The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-05-12
CARTOUCHE.

CARTOUCHE.
Louis Dominique Cartouche, the son
of r, spectacle, well to-do wine-seller,
was born at Paris in October, 1893.
Anxious to secure for his son higher
position than he himself occupied, the
father sent him to the College of Cler
mont, but his native instincts soon as
serted themselves; he ran away and
Joined party of gypsies. He was
adopted as child of the band, and his
new friends formed the most sanguine
anticipations as to his future. Bold,
crafty, and inventive, he was nimble as
an ape, plant as an acrobat. To an un-
conquerable love of wandering, of pleas
ure, and idleness, he united remark
able ability to endure, when necessary,
privation and fatigue. After he had re-
NAMED three years with the gypsies,
they were abruptly ordered by the Par
Lament of Rouen to quit the province,
and, rs Cartouche was sick Mt the time,
they left him behind. On his recovery
he found himself alone and friendless in
the streets of Rouen, without q single
sou in his pocket.
By good luck he fell in with an uncle,
who fed, clothed him, and sent him
home, thereby affording him another
opportunity for pursuing an honest Ca
reer. A domestic life, however, had no
charms for the ex-gypsy. After a
from the paternal mansion one moon
light night with his fathers money-box
under his arm. He was then about sew
enteen years of age. Pocket-pickng
was the first branch of his future indus
try to which he devoted his talents. He
formed partnership with one Gaguis,
and, between them, they were reaping q
rich harvest, when one unlucky evening
Cartouche's comrade was arrested and
transmisted to Marseilles. This misad-
venture led our hero to turn his talents
in another direction, and he took to dice
and cards Haunting the better hells,
he used the skill acquired among the
gypsies to such purpose that suspicious
were awakened, and M. Cartouche was
kicked into the street and debarred for
ever from that branch of industry. Ira
dition affirms TINT his next debut was in
the character of police spy. This,
however, is apocryphal, and probably
arose from the fact that when he ap-
peared, as he soon did, as the organizer
of band of thieves, he exhibited ideas
of discipline and subordination that,
with his known character, must have
been acquired from without.
Become at last an Ishmaelite, his hand
against every one, and every ones hand
against him, it became his constant care
to impart to the skilled and desperate
band which rallied around him an organ
ization and discipline approximating as
closely as possible to the military he
appointed lieutenants, sergeants, sent
ries, rallying and pass words, and spared
no detail to insure the perfection of the
instrument under his control. This
completed, the campaign opened with
night skirmishing. Thus some three or
four of the band would pounce upon an
unwary citizen, whom a blow on the
head from loaded bludgeon reduced to
temporary silence. When the victim re-
gained sufficient consciousness to give
an alarm, the troop was at safe distance,
arranging the next affair. Paris was
regularly apportioned into districts, one
of which was allotted each night to some
Larticular detachment Of the band.
Become aware of the existence of an
organized system of crime, the city, in
alarm, appealed to its natural protector,
M. D'Argenson, head of the police, but
found little consolation. Police there
were in abundance, but no controlling
power, order, or system. Each worked
for himself. They plundered the robber
and the robbed alike. Selected with
out reference to their antecedents, mnny
had served in the galleys, and many
more bore the convict's brand on their
shoulders. Miserably paid, they were
perpetually opposed to the temptation
of q bribe, and 1t was not long before
the sheep-dog became almost as danger
ous to the flock az the wolf himself.
1t was in 1720 that the terror inspired
by Cartouche's band reached Its climax.
They held virtual possession of the cap
ital, especially by night. Their depre-
dations were conducted with the mill
tary order and precision 20 much incrl-
Gated by their great leader. A party
would assemble before some rich man.
sion. Then some huge fellow-very
frequently one Simon Once, a brawny
ex-porter-would offer his gigantic
shoulders as the base Of living pyra-
mid, which, formed by the lighter and
more agile members of the gang, speed
ly reached she lower windows. Some
panes were adroitly removed, the apart
ments entered, and the most attractive
objects began to glide down chain of
ready hands till the pillage was COM
plete.
The gang hunted noble game. In
September, 172O, they invaded the resi-
dence OF the Spanish ambassador, and
stripped the chamber of the ambassa-
dress, seizing q magnificent pearl neck.