CRIME IN PARIS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 290, 1 September 1908, Page 7

CRIME IN PARIS.

POLICE RAID. . THREE HUNDRED ARRESTS. (OT TELEGRAPH —-PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Roc, August 31," 10,55 p.m.) J' Paris, August 31. Tho polico raided criminal haunts in Pans on Saturday night, and made thrco hundred arrests. CRIME IN PARIS: THE APACHE. Tho terrorism of Paris, also of Marseilles, by criminals and roughs has approached., tho dimensions of a national 1 scandal.. 'The' Paris; Apache has become ■ a ' tyjle • of' Himself, andsomething far moro "dangerous than the London Hooligan. A writer in the "Express" says that tho Apaches (called'such because of the elaborateness of their cruelty to victims) adopted tho name with glee, and forthwith set about to find a uniform. 1 Ho writes: "Tho modern Apache has a tiny tattooed spot upon his forehead. Ho wears a hard felt hat or a cap in the prevailing fashion. Ho' wears a coloured shirt without , a collar or. a .tie, his. liair is carefully brushed and pomaded, and he wears the very best boots that can be bought or stolen. When times are bad his clothes may bo bad also, but you will never see an Apache in bad boots. Boots of a certain smartness arc tho sign of his profession, and distinguish him from- the hard-working tradesman or clerk. Ho wears them as a city man wears his tophat.

"Every Apache, though, has nominally a trade of some kind. Many of them- call themselves hairdressers, soma are coachmen .or cab? drivers, somo market porters.All pretend to bo something honest, and, therefore, unless they bo caught' red-handed," they cannot bo' punished. They know this,; and'they-rob and murder with comparative impunity. For it must be confessed that the Pans pplice is inadequate in numbers, and it must .bo confessed, too, that, although (or perhaps because) a policeman gets Shot or. stabbed now and again vn Paris, the sergeant da villo is not very fond of rushing into danger. .1 live near a street which is a very hot-bed of Apaches after midnight, and I have often seen them chaffing tlio 'police, and noticed, not ~4 toeether with amusement, that. are terrorised. An ApaeKe glories in imprisonment, arid as a clover..man once,.said, it,.is the shame of prison Which''is itf'real' punisnment.'" ■