The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-28

etIal; and only by accident two Of the
49, came across his last camping
e-o,+' Mnere they found nothing but a
~ylh COAT and few scraps OF waste ma
-. IN closer inspection one ~ rhesa
sSIaPs' however, turned out TO he the
d-S H q receipt OF san Francisco laun-
s,-,, ~ IN MS present increase OF re-
sources the bold brigand could he rafis5
LPgh 70 revisit the Paris Of the Parific
- lore long, and with the aid OF the timely
his .s- ne fflsco actually accomplished
what desperadoes will risk for the
r55.dnSe OF plumber was proved in the
Bon5,,s OL EaTls. when the forest of
Mas sun a resort Of bushWhack-
80 OF the Claude Duval school. Hold
Ips ana murders had become 50 freuuent
80 80 me police commissioner of the me-
49, s,,ol.oHS convened a council of mayors
ION me surrounding villages to devise
b.s- -is Lor me suppression of the bold
iIl-sai.us; The wooded tract was too
- Pe 20 Dc cleared without great expense
ellu INVASION Of proprietary rights, but
sSIlletnlng mad TO be done TO facilitate
me Nork OF the police patrols. and as
a compromise measure the forest was
opened out by system OF horse trails
81 eohNerging upon a point where the
seHIarmes' or mounted sentries. were
oh tne qul vive night and day, and were
COUPLED between sunset and midnigbt
ana al the first alarm a patrol started
az galiop IN the suspected direction
Iactlce perfected their skill in locating
the scene of a scufie till they could boast
mat a bandit would have to overpower
MS victims and finish his work of plumber
all IN four minutes or take The risk of
being captured in fiagranti. Scores of
DushWhackers were thus caught. or shot
Gown IN trying to escape, but, neverthe-
ls Ss, roDoeries continued, and Is years
aIter the establishment of the guard
mouse station shrieks for help could every
now and then be heard from the heart
OF the husband. 1T won't do" said
Chamfort, in 1865, "to call a man a misan-
thropist because he shuns society; we
might as well accuse him of hating wood
lahd rambles because he hesitates to
promenade after dark in the forest of
II soldiers were often expected to adj
vance within tve steps of armed enc
mics who would single out their leaders
Tor target practice the honors of the
'front.' rank would soon cease TO be pop-
ular; yet burglars have to take such risks
as constant preliminary of a success
full raid, and often tempt fate by search
ing the clothes at the bedside of a man
who may have already cooked his pistol
for short range shot.
And those perils are constantly in
creasing' straight streets and electric
lamps instead of dark. crooked alleys
reVolvers instead of horse-pistols with
fiint-locks that generally missed fire in
the hands of trembling proprietor; and
trained patrOlmen. with such resources
as night keys and electric alarms, in
stead of the cowhorn footing watchmen
of the middle ages.
The risks Of smuggling. too, are become
more complicated from year to year. Inc
nudlAtISs OF revenue guards OF the
French-Belgian frontiers. are nowadays
armed with repeating rifles, and a refus-
al TO halt at the second challenge gener-
ally means death to a fugitive cucumber
ed with heavy load of contrabrand. The
barracks Of the border guards are con-
nected by telegraph WIRES and a general
alarm can concentrate half a hundred gem
darmes upon a specified point before
the baffed smugglers have time to cross
the line or even find a good hiding place.
Nor are the douaniers very particular
about conhning their operations to the
territory of their own government. The
authorities on both sides of the border be-
ing interested in the suppression of the
Illicit traffic, raids across the frontier are
as readily condoned as on the Rio Grande,
where Gen. Crook often chased his name
region which our Spanish-American
neighbors themselves call the ''tierra de
pelado'-bushwhacker country.
But the hardest lot of all latter day
transgressors is perhaps that of the north
Spanish contrabanists The more Access
sible passes of the Pyrenees are so well
guarded that smugglers have not only to
travel in night time, but cross the noun
tains by foX-trails, which few foreigners
would care to tread in daytime These
trails lead through gullies where escape
would be hopeless, If the route of march
should have been betrayed by one of the
numerous spies prowling in disguise on
both sides of the border. At other points
the midnight wanderers have to pass pre-
cross forests still infested with wolves and
other beasts of prey that become special
ly aggressive in dark nights.
Yet the profits Of the contraband bust
ness rarely exceed two francs per night-a
franc and half being considered an ac-
ceptable average. In other words, a pos
sfble profit of 80 cents a day is enough to
tempt these hardy highlanders into perils
that would make nine out of ten military
adventures decline the career of a con-
quering hero.