ITALY.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 June 1917, Page 5

ITALY.

THE CERLACH TREASON TRIAL DETAILS OF THE PLOT. 'Wi ' Kome > Jun e 24. Ihe great treason trial, the principal figure in which was Monsignor Gerlach a pomnnent Vatican official, resulted in Gerlach and two others being sentenced to imprisonment for life and others to three years' imprisonment. Gerlach and another, who was ordered to be shot, are fugitives from justice. T , ~ , T London, June 24. Lloyd s News publishes the secret history of the exposure of Gerlach's espionage conspiracy. The Italian Government was aware that the most important documents relating to Austrian espionage were concealed in a safe in a house in Vienna adjoining the German Consulate. The safe was protected by the most) complete burglar traps, also mechanism whereby poison gas would be released in the event of tampering. The Italian Government in January selected two expert burglars from prisons, offering them freedom and money if they secured the documents. It was duly announced that the burglars had escaped from prison. They reached Vienna by unknown means, equipped with the most complete burglary outfit, also gas masks. The burglary was the fullest success early in April, the Austrian Government merely announcing that the safe had been broken into and a large sum of money abstracted and a secret cypher. A wireless message from Vienna was immediately delivered to Gerlach informing him that the documents had been abstracted. Gerlach quitted Rome forthwith. The Italian secret service raided Gerlach's house next day and found documents revealing a network of AustroGerman espionage and pro-enemy plots. Three hundred persons, including many notables, were arrested. Received June 25, 8 p.m. Rome, June 25. The evidence showed that all of the aocused had transmitted military secrets. The Austrian espionage centre .was at Lucerne. The trial took place in camera and occupied fifty-six sessions. The public was admitted during the reading of the sentence, and the crowded court broke into howls of vituperation, Pomarici was ordered to be shot through the back.