A MAD BARBER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7656, 5 June 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MAD BARBER.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Daily Telegraph, writing from Paris, says : —The most unimaginative mind can pourtray to itself tho probable effects of misplaced confidence in such a person as a barber, and it is, luckily, not often that the wielders of tho razor betray their trust in the manner related of a mad coiffeur of Montmartre. It appears that a man who wanted to be carefully shaved went into the shop of M. Saviard, one of the most artistic coiffeurs in thoao upper regions of Paris which have been rendered notorious through their connection with the Commune. Having sat down according to custom in an easy chair, the customer, full of trust, presented his face and throat to tho barber, M. Saviard himself. Scarcely had the latter tied the spotlessly white towel around the neck of tho unsuspicious subject upon whom he was about to operate with a razor than a conversation begau between the two. It turned upon the tonsorial art, and Saviard astonished his customer by suddenly exclaiming, in loud and defiant tones, " I am a person of more importance than you are aware of. I am the Gambetta of barbers. I mean to revolutionise the art of shaving, which is still in its infancy, and to give it development more in accordance with modern institutions." Thus speaking, Saviard thrust an immense poster into the hands of his amazed customer, saying, " Read that! It will be posted tq-morrow on all the walls of the capital." The man was held down iu the armchair while he read the poster, wherein the barber had called himself the second Gambetta aud the true Parisian Figaro, and stated his intention of opening branch establishments all over the metropolis. The customer took all this in with sufficient good grace, but the glaring eyes of the second Gambetta terrified him, and he rose to depart. Saviard, however, now became furious, and actually attempted to gash the man with a razor because he tried to get out of tho establishment. By a series of adroit acrobatic movements the unlucky customer escaped, and was followed down the street by the barber, razor still in hand. Tho police now appeared on the ssene, and took tho madman to the hospital.