Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-06


.s ment maintains secret serv-
~ Ice system which for thor
onRh organization and ef-
fectiveness is marvel. Every
few days the newspaper dis
patches give accounts of
some new exploit OF the members of
this corps Even if ell Of these re-
ports cannot be substantiated, their
frequency and the wide territory COW
cred would make II seem that the
activities OF these spies extend to the
furthermost ends OF the earth. One
day they are heard from In. some re-
mote province of China. and the next
In far-off Chile. American army ofii-
GERS assert that the system OF espionage
slve that the officials In Toxic Know
more about the islands than the war
department In Washington. 1t has
even been stated that agents of the
Japanese war ONCE, in the gulse OF
railroad section laborers or servants in
families residing In the locality, are
stationed at every large railroad
bridge on the Pacific coast. While this
may be mere rumor, the damage such
an organized force could do to trans
portation in the event or hostilittes
breaking out is easy to comprehend.
That the Japanese are not new at
this game was shown by an incident
which occurred recently in China. An
American physician attached to one OF
the missionary hospitals located in an
inaccessible province was aroused late
one night by two Japanese men who
requested that he accompany them to
the bedside OF a man who was dan
gerousiy i'll. The doctor rapidly donned
his clothes and hurried away with
Il,
Japanese dressed In chinese clothing.
and at first glance the professional
man saw that the sufferer was be-
yond recovery.
The Japanese requested the physician
to revive the dying man IL possible,
and they Immediately set about taking
q long statement from him. The ply
sician could not understand anything
that was said. except the names OF
towns, rivers and of prominent Chi
nese citizens. The reiteration of these
Chinese names. as we'll as the anxiety
of the Japanese to secure complete
statement, made 1t plain to the Amer
lean that the doomed man was spy.
The remarkable part of the affair was
that the dying Japanese had full
grown queue and, when speaking 10
the doctor or the servants, spoke per-
feet Chinese. The fact that this man
had been spy long enough to grow
queue indicates that the Japanese
secret service is not new branch or
government work.
Tnnumerable incidents have occurred
which show that high class Japanese
willingly do the most menial work In
order to secure information their gov
eminent desires. The foreigners have
a fine club In Yokohama, to which no
native can belong. During the war
with Russia this place was the rem
devious for business men of various
nationalities, many of whom had I'M
portant transactions with one or both
of the belligerent powers. There was
naturally @ good deal OF interesting
gossip exchanged there, and later II
was found that none of this had been
lost on the ears of the Japanese au-
thorities. The manager of the club
had a number of Japanese boys about
the place as servants, and during the
progress of the war several OF these
were drafted for service at the front.
AS they left for Manchuria, where
the climate is cold, the manager pre-
sented each of them with heavy.
warm sweater. Toward the end OF the
campaign a servant to whom he was
particularly attached on account OF
his aptness and reliability, served no
tice that he had been summoned to
the front. Thereupon the manager pur-
chased a particularly fine sweater as
a present for his favorite. Imagine the
CONSERVATION around the club next
morning when the servant appeared In
the uniform of a Japanese naval Of
ficer. In order to hear what was being
said around the place he worked there
for months In the capacity of a menial
He thanked the manager for his kind
ness In presenting the nice sweater
left his compliments for various club
members who had been generous with
tips. and went down to sea In his
ship.
A similar incident happened In Hon.
olulu A prominent native lady en-
ployed a good looking Japanese as
servant He claimed to be a cook, but
IL was soon apparent that he had little
or no experience in that line of work
Although he was a failure as cook
he seemed so agreeable and anxious
to please that the lady determined to
keep him in her employ, and give him
something to do. One day while the
lady was in Honolulu she had occa-
sion to go into large Japanese bank
AS she entered one door her servant
who did not know she was there, came
in from another entrance. He was In
stantIy surrounded by the bank of
ficials, who treated him with such full