Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-11-03
PASSING OF INTERNATIONAL SPY
Famous Character, Whose Life Was
Full of Hair Raising Experiences,
Does Not Belong to this Age.

| to be replaced by the prosaic voice of
| the stCck ticker-which has the last
| word in peace and war; no matter what
| the diplomatists may think or say
| it strikes the worlds funny bone to
| read that somebody has stolen Ger
| many's var plans or made off with the
| blue prints of Frances latest dread
! rcaeht. Only recently the cable fash
| ed the news that the pockets of Eng
| lands First Lord of the Admiralty had
! been picked by a beautiful woman of
| what appeared to be the whole naval
| budget. Europe shuddered and the
| First Lord ordered out the whole Brit
| ish Secret Service to run the woman
down. 1t was going to unnecessary
| trouble. He should have communi-
Gated with L. Phillips Oppenhem. The
| lady was one of his heroines on a holt
| day.
| Despite the hard work of the Eu
ropean correspondents there is little
hope that this generation can be made
| to visualize the international spy.
| Somehow he doesn't belong to the age.
| And another difficulty is that when
the work day world wants Il thrill
of that kind it knows where to get the
| real thing for there was Il time when
the international spy really existed and
| had adventures more hair raising than
any ever imagined by the industrious
| Paris and Berlin space writer's. His
| exploits make the most interesting
kind of reading, because he usually
| got hanged
| Swapping a German fort With cam
era Or even picking an English Cabi-
| ars. nEat MIA
versions compared to the undertaking
| that cell te the lot of the Secret Ser
vice agents who slipped back and forth
! between London and st. German IN
the good old years of the Jacobite
| plots And these plots are real his
| tory. real men and women We're en-
gagged in them, real Kings were scared
| blue by them and. unlike the present
day .scares, real state secrets were
| sometimes exposed by them.
| On the night of December 81, 1880,
| a little fishing smack called the James
and Elizabeth tossed lightly at Its
| moorings in the Thames. Not far
away, through the murky London
| night, cleaned the lights of Whitenali,
where King William of the hawkllke
| usage was pacing the royal closet with
his Ministers, some of whom he had
| good reason to suspect of treachery.
! Three men had approached the mas
ter ri the James and Elizabeth the day
| Before, their pockets jinglug with
| golden guineas How would he like
| to go in ON Il little smuggling expe-
| ditien 70 the coast of France and back?
! The honest fisherman would like 1t
| well il the profits were high enough
and the risk not too great. The three
| strangers soon convinced him ON those
| points, and the terms were arranged
| over q bottle of wine, the seif-styled
| smugglers breaking a sixpence over
| the bargain in the theatrical fashion
Of the time.
| The smack was ballasted in gravel
and laid to it's moorings against the
appointed hour, which was to be mid
night of the last night of the year.
But the honest fisherman had his sus-
| piciona. Smuggling was Il risky mat
| ter, but there were riskier. Holding
| traitorous communications with eXiled
! King James, for instance. James had
| been lowering at ST.. German ever
since his flight two years before, plot
| ting and planning with French King
| Louis for a descent on England. The
! master of the James and Elizabeth had
reason to know the fate OF those
caught in treacherous traffic with the
| Stuarts and their French allies. How
often had he stood in the crowd that
surrounded the black draped scaffold
/ on Tower Hill and seen the adherents
| of that unfortunate house led TO their
| doom? Not that he would have been
so honored--Tyburn would have been
good enough for him, Tyburn with the
| cart and quartering block, and Tom
| Roiman tn scar his legs in pitch be-
| fore they were hung up as a warning
to his kind.
! Enough the honest fisherman not
| only was determined to keep his anat-
| omy intact, but to turn an honest pen
| nv in the doing. So, while the three
| smugglers We're drinking a bottle to
the luck of tie voyage he slipped over
to Whitehall and dropped a word in
the ear Of the Kings Minister.
| It was the luckiest stroke of his
honest life. For the chief of the
| smugelers-he that had broke the six
! pence-was none other than Richard
| Graham. Viscount Preston. who had
been a Secretary of State under King
| James and man dearly sought by
King Williams Government. One of
his companions was John Ashton, who
| had held high office in the household
of the Queen Tie third man was one
| Elliot, of lesser note.
Preston carried letters of the most
dangerous kind to the exiled King from
men high in the Government and
| Church of England. Several of Will
iams Ministers and nonjuring Bishops
had set their hands to the treason. The
| letters were innocent enough to read,
but meant much They were variously
addressed and yelled in language. One
of them, in which the great Lords in
| vited King James to come over, rep
resented the signers to be merchants
engaged in commercial venture They
addressed James as Mr.. jackson, and
urged him to send a cargo at once
while the market was favorable. They
thought that if the goods could be
landed ait certain date named big
profit could be gained. This language