relinquish, ed the oamicra theory very reluctantly and ungraciously, with the air of '■! man baffled, tbut not convinced. H.id I 'been h< possession of a real camera i".y fate, I supper, would have hcen sealed.

WOUNDED PRISONERS. "After my release from custody I In 1 . an opportunity of conversing anil being' with a nuiuber of German and Belgian rounded. The Germans, who i&cTiuU several officers, are comfortably installed »H the first floor of the military hospital, while the Belgian wounded are on the ground floor, il am able to say from my own obuorvation that lite Gern an sufferers arei receiving every care ind attention. The majority i/re eav-airy-HSiixan Dragoons and Uhliun who v. ere taken in skirmishes around Lieg.i. "Several German troopers with whom I talked—good solid Saxona, not overgifted with imagination— spoke, with astonishment of the hostile reception recorded them! in Belgian terrtory. They had been led to expect quite a different kind of reception. One, from near Uipzig, who had been shot through the Kr.ee, said that his regimental office™ had promised them a delightful time in the hospitable land of. Belgium. They worn going there, in the puke of frieniLi —so he. was told —'to Iholp the Belgiana fight the invading French. RULLWTS INSTEAD OP BOSKS. "The squadron to which th l ,* soldier (belonged had crossed the 'Meuse, and penetrated somo distance linmokhted, into Belgian territory. They bought milk and other supplies at farm houisea, the officer in cluugo paying with lavish hand and never accepting ohango. Then, ono morning, as .they were gaily approaching a large village, and look:iig forward to welcome refreshment, isolated shote Tang out. They were followed by a volley or two from entrenclhed Belgians, and the best ipurt of th' troops were laid low. Many of the survivors, are now haippy in the' military hospital, but they have not yet nettled! to their own' satisfaction why people to whom the disinterested Germans were rendering assistance slioul 1 j have strewn their path with bulletj instcau of roues."