The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1891-12-04
TRADES IN / SKELETONS. /: il, ii. J !;
Observation-Disclosures cHMAN,s GREW.
SOME BUSINESS.

/ NtVieNH6etsVtAfn = nENOt1MAN'SG GREW.
SOME BUSINESS.
| Dealer Who Has Handled Over Five
Thousand skeletons During His Lugs.-
brious Career-1ideaus decorations Of
. Bcdroom-1A Being That Loves Bones,
To deal in the bones of human beings
would be an occupation repugnant to
most men. Yet in the vicinity of Sixth
and South streets lives an old Frencl.-
man who finds more pleasure in this o.,.
cupation than anything else in his life.
His store is u veritable den of skeletons.
The weather beaten sign swinging over
the door, crealsing dis,nally with every
gust of wind, bears this simple legend,
IN. de Robaire, Parfu,nerie," from
which it is evident monsieur would have
the world believe that he deals almost
exclusively i'll those perfumed waters so
dear to the feminine heart. Every f;.,n-
lily has a skeleton in the closet, however,
and monsieur's family, which consists
only of himself, is no exception to the
general rule. He has his skeleton-in
fact he has scores of them-in closets
and otherwise, the majority otherwise.
The truth of the matter is, the old
Frenchlnan deals in skeletons.
The second floor boasts of only two
small rooms, the rear one being used us
a workshop. while the other, directly
over the store and fronting on tho street,
serves the double purpose of bcdcham-
Der and storeroom.
Snch another betlchamber rs the one
occupied by tho old Frenchman prob
ably does not exist, and how monsieur
manages to sleep Che sleep of the just
among such grewsomc surroundings ia
an insolvable mystery to the few who
have been admitted to it.
The walls Of the small room are orna-
mented with skulls and crossbones and
real life size skeletons, or rather death
size skeletons, in all sorts of grotesque
positions. -Four hideous skulls grin from
their positions OH top of the four posts
of the bed, and close to the sides of the
bed stands q skeleton with arms out
stretched doing duty as u clothes rack.
Tho whole is dimly lighted up by faint
glimmer of light cManating from q lamp
made of a CHASTITY skull suspended from
the middle Of the ceiling with thongs of
tanned human hide.
THE SKELETON TRADE.
De Rebaire himself is au odd looking
man, and the resemblance between him
and one of his own skeletons is decidedly
striking. He has gaunt, wolflike fca-
lures, his thin upper lip and bony chin
being adorned with TN iron gray NOUS
tache and imperial.
For u score of years he has been carry.
ing on his business in the old place, hav-
ing elnigrated from France in 1855,
coming direct to Philadelphia, where he
established himself in business. For a
time lie had IL hard struggle to keep body
and soul together, owing to the number
of competitors in the field, together with
the dullness of business. 1t soon became
necessary for him, in addition to his
other trade, to set himself mp as drug
gist, and he still runs his little shop,
though principally as IL decoy.
Late in the sixties, when the knights
Of Pythias were organized in this state,
the demand for skeletons increased, US
they We're used to great extent in the
lodgerooms. De Robaire prospered, US
a consequence, since most Of his compet-
itors had given up the business.
OFF and on during the following twenty
years business was dull and brisk by
turns, but the old man had a.nassed a
small fortune. and there is no reason
why he should longer continue in tho
business except thar he has taken lik-
ing to his work, such as every true artist
does. He is an artist in the full sense of
the word. There is undoubtedly no one
who can articulate q skeleton as neatly
as he, and it is no idle boast on his part
when he claims that with eyes blind
folded he Gun take mass of bones repre-
senting the human frame and build up
the skeleton as it was originally, with
out one hone out of place.
WHAT TIE "DocToR' SAYS.
The "doctor," while standing in his
workshop few days ago with his sleeves
rolled up over his skinny arms, thus held
forth on the subject nearest his heart:
"This skeleton you see me operating on
l have imported from France. You will
uolACe llo uis5u pollSu OH Ile DOnes, uue
to method Of preparation practiced
only by the French. They clean the
bones by process of maccration with
lnuliatic acid, the whole operation re-
quiring two or three months time, while
in this country the bones are hastily and
carelessly boiled and come out rougl,
and dirty. In NIL my twenty years serv-
ice have never come across "a Chinese
skeleton. This is duo to the fact that q
Chinaman believes he will not reach
heaven unless his bones rest in the Flow
cry Kingdom.
1.-The different prices Of skeletons are
based upon their degrees of hardness
and whitencss, upon the development of
the bones and the amount of absence of
fat i'll their extrenities. For this reason
the French article is decidedly Of more
value than the American or German.
Up to this year over 1900 skeletons have
been inpor ed into this country, but
they have become scarce of late for
some reason, and to supply the demand