The daily Alaskan., 1918-09-24
BRITISH CAPITAL [ ALIVE WITH SPIES
Americans Are Warned to Keep Their Mouths Shut While
 Staying in London.
GREAT WHISPERING GALLERY
Women Are Particularly Active In Seeking Information From Careless ofticers-stiII Most cosmopoll.
 tan City in the World.

London.-To young American fight ing men, as well as to English, the same advice Is good-that 1t Is a wise and patriotic soldier and sailor who keeps his war information to himself; i; because, despite repeated warnings about the dangerous habit of discuss. ing military and naval matters in pub lie, London restaurants and hotels are still full of chatterers. In the past women have been accused of being i possessed of an uncomfortable pas sion for gossip, but 1t seems that men are even worse in this respect, --.- Some idea of the danger of random talk about matters that should be kept confidential and never discussed in public may be gathered from the fact polltan city in the world. The West end is crowded with male and female adventurers from almost every known country, including Germany, and al- though every one of them would swear by everything that Is holy that they are longing passionately for an allied victory, there Is little reason to doubt that some of them are spies, and many undoubtedly are potential spies. T,
 To give an example :, Only recently in one of London's biggest hotels there was quite a little cluster of Russian women. They were young and pretty, had attractive manners, and were not hampered by any chaperon. So they scon found admirers in plenty-just what they were after.
 Confined Attention to Officers.
 Perhaps there would not have been anything very strange about this but for the fact that these young women confined their attention exclusively to officers, soldiers, sailors, and airmen. They invariably turned the cold shoul- der upon civilians, but no sooner did strange officer appear In the lounge than somehow or other they man. aged to scrape up an acquaintance with him.
 Another curious thing about these women was that they rarely spoke to any man for more than 20 minutes or half an hour Perhaps they would have cup of coffee with him or smoke cigarette, but in. few min utes the women made some excuse and went away.
 Still more suspicious was the fact that several of these Russian women were seen to be constantly conversing with a young Russian civilian. He also was stopping In the hotel and ap- peared wherever he was seen with them to be cross-examIning the women.
 Eventually their behavior attract ed attention, and they were watched. The next day they disappeared and have not been seen since. "
 Women Probably Acted for Spies. Of course, 1t Is just possible that there is an innocent, or, at any rate, plausible explanation of these mys- terious women. On the other hand it 1t regarded as likelyathat they were in the pay of spy organization; that their part of the business was to collect information; which they hand ed over to master spy, who in his turn sifted and checked the data he received, and then in some way or other transmitted them to Berlin.
 Only the other evening two young pilots were dining in a restaurant noted for its foreign clientele. They were talking loudly and, as Is the way sometimes with young men, somewhat heedlessly. When, however, a woman, A total stranger to both of them, sit- ting at the next table leaned over and said: 1T wonder If you can tell me where the - squadron Is stationed now: have a friend there," the youngsters were shrewd enough to say ! they did not know and started talk ing about theaters. as'. -'' ''''-' ] .. There is,- of course, the wise dictum that "those who talk don't know, and those who know don't talk" All the same 1t must be remembered that London Is one great whispering gal lery, md the most casual remark deal Ing with operations in France or else where may be just the final check wanted by the Germans to verify a vast mass of information obtained from a thousand and one sources. .. f.
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