Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-04-10
The Stpru Telter.
UNCLE SAM'S HAWKSHAWS
Government Detectives: What They
Have to Do.

The change of administration has
removed a burden of care from the
bureau of the secret service. From
this time on its detectives will not be
called on to guard the president at all
hours of the day and night, assuming
responsibility for his safety. This task
has been theirs for the last four years,
during which Mr.. Cleveland may be
said to have been surrounded always
by Gordon of Hawkshaws. Even at
Gray Gables sentries took watch and
watch about the house, and no person
was permitted to approach without
giving satisfactory account of him
self, if stranger. In Washington
for long time the president never
went out driving without the escort of
buggy, drawn by fast horse and
occupied by two men armed to the
teeth. Whenever he made the trip
between Buzzard's Bay and the capi-
tai, government detectives accompa-
MED him, and in New York the met
ropolitan police force was called on to
help take care of him.
Mr.. Thurber always claimed that
his chief knew nothing of these pre-
cautions taken in his behalf; but it
seems beyond question, according to a
Washington correspondent of The
Transcript, that Mr.. Cleveland feared
assassination. Two presidents of the
United States already have been shot
to death, and it is not surprising that
an incumbent of that Office should
feel nervous on that subject. Threat
ening letters are frequently received
at the White House, and cranks of all
sorts constantly besiege the mansion.
There is always the possibility of an
other Guiteau, and it cannot be de-
MED that Major Mckinley is taking
some chances when he dispenses with
the guards who have been accustomed
to protect the body of the president
Even at receptions two men of great
muscular strength invariably stood
close to Mr.. Cleveland, ready at an in
stant's notice to seize any person who
might make a motion to draw a
weapon.
The palace of the president or mon
arch in any foreign country is guarded
customarily by soldiers. That sort Of
thing would be displeasing to Ameri-
can ideas, and so policemen have been
used at the White House, "a of them
being detailed from the city corps for
that purpose. These have now been
withdrawn at Major McKinley's re-
quest. His object evidently is to ex-
press his confidence in the people.
Meanwhile, the chief of the secret SER
vice will be able to devote his atten-
ton exclusively to catching rogues
who try to swindle the government.
1t is not the business of this treasury
bureau to take care Of the President
of the United States, and the money
appropriated by congress for its sup
port ought not to be diverted to the
payment Of detectives to watch the
White House and to accompany the
chief executive on his travels. In this
matter Major Mckinley has accom-
plished useful reform.
The secret service had its beginning
in June, 1861, when Lafayette G.
Baker was appointed by Secretary
Seward as an agent to gather infor-
nation in the Southern Confederacy
Now and then the detectives of this
organization, whose proper business is
the catching of counterfeiters, are
called on for other work. They have
been working recently on the thefts of
valuable autograph letters from the
library of congress, the full extent of
which has not yet been ascertained.
1t is said that not single autograph
letter of Lincoln remains in the collec-
ton. Not long ago they were employ
ed to investigate the stamp stealing
business which was discovered in the
treasury. The stamps, worth money
as curios, were cut and torn from old
documents. Eventually 10000 of
them were recovered through dealers
to whom they had been sold. When
it is suspected that a government en-
ployee is dissipating too much, a de-
tective of the secret service is apt to
be detailed to shadow him, at the re-
quest of the head of the bureau in
which he works. In this way it is as
certained just how he spends his
money; the number of kinds of drinks
he takes; if he plays the races or po-
ker, and whether he has other vices.
If the report of the detective is unfav-
orable, the employee receives warn
ing. The mysteriousness of the means
of information in cases of this sort
adds much to the effect.
Nearly every one of the executive
departments has it's corps of detectives.
The Hawkshaws of the postoffice de-
partment are among the cleverest in
the business, and they are constantly
kept busy in chasing thieves and per-
sons who use the mails for various dis
honest purposes. Local newspaper
reporters have discovered that the new
Washington postoffice, now nearly fin
ished, is provided with a system of
peepholes by which the clerks and car
riers can be watched without knowing
it. The peepholes are connected with
secret passage and stairs ascending
from the basement. This idea does not
seem wholly in accordance with Nine
teenth century notions, but it is fact
that all postoffices are built with such
peepholes for the secret supervision of
employees. The rlfing of letters is a
very common form of theft, and many
a mystery of this kind has been solved
by placing watchful eye at an artful-
lv concealed hole in the wall of q post