New Britain herald., 1917-08-08
CzAR'S SPY SYSTEM
 EXPOSED BY REBELS
Nefarious Agents lnCited Public
 to Break Laws

Petrograd Aug. s.-Thirty- three
 long lists of spies, informers and
 agents provocateurs in ex-Emperor Nicholas pay have been published by
 the commission for securing the new system of government appointed by the provisional government imme-
 diately after the revolution, Fifty
 more lists may be expected. The to-
 tai number of these secret legion
 aries of autocracy is expected to
 reach s0,0OO. Those whose guilt is
 beyond doubt have been put in jail,
 but it is not yet settled whether they
 will be tried and punished or merely
 kept in jail until all peril of reac-
 tionary counter revolution has passed
 The commissions report depict pre-
 cisely the same system of espionage
 and state provocation to crime as
 fourished in Turkey under Abdul
 Hamid II. The distinction is that
 Abdul Hamid ran his spy and provo
 cation system directly from the Yildiz
 Kiosk, whereas Nicholas entrusted his
 system to the notorious "Okhrannce
 Otdielenie,' or security department,
 which occupied a big building in the
 Basil Ostrov district.
 Tho first act of the triumphant
 revolutionaries was to seize the se-
 curity departments secret papers. Many of these were burned in bon fires outside the building. The more precious documents, especially those relating to the state organization of crime, had been kept in safes and they escaped destruction. The revo- lutioharies also seized tens of thou sands of secret records in the depart ment's provincial offices, and from
 these, backed by confessions of inn i prisoned spies. are being compiled the lists. The lists will be followed by five volume official History of Espionage Under Nicholas IT."
 Traitors for $2O a Month.
 AS revealed by these inquiries autoc 1 racys' spies and informers were much less picturesque and romantic than 1 they appear in the typical "nihilist
 novel," Most belonged to the moro intelligent working class or to the
 minor bourgeoisie. They were paid l badly, the average wage for organizing political crime Or betraying accom- l plices being $2O a month.
 The spies were usually instructed to become members of secret revolution ary or Terrorist organizations, among | these being the social democratic par l ty, the social revolutionaries with
 their lighting commmittee," the pop l ulist socialists and the Maxmalists | On nearly every newspaper was at 1 least one spy. The spys took part in 1 committee meetings, melted to breach l of the political repression laws or to | actual crime, and kept the security | department we'll informed.
 Every spy had "kFtchka," or 1 nickname, by which he was known to | the police. The departm ent's records l hHstle with such nicknames as Fat ty,' 'Longnose," Sunday Boy" "Ele-
 phant." and "Arsenic.' The spy had also two or three faked surnames, and l he often changed his town and name | when he fell under the revolutionaries' 1 suspicion.
 Many spies and informers Uike the l famous Father Gapon, whose treach-
 cry on Bloody Sunday, 1905, led to his l being hanged by revolutionist engi- | neer) were at one time genuine rev. oluuonaries and became later betray-