New-York tribune., 1901-09-29
"SUADOWS" AND "ROPERS. "
ME AGENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
SECRET SERVICE BUREAU AND
THEIR WORK.

citizen. 1ncSt are Situ'No anu
.ropers " united under one head by the Treas
ury Department to form the United States Sc
cret Service These nicknames signify that the
Secret Service men are specialists, portion OF
tre force bein, employed to associate with
gre reengoods'' men and others to shadow the
persons who exchange with them or IN any way
corporate or connect themselves with counter
fciters It is important in detecting green
goods men to arrest the entire band 10 90
This the gang must be cornered. and all taken
II once The .ropor" must dress just the
sountcrfeiters do: he must live where they do,
LnG bc able to keep up with suspected Grim
inal in any surroundings. His work is finally to
win the confidence of a suspect and, either by
making an exchange 10y arranging fer an eX-
change Of good money for bad in the presence
Of government witnesses. to collect evidence TO
prosecute the principal operators While ne
rursues these. the shadow keeps behind any
associate or supposed accomplice of the chief
.1unterfeter. l. often becomes necessary Tor
llt chief to assign two or three 'ropers ana
twice as many shadows to round up one
sang The shadows" viii start from different
uonts and endeavor to bring the several sus-
l-cts to the same rendezvous
The United States Secret Service is wholly un-
nk. the secret service bureaus in France and
Russia Indeed, most Of the foreign services are
maintained for political purposes, especially to
Guard the higher state officials. In this Coun-
lry the law authorizing the Secret Service es-
adjustment specifically provides that II snail
inly operate to suppress the unlawful produc-
lion Of United States Treasury notes and bonds
,'hen its officers are lent 10y the Treasury 1"
;hor departments the expense for their move
nrnts must be horne 10y these departments
Even when a Secret Service agent is assigned to
duty in the Mint Directors Office his expenses
must he met 10y the appropriation for the Mint
bureau. At present $4,000 is allotted by Con
,ross for the support Of this service This sum
is said to be wholly inadequate. and at the next
session OF Congress vigorous effort Will hc
made to expand the oope OF tho service and en-
large it's appropriation.
Agents entering the Secret Service undergo a
rigid mental and physical examination. con
Quoted personally 10y the chief OF the division
The qualifications prescribed include thorough
knowledge Of criminal methods and familiarity
with the law. such as is practically gained by
policc experience. well the intellectual
ability discriminate between evidence and
suspicious implications This is essential IN pre-
pairing for The presentation Of "A prosecution be
lore a district attorney. Each agent, no matter
where h. is to operate. must bc rccommen endcd
~ the chief who has ,ndoavored 10 divorc. poll
ii $ from appointments. The Civil Service reEu-
ations contain special exceptions for the ap-
continent Of the Treasury detectives
The average age of the agents in the service
at present is thirty five years. Most Of the men
received their detective training while i'm the
employ Of railroads express companies. police
apartments and private detective bureaus.
some Of them served terms as sheriGs and
others are skilled in some special way which
4dapts them for the work.
one Of the supcradded duties of the Secret
Service is caring for the President In the
United States statutes there is a provision pro-
hihiting the employment Of private detectives
by any branch of the government. This law
Mas passed nearly ten years ago, after the
Homestead strikes, and al that time the ques-
tiun was agtatcd Of lcgislatng against the
employment of PinkertOn a nts by private cor
porations Thus officers must be borrowed from
the Secret Service when Presidents body
guard is needed.
The United States is divided into twenty five
Secret Service districts, each having superin-
tcndent in charge and the necessary assistants.
The districts are arranged with reference to the
detection and suppression of counterfeitlng.
Western New York constitutes one district. A
written report from each in each district
is daily exacted by the chief of the division.
In the early part of 1898 w. j.. Wilkie who
was for several years a Chicago newspaper man,
became the chief of the Secret Service Bureau.
He began at once to reorganize the service.
Each agents record was examined and num-