Asked  if  Doyle  carried  out  his  suggestion,  the  Major  first  avoided
the  question,  then  admitted,  "I  saw  it  in  the  paper."  Asked  to
explain,  the  Major  said  that  all  the  Portland  papers  a  few  days  later


The  Major's  Secrets  43

carried  front  page  stories:  "Mr.  Bridges  had  discovered  the  dictaphone
in  his  room."

But  during  all  these  talks  with  Doyle,  the  Major  never  found  out
how  he  got  his  information,  whom  he  worked  for  or  reported  to,
or  what  his  authority  was  as  an  investigator?  No,  sir!  And  again  no,
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  five  minutes  later  he  was  admitting  that  he  had
been  a  close  friend  of  Police  Captain  John  J.  Keegan,  in  charge  of
the  Portland  "red  squad,"  for  thirty  years,  and  had  also  known
Police  Lieutenant  William  Browne,  of  the  same  "red  squad,"  for
many  years.  In  fact,  the  Major  testified  that  so  clever  had  been  his
Communist  disguise  that  Lieutenant  Browne  wanted  to  beat  him  up
because  he  had  turned  radical.  And  so,  although  Doyle  told  him
he'd  got  his  information  from  the  Portland  police  that  the  Major  was
a  spy,  the  Major  hadn't  the  slightest  idea  who  could  have  told  Doyle
such  a  thing.  No,  sir!

This  contradiction  drew  from  the  Dean  a  question  or  two,  result-
ing in  the  Major's  admission  that,  after  Doyle  had  confronted  him
with  his  knowledge,  he  had  admitted  to  Doyle  that  he  was  a  special
agent.
