The Indianapolis journal., 1891-02-20
rRENoH SECRET POLICE.
The Working of the Detective Army That
NJ. Constans Organized.

The Working of the Detective Army That
NJ. Constans Organized.
New York sun
The present organization of the French
secret police Is only as old as the service or
n. Constans In the French Ministry of the
Interior. With the fall of Boulanger and
the entrance to Office of Constans came the
complete overhauling of the French body
OF detectives. and the result has been the
most carefully trained, most harmonious
police In the world.
The superintendence of the whole force
lies with the Central POlIce Bureau In the
Ministry of the Interior IN Paris Here the
high police officers of the republic hold fast
the threads of the huge official net that
spreads its fine meshes from the capital TO
every border railway station In the land.
At every railway station in Paris there ls
branch office of this central bureau. The
largest branch office. at the Eastern rail-
way station. has some twenty-five agents
attached to 1t. The other branch
bureaus have from ten to fifteen detectives
each. The commissioners of the guards at
all the railway stations on the border COM
mand two or three agents each. On the
German and Italian border the number of
detectives to the station is usually four; on
the Belgian aud Spanish borders two, and
often only one. 1t is a curious feature
or the. French police organization
that all these agents while nomi-
nally under their respective commits
soners, are in reality under the direct
orders. not of the central bureau In the
Ministry OF the Interior. but under the
branch bureaus at the Paris railway sta
tions. Each border agency OF detectives
thus receives its instructions from the
officials at the Paris station of the railway
on which the agency is situated. For in
stance. the secret police at Pagny get or
ders from the eastern station IN Paris the
secret police at MOoane from the Care de
Lyon.
Another institution of the secret police
in France is the Flying Brigade" that is.
little body of three or four detectives
loosely attached to some Paris station or
some big station on the boundary lines.
Their duties consist mostly in watching
travelling statesmen and princes from
abroad. violent Socialists. Nihilists and
all other similar personages who
might have any object in making a plot
against governmentlnstitutions or in learn
ing too much about French domestic affairs
The flying brigades are sprinkied all over
the country. yet always remain in close
communication with their superlOrs, so that
they can be hurried off TO shadow Ger
man prince or an Italian lieutenant on his
way from the border to Paris. or TO hunt
down o fiery Anarchist or bOmb-maker in
the provinces.
The spying detectives who do the great
pieces of work In foreign countries for the
French government are sent directly from
the central bureau in the Ministry of the
Interior. Each agent in such q foreign
mission is usually accompanied by mem
Der of the city police, chosen and instruct
ed without any detailed consultation with
NJ. Goron, chief of the force. or communi-
cation as to his probable duties.
In Paris all the Agents de Constans." as
the French call secret-service officers, are
men OF blameless personal appearance.
They wear silk hats, clothes of the latest
style, fur overcoats, and extremely neat
pointed shoes. To the initiated foreigner
they appear to be the ideally urbane and
elegant French gentlemen OF popular for
eign fancy. They are well educated and
railway station they are mostly Alsatians.
the movements of the suspected
Prussians and Saxons, chat among
themselves in German that is pure
above all suspicion and reprOach. They
gossip in groups of twos and threes before
the open doors of east bound coupes in os-
tensible indifference TO the thick, ftorid
Germans within, PASS minute or two In
quizzing the guards and make themselves
at home in the vicinity of the lounging Ber-
liners in the waiting-room without once
betrayinR themselves by an I-know-you
look, or blunt questions, or grutf. ungram-
matical remarks that fail to a suspicious
extent to harmonic with their correct at
tire.
The espionage of the secret police on the
border is Ofeen facilitated by the under
standing between them and the guards OF
the sleeping-cars on through trains from
foreign capitals to Paris. These guards
note most of the prominent pers0naQeS on
board their trains and report the names to
the detectives at the international line.
Not infrequently. however, this system
has been distorted into means of
playing q joke on the government police by
or some other great man who Is not pres
ent. Many of the false rumors of this sort
given ont by the Paris dailies have their
origin fright here, since the border de-
tectives at once telegraph the reports of
the guards to Paris, where they are cred
iyed till the tram In question arrives and
the hoax is revealed.
The modus operandi of the secret police
on the border when they really catch big
Bit Of foreign royalty 70 watch was well
presence in France of his Grand Ducal
Hlghness Prince William of Baden. Prince
William and his wife crossed the boundary
line in the Oriental express on their way
to the death-bed of the Duke of
Leuchtenburg. AS he entered France
he showed the extraordinary passes issued
to men of his rank. the police at the point
of crossing were at once notified, and the
news was telegranhed by them to their
branch bureau in Paris. On his arrival in
Paris the Prince was received at the East
ern station by q whole company of elegant
and deferential detectives, was accom-
panied by them to his hotel. ard was
watched there by o guard of honor chosen
from them. who kept the central bureau
of the Interior Department Informed of his
every movement, and of the identity Of ell
who called upon him. The efficiency of
the secret police in this and all similar
cases has been so great since the reorgani-
zation under Constants that the escape OF
q man like Padlewski is regarded by those
acquainted with the Constans system as
the consequence of the determination OF
the Interior Department to let HIM go. fol
otherwise his capture would have been
accomplished without difficulty. M. Con-
stans, it is thought. acted in harmony with
the other members of the present govern
ment in neglecting to catch Padlewski, be-
trial of the murderer of Seliverskoff would
result in acquittal on the ground of polt-
ical motives. and consequently in serious
complications with the friendly Russian
government