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 CHAPTER VIII

THE SPY HIMSELF

The Perverted German Mind—Stories of Brutal Indifference to Innocent Victims—Treason, Treachery, and Unmorality Hand in Hand—The Authentic Story of Dr. Scheele—Twenty-one Years a German Spy in America—The "Honor of a German Officer."

Comment has been made elsewhere in these pages on the curiously perverted nature of the German intellect. It would not be truthful to call all Germans unintellectual or unscientific, for the reverse of this is in part true. But continually in its most elaborate workings, the German mind displays reversions to grossness, coarseness, and bestiality. Perversions and atrocities seem natural to their soldiers. These restrictions apply often to men in high authority. The German officer was perhaps even more a brute than the German private.

Take the case of the man Thierichens, Captain of the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, which was interned at Norfolk in March, 1915, after a successful career of six months as a commerce raider. For a long time Captain Thierichens was hailed in this country as a sort of naval hero; he received the admiration not only of men but of women. It was only after a considerable career in adulation that the tide of public estimation turned in regard to this man. His private correspondence was investigated, and it was found that he was carrying on correspondence with women in this country which showed a depth of human depravity on his part which cannot be understood and may not be described.

This phase of German mentality was manifested also in the highest diplomatic representatives that that country sent abroad. These men had no sense of honor or morality, but curiously enough, they were not aware of their