Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-10-13
HOW STRANGERS ARE
 WATCHED IN PARIS

About the words, ''the secret police, y there is a pretty air of mystery. They summon up pictures of cloaked figures, of men waiting in dark alleyways, and of stealthy steps behind the cur tains of corridors. They are woven into nine-tenths of popular French fic- tion The woman concierge, summing herself in what Parisian doorway you please, feeds her imagination on tales of multiple disguises. For her the agent de la surete, who comes to in quire about her lodgers, is dark with mystery; he is sof the secret police 7 As a matter of fact, this branch of the police, though dressed ill 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. gThey are supplement- ed, however, by afband of quasi police, known as indicateurs. These people, who are permanent auxiliarfes of the service, are recruited among the street fakfrs and masterlesE rogues who fore gather in Paris.
 But behind these humdrum agents and those gloomy outcasts, their aids, there is mighty and mysterious "se- cret policey about which not one Pa risian in a hundred has definite know 1 ledge The real secret po,,ce day, as under the empire-is that which is known as the brigade des recherches, l that is, the brigade of investigation. The members of this force are recruit ed in far higher rank of society than the fellows of the surete. Indeed, there is no class-from the old nobility to the new feudality of finance which does not contribute to this occult sys- l tenn of espionage. It is not my pur- pose here to describe in detail 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 well. They follow him in his condngs 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 came to
 know very well. What was suspect ed of know not, though during the
 troublous days of the Dreyfus case l fraternized with many men-one of
 whom, the Comte du Temple, an ex- Il deputy, was an aggressive royalist.
 Anyway, my spy and came to know
 each other very well. He played a
 good game of billiards and was a com
 panionable gentleman. A little later
 Dr w. J. O'Sullivan, the assistant cor poration counsel of New York, visited
 me in Paris. He was greatly interest
 ed in the secret police. F~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 Lazare, every act of his had
 been noted. got the evidence from
 my friend (my own pet spy,) in the
 brigade des recherches. The doctors
 record was ssngularly complete. He
 had not spoken with man, he had
 not chatted with woman, he had not
 dined out or breakfasted in my garden, he had, not bought pair of yellow
 gloves, unseen by some ubiquitous spy. ] The amazed gentleman, when he learn ed 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 cas-
 ual visitor slips through. Success.