Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-02-07

''"AA FHt~ tbAt'S o' Iuht| 'A
@ peace; there was hardly q man
- who had ever matched wits with
- The foreign government experts.
The story of how this menace was met can rs
yet be told only In part. But not the least in
terestlng part concerns the men who have
done the work.
Chief Of the weapons which were at hand was
the secret service Of the department of justice.
Its agents We're an unobtruslvely efficient lot, but
woefully small In numbers and, for the most
part, inexperienced in international affairs.
white slaves" and predatory business had been
their chief game. The even smaller force OF
the treasury secret service was almost fully oc-
cupied with its routine duties of guarding the
currency and the presidents life. 1t, too, has
rendered amazing service against the spies, but
upon the department Of justice agents fell the
chief burden.
They were called upon to match the craft,
the experience and the rutllessness Of the keen
est of German spies, who We're backed by a
renowned secret service organization and uulim-
tied funds.
Their chief, the man who had developed the
government detective force, who had laid the
foundation for an extensive, loosely geared, even
running mechanism, and who promptly assem-
bled it when the need came, is Alexander Bruce
Bielashi ("IEome Run" Bielaski they called him
In his high school days.. He entered the depart
ment Il dozen years ago, when the development
of a bureau Of investigation to handle secret
work for which no other provision had been made
was started.
This bureau was commissioned to wrestlc with
violations of neutrality, with those of the nation
al banking laws, with antitrust cases, bucket
shop cases, white slave cases; it was to prose-
cute those who impersonate an officer Of the
government, TO pursue those who flee the cOun-
try and seek to evade the long arm of the federal
law.
There We're already several detective agencies
In the government, each created for d specific pur-
pose and limited by law In it's operations. For In
stance, there was the secret service in the treas
uy department. There were customs agents to
prevent smuggling, land agents to protect the
public domain, post Office inspectors to make
difficult the misuse Of the mails. But the special
agents of the department of justice had Il field
many times as broad as that occupied by any other
| detective agency. One phase OF its work alone
that of circumvcnting violations of neutrality
became a herculean task when the war broke.
The department of justice refused to follow
precedent in its creation Of Il detective agency. 1t
built a staff Of operatives that was a new thing IN
the field of detective work. In doing so it made
brains its first requisite of selection or men ana
held that education was a developer of brains.
The Youngsters of this service have succeeded
where veteran police have failed. Every case an
operative undertakes Is an entirely new probiein'
in which his past experience is by no means nm
infallible guide. 1t needs brains and initiative.
A young agent. of the bureau of investigation,
formerly n salesman for a wholesale grocer, went
into the Alleghenies on his first case and cleaned
IN q nest of moOnshiners that had defled local
authorities and United States marshals for years.
Another of these men worked as n laborer on the
docks of New Orleans md found out the meth
DDS employed by the sugar samplers III so graz
Ing imported cnrgocs that the loss TO the govern
ment was hundreds of thousands in duties every
year. Still another "roped In WIN MeAicah
reyolutionists in III PasO.
The Importance Of the work Of these special
agents may be measured by an account OF the
circumstances back Of the seizure Of the port OF
vcrn Cruz in April, 1914, and the part played IN
that event by one of those ingenious men. II
was some months before that event that n huge
bearded Russian attracted the attention OF Il
house detective In II New York hotel Dy inc u's'
nlny of a draft for $3.O00,000 signed by Prcsideht
uucrtu of Mexico. The house detective te'e'
phoned the special agents, VINO "ale"eu o' 'pe'"
tons of the Russian.
That individual bought firearms ana nmi'uhl'
tion IN sufficient quantities to load n MP. IL
was the business of the government 10 SEE "
n TINT he did not send this to Mexico as 'nere
was nm embargo on firearms to that country. Inc
shin. however, cleared for Odessa. Russia ana 'ne
snecial agents traced 1t to That point anu WY
,ossod the refusal of the Russian government 10
allow the ammunition to be landed. because OK
q fear that 1t was to be used by revcintohls.s'
T,ey snw the ship again traverse inc Me"'' r..
NOM and unload It's cargo mt Hamburg. me
snocio, agents noted, however. that the N"ss'"h
hpd dIsonpourcd, and suspected that he was more
,oyo, to his own pocket than to the Mexican
government. $50. t.o,o ,,omhrrc
voro I,r,z. As It approached the hitter port
mo United states, under the influence OF the IN.
formntion furnished by Its srecini agents en.eleu
and seized the port that huerta i"'sa' " s'