BY THE MAN WHO DINED WITH THE KAISER MY SECRET SERVICE VIENNA, SOPHIA, CONSTANTINOPLE, NISH, BELGRADE, ASIA MINOR, Etc. BY THE MAN WHO DINED WITH THE KAISER NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY Copyright, 1916, By George H. Doran Company PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO LORD NORTHCLIFFE IN GRATEFUL RECOLLECTION OF THE KEEN INTEREST HE HAS SHOWN IN THESE ADVENTURES, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR...

INTRODUCTORY “Were You Afraid?”—About Myself—War Finds Me in England—The German War-Machine—My Travels—The German Spy System—My Three Journeys—I Become a Workman at Krupp’s—I Travel in Chocolate—My Most Important Trip—The Risks—Proofs—My Reception in England. I am not a spy, that I wish to make abundantly clear; I am a journalist, and I love my profession. Equally well I love adventure and sport, the greatest sport in the world, in which the stake is the player’s life. “Were you ever afraid?” a

VIENNA IN WAR TIME I Set Out for the Enemy Country—The German Official Mind—Turned Back at the Frontier—Arrival at Vienna—The Kindly Hofrat—Hatred of the English—A Subdued City—Hardships—The Hidden Scourge—The Toll of War—Austria’s Terrible Casualties—The Tragic 28th Regiment—“Mr. Wu” in Vienna—Interned Englishmen. It was during the early days of November, 1915, that I conceived the idea of making another journey to Turkey. From various sources I had heard that the Germans, in conjunction with t

IN THE BALKANS I Leave Vienna—Gay Bucharest—The Bandmaster’s Indiscretion—“ À bas les allemands! ”—Roumania Eager for War—German Devices—An English Cigarette—A Terrible Journey—The Spoils of War—The Wily German—Bulgarian Poverty Under the Germans—Austrian Satisfaction over the Serbian Victories—Compulsion in England—Bulgarian Anxiety about the Attitude of Greece—The German Language in Bulgaria. At the end of about a fortnight I left Vienna, having received my passport. I had become convinced of

CONSTANTINOPLE I Leave Sofia—A Valuable Document—The Change in Adrianople—The Bulgars in Possession—The Turk Determined to Fight—I Adopt the Fez—War Pressure—The Fate of Enemy Subjects—A Way They Have in Turkey—The Financial Situation—Enver Goes to Berlin—A Turkish Girl Clerk—A Quick Change—A City of Darkness. I stayed only a few days in Sofia, and soon continued my journey to Constantinople. The train left about two in the morning, but as we were told on the afternoon previous that the train wo

I INTERVIEW ENVER PASHA Germanising the Turkish War Office—Halil Bey—Wireless Disguised as a Circus—Enver Pasha Receives Me—The Turkish Napoleon—Something of a Dandy—“If the English Had Only Had the Courage”—“To Egypt!”—Turkey’s Debt to Great Britain—Affairs Before Manners—A German Tribute to British Troops—Their Designs in the Suez Canal—German War Plans—Where to Kill Germans—The Baghdad Expedition—German Officers in Mufti. The principal object of my visit to Constantinople was to find out from

I VISIT ASIA MINOR A Remarkable Railway Station—I Leave for Konia—The Anatolian Railway—How to Get to Baghdad—Elaborate Instructions—Necessity for Caution—English and French Prisoners—Instructing the Turk in the Arts of Peace—A Noisy Sleeper—Hamburg’s Hatred of Great Britain—Sops to Austria and Turkey—Field-Marshal Von der Goltz—I Return to Constantinople. After I had been nine days in Constantinople I determined to undertake what I clearly saw would be the most dangerous portion of my journey.

CONSTANTINOPLE FROM WITHIN A City of Maimed and Wounded—I See the Sultan—Enver’s Popularity—Talaat Bey the Real Administrator—Gallipoli Day—Constantinople “Mafficks”—The Return of the Ten Thousand—How the Goeben and Breslau Escaped—Their Fateful Arrival at Constantinople—German Privileges—Mendacities of the Turkish Press—The Egyptian Situation—A German Camel Corps—The Turks a Formidable Factor. To me Constantinople seemed to be a city of maimed and wounded. One morning I strolled out of my hotel

THE “UNTERSEE” GERMAN My Kiel Acquaintance—Submarines by Rail—German Submarines at Constantinople—My Voyage of Discovery—The Exploit of U51—Captain von Hersing—German Hero-worship—A Daring Feat—A Modest German!—Von Hersing in England—The German Naval Officer—His Opinion of the British Navy—A Regrettable Incident—Dr. Ledera Imprisoned—I Encounter an Austrian Spy—He Confides to me his Methods—The Carelessness of British Consuls. An axiom, and a very valuable one, for a man employed in secret servi

THE BALKAN EXPRESS Existence of the Balkan-Zug Denied—A Great Strategical Factor—The Publicity Train—German Economy—I Join the Balkan-Zug at Nish—King Ferdinand a Fellow-Passenger—His Condescension—Excellent Food—Ruined Belgrade—Arrival at Buda Pesth—A Tremendous Ovation—Russian Prisoners at Work—Arrival at Vienna—Another Tremendous Reception—Remarkable Punctuality. I have seen it stated in Le Temps that the Balkan Express does not exist, that it is a bluff on the part of the Germans. I really c

FRENCH THOROUGHNESS I Leave Vienna—I am Ordered Back—I Risk Proceeding on My Journey—A Friendly Hungarian Officer—Over the Swiss Frontier—My Frankness My Undoing—The French Super-Official—I am Detained Somewhere in France—My Protests Unavailing—I am Suspected of the Plague—Left Behind— The Daily Mail to the Rescue—Profuse Apologies—I Proceed to Paris—“You Will Never Convince England”—London at Last—Rest. I had only four hours in Vienna, and in that time there was a great deal to do, which I had

THE GERMAN MENACE After Thoughts—The Great Factor—National Service—False Ideals as to the German Soldier—The Danger of Under-estimating Germany’s Resources—Great Britain’s Helpers—Crush the German—“Wait Till We Get to England.” Now that I am back in London quietly meditating on my recent experiences, I cannot help feeling ill at ease. I see in my mind’s eye once more, just as if I were sitting at a kinematograph show, those thousands of young, sturdy-looking Germans on their way to the Near East