Mata-Hari. Autograph letter signed with her maiden and married names, ("M G Zelle McLeod") in French, 1 page (12.25 x 7.87 in....

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Mata-Hari. Autograph letter signed with her maiden and married names, ("M G Zelle McLeod") in French, 1 page (12.25 x 7.87 in.; 311 x 200 mm.), postmarked Paris, 16 February 1917, to the Military Governor of Paris, [Commandant Tcherdlin]; browned, frayed edges. Mata-Hari. Autograph letter signed with her maiden and married names, ("M G Zelle McLeod") in French, 1 page (12.25 x 7.87 in.; 311 x 200 mm.), postmarked Paris, 16 February 1917, to the Military Governor of Paris, [Commandant Tcherdlin]; browned, frayed edges. A desperate plea from Mata-Hari. Mata-Hari writes in part: I suffer so much and I am so ill that I implore you to release me on bail. The shock has been too hard for me. I hope that Maître Clunet, who bas known me for twelve years and is quite familiar with [the facts of] my life, will agree to act as my guarantor with you... Together with: Mata-Hari. Autograph letter signed with her maiden and married names, ("M G Zelle McLeod"), in French, 3 pages (8.25 x 5.25 in.; 210 x 133 mm.), postmarked Paris, 17 February 1917, to the Military Governor of Paris, [Commandant Tcherdlin], below her signature is the stamp of the Bureau of Military Justice, Military Government of Paris; marginal chipping. Another dire plea from Mata-Hari to be released on bail. The notorious dancer writes in full: Sir, I implore you to release me on bail. I am so ill and the shock has been so hard on me that I am not myself anymore. I shall be at Judge Bouchardon's disposal when he wants, and I shall give him all the time he wants. Maître Eduard Clunet, who has known me for twelve years, will act as my guarantor with you. I beseech you, Sir, to grant my request. Yours respectfully, M G Zelle McLeod In these letters, Mata-Hari pleads for her release from Saint-Lazare prison in Paris a few days after the French arrested her, on 13 February 1917. There she languished until her death by firing squad on 15 October. The facts regarding her espionage activities remain obscure. According to one account, in the spring of 1916, while she was living in The Hague, a German consul is said to have offered to pay her for whatever information she could obtain on her next trip to France. After her arrest by the French, she acknowledged only that she had given out outdated information to a German intelligence officer. According to Mata Hari's story, she had agreed to act as a French spy in German occupied Belgium. She did not bother to tell French intelligence of her prior arrangement with the Germans. She later said that she had intended to secure for the Allies the assistance of Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Germany and heir to the dukedom of Cumberland in the British peerage. Apparently, British sources informed French Intelligence of Mata Hari's negotiations with the German official in The Hague. French suspicion of her duplicity increased, leading to her second arrest. A fine pair of letters written one day after another pleading for her release from prison.