Los Angeles herald., 1905-04-16
PARTISAN SECRET POLICE
Strangers in the city Are Constantly
Watched

Strangers in the City Are Constantly
Watched
About the words, "the secret police, "
there is a pretty air of mystery. They
summon up pictures of cloaked figures,
Of men waiting in dark alleyways and
of steaIthy steps behind the curtains Of
corridors. They are woven into nine
tenths of popular French fiction. The
woman concierge summing herself in
what Partisan doorway you please,
feeds her Imagination on tales of null
tiple disguises. 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 in
dicateurs. These people, who are per-
manent auxliaries of the service, are
recruited among the street fakirs and
masteress rogues who foregather in
Paris.
But behind these humdrum agents
and those gloomy outcasts, their aids.
there is mighty and mysterious
secret police" about which not one
Partisan in hundred has definite
The real secret police-to-
day, as under the empire-is that which
is known as the brigade des recherches
that is. the brigade of investigation.
The members of this force are recruited
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-whch does
not contribute this occult system of
espionage. 1t is not my purpose here
to describe in detail the many ramifica
tons of this ancient and potent order
IF 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 comings and goings, |
report upon his acts and opinions, and |
sift his life with a care unknown in our
careless republic. One of those who
was sent out on my trail 1 came to
<now very we'll What l was suspected
IF l know not, though during the
roublous days of the Dreyfus case ]
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
Zach other very well. He played a good
game of billiards and was a companion-
tble 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.
could hardly persuade him that from
he moment we met and shook hands
n the Care du Nord until his departure
rom the Care st. Lazare every act of
lis had been noted. l got the evidence
rom my friend Cmy own pet spy in
he brigade des recherches. The doc
.or's record was singularly complete.
He had not spoken with a man, he had
not chatted with woman, he had not
lined out or breakfasted in my garden,
he had not bought a pair of yellow
gloves, unseen by some ubiquitous spy.
rhe amazed gentleman, when he
earned how close had been the watch
lpon him. shuddered as if he had
walked in peril, and went back to New
York wondering. So close are the
neshes of this police net that not even
/ casual visitor slips through,