The daily sentinel. [volume] (Grand Junction, Colo.) 1893-current, 1910-09-27
PACHtSS OF
PARIS ARE
MORE DARING

Paris, Sept. 27.-The Bouleyards
Exterieurs. so well-known to English
visitors, where the multicolored illu-
| limitations of cabarets and music-halls
glare and glitter in the night and
| where stands the good old Moulin
Rogue of gay memories, have once
| again been the scene of crime. As
the English visitor certainly has not
| failed to notice, this fairyland quar-
ter is literally infested with femmes
du trottoir of the lowest type to be
| found anywhere in this city. The
| crime throws some curious sidelights
on the life of these women and the
methods of their male protectors. or
souteneurs.
| LIE Grande Berthe" woman of
rather handsome bearing, and what
| the French call belle Blonde, after
| leaving a cheap hotel in a side street,
was just emerging on to the Place
I Pigalle, when she was met by band
| of ruffians whose acquaintance with
the police is one of long standing. 1t
was midnight, just when animation is
| at its highest in this gay quarter.
| Suddenly a revolver shot rang out,
| and La Grande Berthe staggered
agains the wall, while her aggressor,
| one of the band, took 20 his heels,
the others rapidly disappearing in all
directions. La Grande Berthe had
lust strength enough to drag herself
i to the door of bar. but here fell
moaning TO TIE ground. and died in
a few minutes.
| The police at once opened an in
vestigation. a woman friend of the
victim, who had been arrested earlier
in the evening for molesting passers-
by with too much persistence, was
brought from the depot and; amid a
flow of tears, identified the body of
Berthe, 'one of my dearest friends,
| whom | loved as sister," she Sob
bed Il cannot say who committed
the crime" she added, though have
some idea; but if a split | shall
surely be laid side by side with this
poor girl ere a few hours have pass
ed"
In spite OF all the coaxing and per-
suasion of the police, the girl cannot
be made to speak her suspicious.
! Nevertheless, the arrest of the asas-
sin seems only matter of time.
!. One version of the crime has il that
Il the band of Apaches who met La
Grande Berthe on the Place Pigalle
have lately been terrorizing all the
files of the district. demanding mon
ey from them practically at the point
OF the knife. 1t is said that Berthe.
4 having refused to pay the TOLL was
done to- death in consequence In
any case the crime was obviously
committed out of vengeanceoof some
kind. real or imaginary.
story is related, and goes far to show
the methods adopted by the bullying
brutes who make their living by ex-
plotting these women. On the even
ing following the crime the friends
OF the murderer, whoever he is, held
a conseil de guerre in one of the i'll
reputed bars of the district and de-
liberated on the evidence given by
Berthe's bosom friend. Believing this
woman has split" they decided to
execute" her, and have sworn to
take her life as soon as her term of
prison is ended. Lots were drawn
and the delegate duly named. The
police are hot on the track of these
have-been and would-be murderers.
A rare noise Is being made here
about the kind and considerable way
in which the Apaches are being treat
ed for their deeds with knife and re-
volver. The punishment generally
meted out to them is. to use a mild
term, lenient. even for the most
atrocious crimes. There is little doubt
that the Apaches are becoming more
and more daring. and their deeds
more and more dastardly. The blade
and bullet are used on the most futile
pretext, and sometimes no pretext at
all, Things have got to such a point
that every Partisan is practically risk
ing his life by walking down a side
street after dark. for the other night
a man was stabbed by an Apache on
the Grande Boulevarde, just after he
had left one of the biggest cafes.
But the extraordinary part of the
whole thing is that these rascals COM
NIT their crimes practically with i'm
punity. Very often night at the
! depot. or violon, as II is called in.
Partisan slang. is all an Apache re-
cieves by way of punishment, for the
next morning he is free. For stab
bling passerby for the sake of see
ing blood flow, as one man did the
other night, or merely to test the
efficacy of newly purchased knife,
the Apache Is given for punishment
what amounts to little more than a
caution of the "don't-do-it-again"
order So Parisians are clamoring
. for reform, for more severe penalties,