The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-22

taken 'stockn OF oUr man, so far as the diai
hight would admit OF our doug. We saw
at once by the tom state OF his clothes
and by his general manner, thai he
was 10 usC-palnter a week out OF work;
.!tlll, there was nothing OF the cGtthroat ABOUT
his appearance, aud we thought ~e might
venture 10 put ourselves under his guidance;
particularly. TOO, ii what be sal1 was true, and
women and children trusted themselves at night
We followed him into the 6rst shed. True
eBodeb, lying on the bare ground round The 'op
OF the st,ll eUrning KILT. we counted four men,
all ragged and shoeless,N couple OF pale faced,
scanlly clad women, and a chlbOy-looEing
little girl, the whoe OF them seemingly
fast a leep;, while, up in a corner; sae;
tered behiui pile of bricks, We observed
two ill-uokng, bareoo'ed blacteuards, playing
p1quet with PACK OF dirty cards, by the lisht
OF n bit OF taliow caudle stuck in the ground,
while - tbird vas LOOKING on, All were smoking
short black pipes, aud al seemed TO be Ia an
advanced state OF mtoXiCatiOn. They exchanged
q few words with our guide, but took 40 DtCe
of me or my friend beyond cJelug US with a
confused expression of surprise. The guide We
had picked up now condu ucts us between long
piles Of uewly made bricks stacked to drv, then
along a narrow witdng pathway, over the same
kind o; broken ground we hadalready traversed,
until we reach the top OF the cement kilas, three
of which, within shOrt distance of each other,
arc burning futously. We hnd the heat too
fierce, and the tunes 10y far too uoXious, TO con-
tDue in close vicinity TO them Tor any length of
time; aud notice thatthe dirty, ragged wan
looking wretches who are sleeping near them
has been sutocated by going to sleep too close to
them" observes our guide. Il once saw u fsl.
low carr ed off TO tue MOrgue from here. He was
90 wet and cold when he came in, that he would
lie down near the edge, though every one eau
toned HIM OF the danger ne was exposing him.
sell to. BY and by we dropped Off to sleep, and
he with he rest OF us; and when we began to
turn out in the morning before the workmen
arrived, we found the poor devil had lost his
taste for breao, had broken his pipe in iact'
and required 10 be dressed IN dear n-slang
nh ilNin hat "a u "a IouI a L.
for his coffin.
Among the mi'ersble looking beings We found
asleep was ole little fellow with an accordion
Tor his pillow, not because it ADDED to the CON-
fort repoSe, but that he m ght not be robbed
OF it before morning broke. Another indi.
Vidual had worn-out pair of shoes under
ms head, evidently for the same reason;
although we certainly should not have sup
poseo them worth carrying away. Our guide
told US that those who brought any food with
them to the quarries invariably ate it up to the
lasJ scrap be ore they went to sleep, they
knew perfectly well that, IT they did not, they
would be plundered Of Whatever remained
before the morning.
We now follow our gnide down a steep bank
| 10 The kiln hres, which are burning furiOlsly;
| the crisp dry wood cracking and blazing, and
sending up clouds of tnlck white smoke in tue
dark sill night. Lying III fcont OF them in the
open ar and out in the drIzziug rain, is u back-
! bearded mau rolled up in a dirty horse-cloth
| He looks up a we approach, and, in reply to
some observations we make respecting his
CSuCn, III OIuS US tHaJ ne
| is obliged to remain there to look after
the hres, which have to be kept barn
ing all through the night. He is one of the
wOrknen belonging 10 the quairies, charged
! with this special duty, aud in nowise con-
| meet, with the tribe OF Vagrauts who journey
! for miles t. snatch nights repOse on the brink
| ofthese roxious kllns. Our guide next leads US
| into a kind OF gorge or hollow oyergrown wiIh
shrubs and small acacia trees Gradually the
! channel gets narrower, the sides sleeper, the
| shrubs thicker, and the road-in the middle of
| which We notice that an iron tralnway has beea
| laid down for wagons oriDgiug stons from the
! quarres-- makes q sudden descent. The next
minute we bnd oursev yes in trout OF the arched
eniraL ce to q dark gallery Overhuug with dense
clusters OF tall slender trees. Striking light,
we penetrate some distance into this subterra.
mean gallery, burning lucitermatches as we
adVanCe; but there is nothing remarkable TO he
seen III II, so We are content 10 take our guides
description of its extent. He informs us that
the chief gallery Is nearly mile in length, in
straic hit direction IN addition to which there are
numerous short branches. 1t then makes deep
descent and extends for a Considerable distance
farther. When the police come, as they peri
odically do at nighttime, i'll body some forty
or nifty strong, and, after planting a Gordon
round The quarries, make a seizure OF every
BODY whom they can catch within its circuit,
the more experienced habitues, our guide in
formed Us. invariably make for this tunuel aud
s6Clrte themselves in one or other of its many
galleries until all danger of arrest has passed
away. 1t was only on rare occasions, he SAID,
that the police Nentured to explore these
subterI anesn passages, as a considerable num-
Der OF men provided with lighted torches was
requisite tor this duty; moreover. they never
thought it worth while to leave a guard to
watch the entrance, the chances were the
men they wished 10 capture would sneak out
with some Of the regular workmen, and so
escape
The men who frequent the quarres, when
surprised by the police, very rarely venture
upon resistance; sull, about eighteen months
ago, some desperate rutians, who knew well
enough what their fate would be if they
allowed themselves TO be captured, seized hold
suddenly upon them, and tried to throw
them iuto the burning furnaces; luckily,
however, without success. When tue
police have secured the quarries. they march
their prisoners some fifteen or twenty abreast,
with torch bearers and police agents leading
the way, and with other agents on either side
and bringing up the rear. In this way the pri-
soDers are conducted TO the poste de police at
La Villette, about Il mile and u half distant :,
where they are searched; usually without iud-
ing sou upon ninetenths of their number.
1t is no uncommon thing 10 find less than
half a dozen sous in possession of the entire
party. AT the lat descent made by the police
eldest was sixty eight years OF age, and almost
totally blind he was kEoWn to have been a
steady workman for fifty years until he lost his
sight. The youngest was a boy of ten, who had
been tul ned adrltt in the world by his mother.
Among these siXty-two persons were no less than
fuIty.1oUr who confessed to having been
brought up to some regular employment,
and these included an optcian, a watch
maker, a printer, a hSrlst, and public
letter-wrter, besides members of all the
more common trades. One man had been
valet de chGmbre, and on being asked how he
became reduced 10 tue ragged, tamished state
IN which he was found, replied that he had lost
all his savings by the ban kruptCy of some indi.