, 1872-11-17
CRIME IN PARIS.
Some Of the Peculiar characteristics De.
yeloped in the French Curiosi.
ties Of Crime.
A People with Genius for Roguery
under All Circumstances.
Illustrative Incidents and An
ecdotes.

Illustrative Incidents and An
ecdotes.
Francis I, said that Paris Tas less 3 city than
. world, II true in his time, the force Of the
epiergrn has been Increased q hundred-fold by
the progress Of the nineteenth century. The
fact is exceedingly well illustrated by i book re-
Gently published by Hachette, in Paris, entitled
Paris, Ses Orgdnes, Ses Fonctions ct So Tie
dams la Seconde Moitie du IKE Steele" written
by II. Maxine du Camp. II. du Camp is .
Journalist, who printed series Of reviews EN-
bracing the main points Of interest in Paris life
and has now collected them in book-form
They are g succession Of dissolEing
views, portraying customs and charac-
terietics of too broad a scope to admit OF de-
scription in The space Of a newspaper article;
but, leaving his statistics and comments upon
the various duties Of municipal administration,
there are certain gleanings which will fnd an
interesting place among the
cuRlos1T1Es OF CRIME.
Paris being so essentially cosmopolitan, it is
entirely possible that the features which
H. du Camp has noticed, and others that
may be added to his observations, should be
occasionally encountered elsewhere. The differ
ence is, that they are common to Paris, and con-
stitute what may be called peculiar genius for
crime developed a.ike among the derotees OF
social vice and the great cEiminals- Take for
instance, description Of q certain thieves re-
eort, where the frat object meeting the eye
Which reads: 'To avoid disputes, the customer
is requested, i you please, to psy when be is
regulations are printed in the carries OF the most
fashionable restaurants becomes disgusting in
comparison with the delicacy Of this notice to
.hieVes. Some OF the other arrangements, how
ever, are more practical The WARM wine
is served in cups of hard ware. which
can be used, as occasion may demand,
for throwing at neighbor's head without in
curing the expense Of breakage. The coffee,
which comes on already sugared Ian economical
p1ecaution), and which is called ua notr simply.
is served IN iron cups, securely attached to the
exits, all Of which BECOME available upon the ap-
proach Of the police
THE IDEA OF GOVERNMENT
among the lower classes Of the Partisan popula-
tion is exceedingly peculiar. Among us. the
The execution Of the Law. 4 policeman is not
necessarily regarded as common enemy to
mankind In Paris, it ia the precise opposite.
The gems d'ar7nes rarely walk the streets alone;
they have found it safer to hunt in pairs. The
Pariaian populace is always apt to develop =
sympathy with any person who may be arrested,
without stopping to inquire into the
justice of the case. The weaker se1 .is lnFar'-
ably the subject Of this frequently mi mistaken AIKEN
paralyzed By the mob go often that the custom Of
making arrests in the open streets has been
largely abandoned, and the police usually en-
deasor to trace the offender TO come stopping-
H It Is a4Ns singular I t contradiction of the the
Pariaian character that it looks to the Govern
ment for protection in every thing. NJ, du
an old woman who had her soup-tureen stolen
from her. t'Toyons!" che cried; we'll see nov
what our Assembly is doing. Wen see whether
they'll return me my zonp-pot{, or not, not;1
oa the other hand, no frenchman !, , could
the Custom House without having the
sympathy and active aid o. all his contpagnons
re royage, who would consider it their duty
to defraud the Government.
4 qES1Cs FOR RoduEHY
pervades the entire population OF Paris to :
greater or 1ess extent, and a timely word or
Thought serves to turn the entire drift Of the
popular feeling: There is = quick response
@ and as ii mSs sss 5ssa cap o eass
several incidents illustrative Of this characteris
tic. One OF them is the case Of d. Hippolyte
Royer-C Collard. When he gave his frat lecture
v, Wbich iee 9i he had been appointed sgsinst the
sovereign will OF the students, he was hissed
on all sides, and any man Of less
force OF character would have euccumbea
to the attack made upon him: He finished
his discourse, however and left the lecture-room
only to find couple of hundred excited students
waiting for him outeide. He took his way to-
xard the bridge crossing the Seine. The mob
followed, gathering strength and courage as it
two sous, he pulled out q twenty-franc piece and
gave it to the keeper. with the words: ''That il
all right, these gentlemen are with me, point
ing to the crowd behind him. The effect was in
the Professor gave his next lecture amid storm
of applause No mob outside of Paris could
have been controlled by so subtle piece Of sar-
casm.
Another instance Of the quick appreciation Of
the Paris populace was noticed, one day, in the
Faubourg Saint t-Antoine, when number OF the
working people became incensed at the appear |
ance Of celebrated character OF the denai-
monde, returning from the races IN saudy Dress
and open carriage. It is not unusual for the
women of this class to meet with public t
robuke in Paris, in spite of the toler- !
ance which society extends to- them.
In this case, the excitement might easily have
:. Let the rag-picker Of the future pass" Tie
rebuke was 80 apt and SO cutting, involving the
punishment that was sure to come, that the mob
at once gave way and allowed the carriage to
pass unframed.
II. du Camp might also have said that the
1o,ette was among the first to understand the
bitter prophecy that the gamin. made. The
writer knows Of some instances illustrating this
faculty of quick perception, which have not
come Under II du Camp's observation. Walk
ing down one Of the marrow streets OF the
QUARTER Latin, one morning, q tawdry woman
was dragging her e1ovenly skirts along, when |
one Of the Gavroches: to be found everywhere |
in Paris, cried out to his fellow: "sse |
here, There goes demoiseNe moriee!' The
woman, instead of retorting, hurried on, biting
her lips with shame. A similar case WAS OBJ
served in petit dejeu,er en- tanille, which an
al preaent being males except the hosts chere
casion to display his knowledge Of the French. |
Turning to the temporary partner Of
(IYou are study"), which was a.|
Compliment, and brought out amiles; but he
added Immediately ''aante," which made him |
say ts Tu Is tt',e etudiante (another: term for |