The Grange advance., 1876-04-05

Only some withered daisies white,
That breathe of woe.
CARTOUCHE.
Louis Dominique Cartouche, the son
of respectable, well-to- o-do wine-seller,
was born in Paris in October, 1893.
Anxious to secure for his son a higher
position than he himself occupied, the
father sent him to the College of. Cler-
mont, his native instincts soon assert
ed themselves; he ran away and joined
aparty Of gypsies. He was adopted as
a child of the band, and his new friends
formed the most sanguine anticipations
as to his future. Bold, crafty, and in
ventive, he was nimble as an ape,
plant as an acrobat. 70 an unconquer-
able love of wandering, of pleasure,
and of idleness, he united remarkable
ability to endure, when necessary, pri-
vation and fatigue. After he had re-
manned three years with the gypsies,
they were abruptly ordered by the Par
lament of Rouen to quit the province,
and, as Cartouche was sick at the time,
they left him behind. On his recov-
cry he found himself alone and friend
less in the streets of Rouen, without a
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
few months tranq utility he decamped
from the paternal mansion one moon
1irr1,4 1,Sr1,f with III fo4hnr>c
box under his arm. He was then about
II years of age. Pocket-picking was
the first branch of his future industry
to which he devoted his talents. He
formed a partnership with one Gaguis,
and, between them, they reaped rich
harvest, when one unlucky evening
Cartouche's comrade was arrested and
transmitted to Marseilles. This mis-
adventure led our hero to turn his tai
ents in another direction, and he took
to dice and cards. Haunting the bet
ter hells, he used the skill acquired
among the gypsies to such purpose that
suspicious we're awakened, and NJ. Car
touche was kicked into the streets and
debarred forever from that branch Of
industry. Tradition affirms that his
next debut was in the character of q
police spy. This, however, is apoc-
ryphal, and probably arose from the
fact that when he appeared, as he soon
did, as the organizer of a band of
thieves, he exhibited ideas of discip-
line and subordination that, with his
known character, must have been ac-
quired from without.
Becoming at last all Ishmaelite his
hand against every one, and evey ones
hand against him, it became his con-
stant care to impart to the skilled and
desperate band which rallied around
him an organization and discipline ap-
proximating as closely as possible to
the military; he appointed lieutenants,
sergeants, sentries, rallying and pass
words, and spared no detail to insure
the perfection of the instrument un-
der his control. This completed, the
campaign opened with night skirmish-
ing. Thus some three or four of the
band would pounce upon an unwary
citizens, whom blow on the head
from loaded bludgeon reduced to a
temporary silence. When the victim
regained sufficient consciousness to
give an alarm, the troop was at a safe
distance, arranging the next affair.
Paris tvas regularly apportioned into
DISTRICTS, one of which was allotted
each hight to some particular detach-
men3 of the band:
Becoming aware of the existence of an
organized system of crime, the city in
alar5b, appealed to it's natural protec-
tor I'M. D'Argenson, head of the police,
but found little consolation. Police
th4re were in abundance, but no con-
tr4ling power, order, or system.
EJch worked for himself. They plum.
d&red the robber and the robbed alike.
Selected without reference to their an.
> tecedents, many had served in the gal
leys, and many more bore the convicts
brand on their shoulders. Miserably
paid, they were perpetually exposed to
the temptation of a bribe, and it was
not long before the sheep-dog became
almost as dangerous to the flock as the
wolf himself.
It was in I72O that the terror in.
spired by Cartouche's band reached its
climax. They held virtual possession
of the capitol, especially by night
Their depredations were conducted
with the military order and precision
so much inculcated by their great lead
er. A party would assemble before
some rich mansion. Then some huge