The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1891-08-15
The Thibodaux Seutinel,
SATURDAY, AUGUST Is 1891
A Hard Chimney to Clean.

So long az chimneys were built with
generous fues the little sweeps bad
plenty of work in cleaning them out.
but now that fiues are little more than
rabbit holes and coal has come to be
the common fnel, the chimney sweeps
occupation has pretty much departed.
The race. however. is not yet altogeth-
er extinct and a few remaining speei-
mens are still met with occasionally.
An adventure of a pair of these grimy
urchins is told as follows by one of the
daily papers:
Two French artists, Fusineau and
Banquet, appeared the other day in
the PARIS police court as defendants in
a case that it is safe to say has no
parallel in the records Of queer trials.
One Mangotti. a chimney doctor, was
the complainant. Here is the short
hand report of his deposition II was
engaged to repair the damages in the
chimney of one of those old houses in
which we are obliged to employ
young sweeps. | sent one up to find
ont where the trouble was. He was in
the chimney for about IA quarter of an
hour, and | was On the roof waiting
for him TO come out. Finding that be
was staying an unusually long time,
] shouted down the chimney Hello.
there" No reply. i shouted louder.
Still 10 answer. what can be the
meaning of tEisf / said to myself.
Then / came down. My other sweep
was below. asked him if Ripani had
come down, NC ; said he. Then I
shouted up the chimney Hello,
there !! No answer. Something must
have happened to him !; go up and
See ] said. He went up, and l re-
turned to the roof. / again shouted
down the chimney Hello, there y
No answer ! ran down and called up
from the bottom of the chimney. No
answer / put my head into the Chin
ney, looked up and saw the sky. You
can imagine the fix ] was in to find out
what in the world became of my two
sweeps. / had my tete de loup with
me. | ven mp again to the roof and
let down the machine by means of a
cord. 1t went all the way to the bot
tom without being stopped by any
thing. Then / vas almost crazy.
What the devil "a this mean = I !
said. l ran to the landlt rdand told him
the whole affair. He couldn't under
stand it. Then / went home, not |
knowing what to do. The next day /
returned to the old house and knocked
at the doors of all the tenants. They
all hadIheard that my two little sweeps
had disappeared in the chimney, but
nobody could tell me anything about
them, except that the old chimney
must have turued them into smoke, |
Then | went to commissaire de Police.
He caused a search to be made, but it
ended in nothing. ] returned again
to the house, and renewed my INQUIRIES
among the dodgers. Try the sixth
story, at the painters said one. Away
| went up, four steps at a time. The
key was in the door. / went in and
there | saw my two young rascals
playing pitch and toss with the pen
mics that the artists had given them.
The two painters were splitting their
sides laughing at me. You can ina
CINE how furious l was, and how Iabus-
ed them. Then they stopped laugh
ing and kicked me out of the place"
The Cortland you don't know
how your sweeps came to be with the
7
The Witness-No, sir all I know
is that 1T is some kind of a trick.
The Court-Well, we must have the
explanation of this thing. (To the de-
fendants)-Be good enough to give it
to US.
The Defendant Fusineau-I was
working at my easel and Banquet at
bis, when suddenly, We heard some
thing scratching. We listened atteu-
THE noise comes from the
cupboard" said Banquet. THAT can
be,n said / !; "there are no rata
here" And soon l discovered that he
right. l opened the cupboard.
took out what was in it, and by the
light of a candle / saw a little iron
ioor, which was closed with a bolt. / h
asked banquet to pass me a hammer. l
He did so. / tapped the bolt, and the I
loor opened. was then in front of |
he fue of the chimney, and there was
! young sweep in it! / grabbed my
sweep and yanked him into the room.
Banquet and myself then nearly burst
ourselves laughing. We gave the boy
! glass of wine, and then we heard
somebody shouting "hello ~ "The
'oss is calling me- said the youngster.
Don't answer" said l, and we waited.
N about a quarter of an hour another
weep began to come up. l lay for
and when he was in front Of the
lole grabbed him and yanked him in
'eslde the other one. Two captured =,
How we laughed.
The Court-Yes, and you kept the !.
wo sweeps there. without TROUBLING