Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-05-23
POLICE OF RUSSIA:
The Trick They Work to Gather
In Political Suspects.
CAUGHT IN THE MOUSETRAP.

CAUGHT IN THE M0USeTRAP.
When, After q Secret Arrest, the Snare
10 Set Il Holds All WHO Enter, Re.
CARELESS Of Nationality. Dress, Social
Position or Official Rank.
Although the peculiar form OF police
ambuscade known as mousetrap has
had its highest development and Its
widest application in Russia, writes
George KEENAN, in the Century, It did
not originate in that country. nor DID
1t receive there its strikingly appro"
pirate appellation.
It wa imported from France cen
tury or more ago. and the name that
: it bears was given to it by Alexandra
Dumas In 1920. The distinguished
French story teller described it In 1.-The
Three Musketeers" as follows:
1.-The invention Of the mousetrap does
not date from our days. As soon as
societies In process Of formation Gre
ated police the police In their turn
invented mousetraps. As our readers
may not be familiar with the slang Of
the Rue de Jerusalem and as 1t Is If
teen years since we applied this term
for the first time to the thing, we may
be allowed perhaps to explain to them
what a mousetrap is.
When in a house Of any kind a per-
son suspected Of crime is arrested the
arrest is kept secret, four or five men
are placed in ambuscade In the first
apartment. the door is opened to all
who knock. it is then closed after them,
and they are arrested so that at the
end Of two or three days the police
have in their power all the persons
who are accustomed to visit the place.
And that Is u mousetrap"
Dumas does not explain that the trap
u set and the FIRST arrest made at a
late hour Of the night. generally be-
tween ! and 3 o'clock a. M. so that the
mice will not become aware Of it and
avoid the dangerous locality. You may
call upon politically untrustworthy"
friend in the evening. drink tea with
him. discuss the state Of the country
and 60 home at midnight without hav-
ing seen or heard anything to excite
suspicion or suggest peril, but II you
return to the same house or apartment
early the next morning you are liable
to fall into a mousetrap.
The trap, moreover. catches and holds
every person who enters it regardless
Of nationality. dress. social position or
official rank. Russian revolutionists
are accustomed to assume all sorts Of
DISCUSSES. from the blue frock coat and
wrinkled top boots Of the gendarmerie
to the sword. epaulets and golden cords
of the general staff. and If. the car
himself in the uniform Of the Preebra-
Ehenski guards should visit incognito a
house in which trap had been set he
would be arrested promptly and sent to
the nearest precinct station house for
Identification.
No discretionary power Of any kind Is
given. . to the police officers in charge.
The mice caught may not look at all
like the mice for which the trap was
set, but even II they appear to be er.
mine or lizards or small, blind kittens
they must 20 to the station house for
examination and judgment.
In every large Russian city the police
Keep an alphabetical list Of all persons
who are believed to be in sympathy
with the revolutionary movement or
who for one reason or another are re-
garG1ed as politically untrustworthy.
Such persons are liable to be arrested
on suspicion at any time and are al
most sure to be taken into custody att
er the assassination Of high official
when there is no clew to the assassin,
and the police hope to get clew by
dragnet system Of arrest and invest1ga-
zion.
At such times hundred arrests or
more are often made in single night,
and In the houses or apartments OF
the persons made prisoners mousetraps
are set to catch all corners. The police
In charge of the traps are strictly en-
Joined to send to the nearest precinct
station house every person caught, no
matter what he may look like and no
matter what plausible account he may
give of himself. Revolutionists and
terrorists often wear uniforms, and a
man who declares that he is colonel
of gendarmes or even general Of
division may really be a dangerous
conspirator in disguise. The instruc-
lions given to the trap tenders are al
ways implicitly obeyed, and they some
times bring about results Of an extraor-
binary and wholly unforeseen charac-
ter.
A Single Blow.
"You say he died from single blow
administered by himself?'
THAT is Just what he said"