N2NH
04-03-2013, 11:11 AM
An interesting person who was a master German spy in World War I and World War II, among other things...
Frederick “Fritz” Joubert Duquesne (/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English)d (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)uː (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)ˈ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)k (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)eɪ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)n (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English); 21 September 1877 – 24 May 1956), sometimes Du Quesne, was a South African Boer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer) soldier, prisoner of war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war), big game hunter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_game_hunter), journalist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist), war correspondent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_correspondent), Anglophobe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglophobe), stockbroker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockbroker), saboteur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saboteur), spy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy), and adventurer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure) whose hatred for the British (due to their treatment of Boer women and children) caused him to volunteer to spy for Germany during both World Wars. As a Boer spy he was known as the "Black Panther", but he is also known as "the man who killed Kitchener", since he claimed to have sabotaged and sunk HMS Hampshire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hampshire_%281903%29), on which Lord Kitchener (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Kitchener,_1st_Earl_Kitchener) was en route to Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia) in 1916. As a German spy, he went by the code name DUNN. In 1942, he and 32 other members of the Duquesne Spy Ring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duquesne_Spy_Ring) were convicted in the largest espionage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage) conviction in the history of the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States).
and...
(Between the World Wars)
After his arrest in New York, and while awaiting extradition to Britain, Duquesne pretended to be paralysed and was sent to the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue_Hospital). On 25 May 1919, after nearly two years of feigning paralysis, he disguised himself as a woman and escaped by cutting the bars of his cell and climbing over the barrier walls to freedom...
About a year later, he appeared in Boston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston), using the pseudonym “retired British Major Frederick Craven”. He is known to have used several more names, among them “Colonel Beza”, “Piet Niacud” as well as “Captain Fritz du Quesne” (his real name and rank).
Of this period in his life, little is known, only that he worked as a freelance journalist and an agent for Joseph P. Kennedy's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy) film production company. It is also during this time that he worked with Clement Wood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Wood) to write his “biography”, The Man who Killed Kitchener, with rights sold to a film production company.
In 1932, Duquesne was betrayed by a woman who revealed his true identity to the FBI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI) who arrested him. British authorities again requested be extradited, but he fought this charge in court. The judge ruled that even though the charges had merit, the statute of limitations had expired.
The story reads like a espionage novel reminiscent of Eye of the Needle. And yes, he does take one chance too many...
Frederick “Fritz” Joubert Duquesne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Joubert_Duquesne)
Frederick “Fritz” Joubert Duquesne (/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English)d (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)uː (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)ˈ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)k (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)eɪ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)n (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key)/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English); 21 September 1877 – 24 May 1956), sometimes Du Quesne, was a South African Boer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer) soldier, prisoner of war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war), big game hunter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_game_hunter), journalist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalist), war correspondent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_correspondent), Anglophobe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglophobe), stockbroker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockbroker), saboteur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saboteur), spy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy), and adventurer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure) whose hatred for the British (due to their treatment of Boer women and children) caused him to volunteer to spy for Germany during both World Wars. As a Boer spy he was known as the "Black Panther", but he is also known as "the man who killed Kitchener", since he claimed to have sabotaged and sunk HMS Hampshire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hampshire_%281903%29), on which Lord Kitchener (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Kitchener,_1st_Earl_Kitchener) was en route to Russia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia) in 1916. As a German spy, he went by the code name DUNN. In 1942, he and 32 other members of the Duquesne Spy Ring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duquesne_Spy_Ring) were convicted in the largest espionage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage) conviction in the history of the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States).
and...
(Between the World Wars)
After his arrest in New York, and while awaiting extradition to Britain, Duquesne pretended to be paralysed and was sent to the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue_Hospital). On 25 May 1919, after nearly two years of feigning paralysis, he disguised himself as a woman and escaped by cutting the bars of his cell and climbing over the barrier walls to freedom...
About a year later, he appeared in Boston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston), using the pseudonym “retired British Major Frederick Craven”. He is known to have used several more names, among them “Colonel Beza”, “Piet Niacud” as well as “Captain Fritz du Quesne” (his real name and rank).
Of this period in his life, little is known, only that he worked as a freelance journalist and an agent for Joseph P. Kennedy's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy) film production company. It is also during this time that he worked with Clement Wood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Wood) to write his “biography”, The Man who Killed Kitchener, with rights sold to a film production company.
In 1932, Duquesne was betrayed by a woman who revealed his true identity to the FBI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI) who arrested him. British authorities again requested be extradited, but he fought this charge in court. The judge ruled that even though the charges had merit, the statute of limitations had expired.
The story reads like a espionage novel reminiscent of Eye of the Needle. And yes, he does take one chance too many...
Frederick “Fritz” Joubert Duquesne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Joubert_Duquesne)