[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

[akcipitrokulo]

First thought would be to intercept the delivery boy? Don't know if that would work with your story of course!

[rosamicula]

Also try changing your search to 'Edwardian' if you want just pre WW1.

There was a murder case in the right period in the UK where someone did intercept a PO boy to attempt to steal the message he was supposed to deliver and substitute another one.

[rosamicula]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. While the story is mostly set just prior to WWI, the relevant scene is actually much earlier, at the very tail end of the Victorian era (although I'm sure any info about Edwardian telegram-stealing would be equally useful!).

[ffutures]

You could tap the telegraph lines - basically climb the pole and attach clips to the cable leading to a telegraph receiver (or just a sensitive galvanometer) and read off the Morse code. The snag is that the code was sent fast, and unless you were a commercial operator you probably couldn't keep up. You'd also need to know the route it was sent on etc. since the routing could vary to spread the load and prevent any one operator getting overloaded.

I think bribery etc. is probably a better bet - possibly someone at the telegraph company, or a servant with access to the message once it arrives. One of the most successful spies of WW2 was Cicero, a servant in the British embassy in Ankara who copied documents and sold them to the Germans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elyesa_Bazna

[ffutures]

The idea of someone climbing up a telegraph pole and listening in on the messages is pretty fascinating! Sounds time-consuming, and of course it's no help if the message has already been sent and you're trying to get a copy of it, but still. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

[rhiannon_s]

As I understand it there are multiple methods. The first and easiest being simple bribery/blackmail of the staff in the recipient office (or relay station), or the delivery personnel. Other than that, well, as I understand it (and I am not a telegraph engineer) is broadly similar to an early phone-tap, someone climbs the pole attaches their little box and listens in to the traffic while writing down the messages (for study and decryption later). Or you can embed one of your staff in the recipient or relaying station if possible.

It was a leaky old system that relied more on private code and cryptography to keep it secure than relying on people not being able to read the messages.

[rhiannon_s]

Bribery was my first instinct, but oddly enough a lot of my research was turning up stuff about how scrupulously honest most telegraph operators were. I'm sure there were less honest ones, though...

[rhiannon_s]

Yeah, but given the nature of the business (and the moral climate of the times) and the relative ease of misuse, I invoke the eternal cynicism of :"they would say that, wouldn't they".

[stormwreath]

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

[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?