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PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT. I1

THE STORY OF JAPANESE ESPIONAGE IN RUSSIA

BY CAPTAIN NICOLA POPOFF

[THE following story, which will appear in a series of articles in the Living Age, we believe to be perfectly authentic. The author was for several years the officer in command of the Russian Government's counter-espionage service in Siberia, having under his charge the military districts of Omsk, Irkutsk, and Trans-Amur, that is, the whole Eastern and Western section of Siberia with the exception of the Amur district - a post he held until the Revolution. The names of the actors have been disguised in order to prevent embarrassing consequences befalling them should the facts revealed come to the attention of people in a position to do them injury. Needless to say, we publish the narrative to illustrate the seamy side of all international relations where military rivalry comes into play, and not as a reflection upon the methods and procedure of any particular Government.]

WHEN I took possession of my new post in Siberia I found myself in charge of a very limited staff, whose members had to cover a great area of country, and who had on file very inadequate records of their operations. Consequently we were compelled to start almost from the beginning.

Our first task was to make a census of all the Japanese living within the limits

1 From a Confidential Journal. Copyrighted by the Living Age Company. All publication rights reserved.

of our jurisdiction. We soon ascertained that along the railway line from Cheliabinsk to Manchuria Station, or a distance of more than three thousand miles, there were only a few score permanent residents of this nationality. They were mostly small traders and artisans. Of course it was also my duty to inform myself about other foreigners in this territory, but owing to our geographical position my chief attention was naturally concentrated upon the Japanese.

The local police and the civilian residents who assisted us in gathering this information testified that their Japanese neighbors were peaceable and industrious people who worked regularly for their livelihood. They were washermen, barbers, photographers, cigarettemakers, acrobats, and small retailers. All the educated Japanese and wealthy merchants in our part of Asia lived to the eastward of Manchuria Station, along the Chinese Eastern Railway. West of that point, in addition to the small number already mentioned, were several women, almost exclusively inmates of Japanese brothels, whose proprietors were of the same nationality.

As Irkutsk was the military centre of Siberia, we naturally began our intensive investigations at that point. They disclosed the fact that there were about twoscore Japanese residing in the town, of whom the two most open to suspicion of espionage were the brothers

Siraisi. The elder of these, a man of forty-five or fifty years of age, owned a laundry, the younger a photograph shop. They occupied a small house not far from the headquarters of the commanding general. The elder used the lower floor for his business, the younger the second story. Each had a separate entrance both from the street and from the back yard.

My agents kept these brothers under surveillance from morning until night. Our reports showed that they seldom left their house except to make necessary purchases. The only people who visited them were Russians who brought linen to be washed, and an occasional Japanese visitor on a holiday. For three or four months our surveillance revealed nothing more than this. Reports from other Siberian towns where Japanese were being watched were of the same character. I felt sure, however, that the Japanese intelligence service would not neglect such an important military post as Irkutsk, and kept new agents constantly on the job there. None of them managed to get acquainted with the Siraisi brothers. The latter were very cautious and reserved in their conversation, and apparently their pidgin Russian did not extend beyond a meagre vocabulary relating to their trade. We might have made more progress if some of our agents had known Japanese, but none of them possessed a speaking knowledge of that language.

Just when the prospect of discovering anything of importance seemed absolutely hopeless, luck came to our assistance as it always did on precisely such occasions during my long experience as a counter-espionage officer. Our Army Headquarters included a cartographical establishment where our secret maps were printed. This institution was under the charge of a highly esteemed and competent specialist, Colonel X- who was also a man

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famous for his courteous and genial disposition. But he was not a strict disciplinarian. His force included, besides the regular soldier detailed to his service, several civilian employees, some of whom led dissipated lives. From the time I began my work I tried to get one of my agents employed in this department, but for some reason or other always failed. Finally, in April 1912, I decided to see what I could do personally.

So one afternoon, about five o'clock, when the employees were leaving to go home, I appeared at the door dressed as a civilian. As I had just arrived at Irkutsk after a considerable absence, and as I was not accustomed to being seen in the streets, I ran little risk of recognition. Approaching one of the soldiers coming out, who seemed to me rather more intelligent than the others, and introducing myself as a merchant from Novo Nikolayevsk, I asked him to help me find among the employees a good lithographer for a printing office conducted by my brother in that town. The soldier, who was a garrulous fellow, said at once that he knew just the man for me.

While we were walking along talking the question over, we came to a small restaurant. I asked the soldier if he would take a drink with me. He readily accepted my invitation and we entered. After several glasses of vodka and two or three bottles of beer my new acquaintance became confidential. I pretended to be greatly interested in his personal affairs and asked him about his work and his superiors. The fellow, who was now quite drunk, boasted about the easy time he had. His work was not hard and his superiors were fine fellows. But his pay was too small; he had n't enough money to buy a drink now and then. Things had gone better the preceding year, for one of his friends, a soldier called Ignatiev, who

was no longer in the service, had been on good terms with the Japanese, to whom he used to sell maps for large sums. Eventually the fellow confided to me that he had helped Ignatiev to steal the maps, and had shared the money with him, so that he had lived well during that period.

'Why,' I said, affecting great surprise, 'was n't Ignatiev afraid to do that? How did he dare to sell secret maps to the Japanese spies?'

The soldier laughed and said there was n't any danger of being caught, because the maps lay about everywhere and nobody took the trouble even to count them. Then he added:

'Was it really a crime to sell those maps when they were so carelessly guarded?' After a moment's silent thought he added: 'I'd like to go on with that business if I knew where the Jap was to be found. Ignatiev told me he was a laundryman, but there are any number of Jap laundries here.'

The soldier was mistaken, for Siraisi had the only Japanese laundry in Irkutsk. The others belonged to Koreans, but the man, unable to tell the difference between the two nationalities, thought they were all Japanese. As soon as I got back to my office I took immediate measures to verify the soldier's statements regarding the carelessness said to prevail in the map division at Headquarters. I made a report to the Chief of Staff, who had the matter investigated and discovered that chaos reigned in this department. As a result several officers were arrested, and its chief received a severe reprimand and resigned his position. An energetic, forceful General Staff colonel took his place and speedily put things in order there.

Meanwhile my cheery, garrulous soldier rendered me a great service by making me acquainted with his friend Ignatiev, whom I immediately en

gaged as one of my own agents. With his help I was able to pick out the other unreliable and suspicious men in the cartographical establishment. In my report to Headquarters upon that institution, however, I did not mention the fact that maps had been stolen and sold to the Japanese, for I felt sure that Siraisi was the purchaser, and I did not want to flush my covey too

soon.

Since my Russian agents were unable to get any positive information out of the Siraisi brothers, I turned the matter over to a Chinese detective in my employ named Chao. This man was a well-educated gentleman who had taken refuge in Russia after the revolution in his own country. Here he soon acquired an almost perfect knowledge of the Russian language, and he already possessed a fair command of Japanese. Eventually he was naturalized and married a Russian woman. All the time I was in charge of the service he was one of my most loyal and intelligent assistants.

Following my instructions, Chao called on Siraisi to have some work done at his laundry. When he delivered his bundle he asked the proprietor several questions in Japanese, but got only curt answers. Siraisi was evidently on his guard against imprudent inquirers. A few days later, when Chao called for his linen and attempted again to start conversation, his effort was equally fruitless. Before leaving, however, Chao remarked casually: 'I don't like this place. The Russians here at Irkutsk have no use for us Orientals.'

But the only reply he got from Siraisi to this was a sarcastic sneer.

Matters continued this way for a month or more. Chao brought his linen to the laundry every week and tried to be sociable with the proprietor, but was unable to overcome the latter's reserve.

He was about to give up in disgust when it occurred to him one day on leaving the laundry to remark to Siraisi with a grin: 'You Japanese surely must have given the Russians a good drubbing, for the only thing they can think of is revenge.'

Siraisi's expression changed. Casting a quick glance at Chao, he asked: 'What makes you think so?'

Chao said he had several customers among the Russian officers for the silks he peddled, and that on calling upon one of them the previous evening he discovered in his apartment a large map of Japan with Japanese words on it. When he started to look at it the officer quickly folded it up and put it into a drawer in his desk, saying that it was secret. Chao went on to say that number of Russian officers had asked him to give them lessons in Japanese, offering him good pay for the service. He regretted that he was obliged to refuse them for lack of time, and thus to lose some good money.

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Siraisi was obviously greatly interested in this conversation, although he tried to conceal it. He asked Chao to bring him some samples of Chinese silk, saying that he might buy some. This resulted in an appointment for the following Sunday evening. Thus the ice was broken.

At the time agreed upon Chao called at Siraisi's house with several samples of silk. The proprietor was alone. He said that his servants were away in town for the holiday, but it was obvious that he had sent them off on purpose lest they should overhear his conversation with Chao. This was the only time within five months that all his servants had been absent at once. Siraisi proved an agreeable host and a very sociable sort of fellow. He asked Chao how he was getting along in business and whether he was making much money, and other questions of that

nature. He showed that he was thoroughly familiar with business conditions all over Siberia. Chao, who was excellently prepared to play the part of a small Chinese merchant, after answering several of his host's inquiries exclaimed: 'It surprises me to see a man as well informed as you are in the laundry business.'

Siraisi smiled sadly. He said that before the Russo-Japanese War he had been a wealthy silk merchant at Yokohama, but that he had lost his fortune during the war crisis and had come to Russia to escape his creditors. As he had no capital, he was forced to go into the first business that offered. It did not take much money to open a laundry. He hoped soon to enlarge his establishment, for he had made a good profit; but his only desire was to save up enough money to go back to Japan and resume his old business.

When Chao finally rose to leave, Siraisi reminded him of what he had said on the previous occasion about Russia's desire to revenge her defeat on Japan, and asked to be informed if he heard anything more of the kind, explaining: 'I lost so much in the last war that I don't want to get caught the same way again. If there is going to be trouble, I want to close up my business and get away in good time.'

Chao naturally promised to do as he was asked. Before he left, Siraisi asked him to call again the following Sunday. Chao thereupon handed Siraisi his visiting card and invited the latter to come to his house. After leaving, Chao, following my instructions, returned directly home.

On this occasion I had ordered my agents who were watching Siraisi's house not to discontinue their observations at sunset, as they had done hitherto, but to remain at their posts until Chao left.

What I had expected happened. As

soon as Chao was a short distance from Siraisi's house, the door opened and a young Japanese laundryman appeared on the threshold. Glancing around him, he quickly followed Chao. His movements showed that he was an experienced detective. When Chao passed a corner and was out of sight, the Japanese hastened his steps, almost running until he reached the corner and recovered sight of his man; after which he again fell into a slow, sauntering walk. As soon as Chao entered his house, the Japanese passed it slowly and tried to read the number on the door, but it was getting late and he evidently failed to find it. So he paced

up and down before the building for some time and then returned to the laundry.

Although Chao was a cautious man, and was forewarned that he might be shadowed, he never caught sight of the Japanese. In my report to Headquarters the following day I stated: 'According to the information of my agents, the Japanese Siraisi, conducting a laundry in Irkutsk, is a Japanese spy. His true name and rank are still unknown to me, but probably he is an army officer. Among the employees of the laundry is a very skillful outdoor agent whom Siraisi employs to shadow men for him.’

COBWEBS IN THE SKY1

BY VALENTÍN ANDRÉS ALVAREZ

I HAVE been told that when he was born he expressed his first impression of this world by a loud bawl, which had scarcely left his mouth before the world returned it to him through his ears. That first bawl is our initial experience with life, the real foundation of all human knowledge. By it the baby begins his life work, which consists, after entering this world, in making the world enter himself.

As he grew older that world imaged itself upon his mind in ever-new forms at school. The charts, maps, and engravings of the classroom wall were windows through which he caught new glimpses of the universe, different from those that he saw through the school

1 From La Revista de Occidente (Madrid literary monthly), December

house windows. Moreover, these charts and maps were themselves windows to different epochs of his life. Through a large yellow chart he could always see, as he grew older, his first year at school.

Immediately after a promotion his attention was attracted to a strange instrument, consisting of pasteboard globes suspended on arms of various lengths from a low upright, that stood on top of a cupboard in the classroom. One day the teacher gathered his older pupils around him, took down the mysterious apparatus, and said: 'What you see here is the Universe.' He pronounced the last word with a capital. He then pointed out on the globe that represented the earth the equator and the poles, the zenith and the nadir, the ecliptic and the twelve signs of the

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