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Show HIII - IHHI iHBBIBlBBM .SKlftHBB (ilflE 'ISSH JBHH ..flflBtei BIBB IHfe Hi JBH MB HJHH. Hll I JlliP 111 l 1 11 $ftBlMv vyxfjmoZk I fa&mmmr J II i mmimMltin Mm MMffliKAmFflVi il v 1 8 A PSilM yJ'ZjSmtis n I ) riKaSE I i rcTlfeHKSiHKiBMi . v ;-." f Iff Kaiser ' In Vaift Offers Score of I English Officers for Captain Von Rintelen, Who j Is Accused of I Causing Sinking I of the.Lusitania,; Starting Strikes' in American I! Munition Factor I ries and Also I Agitating W$V I Between the U. I; S. and Mexico. CAPT. VON" RINTELEN, German naval officer and member of the secret scrv-ico, scrv-ico, la tho star prisoner of the -war. Ho 1b hold by the British and Is absolutely above ransom. Germany has offered to exchange for him a score of British oOicors, -who are prisoners Jn Germany, but Britain merely laughod. His captors wouldn't cx- H; change him for an army corp3. Bl OT Ho is a piisonor do luxe. The lot of the HH prisoner of -war Is supposed to bo full of hard- Bj chips. But such 1g not tho fate of Von Rlntolon. Bj The only liardshlp Is that he Is a prisoner. He B cannot forgot that, but otherwise his lot Is H one to be onvlcd by ovcry prisoner of war on H! both sides. Hj He occupies tho most luxurious sullo of rooms Bl in Donlngton Hall, a mansion In Leicestershire. H; He has for his companions a scoro or moro Bj German officers of high rank, and their stay at Hj Donlngton Hall is moro on tho order of a visit B to a beautiful country home, except that tho H. fair sex is absont. and they are guardod. But their Imprisonment in mado as llttlo Irksomo H aB poaslblo, especially Jn tho caso of Von Rln- B tolen. But always with tho captain aro two spo- H clal agents of tho British Govornmont. Thoy H oro at his sldo during the day and at night two H others occupy tho room with him. H They do not demean thomnelve3 as guards, H however. On tho contrary, thoy aro pleasant! H companionable young fellows, and ono not H knowing their relation toward tho German offl- B cor would take them for closo friends. B Von RIntolen comes nnder tho category of H 8py,M but Britain has no intention of dealing B out to him tho treatment accorded tho ordinary M Hpy. For ho is an extraordinary spy. For ono M reason, Germany has threatened diro reprisals M on prisoners In It3 hands should anything hap- Hj pen to Von Rintelen, and tho British know that H ho has Information of tho utmost importance H to thorn. Thero absolutely Is no ohanco of them Hj obtaining this information from him, but as H long as ho Is so closely guarded there is no H chance of him imparting this Information to H his superiors. H Hjs captors havo a portfolio of papers which H fc-ere'taken with him when h-wag captured on. if ISffimL WV&mbw wmwm X lmmW OK If fW . ' l " m 'H Mi ' J Ml n Kli' - mitwBtX the Holland-American liner, Noordam, at Falmouth. Fal-mouth. Most of theso papera aro in codo and tho experts of tho British secret sorvlco havo been unable 'to decipher thorn. Von Rintelen can, but, it Is needless to say, that ho will not for tho bonoflt of his captors. Could tho British learn tho secrets of theso papers, n new aspect would bo thrown upon many historic happenings of tho last year, For Von Rintelen ia charged with being the man responsible for tho destruction of tho Lusl-tanla. Lusl-tanla. Ho was tho etar 6f tho famous Von TIrpltz filx, a sextet of young navnl officers selected by tho grand admiral aa the brightest and most alert young men in tho navy, who were Bent to various quarters of tho globo to aid Gormany'a submarine campaign. Von Rintelen was sent to Now York, where ho not only looked after naval au'airH, but a dozen other schemes to aid tho central powers. It is said that ho had at hi3 command 530,000,-000 530,000,-000 and a small army of workers. In tho Investigation, Inves-tigation, which is being conducted by the United Unit-ed States Secret Service Bureau, It Is known that thjjco credits totaling almost 2,000,000 havo been. traced to Mow York banks. It is really unusual that thlB much should have been discovered, dis-covered, for Von Illntclen wns a worker who knew tho disadvantage of leaving trail3 behind him. Ho was In America hardly flvo months, from tho mlddlo of April to August 3, 1915 but whllo ho was hero ho did a vast amount of work. His principal task apparently had to do with the Millings of vossols from American ports. Ho kept in constant communication with Berlin, and it la said kept hla headquarters constantly. :' mJwiBm 'iff " jKSl&l li 111 III Aril BifSSBS&Kir jttbi informed of tho movomentb of vessels which were carrying war munitions to tho allies. A week before the Lusltanla sailed on Its last voyage he was Informed through his underworked under-worked that hundreds of cases of rifles nnd many shells would bo shipped on her for tho uso of tho allies. It Is charged that twenty-four hours before tho Lusltanla sailed, Von Rintelen know sho was doomed. It will bo remembered that be-foro be-foro tho ship sailed advertisements wore printed print-ed In newspapers warning Americans from sailing sail-ing on tho vessel, and on tho day before and tho day of sailing of tho Bhlp, telcphono messages mes-sages wcro received by ovory prominent American Amer-ican who had booked passago on tho ships, warning them not to take passage, as tho ship would bo destroyed. Evidence showing that theso messages were from Rintelen and some of his confidential agents Is said to bo in the hands of tho United States secret servico agontB. Tho ofTlcor as weU as his superiors anticipated international complications, and they did what thoy could to lesson tho possibilities of theso, but their warnings woro not hooded, and the chip and its passengers sailed away. Tho Austrian ambassador was recallod by his country at tho request of tho Unltod States on account of the otrlkes and attempts to organlzo strikes in munitions factories here, but Von Rintelen. is accused of being tho man who organized or-ganized this movement, and was tho brains back of. it. Mi Ho is accused of boing tho man who built up a propaganda organization that extended into ovcry important city of tho United States, and ovon Into Canada for the purpose of Influencing public opinion in favor of tho central powors. It was all so quietly dono that the general public pub-lic hardly realized that millions of dollars woro being exponded in tho work until astonishing oxposuros wcro mado, and oven since then many persons have thought the charges regarding re-garding tho money spont and tho number of persons implicated havo boon exaggerated. Ono of tho most gignntio schomes charged to Von Rintelen was tho plot for a revolution to placo Vlcioriano Huerta again In tho seat of power In Mexico. It Is declared that .military k X. ., . 1 "' & ' I plans hnd boon drawn up and considerable sums spent on this, the object being to center tho attontion of tho United States on Mexican affairs, so there would be no dangor of our interference in-terference in tho European imbroglio. Huerta had been tho thorn in tho side of the Washington administration, nnd it can be imagined If ho wcro onco moro in power in Mexico he would hardly seek tho friendship of America. On tho othor hand, it Is more than probable that ho would havo provon so obnoxious it would havo boon necessary for tho Wilson administration ad-ministration to do somothlng more than send notes nnd demand salutes for tho flag. In case of trouble with Mexico, America would not h.ive been In a position to offer forcible protest at tho violation of American rights, and had matters reached tho point whoro there wnB Sanger of war betwoon this country and Mexico, Mex-ico, thon America would havo had to selzo the supply of munitions on hand, and thus the supply of tho allies would have boon materially checked. One can readily undcrBtatnd the possibilities of Buch a movoment to put Huerta back In powor. Von RIntolen Is said to havo expended $7,-000,000 $7,-000,000 Jn othor ochomes to old tho central powers. But BUddonly tho ofllcer left tho Unltod Statoo, onAugust 3. no Hailed on tho llolland- Amorica llnor Noordam on a forged passport, , andy with, him )VUB Andrew P. Meloy, & prc- ' ' :, .'. motor, who since has been indicted for assisting assist-ing in Von Rlntelen'a passport' fraud. But why did he leavo America? Ono story is to the effect that ho was returning return-ing to report on American conditions, anothei had It that ono of his associates was threatening' threaten-ing' to expose him. But at any rato, there have beon numerous exposures, somo of them exaggerated, exag-gerated, of course, slnco then. Ono thing, there is no one man, except Von Rintelen himself and ono or two of his superiors, supe-riors, who can exposo all of his activities in America. It Is said that of the scores of agents lie had not more than two who woro acquainted with each other. Few of theso knew Von Rintelen Rin-telen himself. Probably thero is not ono of theso men who worked under him who can bring forward anything material against him fuxthcr than their own word. For he was not a man who left trails behind him, and In tho work In which ho was engaged ho realized tho valuo of trusting as fow as possible, and not trusting those to any degroo further than was absolutely necessary. What secrets do those codo papors seized with him poBscss? Thoy are priceless to Von RIntolen and his country, and England would pay much to learn thorn. Likewise, tho United States could gain valuable information from them. Probably some scores and more of lives are bound up in that codo. but no one has been ablo to deciphor -1L Von Rintelen knows but ho merely smiles and ho will not toll. But Britain Is holding him and the papers. |