The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-22
SECRECT SERVICE MEN
 HAVE NARROW ESCAPES

From the St. Louis Globe Democrat,
 My first year or two in the govern ment secret Service was in the capacity of a "spotter'' or shadow. That is my duty was to follow various persons named or pointed out by those over me, or to keep careful watch on some houses in which suspects were quartered. To the casual observer this line of work would seem more or less free from dan ger. I had some such notion in the be- ginning and was only disappointed when brought face to face with the real con- ditions.
 I had been placed on a case which in- volved the watching of q stable, snug glng amid a lot of cheap dives, sailors boarding houses, warehouses and a gen. eral riff-raff of dilapidated buildings at q point near the East river, New York. where gangs of notorious toughs were won't to congregate. A seedy suit of working clothes, a greasy hat and not oyerclean face constituted my disguise when l took up my watch.
 My work was to watch the wagons go- ing in and out of the p-..ce, and, if pos sible, to ascertain the nature of any goods removed from tho premises in the hope of finding smuggled opium. My first two nlghts-the day watch being taken by another operative-were free from any thing worthy of comment The police- men on the beat kept suspicious eyes on me when they made the rounds-which were not frequent-and on several oeca- sions l was admonished to move on. These orders I always meekly obeyed, until they wore out of sight, when l again resumed my post.
 l had made frequent visits to the yari ous dives and purchased cheap whisky to such an extent that If had imbibed the same I would not be writing this now. Hot coffee, or what masqueraded as such, and poorly cooked food had been mine for 10 or 15 cents at a cheap eating house near by. I was trying to make the eyes of the night loungers of the vicinity fami- liar with my face and figure, that might go about at will at my work without be- ing hanapered by suspicious.
 Then a thing happened which taught me ever after to be most careful of the slightest detail, that nothing in ones work was too small to be overlooked.
 It was on the third night of my vigil, when I was carelessly lounging in the doorway of a rag store, that a slouching. tcughish looking young fellow walked my way and passed me a foot or tw only to wheel suddenly around and loox at me intently. I thought little or noth- ing of this at the time, figuring that he probably took me for an acquaintance until he got a better look. The incident was sufficiently unusual, however, to im- press the features of the man on my memory.
 An hour later I made my way to one of the adjacent dives to get more mix ture of colored spirits sold as whisky. 1 had hardly raised the glass to my lips, taking good care to spill most of its contents unseen when my eye encoun- tered the same young man holding 0 whispered conversation with several bad looking characters in far corner of the room They dropped their eyes when my glance surprised them and pretended to be interested In something in another end of the saloon.
 Then one of the older ones, looking up and still finding my eyes fixed on them, whispered something to the others where upon they began gradually to draw near me with the apparent object of taking their places at the bar for liquid refresh ment. dared not make a move to show my suspicious and waited with trepida- tion for some indication of their inten- tions. The place was filled with rough customers, most of them roustabouts and river rats who held life cheaply. when the life concerned was not their own.
 My first friend began to look me over carefully when they had taken their
 
 course of action, he leaned over, while leering at me, and said:
 Say, brotheri Yer smoking mighty good cigars for a bum skaten'
 Fear had a tight clutch on my heart as l realized that I was holding a freshly lighted perfecto between my teeth that would not have been sneezed at by connoisseur, and I had all could do to prevent it from falling to the floor. l thought quickly and with the assumption of slight swagger, jerked out:
 ''I guess I can smoke handout from some swell without being dirty With money, can't I?"
 With the others ne glanced at me ma lciously as he replied, with a sheer:
 Oats supposin yer swell friend giv yer box of de fancy smokes. You wus biting one off when I saw yer by de rag store. You may be fly cop and you may not, but yer had better blow, we don't like yer looks"
 The bartender, a good-natured Irish man, had listened to this dialogue and, taking in my youthful face and appear ance, winlSed at me broadly and said Chase it son, chase it. The boys won't hurt ye if ye go it lively"
 Taking this a S cue I muttered some thing about man not being able to take a peaceable drink and walked out slowly, only to quicken my pace when I gained the street. I dlved into a narrow alley. and coming out at the other end stood ill shadow for a short time to see If l was followed. Then I walked through a dark street or two to return to my post of ob- servation on the stable, only this time took up a position some distance up the street 1t was impossible for me to leave the stable unwatched my duty was to re- main until was relieved in the morning by the other agent.
 Some time later I became aware of the fact that several figures were making way in the shadow of the houses on my side of the street. Having no means of retreat I forced a careless whistle and started aimlessly up the street, my nerves aquiver and my ears strained for the fall of soft footstep at my back, preliminary to attack.
 I neared a corner and rounded it with my eyes aslant on the several men, still Keeping close to the building line, but walking in my direction, when an arm shot out of the darkness of a doorway to my left, a whirl of wind brushed my face and a hard object struck my head, bring ing me to the ground unconscious.
 I. had a dull sense of hurrying feet of blows or kicks upon my body, followed by pain of voices in loud altercation, of grasping my arms to raise me up, ana then I returned to my senses. The pain was accentuated by consciousness ana I swooned. I woke up in hospital COT, where I remained almost two months with a fractured rib and many contusions