Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-14
APAChES OF PARIS
Night Providers Whose Trade Is
Murder and Robbery.
THE TERROR OF THE POLICE.
These Oesperadoes Rarely Use a Gun.
but Work With tho Knife. the BIud-
geon or by "ToIIing"-They Have .
Short and Bloody Career.

but Work With tho Knife. the Bud
seon or by "ToIIing"-They Have q
Short and Bloody Career.
There are very few nights in the
year when Paris policemen on their
rounds do not stumble upon body ~
ing in d CORY pool. Sometimes the
handle of Il long. slender knife pro-
trudeS between the shoulder blades:
sometimes an ugly cash bleeds from
from mouth. nose and ears. as though
the dead had not sustained any ap-
parent wound. or three little starlike
bruises may dot the temple. or BLUSH
line an inch wide may mar the back
of the neck, just above the collar line.
LES Apaches." the "cops" whisper
to each other flor Partisan police Of
6cers always go two by two). and they
call for an ambulance. much relieved
not to have witnessed the incident.
The steel blade. the blackjack. the
brass knuckles. will serve the purpose
of the Apache. according to bis vic
TINS size and presumable strength.
For prey of small stature. however.
the Apache reserves what in his slang
be calls "tolling." A sharp blow dazes
the victim and throws him down; the
Apache's knees bore themselves into
the chest. while his hands seize the
ears, lift the head and slam it a couple
Of times on the pavement until dull
er thud tells OF fractured skull.
Until an Apache is an adept at
"sticking" his man in very much the
same way in which Spanish torero
dispatches a bull. with a single thrust
between the shoulders. or at cracking
q skull bone at one slam. he is held in
little esteem and never allowed to
tackle big jobs in dangerous neigh
borhood. for Paris is we'll policed
city. The night hawk must strike like
lightning, empty the dead mans pock-
dark. Therefore Apaches very seldom
carry guns: the knife is silent Toll
ing. too. is safe-so many people are
known to have slipped and fractured
their skulls Unless the victim is es
pecially well dressed there is not much
of an inquiry.
When it is all over the gang. which
scatters like flock Of frightened spar
rows. meets again at some wineshOp
where no one is welcome who is not
lin the business"
Apaches never try to conceal their
social status. Their very clothes are
sort Of warning to the public. They
even affect peculiar walk. the body
bent from the loins. shoulders hunched
and hands plunging deep into the
trousers pockets. But who would dare
to modest them?
The Apache is a marked man. He
joins gang at three or four and twen-
ty. and by thirty or thirty-five he has
gone. The maws Of Jail hold him
for the balance Of bis earthly exist
ence. He knows that. He expects it.
Therefore while his freedom lasts there
is no desperate chance be will not take
to get at the gold that alone could
save him.
Apaches are not born; they are
made-made by the peculiar laws Of
France. Every citizen Of the repub'
lie. without distinction Of rank or class,
must serve under his country's dag
for two years. Only the physically un-
ut escape that servitude. At the end
of bis term in the ranks every French
man seeking employment must pre-
sent as means of Identification his GER
tficate Of honorable discharge.
Then it Is that tragedy looms up for
some unfortunates. Woe to the one
whose certificate mentions the "Afri
can battaliOnS!!"
The African battalions. garrisoned at
the edge of the Sahara desert. are
made up Of all the boys who had the
misfortune Of being arrested before
they reached the age Of twenty-one
Trivial as their offenses may have
been. whether they were due or not
to the indiscreet exuberance Of youth
or to some absurd ENHANCEMENT, they
are sent to the desert outposts. kept
on convict fare. sleeping mostly In
trenches which they dig. watched over
by sentries that shoot to kill.
Under the broiling SUD that lays
them down fast with fever and chol-
era they build roads. crept over the
next day by the sand. They are 1.-The
'front.' whenever Arabs or Moroccans
threaten to shake off the French yoke
When they fall by the wayside they
are tied to a horse's tail. When they
protest spurs cause the horse to rear
And when the creepy water of sane
wells. bullets from the sentries or from
the nomads and the hoofs of vicious
horses have spared them they return
to their native city with hatred In
their hearts. with the loathsome men,
cries left by association with the de-
PRAYED and the morally diseased.
They return to their native city to
ind doors aud hearts locked to them.
Their military book. which they must
produce. proclaims them jailbirds
Who wants to employ an ex-conv1ct:
During their two years in the Africas
49, $bo, ho~ for fhoir