The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-28
GUARD PARIS ART TREASURES
CORPS or Iae MEN WATCH OVER
THE LOUVRE ALONE.
Elaborate Precautions TO Protect Priceless
objects That Tempt Professional
Thicves-sOmc Biz Robbcrics Despite
All Precautions Exploit Of vidocq.

All Precautions Exploit Of Vtd0cq.
Infinite pains are taken 10 guard the
priceless treasures stored in French mu-
seums, and raany thousand francs are spent
~=aaIally by the Government for their
! protection: But In spite Of all precautions.
thefts have been far from infrequent In
the last century, and they represent an
enormous money loss, not to speak Of the
irreparable damage to the artistic interests
Of the whole world.
The Louvre alone 10 guarded by a corps
Of i2O watchmen. with two chiefs. three
deputy chiefs and twelve serseants. Tho
chiefs receive 2.AOO francs. or $3.50 a year,
with rooms In the louvre itself; the deputies
get s44o. the sergeants $%oo. the men from
$40 to $3.50.
These salaries are considered fair E-trG
wages in France. quite sufficient to secure
trustworthy men. As q matter OF fact.
the whole body Is above suspicion a. to its
honesty. Every man 10 q former nom
commissioned officer in the army and not
a few OF them wear the cross OF the Legion
Of Honor. The total cost Of the corps 10
about $50. 900 francs. or $50 900.
T~hree-quarters Of the entire force is or
duty by day. The indoor watchmen at
night have camp beds in the rooms where
the most valuable articles are kept. Be-
side each bed is a telephone, and the wires
! connect them with zach other and with the
police. A patrol makes the round Of the
building every hour and officers are on
guard outside all night.
notwithstanding this surveillance. all
sorts of mechanical precautions are taken.
Articles that might tempt thieves are
fastened with tough wires to their stands
or to the beds Of the glass cases and auto
matte alarms ring Whenever certain Of
these cases are opened. In the Apollo
Gallery the glass case which contains
the crown diamonds 10 provided with q
mechanism by which it is unk beneath the
floor into an iron cage every night, re-
naming there until raised by the proper
Official in the morning.
But all precautions fail to provide against
the ingenuity and daring Of Partisan thieves.
II will be remembered that last November
a statuette Of Lois, appraised at $500, was
carried of from one OF the galleries Of the
Louvre in broad daylight though IL was
IS inches in height and bulky and weighed
more than 80 pounds. Another statuette.
a Greco-Phonician work, vanished in the
same month. simultaneously the stump
OF a false key was found in the lock OF
the Marie Antoinette showcase, In another
part Of the museum; il had broken short
of as som thief had tried TO get at the
enclosed treasures, which embraced many
tr~inkets-fsns. mirrors, snuffboxes and the
ike-that could have been easily sold.
The pictures also need watching. al
though attempts to steal them are rare.
every picture in a great gallery being 90
we'll known that to cell 1t Ia practically
impossible. But attempts to damage pic
lures are not 50 uncommon. being prompted
either by wanton malice or some form OF
insanity. One day in the Grand Paiais
a man was found hugging ecstatically
the Melusine by Dampt, a statue in steel
I and ivory, valued at 5000 francs. He
! wept when the guardians seised him
1T is 80 beautiful he walled. that I
will die IL l cannot take IL home with mo-
He waa Just a crank.
Odd Jokes nave been played on the guar
, dians. One morning when the Egyptian
department OF the Louvre was. opened
q man was found fast asleep in a sarccph-
agus. When they asked him what he
was doing there he said he was Just playing
a Joke on the Waterman. He wanted TO
satisfy himself that they did not eYectually
clear the nlaoe Of stranper. when th.v .but
up at night.
ABOUT the umc OF tine MOVE moer tnefcs
a p per reporter distracted q bronze
frog by Bartlett from the Luxembourg
collection. II was returned next day witha
homily on the lax guardianship OF the public
tres
But except the recently discovered loot
ing OF the library Of the School of Fine
Arts by It's architect and director. which
Of course was an inside job no depreda-
tions that have occurred Of late In French
museums equal those OF the last century.
In 1880 another colossal inside lob was
ventilated in the courts when Gulielmo
Libri was tried sin contumactsm Tor plum
dering libraries and museums all over tho
country of precious manuscripts. He was
condemned to ten years imprisonment,
but he had escaped to London, and strange
TO say he created there the impression that
he was a victim Of persecution and was
much lionised.
Libri had been named secretary to q COM
mission appointed to make a general cata-
logue of all the historic manuscripts In
France. He was an uudoubted expert.
He had married, though something Of an