Peter Karpin, a German espionage agent in World War I, was seized by French Intelligence agents in 1914 as soon as he entered the country. Keeping his capture a secret, the French sent fake reports from Karpin to Germany and intercepted the agent's wages and expense money until Karpin escaped in 1917. With those funds the French purchased an automobile, which, in 1919, in occupied Rurh, accidentally ran down and killed a man, who proved to be Peter Karpin.