The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1890-09-13

contains nearly 40, 900, 900 of people. the
frequency of the prisons, jails and peni-
tentlarieS is not surprising. The people
are much subject to insanity, and the
Warehouses; are also looked after with
the greatest of careful attention. Every
principal city or province in the empire
has one or more penitentiaries, and the
lunatic asylums are dotted around with
generosity which is not reassuring to for
eigners who live in dread of fanatics.
just opposite the foreign concession in
the district of Toxic known as Tsukiji.
are located the chief penitentiaries of the
Japanese Government, which are at all
times crowded with the convicts, most of
whom are in for petty offenses The
leddO River, picturesque stream with
its partl-cOlored crafts and sails of many
hues, a harhor alike for the sampan, the
cumbersome junk and the trim foreign
schooners which find profit in carrying
the trade of America, Europe and Japan,
winds around In and out of the graceful
bends dividing the godly missionaries
from the heather house of crime The
low, scattering buildings built on mud
fiat forming IA section of the delta of this
remarkable river look worse than the
novels to be seen along the water front
of the Mississippi in the crowded cities
dotting its banks.
But they are deceiving in their appear
ancc, for the sanitary arrangements and
the conveniences for the comfort of the
prisoners who are lucky enough to find
haven in this pcnitentiary are equal to
the better class of prisons in America, and
a great deal better than some of those
supported by the wealthiest States of the
Union. The Japanese indigents, not to
be called tramps, for the police arrange
ments of the country prevent suspicious
characters from roaming about from town
to town, have become aware of the fact
that prison home is better than living
in u straw matched cabin, and commit
petty thefts in order to be assigned a cell.
The original methods of operation of the
japanese thief would fill an American
light fingered gentleman with envy of an
emerald hue.
As creatures of the stage we have seen
| thieves carry cooking stoves out of houses
and do all of those impossible things
which make an audience laugh at the alb
surdity of the thing, but no one in in
ventive America ever saw thief steal
the shoes off woman feet as she was
out shopping on sunny afternoon. l
saw man who had committed this very
/ offense. lie took the shoes off wOman'S
/ feet a she was walking along the street
and she never discovered her loss until
she reached home The woman wore the
/ shoes that all those of the better class i'll
/ Japan do, wooden ones with Solcs about
three inches thick and vanished with the
highly polished laguer that Miss Boulc-
ward, of Chicago, has in her jewel casket.
Valuable bits OF fOot-gcar some Of
them are. and when they are inlaid with
choice pieces OF ivory and an occasional
ewel, they would excite the covctOus-
ness of any thief This particular pro-
fessiOnal was on the lookout for this
kind of booty. and he was prepared to
deity exchange pair OF common
wooden shoes of the same pattern. worth
a few cents. for the richly lacqucred
pair. The lady halted to look at some
thing on the street which interested her,
and the thief crawled stealthily up be-
hind her He had little straw in one
hand and cheap shoe in the other.
He touched her foot with the straw
and gave it wicked little scrape, and
she, innocent girl, thinking that a ven
turesome mosquito was about to take an
undue liberty, decided that the best thing
to do, naturally enough. was to scratch
the point in dispute with her other foot.
Deity she slipped her foot out OF the
beautiful shoe and brushed the insect
away with her toe. But when she went
to Slip her foot back into the shoe, with
out casting Il glance downward, her foot
haplcssly was placed in the cheap shoe
which the cunning thief had exchanged
for the costly one. Then the mosquito
lit on the other foot and out of its
lacquered shoe it slipped, and the shoe
slipped into the folds of the thief's kim
ono, while the girl ambled off to find to
her horror as she reached home that she
had disgraeed herself forever 10y appear
ING on the Gina, the fashionable street,
in a pair of cheap, unvarnished shoes fit
for her servants.