The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-08-16
&C prropMER RRATrLEBORO. FRIDAY AUGUST 10. .oeo
v,,.s,A,s BLACK cnAMBrR.
An interesting glimpse Of Ds.pos.s"i,
Uox the Cars Agents Ope" s'eus''
Mails.

How the CxnT's Agents Open Letters III
| the Mails.
Each letter which passes through
the Russian mails Is subject to sys-
tom of espionage which is more thor
ouch than anything the world mas ever
seen And il is the province OF tne
black chamber to see to 1t that noun
;nu offensive to the government ne car
RED by the postal authorities without
first being noticed and remembered by
The employes of the black chamber.
In most instances mail matter when
turns counter in its contents TO the oe
,,,nds If the censor is withheld ano
never reaches its destination, WINE
the senders of it are reported 10 tht
police for punishment. Exceptions now
ever. are made when it suits the pur
noses of the authorities to leave the
addressee and the sender both IN ,he
belief that they have remained uhuls'
covered. The Russian law on cen
sorship are very severe and compfe,
bensiye. They forbid the mention OF
the ear and OF his family in private
correspopdence as well as in the press
and thev forbid critical remarks OF re
lipious. philosophical or similar cha
racter. The black chamber is intrust,
ed with the duty of watching that
these prohibitions are complied with.
| If is of course, impossible to oper
and examine every letter that is con
veyed by Russian mails. but IN.
agents inspectors and examiners of the
black chamber number in all severn
thousands and they are sklllfuiiy uis
tributed in all those towns ana ci.irs
where dissatisfaction with the prevail
inc order of things is known to exist
and very little escapes their lynx eyer
which is worth seeing By the gov
ernment they are empowered 10 com
NIT any act of indiscretion whatever
which seems to be necessary 10 ac
complish their purpose, and the EN-
ployes of the black chamber are MOTOR
| ;misIy callous, shrewd and cunning.
That instinct which is part OF every
mans nature they bring INTO the ser
vice when raw, but experience ana
trained observation strengthens lhe
or iginal amount OF instructive Know,
ledge as to which letters to open ana
which to leave alone to that extent
that they become almost unerring IN
their judgment. !.
The number and percentage OF let
tiers thus actually opened and read py
these agents differs, of course, consld-
erably, being much larger during pc
RODS of political excitement than dur
ing more quiet times, and the amount
of work done by them after some par
ticularly atrocious plot has been
Matched or executed is said to be
herculean. Generally speaking, though,
about every tenth letter sent in the
mails is opened by the men of the black
chamber.
The particular field worked by these
agents is. of course, the correspondence
that passes between Russian and foreign
| parts. As about nine tenths of this
| correspondence goes by way OF Lydt-
Kuhuen and st. Petersburg, a special
" trained corps of agents is always on
the express that runs in the direction
| indicated. and during the twenty foui
hours the mail is in transit between
the German frontier and the Russian
capjtal. not a piece of it is not fingered
or broken open and examined as 10 its
contents. On arrival, of course, there
| is no delay in delivering this mail, un-
less withheld for reasons stated above,
for the manipuations rendered neces
safy ior tiIis ii"'' 49, arnort band;
atlehue' " v! hrs wn,.or
40" anu t ri ~, ,,han
mat mistakes are '' naI; Il" W." Taai.
Russian lesi 9 ~ no'lan' Ill 81
toh' receNeu ah o'e eia TO,
dressed 10 Nun ~, CO., ,ne'J Ennsoh Ave-
eviaehtlS ihlenoeiI ~, d re1 ,h;o ' Ei;n5
mat III hollie' t :, :. ,nas,;
occur rarely anu Miieio.ei ;lIf,s1 p pnar,
pie 10 ietie' ou' 'ne t,a,,i,, f7,,r
lgulity OF ~ he 10 suo'd' p"N
isned ior IT. a.h1s 80 oman
me oiach pnai.ioi ,. ',;,,,,,Io = ~
ing ietlers are as'' ~ 'a .;.'s' -,
effective Durihs .he ti.,e VI a., -'" dpIasaj,
L., wheh Touchei as en,a a''o ~.
supervisor an ooi ~ - -
or leaving frahce' steauh ma' 49, -
loosenins one nap Vi .ii1 nae'o a,
me Russian agents piooeeu iho az az
ldly' lhey Gu. opIn onI L s l,n;, .n'
envelope with pecuiia, shapea ..;n hn', ,h,
ana the OPENING a,e pata W
letler once ihole MI WI .;' 80 -
then pasteu over WIN wy 81 -
paper, a Gamer mar prusil anu SON
gum ARABIC peihs 'le on'' .1'
used. So deitly, however, 20 'hes'
men operate that ohiy praG.!eeu es'
can detect the fact that Ihe letter n ;n
been interfered wlth' In ie" III
stances It becomes necessaf! 70 70 op Iatto
letter where the pack Oh .hs le.ae
meets in Its center tnat pelhs 'he sea
carefully affixed by the sehaer' n ~.
that also presents nc no uiincui.! " Wv
Russian agents. lhey hrst use ho'
low cylinder whose INFERIOR c4l'ai an,
innumerable steel needless ana ine soi
pressure of one hnger on tne spring u
the side of tins cylinder suinces iof
cushion to drop ana 10 group thes'
steel needles exactly IN the same snap
,o ha caal thp WAX. Inc WAX Ii