by Pat Shipman
Finally the questions circled back around to the photograph. Most of the questions were asked by the assistant chief constable, whose part in the dialogue with Mata Hari is indicated by ACC; hers is indicated as MZM.
ACC: Did you ever have an inflammation of the left eye?
MZM: No, I have never had anything the matter with my eyes.
ACC: You know that one of your eyes is more closed than the other?
MZM: Yes it has always been so.
ACC: This photograph [Clara Benedix] has this peculiarity.
MZM: It is possible, but that is not me.
Later, the assistant chief constable resumed the line of questioning about her identity:
ACC: Where did these pearls come from?
MZM: From Paris.
ACC: It is a very rare thing that two people should have a droop in the left eye and the peculiarity in the left eyebrow is exactly identical, as they are in the photograph and yourself.
MZM: That is not my photograph, sir.
ACC: Then you are the victim of circumstances. There is another circumstance in which you are the victim. There is handwriting under the photograph in this passport, and if it is forged it is a very clumsy forgery.
MZM: It is not a forgery. Can I be visited by the Dutch ambassador?
ACC: You can communicate with the consul. I am going to write to the Dutch Embassy as we have grave doubts [believing] you to be Clara Benedix, a German.
The next day, the team resumed questioning her and focused on monetary transactions.
ACC: Just before you went to Paris, did you receive the sum of 15,000 francs from anybody?
MZM: No.
ACC: That was in Holland.
MZM: No, but I took my 15,000 francs from a bank and gave it to another bank. I have two banks in The Hague.
ACC: What was the bank you took it from?
MZM: Londres, and I have another bank Sch [sic].
ACC: Londres bank is the bank of the German Embassy…. We have information that Mata Hari received 15,000 francs from the German Embassy.
MZM: That was the amount I took to go to Paris.
Probably the fifteen thousand francs in question originally came from Kroemer, the German consul. How the British knew about it is unclear.
The British also questioned Mata Hari about a lady—or two—who was calling herself Mrs. MacLeod in Antwerp and also in Liverpool. Mata Hari steadfastly denied being in these places, suggested misidentification was at fault, and told them of receiving a letter at the Grand Hotel in Paris meant for a Mrs. MacLeod at the Grand Hotel in London.
Later that same day, Mata Hari suddenly decided to confess that she was a French agent.
MZM: Now I have something to tell you that will surprise you. I thought it was too big a secret. This captain, Captain Ladoux, asked me to go into his service, and I promised to do something for him. I was to meet [his agent] in my home at The Hague….
ACC: You ought to have mentioned this to me yesterday. Where did you meet Captain Ladoux?
MZM: That is old history. In my lawyer’s office [which was next door to 282, boulevard Saint-Germain].
She recounted a dialogue that combined her meetings and recruitment by Ladoux before and after her trip to Vittel. She ended her tale with “He said ‘Go to Holland, and you will receive my instructions.’…So I went to await his instructions in my home.”
She also told them that the French consul from the Dutch legation also tried to recruit her as a spy, hinting, “You love a Russian officer” and asking her to “do something for the Russians.”
The British officers must have worked hard to conceal their surprise and amazement at the remarkable tale Mata Hari unfolded. As she offered names and information about various people—several prominent men who were her lovers, plus Ladoux, Maunoury of the French police, the physician who delivered her first child, and her lawyers—the assistant chief constable could not resist remarking drily, “It would be awkward to have a levee of all the belligerent countries in your room.”
They had already begun to doubt that she was Clara Benedix; before questioning her on November 16, Thomson had sent a message to the Netherlands minister in London. It read:
I have the honor to inform you that a woman carrying a French [sic] passport bearing the name of Margaretha Zelle MacLeod, No. 2603 issued at The Hague on the 12th of May 1916, has been detained here on suspicion that she is a German agent of German nationality named Clara Benedix of Hamburg. She denies her identity with this woman, and steps are being taken to establish it. The passport bears signs of having been tampered with. She has applied to be allowed to write to your Excellency, and materials for the letter have been furnished to her.
After questioning Mata Hari that day, Thomson sent a second letter to the Dutch minister, which differs in interesting ways from the first.
We have the honor to inform you that a lady bearing a Dutch passport, named Madame Zelle McLeod, has been removed from the Dutch ship Hollandia on her arrival at Falmouth, there being grave suspicion of un-neutral acts against her. She has asked me to forward to you the enclosed letter.
Inquiries are being made as quickly as possible by cable, and she will not be detained longer than necessary. If, however, she proves to be a person suspected of un-neutral acts, it may be necessary to take further action against her.
Thomson promptly initiated inquiries as to Mata Hari’s identity. He claimed later in his memoirs that the Britons had been persuaded she had been working for the Germans since 1915, but if so, they had not plainly informed their allies of this conviction. He sent a telegram in cipher to Ladoux, asking if he employed Margaretha Zelle-MacLeod.
In the meantime, the interrogation of Mata Hari continued. She made a strong impression on Thomson, who described her as being
tall and sinuous, with glowing black eyes and a dusky complexion, vivacious in manner, intelligent and quick in repartee…a severely practical person who was prepared to answer any question with a kind of reserved courtesy, who felt so sure of herself and her innocence that all that remained in her was a desire to help her interrogators. The only thing graceful about her was her walk and the carriage of her head…. Time had a little dimmed the charms of which we had heard so much, for at this time the lady must have been at least 40.
In hindsight, Thomson felt that Mata Hari thought she had triumphed in their interviews, but remembered that he was not persuaded of her innocence. “We were convinced now that she was acting for the Germans, and that she was then on her way to Germany with information which she had committed to memory.” Thomson also claimed that he warned Mata Hari, in a fatherly way, to “give up what you are doing” and that she promised to, like a dutiful daughter.
These remarks would be more convincing if he had accurately remembered her arrest and questioning as occurring in November 1916 instead of “early in 1916” as he wrote. The next observation in his memoir—that Mata Hari was arrested with “compromising documents” a month after he released her—was entirely untrue and suggests that his hindsight might have been clouded by a desire to demonstrate his own prescience about Mata Hari.
While they waited for responses to their cables of inquiry, the men at MI5 catalogued and searched Mata Hari’s “very large professional wardrobe.” This consisted of:
Box with gilt clock.
Hat box containing 6 hats, 3 hat pins, feather boas, one veil, 2 fur stoles, 3 hat decorations, one imitation peach [presumably to decorate a hat], 1 dressing gown.
Trunk with 1 pair gent’s boots, 1 brush, 1 bundle washing, 1 pair putties [strips of cloth used by the cavalry, who wound them around their lower legs from ankle to knee for protection], 1 pair spurs, 3 pairs shoes, 3 chemises, 1 napkin, 1 pair leggings, 3 veils, 1 box ribbons, 3 bra shells, 2 belts, 2 underskirts, 3 skirts, 1 dress, 4 pairs gloves, 1 umbrella, 3 sunshades, 1 douche, 1 pair stockings, 1 blouse, 3 scarfs, 1 night dress case, 1 coat, 1 costume [matching jacket and skirt], 1 bag of dirty linen, 1 bundle sanitary t
owels.
1 box containing 4 hair ornaments, 1 hat pin and false hair, 3 fur necklets, 1 bottle Vernis Mordore Dore, 1 box powder, 1 bottle white fluid
Boot trunk containing 6 pairs slippers, 1 box face cream, 3 pairs boots, 2 pairs shoes, 1 pair stockings
Trunk containing 2 pairs corsets, 30 pairs stockings, 1 lavender packet [sachet], 1 veil, 8 under bodices, 1 handkerchief, 1 underskirt, 1 shawl, 10 pairs knickers, 3 princess petticoats, 3 combs, 2 dressing jackets, 11 chemises, 1 dressing gown, towel, 1 garter, 2 coats, 5 blouses, 4 dresses, 1 petticoat, 1 scarf, 2 pairs gloves, a collar, 2 powder puffs.
Trunk containing 1 handbag with mirror inside, 1 hair comb, 3 coats, 1 box containing comb, 1 dress, 1 ornament, 2 pairs shoes, 2 fancy boxes, 1 box containing copper plate and visiting card in the name of Vadime de Massloff, Capitaine, 1ere Regiment Speciale Imperial, Russe, 1 pair gloves, 1 blouse, 7 dresses, 2 princess robes, 1 petticoat, 1 belt, wooden box with 2 brushes and china tea service.
Gladstone bag containing 2 pairs shoes, nail polishers, box of powder, pair of stockings, 2 boxes containing cigarettes, 8 hair nets, box visiting cards, box soap, pair gloves, 2 powder puffs, 1 under bodice, 2 nightdresses, handkerchief sachet containing 21 handkerchiefs, 1 dressing gown, 1 empty cash box, bunch of keys, pearl necklet in case, monocle in case, 2 earrings in box, 2 pearls in a case, green stone ring in case, green stone necklet and 2 earrings in a case, 3 fans, 2 cloth purses, one containing 1 £ treasury note, 5 or 6 pounds in silver, 1d copper, 14 silver coins and 5 bronze coins, holdall of cotton, needles etc., handbag containing cigarette case (photos inside), powder puff and rouge stick on chain.
Boat tickets, visiting card stamp, treasury note case (empty), bank note case containing four 100 franc notes, two 1000 franc notes, one 60 guilder note, one 40 guilder note, one 50 pesetas note, one 400? [sic, presumably ruble] Russian note, 2 pieces music, bundle of photographs and French dictionary, check book, crayon drawing, pocket wallet containing papers etc.
One traveling rug.
One fitted ladies dressing case.
Letters etc.
This listing gives a deliciously vivid image of Mata Hari’s lifestyle while traveling. It is fascinating that she had some of Vadime’s clothes, possibly intending to have them laundered and sent back to him at the front.
Most significant of all the responses Thomson received to his cables of inquiry was one from Ladoux himself. In his memoirs, Ladoux says that he replied to the coded message, coldly, “Understand nothing. Send Mata Hari back to Spain.” What is recorded in the British files as the translated and decrypted response from Ladoux is somewhat different. “Ref. our telegram No. MA 22939 of Nov 16 [1916] instant to Captain Ladoux—he replies ‘He has suspected her for some time and pretended to employ her, in order, if possible, to obtain definitive proof that she is working for the Germans. He would be glad to hear that her guilt has been clearly established.’” In the margins a British lieutenant colonel with an illegible signature has scrawled, “I’ll BET he would!”
Ladoux abandoned and betrayed his own agent, claiming his hiring of her was a ruse to entrap her, and reinforced the British suspicions of her. But the British had no evidence upon which to hold her. Neither her questioning nor the searching of her possessions had turned up anything suspicious. When the cables came through from Baron van der Capellan; the marquis of Beaufort; the Dutch consul in Paris, Otto Bunge; and others, Thomson decided to release her.
On the fourth day of Mata Hari’s detention, the British told her that they no longer believed she was Clara Benedix and had decided to release her. Whether at Ladoux’s instigation or their own, they decided to forbid her to travel onward to Holland, her home country, and insisted she had to go back to Spain—an extraordinary decision.
In addition to denying hiring Mata Hari as an agent, Ladoux took it upon himself to write to the Dutch authorities, alerting them to his suspicions. Ladoux was apparently very anxious to deflect blame from himself now that his new spy seemed to be arousing awkward questions. Though everyone recoiled in alarm, no one had the least bit of evidence against her.
Mata Hari spent some time at the Savoy Hotel in London recovering from her frightening ordeal. She applied for a permit to go to The Hague, with the object of her journey being “to marry Captain Vadime de Massloff,” which in her mind it was. The Permit Office consulted Thomson, who told them she was believed to be an agent of the Deutsche Bank—a new suspicion the significance of which is not clear—and she was not to be given a permit for Holland. When she visited him begging for permission to take a ship to Rotterdam leaving on November 25, Thomson denied her again, insisting she might only return to Spain.
On December 1 she left to catch the S.S. Arguaya back to Vigo, Spain. The same day, the Dutch minister of foreign affairs in The Hague wrote to the Dutch envoy in Madrid, warning him of her impending arrival and spreading the rumors and suspicions further.
The compatriot had originally been stopped because one thought her passport was a fake and it was suspected her real nationality was German and that she was a certain Clara Benedix from Hamburg. However, these suspicions were soon proved unfounded but official messages from Paris gave reason to believe that Mrs. MacLeod had indeed been carrying out activities in ways that the [French] police look on unfavorably…. She said that the allies in Paris trusted her to convey messages and she had to do this in Holland. The police were suspicious about these communications and this was confirmed from information gained from Paris from which it became clear that the orders had not gone out from the allies but the enemy…. She declared she was willing to return to Spain of her own free will…I detect she wants to avoid anything which could spread rumors about this “adventure” (I quote) of hers.
Arriving back in Spain on December 11, Mata Hari did not quite know what to do. She spent a few days at the Hotel Continental in Vigo, renewing her acquaintance with Martial Cazeaux, a Frenchman who was the Dutch consul in Vigo. Cazeaux expressed his surprise and concern that she had been mistaken for Clara Benedix: “What, they took you for Clara Benedix [?]…You’d have to be English to make such an idiotic mistake.” Restored to confidence by Cazeaux’s admiration and support, Mata Hari confided to him that on the Hollandia had been a Belgian husband and wife by the name of Allard, and the husband spied for England while the wife spied for Germany; the captain had told her so. Perhaps she felt passing this piece of information on to an English ally would demonstrate her good intentions to the French.
Astonishingly, Cazeaux’s response was to invite Mata Hari to spy for the Russians. In fewer than eighteen months, Mata Hari had been asked to spy for Germany by Kroemer, France by Ladoux, and now Russia by Cazeaux. The question is, why?
No one questioned in connection with Mata Hari ever suggested that she was politically alert or motivated. None of her lovers or acquaintances recalled her asking about military secrets or information. The closest approach to such curiosity was when she asked after Vadime’s health and whereabouts when she did not hear from him regularly. In fact, she was so unaware of the day-to-day progress of the war that she had only the vaguest notion where her lover’s regiment was fighting. Strong political convictions cannot possibly be painted as the reason Mata Hari was repeatedly asked to function as a spy.
As a famous performer and striking beauty, Mata Hari attracted attention wherever she went. It was part of her personality to seek the spotlight, and she was very, very good at it. This made Mata Hari a ridiculous candidate for a job that required clandestine behavior. Even when she was in company with Vadime (or, for that matter, Rudolf MacLeod), and her flirtatious manner might be expected to be curbed, Mata Hari drew the eyes and admiration of men wherever she went. True, she was intelligent and an excellent linguist—useful attributes for a spy. But the attribute that she possessed that was the reason so many asked her to spy for them was her willingness to do things normally judged immoral for money. Because she was visibly a woman of the demimonde—a high-class prostitute, in
ugly terms—men assumed she would also stoop to espionage, which had a very negative connotation at the time. Thus she was incriminated, recruited, and suspected for her readiness to sleep with men for money rather than anything else. She was considered a spy, or a likely spy, because she was Mata Hari—the epitome of beauty, seductiveness, and sexuality.
Neither accepting nor declining Cazeaux’s offer, Mata Hari traveled to the Ritz Hotel in Madrid. She had written to Anna Lintjens from Vigo, asking her to explain to van der Capellan why she had not arrived in Holland as planned and asking, once again, for money. From Madrid, she telegraphed the baron directly, as discreetly as possible. She was very short of funds, being down to her last 2,300 francs (roughly $7,000 today).
She also wrote to Ladoux en clair asking how she should proceed, since she had been prevented from reaching The Hague. She did not suspect that it was Ladoux’s manipulations that had blocked her travel or that he had a great investment in proving she was a German spy. Ladoux was no longer her protector or employer but instead her worst enemy and the last person she should have asked for advice.
15
Secrets and Betrayal
AFTER MANIPULATING EVENTS so that Mata Hari would return to Spain, Ladoux took one more decisive step in preparing his trap for her. He ordered that all messages intercepted by the Eiffel Tower radio station that involved communications between Berlin and Madrid should be monitored and sent to him. The French had broken the German encryptation code some time earlier, so why this procedure of recording messages to or from Berlin had not been put in place earlier is more than puzzling; it is almost impossible to believe. Why Ladoux had not ordered these messages to be monitored as soon as the code was broken is unexplained.