POST OFFICE AND SPY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 161, 14 December 1914, Page 6

POST OFFICE AND SPY.

HOW THE GERMAN SYSTEM WAS EXPOSED. FURTHER REVELATIONS AT BOW ' STREET. Further evidence of how the authorities kept watch upon German agents ■ and spies- in this country was given ab Bow Street yesterday, when Karl Gustav Ernst (forty-two), British subject, si I hairdresser, of Caledonian road, Isling- ' ton, charged under the Official Secrets | Act, 1911, with having obtained and com- I municated to a German named Stein-; 1 haur, of Potsdam, certain information \ calculated to be of use to the enemy, ] was again remanded. | Mr Bodkin conducted the dase on [ behalf of the Director of Public Prose- j cutions. Mr Frederick Booth, a clerk in the ; secretary's oilice at the General Post ; Office, said that, acting upon instruc- , tions, he opened and copied a number | of letters passed through the post dur-' ing 1913. I LETTERS FROM POTSDAM. -j Some of the letters came from Potsdam, and were, addressed to J. Walters, care of G. Ernst, Caledonian road, and the others were posted in London ■ and addressed to Mrs Tony Ueimers (an alias of Stoinhaur's) at Potsdam. One ! letter to the prisoner at Potsdam, dat- | ed February, 1913, contained a registered '■' envelope addressed to "Mr Gould, Queen j Charlotte Hotel, Eastgatc, Rochester," and inside this enclosure there were [ three £5 notes. ' Gould was convietd of espionage, at * the Old Bailey sonic time ago. Another letter to ''Walters" from ' Potsdam, dated February 10, 1913, con- / tained an Austrian 100-mark note. Sov- j eral letters addressed from London to J Potsdam in February and -March, 1913, ' contained newspaper cuttings dealing ' with the arrest and prosecution of a ' man namel Klare. Copies of a large number of letters passing between the prisoner and Stin- . haur were put in 'by Mr Bodkin, but : they were not read. | LETTERS RE-SEALED AND DE- p LIVERED. < The witness added that each letter, : after it had been either copied or trac- j cd, was carefully resealed and delivered / to the addressee in the ordinary manner, j Similar evidence was given by another post office clerk, Mr John Dunan, who j dealt in the same way with the eorrcs- ! pondence passing between the prisoner I and Steinhaur during the two preceding years, 1911 and 1912. The witness j mentioned that inside one of the letters ; ; addressed to tin? prisoner from Pots- [- rdam' was an envelope bearing a Wey- I mouth address, and this latter envc- j lope contained still another bearing a name only. He had to open all three j. envelopes "before reaching the letter. , Mr Bodkin: I don't think we need , trouble about that, except that it is . interesting to see how many envelopes , seem to have been wastd on this sys- I, tern. I The. witness went on to say that in . sno of the letters from Potsdam there j was a note reading as follows: — : Dear Mr E., please' hand enclosed ,' letter to the gentleman at the res- ' taurant/' If you do not see him, > please return it unopened. j' Inside the enclosure referred to were ' bank nots to the amount of £ls. ' PRISONER'S STATEMENT. ',' Detective-Sergeant Cooper stated that ' on Monday last prisoner made the fol- ,' lowing statement to him: — ' 1 am sorry I was introduced into this business. Krenan introduced me. ,' I thought it was a private enquiry i' business. I have only seen Stiuhaur >' once. That was just before Christmas, 1911. : He came to my shop and said: "Do you know me?" I said "No." He said, "You have heard of me. I am j Steinhaur. I see you are busy now. I want to have a chat with you. I i will come back after the shop is clos- | ed. What time do you close?" 1 ! said "Twelve o'clock." He replied ''nil right; I will come back later," and j then lie left. He came back later, and : went into my parlor, where lie sat j down and had a long chat. j

Other evidence of a formal character having been given, the prisoner (as stated) was again remanded in custody for a week.