Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-04
ARMLESS THIEVES.
Remarkable Cripple Criminals Who
Cause the Police Trouble.

nemarkdpie STtpPi0 S'b"eo WV
Cause the Police Trouble.
One hears of armless artists, Of leg
less men, like the late Mr.. Kavanagh,
M. p, who ride and shoot, and Of
many blind or otherwise physically
incapacitated persons who earn their
own living.
But the cripple criminal is novel
development, and very strange one
Criminals, are Of course, frequently
mentally deficient, but usually they
are in full possession Of their bodily
faculties. Yet the French press has
recently been greatly stirred by the
extraordinary career Of a man whom
they term the Centaur Highwayman
He is an Arab, and the scene of his
exploits has been Algeria.
He began his career as bandit
chief nearly twenty years ago. being
then in full possession Of all his
limbs. He was caught and imprison-
ed and while serving his sentence
met with an accident which resulted
in both his legs being amputated. He
was pardoned in consequence, but as
soon as he was set free a perfect
reign Of terror began. Farm houses
and villas were robbed and travellers
held up in good old-fashioned style
on the road. The leader Of the ban
dts was a man magnificently mount
ed.
At last a police trap proved sue
cessful. He was caught and turned
out to be no other than the original
convict. His loss of legs did not
interfere in the least with his powers
of riding.
The manageress Of a Stroud green
shop, arriving early one Saturday
morning, suddenly caught sight OF
mans boot sticking out from under
coat hung upon the wall. With
great presence of mind she said moth
ing, but closed the door and hurried
off for a policeman. The unwelcome
visitor proved to be a wooden-leg-
ged burglar, who had got in by the
skylight, and lowered himself by a
rope. Unluckily for him, the rope
broke, and with his wooden leg he
was unable to climb out again.
1t was a wooden leg, also, that
proved the undoing of an 1rishman,
who appeared at Bournsmouth
charged with stealing dog. He was
taking the animal up Alum Chine
when the owner came down the path.
The thief turned to escape, took to
the beach and sank up to his ampu-
tated knee in the soft sand.
The disadvantages of being one
armed seem slight compared with the
loss of a leg, but it is somewhat as
tonishing to hear Of a one-armed
burglar being charged with thirty
nine different offences. Wonder
grows at news that this burglar Is
also q woman. This astonishing
criminal has earned a large income
for fifteen years by clever thefts all
over Austria. Her total spoils are
estimated to exceed 100000. In sew
eral cases she has stripped houses
during the absence Of their owners in
broad daylight, and on one occasion,
at least, had actually got a policeman
to guard her spoils till the van drove
up.
For a person without arms at all
to go in for thieving seems absurd
on the face of it, yet there is at
/ m rnRnr6
extraordinary crime. An armless
youth named Ward was recently con-
victed at Utica, New York state, Of
stealing vegetables from a garden.
1t was shown that he piled them up
with his toes. The judge fined him IS
CO. whereupon he pulled a roll of
bills from his coat pocket with the
toes of his right foot and, selecting
one with as much ease as you or I
could do with our fingers, and passed
it over to the clerk.
The story of curious tragedy was
recently reported from Paris. A
man named Louis Bignot had the mis-
fortune to lose both legs by accident
on the eve of his marriage. His fan
Gee threw him over and married a
wine shop keeper in the Rue Menlem-
ontant. Every night afterward the
legless man wheeled himself to the
shop and sat there silent. One night
man was foolish enough to chaff
him about his hopeless attachment.
Bignot picked up a syphon and hurl-
ed 1t with such good aim that he
split the skull of the other Two by
standers rushed in and Bignot stab
bed them both. A fearful fight
ensued before the legless desperate
] was captured-London Answers.