The Washington herald., 1913-08-31
AGENTS METHODS
ARE CRITICISED
Department Of Justice En-
ployes Accused Of ImprO-
prieties in Work.
SECRET SERVICE LAUDED
Treasury Department Men Are Said
to Never Engage in Crime to
Gain Conviction.
SECRET SERVICE LAUDED

The arrest OF a special agent oi 'He
Department of Justice at New orleans
on the charge or having taken prloe
from fugitive from, Latin America and
having been caught by local detectives
with marked money on his person, has
intensified the criticisms that have been
made of the methods which nave been
used by employees of that department i'll
dealing with crime and criminals.
1t has been suggested that these en-
ployes have not been selected with the
proper care and that some of them are
not fit for their positions. In contrast
with the methods of the agents OF this
department is the conduct of the en-
Moves of the Treasury Department who
are known to the United States and to
the world generally as secret service
men, Rarely, if ever, has the secret
service been accused of improprieties
The chiefs of the secret service never
have permitted their men to actually
engage in the commission OF crime to
obtain conviction, no matter how meri-
torious such an eNpedient may have ap-
peared at the time and no matter how
important it might have appeared to OBJ
tain the arrest of criminals.
The New Orleans case recalls one at
Vancouver, British Columbia, recently,
where an agent of the Department of
.Justice was put to work on a snug
Cling case. In this case it was known
THAT the offender was a persistent
lsmuggler of Chinese. and that he had
a method of bringing Chinese from
Vancouver into the United States in
boat that was almost impossible to
tFun down.
Arranged to Assist ChinamRn.
The agent hit upon the experiment
of getting a Chinaman who was known
10 be desirous of entering the United
20 10 nfTaOder n
lion to be carried into the United States
by boat The offender agreed to under
take the mission upon the payment or
certain sum. The agent also ar
ranged that he should assist the China
man and the smuggler, actually ply
ing the oars of the boat in which the
trio Travelled. When the smuggler and
the Chinese landed on United States
soil the agent promptly arrested them.
The Judge before whom the case was
brought was so indignant at the meth
ods employed that he dismissed the
proceedings and served notice that II
any agent ever resorted to such meth
ods again he would have the agent
sent to prison.
Agents of the department still are
working on the mystery of the theft
Of the plans of the battleship Pennsyl-
vania from the Navy Department on
the night of Inauguration Day, March
d but as far as can De learned no re-
suits have been obtained, and there
still is no clew TO the thieves.
Never Participated in Crime.
A Secret Service man never has been
allowed to participate in a crime in any
way, no matter how badly an offender
was wanted and no matter how danger
Gus he was. When an agent has unWlt-
tfnely participated in criminal transac-
lions he has been Immediately withdrawn
from the case and sent to other helds-
This was illustrated not long ago in
a hunt for an aged counterfeiter VINO
was known to be passing spurious coin.
He had served a term in prison for coun-
terfeiting, but had been released. A
young man was assigned to get him.
The young agent employed the old
scheme of posing as a cigar clerk. He
cot a job as a cigar clerk in store
frequented by the counterfeiter and
struck up an acquaintance with him.
The "CIerk' complained of his boarding
place and got the old counterfeiter to
take him into his home as a boarder.
Thus far everything had proceeded nice
ly, and the agent expected to show re-
suits before long. One evening the coun-
terfeiter gave the clerk spurious quar-
ter with which to buy some cigars. The
clerk" who was not on duty, went into
the store to buy the cigars. He meant to
buy the cigars with another quarter. The
old man was watching him. however,
and he had 10 buy the cigars with the
bad quarter. Knowing that he actually
had passed a bad quarter himself. he
wrote to the Washington officials about
The circumstances of the case and asking
instructions He was told to drop the
case and go elsewhere.
Cut Finger with Hatchet.
This policy also was well illustrated in
smother case which a secret service man
WAS running down. In this case the
agent got in with a band of desperate
UuUnterfeiters and to all purposes was
member of the band. although he him
self had not actually engaged in the
commission of crime. One day he was
asked to assist in moulding some coins.
Jtather than incriminate himself. he took
Il hatchet and chopped his finger. The
wound was not serious, but it enabled
him to be excused on the ground that
The chemicals would get into it and prove
dangerous The gang did not suspect
anything wrong and he pursued his mis-
son until he finally had all the members
Of the gang arrested and convicted.
Not long ago a band OF German coun-
terfeiters began operations in New York,
and TO catch them the Secret Service i'm
ported a German operative, il being
necessary to have man on the job who
spoke German. The German operative
got along very well until he notified the
department that he himself had bought
the paper on which spurious notes were
engraved. He was told to quit. He
couldn't see that he had done anything
wrong. he said, as such methods were