Thomaston High School - Sea Breeze Yearbook (Thomaston, ME)

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T H E S E A B H E E Z E ESPIONAGE DELUXE It was a cold, stormy, night in early March. Rain was pouring down and the wind blew mournfully among the waterfront buildings. Two men, their heads bent to the wind, ran into a' deserted warehouse and hastily shut the door. nAchl Id is a bad night,N said one. NI hope the others arrive soon.n His friend agreed and began to take off his wet coat. Then both of them moved some packing cases behind which was a small door leading into a smaller room. They entered, placed the cases as before, and shut the door behind them. All they could do new was wait. Before ten minutes had gone by, they were joined by an- other man and a woman. Then their work started. Each person made a report to the man who had entered last, obviously the leader, and then a message was tapped out on a small, hastily assembled radio transmitting set by the man with the Gorman accent, When this was completed, further instructions were given out and the meeting closed. Each one left the building separately and the waterfront was silent and abandoned once more. At sea, a German U-boat picked up the radio message and early the next day, another American freighter was sunk. This was the situation in the spring of 1942 and it was the job of Hamilton Blake, commonly known as UHamN to clear up the spy ring operating from Norfolk, Va. So far he had met with little success, but he had his men watching several suspicious characters, among them a waitress ' named Anna Boch. Anna worked in a Norwegian restaurant on the waterfront which was a gathering place for sailors of almost every nationality. Her actions and whereabouts at certain times had been questionable enough to arouse the suspicions of Blake's ever watchful slouths. Tonight UHam decided to go down and see for himself what was going en. Blake entered the nCafe Norgen at 8:00 P.M. and walked across the noisy, smoke-filled room to a corner table. He gave his order to the waitress and then said, Ulf you don't mind, I would like to speak to Miss Boch.u She hesitated and then said, nYes, sir, if you will be kind enough to wait a few min- utes. She is busy now. You see this is our rush hour and ---- U nYes, yes, I know but this is important,U he interrupted. I must see her before she leaves so be sure you send her to me.n She loft and Ham began to take notice of the people surrounding him. I , The room was filled mostly with sailors of different na- tionalities. The few civilians stood out prominently and it was these that drew his attention., It was certainly an ideal spot for outsiders to gain information about ship sailings. 9

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T H E S E A B R E E Z E MISPRINT One of the strangest murder cases of recent years was solved by Lieut. Stanton of the Missouri state police force. Four years ago Raymond Loudon, middleaged editor, publisher and owner of a small newspaper, was found dead at his desk. The gun was recovered but no fingerprints were found. On the press a suicide note had been set up in evident haste and was noticed by the police when first entering the building. Pic- tures were taken of everything. Loudon's two assistants and Mrs. Loudon were questioned. Mr. Loudon carried a large in- surance with his wife, who had been his secretary, as bene- ficiary. It was found that Mrs. Loudon rarely visited the building. Both assistants proved that they were elsewhere dur- ing the time in which the crime was committed. The wife had been at a card party which let out before the crime was com- mitted but she had arrived at her house during the time of the murder. The maid knew the exact time she came in because of a large hall clock. The police were baffled. All three suspects had perfect alibis, yet no one else was ever admitted to Loudon's private office for he always met visitors in his outer room. Lieut. Stanton, who had been on another case at the time of the crime was called in. He, too, was stymied. He searched every part of the building minutely, but it seemed that no clues had been left. Two copies of the paper had been printed since the own- er's death. Stanton studied the police photographs but learned nothing. He left the case for a while. Weeks later when he was being shown through a large St. Louis printing establishment the solution came to him. A fore- man, training an apprentice printer, was saying: nLook here, you've done what every grecnhorn does when he's learning to set type--your N's and S's are wrong. Watch thatl An old hand would rather be found dead than makeuthat 'prentice mistake. He can't make it, so help him! Hurrying back to the scene of the crime he arrested Mrs. Loudon, having shown her the evidence. The type in the press was set up, hastily, but correctly except that the N's and S's were wrong. The only inexperienced person who could have mur- dered Mr. Loudon and set up the type was Mrs. Loudon. Faced by this evidence she confessed everything. She had set the clock back at the house. She is serving a life term. , D. R. P46 Progres Je lis bien des belles histoires, Mais ce que le plus me plaise, C'est de cemprendre tout de suite Une plaisanterie francaise. ' ' Q French I 8

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T H E S B A B R E E Z E Although posters were displayed which warned the men not to talk about maritime news, after a few drinks some of them be- came quite talkative. At that moment, Ham's eyes fell on a young sailor, obviously very drunk, who was being helped out the door by a civilian and the bartender. What should he do? Should he follow them or telephone one of his men to come. He chose the latter, get up and walked to the door casually to see whore they were going. The two men stood on the sidewalk evidently arguing about where they should take him. Finally he saw an exchange of bills and the civilian walked off down the street supporting the sailor. Pausing only long enough to see which building they entered, he went back in the cafe and telephoned one of his men to come and meet him. Then he re- turned to await his dinner and Anna Bocha His meal arrived and with it Miss Boch. nWon't you sit down, please,n Ham said, UI would like to talk with you.n NI have but a few minutes,u she answered. Her eyes roved anxious- ly around the room and she sat on the edge of her chair. uWhat do you do after your work hours?n Blake asked. nvbat right have you to question me?n she retorted and the color drained from her face. nEvery right in the wor1d,u he answered. UOur country is at war and the way you spend your leisure time is very questionable. You are an alien, are you not?n 'Yes,u u she replied. uHow long have you lived in this eountry?u Since the spring of l959.n Have you always lived here in Norfolk?n NNo ---- I mean yes, yes, I have,u she said hurriedly. Ulf you'll excuse me new I must get back to my work. She quickly left the table, spoke to the bartender, and then disappeared. She'll bear further watching, Ham thought, and where in blazes was that man of his! He should have gone himself instead of waiting for the waitress. He finished his dinner and was I paying his bill when he saw Trent, the man he was waiting for, at the entrance of the cafe. He had just come in and was look- ing for him. New maybe we'll get something done, he thought as he joined him and they left together. Once outside they entered Blake's car and he told his man what he had found out about Miss Boch and also about the epi- .sode of the drunken sailor. He pointed out the doorway into which the man and young sailor had disappeared and said, nYou have your car here and I want you to stay and keep your eye on that building. If possible get inside and see what's going on. I'm going back to the office and send Bob LeClaire, dressed as a French sailor, down here and am coming myself as a Norwegian sailor. Follow him if they take him out, it's important remem- ber. I think we've struck somothing.n UO.K., boss.n said Trent and get out of the car. UGood Luck,n replied Blake and then sped off down the street. Back at headquarters he immediately set to work. The af- fair must come to a head seen and he knew it and was preparing for it. Elroe more tankers had been sunk, two in the Gulf of 10