The sun., 1898-01-16
GANGS THAT DO MURDER.
PARIS sUBURBS INFESTED M AN
ARMY or THUGS.

MORO Ihnn bItty HouleH OF Tnetf NICtltmn He=
covered rrom the seine In Three Months
desperate EIsht or the Peiice TO Break Up
the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES in the gangs.
PARIS, Jan. b.--In tho months Of May June
and July Of last summer ffty.thrce bodies Of
persons apparently drowned wero recovered
from tho Seine in the single stretch between tho
tC,T.ns OF Suresnos and Asnieres, both suburbs Of
Paris. Many Of these bodies boro traces of in
jurics sufficient to have caused death, such as
deep cuts and fractured skulls; but these
wounds. It. was thought, might equally have
been the result OF impact against abutments and
lecoration by tho blades Of propellers; In any
event, mono Of the bodies was submitted to an
autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
1t was assumed that the persons were suicides
by drowning or by jumping from bridge after
the infiiction of n mortal wound. Color was
Of course lent TO this assumption from
the fact that many persons arc led
to destroy themselves In the months named. and
that moro ofton than not they choose the river
as tho means. But q suspicious fact was over
looked by the authorities either from careless
ness or to save trouble-the fact that the rate of
mortality from suicide has jumped something
like 500 per cent.Vor the specified months and
for that particular part OF the Seine over the
ascertained ratio for o long series Of years.
Tho police. however. contented themselves with
guessed that more persons than ever werc tired
Of paying taxes last summer. and that they were
seeking quiet place down the river In which
to get rid of themselves because the Paris waters
wero already too crowded.
Contemporaneously with tho finding of these
bodies complaints began to come to the Prefect
Of the Seine relative to depredations by q band
of highway robbers. who roamod the streets Of
Neuily Surcsnes, Puteaux, Asnieres, and other
suburbs OF the city. robbing and manning by day
as well as by night After nearly hundred of
these complaints had been filed the police
started an investigation. Within a week they
were able to find sixty persons who had been
robbed by this band within area Of one square
milo north of the Bois de Boulogne. Fifty Of
these persons had been injured 80 badly by bull
let's, knife wounds, and blows from sandbaRs
and brass knuckles that they were confined to
bed In hospitals or at their homes. A number
had fractured skulls and of these several sub
sequently died.
In the early part of August a battalion of
police, despairing of catching the malefactors
by any other method, made concerted round
up Of the infested district, arresting half hun.
dred suspicious characters. Thirty of these. all
youths between the ages Of 10 and 25 were
mens o Young as they
included number OF notorious criminals. tine
leader of the gang, known as Coco" having
away" for short terms. and the police congratu-
OF a dangerous band, for time at least
Signhoant fact. and one which seemed to
marked. The suicides. which had been i m main. In
tained at the high average OF the early summer
until tho very day Of the arrest of the bandits,
Immediately went back to the normal rate and
remained there. This fact, together with some
disclosures wrested from the less. hardened
lice 70 thinking. The result of his thinking
was this: He reached the conclusion that Of the
hftyithree bodies found between suresnes and
who had been robbed, killed. and thrown into
the river af.erward by tho precious young dev-
murders committed in the public highways at
the gates of Paris. without hindrance or detec.
veyed to the public through the press. There
was not single newspaper commentary; appar-
entity the news was taken as the most ordinary
Although the murders stopped. or at least
diminished, the robberies and assaults were as
police were active. but as their efforts were
more or less sporadic, the effect was hardly
into office about this time. He made a thorough
investigation of the matter. sending scores OF
which complaints came. With each new r report ,po
charming FnH he awakenea to The that
ized and subdivlded into companies Of twenty
criminal. This army Of toughs formed a COM
plete chain about Paris. having camps and
in the secluded parts Of the Bois do vincennes.
and even In the suburbs. All told, they nun.
not far from four youths and
birds or malefactors convicted of crime, but FREQ
under suspension OF sentence.
The Prefect promptly set to work to rout this
police secured the outlying Districts and hardly
and the cutthroats. Often the police were
worsted, but several times they bagged a suffi.
S as e9 tb to them
up. An important capture was shortly made
when over twenty members OF a band opera ting
was commanded by n young woman, virago
whom 1t took six policemen to subdpe; even
years old, was not only the leader OF the gang,
but held an important place in the coun-
Ss.,d ellis OF u the confederation 5 Of bands She
pIements with which the footpads Were sup.
gouRe out the eyes of the victims of robbery II
they made a dangerous resistance. 1t had been
sons attacked by the band showed. Several OF
me bodies lonnd IN the river were also eyeless;
oatod nothing. as the eyes mig might have we BEEN BEEN
eaten eat, out by fishes. Another invention Of the
ing the soles of his feet with knife so that he
would be unable to pursue the robbers. II
!, The capture of this band was the beginning of
the end. The police drew the lines closer and
closer around the remaining bands and gradual
" the weaker OF them began to give up, dis
of any Importance, that OF Little Peter" OF
Neuilly. was captured with scarcely any resist
ance. This consisted OF twenty.eight young men
and four girls the Oldest OF the lot only 23
They have TO their account about forty highway
robberies, not to speak OF several murders. With
this last contingent safely behind the bars. the
suburban residents are beginning to breathe
freer and are once more venturing into the
ing of security will endure only for little
space. Nothing very serious will be done to the
cnptives, and after respectable interval OF So
cluson they will be once more on the old stamp
ing ground, with new gangs organized as good
or better than the old. 1t Is the history OF the