Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1900-11-22
AMERICANS IN PARIS
Outrageous Swindling of Our Com
patriots at Paris.
Visitors 60 the Exposition Are Way.
laid and FIeeced by Tricky Cit
tzens-IIlustrative Instances
\ of Rapacity.

There is lot of tribulation among
The Americans who have gone to Pari,
10 see the exposition on a strictly
economical basis" said guest at ont
OF the hotels, who is fresh from thu
French capital, reports the New Or.
leans Times-Democrat "a large pro.
portion OF that class are women. They
have posted themselves in advance
from misleading articles written by
people who were evidently never
abroad, memorized a dozen or so use.
full phrases and rushed across to dc
the big show on S1.50 day. Such 9
tourist has about as much show in
Paris as spring chicken in a pack OF
wolves. The poor innocents, who
have been told that everybody
speaks English over there, get off tn,
train to find themselves in a babel O.
foreign tongues and without tn,
least idea which way to turn. Nat
urally, they are at the mercy Of tn,
first sharper they meet, and scores OF
them have been plueked clean. ther
and there, on the pretext Of changing
their money into French currency
Others are lugged off to shady pen.
sions and swindled in detail. Most Of
the unsophisticated strangers expect
70 get rooms at dollar a day or less
and have made their calculations ac
cordingly The cheapest quarters Il
be had in Partisan boarding-houses al
present are 300 francs a month, and
one IS exceptionally lucky to strike
comfortable lodging in good location
at that figure. Everything else is IN
proportion, and while there are nc
extra charges at the exposition prop
er, the Midway attraet&ns have f.
feetaker at every turn. The Swiss
village and old Paris, which are the
two principal features. have fixed
price Of admission and innumerable
special charges designed to catch
greenhorns. II is like a church fair
two-bits TO get in and five dollars &c
get out-and the visitor who can't
speak the language win incur all sorts
of obligations before he knows IL
II is perfectly useless for him TO blun
and buster, because those two thing,
are the Frenchman's long suit. The
native sharper win scream, below
gesticulate, get black in the face and
work himself into such a fake frenz,
that the expostulating victim will be
only too glad to pay the bin and
escape.
"A few DAYS before ! left Paris
continued the speaker. II had occa.
sion to call at the American consulate
in the Avenue de rOpera. and was
surprised to find the ante.room crowd.
ed with people who nearly all seemed
worried and detected while waiting
i fell into conversation with a pale |
little woman who told me a typical |
tale OF woe. She was music teacher |
from a town in Iowa and had beer |
saving up for the trip for several
years. She started with 1925, firmly
convinced that that would cover ali |
the expenses OF the journey and a sir
weeks stay in Paris, but when saw
her she haa been there only ten days
and had about SIS left. Her story
N0hia AiaNf ntth II IL Hdun 1
been so pathetic. Being totally unac.
eustomed TO travel, she had been
swindled right and left from the mo.
ment she started. and her little store
of money melted like snow. The pen.
sion 20 which she had been directed
was full and she went TO another
where they charged her five dollars q
day. She thought it was francs until
she saw the bill, and then they
she had taken the room for
month, threatened her with arres,
and scared her out of $50 as a com.
promise. A she-harpy whom she met
took her TO a restaurant for a treat
pretended she had lost ner purse and
made the little music teacher foot
bill of Sll. The concierge bullied hei
put OF FIVE dollars, and a cabmar
the same amount for a half
hours drive, the legal rate being two
Trancs. At another restaurant she
rave the cashier lO0-franc note and
rot change for FIVE Finally, TO cap
he climax. somebody stole her hand
,atchel containing her return trir
steamship ticket, and on the verge OF
she came to see the consul (
were made 10 send her l
back, but the head clerk of the con-
ulate told me that was merely one
ase out Of dozens. He said the Office ,
vas simply besieged by heeced and |
tranded Americans who didn't know !
low in the world they were going to I
ret home. and he dreaded TO think
4 what it would be later on in the
eason. OF course, the consul is pro
ided with no fund for aiding such n
and whatever he does I
! at his own expense. The best he a
an do in many cases is 20 get free i
abiegram TO friends across the 7