PARIS DANGER

Greymouth Evening Star, 31 January 1923, Page 8

PARIS DANGER

EPIDEMIC OF NEEDLE-TRICKING.

1 PARIS, December 12. Complaints continue, to now into > police Headquarters from people who have been pricked with a needle win io ’ walking Paris streets while m crowded stores and subways- Indeed, it seems a possibility that- the pleasures of Christmas shopping may be seriousiy interfered with, lor tne shoppers, especially women, are beginning 1.0 become somewhat nervous rcgarci.ng ITo possibility of falling victim to the unknown fiend or fiends. Ten cases of pricking have been reported Io day to ilm ponce, and. in some cases the mystery as to how n is don lias been intensified by statements ol sufferers that at Hie time I Iley weio pricked there was no one nearer than five or ten paces. One woman stunning near her door suddenly fell a sharp pain in her neck, and raising her hand round half a needle st tick deep below the skin. There was no one near tier at the time, and the only possible explanation ot I n<; case which the police can find is that the needle was blown with a small blowpipe from a considerable distance. Among the eases which occurred today the victims were mostly travellers in the subway and on ’buses, while- a few occurred in shops. In almost all cases part of a needle was discovered in the flesh. There seems io ho snail doubt- now that the perpetrators are lunatics solfeting from a peculiar form of morbid disease. Medical expel Is recall that this kind of thing crops up periodically in various forms and is closely allied w th the mania to cut oil women's hair and to slash dresses with scissors nr ■« razors. On two occasions in the past a regular epidemic of needle-priek..-;g was recorded, namely, under Louis XV. and the Directoire. No ill-effects need be feared by the victims, provided ordinary precautions are taken. At- first a story spread that the. needles were poisoned, and several cases occurred in which girl victims fainted and became seriously sick, owing to a fear that they were poisoned. Invest iga. lion, however ,soon siiowed that, this 's not the case. Nevertheless, the activity s of the needle fiends are disagreeable enough, as nobody seems safe in the crowded spots of Paris to-day, despite all efforts by the police to catch the criminals in the act-