The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-06-17
The Men in Pettiooats in London-A
Wonderful Deception.

A London letter to the World has the fol.
lowing regarding the mysterious men in petit
coats:
They were taken before the magistrate at
Bow street and there charged-the "ladies'
with being men disguised in female apparel,
and the man with being in their company for
an unlawful purpose. "Why, they are LADIES'"
exclaimed the magistrate, after keenly look
ing at them as they stood before him; "the
officers, fear, have made an awkward mis-
take" The "ladiss," however, confessed that
they were men, but said that they had been
simply amusing themselves for a lark The
magistrate was inclined to take this view of
the case, and dismiss the prisoners; but the
prosecutor made private communication to
him, and he remanded them for further exam
inatiOn. Since then, day after day, the young
men have bsen brought up for examination,
and most astonishing and ludicrous story
was revealed. For more than six months the
two young men, whose names are Park and
Boulton, have been living in apartments to-
gether as ladies, deceiving their landlord and
the servants who waited on them by the ex-
cellence of their disguise. In their apartments
were found the most expensive collections of
ladies' wearing apparel-walking suits, ball
and evening costumes, bonnets, cnignons,
ourls, gloves, corsets and under-clothing, rouge,
pearl powder, jewelry, etc. 1t is found that
they had very extensive acquaintance among
the young bloods of the town, and that noble
men were among their intimates. Witness
after witness came forward and told how they
had met these "young ladies" at the theatre,
in the parks, at the races and elsewhere, had
been fascinated by their beauty and their
grace, and had managed to make their ac-
quaintance. One witness said that he visited
them i'll company with Lord Arthur Clinton,
and that although Boulton was on this occa-
sion dressed in mems clothes, both himself
and Lord Arthur were convinced that he was
woman. II treated Boulton as fascinat-
ing woman, and Lord Arthur Clinton appear
ed to be jealous of me- Boulton went on with
me in such flirting way that l was induced
to kiss him, never suspecting that he was
man." There was no end of such evidence as
this; but still nothing serious was proved
against the prisoners until Saturday last, and
the people wondered what it all meant. On
Saturday, however, your correspondent re-
ceived hint that the denonment was at hand,
and he went down to the Bow street police
court to hear and see for himself.
The court room was closely packed with
people, and it was with great difficulty that 1
made my way to the seat reserved for me.
Boulton and Park were in the dock, and 1
took my first view of them. 1 was prepared
" 10 DuI IL was WIFI LudJ
could bring myself to believe that the two
prisoners in the dock, dressed as men, were
not women. BoUlton, as he stood in the dock,
had every appearance of beautiful, but some
what bldSe, woman in male attire Fancy q
splendid and graceful form-well rounded,
plump and supple, classical features, hazel
eyes, very pretty and delicate mouth, auburn
hair thrown back from white and low fore
head, beautiful and delicate hands, and little
feet-and you have an idea of Boulton; while
for Park, call up the picture of another wo-
man with somewhat Of the same air, but with
coarser features and bolder look watched
the pair for two hours while the horribly dis
gushing evidence concerning their nameless
crime was related, and with every moment
the surprise at the success of the deception
they had so long practiced grew less. They
had played at being women so long that the
habit had become fixed upon them. The
mincing but not ungraceful carriage Of the
head, the 1.-THE and supple movement of the
body, the weak and girlish accents of their
voices-every gesture and look and word was
feminine. The evidence of the surgeon who
had examined them was domnatory, but they
listened to it with petulant impotence and
without showing anything like manly indigna-
ton.