The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-05-06
no CROOKS AT
THE EXPOSITION
The Project of Police on the Lookout
for Green Goods Men of
All Nations.

April .1S.-lir Soo
sandbagged during the last Paris EXPO
sition, you need not be afraid OF suffer-
ing the same experience on this trip 70
the French capital. The Prefect OF 70
lice, Mortified by the accounts Oh .ne
atrocities that took place here IN iee''
mas taken the most elaborate precau-
tons against a repetition Of the same
For six months Paris Will pc INV
most perfectly governed anu pes1
trol!ed city in the Worlo.
six months ago, NJ. Lupine, tne rams
Prasect communicated with the hedus
Of police Of all the principal cues
the globe His letter asked theni lo1
the names and the photographs o. an
the criminals In their Tosues ediiei ,es
and in the famous cr1nhhai ils's go
all aliases To this he added a request
for a personal description OF each man.
his meas,.rements, his thumb prints
and biography.
After obtaining these NJ bupine de-
termined to go further. KNOWING 'fla1
each country has Its own pecLhar forii
of svindling as the green-Soods OF
America and the hidden treasure W
Spain. he wrote to each great chlef o.
police. asking for a description or the
particular vice in which his country
excelled. If Sweden had a local SWIM
ding dodge he wanted to know it; ana
if Russia had her criminal secrets ne
desired to be posted in them.
In answer there came back an appall-
ing list of the habits of vice One Ger
man chief Of police warned the Paris
Project of the swinder who travels with
baggage and valet as German baron.
He puts up at the best hotels and makes
the acquaintance Of the urwary one
day he looks troubled and scans his mail
anAiously: after a time he tells his new
friends the secret of his discomfort. The
remittance which the manager OF MS
baronial estates should have sent him
has not arrived. He will communicate
with his friend, Nathan Rothschild; no
that would be too humiliating. He will
wait-starve, perhaps. When that stupid
major domo had only to mail the check!
All the fellow has gone and got drunk
the same thing happened in 1889. when
his father was in Paris
AN EASY GAME.
OF course, the stranger, especlaliy II
he be an American, is filled With pity
and brings out a fat purse. WIN the
Baron be so kind as to accept s5Qo-yes'
even a thousand?'
OF course, the Baron accepts; and
when the American looks him up in the
evening he finds that the baronial party
has hastily decamped, valet and all,
leaving his baggage and an unpaid board
bill.
The mysterious man who speaks with
a Spanish accent and who can tax IN an
the languages of Europe is also looked
for The authorities of Madrid have fur
nished description of his methods.
He is an iEnglishman, generally, who,
being bibliomaniac, is well posted in
the history Of old Spain. He tells a
story Of how, reading one day OF GER
tain old castle where was buried the
o. haf
driven out of Spain, he determined to
so out and look for the castle. To his
joy he finds it uninhabited, and hires
It, One night, digging in the cellar,
where his researches led him, he comes
upon a portion of the treasure. He.
exhibits rare Persian turquoise and the
emeralds of Egypt. They are uncut and
nor very brilliant, but of great value If
developed. But it will take money;
a company must be formed to unearth
the treasure. In a few months it will
yield millions.
The American, ever ready to pick up
a fortune. advances the first thousand
toward the formation of the company,
and finds out, too late, that the owner
of the buried treasure has decamped,
without waiting, for further formah-
ties.
The card sharpers of Italy, Greece and
Portugal are to be guarded against. NO
tees will be posted in many OF the res
taurants warning its patrons against the
strangers and 4 careful watch Will be
kept upon all who are seen playing cards
in public places. The American green
goods man, the Prefect says, Will have
the easiest time, as he is the cleverest of
all and works in such a way that the
unwary countryman feels that there can
not possibly be anything wrong about It
But by far the most extensive prepa-
rations have been made for those who are
coming to Paris to get their gains by brute
force. The English garroters who worked
the suburbs of Paris ten years ago; the
Russian sandbaggers, who laid in wait
upon the dark quay; the American high
waynan. who held up pedestrians II no
police were in sight, and the orlentals,
who understand a dagger SO we'll, are all
TO be foiIed by the most elaborate system
of police surveillance ever attempted in
any city
Pickpockets and sneak thieves are the
hardest to deal with, but many signs VIII
warn visitors to beware Of them, and Par
is. for six months at least, will be robbed
OF those terrors which menace the visi-
tor at ordinary times.
ANNETTE RIERDON REED.