| Show f Dumb Spies Preferred Smart Ones Too Greedy Apt to Play Both Sides Sides J Editors Editor's note Charles S S. S Foltz Jr just returned from Bern Switzerland where he had been stationed at the crossroads of European communications concludes today his three-part three series on on Spies By CHARLES S. S FOLTZ JR NEW YORK YORK Wanted Wanted Men and women women lacking personality oomph imagination charm and ambition for dangerous work at little pay Intelligent persons need not apply That want ad never appeared in Europe and it probably never will but its it's just about what would appear if European military mili mili- tary intelligence services advertised advertised advertised adver adver- for the spies they need now Many a smart spy does good work for his government but most such spies were at their jobs long before the war began or at least in the first few mo months the of war Big espionage jobs and important important important tant secret missions go to these veter veterans ns The most successful new operatives officials say are those with little imagination and anda a low I IQ Q who simply report what they hear or see Common Men who do the hiring anc and fIring firing firing fir fIr- ing for intelligence services on the continent say intelligent paid spies eventually find its it's hard to earn a living and resort to one of two tricks tricks paddIng padding their reports with imaginative inside stuff or working for the theother theother theother other side The best field for new agents is in minor censorship positions in enemy country Imperial Germanys Germany's Germanys Germany's Germanys Germany's Ger Ger- many's ace spy in England was Jules who by a combInation combination combination tion of official dullness and his own good luck sat in a London office throughout the World war firmly entrenched in a a. a key censorship censorship censorship cen cen- post Both Britain and Germany n nee need e e d thousands of censors Among them perhaps are a few valuable agents with both the information and the means means' of communication at their finger finger- tips The great mass o of 01 field spies however are either not bright or downright dang dangerous rous to their employers Spy's Letter Examined A witted dull Swiss youth arrested arrested arrested ar ar- rested I for espionage early in inthe inthe inthe the war supplied important Information information information in in- formation to the Germans for some time until he was called to todo todo todo do military service Then his usefulness usefulness usefulness use use- came to an end because he thought his letters to the German German German Ger Ger- man consulate could be carried post-free post in th the military mail Soldiers' Soldiers letters go free only to relatives in the Swiss army So when the youth marked his personal note to the German consulate Post free soldiers soldiers' mail it was examined and the contents sent him to jail Prize double agent story is the tale of a Moravian tried before a military court in Zurich His name was and his distinguIshed distinguished distinguished distin distin- appearance won him the title of The Baron The baron led a comfortable cafe cale life in Vienna until hIssman his small family fortune invested Invest d ina in ina a Jewish firm vanished when the nazis absorbed Austria The baron needed money so he started started started start start- ed work as an agent for the Vienna branch of the German office for the prevention of S espionage Met Spy for Britain By September 1939 the baron rated high as as- as asa a German agent in Vienna and about the same date he met a Jewish horse- horse dealer who had abandoned his calling to spy in Vienna for a British agent in Budapest The pair became great friends and a partnership was born Soon the horse ex-horse-dealer was also on the payroll of the German German German Ger Ger- man office for the prevention of espionage while the baron was increasing his income w with wit f t h I r money from the British agent 11 Budapest The new partnership es esta tab headquarters in Zurich Th There re the they made the great mi take of underrating the Swiss who know much of spies and spying They sent a telegram and to a London cable address making i j rendezvous with a certain MJ Major Ma bla jor Palmer The Swiss r recognized the a cable ca ca- ble address as one one then used b by bythe the British secret service when Major Palmer called so n at the Zurich hotel wal there Va was Swiss agent behind the potted palms u i Swiss Watched Baron j I IFor For a month the Swiss Watched the baron build up his ring r pi Fi nally things got too complex for the Swiss to follow tollow without a few to heart-to-heart talks so they arrested the thc baron and li hIJ aides By that time the baron an and the horse dealer had been join joint by a beauteous Hungarian millner said mill ner traveling on a stolen Iranian diplomatic passport and a Vien a Vie nese waiter walter with a bogus B Bu Bg garian gatian passport While all four were in jan fad awaiting trial three money or orders orders or- or ders arrived at the hotel of tl the potted palms addressed to th the baron All three were fo for past services They came from fron London Rome and Berlin Bad mistakes are not confined confine to the spies Theres There's the cw cast of the late Inspector Pierre Jac oud of the Lausanne police H lie He had some considerable tion as Switzerland's ace w spy catcher until recently One sunny afternoon Inspector Inspects sat in Lausanne headquarters head quarters with other stars of the squad when a German German Ger man tailor on the spy suspect M list rushed in carrying a large largi oblong package wrapped li iJ h brown butcher paper j Feared Time Bomb The tailor sta stated ted that the pack patk package age had been delivered to binin him bin himin himin in the morning mall mail and that thai he had reasons to believe that it il contained a bomb which n might go off almost any second now The inspector would not b ht hi stampeded Wit the package ticking mtr- mtr on the rily away on the table at bk elbow the inspector took the ti frantic little tailors tailor's tion papers from his hand and proceeded to copy then them into a large black ledger At which point the brown package vindicated the tailors tailor's worst suspicions was vat killed The wall splintered fur lur- furniture and counterespionage agents were strewn all allover over the th sidewalk where several passersby passers passers- by also were injured j ed |
