Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-23
PARTISAN SECRET POLICE.
Strangers in the City Constantly
Watched and Acts Recorded


About the words. 1.-The secret police
there is a pretty air of mystery. They sum-
mon I'M pictures of cloaked figures, OF men
waiting in dark alleyways and of stealthy
stems behind the curtains of corridors. They
are woven into nine-tenths of popular
French fiction The woman concierge, sum
ming herself in what Partisan doorway you
please, feeds her imagination on tales or
multiple DISCUSSES. For her the agent de la
surete, who comes to inquire about her
dodgers, is dark with mystery: he is 'of the
secret police" AS a matter of fact this
branch of the police, though dressed in
plain clothes, is not at all occult. 1t has TO
do with plain and simple crimes. Most Of
the agents of the surete are old soldiers,
honorable men. They are supplemented,
however, by a band Of quasi police, known
as INDICATORS. These people, who are
permanent auxiliaries of the service, are re-
cruited among the street faktrS and master
less rogueS who foregather in Paris.
But behind these humdrum agents and
those gloomy outcasts, their aids. there is
a mighty and mysterious secret police"
about which not one Partisan in a hundred
has definite knowledge. The real secret
police-today, as under the empire-is that
which is known as the brigade des rech-
erches-that is, the brigade Of investi-
cation. The members of this force are re-
cruited in a far higher rank of society than
the fellows of the surete. Indeed, there is
no classroom the old nobility to the new
feudality of finance-whtch does not con-
tribute this occult system Of espionage. 1t
is not my purpose here to describe in de-
tail the many ramifications of this ancient
and potent order of spies.
A foreigner in France, If he associates
frequently with people of Importance, comes
In time to know them we'll. They follow
him in his comingS and goings, report upon
his acts and opinions and sift his life with
care unknown in our careless republic.
One Of those who was sent out on my trail
1 came to know very well. What was sus-
pected of I know not, though during the
troublous days of the Dreyfus case frater-
niZed with many men-One of whom, the
Comte du Temple, an eX-deputy was an
aggressive royalist. Anyway, my spy and
l came to know each other very we'll. He
played a good game of billiards and was a
companionable gentleman.
A little later DIR. w. J. OSullivan, the as
sistant corporation counsel Of New York,
visited me in Paris. He was greatly inter-
ested In the secret police. 1 could hardly
persuade him that from the moment we
met and shook hands in the Care du Nord
until his departure from the Care st. La
care every act of his had been noted. I got
the evidence from my friend (my own pet
spy in the brigade des recherches. The doc
tors record was singularly complete. He
had not spoken with a man, he had not
chatted with a woman, he had not dined
out of breakfasted in my garden, he had
not bought pair of yellow gloves, unseen
by some ubiquitous spy. The amazed gen.
tleman, when he learned how close had been
the watch upon him. shuddered as If he
had walked In peril and went back to New
York wondering. So close are the meshes
of this police net that not even a casual
visitor slips through.