The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-03-26
THE STREETS OF PARIS.

oJ DuiluluS llcI lllueOuS cleNdIeC
railway. London has for years
struggled with a dark and mephit-
ic underground, says a writer in
the Argonaut. But an American
syndicate three years ago start.
ed a new underground system in
London, which is far superior to
the old, while Paris is piercing
her subsoil with a fine electric
railway, the Metropolitan.
''The Metro" as the Parisians
call it, has terrified the omui.
bus companies. Although as
yet 1T runs only across Paris in a
comparatively straight six mile
line, it has already made a heavy
cut in the omnibus revenues;
when it is finished, the bus's occu.
patton will be gone. AS showing a
strange side of of French nature
and French law, it is curious to
note that the bus companies have
brought suit for damages against
the Metro.
The Paris buses do not always
stop for passengers, even when
not full. Sometimes they cannot
stop, owing to the mass of We.
hicles behind them. 1t is a pitt.
able sight to see a forlorn female,
one arm full of bundles, her skirts
gathered up in the other hand,
trotting through the mud after
an omnibus. If she reaches the
platform, the conductor helps
hoist her up. But he will not
help her down if the bus is NOV.
ing. Last week a woman brought
suit against the General Omni-
bus Company for damages as a
result of injuries in alighting
from the bus while in motion
She maintained that the conduc.
tor aided her to allght. The con-
ductor swore he did not: that it
was against the rules; that pas.
sengers might alight while the
bus was in motion if they choose,
but that even if conductor put
his hand on a passenger who was
attempting to alight while the
bus was in motion, he would be
discharged. Other omnibus con.
ductors swOre to the same effect,
and the woman failed to get dam
ages.
The carriage companies, as
well as the omnibus companies,
are being affected by the compe-
tition of the Metropolitan. The
Paris cabmen are now quite de-
cent, ana will take their legal
fare and a reasonable tip with.
out insolence. The Exposition
charioteers, the naughty cabbles
of l9O0-these you no longer find.
Gone are those purse proud Je-
hus who, when you offered them
double fare to take you half a
course, would reply: "Allez-vous-
en-. Bourgeois" wAw, gawan-'
go chase yourself, old man ?'D,
call you "species of cabbage"
and apply to you other oppro-
brious vegetable names.
The autos have also added to
the means of transportation about
Paris streets. l think each auto
do the work of at least four
horse vehicles. They are driven
very rapidly, and If any fat man
wants exercise all he need to do
is to live in Paris, and he will get
it dodging autos. However, the
are becoming stricter
with the auto men. Finding that
the rich ones do not care for
fines, the law officers have adopt
ed the plan of giving fast auto
drivers one franc fine and one
day in prison. This Is much
more effective. A certain Nine.
Sarah Greville, who recently ran
over a child, received such a sen.
tence. Her friends attempted to
get the President to pardon her
in order that she might be spared
the ignominy of the day in pris.
on; they told M. Loubet that she
"felt real bad about it," But the
President remarked dryly that
she probably did not feel so bad.
ly as the woman whose child she
had run over, and he allowed her
to serve her sentence.
BY the way, it has hitherto
haan tho Eronch cuctnm to hold