Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-02-01
GREAT BEGGAR DETECTIVE.
Paris Secret Service osncer who
Seeks to Reduce Mcndicancy
In That City.

| ~ tne DcsJ DeRRur uCtcCt1ve In tht
| world. Proficiency came to him in this
art because he used 1t in his business
| and his business in life is to reduce
meDdicancy in Paris. The Paris beg
| gar is the prince OF ,henl all. lie makes
the most money with the least effort
| and he saves the most. lie cun lay over
the New York beggar thousand times
Yet, begging on the streets OF Paris is
forbidden by law, and II is the proud
boast of the gay French capital that
its charities are so plentiful and no ac-
cessible to all that street begging is un-
| necessary, says the ST. Louis Republic.
Thirty years ago Louis Paulian began
his connection with the prisons of
| Paris, and his first work in learning
| the criminal phase of life from the in
| side was done more than a quarter OF a
century ago. Since then he has been
an inmate of countless jails in France
and elsewhere on the continent. and for
| the most of the time not even his jail
ers knew his identity. He is quick
change artist" who would do credit to
any stage. Tall, fine looking, with IA
big brown beard, bald on the top of the
head, he can stand before one in his
ordinary clothes and by few twists
and turns convert himself into the
most woeful looking blind beggar that
ever happened.
Paulian says that one of the most
profitable forms of begging Is in the
guise of poverty stricken gentleman.
Glad in this way" he says, 81 can sue
ceed without uttering word. Sinking
silently along, peering out of the cor
ners of my eyes at the other pedes-
trians, every fourth swell will turn
back to drop n few sous in my hand.
With q hasty word Of thanks l hurry
on, rs il ashamed to be found begging"
One Of Paulian's most treasured keep
salSes is n model of the lantern carried
by the Paris rag picker. II was given
to him by the guild out Of respect for
him, for he long ago announced that
the rag picker was the only honest per-
son. or rather the only person who is
so honest that he cannot be found in
Jail. The rag picker's implements are
bag which he carries on his back, a
crooked stick with bent nail on the
kinds of stuff that he gathers, and u
lantern by which he can see In dark
alleys and cellarwnys. As slight
token of their appreciation. and as the
rag pickers obviously could not give a
bag or stick to Paulian. they made n
model lantern and presented that to
him. The rag picker takes not only
rags, but every kind Of refuse that can
be carried conveniently. A little
known industry OF the neither world
was discovered by Paulian in his prowl-
ngs around Paris. One of the city
officials is n butter faster. He labs a
gouge into tub of butter. and tastes
of the butter which is brought up on
the edge Of the gouge. II is impossible.
of course, that he can eat all the little
pats of butter of which he tastes, and so
after the test is made he drops the bit
on the straw In front of him. These
pickings from this straw form one OF
the most valuable finds OF the so-called
rag picker. The pats of butter are
gathered up and taken home, and there
put into cauldron of boiling water.
The butter rises TO the surface in oil.
which is skinned off, and left TO solid
1fy. Then it is sold to the poorer
classes.
There is absolutely nothing" says
Paulian, 'wh ich is impossible for the
beggar to get. Name anything you
hke-an armchair, crutch, q wooden
leg, pair of spectacles, a violin, a
cradle, food of any kind, medicine, and
1 Will go out on the street and beg
1t out of people, and it won't cost a
SOU"
For ten years Pnulian begged, au1
at the end OF that lime he WAS able
to compute that yearly the private
charities OF Paris alone pay out
S2,OOO,OO0 to undeserving persons. And,
taking all sources of the swindler's
income, fully S5,OO0,00O year is
wasted on them in the belief that
this vast amount goes to the deserv-
ing poor.
One of the characters whose ac-
quaintance Paulian made WAS Father
Antoine. pious hunchback who
begged in front of churches. The
hump on the fathers back was his
strong box, which contained all his
earnings, amounting at the time OF
his death to $4,000. The father ere
ated for himself monopoly of church,
door begging. Any other beggar who
wanted to work the church doors had
to pay regular rental to the father.
Possibly the most important discov-
cry which Paulian made in his years
OF research along these lines was of
the existence of beggars' directory
of likely victims, and also of the man
who got it up and maintained it.
Every professional beggar in Paris
known of ana consults this directory.
1t is in manuscript and can be bought
in small or large edition at three
and six francs, or, in our money. SO
cents and $1.20. The small edition is
called the Petit Jeu and the large one
the Grand Jeu, all of which means
the little and the big game. The big
hnp IL ID