The Osceola times., 1881-11-12
Cute French Iseggars.

The Globes Paris correspondent, writ
ing on the beggars of Paris, says: Those
who have lived at Neuilly will remember
having seen little go-cart drawn about
the streets by donky, and containing
woman born without arms or legs. There
was nothing but a human trunk. The
resources Miss Bifiin was able to COM
mand were totally denied this unfortu
nate creature whose handsome and reg
ular features caused her to be surnamed
the Belle Estropiee." She was the
daughter of rag picker in the laval
quarter and her parents had leased her ont
to a troupe of wandering showmen, who
exhibited her all over the country as
rhenomenon. She quarreled with her
lessees, and when she became old enough
to assert her legal independence she
started out on her own account, and
managed to make good deal of money.
Like many of her colleagues, she had her
round, or beat, when she was residing in
Paris. and she went from house TO house,
calling on those who were accustomed
to bestow some trifle on her Her taxi
ings during the season varied from los to
l5s day, and she was able to afford to
give lad Is sd a day TO drive her donkey
ana PICK up lne lloHty tHipNn uoNH W
her. She has left her usual haunts for
the time being and public rumor asserts
that she forms one Of the great attrac-
tions of a circus now travelling in the
country in England. There is also the
blind man Donadieu, who has sat for the
last fifteen years, even through the seige,
on his chair, from eight in the morning
till six at night, in front of the omnibus
station on the Place Clichy. BY the side
of this man is the sham blind beggar,
named Thomassin, whose case was recent
ly brought under public notice by the
officiousness ofthe police. Thomassin had
wandered about the streets for over
twenty. five years, hiring children of
seven and eight to lead him about. Every
one thought he was blind, but Thomas
son the begg&r was quite different man
in appearance from Thomassin the rent
ier, who lived at Batignolles- Monceau.
lie was supposed by his neighbors to be
very rich man, although all kinds of
reasons were given for his continued
absence from home during the day. He
was identified by one of his neighbors
while he was at work in the disguise of
a blind beggar, in distant quarter of
Paris, in direction diametrically OPP
posed from that where he lived. Infor-
nation was given to the police, and
Thomassin was arrested and punished
severely, although nothing could deprive
him of the money he had saved or the
property he had acquired during the five
and twenty years he had extorted money
from the public, who gave IN considera-
ton of an infrmity he did not possess.
Every kind of ruse is put into practice
by those who find that the public can be
deceived, and that man can live by his
wits, without having 10 exert his physi-
cal force. Paris, like London, possesses
its artists md professors, who work for
the chepdliers dindustrie, and can simulate
with startling effectiveness the most hide
Gus deformities and the most repulsive
wounds. The man who goes round with
wooden leg all day long and dances at
the Barrier ball in the evening with sane
Understandings one leg may be
somewhat cramped from being tucked
up for so many hours-is not myth.
He really exists, and one is tempted to