The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-02-04
which is as centrally located as Madi-


son square, was full of nursemaids.
s. Another souteneur, who had for
mistress a 17-year-old laundrymaid,
thought she was not earning enough
money to support him properly. He
demanded that she give up her place
and take to the streets. When she re-
fused he knocked her down and pound
ed her face to pulp with his heels. He
will probably get heavy sentence, for,
although only 27 years old, his record
stands thus: Burglarles, 2; highway
robbery, /; stabbing affrays, Z; petty
swlndling, G; picking pockets, 2-twen-
ty condemnations In all.
Z. Two young men who had been TAX
ing a walk in the suburbs reached the
Notifications shortly before dark. A
party Of youths on the opposite side of
the street crossed over and made some
insulting remarks. The two young
men paid no attention. Notwithstand-
ing that they were set upon by the
gang, who knocked them down and
jumped on them. Each became uncon-
scious. and when they were found
few minutes later 1t was discovered
that each had been stabbed several
times There was absolutely no motive
for this aggression. 1t was simply one
Of q peculiar sort, the result of pure
deviltry. seemingly. which occurs in
Paris two or three times week, year
in and year out.
s. A bank clerk going home from a
dance shortly after midnight was send
bagged and robbed i'm the Rue Lafa-
yette.
9. A woman of the street plying her
vocation in the Boulevard Poissoniere,
was stabbed and robbed at l O'Clock.
10 A man and wife on their way
| home from the theater We're garroted
and robbed in the Rue des Acacias.
if. An elderly man, slightly under the
| influence OF drink. was accosted by a
| woman Of the street in the Boulevard
| Strasbourg, who choked him while
male confederate went through his
! pockets.
~. Four policemen were attacked in
| the Epinettes quarter by a gang of
| young toughs, and were severely ham
| died, one having his arm broken.
| 13. In a public hall near the Place
d'Italie a serious row broke out about
midnight Three men and one girl
| were severely hurt.
IA. In a street fight in the Boulevard
de le Care between rival bands Of
|
| bed.
| These fourteen cases are in no sense
| record of an extraordinary day; on
| the contrary, there are three hundred
| and sixty-fve days in the year just
| like it. The only extraordinary thing
| about the record is that it was to be
| found in a single Paris newspaper. The
| Parisian does not realize what city
| 1., i- in hpnaI1G4a ha .
| reatlilg to one paper. which considers
itself enterprising if I gets one-tenth
| of the local news.
| No POLICE PROTECTION.
Few men in Paris venture out in the
evening without revolver. This is so
because a man is almost as likely to
be attacked in n quarter alive with
people as in one of dark, lonely streets
Nor does the respectability of the
neighborhood insure his immunity.
About his only chance for safety lies
in his taking a cab; and the ubiquity
and cheapness of cabs operate to keep
down the percentage of nocturnal at
tacEs. As for the suburban districts,
it IS very brave or very careless
man that ventures into their streets
vallos-Perret, Billancourt, and Pantir
are particularly dangerous, In each of
these places there are. and have been
for mary years, bands of thugs and
marauders which the police have been
totally unable to break up. In the
neighborhood of the Notifications the
situation is even worse. This condition
of things is accentuated by the fact
that throughout Paris policemen habit
ually patrol the streets in pairs, never
singly. The Bois de Eoulogne, practi-
cally unprotected after sunset, is new
er entered by respectable man at
night. AS for the Bois de Vincennes,
which bears a relation to Paris much
the same as Bronx Park bears to New
York, ii is as unsafe by day as by
night. For twenty years ii has been
the home of tramps and thieves wo-
men as well as men, who camp out in
it's secluded parts all the year round.
In the space of four months last sum-
mer no less than three hundred aggres
sions, including several murders took
place within its boundaries. About
once a fortnight the police conduct a
battue and arrest many outlaws, but
they seem poWerless to make the park
reasonably safe to the respectable citi-
zer.
These facts are all perfectly well
known to the editor who wonders
what Chicago would think of Paris, "
as they are known to most Parisians,
but the chance to throw brick is new
er lost by the Frenchman. But, aside
from the record remarked, that editor
might have found in the same issue
of his paper the account of two court
cases which are perhaps even more sig
nificant of the present status Of crime
III France.
A QUDER LAW.
The first was the trial of a man
charged with shooting, in the public
streets, his wife and his mother-in-
The wife had received three bullets in
the lungs and had been eleven weeks
in the hospital. The mother-in-law,o or
the contrary, had been hit in the bach
and had been laid up tor only sever
weeks. This fact, by a popularity OF
French law, prevented her from having
a standing in court; the law practi'
cally says that a charge of deadly as
sault cannot be brought against per
son unless the victim has been eight
weeks in a hospital, In other word!
the law presumes that an injury the
duration of which is arbitrarily fiXeC
at eight weeks is if it keeps the victim
in led but nfty-five days the presump
ton is that it was meant merely L
J injure. This monstrous law was M
more ridiculous than the trial, which
was as much of farce as jury trials
I always ale in France. The husband
was proved to be a wife-beater and