Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-30
DOOM WAITS FOR
HUMAN MONSTERS
POLICE WILL RID CITY OF
MACoUEREAUX
Men Who Live OF Women and Who
Traffic In Drugs and Women
viii be Arrested and
Imprisoned

Imprisoned
Glittering with gaudy flnery, oiled,
perfumed and creased until the fitful
glare from the hanging lights cast off
flickering sheen from their polished
countenances. /strutting vultures, wall
lowing in pomade, the French macque-
reaux Of the city spent the entire even
ing yesterday preparing for the doom
which, according to Chief Of Police
Auble, awaits all men of that character.
For years these creatures have lived
from the earnings of their women and
have sent home for more OF their kind.
Gradually their numbers have increased
until now the entire tenderloin is in
Tested by these F'renchmen, who never
work and whose every cent is obtained
from women.
Last night in the tenderloin it was the
same old story of the French macque-
reaux. Like vultures or some hideous
nightmare they walked along the dimly
lighted streets. Wherever the soft glow
from red light sent its welcoming
glare out into the darkness. q macque-
reaux might be seen hanging around
the place, leaning over the gate or
standing in the dark shadows.
Are Well Dressed
They were all well dressed. All wore
up-to-date clothes, and almost without
exception they were perfumed and oiled
until it was a misery to go near them.
Their fat faces fairly reeked with oil,
their small black mustaches and kinky
hair trembled with the weight of the
pomade and they strutted and held
themselves out as objects to admire.
All these men are supported by women
of easy virtue who nightly earn money
by selling their souls. In many cases
the women are compelled to pay the
rent Of the house, supply and cook the
food and furnish spending money for
her macquereau, while he dresses well
and allows the woman the privilege of
calling him her papa"
1t has been declared by Chief Auble
that he will drive these men from the
city. The macquereaux learned of the
chiefs decision last night and they
feared. The Gastons and Icons and
Pierres and Luciens leaned over the
bars in the Also and Commercial street
saloons and talked with many gestures,
waving their fat fingers, while their
faces became bloated with fear and
their liquor or-thickened tongues slut
tered convulSively as they spouted their
French oaths.
Talk Among Themselves
In the small back rooms of the sa-
looms they went, ostensibly for the pur-
pose of playing cards, but the greasy
pasteboards remained untouched and
the macquereaux talked among them
selves.
What would they do? How could
they live? They would not work, that
they all agreed upon, and with wrinkled
foreheads they tried to fathom some
way to head off the impending doom.
BY day these vultures hide among the
cheap lodging houses. Nearly all of
them are either cocaine, morphine or
opium habitues and they spend much
money in that way.
For weeks the macquereaux have
been renting small rooms and using
them for opium dens. The sights in
these places beggar description.
The viest of these dens is in an
Also street lodging house. In one of
these places the son of a well-known
business man of Los Angeles daily
enters the realm of the poppy and
gradually casts himself out from de-
cent society.
Goes to Den of Vice
Yesterday it was the same story.
Well dressed and evidently prosperous,
the young man threaded his way
through the crowd Of loafers on Also
street and went toward the lodging
house. With guilty expression he
gazed up and down the street and then
hurried into lhe rlckety doorway ana
up the narrow stairs.
A turn to the left and the click of
the key in the lock and he entered a
room, bare save for small lounge in
one corner. But the man did not care
for that. In a flash he had thrown
aside his coat and hat and had taken
off his collar.
With feverish hand he lit the tiny
oil lamp and prepared the pipe for
his daily dream. The mans eyes had
been lusterless when he entered, but
they were then shining like stars.
The long, thin fingers clutched convul..
sively as they tugged at small jar,
and then one prod of the long. needle
and the pill was ready to be rolled and
Smokes Poisonous Stuff
Lying full length on the lounge, the
man hugged the pipe to him. That
thin white hand, trained by loving pa
rents for good work in the world, was
fulfilling a strange mission. With the
long, hollow pipe held slantwise in his
left hand. he rolled the small capsule
of opium around on the bowl until it
became soft and pliable. With care
ful fingers he held the poppy juice
over the tiny lamp and cooked 1t,
breathing in deep breaths of the pois-
onous odor.
He reveled in it; his eyes shone and
MS lace LWlIcneO. flndlly, with a last
sigh of satisfaction, he placed the tiny
pill over the draught hole in the pipe
and prepared to smoke The young
mans lids dropped over his eyes, his
hands caressed the bowl of the pipe
lovingly and he held it to the fame
of the lamp.
Just a second IL held there and then
the flame caught the pill and CONF
menced to cook, The odor from the
burning opium was sitting. The man
closed his eyes and took long breath
of the stuff. He shut his lips over it
and held 1t in as long as possible,
and at last. with a groan of satisfac-
tion, released the smoke from his nos
trlls. Three draws and the pill was
gone. but that was not enough. He
craved more and the third pill had
vanished before he turned on his side
and became unconscious An hour
later haggard, wlld-eyed being left
the place and staggered away.
Are Victims Of Macquereau
IT was simply a case of a victim of