A TERROR TO GERMAN SPIES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 69, 14 December 1917, Page 5

A TERROR TO GERMAN SPIES

BIELASKI, UN TED STATES CRIMINAL . INVESTIGATOR the Acme of human EFFICIENCY

Picture to yourself a man of thirtyfive, with a pugnacious chin, twinkling cyea, an Irisli tip-tilted nose, mentally active as a live wire, and physically fit from the crown of his head to tho soles of his feet, and you have Bielaski—tho man most feared in America by German plotters. For three years, as «c_hief of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation of the Department of Justioe in Washington, Bielaski has been untiring in his efforts to thwart the Kaiser's espionage system in this •country, and he is to-day, probably moro cordially hated by Teutonic enemies of the United States than any other man. No matter how cunning the plot, nor how deep its intricacies, Bielaski— through his agents in every stratum of society—will put his fing'er on the ■ canker spot before it can spread. To the enemies of the United States lis foreknowledge of events seems almost uncanny. Bielaski lias agents everywhere—volunteers in the fashionable circles of society, as well as the paid servants of the Government. Eyes and minds aro working among street-car conductors, fanners, and in the immense organisation of the Post Office Department, while waiters, barbers, .•and chauffeurs havo been enlisted to 'checkmate the moves of German . plotters. A Unique Organisation. A. Bruce Bielaski, the Government's spy-catcher, has built up a unique or-, .ganisation. Bielaski co-operates with the Secret Service Department of the Treasury," the two organisations of a similar character which are run by the War and Navv Departments, and the police and detective forces of all the American cities. To him is due the •credit for the wonderfully smooth-run-ning. gigantic system which slides along sedulously, attracting no attention, yet achieving results that are priceless to the nation. When war uroke out in Europe three years ago the Criminal Investigation Bureau had already card-indexed and listed every man who might be regarded as a suspicions character. Bielaski is a young man. He has yet to see his thirty-fifth birthday. His whole governmental experience has been right where he is now—in the Department of Justice. When he entered the. sorvice he was known chiefly for two things—hi 3 intenso _ enthusiasm on the subject of physical fitness and his eternal and everlasting perseverance. There is a story which is widely told throughout the department, which illustrates this latter quality. . It seems that there was a pompous chief of a bureau to whom young Bielaski decided to impart some ideas. This chief was firmly convinced that no man could possibly harbour a worthy idea until ho had passed the half-century birthday-mark. Tho chief, it might he said, was more than fifty years old. ■ Ono afternoon young Bielaski called to see this gentleman. The gentleman kept the young subordinate waiting an hour or moro and declined in the end to him an audience. On the following day the young man visited the bureau chief again, and 1 again failed to see him. Tho third morning as this nugiis~b personage was entering the building he was stopped by a young man with a steady eye, a squaro, fighting jaw, and a short, upturned nose.

"See me this afternoon," said the personage shortly. • "I've tried that and it won't work," responded young Bielaski imperturbably. "So I guess I'll see you now." And then Biolaski unfolded his plan while the chief, more and more interested, listened. Within the week Bielaski's idea was put into effect. As to his athletic prowess, Bielaski made of himself first a butt for. much office humour and then a subject oi considerable admiration. A church baseball league was formed in Washington a good many years ago. Bielaski went into the league as third baseman. After doing a full day's work he would climb into a baseball suit and givo an exhibition of bnllplaying that made up in enthusiasm for what it lacked in artistry. It was said of him that the harder a chance was the better wero his chances of making a' successful play. After a game of hall and dinner Bielaski would he found at the Y.M.C.A.. arraved in fighting clothes and a pair of boxing gloves and thoroughly enjoying p, smashing bout'with one of the professional instructors. Boxing, rowing, running, and baseball occupied him in those early davs, and he "went in" foi them with all the persistence and earnestness that he "wont in" for his work. Shortly afterwards ho became wiognised as one of the live wires oi the department. He was an inexhaustible fountain of ideas. Ho was sane, careful,' and suoorhumanly active. Was anyone required for extra work? Get Bielaski. • Did this or that problem Jieed attention? pet Bielaski. Thus he mado himself invaluable to tho department.

His First Big Chance. His first big chance oame wben the 'Federal Government declared war on 'the "white slave" traffic throughout the nation. Here was found to be nn elaborate organization whose heads ■were clever men, .possessors of great tank-rolls. and mental and moral makeup that did not halt at murder—a desperate crew as courageous as the Italian Mafia arid considerably more intelligent. It was during this erusade that Bielaski's vast system had its inception. He soon found that he could look for little assistance from locai police departments, which in some cases even opposed his efforts to locate the meeting-places of the white slave traffickers. "We must have an independent secret organisation that will work in even closet co-operation than the men we are hunting," declared Bielaski. And with this idea he started in on his cam-

paign that was to lay bare the roots of the criminal band. He soon had organised committees of citizens, under various names, co-operating with his own men in the cities which lie started to clean up. When they sent him misinformation he did not rail at them. Frequently they would waste jiis timo; hut again they would let him knowsomething that afterward proved to be invaluable. It did not take long for the urban police forces to awaken with a sudden, jolting shock to the accomplishments of this young man. He began to make exposures and arrests in their own cities after they had declared that the "white-slave" scare was a delusion and a myth. . TJielaski made 110 accusations. He let the public draw its own conclusions. In a little while there was a magnificent if undignified scramble by police officials to climb upon the Bielaski band-wagon._ This national crusade gave Bielaski his opportunity to effect reforms in the Department of Justice, to eradicate delay and red tape and secure a maximum of efficiency, and at the outset nf the war he put into offpet the same plan that had served him so well in hunting • down white-slavers. He obtained the volunteer services of the entire Post ' Office Department, ljo requisitioned ; society men-and women and waiters / and tvpes from the underworld—all of ' whom were eager to aid in the hunt- . ing of the slippery German secret

agent. The work was done so quietly that tlio nation at largo did not know a tenth of what was being done.

The Shadow Men. Some idea of the methods involving tho post office branch of Bielaski's machino'may be gathered from this examplo: Suppose a stranger comes into a town or village. In fifteen minutes the postmaster knows of his arrival. His every action is -chocked up, and eventually a report is forwarded to Bielaski. Naturally much chaff reaches tile Department of Justice, but it is all carefully threshed out by the chief. In every city in the United States thero aro "shadows," young men who are indistinguishable from hundreds of other men. They haunt the various railway depots. Some of them are there on assignments. Others are "free lances" commissioned to follow strangers of whom they havo suspicions. Thus it is that many a mystified German agent, on being arrested, learns that everything he has douo is known to the poiici—in spito of the fact that ho has seen no one, spoken to no one, and preserved, generally, a calmlike seclusion. Tho bell-boy, tho chambermaid, the elevator boy, and th 6 hotel clerk have added their bit of information. Ono German, on being arrested, exclaimed wrathfully: "This is worse than Russia." And so it is—for German secret agents. The following incident illustrates the manner in which Bielaski's "shadows" efface themselves until tlio dramatic moment. It occurred in the smoking compartment of a train running between New York and a northern city: Thero were several men in the car, including one of those pacifists of tli6 well-known oratorical type. This man felt that he should spread the goo(< work. 110 began by criticising President AVilson, in a paradoxical way, foi failing to enter the wav when German) invaded Belgium. "That was his chance," declared tht orator. "Why didn't lie take it? Ah the nations look nt 11s with contempt now. They are merely using us. They think we're the biggest fools in ah Christendom, and they're blamea right." Bv this time ho had gained the attention of every occupant of the smoking compartment save one man who read a newspaper in such a fashion that nothing but bis trousers showed. Tho orator, wrapt in his speech, soon forgot this man.

Finally the pacifist reached his destination and prepared leave the. train. As he stepped to the . station platform he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Suppose," said the man who had tapped him on the shoulder, "we take a little walk." The man looked like a hundred thousand other men. There was absolutely nothing about him to attract attention. "I don't know you," replied the pacifist coldly. 1 « "Well," responded the other man, "I know you. You just finished a speech on that train. You have been making that speech wherever you got a chance during tho last week. You sSia about tho same thing at —and—and— And the Department of Justice operative rattled over a list of places and dates that caused tho professional pacifist to. pale; "You didn't hear me on that train, ' he faltered.. "I remember distinctly the faces- —" "You don't remember mino,' replied the operative gently, "because I was behind a newspaper." \This is Bielaski's method. His agents are never spectacular. _ They aro quietly, unobtrusively efficient. They are out to get'results and not to get publicity. Bielaski had sent this man out with instructions to follow his man until he had absolute evidence with witnesses to back up his charges and then to arrest him. The suspect lmd one chance, and only ono. after tho Bureau of Criminal Investigation got on his trail, to exonerate himself by his own actions.