The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-23
THE UNBEATABLE JAPANESE.
A secret Service Agents Experiences
show Them to be Beyond Corrup-
From the London Mail.


From the London Mail.
l am in the Russian Secret Service In
Japan.
Do not expect from me, however, a
definite pronouncement on the question of
whether there is shortly to be q war be-
tween Russia and Japan, for. to be frank,
know nothing of the relations that ex-
list between the cabinets Of Toxic and St.
Petersburg.
l never in all my experience found my
self in a country where there was so 1T
tie chance for exercising my profession
as in Japan. In all other places where
have resided 1t was comparatively easy
for US to get secrets from corrupt gov
eminent offlcials-very seldom, however.
OF high ranl-or through Russian spies
speaking the language of the country per-
fectly. and seeming in all respects like
natives.
For the former method China is I'M
doubtedly the best country in the world.
and even a newspaper correspondent can
sometimes obtain valuable information by
the judicious use of money.
For the latter method England is best.
containing as it does, such a large pro-
portion OF foreigners, and being So unsus-
picous.
In Japan, however it is practically i'm
possible to buy the officials on account
of their contempt for the foreigner-a rel
ic of pre-Resto alton days-and their in
tense devotion 10 their country, and 1t
is equally impossible, of course. for any
ore not Japanese to pass himself off as
such.
The practical incorruptiblity of the of
ftcials is certainly wonderful. considering
how very wretched.y they are paid The
OILY way, in fact. 10 get information of a
japanese military or naval authority is 10
get hold of him when he is living-as he
often is-far beyond his means In some
European capital, where a paternal gov
eminent has sent him to study-say, the
art of fortification-to lead him deeper
into diff1culties. % fleece him and then to
thre aten him with exposure and dishon-
or, or to bangle before his eyes the gol-
den bait Even then, however, 1t is ten
to one that he commits suicide sooner
than betray his trust. | know at least
two prominent military men who were
caught in this way, but who were not
able, after all, to give any very valuable
information. Their Russian captors al
lowed them to return hcme on TIE under
s sanding that If they did not send them,
within a certain time, the plans of an i'm
portant battery they would be exposed
Both men were dead before the time
came.
But on other occasions the Russians
have been more successful, and they now
possess almost all the Jaoanee military
secrets worth knowing.
Coming to my own experiences. l OBJ
tanned a position in Japan which did not
interfere with my real work, and went
there some years ago with a number of
introductions from japanese abroad to
Japanese at home. l am sorry TO say
that these introductions did me no good
whatever and l strongly suspect that the
Oriental hands which wrote them sent at
the same time epistles of a very different
tenor by post. In other words, the per
sons l was introduced 10 were warned
against me. This suspicion made me keep
quiet for several months, and earn a name
for myself a more or less harmless lu-
matte, with a hobby for Japanese art. This
certainly gave me O good start, but when
| began 10 look around me to see how the
land lay I found that the secrets of the
island empire were guarded like an ogre 5
gold. In the first place. the people are
one and all the most suspicious and the
readiest to impute bad intentions that ever
| have met. l resided for some time ne ar
a fortified post, and every policeman
l struck up an acquaintance at one time
with an old military man. who was al
most crazy on the subject of old china, but
for some reason or other he dropped me.
l think it was because, relying on my init
macy with him, l had wandered just by
accident into the vicinity of an important
battery. l fell into tire hands of the ma
rines, however, and they persisted in
Keeping me prisoner until a naval off,
oar ~ W falepbnna6
from his post three miles away l was
explaining to the officers satisfaction, l
hope, how came to be there, when |
suddenly heard a sharp click in the thick
underwood close by.
| got off scot free, however, as l happen
ed 10 have had no discriminating sketches.
l was very near obtaining some valuable
plans from an employe of the war Office,
however-all owing to his tremendous van
ity. / had little difficulty in getting him
to promise after a while to snow the plans,
but good deal to keep him TO his prom
Use.
Al length he brought me into the place
where the document lay, and while he was
going through various files of parchment
l strolled leisurely across the room to ex-
anime a number of photogra phs hung on
the wall. They were all sna pshots of for
eigners taken in the most natural manner
possible. The first represented tall, full
bearded man paying his kuruma at the
steps of the Grand Hotel, Yokohama. The
second was undoubtedly that of Herr -
one of our agents, who had been several
years In Japan. How strange that they
should have hung his photograph there!
And then sudden terror seized me, and /
swept my eye down the long line of pic
lures. The last one was my own.
1t represented me standing near the bat
aIrgn sranr 7 9