The Great Spy System | Page 2

you did the other time; but also, I wish you, if possible, to break up entirely the gang of spies he controls, and to so frighten them individually and collectively, that one and all of them will be glad to leave the country for good."
"It strikes me that that is rather a large contract, isn't it?"
"That is precisely why I have given it to you. I have always understood that you enjoy doing rather impossible things."
"I have not been belied there, sir."
"And so I have sent for you again."
"I am to have a sort of a roving commission, I suppose, Sir?"
"Your commission is as elastic as you choose to make it. You may, or you may not, as you choose, communicate with Mr. Wilkie, and ask him to give you assistance. You may do exactly as you deem best for the interests of all concerned, always bearing in mind the one important point that I require secrecy, as far as the public is concerned."
"I understand you, sir."
"The thing is to rid ourselves of Mustushimi and his followers; and, incidentally, to make it appear to all those who wish to introduce the spy system into this country, that it is a difficult and a dangerous thing to do. Why, Mr. Carter, do you not see that if this sort of thing is not nipped in the bud at once, the time is not far off when the United States will be overrun with spies, as the countries of Europe are, now?"
"I do understand that perfectly well, Sir."
"That is the end I am aiming at."
"And you think the best way to accomplish it is by discrediting their chiefs?"
"I regard it as the only way."
"It reminds me of the method that was employed by Mexico to keep anarchists. out of that country," said the detective.
"How was that--"
"It was rather heroic, I suppose you will think; but it was effective."
"Tell me about it."
"It was at the time when General Hinhosa was minister of war, down there."
"Yes."
"I think it was in '94 or '95. At all events it was shortly after the activities of the anarchists in France and Spain---a year or two after Ravachol blew up the cafe in Paris, if you recall that incident."
"Perfectly."
"I was in the city of Mexico that year. One day I happened to call upon Hinhosa at his office in the palace, down at the Zocolo, and during a lapse in our conversation, he asked me rather abruptly:
" 'Mr. Carter, do you have anarchists in your country?'
"'Do we !' I exclaimed. 'I should say so, They are a blot on our peace of mind, there.'
"'Why don't you take a lesson from us, then, as how to serve them' he asked me.
"'Tell me about it,' I suggested. He replied:
"'Not long ago this department received advices from the court of Spain that three noted, anarchists were known to have sailed from there on a certain ship, bound for this country. We were told that the ship--a tramp on which they were passengers should arrive at Vera Cruz at about such a time, and we were advised not to permit them to land, as it was known that they were coming here to organize branches of their society.'
"'Well, sir?' I asked him.
"'When the ship arrived at Vera Cruz,' he continued, 'the anarchists were met by three officers of the Mexican army, who were disguised, of course. The officers toldthe men that they were sympathizers in the cause and that they had received notice of the expected arrival of those in men. The story of it is that the anarchists were induced to go ashore quietly with the army officers; they were taken to the city of Orizaba on a special train that night, and they were conducted straight into the prison-yard of that city, thinking that they were on their way to a meeting of the anarchists of Mexico.'
"'And you imprisoned them there?' I asked. 'They were shot, at daylight, the next morning,' he replied quietly. I have always thought, Mr. President, that that was the very best way to convince their sympathizers that Mexico was an unsafe place for their kind."
"Undoubtedly. But that sort of method would hardly answer here, in the United States."
"No. But the same sort of methods can be used-less the bullets."
"You mean that you think they can be frightened out' I don't mean the anarchists; I refer to the spy systems?"
"I think so."
"Well, Mr. Carter, you are at liberty to employ any means you think so long as the country itself is not held responsible---or, rather so long as it does not appear that the country has to do with it."
"And Mr. President, do you realize what the best method would be for accomplishing the very end you aim at?"
"Perhaps not."
"It will be to convince them that