, 1891-07-01
CLEVER PARIS ROGUES.
METHODS ADOPTED BY FRENCH
THIEVES TO SECURE BOOTY.


Unless some means can be found for
couuteracting the ingenuity Of the Parit
swindler it seems clear that the French
capital will quite Guido London and
New York ns the favorte home Of the
chevalier diudustrie.
That the Paris thieves have earned
their reputation may be inferred from
the fact that their slang Is among the
most rich in words and phraseology.
lie ~bonjourier, for instance. Is the nan
who knocks at your door early in the
morning, and If he hears no reply will
some in and take the tOquInte. or tick
err" or whatever else he can find upon
your table and mantelshelf Watches,
however. may be stolen az all hours by
the ~bouiourier, and this is only one Of
his devices 10 gain possession Of your
property A very good story is told At
his own expense by one OF our judged
He was trying n case IN which a witness
sw0re that he could not fix the Eact
time Of a particular event because he
had left his watch at home accidentally.
The counsel was rather skepticl about
this. whereuPon the judge said. There
is nothing unusual in hat Why, only
this morning ! left my watch on the
dressing table and did not rrcollect it
till, before entering the court, ] wanted
20 find out the time When the judge
got home be found that a messenger had
visited the house. mentioned the judges
fUrretfulness, described where the watch
was and asked for it TO take 10 the own
or Then the judge remembered what
he had said in open court.
THE gNTrrFEny rpfrE
The sans chagrin, or grizzlies one"
goes into Il shop and has brought ont be
fore him a quantity Of different articles
He then feigns epilepsy. and with the
aid OF q bit of soap he foams at the
mouth. He has for ~accomplices a learned
Hsculapius. who comes in, accompanied
by a friend During the fit Of epilepsy
the friend and the Ksculapius are ran
Facing the till or otherwise earning
their livelihood
The coup de Ia tabaterc, or snuffboI
trick, Is still occasionally resorted TO.
but that ingenious race Of traders. the
French female shopkeepers, are exceed
inRly suspicious Of gentlemen who are
addicted to the practice Of taking ~
pinch" IN their presence. One Of them
has recently been victmized in an ar
tistic style by a swiudler Of this sort. He
was accoutered in garments suitable to
tho nge and character of u person devOt-
ed 90 snufing, and bad all the appear
nucp Of having attained no least his six
Heth year. He called for watches and
chains and spoke incidentally Of his
granddaughter. for whom he purposed
on a future occasion 90 buy "a wedding
present at the same shop. lie then Sc
lcctcd one Of the watches and one Of the
chaius-not a very costly oueHput them
ON and inspected himself in the looking
glass at the other end of tho shop
Returning 90 the counter he expressed
his satisfaction 90 the m]erchande. and
taking out his suuffboN further testified
10 his feelings Of qualification by indulg-
ing in a good pinch While the box was
IN bis hands 1t seemed polite TO offer it
10 the lady. who did not, however, hap
pen TO be an admirer of the brown dust
She had hardly declined the offer when
the whole contents Of the box were
thrown in her eyes. and before she could
recover from the shock the would be sex
ngenaTian W7TrareeriGE TT7r-+--tA-
at 4 pace which would nave done honor
TO a Paris gamin OF street boy
TRULY A FRIEND ~ NEED -
The following is "a true story which
happened TO mo and an artist friend Of
mine. At II o'clock p IN we were
about leaving a small house in one Of
the avenues radiating from the Arc-de-
Vrumphe, where we had spent the even
ing. Unfortunately, however. the con
Cierge Gordon was broken and he could
not find the key, II Was impussibIu for
us to get out by the door or for those Of
the tenants OF the house who were
abroad to got in. The concierge begged
a tenant ON the ground floor TO let us
get out by one Of his windows and We
promised 10 20 after % locksmith
All tho shops were shut, however, and
none Of the locEsmiths in the quarter
would take the trouble TO answer when
we rang tho bell Under the circum-
stances the proper thing to do, WIS 10
hail a policeman. but never a sergeant
de vile could we find, though we went
n long way down each Of the avenues in
turn. Failing to find an officer we asked
where was the nearest police station
The one in the Tonnes quarter had been
shut up for a couple Of hours, the one at
Batiguolles the same, and at a third we
were simply sent about u business
1t vas now I O'Clock in the morning,
and a long line Of b~euighted tenants was
drawn mp before the fast closed door
We-their would be deliverers-wcre be-
ginning to lose courage when a very sus-
picious looking indiyidual-there were u
good many Of that sort about-stumblei
against Us My friend the artist. who
had all his wits about him, stopped the
man quietly, and taking oil his hat said,
Il beg your pardon, sir, but you don't
happen to have n jimmy aud a set of
skeleton keys In your pocket" Theman
looked at both Of US suspiciously for "a
moment and then whispered, is 1t 10
crack a CrbY The painter briefly cN-
planned the difficulty and the service re
quired.
''An right, said the mysterious one.
but clear of the crowd don't want
TO give free lessons"
We returned 10 the house, announced
that a lOcksmith had been found, and
begged the beuighted ones to give him a
wide berth. They let him pass, the lock
was picked in the twinkling Of an eye
and the night pr0wler was U~Vervhelmed
with thanks / wanted to give him
forty cents FOR his trouble, but drawing
himself mp he with much dignity eK
claimed, NO, sir, not among pals
New York Herald.
Merit Wins.
We desire TO say 10 our citizens that
fnr years We have been selling De. kiuV's
Now Discovery for CONSUMPTION. DIR
kiug's New Life Pills. Buckleu's Arnics