Arizona republican., 1902-02-17
DISAPPEARING PARIS
The Prison of aint-Lazare Is Now to
 Be Razed

Memories both new and old. more
 than enough for half q column. loom at the news that the ancient prison Of
 Saint Lazare is to be pulled down. Nowadays. indeed, it's associations are unpleasant. even for those of q prison. It is the lookup for women of light behavior whom the police des moeurs arrest in the course of their rafies or raids. and it is in this capacity that it figures in famous song com posed by Aristide Bruant and sung by
 Yvette Guilbert. The young woman
 who is detained writes a letter to her lover. She wonders what will become of him in her absence. and gives him good advice-to avoid strong drink, borrow money or her credit and be careful not to get into trouble with the police.
 The older associations Of the prison
 are more reputable and more interest l ing. Originally. indeed. it was not prison al all. but hospital for priests.
 As proof Of the prevalence of leprosy | in France ifl the twelfth century the startling fact may be cited that the 1 bakers in the Saint-Lazare neighbor- l hood had a standing arrangement with | the hospital undertaking to bake for it gratuitously if they fell i'll of the ter rible dstemper. Bakers. it appears. were. TOT SOIIlt SltIlOuS itsiSpii. t9BV- | cially liable to the disease.
 When Ieprosy died out the hospital
 was no longer needed. Then the prior handed it over to St. Vincent de Paul. who made it q convent and established
 the famous order of the Lazarists. He
 died and was buried there. His cell
 can still be identified. As his success | DTS were less zealous in good works
 they were not allowed undisputed pos | .1,. ffr.f, | of it began to be used as house of detention for young persons whose l perents wanted ther1 out of the way.
 and were influential enough to obtain ! letters de cachet for the purpose. It l appears in this character in 'Manon i Lescaut." The Chevalier des Grieux
 was locked up theT.s that he might be | kept out of the way Of the temDtress.
 Beaumarchias was also taken there shortly after the famoas first night of
 ''Lc Marriage de Figaro" but Paris
 made such an indignant uproar that | he was let out again after three days | confinement.
 Then there came the revolution. bringing fresh settlements and Vicis-
 situdes. Starving Paris heard that the ! La artists had stores of food in their i cellars. So starving Paris forced the doors the very day before the storming U
 wine and pickled delicacies. partook of | them. got drunk. released the prison CTS. set fire to the stables. and were
 within an ace of burning down a whole quarter of Paris. A year or two later the prison was one of the regular ante cham bers of the guillotine. The poets Boucher and Andre Chenier were the most distinguished of it's prisoners. and it is the scene of Charles Mullers fa-
 nous picture. "L'Appel des Con damnes." It continued to be q prison under the consulate and the empire. and gradually assumed it's present character as a house of detention for a particular class of female offenders. There is accommodation for 1900 of them and as many as 5000 sometimes pass through the establishment in a single year.
 This is hardly the place to discuss
 the disciplinary system of which the prison of Saint-Lazare is the outstand- ing feature. It may be said. however. that the best opinion in France nowa- days is opposed to the system, and de-
 nounCes the prison in no measured terms. Maxine du Camp. in his book on the prisons of Paris. denounced 1t as school of corruption" and it has been brought into disrepute by a good
 many judicial errors. scandals and Miss Cass cases once. for instance. a leading actress al the Comedie Fran
 caise was taken there by mistake and
 the welkin rang with indignation. The same thing happens periodically to
 some respectable married woman or
 other. and the general sentiment about the prison is not such that it's demo- ltion is likely to be widely lamented.- Pail Mall Gazette.