Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1890-06-16
THE CHLOROFORMISTH
Dangers OF Travelling In European
Compartment Cara

Compartment Cars.
Three Dead Passengers Found in oas
Day ON Ono French Limo How
Wealthy Travellers Arc DRAGGED,
Robbed and Murdered.
It has come to the knowledge Of the
| police in England, France and Germany,
! says the New York Evening Sun, that;
organized bands Of robbers, who make
railway carriages the field OF their oper-
; atoms and use chloroform and other
drugs to stupefy their victims, are at
work in those countries. It is be-!
Loved that many Of these daring and
ingenious scoundrels are Americans.
sometimes they 60 provided with opium
and chloroform.
This IL the ordinary modus operandi:
The robber, who must be we'll dressed,
enters into conversation in the carriage
with q man whom he knows or suspects
10 have money or things Of value on his
| peEson. He oftsrs the intended victim
some food or drink heavily drugged
with opium.
The victim, II he partakes of the;
kindly offered refreshment, soon falls
into . deep sleep, and while in that
OOAA0AeAO0 - 1VUO0Os IL no G01U00, ~ IN,
experienced traveller would do, the
robbsr pretends to fall asleep and waits
until tho other man really does So.
Then he approaches him silently, holds
| . piece Of parchment called q ''stider''
before his mouth and the chloroform
bottle under his nose.
and all the jewelry on the Victims pez&
con. Sometimes he administers an over
dose Of chloroform and the traveller
| never awakes. In such cases, IS the
VICTIM is found in possession OF . GER
tain amount Of money and his jewelry,
death - usually attributed by not over
intelligent provincial authorities to nat
ural causes.
N. Mace, the well-known French de-
tective, says that three such deaths CO.
CURED in one day on the same French
railway. An English lady was recently
chloroformed and outraged in q railway
carriage in Germany.
ALI England was stirred some years
since by the orime Of Lefroy, who shot
an old merchant in q railway carriage
in the heart of London, and whose guilt
it was found difnoult to establish.
Many Americans will not understand
| how these oatrages arc possible They,
would be impossible here, but the car
riaRes on European railways are divided
into compartments by partitions run
ming from one side Of the oarris.re to
the other, In the hrst-olaa-. carriages
the partition 10 ca......ed to the roof, so
that the OCCUPANTS Of q compartment are
isolatas
In the third and second-class carriages
the partition is not carried TO the roof.
and communication 10 possible from one
end Of tho carriage to tho other. This,
added to the fact that robbers do not
look for victims in third-class carriages,
has caused great number Of persons to
ride third-class when alone who do not
do 80 from necessity.
When . train Is bound on Journey Of
any length the porters distribute the
passengers so that there are not more
than two or three in each frst-olsss
compartment. OF course that insures
quiet end plenty Of room. At night, If
you are not in q sleeping carriage, it Is
not uncommon to find yourself the sole
occupant OF compartment, but more
common to have one fellow-passenger.
1t is not conducive to sound sleep to
be alone, practically beyond the reach
OF all human aid, with a man whom YOU
oan hardly see, and who may be pro
ividsd with revolver, knife, life-pre-
server, ohloroform and opium. The
partitions are so thiokly padded that
the loudest noises scarcely penetrate
them. Railway companies are compelled
by law to provide means Of oommunica'
ton with the guard on trains going
twenty-five miles without stopping.
A button, which it is necessary to
l L. ~ ,N(o 10 10 %He
guard, ia placed high up on each side OF
the carriage. But communication can
only be effected by the button on one
side, according to the direction in which
the train is going. A frightened man
would probably press the wrong button,
o. he might And his fellow-passenge,
with Q drawn revolver between himself
and the right button.
For years there has been an agitation
in England for cars Of the American
kind, but conservative Br1tons do MOI
care to purchase safety at the expense
of privacy. Those who do can now ride
third-class. Separate compartments are
provided for ladies on trains making
i, long Journeys. but they are not com
monty used.
II IL customary In England for womer
with babies to ride in smoking oompart
ments. At least that is what the average
Englishman would deliberately affirm
The truth Of the matter is probably tina
| . woman with . baby on q railway plat
form is too much confused to choose any
particular carriage, and she very otter
. enters a smoking compartment. 1t Il
! also said that natural feminine perverse
ness makes her think that no one cal
, desire to be comfortable when 1t Is
question Of accommodating her baby.
Mongrels OF Every Description.
; Lima, the capital of Persia, is pro
nounced to be the headquarters Of al
the worlds mongreldom. It's populatio,
is the product Of three centuries Of race
! crossing, and scientific investigates