The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-10

SiSuthstauces are so EXCESSIVE as. 10 give
rise to the suspicion that they are not
altogether disinterested. Hence it will be
readily understood that even when attended
oy masculine escort, respectable women
ayoid going on foot in London after dark.
On the continent matters are even worse,
and 1t is not only inadvisable, but also
positively dangerous for an unescorted
woman to venture abroad in the streets on
foot either by night or by day. Every I'M
prosected member Of our sex possessed with
an ordinary share OK good looks and youth,
who walks out alone, at no matter what
hour OF the day is regarded by the vast
IN aJorlty OF the men whom she meets as
their natural and legitimate prey, and as
such is exposed to their insults aud perseou-
ton. The nuisance exists in almost
every continental city, but no.
where is it combined with so much im-
pudence and audacity as in the towns and
cities Of France and Italy, countries where
nearly each male creature that one meets
seems imbued with the firm idea that he is
absolutely Irresistible as far as our sex is
concerned. Nor do the police afford us any
protection. Although / have lived long in
Europe particularly at Paris, | have never
yet heard OF a case Of the police arresting a
man for tormenting a woman On the street,
and yet this Is one of the commonest Of
lenses against public decsnov 1t is
true that on one occasion | saw a
young American girl, who had been in
suited in this way on the Boulevard des
Cupuctnes at Paris, stop short, seize the
whip of a cabman whose "tiacren was
drawn up at the cuEbstoue and lay it
about the face of her tOrmenter with suoh
good will that he turned tail and fed
amid the jeers of the bystanders who at
once understood the situation and to the
intense qualification OF the cabman who
was actually led to manitest the exuber-
ance of his delight by dancing q pas seul
while the castigation of the bourgeois"
was in progress. But then every woman
has not the spirit or courage to adopt
such radical measures of sef-proteotion
nor has she a whip always at hand.
Unfortunately, there is another danger,
and one that is far more serious than the
species OF persecution just described, to
which our sex is exposed on the public thor
Oughfares OF Paris and of most of the cities
of the continent. France, and in the ma
Jority of the other countries as well, the po-
lice have power and authority so arrest in
discriminatory any woman who may be
found on foot in the streets, either by day
or by night without male protection.
From time to tune the police indulge in
what are technically described as ''rahes,
or razzias. A Gordon of police, mostly In
plain clothes, is quietly drawn
around the district selected for the
razzia the circle is gradually lessened, and
all tbs women uuaccompauied by male
escort found within it are captured and
taken or to the prison depot. There they
are kept all night long herded together, and
it is only on the following day that they are
offered an opportunity OF proving their re-
spectability, which If they succeed in doing
they are set free. From a shop window on
the Boulevard Montmartre in Paris, | have
witnessed a razzia of this kind take place at
o'clock in the afternoon. The scene was
almost indescribable. Screams, shouts,
cries, coarse oaths, vile eplthets,
women rushing hither and thither,
and their pursuers after them. The
conduct of these pursuers (who constitute
separate and most degraded division
Of the Partisan police force toward the
women is horrible in the extreme. They
strike tho poor creatures with their heavy
fists, clutch hold OF them by their hair, hurl
them to the ground and indeed treat them
as il they had no vestige of humanity re-
naming. And remember that every girl.
every woman. no matter how evident her
responsibility, who happened TO be\wallsiug
unattended by male escort on the Boule-
ward Monmatrs that afternoon was sub
jected TO this species of maltreatment, fol
lowed by detention at the depot until the
folio wing day.E
AS | mentioned above, in addition to
these razzias, both the uniformed and un,
uniformed policeman is authorized to arrest
any unescorted woman at any hour of the
day OF night whose behavior be chooses TO
regard as suspicious. Considering, that the
maximum pay of French policeman does
not exceed SO a week, it will readily be
understood that this practically irrespon-
sible power affords MIN numerous oppor-
tunities OF abuse, backmaM, and moreover
predisposes him to lend himself to schemes
of private revenge. Only year
ago Mime. Celiue Montaland, of
the Coincide Franchise, lady dec-
GRATED with the Order de pAcademie
and occupying on the French stage
a prominence equivalent to that enjoyed
by Miss Ada Rehan on that of the United
States, was arrested at o'clock IN the nf-
ternoon while walking alone down the Rue
du Fsubourg st. HOnore, by q policeman,
out OF uniform, and notwithstanding her
protests, as we'll as those Of the bystanders,
was thrust into a cab and taken off to the
Depot prison. Fortunately the project Of
police was notified of the affair before night
fall. and Nine. M2ntaland was SET at liberty
with profuse apologies after a few hours
detention. The shock to her nervous sys-
tenn. caused by the arrest and she brutality
Of her captor, was so great that her health
broke down and she died few months
later.
Equally well known is the case OF the
Comtesse dc Canisy, who was one Of the
reigninR beauties Of the great world Of
Paris some years ago. On one occasion she
was placed under the necessity of forbid
ding her house to a foreigner who had rem
dered himself obnoxious to her. He deter
mined to be revenged, and accordingly
brbed couple Of those ununiformed pc
llcemen assigned to the Service des moeurs"
to assist him in the matter. A couple of
weeks later, while crossing the street from
her mothers house to her own, after
dinner, the two mansions being di-
rectly opposite to one another, she
was suddenly seized by these two police,
men as a suspicious character, struck,
kicked and dragged eff 20 the Depot prison
where she spent the remainder Of the night
with number OF the most degraded speci-
mems Of our sex. On the following morn
ing she was liberated with apologies Find
ing her way home she locked herself up in
her room, and after writing letter to her
husband who. believing that she had re-
manned the night with her mother, was
asleep In the adjoining apartment, shot her
self through the heart. In her letter she
stated that after the ignoniny TO which she
had been subjected that night she could
never look in the face Of her beloved hus-
band or children again.
The bereaved husband was able to secure
no redress save the dismissal of the two po-
licemen, who made full confession. The
man who had bribed them prudently left
Paris