SPY'S SUICIDE.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1915, Page 11 (Supplement)

SPY'S SUICIDE.

-NAVAL SECKETS AND INVISIHLE INK. Ijondon, .May '2(i. The trial at the Central Criminal Court of the man. Anthony Knepferle. on charges of espionage, was brought to a dra ma tie ami unexpected conclusion by the suicide of the prisoner. For two days he faced from the doc''; three .Judges—the bird Chief Justice ami Mr. Justice Avory and .Mr. Justice Lush—and a jury, and when the court adjourned on Wednesday, after sitting in camera throughout tlie da v. the case for the defence was well' advanced. Knepferle had been giving evidence, and had submitted to cross-examination uv the Attorney-tiencral. lie was taken back to lirixton Prison, and althongii under practically continuous ohscr\ ition he managed' to Aake his life in the early hours of the morning. He committed suicide by tying to the ventilator the black and white seal f which he had worn throughout the trial. and fastening it round his neck. His feet were six to nine inches from the ground, and a thick book, which ha.l been given to him from the prison library, indicated how he had hoisted himself.

Knepferle left a last message. writt"n on a slate. It was a remarkable state meiit. He admitted that he was a soldier, and did not wish to be hanged. Written in English, it ran:—"To whoei it may concern, —My name is Kuepferie. born at .Sollingcn. by Arostate (a town in Baden, in Southern Cerniany). I am a soldier, with-the rank which 1 do not desire to mention. In regard on my behalf lately 1 can say I have had 1 fair trial of tlie United Kingdom, but am unable to stand the strain any longer, and take the law in my own hands. I fought heavy battles, and death is only the saviour for me. 1 would have preferred death to be shot, but do not wish to ascend tlie scalfold. as (here fidlowed a symbol or mark). And hope tli ■ Almighty' Architect of the Universe will lead me in the unknown land in the Kast. I am not dying as a spy. 011; as a soldier. My fate I stood as a man. but cannot be a liar and perjure myself. Kindly. I shall permit to ask to notify my uncle. Ambrose Droll. SoUiiigen. Arostate, Bmlen. and all my estate shall belong to him. What I have done I have done for my country. I shall -\- press my thanks, and may the Lord bless vours all."

At the liottoin Kuepferle signed his name, and on the back of the slate was written: "My age is :tl years, and I am born 11th •rune. IKSt." THE CI IA HOES. The allegation made by the Attorney: lieneral was that, in an apparently imocent business letter, the prisoner hid written between the lines in Ocrmu'i. in invisible ink, certain important, facts as to the disposition ana"" movements of his .Majesty's warships and forces, lie was a third-class passenger on the While Star liner Arabic, which left New York on February I. and reached Liverpool mi February 11. Online the voyage prisoner had conversations with one of lb-first-class stewards, and took the opportunity of letting that steward, ami seemingly everyliody else with whom he came ill contact, know that he was an American subject, and that lie had a passport. This passport was only procured by prisoner ten days before lie embarked. It contained bis oath that he desired it for use in visiting England and Holland for commercial purposes. The Arabic came up past the southern shores of Ireland, through the Irish Sea. and so to Liverpool. In the course of such a journey a man like the prisoner, engaged in the work of a Herman spv. had an opportunity of observing tieships of war he passed, and seemed to have qualified himself to recognise these vessels, judge of their types, and record what was significant about their dispositions.

After a (lay in Liverpool, during u-liii-l 1 time lie posted a letter to Holland. 'ie crossed to Dublin, and then came '» London. SMAKT DETKCTIYK WOHK. "By that time," said tlie Attorney Ucueral, "so swiftly and so clliciciillv is our service work done which keeps a check in the interests of us all. tli.it the suspicious correspondence, two dav> after the letter had been posted, had been stopped, opened, exposed, and translated, and the authorities were already on his track.'' He stayed at Evans' Hotel, in Euston Square, when he changed his quarters to the Wilton Hotel, Victoria. The police, who were ready to arrest him, came to Evan-' Hotel ten minutes after he had gone, leaving n<> address. There again, so swiftly did our system of detection work, that in tlrs great metropolis before twenty-tour hours were out he was found.

"An inspector from Scotland YarJ found him at the hotel, and told him he was going to detain him. as he had good grounds for believing that he was -n----gaged in espionage. Kncpferlc answered, 'Here is my passport," and lie produced this famous American document. Ffis luggage was examined, and in his valise were sonic interesting things. There were sheets of writing paper and envelopes similar to the one containing (he secret letter, and there were also two lemon*, one of which had had part of the »kin removed. Tin-re wii- aNo a bottle of formalin in the handbag, purchased from a Brooklyn chemist. "The juice of a lemon, more particularly if it was used in connection with formalin, was a well-known fluid Us.-l for the purposes of invisible writing. "While in Brixton Prison Knepfe.-le wrote a letter intended for another <;,■■■- man prisoner in an adjoining cell In I his lie said: 'I shall not admit or -a, I am a soldier, or that I know ainthii:of military matters. <>h. if I ,-oiilu' ,„.;,- lie lit tin' front again for half an hour/"