The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-03-14
ESPIONAGE IN FRANCE.
The Spy System as Observed by
a Visitor in Paris.

"A City which ,swarms with Police and
Their Emissaries Who Are Constant.
" Watching and Dogging the Foot
steps of Foreigners and Strangers.
The Third Republic is no freer than
were any previous French regimes, says
a 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. am
now in position to affirm that in Paris
IL do not say throughout the whole OF
Trance-the meshes of the detective net
are woven even more closely round the
entire population than has ever been
the case in ST. Petersburg. Evidence
of this fact might easily be found in the
secret history Of the Boulangist con-
spiraey. From first to last every detail
of this movement was known TO the
police, more than three fourths Of the
Boulangists themselves being infor1ners.
The instant you arrive at a Paris sta
ton you are in the midst of spies. You
are driven to a hotel in a cab. In half All
hour the cabman will furnish the police
with any particulars he may have been
destination, business, etc. Arrived at
your hotel, you become the 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 ssboots.'' are i'll reality enrolled
soldiers of the great detective army.
And here | may mention special char
acteristic Of the French detective. sys-
TENTS faculty of recruiting adherents
in all classes of society. French spies,
for the most part, are not simple spies
and nothing more. They have a trade
or occupation Of their own, to which
they seem wholly and solely devoted,
while yet assiduously pursuing sub rosa
their spying.
The unsuspecting stranger i'll Paris
has dinner at his hotel served by a
waiter who, as matter of course, is in
the pay of the police, and will subse-
quently report to them what converse
ton he overhears during the meal. He
then sallies forth, primed with glass
or two Of fine champagne, for an even
tng's amusement Of the true Partisan
sort. First, he repairs to one OF the
brilliant boulevard play-houses. A few
stalls away from him sits gentle1nanly-
looking man, with steady, ohservant
ewes, who chances now and again at our
friend in such way as to make the lat
ter think: 81 wonder where I've seen
that man before?" He never has seen
him before, but it doesn't enter his head
for a 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. Here
nine-tenths of the attendants are either
spies or scamps; Or may, indeed, be
both at once, for Trench police
authorities are not very squeamish in
choosing their instruments. and seem
to have sort of preference for sco11n-
drels over others. Their theory runs
that the greater villain man is the
better spy he will make; moreover, the
most eficacious means of keeping Il
man under spy surveillance is to have
him become a spy himself, for spies spy
upon each other quite as much as on the
rest of mankind.
But our foreigner finishes up the even
ing by turning into the Cafe Aneri-
s,aine for supper, where he has for next
door neighbor a seductive young wom-
an. with whom he enters into CONVEX
sation. She has sweet smile, which
displays two rows of glittering teeth,
and puts many questions to him con-
corning France and the French. Nat
urally enough, our visitor magines this
is ali 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?
,spur friend be fond OF sport he will
sodR be finding his way to the race
course near the capital and into the
baccarat clubs with which Paris
aboands, 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.
A Dog Goes to the Almshouse.
Wide Awake is responsible for the
following: A family in Salem, Mass,
owned a dog that had become quite old