Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-01-24
STATE MESSAGES
Secret Communications Intrusted
to Special Carriers.
CALLED SILVER GREYH0UNDS.
Little Is Known of This Class OF
Diplomatic Officials Who Are Ever In
Danger Of Losing Their Valuable
Parcel to Spies.

diplomatic OnCiaiS VINO Are GNSi wv
Danger of Losing Their Valuable
Parcel to Spies.
Few persons even know that such q
class of men as 1.-The silver grey
hounds" exists. And yet these mod
est, diplomatic officials are most i'm
portant part of every great nations
civil service When two powers are
! in delicate position, when the dogs
| Of war are straining at their leashes,
| it is not always safe to trust messages
| to ambassadors from the secretary OF
| state or the home office to the mails
or telegraph. They might be inter-
cepted and thus spoil carefully laid
| plans. Thus it is necessary to employ
official messengers who can be trusted
implicitly.
In our own diplomatic service, says
the New York Mail, this work is gen.
orally performed by secret service men
| whose names are known only to the
| heads of the departments and embas-
sizes who employ them. For foreign
! service they must be good linguist5
and familiar with the transportation
facilities in the countries through
which they travel.
In England this service has reached
it's highest point. Indeed it Is there
that the term ''silver greyhound" orig
mated. The messengers wear badge
Of silver greyhound surmounted by
the kings crown.
An appointment as a kings messen-
ger is only obtained through powerful
influence. The men appointed are Of
great resource and intelligence, n very
necessary qualification being that they
should be good linguists.
The messengers, are termed "silver
greyhounds" because their badge Of
office consists of silver greyhound
surmounted by an imperial crown at
tached to red ribbon. The badge Is
always carried by kings messenger,
but the semimilitary uniform, which
is part Of his equipment, is seldom
used excepting in war times and then
only in circumstances when it be-
comes part Of his passport from one
| country to another.
Story writer's have often woven
thrilling narratives around the duties
Of ''silver greyhound" and many ex-
citing tales have been told of unscru-
pulOus plotters who have endeavored
to obtain the contents of their dispatch
cases. At times such stories have been
founded on fact for it may be recalled
how the dispatches in connection with
the Dreyfus affair, sent by the German
ambassador at Paris to Berlin by i'm
perial messenger, were surreptitiously
opened and the contents photographed
during the trip from Paris to the Ger
man frontier. 1t will thus be realized
! that the career of the bearer Of the
kings dispatches is not, even in these
prosaic days, altogether without an
element of excitement.
At the same time, however, the mes
sengers are employed occasionally
upon very trivial errands, and there is
story that a gentleman on board a
steamer one day observed that a mes
senger whom he knew was not guard
ing his bag with the extreme vigilance
which tradition prescribed. He sug-
gested that there was some risk of the
bag being tempered with and received
the light hearted reply, well, the
thief would only get the ambassadors
old boots, which | am taking home TO
be mended.'
The late King Edward kept his Sc
cret postmen very busy, for he was
continually travelling about Europe,
and the messengers services were re-
quired almost every day for the pur-
pose of carrying dispatches between
his majesty and the cabinet. King
George, however, is not so fond of
travelling, and the consequence is that
| the foreign service messengers have
had a somewhat idle time. 1t is for
this reason that it is proposed to re-
duce the number of messengers who
during the lifetime of King Edward
were employed to carry dispatches be-
tween London and Biarritz, the Rivi-
era or Marenbad. where his majesty SO
frequently stayed.