The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-12
ESPIONAGE In FRANCE.
The Spy System as Observed by
q Visitor In Paris.
A City Which swarms with Police and
Their Emissarios Who Arc Constant
ly Watching and DIGGING tho Foot
stops of Foreigners and Strangers.

~ Watching and DIGGING tho Foot
stops of Foreigners and Strangers.
The Third Republic is no freer than
were any previous French regimes, says
writer in the Philadelphia Times,
from this deep faint of what the French
call mouchardise. Never before at any
period of Frances history has the reign
of spydom been so widespread and alb
solute in Paris as now. There has been
latterly much discussion in the worlds
| press OF the extraordinary degree to
which official espionage obtains In Rus
| STA, and very interesting details have
been Forthcoming on the subject I am
now in position to affirm that in Paris
Il do not say throughout tho whole of
France-the meshes of the detective net
are woven even more closely round the
entire population than has ever been
tho case In st. Petersburg. Evidence
of this fact might easily be found in the
secret history Of the Boulangist con-
spiracy. From first to last every detail
of this movement was known to tho
police, more than three-fourths Of the
Boulangists themselves being informers
The instant you arrive ut Paris sta
ton you are in the midst of spies. You
are driven to n hotel In cab. In half IN
hour the cab1nan will furnish tho police
with any particulars he may have been
able to gather concerning your position,
destination, business, etc. Arrived at
your hotel, you become tho object Of
scrutiny, as close as it is secret, on the
part of divers persons, who, though at
tached to the place in the capacity
of manager or cashier, or even porter
or 'boots," are in reality enrolled
soldiers of the great detective army
And here may mention II special char
acteristic of tho French detective sys-
tcm-its faculty of recruiting adhercnts
in all classes of society. French spies,
for the most part, are not simple spies
and nothing more. They have trade
or occupation of their own, to which
they seem wholly and solely devoted,
while yet assiduously pursuing sub rosa
their spying.
The unsuspccting stranger In Paris
has dinner Mt his hotel served by q
waiter who, as matter of course, is in
the pay of the police, and will subse-
quently report to them what conversa-
ton he overhears during the meal. He
SAiCh ouAAlSo 4OAbAS ~ t4ASI Will II k1dSS
or two of fine champagne, for an even
ings amusement of the true Parisian
sort. First, he repairs to one OF the
brilliant boulevard play-houses. A few
stalls away from him sits gentlemanly-
looking man, with steady, observant
eyes, who chances now and again ut our
friend in such a way as to make the lat
ter think: "I wonder where Two seen
that man bcfore9" he never has seen
him before, but It doesn't enter his head
| for moment to suspect the man of be-
ing what he really is-a police spy.
The play over, there is just time for
half an hours stroll under the horse
chestnuts in the Jardin de Paris. Hero
nine-tenths of the attendants arc either
spies or scamps; or may, indeed, be
both at once, for French police
authorities are not very squenmish In
choosing their instruments, and seem
to have q sort of preference for scoun-
drels over others. Their theory runs
that the greater villain n man is the
better spy he will make; moreover, the
most efficacious means of keeping q
man under spy surveillance is to have
him become spy himself, for spies spy
upon each other quite as much us on the
rest of mankind.
But our foreigner finishes up the even
ing by turning into the Cafe Amcri-
caine for supper, where he has for next
door ncighbor seductive young wom-
an, with whom he enters into CONVEX
sation. She has q sweet smile, which
displays two rows Of glittcring teeth,
and puts many questions to him con-
corning France and the French. Nat
urally enough, our visitor imagincs this
Is all done out of that bright, easy,
Gallo politeness he admires so much,
for how is he to know that every word
he has said in reply will come to the ear
of the police not later than the follow
ing afternoon?
If our friend be fond of sport he will
soon be finding his way to the race
course near the capital and into the
baccarat clubs with which Paris
abounds, and here he will be hourly in
contact with police spies in greater num-
bers than there are racers on the course
or cards in the pack. And so the game
goes on in every sphere of Paris life
and society.