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Show GEHil EMU TO SECURE SECRETS Spy System of Europe Shows Evidence of Remarkable Organization. CODE BOOKS STOLEN Ingenious Efforts Made by Agents to Obtain Possession Posses-sion of Plans. By PHILIP EVERETT. Special Cable to The Tribune. LONDON, May 9. Never in the history his-tory of Europe has the secret service of espionage been organized, as it is today. Week by week fresh evidence is forthcoming forthcom-ing of the elaborate system which prevails. pre-vails. It is evidence of such a circumstantial circum-stantial character that it cannot be lightly ignored as the work of the scare-monger. Recent thefts of secret code books, the conviction of a London "commission agent" who, with his wife, was arrested at a London station, as he was about to depart for the continent carrying im- , portant documents with him, and other incidents of a similar character, have created cre-ated genuine alarm. . Practically all the evidence Implicates Germany and tlie latest disclosures reveal an ingenious effort to take advantage of the known difficuJties under which, many British officers labor on their way, by procuring, under the guise of commercial com-mercial Inquiries, such information of the financial status of individual naval officers as will guide German agents to the means of placing temptations in their way. Most recently the naval authorities received re-ceived information that a firm of London private detectives in King street, Cheap-sld,e, Cheap-sld,e, who have conducted English government gov-ernment inquiries at times, were charged by an apparent German commercial inquirer in-quirer with the mission mentioned, and but for the fact that suspicions were aroused the information required might have been innocently supplied. Partner Tells Story. Reciting the circumstances to an interviewer inter-viewer a few days ago, the chief partner said: It Is true that we recently received a letter from Hamburg written in a purely commercial vein, asking us whether it was possible to ascertain - the financial position of naval officers In Portsmouth, Davenport, Chatham, and the other naval ports or naval stations. The writer whose name does not matter, because we afterward discovered dis-covered it was assumed asked us our terms for supplying the information, and mentioned that we had been recommended rec-ommended by a notable detective firm in Berlin, .whom we knew well. In tho ordinary business course our office replied re-plied to the letter. It should be understood under-stood that inquiries concerning people are received from all over the world. The address given for the reply was to a box in the postoffice at Hamburg, the town from which the inquiry was dated. But Immediately afterward the wholesale nature of the inquiry and the box office address aroused our suspicion, and we followed the letter quickly by another, asking the prospective pros-pective client's objects. At the same time we communicated with the Berlin detective office, the name which was given as an introduction. intro-duction. We are unable to convey details de-tails of the results of these inquiries, for the whole matter fs extremely delicate, deli-cate, but we may indicate the. purport that was clear between the lines. Tlie object was the discovery of individual naval officers whose pressing financial needs might render them open to . temptation with a view to Germany's espionage. Investigations Made. Investigations we caused to be made at Hamburg fully confirmed our conclusions con-clusions the only really possible ones. The actual receivers of letters at the Hamburg address were so cunningly concealed that it was impossible to trace them. We thereupon forwarded the letters and the results of our inquiries in-quiries to the proper authorities in London. There can be no doubt that the espionage espion-age campaign fostered by -Germany is of the most comprehensive charaoter and the police here make no secret of the fact tliat they have evidence that through every ev-ery possible channel, no matter how devious, devi-ous, Germany is endeavoring to accumulate accumu-late intimate information not only concerning con-cerning matters which need the tempting of impecunious officers, but concerning commercial docks, engineering, water, and sewage works. The items last named are knowledge necessary to an Invader, whoso cutting off water supplies and blocking of sewage outlets become necessary in siege. As typical instances tlie following are related re-lated by an authority in a position to ba accurate: . Not long ago an advertisement to contractors appeared In English newspapers news-papers requiring est Inui lee in regard to plans for gas, electric, and other supplies to a provincial town. The announcement an-nouncement apparently escaped foreign for-eign attention until the date fixed for the contracts had passed. But a German Ger-man firm at that hour paid $2rQ for the. procuring of a copy of the accepted' ac-cepted' plans, with tho bulk and nature na-ture of the supplies. Records Copied. In a second case a German, clerk entered tlie service of a large firm of Knglish contractors and suddenlv disappeared dis-appeared after- th1 rom-lntdon of a sea coast contract. It afterward heaine certain that every detail in regard to tlie works had been copied. But the latest and most audacious act of an alleged foreign spy an ;i ct which is not without i's humorous sidj js published pub-lished this week. It is j! story vouched for in authoritative quarters and it tells of how a distinguished looking stra n n''1" walked Into an Kngllsh nn vnl dock v,i rd and, a va iling himself of I lie t ruth f illness-: and cupidity of officials, succeeded in getting many highly confidential deslinw minutely explained to him. It Is n:m-at-d that a few da v;; a smartly-dress d ami w.dl - m u-med :::; n made his appearance at the ollhe of the superintendent nf tlie dockvanl and. finding find-ing the chjW naval dignitary of the T,aci-absent. T,aci-absent. Inquired the way to Ihf drawing office. Arriving among the ilniilsnn n, who had several design f a very secret nn lure spread out on the drawing boards before them, the unexpected vis-itcr obtained ob-tained the confidence of the hear) draftsman drafts-man hy representing himself as an ofricial who had bei-n speeirJIv sent down frn-n the admiralty to Invest igate certain designs de-signs which were about to be put into execution. ' )v-i a wed bv the presence 'if such an important y-i oi a v as a representative repre-sentative dir'-ct from Whitehall, the hear! draftsman told the stranger everything, he wanted to know, and at the close of the Interview politely usherd him out of the office. |