Evening star., 1904-02-27
Carried Life in His Hand.

VINO made secret surveys OF IranScaSpia'
Afghanistan and the Perso-Turcoman
frontier, rose in that manner
Carried Life in His Hand.
''For five long years that man carried
his life in his hand,' said an English Off
Ger who knew him well. During all that
time he lived and Travelled, in disguise,
among people who would rather have cut
the throat of Russian agent than eaten
their dinner. So perfect was his command
of Central Asian languages and dialects
that he successfully completed his task
without once being detected. During those
five years he assumed dozens OF different
disguiSes. Once he Travelled through
large stretch of Afghanistan as an Eng
hsh officer making surveys in view of the
possibility of a Russian invasion"
Some years ago a good deal or excite
ment was caused in India by the arrest at
Peshawur of a Russian spy named Pashino.
He had been diplomatist, but fell into
disgrace and had to leave the service He
was suspected of having secretly ascer-
tanned the condition of military and tri-
bunal affairs along the Afghan frontier,
and he was going on through the Khyber
Pass to Cabul to make propositions to the
Ameer of Afghanistan. Nothing definite
could be proved against him, and ne was
simply deported to Russia.
A Russian officer named Stolietoh, dis
guised as Persian physician, actually did
penetrate to Cabul some time before and
.
tions of Afghanistan and England. He re-
turned safely and rose to the rank of gen
eral in the Russian army; as did also
Grodekoff, another famous Central Asian
spy.
one of the bravest and most successful
of the secret agents in Turkestan, was FaZh
Beg a Russianized Khivan. During the
Turcoman campaign he went backward
and forward hundreds of times between the
Russian lines and the Tureoman encamp-
ments and gained invaluable information
Many thrilling stories of his exploits are
told by Russian officers who took part IN
that campaign.
He was detected once, as he sat around
a campfire with some Turcomans. They
overpowered him and bound him with
ropes intending to torture him at their
leisure, until he revealed Russian secrets.
The Escape.
He waited until the campfire burned low,
pretending to be asleep. The Turcomans
curled up in their Blankets, one by one, until
only two were on guard, some little dis
tance Off Then Fail Beg rolled over to
the fire. picked up a glowing stick with his
teeth and burned through the ropes which
bound his hands and feet.
Silently he stole toward the sentry who
was guarding the horses and camels. grip
ped him by the throat from the back, drew
the mans own dagger from his girdle, and
stabbed him to the heart. Then he cut loose
the heel rope of the horse and fled across
the desert The other sentry fired at him,
but he was only slightly wounded. The
Turcomans gave chase in vain, for he had
got long start before they rubbed the
sleep out of their eyes, and in a few hours
he was safe within the Russian lines.
The Russian secret agent sometimes mas
a strikingly varied career. Gospodin Les
sar is q case in point. He started as rail-
way surveyor. but showed such marked
ability that he was soon employed as a
secret agent. His special line of work was
exploring untraveled parts of Central Asia,
but the inpeIling motive of all his explora-
tions was the making of military surveys.
No risk appalled, him. He dWelt for years
among tribes bitterly hostile to the Rus
slams and was never detected.
When the Russian advance to Herat en-
ragged England and war seemed probable,
Lessar went to London in the capacity of
a famous explorer to write up the Russian
side of the case. With the aid OF Nine
Novikoff he gained admittance to the col
IImns of the best English newspapers and
threw dust in the eyes of the British public
most cleverly. He posed as diSinterested
scientific man who happened to know that
Russia had not really made any material
advances in Central Asia. His numerous
articles were accepted as gospel and had
a powerful effect in calming the British
mind Not until long afterward was 1t re-
allied that he was agent of the Rus
sian government
This versatile man was subsequently en-
ployed in the diplomats service. and he is
now Minister to China-perhaps the most
difficult position a Russian diplomatist can
fill.
Japanese Secret Service.
During the Chinese-Japanese war the jap
anese showed that they possessed an ex-
ceilent secret service, and In the Peking re-
lief campaign the allied forces depended al
most entirely upon the intelligenc procured
hv Is
to suppose that in the present war their sys-
TEN of espionage is even more finely de-
veleped. Their immense advantage in be-
ing able to look like Cinnamon is too OBJ
vious to need dwelling upon.
After Japan was forced by Russia Ger
many and France to give up Port Arthur
and some of the other fruits of her vic
tory over China" said a Japanese resident
in New York. 1T is well known that she
set to work to become great military and
naval power able TO fight Russia If need
arose. All the world knows how she Gre
ated her batta3ions and warships but few
people are aware that Immediately after the
treaty of peace with China she sent hun
dreds of spies to Korea, Manchuria and ST.
IBERIA to gather every scrap of information
that would be needed in time of war
Those men did not work like the ordi-
nary spy of other nations, who does his
appointed task and then returns and throws
off his disguise. They made a life work of
1t. They married Chinese women brought
up Chinese families and went into business
as Cinnamon, often becoming men of
weight and standing in the community in
which they lived. Today they are solid cit
izens whom everybody in the locality has
known for years and whom nobody would
dream of suspecting to be japanese spies.
But their reports go regularly to Tokyo,
and they must contain a marvellous amount
of detailed information about the Russians.
Large Sums Expended
The milsado's government has spent
large sums on its secret service. It IL quite
content to finance man for years until he
settles down In the way have described
and Is in position to learn things Many
thousands of yen may be spent on him be-
fore he does anything at all, but the game
pays In the end. You may depend upon It
that some Of the men whom vieeroy Aiex-
len is employing at Port Arthur in the be-
Lief that they are Chinese are In reality
Japanese spies.
Many Japanese OF high military rank
oWA IL I~H~<1-