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Show uu ALIEN ENEMIES NOT VERY HAPPY Germans in England Are Under Un-der Constant Watch as Possible Spies. MANY WILD RUMORS Officials Swamped With Clues of Alleged Movements of Germans in Great Britain. (Correspondence of The Associated Press.) London, Nov. i'0. The lives of those officially designated as "alien enemies" ene-mies" in Kngland are not cheerful these days, although they are not In any danger of insults or violence. The only outbreak against them was the recent rioting in the suburbs of London Lon-don when several German shops were smashed The rioters received a lesson likelv to put n damper on future outbreaks. The ringleader was sentenced to one year in prison, two supporters to six months, and eighteen others were released re-leased on bonds under condition that they fulfill their fervently expressed ambition to enlist in Kitchener's a mi y Hostility against Germans has been caused principally by the popular be lief that all of them are active or possible spies. All Under Cloud of Suspicion. The most recent campaign in the newspapers has been against the influential in-fluential and wealthy Germans, who plaj a powerful part in British fi-aancial fi-aancial life. Naturalized Germans ;is well as those who retain the allegiance alle-giance of their birth, are Included In the general cloud of suspicion There are several (in man-born members mem-bers of parliament and, by an understanding under-standing among themselves, they are remaining awav irom Westminster during the war sessions None of them has yet resigned A few days ago several newspapers started an agitation to have all male Germans and Austrian confined in concentration concentra-tion camps, and a general roundup was under way. Two causes nipped this movement in the bud One was prompt retaliation on Germany where all English residents were gathered in by the police, and he other was the difficulty of finding accommodations for the great number of foreigners who were eligible for the concentration concentra-tion camps. Two Classes of Spies. Spies are sharply divided into two classes by British opinion. For the German naval reserve, Lieut. Carl Hans Lody, who was shot in the tower of London, the papers have bad nothing noth-ing unkind to say. Over a naturalized natural-ized barber named Ernst, who was sentenced to seven yenrs' imprisonment, imprison-ment, there has been much execration. execra-tion. The judge who sentenced Ernst called him a "contemptible creature" and said that he would have been as willing to betray Germany as he was En eland if lie vvns nnid for his work Ernst acted merely as a go-between in forwarding letters for the chief of the German-British espionage system, named Steineur and his wages were only 30 shillings a month. Scotland Yard detectives had been shadowing Steinaeur's work for two vears They intercepted and read his letters and permitted those to go on which contained con-tained harmless information and misleading mis-leading information Public information informa-tion places in entirely different classes class-es the spies who do their work in time of war and take chances, and those who follow the business In time of peace professing friendship for the country and making their living in it. Many Impossible Rumors. None of the possible improbable things has taken so firm a hold on popular belief except the passage of Russian hosts from Scotland to France as the wonderful doings of German spies The authorities are inundated with revelations and clues I The w hole east coast of England is j swarming with men who send flashlight flash-light signals to German ships at night. ' if the stories of the newspapers in coast towns are correct. One gentleman has sent the authorities authori-ties a most detailed account of the code messages transmitted by red ami white lights from the neighborhood of his home, but the police have never been able to see these signalR with the same eyes as the discoverer. Germans Ger-mans have made excavations, have laid concrete foundations for heavy gmis at strategical points and have built cunningly concealed roads from landing bases, according to some cf the most strongly urged clues. Behind the masses of suspicion and rumor there la enough activity by the Germans discovered from time lo time to keep the public in a state oi uneasiness. |
