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Show SECRETS EXPOSED. Some one finally says a good word for the ex-kaiser. The "some one" Is Sir Basil Thomson, former head of Scotland Yard detectives. Thomson, now lecturing In America, and revealing 'inside stuff" of the British secret service, says: "The German) general staff had resolved upon the invasion of Belgium and they put their plans before the kaiser. He vetoed them. "This situation continued for 48 hours and alter the general staff had Bailed the orders for the army to ad-j vance. You Moltke went to the kaiser's bedroom at 2 in the morning anil ;nsked him to rign ihe order. He re-I re-I fused. Von Moltke then said that the, 'safety of ihe fatherland had devolved upon the general staff and. "If your majesty refuses to sign, the general staff mua1 lake the responsibllitv " j "In other words," according to Thomson, "the kaiser must choose be-'wr-en abtilention and approval, and be took the latter course " Thomson's lecture. Instead of ab-'solving ab-'solving the QS-kaiaer from guilt, dis-J I tributes the guilt to the shoulders of many. Bill included. A melodramatic picture of the death of Rasputin, "sacred devil of Russia.'' is given by Thomson Rasputin, taken to a palace basement base-ment dining hall, was gicn a bottle 'of poisoned wine that had been tried out on a dog. Rasputin, when the poison got to ihim, breathed heavily and foamed at j the mouth, but showed no signs of dy-lag. dy-lag. So Prince Youssapov, when Rasputin Ras-putin staggered at him. gave him ai 'shot out of a pistol, ' and the monk ! foil backwards with a terrible cry." A doctor, called In. examined th'e body and pronounced it dead. Later Youssapov approached the corpse and "put his hand under the robe to feel the heart. It seemed to be still, when j suddenly Rasputin sat up and seized him by the throat " Youssapov escaped. Rasputin stag- ( gored to the door, out Into the snow. Three more pistol shots brought him j down But it took a bludceon 'to fin-1 Ish the work. He died hard. You do not wonder. Youssapov decided that Rasputin was the devil himself. Sir Basil Thomson thus adds a few j more pages to the "Inside history" or Ihe world vnr, already contributed to ( so heavily by William Hohenzollern. Llbyd George, Franklin K. Lane, and others. The "inside ctuff" is coming out on the very heels of the war. That Is contrary to custom, for diplomats ubu-j ally leave their memoirs to be published pub-lished aft-r death We are fortunate. It is rarely that a generation that fights a war lives to learn what took place behind the scenes. |