Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-22
HAPPENINGS IN PARIS
Story of Supposed Spurious
"Turner" in Louvre.
FRENCH DOLL is NO MORE
Toymakers of Germany Guido Their
Latin Competitors.
PLAGUE OF BEGGING R0GUEs
Women Exciting Pity With Chill
dren Not Their own-Many
Grow Rich.


PARIS, October %. - Some newly
fiedged expert has suddenly discovered
that the Louvre contains a spurious
Turner, a view of the Pont Neuf. given
by an eccentric collector. the late NJ.
Camille Groult. The story of the real
or supposed Turner is odd and amusing
NJ. Groult had many more or less doubt
full or authentic Turner's in his fine COL
lection. which included many other mas
tiers. He was an autocratic gentleman,
and quarreled both with the city Of Paris
and with the Louvre.
To the latter he gave the doubtful
Turner. flanked by two Sir Thomas Law
rences. The Louvre dared not refuse the
Turner. hoping to benefit at NJ. Groult' s
death under his will. M. Groult died and
was revenged on the Louvre for some
real or fancied slight by bequeathing it
nothing at all.
The alleged Turner remains now in the
Louvre. But, as a matter of fact no
expert Is certain whether 1t is not a
real Turner after ALL
It Is certainly not one of his best. IL II
be his. But If it be not his it is a fair
imitation. At all events it is a picture
which has great qualities and a good
deal of charm.
Toymakers Are Outdone.
Toymakers in France are full of lamen-
tations over German competition. An
nual shows OF more or less new and
original playthings have been arranged
in Paris for two or three years past
They seem to have done little good
The vice president of the committee
says that nowadays so per cent Of the
toys in the French market are made in
Germany. Even the French doll, hitherto
supreme. is being dethroned.
French toymaker, whose name is H.
Top. says:
In the dressing of dolls German max
ers cannot compete with us. They lack
the Partisan knack and chic But we no
longer possess single firm for the manu-
facture of dolls heads in china.
There were five or six left few years
ago. Now there are none whereas at
least ten are flourishing in Germany.
Nowadays. accordingly all French dolls
faces"
The Paris police, the other evening,
made number Of arrests in the Avenue
de rOpera. They arrested eight women
who were begging. each with one or
more children in her arms-fourteen
children In ALL
who was using 1t to inspire pity. All
mad been hired. Some of the children had
actually been drugged to make them
fearful. paler and more miserable.
For years past the authorities in Paris
have been struggling unavailingly with
one Of the scourges of Partisan life, the
pseudo-poor Although begging in a Paris
street Is prohibited. there are so many
ways of avoiding the letter OF the law
that begging grows annually.
A class Of wealthy beggars has sprung
up IN Paris. There are numbers Of sham
crippies people with sham wounds, and.
frauds innumerable.
Their re in the outlying quarters of the
city beggars' schools. There older beg
gars who have retired from business teach
beginners how to make a comfortable Nv
ing out of the pity Of the public.
In nine cases out of ten charity in the
poor. those who deserve charity, are diff
cult to find.
Hero Is Incendiary.
Two men have just been tried in France
tor incendiarism. One was acquitted,
though the facts were proved against him.
and the other convicted and sentenced
to death.
The case Of the former is one of the
Ion naval dockyard hand, whose coat is
covered with medals for life-savine.
For years he was always rescuing
somebody either from water or fire. Com
sTdtuidtlonS ana rewards were showered
on him after each deed Of heroism.
OF late he seemed to have given I'm res
cuing drowning persons and made a spe-
cialty of putting out fires. But he put
out SO many and was always on the spot
SO pat when they broke out that sus-
picionS were at last aroused.
He was watched and was caught in the
act or setting fire to a shed near to a
powder magazine in the naval dockyard.
moment later he risked his life to put
out the flames which he had himself lit,
and succeeded thereby in preventing what
might have been a fearful catastrophe.
The belief now is that he probably was
the author OF many previous fires In
which he afterward figured as a gallant
rescuer- Anyhow. he has been tried by
he did set fire to the shed next the pow
der magazine, but acquitted him because
he put the fire out.
Witnesses describe him as a megalo-
maniac Of dangerous kind. He thirsts
for opportunities for displaying heroism,
and when they do not occur naturally
he creates them.
There was no heroic mania about the
other tncendiary. mariner. who in the
course of few months set fire to eleven
Aisne departments. His plan was to bur-
gle the houses of the neighbors undis-
turoed. while they generously assisted In
pu. ting OFT the fire.
Like Mark Twain, NJ. Jules Truff1er. an
actor of the Coincide Franchise. has come
across a report about himself which is
greatly exaggerated" He opened a copy
of the Review Autographs, and read
therein the following entry:
'Trufier. Jules, societaire of the Come
die Franchise: born 1856. died 1885,
1t is something Of q shock to find that
one has been killed off prematurely TWEEN
ty years ago. He had, however. a con-
ISOLATION. Lower down he read that the
Of 1.-The late Jules Truffier"
fetch fair prices in the special market
with which the review in question deals.
From the Cote dor comes an odd story
about the zeal of a clever monkey which
was given to a farmer by a soldier from
Ubangfi. The animal is kept in a stable,
and when the farmers wife is very busy
1t sets to work of its own accord to milk
the cows, which 1t does to her entire sat-