WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Undetected: Fritz Joubert Duquesne Part 2 

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

This week, Megan and Alessia resolve the cliffhanger of the previous episode as Fritz Duquesne continues his quest for revenge and adventure.

Welcome to Undetected on Radio Free Hillsdale. Go undercover with your hosts, Alessia Sandala and Megan Lee, as they uncover the stories of spies from every country and time. The most thrilling, yet the most secret of lives in history. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Megan, and I'm back with Alessia to wrap up the story of Fritz Ducane. Where did we leave off Alessia? Fritz had just made it out of prison and was on a ship headed for America.

On September 4th, 1902, Fritz touched down in Baltimore, and he got himself a job at the New York Herald in 1906. That was when he got the attention of the last figure we would have expected. The president of the United States at the time, Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt actually invited Fritz into the White House to talk about big game hunting with him. At the same time, Fritz worked as a war correspondent and gave lectures around the country. He married Alice Wortley in 1910 and became an American citizen in 1913. But at the first chance he got to get back at the British in World War I, Fritz jumped ship from his

nice life in America and took it. We do not know whether Fritz volunteered or was recruited to be a spy for Germany in World War I. The Germans sent him to South America where Fritz was in charge of sabotaging ships on the way to Britain. Traveling from country to country, he left boxes supposedly full of mineral samples or plants, but were actually time bombs on the ships. But in February 1916, Fritz's success would come to an end. After he had set the SS Tennyson on fire, he tried to make some extra money by taking out an insurance policy on the celluloid fifth. film he used to blow up the ship. But when he tried to cash out the gamble, he was caught. With the bounty from the British on his head, Fritz decided to fake his own death in April

1916. The ruse only lasted for less than a month, but it gave him enough time to escape from South America to Europe. Now with this next story, take it with a grain of salt. Fritz claims to have been behind the murder of his great arch nemesis. Remember the British Lord Kitchener, the one responsible for the death of Fritz's family? Well, he died on June 5th, 1916, on the HMS Hampshire after the ship hit a German mine and sunk off the coast of Scotland. According to Fritz, he was disguised as a Russian official on the Hampshire and dropped water torches over the side to tell the German boats where to plant the mines. As the ship exploded, he was collected by a submarine and then headed to Germany to receive an

iron cross, but this is all according to Fritz. The guy's ego was certainly not small. But if you've lived a life like his, I can understand the appeal. By 1917, Fritz was back in America disguised as an Australian veteran, but the new New York authorities eventually figured out who he really was and arrested him on November 17th, indicting him for insurance fraud concerning the Tennyson he had sunk. On him, they found letters of praise from the Germans, and the British were furious, requesting he be sent to Britain for a murder trial.

But as we can expect, Fritz wasn't standing around waiting to die. While the process was being worked out, Fritz tried to feign insanity. Fritz switched it up and pretended to be paralyzed from the waist down instead. To everyone's surprise, he passed all of the doctor's examinations and was saying, sent to the prison ward of Bellevue Hospital. What happened next seems more out of a film than real life. While there, Fritz fully feigned his paralysis, all the while working a saw through the bars of his self when no one was looking.

On May 26th, 1919, a few days before his trial in England, Fritz escaped. Wow, will this guy ever get caught? The answer seems no, but we're not quite finished yet. Fritz was a free man for 13 years after that episode, but instead of avoiding America, he couldn't resist heading to New York City. 1932, Fritz got arrested yet again, but the complications of the extradition between Britain and America eventually got Fritz off the hook when Britain decided he wasn't worth the trouble. You might think this was finally time for Fritz to settle down and enjoy his freedom.

But this is Fritz Ducane we are talking about. On the cusp of World War II, summons from the Germans came, and Fritz answered. Fritz was put in charge of what became known as the Duquesne spy ring, a network of over 30 spies placed around America. Their job was to sabotage American operations and obtain valuable information and anticipation of America eventually going to war against Germany. But in 1940, a new and important character entered this story, William Sable. Sabled was offered the job of spying for the Nazis in the United States. After receiving training, Sabled met Fritz in New York City as a new member of the spy ring.

But what Fritz and the Nazis didn't know was that Sable was a double agent. Once the FBI had amassed enough evidence, they made the arrest on January 2nd, 19. Fritz was to serve 18 years for espionage, two for a concurrent sentence, and pay a $2,000 fine. When Fritz was released in 1954 after serving 12 years, his health was on the decline, and he was placed in a nursing home. Fritz suffered a stroke a year later and passed away on May 24, 1956. He was 78 years old. Wow, it's strange to think Fritz lived 78 years when his story feels like that of several lifetimes. It reminds us that he was still a real man, despite his feats that's.

sounds so fictional. Fritz's legacy remains a complex one today. Some view him as a righteous hero and fearless adventure. Others see him as a liar, a villain, and a madman. It's hard to know what he even believed himself to be. But that's up to you to decide. I'm Megan. And I'm Alessia. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Undetected. Tune in next week to hear the unknown story of Audrey Hepburn and her role with the Dutch resistance during the Second World War on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Thank you.