Show switzerland HAS MYRIAD OF SPIES arrests are made almost daily I 1 and some diplomats are expelled POLICE FOLICE ARE KEPT ON THE GO of espionage cases in last six months were Aust government Is very strict berne switzerland according to swiss law in general and a special ordinance din alace of the federal council dated august 4 1014 in particular espionage Is prohibited no foreigner Is allowed to organize favor or carry out espionage on behalf of any belligerent power since the outbreak of the war and quite recently counter espionage has also been forbidden spies male and female generally germans are arrested almost every day in switzerland and most of them are tried and convicted in some cases however no trial follows the arrest ot of a spy and this happens whenever the spy can prove by documentary evidence that he be Is a diplomat generally a consular officer or commercial agent a duly accredited military or an army officer in such cases the swiss police invariably accompany the spy to the frontier and there let him loose and after his repatriation an official announcement Is made to the effect that he has been recalled home by his government I 1 ordinary spies are instead tried and sentenced to a term of imprisonment and a heavy fine they are moreover expelled from switzerland after serving their sentence of course and ad threatened with immediate arrest it they come back espionage flourishes As a rule spies of swiss nationality are more severely punished than foreigners its as switzerland Is determined on absolute neutrality but all the same espionage flourishes everywhere to such a great extent that practically all the foreigners in switzerland neutrals or belligerents are spies or dabble in espionage or counter espionage comparisons are odious but it Is a fact that out of cases of espionage brought before the swiss courts during the last six months dealt with aus tro german spies or with people who were working for the central empires and the charges in these latter cases were not of espionage pure and simple namely the securing of information about the enemy but of a criminal nature such as attempts against life and property arson blowing up of railroads tind factories and such like austro german spies are after till all nothing else but ordinary criminals it must be admitted that the swiss police have a very difficult task in catching austro german spies who as a rule fire are very clever and invariably have good accomplices for instance who would have suspected that milt ift a most respectable german lady the widow of professor mayer a resident for more than thirty years in the small village of oberkirch near lucerne was ie the accomplice of a famous spy this old lady who hated war loudly proclaimed that she was ashamed of being a german because germany was responsible for the war and led a quiet life of solitude and seclusion living now low just the same as she had been living for the last thirty years was implicated in a famous case of espionage as the principal accomplice of her son and also tile notorious german secret service spy adolt adolf walker the lady and her sou son were tried and sentenced to three months imprisonment and expelled from switzerland old lady returns four months after the trial the old lady was again in switzerland on the sly of course and this time she escaped but it was ascertained that she had accompanied walker on a flying visit to lyons in france alfred olsen formerly a sergeant in the german army has been arrested il at t zurich tried and sentenced to five months imprisonment and a fine ot of because the police found out that he was finding situations for swiss maids in franco france and italy and encouraging them to write him long letters of course as the maids were being paid by both their employers and by olsen the number he placed was considerable the latest espionage case now going on in switzerland relates to heinz sommer correspondent of the wolff bureau a french deserter named andre a young lady of lausanne rose hose and a notorious spy who served both france and germany by the name of henry grimm |