Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-10-21
EPACHES OF PARIS
Night Providers Whose Trade Is
Murder end Robbery.
THE TERROR OF THE POLICE.
These Oesperadoes Rarely Use a Gun,
but Work With the Knife. tho elud-
seon or by "Tolling"-They Have a
Short and Bloody Career.

Short and Bloody Career.
There are very few nights in the
year when Paris policemen on their
rounds do not stumble upon body w.
lug In CORY pool. Sometimes the
handle of long. slender knife pro.
trudes between the shoulder blades:
sometimes an ugly gash bleeds from
ear to ear: not seldom blood oozps
from mouth. nose and ears. us though
the dead had not sustained any an
parent wound or three little starlike
bruises may dot the temple. or a blush
hne an inch wide may mar the back
vt the neck. just above the collar line
Les Apaches," the cops" whispcr
TO each other flor Partisan police Of
ncers always go two by twoI. and they
call for an ambulance. much relieved
not 30 have witnessed the incident.
The steel blade. the blackjack. the
brass knuckleS, will serve the purposc
OF the Apache. according TO his vic
TINS size and presumable strength.
For prey Of small stature. however.
the Apache reserves what in his slang
N
the victim and throws him down: the
Apache's knees bore themselves into
the chest, while his hands seize the
cars. lift the head and slam II Il couple
OF times on the pavement until dull.
or tbud tells Of fractured skull.
Until an Apache * an udept MT
sticking his man in very much the
same way in which a Spanish tore-o
dispatches bull. with a single thrust
between the shoulders. or at cruckinr
skull bone ut one siam. he is held I'm
little esteem and never allowed 70
tackle big jobs" in dangerous neigh
Dorhood, for Paris Is "A well policed
city. The night hawk must strike like
lightning, empty the dead mans pock-
cts in wink and stink away into the
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-
pecinlly we'll dressed there is not much
OF an inquiry.
When ii is all over the gang, which
scatters like a flock of frightened snar.
rows. meets again at some wineshop
where no one is welcome who is not
I'm the business
Apaches never try to conceal their
social status. Their very clothes are
q sort OF warning TO the public. They
even inject a peculiar walk. the BODY
bent from the loIns. shoulders huuched
and hands plunGing deep into the
trousers pockets. But who would dare
10 modest them?
The Apache is a marked man. He
Joins gang at three or four and TWEEN
~. ana by thirty or thirty-five he has
gone. The mRws of jail hold him
Tor the balance of his earthly exist
ence. He knows that. He expects II.
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 are
made-made by the peculiar laws of
France. Every citizen OF the repub-
JIG. without distinction OF rank or class
must serve under his country's flag
for two years. Only the physically un-
ut escape that servitude. AT the end
or his term In the ranks every French.
man seeking employment must pre-.
sent as means of Identification his Ger.
tihcnte Of honorable discharge.
Then II is that tragedy looms up for |
some unfortunates. Woe TO the one |
whose certificate mentions the "Afri. |
can battalions."
The African battalions. garrisoned az |
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 entanglement, they |
are sent to the desert outposts, kept
on convict fare. sleeping mostly in
trenches which they dig. watched over
by septries that shoot to kill
Under the broiling sun 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 of the French yoke.
When they fall by the wayside they
are tied TO horses tail When they
protest spurs cause the horse TO rear
And when the creepy water of sand
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 mem.
cries left by association with the de.
PRAYED and the morally diseased.
They return TO their native city &c
find doors and hearts locked to them.
Their military book, which they must
produce. proclaims them jailbirds.
Who wants to employ an ex-convict:I
During their two years In the African
inferno they have atoned for their er.
rors Of the eighteenth or nineteenth
year. For the second time they have
settled their account with society.
And now society refuses them o
chance to show that they have (for
some Of them have, shed the old hide.
to prove that a new heart is beating
In their breasts.
Hard is the plight OF an ex-convictl
In France.-Andre Fridon I'm New York ,
Tribune.
Very Thorough.
New FORKS collector of customs