Evening star., 1896-10-31

indulgently. These little people. cannot
hurt themselves" says happy Young
America out on his muscle. much less
U.S." Yet a glance at the local news in
any morning paper will reveal strange
things.
Every morning paper in the gay French
capital will have half dozen exciting
faits divers, which people read and soon
forget. And robbery with violence goes
on nightly in the Paris streets to an ex-
tent that would surprise the dwellers in
a much more dangerous-looking capital.
Doctor Lombroso, the criminal student,
has expended a great deal of Latin in tell
ing how the professional thug and bully
OF Paris comes to exist. According to
him. 1t is a matter of blood. The wretch
was born 50, coming into the world as a
criminaloid, just as some men are born
ldlots. Palmer people, however. including
the Paris police themselves. are skeptical
OF such an explanation. To them the evo-
luton of the Paris bully is simpler mat
ter He is not born. but made. The cir
cumstances of Paris life have made him.
How He Becomes Criminal.
A thriftless and drunken workingman
will have habits that are constantly throw
ing him out of work. He looks around
for means Of support more congenial to
his temper. In the present state of
French morality his first step is to drive
his wife on the street. Then he sends
his children out to beg or steal. Mean
while he listens to revolutionary and an
archistic speeches in the wine shops where
he drinks in the daytime and at the club
meetings of his fellows at night. These
NIL his heart with anmosity against the
rich, famfliariZe his soul with violence and
present to his conscience an excuse for
crime. Only one thing is now needed to
complete his own and his familys educa-
One or other of the children is almost
sure to do something which is punished
by term at the house CT correction Or
it is the father who is sent to prison Now
direct and scientific lessons are added TO
his own and his children's amateur ex-
perience, and henceforward he and his
family and his children's children will be-
long to criminal Paris and will wage war
on the ordinary members of society. After
crime has once got in a family in this
natural and easy way the apprenticeship
of the thug and bully is mainly the work
of women.
Education of a Souteneur.
young boy, for instance. grows up in
narrow lodgings on the outer boulevards,
or in some other crowded quarter Life
is promiscuous there, and no ideas CT
morality Of any kind cloud his spirit. He
grows up clear-sighted on one roint-he
must stick to his own and fear no conse-
quence, except from the police CIR some
one stronger than himself ouarrels. OBJ
scenity and blows are of daily occurrence
around him. He knows the disorderly
life of his mother ami the drunken yio-
lence OF his father. He sees his grown-up
sisters leaving their home, such as il is
and returning from time to time, we'll
dressed. and treating The family royalty
with money gained out in the world of
the rich-gained from the enemy. He thus
knows from the start that money can be
had without work.
h.a SafS. To frx-s,,r ror
men VIII give him money for services easi-
ly rendered, and these services are of a
nature to train him thoroughly for the bat
tie against the police ard 1.-The rich" He
begins by being an advance scout on his
own side.
Beginning the Trade.
II was thirteen years cid when 1 began
the trade of souteneur," a young prisoner
said to man who has studied all the
phases of Paris crime, not from books, but
among the criminals themselves when /
came back from school one evening l
found everything upset at home. My big
sister had come to see my mother with one
of her girl friends who took me to one side
and asked, DO you know if the quarter is
safe? We are coming around this evening"
Il answered that l didn't know what she
was talking about. She explained to ME
that l would only have to give warning
when the policemen were in sight. l did
what she wished, and that night she gave
me twenty cents. 1 didn't go to school the
next day and played with my mates until
night, when 1 began again, like the night
before, to give warning, running up the
moment L saw policeman. The next
thing for me to do was to learn by sight
all the officers, and then l got money from
every one of the women. 1 had playmates
who did the same thing as myself.
once in the daytime l stole a leather
belt from the bazar of the Hotel de Vile
" q IRE T ;cb
home, because my father beats me when |
don't turn over TO him half of what my
sister gives me-"
Duties and Leisure.
This If the beginning of the trade of
souteneur, or woman's bully, which has
come to precccupy the minds of every
thoughtful statesman in Europe. In Ber-
lin the severest laws exist against the men |
who live on the money of depraved women: |
Leicester Square in London knows them |
well; but it is Paris where the trade most |
fourishes, and here it is the regular ap-
to every other form of vice |
and crime. When young, the souteneur |
watches out for the police. When he ar
rives at mans estate. he follows the Door
girls along the street and projects them in |
case OF danger. or he uses them as q de-
coy. If he loses mate, by death or acci- |
dent, he must find another. In the mean |
night for his companion, drinking by day |
with Others like himself, or desperately |
looking out for money while his mate is in |
prison. This leads to all manner of thiey- 1
Ing and cheating. and sooner or later to /
violence itself.
During the past twelve years the courts /
have condemned more than two hundred Of 1
these soateneurs to death or to hard labor /
for life for the single crime of murder A
number of these aSsaSsins were under
eighteen years Of age; two were but fifteen.
and companion three years older had /
killed an old woman and afterward a DO
liceman. They had to be kept in irons fo-
the whole voyage Sut to the convict settle
nent Of New Caledonia
Night Attacks.
After the police have made their periodi-
cal raids on these women of the outer
boulevards, 1t has always been noticed that |
there Is perceptible increase Of night at
lacks on belated wayfarers. The soute-
neurs. being deprived Of their breadwin-
ners. have no resource left but robbery.
Work is always out Of the question. Their
commonest prey Is the workipgman who
has been spending his wages in drinking
resorts. But any tlpsy individual. the rich
Or the better, VIII serve their turn. srhey
,Nlay ,nF