Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-23
MANY TRICKS OF
THE NAVAL SPIES
NOTHING SEEMS TO STOP
THEM ON THEIR QUESTS
They Manage to Get inside lnforma-
tion Despite Precautions Taken.
French Worried Because Of
Efforts to Get Secrets
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald.
LONDON, Dec. 22.-England has a
rather curious way of dealing with
foreigners who are found prying Into
her naval and military concerns. These
inquisitive gentlemen are not warned
directly that their object in this coun-
try is known, but hint is dropped to
the powers employing them that the
authorities are well acquainted with
the operations of the spies, the result
being that the latter are usually quietly
withdrawn.
At the same time, of course, the spies
are afforded very little opportunity of
gaining really valuable Information, al
thought at a time when naval maneu-
vers are being conducted on a large
scale the task of guarding secrets
from them is much more difficult than
on ordinary occasions.
When a new battleship is about to
be launched, however, no little anxiety
is felt by the admiralty officials in
their desire to prevent the betrayal Of
the secrets OF her armament. 1t is alb
solutely necessary, IL Great Britain is
to hold her own on the seas, that no
opportunity should be offered other
powers of outclassing her guns; and it
was on this account that so much sem
sation was caused at the recent launch
ing of the Dreadnaught when it became
quick-flring guns intended for this and
other men-of-war were in the possess
sion Of certain European power.
How Secrets Leak
There are two ways of gaining such
information, viz: From the dockyard
or the admiralty headquarters in
whitehall. In the case of the Dread
naught ii was clearly proved that the
workmen were above suspicion, and
those on whom the slightest suspicion
of foreign interest had fallen had been
promptly discharged Besides the ma
ture of the work was such that there
was little any one man could have be-
trayed.
AS a matter of fact, the leakage was
traced to London. "A duplicate design
of the gun was missing for a few hours
and then suddenly was found in the
strong box, where it had been original
ly placed. Apparently it had been
stolen for a time, another copy had
been made and the duplicate design
returned to prevent further inquiry
and investigation.
The modern naval spy who seeks in
formation at headquarters is usually
a man who moves in the best circles.
Some striking romances have been
written around the doings of foreign
spies who have the entree of good
society. But truth is stranger than
fiction in this as in other cases, and
during the last half dozen years nearly
a score of men and women who have
arrived in England with the highest
credentials and letters of Introduction
have been obliged to make a sudden re-
turn to the continent because the ad-
miralty had gained knowledge of
their real mission.
Spies to Catch Spies
That country is fully alive to the
necessity of setting a spy to catch a
spy, and it is very rare indeed that a
foreigner who apparently had no other
object than to participate in society
pleasures is allowed to escape the OBJ
servation of secret service detectives,
no matter who or what he may be.
French authorities are just now at
their wits end to prevent the betrayal
of naval secrets, owing to the cunning
manner in which the spies work. The
latest sensation has been caused by
the news that many French officers are
slaves of opium and it has been shown
how spies take advantage of the Of
ffcers' drowsy and befuddled condition
to gain from them valuable secrets,
such as plans for defense or the con-
struction of submarines.
1t is estimated that Toulon contains
some thirty opium dens used by naval
men. They are to all appearances pri-
vate houses, where the officers go as
if they were paying friendly visits. The
fact that they are really opium dens,
however, frequently and in some cases
managed by spies, was recently re-
vealed by a naval mechanic, who was
offered a large sum of money by a
woman who managed one of them to
let her have plans of certain subma-