One of the occasional conceits these pages will indulge is the predilection of history for unexpected combinations and rhythms. The next three days’ entries are not individually related, but capture a snapshot both of an avocation liable to inclusion in these pages and of an era — the great power jockeying of the early 20th century — through the lives of three men who spied upon one another’s countries.

• Nov. 5: Sidney Reilly
• Nov. 6: Carl Hans Lody
• Nov. 7: Richard Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki

On this day..

• 1959: Guenther Podola
• 1849: Pierre Dudragne, avarice
• 2009: Xu Wei, Jilin gangster
• 1974: Beqir Balluku, Albanian Minister of Defence
• 1607: Jan Le Loup, Maastricht werewolf
• 1915: Louis Bundy, "I would like to have shown the world what I could do"
• 1864: Four Confederate soldiers, under Burbridge's Order 59
• 1556: Hemu
• Executioner-in-Chief: a tour of U.S. Presidents and the death penalty
• 1927: Alfredo Jauregui, Bolivian lottery winner
• 1978: 12 coup plotters in Yemen
• 555: Rusticus and John
• 2009: Khristian Oliver, Bible basher
• 1941: Arndt Pekurinen, conscientious objector
• 1925: Sidney Reilly