The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-12-23
PARTISAN SECRET POLICE.
Strangers In the City Constantly
y Watched and Acts Recorded.

strangers IN the City constantly
y Watched and Acts Recorded.
About the words. "the secret po-
lice" there is a pretty air of mystery.
They summon up pictures OF cloaked
figures, of men waiting in dark alley
ways and of stealthy steps behind the
curtains of corridors. They are WOW
en- into nine-tenths of popular French
nction. The woman concierge, sun
ming herself in what Partisan doorway
you please, feeds her imagination on
tales of 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 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 supplement-
ed, however, by band Of quasi police
known as Indicators. These people,
who are permanent auxiliaries of the
service, are recruited among the
street takers and masterless rogues
who foregather in Paris
But behind these humdrum agents
and those gloomy outcasts, their aids,
there is mighty and mysterious "se-
Cret police" about which not one Pari-
sian in hundred has definite knowl-
edge. The real secret police-today,
as under the empires that which is
known as the brigade de recherches-
that is, the brigade of investigation.
The members of this force are re-
cruited in a far higher rank of society
than the fellows of the surete. In
deed, there is no classroom the old
nobility to the new feudality of fin
ance-which doesn't contribute to this
occult system of espionage. 1t is not
my purpose here to describe in detail
the many ramifcations of this ancient
and potent order of spies.
A foreigner in France, if he asso-
ciates frequently with people of i'm
portance, comes in time to know them
well. They follow him in his COM
ings 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 suspected of know not, though
during the troublous days of the Drey-
fus case | fraternized with many men
one of whom, the Comte du Temple,
an eX-deputy, was an aggressive roy
alist. Anyway, my spy and came to
know each other very well. He played
a good game Of billiards and was a
companionable gentleman.
A little later DR.. w. J. O'Sullivan,
the assistant corporation counsel of
New York, visited me in Paris. He
was greatly interested 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
zare, every act of his had been noted
| got the evidence from my friend (my
own pet spy in the brigade des rech-
erches. The Doctors record was sim
gularly 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 learned how close
had been the watch upon him, shud-
dered 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-Vance Thompson in Sue
cess.