The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1870-08-19

cOVery and the arreSGOf the murderer
who might have easily escaped.
Another curious feature in the prac
tical working of the French police i
in the Importance attached to tn
marks on the bodies of criminals.
seems that the French are as fond o
adOrning themselves by tattooing a
the British sailor. In the vast regis
ters of the police, which contain tht
name of every person who, for the las
hundred and tWenty-three years ha
ever appeared before a tribunal, /;
minute description of the suspected
or condemned criminal is added t.
the sketch of his life. In this descrip
! ton the tattooing of the skin plays
prominent part. By kind of bravo
do, French criminals love TO mari
themselves ingeniously i'll manner
which makes it easy to identify then
by this strange Disagreement, Will
the majority it is the expression of al
open defiance to society, but will
many also the result of forced idle
ness. Soldiers in their barracks, sail
Ors on board ship, and prisoners il
their jail-yards, having nothing to do
i've themselves up to this useless, il
not dangerous, occupation. The i'm
aginaiiOn of the artists-for tattoOine
is an art among these people-goeI
! further than oI1sWQs9d liz inc; the
! French police Knew q sailor who was
covered from head to foot with the
full costume" of an admiral; it was
complete; not button was wanting
nor the sword by his side, nor the
epaulettes on his shoulders, nor the
grand cross of the Legion of Honor
The operation is very simple. The
design is stamped upon the skin, then
four needles are passed through q
cork, so as to be we'll secured in the
rude handle, while the four points are
united in one; with this simple in
strument the skin is punctured along
the outlines of the drawing and, ac-
cording to taste, the points are dipped
into China ink, OChre, or cinnabaS.
The first alone leaves an indelibIe,
blue mark: the Ochre, which produces
q yellow figure, disappears after
awhile and the cinnabar, composed,
as it is, of sulphur and mercury, is
gradually absorbed by the lymphatiC
vessels, and leaves no traces at all.
The police can, at the first glance,
Judge, by the tattOOing, whether the
owner belongs to the north or the
south, and whether he has been tat
tooed on the Atlantic or the Mediter-
ranean. In the first place he is sure
to show human figures, Adam and
Eve under the apple-tree, or similar
groups. In the Mediterranean, the
influence of the Koran, which prOhib-
its images of living beings, is Ssi-
formly felt, and here emblems prevail
flower pots, suns, weapons, and
flags. Nor are inscriptions wanting !;
pledges Of love, oaths, obscenities, and
sometimes q single word full of mean
ing. In the hospital of ROUen, for
mer galley-slave died, who bore on
his forehead, in large characters, the
words "No chance ~ AS crime is al
ways stupid, these men seem to forget
that they thus supply themselves the
letters with which cruel governments
formerly used to brand great crimi-
nails. While some wretcheo must
have suffered eXcruCiating tortures,
covered, as they were, all Owe their
body with long inscriptions, clever
thieves, on the contrary, carefully
avoid such marks for fear of reCOgni-
ton and if they have been stamped,
so to say, i'll their youth, take incred-
ible pains to change the marks, flow
er-pOt into fireworks, or nude beau
ty into a knight i'll armour. But the
police is aware of these tricks, and
can rarelyGbe deceived by such at
tempts at disguise.
The power of discernment acquired
by the French policemen, often the
fruit of long life, spent i'll the same
pursuit, is sometimes amazing This
applies not only to their memory,
which, by continued practice, enables
them never to forget a face once seen,
and to OrecognizeG y by a minute mark
invisible to Others,r but also to the
Judgment, which experience enables
them to form on the instant, of the
precise nature of the crime. A IA
nous agent was amusing himself one
day at the flower. market, when he
noticed a man whose features recalled
to him an indistinct impression. lie
thought it his duty, however, to act
upon the impulsive, and followed the
man, who noticed the pursuit, and
jumped into an omnibus. The agent
did the same, sat down opposite him
and loo kcd at him sternly. The poor
fellow became bewildered, and said
in a low tone "Do not arrest me be-
fore all these peOplew When tho
omnibus came to the central office, the
agent made sign to the man to fol
/ low him; they got out and entered
the fatal building. The prisoner was
Immediately recognized as a mos
dangerous thief, and that very morn
| ing succeeded in making his escape
! from Jail. By mere accident thC
agent had passed the prison, and thus
happened to catch glimpse of thu
unlucky fugitive.
In another case the marvellous cool
ness of these men, under most eXcit
J ing circumstances, was shown by an
Othcr great artist i'll this department
1t is we'll known that, not many years
ago, a great lady, the DIchess de Pas
Hin, was found murdered and terribly
mutilated in her dressing-room. The
agent, a somewhat celebrated NJ. Al
! lard, was at once summoned to exam
| inc the room in company with tht
Prefect of Paris. He entered, survey
ed the scene, glanced, at the state ii
which the furniture was laying about
at the position of the body and th
frightful wounds with which it wa
covered, and then, with voice full O
the deepest emotion, he turned to tin
prefect, saving: "That, sir, was don
bv an amateur!" That one glance
and these few words, decided instant
" the unfortunate Duke de PrasliL
who was at once arrested, and, after
long and painful trial, condemned t
suffer the penalty of the law for muI
der.
Nature says, on the authority of E
; r. Lancaster, that feas may live a
long as 8 months. a carp is believe
to have lived $50 years and pike 261
The toad lives So years, the frog - to II
and turtles much longer. The parrC
and goose live from 100 to 12O year.
and the falcon and raven over 1J(
ITha HuhnIn and nInnhnnk raanh frnr