[ANON POST] Telegrams and 19th-century espionage

[kutsuwamushi]

The short version of my question is, how would one intercept and/or obtain a copy of a telegram addressed to someone else? My story deals partially with the espionage going on in pre-WWI Europe, and one of my characters is trying to get hold of a telegram delivered to someone he knows is a spy. In my research I've been able to turn up all sorts of

Comments

[stormwreath]

I think the Zimmermann situation does show the basic ways you can do it:

1. You can tap the actual telegraph cable, and read the electronic pulses going down it in real time. That's the high-tech option and needs equipment; but it's not too hard to climb a telegraph pole. An undersea cable is a little more tricky...

2. You can bribe, suborn or infiltrate the people responsible for sending the telegram. Get into the telegraph office while the message is being sent, and listen to it as it goes out. Or persuade a telegraph company operator to let you see a copy of the text. Or even get yourself or an agent a job in the telegraph office! Remember there are two, possibly three or more opportunities for that: the office that sends the telegram, the one that receives it, and possibly intermediate stations that relay it.

3. You can steal a hardcopy of the telegram from either the sender or the recipient.

British Intelligence in 1917 essentially used all three options:

They were tapping the American diplomatic cable from Denmark to the US via Britain, which the Americans were allowing Germany to use as well thinking it was secure (it wasn't). That's option 1.

To hide the fact that they were tapping the US communications, the British then bribed an employee of the Mexican telegraph office to give them a copy of the German telegram so they could claim that's how they obtained it. That's option 2.

And finally, they claimed to have broken into the German embassy in Mexico itself to steal a copy of the telegram from the ambassador's office. That's option 3.

None of that absolutely requires a huge government operation - decoding the German diplomatic cipher was the really labour-intensive part. Though of course if your opponent has the resources of a government, you need resources yourself to counter them.

[stormwreath]

Thanks for all the good suggestions! I think where I'm running into trouble is that I'm having difficulty visualizing exactly what it would look like to bribe a telegraph office employee for a copy of the telegram. Did the offices keep copies of every telegram they received? And if so, for how long did they keep them/where did they keep them/how did they file them?