Washington sentinel., 1900-01-20
IT., T,;, SENTINEL
smuagIIng Secret War Messages.
CasSslPS SATURDAY. Journal

Ca55sl'S SATURDAY. Journal
Amongst the manifold RESPONSE
bilities Of commander in time Of
war, there are three which always
press heavily upon him-his syS-
tenn of espionage, the safe des-
patch OF orders TO his subordinates
at a distance. and the gathering OF
news concerning the position.
strength and intentions OF the
enemy. Meeting an officer VIII
has fought in many campaigns,
and more than once for a Cont
mental power, the writer persuaded
him to throw some light on the
subject Of spies and the transmits.
sion Of intelligence. This is what
he said:
"The first thing that man who
is deputed to collect news concern
inc an opposing force ought to do,
is to give the enemy credit for
a certain amount of knowledge
and common sense. When he has
done this he will realize that it is
OF no earthly use to try to get in.
formation by means of ordinary
correspondence, You may dis
guise your messenger as artiullY
as you please, but sure enough, II
he falls nto the hands Of the enemv
he will be searched from top to
toe. He will be stripped naked,
all his clothes will be subjected to
the minutest scrutiny, the heels Of
his boots will be ripped of and
examined-even his finger nails
and his ears will n OF escape inspec-
tiou. / have lately been reading
a sensational story which relates
how a spy, although he was
searched no fewer than FIVE times,
carried a letter from one general
to another in his tooth. This is
the purest moon5hine. When a
soldier Sezes a suspect he scruti
nizes his teeth and looks right
down his throat.
10 convey news you must be
as cunning as fox and form elab-
crate plans beforehand. All the
same, l believe / could carry any
number OF secrets through the
ranks Of the Beers without being
detected. One Of the most sue
cessful undertakings l was eyer
concerned in was this. The enemy
was in possession Of a town, and
we were sncamDed close by. In
the town in question we had our
spies, one Of whom was a chemist;
and this is how we obtained news |
OF the enemy. Wherever we hap
pened to be we got hold OF some
poverty stricken man who hac a
sick child-a man who couldn't |
afford a doctor. Playing the part |
OF humanitarians, we used to walk |
in upon him, call him a scoundrel |
for not having his child attended
to, and threaten him with a sound
thrsshing if he didn't reform. OF
course the poor wretch could only
answer that he had not the where
Withal to purchase medicine.
Thereupon we promptly presented
him with some money and ordered
him to 60 at once to our chemist
in the town. The man being OF
this same nationality as our foes
aroused no suspicion, and having |
been searched, passed through |
tuciT lines. "Llt Ou hiz arriving
at the chemists, our worthy agent |
would inquire who sent him and |
in what way the child suffered. |
The man would reply that some |
charitable person had given him
some money to buy medicine, and |
from this information the chemist |
would at once gather that his
visitor had come from US. So |
far so good. The chemist then |
wrote out all that he knew about |
the enemy-tbeir movements, and
so Forthwith a tallow pencil on |
the back Of a label which he ias- |
tened by the edges, to a bottle Of |
physic, and the poor parent re-
traced his steps. He was, OF fcourse, |
repeatedly challenged by the |
enemy, but on no occasion was the /
trick discovered. They read the
on the bottle-'To be
taken every two hours'-and now
and then had the fluid analysed.
but they never kept our man a
prisoner. On his return we tenn.
porarily relieved him Of his bottle,
stripped it OF its label, and by
sprlnkling some fine ashes on she
gummed side-the ashes adhering
to the tallow-we read the mes
sage. When the bottle was empty
we made a cross on the label to
notify that the news mad been re-
celved and sent the man back for
more medicine and more news.
need not remark that the man him
self had no idea of the role he was
enacting."