The Washington times., 1915-02-12
MANY UNIQUE CODES
ARE USED BY SPIES
Everything From a Clothes|ine
to Kitchen Pots Called Into
Play in War Zone.

NEW YORK. Feb. l2-In the war
zone church clock towers are>often used
as signal towers. but there are other
ways by which signals may be trans
mitted. A clothesline. for instance. may
be made to talk. Garments may be
arranged on 1t according to their size
and color and read by a prearranged
code. After all washing has to be done.
war or no war. Wind sails also come In
nent frequently use the sails Of their
mills to semaphore news to their
Dangerous dot-and-dash messages can
making short and long movements on
the window pane. Chimneys. too. may
be significant, for they have been known
to change places.
Watches As Heliogrsph.
low. broken one marks a division.
The shifting Of the pots can be made to
disclose much Information. The bright
interior Of watch. or it's glass. may be
used as heliograph: likewise, a bright
spade. At night messages may be sent
In dot and dash by means Of a small
electric light set In a chimney cowl A
switch In the house below would work
the light. The enemy may also be in
Informed Of the relative size Of advance
Ing battalions by the floating Of pre-
arranged lengths Of wood down stream.
The great respectable nations spy on
each other and conduct their business
with as much knowledge OF the other
nations business as possible. To this
end they use the eyes and wits OF all
sorts OF creatures willing to undertake
the job. and salve their national con-
science by paying them richly for their
trouble, a convenient absolution which Is
not granted to the private person in q
similar case.
Now the spy creature aforesaid is al.
WAYS conceived as a tremendously ro-
mantle type Of villain by the unroman-
tic. average person who has never set
eyes on him. TO make up for this he
has read all about him. and has seen
him repeatedly on the stage. only. as 1t
happens. neither the playwright nor the
novelist is any better informed than
the rest. which accounts for the ex-
traordinary likeness between all the
spies OF the literary imagination. They
all copies of the same type. originated
by goodness knows whom. goodness
knows when. in the days when states
men were gullible and statecraft child's
play.
Rarely Use Word Spy.
ITO begin with. the word spy is sell
dom used in serious drama and in nc
ton secret service has q more ro-
mantle sound. and Immediately creates
the right atmosphere. The secret serv-
ers. both male and female. are un-
mistakable. Their face. speech. and
general makeup proclaim them. and II
the real secret servers were at all
like the literary ladies and gentlemen
whom we are all familiar with. they
would never have an opportunity tor
service at all. The merest noodle would
recognize them from afar.
The lady Is the most extravagantly
is usually small. dark. and oily. with
shifty eyes and an unpardonably bad
pronunciation Of English-cons.dering
that his living and liberty depend upon
making a loyal impression. The wom-
ion Of artificial charm with a foreign
accent which, In her case. as she Is not
suspected. Is put an added grace.
Her femininity Is her chief weapon,
and she uses it relentlessly to the undo
enough to see through her whole bag
of tricks in two minutes. But II they
did there would be no play and no book.
SO their thinking apparatus must be
paralyZed throughout three acts or
twenty chapters. OF course her ward
robe Is always tremendous asset in
the play. 1t positively shrieks aloud In
her evil intentions. SO daringly Partisan
III ltS cut. SO IuTlu III its COlOTlnB, anu
decollete its outline. fier voice is gold
en- and Sarahesque. and her smile
Sphinx-like and the most beguiling
thing in the world.
And yet the hero, although tremend-
ously beguiled. feels instinctively that
all is not as 1t should be. and in the
nick of time, Just before he hands her
the fatal document. she Is unmasked
to the huge approval Of the gallery
who saw through her long ago. and
cn,,ld havo told him all hnr from
the beginning
II It is the duty of the drama to teach
real life, it has failed to 80 equip the
nublc that it may know a spy when II
sees one.
Arrests Are Frequent.
In Germany they have always prided
themselves Oh the knowledge. Any
blameless British tourist. with an incau-
tious weakness for snap-shotting pic.
| lodged at the governments expense un-
less elaborate explanations are imme,
diately forthcoming. The military au.
thorities. having no literary directions
to go by for the recognising Of a spy
preferred to be on the safe side by ar
ENGLAND. too. has now adopted these
measures. The dramatists have failed
and the people, having been fooled by
bogus architects and contractors and
pleasant manners. It is little wondel
that they have attempted to shut the
stable door after the event. We know
of a boy with a name and an ancestry
as solidly British as they could make
them. who recently had an. adventure
which might we'll have been made In
Germany"
One night he locked up ono of hi.
birds. because 1t would wander forlorn
ly about the place at mig hit, and let |,
out again next morning. A diligent BO,
Scout sped of to the local Goa q
| guard to report that a man was sendinS
carrier pigeons to GERMANY from thu
window of a certain house. Next DAY
the East Something Times made much
OF the event and even more of the dill
! gencc. the intelligence. and efficiency o
the Boy Scout. 1t might have happened