New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-06-05
POLICE SURVEILLANCE ~ PARIS.
THE ruoRouGHNEss OF TIE SPY SYSTEM
UPON STRANGERS.

More curious than all its strange cai'inGs ana
its strange customs is the police system III
Paris when an Englishman gets 70 ms hotel'
he remarks probably, 20 his wife, Wen, now,
Martha we can do as we like No worry ABOUT
what Mrs Brown would say Il We had met hef
AZ brighton Here We are free, ana nooOdy
knows who We are or cares VINO We are bu'
before he has time TO dress FOR dinner the
police know that he Is In Paris. ana MS nahc
is inscribed at the Prefecture Every hoiel
mus, keep a register OF al foreigners ana hand
IL over daily to the special OH GERS who are sent
/ around 10 collect them. In the case OF the Eng
lish or American citizen little interes; is tahen'
unless their expenditure is notccahy extraVa-
CANT, and then friendly interest IS taken III
them. and their description sent 10 Scotland
Yard.
II Is almost impossible 10 conceive the thor
oughness Of ;he French police spy system lou
never know who IS mouchard in France. Inc
waiter no serves sou. the man who shaYes you
the cocher who drives you. are as likeIy as moi
t. be in the police pay. They kno" everything,
and they know every body Here Is an instance
that oc urreI . a friend % mine only the other
day. He received from the Prefecture an order
20 appear on the following day. - FAR as ne
knew h had done nothing particularly out OF
The way. and even II lie had. he had done it
unln'enti7ualy The magistrate Invited him
into his private room. and put him at his ease al
once by explaining that the affair did not concern
him personally but ne wanted some information
on two or three II the English colony with whom
he was associated. The answers were perfectly
satisfactory. and. In leaving, H. turned 70 the
I MAGISTRATE. ara saif. lauCrlrGlF. NOW. why
q Mt you ask me- sounethn g about myself" But
I know al about you" he replied. Would you
/ IKE 20 know what you did on any particular
dav within the last three months7" My friend
replied A, random. Take last Friday week
haven't the remotcst knowledge as TO what
/ happened" The magistrate turned over MS
dossler. and replied you got home at haf-pas'
two In a cab that you had taken AZ the Made
line. You rode out your bicycle at haf-past
nine. You .unched az The CAFE lie Esperance
and So on. throughout the day he recoun'sd
D R,I reaGc v
/ io have made the inquiry. as there was not me
/ slightest marx on MS dossier. but IL suited the
. police 20 know just how he passed his time.
! A caSeCro.c-that is 70 say, a mouchari who
has bv some indiscretion let his connection
+ with the police become known. and is accord
/ ingy valuc.ess-0rce told me lot about the
7 working % ;he system. | had pointed out "a
him that u seemed T. me- thoroughly Impossible
/ that could have my footsteps dosged during a
4 whole day without becoming aware OF the fact
Ii answered. Naturally This. FOR instance
! Is how sa0Uld have acted i. had wanted e
find oIt al aooH; your movements. When YOU
Leg. ,'fs carS | should have followed you until
such time that knew you had noticed that
was Al your heels Then | should have passed
the signal" TO whom" suggested. Have
you ever noticed" nc said. that around all the
big cafes there are men Offering novels out nj
date. but who are always scanning closely the
faces OF those the icrrasses?' Well. should
/ have passed the signal on 10 one OF those men
He would have followed you In a cab. T. neces-
sary. and on seeing you enter cafe would have
! handed you on 20 another Of the band And SC
il would have gone on After all the French
police wrong The foreigner comes here and IN
| scrlbes his name at the Prefecture Of Police
| We ar. no, Ike you In England We have only
just enough money for our own poor ard We 90
not encourage The out-of- works o. the world ,c
come here. Neither do we want TO harbor
criminals Accordingly the police trace the
| man. and IL they fad that ne is hOnOrably earn.
ing his existence he IS left in peace. but 4 there
| IS shadow OF suspicion against him his dossIer
/ cot Re- L " h,
| that ne has forty-eight hours In which 10 Gui,
the country. II Is owing TO this system that the
police find IL comparatively easy 20 arrest Grim
iLas. The vilest class OF rufilan anc the painted
women you NEE, In the night ca!ts. are all use
! ful-the women especially. Your own servant
may he spying on you Your concierge GER
tainly Is" He hesitaied for a minute and then
said TO me. In semi-whisper. Watch that
gentleman In front with the ribbon OF Legion
Of Honor In his buttonhole" I looked a, him
but noticed nothing particular. except that he
seemed very intent in his newspaper That's
q nouchard" he continued I'm prepared to be,
/ he has heard every word that has passed. II
you hsd eyed him closely ! have YOU
would have noticed that he has been looking al
| the same paragraph for over an hour" The man
paid for his drink and went out Next morning
! I suppose his report was sent in. The ruses OF
these men in finding out persons who are
wanted" have no limit. Only the other day the
English police had sent over the description OF
a man they would like TO put in the dock As
| he spoke French without the slightest accent
and as II was certain that Re would be disguised
out OF all recognition. the task was a difficult
| one. One afternoon. two Of these detectives
noticed a well-dressed man. and suspected him
One OF them took OF his overcoat and hung !,
they got up to Leave. and the wrong coat was
put on. In the most fluent and polite French
the suspected man pointed out the error. The
nouchard took Il OF. and looked at the name OF
the maker and saw that II was a London firm
They had found their man