Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2415989
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DUM DUM CHARGE
"COLONEL LOPEZ" TELLS "British Authorities Know"
VAST WEB OF ITALIAN
?? PROPAGANDA
LONDON. Saturday.
Henry Lawrence, alias Cap- tain Lopez, has made a full confession to the "News Chronicle" of the circumstances of the allegations that Britain was supplying the Abyssinians with dum-dum bullets."
'The Daily Herald" declares that the Lawrence episode is merely an incident in a vast Italian underground propa- ganda against Britain covering every section of the Empire.
Lawrence was interviewed in the early hours of the morning standing in a half-doorway, elad only in a white nightshirt, his forehead covered with perspiration despite the chilly night.
"What I did about this bullet, how- ever, was done purely from patriotic motives and not for personal gain or greed," he said.
"I am three personalities, but only
one man. I was Mezler. I was Lopez. The authorities know every- thing. Time will reveal that I was the most patriotic man in the coun- try. My idea in obtaining the dum- dum bullets was to compare them
with other bullets in order to reveal
that those found in Abyssinia were
not British. The War Office authori- ties are satisfied with my explana- tion," he said.
LAUGHS AT TALK OF TREASON
CHARGE
When told, that it was rumoured
that he might be charged with trea- son,' he laughed nervously and de- clared j; "The authorities would not have returned "my passport if they contemplated arresting me."
He went oh to repudiate hotly that he. Was ever connected with the famous Zinoviff letters several years ago, and said he had never seen Mr. Ramsay MacDonald except in the pic-
tures.
His wife, a blonde, grey-eyed woman, still young1 and full of charm, but utterly weary, said that the strain had been awful and she had not slept for four nights.
'She Bald that her husband was al- ways a patriot. He went to South Africa at an early age and was con- nected with the Jamieson Raid. When the Boer War broke out, he immedi- ately joined the army and was award- ed two medals after the war. Mrs. Lawrence said that her husband learned a great deal about weapons while employed by big British arma- ment manufacturers. All through the episode of the dum-dum bullets, he worked in close conjunction with the Italian Embassy. The Italian Em- bassy, however, let him down and did not pay a penny except expenses. The
trouble with him was that he was over-trusting.
The "News-Chronicle" learns that Lawrence's interview with George and Bate Company, from which he purchased the dum-dum bullets, was not his first visit to that firm.
The managing director stated that Lawrence first came to see him to- wards the end of the Chaco War con- cerning the purchase of a number of rifles in connection with the dispute.
The "News-Chronicle" also under- stands that Lawrence first became known in London in 1918 when he joined revolutionary organisations and gained the confidence of the Left politicians.
He offered Mt. W. Watson, presi- dent of the London Workers' Commit- tee, £50 to get 250,000 seditious leaf- lets printed, but Watson refused.