“The stipulations of the Penal Military Statutes will be applied fully and severely to the officers or men Prisoners of War who will try to run away and will be caught and they will be confined in a special building in the district of Afion Kara Hissar. In (sic) the other hand their comrades will be deprived of all liberty and privileges. The prisoners of war in my camp are requested to take information of this communique.
”The Commandant.”
[12]. For the benefit of the curious our code-system is given in [Appendix III].
[13]. Complete records of all séances between February 2nd and April 26th were kept and smuggled out of Turkey. The above is a verbatim copy of the Pimple’s statement. From this point to Chapter XXIV. (where our written record ends) all questions put to, and answers given by, the Spook are quoted from these records. So, too, are the letters to and from the Turkish War Office at Constantinople. We have to thank Capt. O’Farrell, Capt. Matthews, Capt. Freeland, Capt. Miller, Lieut. Nightingale, Lieut. Hickman and others for the preservation of our documents and photographs.
[14]. The Senior Officer of the camp met me after I had regained my liberty. “Why on earth did you keep us in the dark, Jones?” he asked; “if you had only told us what you were up to we would have helped you.” “Would you, sir?” I replied. “I put it to you frankly: had we gone to you in February and said we were planning to do the things which we actually did, you would undoubtedly have regarded it as impossible, and used your authority to stop us.” “Yes,” he admitted, after a moment’s thought, “you’re right. I would.”
[15]. This is really a code sentence (code-word “Bonhil,” code Playfair). It was put in for our own protection should things go seriously against us at any future time. Decoded it reads: “Take note this is a leg pull against both Turks and camp.”
[16]. This report was sent by the Commandant to the Turkish War Office on 18th March, 1918, and was the first of a series of official documents dictated by the Spook.
[18]. The order is quoted in the [footnote]. p. 70.
[19]. Major Gilchrist was not alone in his admiration for the Commandant’s leniency. Major Peel, in recording the sentence in his account of the trial, adds the comment: “The Commandant seems to have behaved remarkably well over this.” See also Col. Maule’s letter to the Netherlands Ambassador at Constantinople quoted in Chapter XXX.