The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-10-15
APAChES OF PARIS
Niqht Providers Whose Trade Is
Murder and Robbery.
THE TERROR OF THE POLICE.


These OesperaSoes Rarely Use a Gun.
but Work With the Knife. the Biud
eeon or by "Tetlins"-They Have
Short and Bloody Career.
There are very few nights in the
year when Paris policemen on their
rounds do not stumble upon a body ly-
ing in CORY pool. Sometimes the
handle OF long. slender knife pro-
trudes between the shoulder blades:
sometimes an ugly cash bleeds from
ear to ear: not seldom blood oozeS
from mouth. nose and ears. as though
the dead had not sustained any APP
parent wound. or three little starl!ke
bruises may dot the temple or ii 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,
Ulcers always so two by rwo,. aud they
call for an ambulance. much relieved
not TO have witnessed the incident
The steel blade. the blackjack. the
brass knuckles. viii serve the purpose
OF the Apache. according to bis vic,
TINS size and presumable strength
For a prey OF small stature. however
the Apache reserves what in his slang
he 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 1t a couple
of times on the pavement until a dull
err thud tells Of a 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
a 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-
cts in a wink and stink away into tho
dark. Therefore Apaches very seldom
carry guns: the knife is silent. Toll
ing. too. is safe-so many people ara
known TO have slipped and fractured
their skulls. Unless the victim is es-
pecially we'll dressed there is not much
of an inquiry.
When 1t is all over the gang. which
scatters like flock Of frightened spar.
rows. meets again at some wineshop
where no one is welcome who 10 not
lin the business"
Apaches never try to conceal their
social status. Their very clothes are
a sort of warning to the public. They
even affect a 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 in a marked man. He
joins a gang at three or four and TWEEN
ty. and by thirty or thirty-fve he has
gone. The maws Of a jail hold him
for the balance of his enrthly exist
ence. He knows that. He expects 1t
Therefore while his freedom lasts there
is no desperate chance he will not take
to get at the gold that alone could
save him.
Apaches are not born: they art
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 flae
for two years. Only the physically un
1T escape that servitude. At the enc
of his term in the ranks every French
man seeking employment must pre-
sent rs means of Identification his Ger
tificate OF honorable discharge.
Then it is that tragedy looms up To-
some unfortunates. Woe to the ont
whose certificate mentions the 'Afri
can battalions!"
The African battalions. garrisoned a
the edge of the Sahara desert. ar
made up of all the boys who had thu
misfortune Of being arrested befor'
they reached the age OF twenty-one
Trivial as their offenses may hav'
been. whether they were due or no
to the indiscreet exuberance OF you'll
or to some absurd ENHANCEMENT. the.
are sent to the desert outposts. KEEP
on convict fare. sleeping mostly II
trenches which they dig. watched owe
by sentries that shoot to kill. 3
Under the broiling sun that lay
them down fast with fever and chol
era they build roads. crept over tn
next day by the sand. They are 9TH
'front.' whenever Arabs or Moroccan
threaten to shake Off the French yoke
When they fall by the wayside the,
are tied to horses tail. When the.
protest spurs cause the horse to rear.
And when the creepy water OF san
wells. bullets from the sentries or fror
the pomads and the boots of viciou
horses have spared them they retur
to their native city with hatred Il
their hearts. with the loathsome mem
cries left by association with the dc
PRAYED and the morally diseased.
They return TO their native city I
find doors aud hearts locked to them
Their military book. which they mus
produce. prociaims them jailbird:
Who wants to employ an ex-convict
| During their two years in the Africa
inferno they have atoned for their el
rors Of the eighteenth or nineteent
year. For the second time they hav
settled their account with societ,
And now society refuses them
| chance to show that they haze &c
| some Of them have, shed the cd hid
| to prove that a new heart Is beatin
in their breasts