Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-17

cations of the eternal confidence game.
Very curiously, 1t was an "ought-to-be'
wide awake American who first set Paris
asmile over his easy gullibilty. He made
rendezvous with an oriental houri, all silks
and bangles, whom he met in kind of
midway dancing show. She expressed
doubts as to his coming. He pledged his
word of honor and his $3.50 watch and
chain. and naturally turned up to claim
back his pledge. Alas, the houri came not
and she hasn't come yet. The police say
she was probably an oriental from Mont
marte-as who should say a Hindoo from
New Jersey. But the simple American,
who is big business man, would rather
have his watch than the most interesting
ethnographical information.
The Vol n L'Americaine.
This confidence game is known in France
as the vol a rAmericaine," swndling after
the American fashion. This is compli-
ment to our national ingenuity, TO which
statistics do not prove our right. l asked
M. Cochefert which nation had furnished
the greatest number of voleurs a TAmeri
Caine to the exposition list. He told me 1t
was not America, not by long way; but
ne would not say which it was. From this
l guess 1t was France, for NJ. Cochefert Is
too patriotic a citizen to leave his country
under false suspicion, though too honest to
SANDER another.
Anyhow. the police calculate that never
before in the history of Paris was much
money gained ana IOSt IN a DerlOu VI SIN
months by the confidence fraud as during
these exposition months. One authority to
whom / spoke suggested as a conservative
estimate three-quarters of million francs
The same person made an interesting obser-
walton: I'VE all expected" he said, that
the genius of the world showed its top
most flight at the exposition in mechanism.
science and art, so it would also In crime.
But We had nothing. as far as l know at
this exposition that was not practiced just
as skillfully at every exposition that mas
ever taken place. 1t seems as If the crimi-
nal class was the only one that made no
progress with the times The criminals
We're all here, thousands of them from
every country in the world, but they
brought nothing new: 1t was an eternal
repetition Of the weary old tricks
Few Crimes of Violence.
One thing is very much to the credit of
the French police in the matter of exposi-
ton crime. 1t is that crimes of violence
were exceptionally few in comparison with
what one would have expected. a very
tight grip was kept on the lawless members
oe semi-savage variously colored races who
fiocked into Paris official parts of the
show. They were kept to hours and to
fixed habitat, and by no means allowed TO
roam the streets at night outside their own
carefully surveyed quarters. The dangers
from. that source which promised to be
very great, were wisely reduced to min
imum. There were thousands of others. al
most as dangerous, Whom the ponce mao no
racial or other warrant for keeping under
constant surveillance. There We're profess
sional scoundrels of the worst kind, from
the terrible breeding places Of crime in all
the large cities of civilization, men who
hire themselves out as assassins. just as
regularly as others hire themselves for do
nestle service CT for the mending of shoes.
And yet with all this the total of murder
Gus assaults during the exposition months
has been no higher than in normal times.
few mysterious disappearance, few dead
men floating down the Seine with knife
gashes in their flesh, a few people found
beaten to inSensibility and robbed in the
dark, lonely streets-that was all. Never
was the Paris police department run on
such generous numerical lines, or with
more intelligent direction. than during
these last six months. Paris undertook that
exposition guests. even if they should be
fools enough to part voluntarily or through
carelessness with their bank rolls, at least
should carry their lives back home with
them. And the city kept her word.
A Legacy of Crime.
There are streets. there are even whole
quarters, in Paris which at ordinary times
it is rash to traverse alone once night has
fallen-places where the veteran Partisan
always walks in the middle of the road,
with his hand in his revolver pocket and
his eye always alert watching the sinister
figures that now and then loom up unpleas-
antly from out Of gloomy alleyways or from
the shadow of steep walls. These spots
where crime Gas Frenchman once wrote)
horribly plays among the children and is
their good friend all their life We're pa
trolled all night long by strong forces of
the police. whose lanterns flashed comfort
ably on the path of the belated traveller
fastening home. They became as safe in
most cases. except in the very uncentral
neighborhoods as the Grand boulevards at
the 'absinthe hours" the time when tout
Paris" gathers on the great main artery to
laugh and talk and get an appetite for din
ner.
But the Paris police complain bitterly
that their work is not half done with the
closing Of the fair. M. Cochefort. am in
formed, said couple Of days ago at a re-
union Of police authorities: Now that we
are losing practically all our visitors, we
shall have time to look more closely after
the pickpockets and swndlers they attract
ed; and heaven only knows when we shall
purge the city of them" It was cry Of
despair. justified by the experience of the
past After the last exposition there was
still left great residuum Of imported
criminals. who stuck to Paris and prac-
ticed cheerfully here for years. There is al
ways a good harvest to be gathered here
for. after all. this town is the center of the
amusement of the world, and where there
is much amusement there Is also much
money-and many thieves to scheme for it,