Carrizozo outlook. [volume] (Carrizozo, N.M.) 1910-1945, 1917-12-07
These mysterious PEG
pie seemed TO haze
Evekn0zOIedge Of tile
coming Of conflict far
they maze themselves
scarce in tile cast da1-
ger zone Of Europe

AARIS.-"where nre the gypslesf'
"They have disappeared since
the war"
"How could they disappear
from France. all frontiers being
gunrdedf"
"Thcy did" replied the French
official, smiling.
Such was the result Of my first In
quiry, and such is the final word OF n
curious story. Editors In America ask-
ed me to discover "what has become OF
the gypsies." The French foreign Of
ice sem me TO the prefecture OF police,
where l met NJ. Alfred Hnrduin. chief
Of the second bureau OF the first d.
vision.
"Are the gypsies In concentration
campsT" | asked.
Those belonging to enemy countries,
yes" he answered. 'but almost none of
them have any nationality; that Is to
say, their nationality could never be
established. Such VAS the cause Of
the law of 1912"
But NJ. Harduin knows, officially,
only Paris and envlrons. 80 he sent me
to the ministry OF the interior, depart
ment Of the surete general. where l
met the great Sebille, controleur-g gem
eral OF the judicial Investigations serv-
ices, whose eyes see over all France.
"The facts are the more curious" he
admitted, because France was literal.
ly overrun with gypsies Immediately
before the war. OF forty thousand
'nomades' on the lists Of the interior
twenty-six thousand were Romnnlchels
(Romanys or gypsIes), and things had
reached a point, In 1912. that France
was obliged TO make a special law to
regulate them"
Two rich and pOpulous tribes, In par
ticular, the Gorgans and the Yankos,
seem to have made IA considerable stir
In the countryside with their fine
horses, gorgeous house wagons, women.
girls, bears, apes and n raft Of children,
dressing loud and living like princes.
AT Roisel, In the Somme." ran a
report. "a tribe OF so-called Russian
gypsles (South Russia and Bohemla)
molested the populations"
They were rich and naughty. They
wore brilliant clothing and ornaments
and Ind fine horses. Yet when a
French peasant would buy one Of those
horses his tail would come out, his
glossy coat go ringwormed, his plump
ness sink In. and even ''some teeth
came out (says Farmer Cardon), being
made of hardened bread crumb."
As for gold (strange detnll). they
found a massive gold chain Of ancient
workmanship around the waist OF the
prince Of the Gorgans, under his en-
broidered clothes. locked with a gold
paddock OF which nobody had the key
On Il were engraved, "T. /. LIB. p
1872" and no explanation could be OBJ
tanned. Thu prince said simply, TITS n
family heirloom" He carried a rich,
cruel whip OF rawhlde, supple oiled
leather and small lead thongs, more
like a weapon than a whip, jeweled In
its handle to the tune OF some $4,000.
estimated. Finally. among his person
al belongings were s%lxty-seven Amer
lean gold dollars OF 1881
"How could the gypsles get away
when the war broke out1" l insisted,
"when all frontier authorities were on
the lookout for enemy subjects and
Splesf"
Instead OF making a discourse the
eontrolleur-general told me a case Of
iome time before the mobilization.
A. strong band OF gypsles (Kakarns.
sa-Krnlovitch familles) had penetrated
from France to Switzerland and, at