MATA-HARI-SPY.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1917, Page 6

MATA-HARI-SPY.

STORY OF HER LIFE. WHAT WILL lIKR MEMOIRS REVEAL? A short time ago news was received of the execution in Paris of Mata Hari, the woman spy, who gave away the secret of the tanks to the enemy. Here is her story, written by the 'Paris correspondent of The World:— "Eye-of-the-Morning" is English for the Japanese pet name Mata-Har;— the stage name of Mmc Marguerite Gertrude Zclle Macleod, first known in Paris, and lattery all over Europe, as a dancer whose specialty was the representing of Far-Eastern Jegends and fables according to tersichorean art. Only a few months ago—in the early spring—Mata-Hari appeared in a Paris music-hall, the Folics Bergere. It was her first appearance on the French stage since the outbreak of the war; and in the last three years France's ideas of propriety on the. stage and elsewhere have changed much. And so Mata-Hari was visited by the police. She was told that she must wear more clothing. Likewise she must modify her gestures, and soft-pedal on the writhings and squirmings that "interpreted" the various bits of Indian folklore she presented. Mata-Hari quit then and there, and shook the dust of French theatrical stages from her feet for ever. She went back to her luxurious apartment oear the Bois do Bologne, and nothing was heard of her until her arrest as a spy. "IN THE KNOW" ABOUT THE TANKS. One of the most important and spectacular events of the only Allied offensive of 1910 was the appearance in action of the newest engine of war—• the so-called tank. As with any innovation, the success of the tank depended largely on the element of surprise attaching to its debut. Therefore, the strictest secrecy marked the planning, the construction, and the shipment of tanks to the Somme, where they first went into action.

It took a good many months to construct the first fleet, and a good many weeks to train the first crews to stand the jerky, rolling, pitching, lumbering gait of the mobile forts. During that period the circle ,of people "in the know" increased, and Mata-Hari was one of those who heard about the curious landships. It is rumored that a deputy inadvertently gave her . the first information about tanks. And the rumor is strengthened by the fact that MataHari had plenty of coal for her apartment during the fuel famine last winter. That in itself is proof enough to everybody# of her intimacy with some high official, as few people short of deputies had influence enough to obtain a hundredweight of coal during the bitter months of January, February, and March. In any event, Mata-Hari learned vaguely of tanks early in 1910, when the Krupp guns of the Crown Prince were daily booming nearer and nearer to Verdun in that terrific struggle which was to mark the turning-point of the •■•ar. Mata-Hari also learned that the tanks were being constructed in England, and would be shipped to France via certain ports—and she got the names of the ports, too. MATA-HARI REAVES FOR HOLLAND. Then Mata-Hari decided she must return to her native country, Holland. For, with all her Japanese appellation, she was born near Botterdam, although it is true she went to the Dutch East Indies when a tiny child. She gave as reason for going to Holland ihe fact that she had married a Dutch army officer with a Scotch name—Captain Macleod— that they had been divorced, and she wished to arrange a settlement of their common property. / Her passports were made out, and safe conducts granted for a trip to Holland, via England, of course, as that is the only way to get into the Low Countries from the Allied side. Mata-Hari went to England. But before she proceeded to Holland, as Secret Service agente of the British and French Governents ascertained, she visited a certain English manufacturing city, where, it so happened, the tanks were being constructed. Evidently Mata-Hari didn't find out much about the tanks there, as not a man connected with their construction ever passed through the gates of the j high brick wall which ■surrounded the factory during the six months that the first "fleet" were building. The men were boarded, entertained., and employed ! there continually. Every letter they sent out or received was subjected to the most rigorous censorship. The dancer proceeded to Rotterdam. Investigation there has since '•proved that she had no "communal rights property" to settle with anyone, and further that Captain Macleod, of the Dutch Army, was known among his fellowpfficers as pronouncedly prcj-German. SEEN WITH A TANK OFFICER.

Soon Mata-Hari returned to Paris. She was seen at the Cafe de !Paris and at Maxim's, and at Armenonville in the Bois with an English officer who wore on the lapel of his collar, as insignia denoting his branch of service, a little twisted brass dragon. Months later, when more of these badges were seen on British officers passing through Parte, it became known that the dragon was of the official insignia denoting service with the tanks. „

Mata-Hari sported a new bauble soon after taking up with the Englishman—n jewelled replica of his gold insignia—her dragon had real emeralds for eyes, and & carrot-shaped ruby for a tongue darting from its opened fangs. In May, 1910, a little more than a month before the Somme offensive opened and tanks were first used, Mata-Hari appeared before the police magistrate of Iter district and requested a safe conduct to visit a certain port in France. The reason she gave was that her fiance, .in English officer, was seriously wounded and in hospital there. He had sent for her to come to see him. The safe conduct was made out. and Mata-Hari arrived at a certain Frencli port almost simultaneously with the first consignment of tanks shipped over ffom England. MATA-HARI AND THE TANKS. Now a tank of the early type was feet long, 12 feet wide, and 9 feet high, and the caterpillar tractors rumbling under it and over it and around it made a terrible din, attracting the attention of people for great distances around. And because of the weight of the tanks they could not be moved by rail, but had to travel under their own nower It w#» impowible, therefore, to

wholly hide the monsters from inhabit - :'nt< of (luit pariieular French port, and from townspeople in the French villages through which they passed on the way to the Sonimc front. Of course, most; of the travelling was done by night, and tarpaulins were jihvays draped over the armed and armored behemoths. Mata-Ilari remained in the French port for a week. iSlie strolled about the town at night, and explained to the hotel, clerks that she could not sleep without taking a certain amount o! exercise before retiring, and that after being accustomed to gay life in Paris, she was not tired until after midnight. It was not June Ist, exactly a month before Generals Haig and Foeh bejran their drive astride the Somme, thai Mata-Hari returned to Paris. And the first thing she did was to apply for a vise on her passport permitting her to go to Spain. San Sebastian was the place she mentioned, as she explained she wished to atend the horse races there, IN TOUCH WITH GERMANY. Madrid, Spain, and Nauen, Germany, are in constant wireless communication. There are other radio stations, privately owned in Spain, which can flash messages to Germany, according to Allied intelligence officers who have investigated. And, of course, there are innumerable German agents, spies, and propaganda disseminators. Secret Service reports disclose the fact that Mata-Hari was seen much in company at San Sebastian race track with a man long looked upon with suspicion by the French Government.

Soon she came back to 'Paris and the apartment near the Bois de Bologne. And once more the limousine owned by ■the individual whom rumor has branded a -Deputy, began rolling up to her door twice a week and sometimes oftener. Then came the simultaneous Franco. British offensive at the Somme. Tanks went into action for the first time, and, according to General Haig's official communique, his "land-ships achieved satis« factory results. THE ANTI-TANK GUN.

The tanks did achieve satisfactory results. More than that, they revolutionised offensive tactics on favorable terrain. But several of the tanks were put out of action—and not by stray shells hurtling forward from far behind the German lines. They were knocked out by small calibre penetration shells, fired from 3" millimetre trench cannons —the largest guns that can be handled" p from advanced positions. Guns specially built and rifled, and fired at high velocity and flat trajectory, so that, unlike any shell ever coughed up by a mortar, they penetrated the object struck —even though it were steel—before exploding. Instantly it became evident that the enemy had become aware of what wa» in store for him and had constructed an "anti-tank" gun. And when the booty in the captured German positions was examined, the British found they had several good specimens of Krupp's newest weapon-. Several German officers ot higher rank taken prisoners confirmed suspicions, by explaining they had received. description of the tanks several weeks before and had been instructed how to combat them. MATA-HARI'S FINAL MOODS. While Mata-Hari awaits death sl\» wrote her memoirs in a polyglot of French. German. Dutch, Javanese, Japanese, and even English, according to the mood she 'was in. She wrote the story of her life, and it was purchased by a Paris morning newspaper, which will publish it in serial form. And all Paris waits eagerly—except the one who waits apprehensively—to see if she will name Uie "ami" who gave her the first inkling of the tanks.