The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-12-09
Spying In Good Old Days Had Glomor
Unlike Modern, Large-ScoIe Systems

and hanged the next day.
Il only regret that I nave but
one life to lose for my country"
the patriot is reported to have
said before the moose tightened.
Perhaps the young scholar was
recalling a line from Joseph Ad-
dison's play "Cato"-"What pity
is it that we can die but once
to save III country"
Another brave but less we'll
known spy for Gen. Washington
was Col. Barton. He and a few
soldiers disguised as non-com-
batants penetrated the British
lines and captured Brigadier
Prescott. They brought Prescott
back to Washington, who held
him as a prisoner for some time.
Then there was Pvt. Charles
Morgan, who spied on Cornwall
lis army as an agent of Gen.
Lafayette.
Two Women became famous as
spies on opposite sides in the
Civil War, the Unions Emma Ed
monds and the Confederacy's
Belle Boyd, who saved Stonewall
Jaekson's army by giving him
timely information.
Allen Pinkerton and his fam
ous detectives ran an extensive
spy system for the Union army.
Pinkerton and his men became
famous when they foiled a plot
to assassinate President Lincoln
in 1861. Pinkertu after the war
maintained a private detective
agency. But out his Wartime or
%eanization grew the u. S. Secret
service.
Thomas Beach, an Englishman
Who fought on the Union side in
the Civil War, spied for the Brit
ish in this country in the 1905
and l870s. His job was to keep
Britain informed of activities of
irish agitators on this side of the
Atlantic, who at one time tried
to invade Canada. With the alias
of Maj. Henri lie Caron, Beach
joined Irish-American societies,
earned the confidence Of fellow
members and then betrayed their
plans to his employers. Beach's
type of work leaves a bad taste
in the mouth of historians who
admire most wartime spies.
The Secret Service earned quite
a reputation as spy hunters dur
in the Spanish-American War,
breaking up one notable Spanish
spy ring in this country. The
organization also had charge of
anti-sabotage and anti-espionage
work i'll the first World War. But
since then it has had little to do
with such activities. The Secret
Service is normally charged with
guarding the President and en-
forcing certain laws concerning
the L. S. Treasury, like catching
counterfeiters.
The Federal Bureau of Investi-
cation had charge of counter
espionage and anti-sabotage work
in the last war. 1t also extended
its eounter-espionage ana intelli
genee work to Latin America for
the duration of the war. The
espionage work in the last wal
was done by the armed forces
and the Office of Strategic Serv-
ices (OSS). Many h%air-raising
tales came out of postwar pub
locations of OSS.
Spying is as old as history. You
read about il in the Bible. The
English are said TO have created
their intelligence system about
1896. Edward III established his
little Kingdoms foreign trade,
and he found he needed to know
what was being planned and plot
ted in the courts OF Europe.
America about 600 years later
has reluctantly set up a peace
time intelligence agency, partly
for a similar reason-for guild
ance in playing successfully its
new role as a leader in world
affairs.