THE ALLEGED GERMAN SPY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10134, 3 November 1910, Page 3

THE ALLEGED GERMAN SPY.

FAILURE OF CHARGE OF FELONY. COUNSEL AND THE WOMAN IN THE CASE. The case for the prosecution against Lieutenant Siegfried Helm, the young German officer of the 21st Nassau Pioneer Battalion who is accused of obtaining information as to the fortifications at Portsmouth, with the intention of communicating it to a foreign State, was concluded at the Fareham County Police Court. The magistrate decided that thero was a prima facte case for the prisoner to answer for misdemeanour, but not for felony, and the hearing was adjourned . Mr Bodkin, who is presecuting at the instance of the director of Public Prosecutions, explained at the previous hearing that the Official Secrets Act recognizes two different kinds of offence. "It is a misdemeanour to obtain the information," he said, "but it is a felony to obtain it with the intention of conveying it to a foreign State, and the prisoner is charged with felony." LIEUT. HELM's ~OTE-BOOK. Captain Horace do Courcv Martelli, of-the Royal Field Artillery, narrated the circumstances of the discovery of Lieutenant Helm about noon on September sth. He said: "I was out riding with Lieutenant Salmond and Master Leslie Hamilton. Lieutenant Salmond and I were in service dress. While riding up Portsdown Hill, near the face of Fort Widley, we saw a man dressed in a white suit and a Panama hat who was standing close to the wire fence outside the fort. He had in his hand what appeared to be a notebook, and he appeared to bo writing something down . He stepped about ten or fifteen paces, halted, and appeared again to write something down. He then turned to his left so as to face the fort and examined it closely for an appreciable time. His position then afforded him a good view of the north ditch of the fort, and at that point there is a flanking \vork known as a caponiere. Whether he was measuring that by paces I could not say. "He stood for a long time observing the works. Then, seeing us over his shoulder, he walked away to Widley Church. We trotted over the hill and overtook him. I said: 'I saw you making some notes just now; would you be kind enough to show them to me?' He said: 'I do not understand,' and from his accent I perceived that he was a foreigner. I dismounted, repeated what I had said, and he produced a brown note-book from his pocket and handed it to me. I went through the book from beginning to end and I found in it several sketches, all of which except one I recognized. There wa,s no sketch of Fort Widley. TELEGRAM TO EMBASSY.

"I said: - am afraid I shall have to ask you to let me keep this book, as I have to send it to headquarters, but if you call there later in the day you will probably get it back.' 1 wrote on the back of one of his cards my name, rank, regiment, and the address of headquarters at Portsmouth. I asked him twice whether he had any other papers on him. Ho handed mo the blue cover of a_ sheet map of Portsmouth —a cover without the map—but I do not for a moment think that lie did that in anything but good faith. Mr Bodkin: You think the prisoner thought the map was inside it? The Witness: Oh, certainly. Later on he was asked for the map, and produced it. Continuing his narrative, Captain Martelli said the prisoner walked on. I had some conversation with Lieutenant Salmond, who thereupon followed up the man, leading my horse, and they rode up together to Fort Purbrook. Directly I got tack I reported the matter by telephone to headquarters. While the prisoner was at the fort I avoided all reference to the affair, but the prisoner volunteered a statement to me. Ho explained that there was a largo map of the district hanging up on the South Parade Pier, perfectly open to everybody to see, and that a good deal of his information was got from that; also through a powerful telescope on the Clarence Pier, which anyone can use by paying a penny. He added that the forts at Spithead could be seen from the Hyde boat, and that the sketches were entirely for his own information. Captain Martelli said that the day after the detention of the prisoner the latter wrote a telegram to the German Embassy. It read : "I have to announce that I Avas arrested at Fort Widley. I had sketches of Portsmouth Harbour and fortifications in my possession. These were seen from the Clarence and South Parade Piers and wore for my own information.,, PICTURES OF SEA FORTS. Captain C. H. Yyse, staff captain, Royal Garrison Artillery, for South

Coast Defences, said no permission was ever given to make sketches of fortifications except under the direct order of the War Office. In applying for an order to view the works the applicant must state that lie is a British subject, but even then discretion is used in issuing the passes. Some of the sketches in the accused's note-book were indications rather than clear pictures, and the lines upon them looked like conventional marks for lines of fire. The value of the rough sketches would depend upon what the man carried away in his mind. Captain Vyse said that in the sketches were shown buildings that were of the greatest importance in the defences of Portsmouth. The information contained in the sketches would be of great use to an unfriendly Power. THE WOMAN' IN THE CASE. Mr Humphries at once submitted that there was no case in which a jnrv would convict the prisoner either of felony of misdemeanour. The governing words in the Official SccreTs Act were these: "For the purpose of wrongfuly obtaining information,' 7 and the word "wrongfully" was the governing word of the phrase. It was no offence for a person to make a sketch of a fort for the purpose of obtaning information. "Here is a young man of twentythree, apparently very slightly acquainted with English. He has a friend in Germany who has been to England and enjoys the friendship of Miss Wodehouse, so at that friends suggestion he writes to Miss Wodehouse and says he would like to make her acquaintance. She invites him to come and see her. "He goes to Portsmouth. He finds to his disgust that the lady lie had expected to show him round is engaged during the day. What was .the natural thing for the young En-gineer-officer to do? W r ould it bo to see a music-hall or the fortifications? He proceeded to make sketches which would be a useful study for a man who had to pass technical examinations later, and in order to make those sketches he never went one foot off public land. "What did he do with all the sketches he made? Showed them to the first woman he met, a woman he had never seen before that day. Like other young men his troubles began with a woman. She said in her evidence last week she made him angry, and there is no doubt that he succeeded in making her angry in turn. So she went at once to the barracks, and reported to Lieutenant Harrison that he was a very dangerous person indeed. That was the whole cause of the trouble, for if she had left him alone he would have been back in London on Monday. She made an arrangement to meet Jiim on the Monday afternoon, thus leaving him nice time to see the forts, and he fell into the trap."

The Bench came to the conclusion that there was a case to answer on a charge of misdemeanour, but not of felonv.