The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-03-04
DRESS
DESTROYERS.
Types Of Degenerates Who
Mutilate Women's
Garments.
SLASHERS AND TREADERS
Gases Which Come Under
the Notice of Insanity Elk
perts Here and Abroad.

Krebs, the slasher OF women,s dresses,
is one of a type of degenerates of which a
group of physicians in Paris have made a
curious and interesting study. Instances
of this and of other forms of hysteria in
the male human being are sought eagerly
md the circumstances inquired n mi.
nutely. AS a result after five years Of rec
ord making DIR. Louis Latour and his as
~sociates have made a remarkable collec-
ton.
Krebs belongs to a class frequently met
with. To him as to all others afflicted with
similar mental perversion the cutting OF a
silk dress with q penknife gives as much
pleasure as the listening to a symphony
by a devotee of music, but it must be silk
and must be worn by a woman on a cloudy
day. TIN pleasure is lessened if thed day
is bright and clear, and the slasher, except
in rare instances, finds no satisfaction in
cutting any other sort of dress goods.
In 1894 a man was captured in Vienna
who confessed that in one year he had
ruined no less than 81 dresses with "a Pc
c~uliarly shaped knife which had been
made for the purpose. 1t had a handle
which fitted into the hollow Of his hand,
and an elastic cord concealed inside his
coat sleeve enabled him to snap the knife
out of sight In an instant after he had
used it. He was a member of a respect
able family and had a comfortable income,
but he said the temptation to cut every
silk dress he saw was irresistible. The
sight of one caused him to break into a
profuse perspiration and a RIGHTEOUSNESS
that he could not control.
The same physical symptoms were OBJ
served in a young Partisan of good family
who for years pursued the strange pleasure
of running silk dresses. He used an ordi-
nary penknife and invariably selected
black silk. Like the Viennese slasher, he
perspired profusely whenever he saw a
wonan wearing a dress of that descrip-
ton, and it was that which ultimately led
to his detection.
Allied to the slashers are what the
French doctors cell "treaders." These are
men who find delight in treading on the
trailing skirt of a woman's dress and cats-
ing it to rip or tear. They become Won
derfully expert and can pretend SO easily
that their action was an accident that few
of them have been arrested. 1t will doubt-
less interest many American women to
KNOW JndL Tue pIOpOIllOil VI dSo4uShoo La
stepping upon the hem of their garments
is about seven in ten. DIR. Latour figures
out that in three cases out of ten the dress
tearing is by design, and that of all Amer
lean cities New York and Boston present
the largest population of this class. They
are not known as the slashers are-indeed
it is doubtful if the majority of people are
aware Of their existence at all. The Amer
lean correspondents of the French scien-
fists assert that they are all over the coun
try and in great numbers in the large
cities. Detection is difficult because the
defense of accident is always difficult to
disprove.
There is in o Massachusetts, sanitarium
a man who two years ago in Boston en-
joyed a fair degree of prominence in mer-
camille circles. He is a bachelor and gave
frequent entertainments to friends in his
handsomely appointed apartments. He
was a mar about town, a bon yivant and
enjoyed the friendship and esteem OF many
of the leaders in art and literature in Bos-
tons exclusive set. He had one peculiar
ity known to his intimate friends, and
that was q violent antipathy to red apples
They made him i'll, and he was known to
avoid certain streets where he knew there
were stalls on which red apples were dis
played.
It was often remarked that, while a
charming companion, he was one OF the