The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-09-29
SECRET SERVICE WATCHES
=. THE SPIES FROM EUROPE

CAOM EUkUfE,
ing the day. One morning when he
e"he TO work an old sailor who was
epsaSeu US an attendant in his office
approached him with a worried mir
and said:
Interested In Blotters.
Sir, there Is something going IN
mere that you ought to know about.
1ou burn your papers every night, but
what DO you do with your blotters?"
| why" said the officer ~ leave
them on the desk and you throw them
away. I presume"
Yes, l throw them away" snid the
ola man, but l could sell them-and
Tor good price, too. That's what
tnousht YOU ought to know about"
The officer turned pale.
Have you one of those used blot
tiers about?" he asked.
The seaman handed the officer a
olotter he had left on his desk the
previous evening and which the faith
ful fellow had saved because of his
suspicious.
The officer snatched 1t and held it
before a small mirror. The inverted
signs made by the blottlng were thus
rendered lcgible. by heavensw he
exclaimed; tell me about this offer
for the used blotters %
1t seems that the night before q
rather shabbily dressed man had
stopped the sailor on his way from
work and asked him if he would be
willing to make few cents extra each
week by selling the waste blotting pa
per. He declared that attendants In
offices where a number Of clerks were
employed were doing the same thing.
He offered to pay 81 week for the
blotters from the office in which the
aged sailor worked. This seemed too
big price for the extremely few blot
tiers used, although the stranger said
he wanted them for new process Of
making ornaments Of q sort of papier
mache.
"What did you tell him?" asked the
officer
Secret Service on JOB.
Il said would give him an answer
soon," the seaman replied, "but he
seemed in big hurry and left me a
telephone number, insisting that call
him today"
The fiicer sent messenger to the
secret service bureau and operatives
were at once put on the case. In
matter of minutes a device had been
attached to the telephone wire run.
ming to the number the man had CIV
en- and an operative could hear every
word that passed over the line with
out any interference with the connec-
ton.
Everything being in readiness, the
was sent out to telephone
the suspected man that he could have
the blotters. Meanwhile it had been
learned that what the stranger said
about buying used blotters from the
clerks offices was true, and as moth
ing of Importance could have been
learned from these it began to look
rs though suspicious Of plot were
Still there was a POSSIBLE
Ity that this had been done only rs
blind.
The secret service operative ut the
receiver of the wfre-tapping device
heard the aged man call the suspect
and tell him he could have the blot
tiers. "A little while later this man
called q number and woman's voice
ANY SUGGEST" she asked.
II can let you have some of tlie very
best old blotting paper" he replied.
DAILY deliveries c. O. D.. It's only
used slightly and you can reclaim a
fair percentage, l believe"
To the secret service operative &C.
O. D." meant code, Every best" meant
navy, as the navy code Is recognized
as the very best In existence, and the
of the sentence meant that
as the blotters were not badly smeared
with ink they ought to yield few