SPY-HUNTING.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 January 1917, Page 2

SPY-HUNTING.

A BATH ORDEAL. GERMAN ANXIETY ,QN SWISS ■F^OXTIKK I have just passed a morning at 01leibach, a suburb of Basle, situated on the German-Swiss frontier, watching tlic exodus of Germans from the Farhorlaiui, writes a em-respondent of a Louden paper, on November 20. Before the war tlie German trains crossed the froiil/or at tnis point and steamed into the ".Baden" railway station, a marrlmoth luihiing erected in Swiss territory at a rest of nearly £4,000,0(10 by 1 the German Government, and owned] of course, by Germany. At the outbreak of -war, the Swiss politely but firmly told the German Government that the German H-.ilway trains would no longer be allowed to enter Sw'iss territory, and to ; day the station is occupied by Swiss soldiers. Teutonic and neutral' travellers leaving Germany alight from the tvsiin outside Ottorbach.'wh.ei'e they are searched and examined,,and having passed through the Swiss Customshouse on the other side of the gate, drive in taxis or omnibuses to the Swiss railway station in Basle, where they resume their journey. A barbed-wire fence, guaidfd-! by elderly Landsturmcrs, separates. Swiss territory from the little yard in Miiich the preliminary examination of the travellers takes place, and when fio' express arrives each morning from Berlin a crowd of Swiss nursemaids and. children and a few night workers invari- 1 ably assemble to watch the proceedings; The travellers stand in rows, and the, German special police survey them closely. In the Custonishouse. the officials search principally 'or gold and food--stuffs. In the lare case in which either r- found; the offending traveller is at cnee arrested. From the Custonishouse the travellers pass into the investigation department where each person

i.-Klergoes a cross-examination much lovcrer and more thorough than that •hich he mav have.had to undergo in ,he yard. This ordeal over, the men last to the right into a searching room. ;!ie ladies to the left into another.

THE HOT BATH. German thoroughness also characterivs this part of the procedure. There is no half-heal ted' searching. The woman searcher ilways combs the hair of the ladies in tase written messages or documents are concealed there. Whilst the searching is taking place, a warm b'ltli is prepared for tlie person searched and ho or she, as the case may be, prcceeds to tlie bathroom. The «nmpi leory bath, I was told, has only figured in the programme during tlie last few weeks but the Germans insiston it, because they declare, rightly or wrongly, that much valuable information written in invisible ink upon the bodies of tif.vellers was previously conveyed out o? Germany, 'i'he hot bath, in which a chemical is dissolved, is expected automatically to erase any such messages. A Swiss friend and myself rea-.-hed the. barbed-wii-i fence this morning before the nursemaids and the perambulators. We heard the distant whistle, of the express, and five minutes or so later the passengers, who numbered about 2.1, were standing in an irregular line in the road. They were the usual motley colIt ction of'wartime travellers—the woman with the baby, the woman wlth.the pet dog and three large hat-boxes, an official-looking personage, a few meu who were probably commercial travellers, and the inevitable American.

THE GIRL WHO STUDIED MUSIC.

The Chief of Police and two or throe sulordinates walked up and down before the travellers eyeing eaeli of them keenly. Onee or twice the Chief stopped with a jerk, tugged his moustache and looked very grave. All the passengers were allowed to enter the Customs htuse, except three—a girl about 20 van's of age, a young man, and a man who might be fifty. "Your passport, Fraulein," said the chief politely. He studied the docnn.er.l closely, hi? eyes passing from the photograph to the girl and buck again "What were you doing in Berlin?' "Studying music," she said. "Why could von not study music in Switzerland?" asked the chief severely. ! "] ' suppose I ■ could; but you know ! it's the thing to go to Berlin or Leipzig." ' ••Yes, its th; thing," he repeated "What school did you attend?" lie added sharply. "The Conservatoire, of course." "What was the name of your pro fessor?" She named a. distinguished German violinist. "Bring me. the Intent,'musical direc-. ti:ry,' said the chief to one of the f-nb-ordinatos. Next, "Whore, do you live' Fraulein?" She gave an address in Zurich. "Which floor'." She gave the number of the floor. "What is the name of the person on Hie floor 'below, yours, and the profess'en of the oci'iipier of the flat above?" She answered promptly. "Now bring me the latest official directory to the City of Zurich," said the chief, as the subordinate handed him the- musical dheetory. His investigations, into l)oth volumes seemed to prove the accuracy cf the girl's Statement, awl, having sal.ited her, ho signalled to her to enter th" Customshouso. The two men speedily proved their bona fides, and the chief disappeared also into the Customs-house. No spies were caught this monling.