WOMEN DESPERADOES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2143, 28 December 1920, Page 18 (Supplement)

WOMEN DESPERADOES.

AMAZON APACHES. BANDS OF BEAUTIFUL DECOYS. The French police now find themselves up against a new and disconcerting problem—an organised band of women desperadoes. There have been several outbreaks of violence, not only in the capital, but in other cities, for which women alone are responsible. At4he town of Saint Etienne, a busy steel centre, a wealthy manufacturer, has had a rough experience at the hands of these female apaches. He was found lying in an avenue on the outskirts of the town, carried home, and when he had i-ecovered told an amazing story of his adventure. - He said: , "I was walking quietly along whenhalf a dozen young and powerful women came out of a side turning. They were all armed, and one who struck me in the mouth had a formidable knuckle-duster on her hand. I was beaten to the ground, and then struck a great many times. What happened afterwards I am unable to say, as I became unconscious." The watch of the victim • and a considerable amount, of money had disappeared. So far the police have been unable to track down the thieves.

In the seaport of Marseilles the master of a coasting vessel left his bank and was passing through a street in the neighbourhood or the docks -when, despite the fact that it •was still light, he was set upon by three women, who struck him with loaded sticks, robbed him, and left him almost dead.. He was found by some sailors directly afterwards, but the criminals have not been caught. "Women, many of them of great beauty, are being used as decoys in Paris, but they are also themselves quite ready to employ violence if the need arises. The suggestion seems to be that certain of these women have been specially trained for the outrages of which they are guilty. A famous chief of the Surete said, when speaking on the subject: "A subtle and extremely undesirable change has come over the women of what one may call the criminal class. Hitherto they have contented themselves with assisting in orgies in the apache quarters„and concealing men whose arFest was very much desired. They are not desirable people, but they seldom took to violence. In exceptional cases they would use the knife or a hatpin. I have known them to take vitriol as a weapon of offence. But all this was in quarrels among themselves.

"The outlook Jhas suddenly and unmistakably altered. "Two women are now in the hands of the police for robbery under conditions that would have been the boast of a desperate man apache. These two women, both of whom are young, enticed an #ld jeweller into a side street, and then beat him into \ unconsciousness. They evidently used weapons of a formidable character. Indeed, one of them was found on the spot, and is in the hands of the police. "It is a short steel jemmy, and a murderous implement. The, women were strong, with amazingly-devel-oped muscles.' We were able to trace them from descriptions given by the victim when he recovered sensibility, and by others wlio had watched them hanging around the Champs Elysees. "I arrested them in a dancing hall where they were enjoying themselves, quite unconscious that they had been traced, ft was as well that I had two colleagues with me, for they put up a hard fight, and, as you see, I bear the marks of the conflict on my face. "It may be that there is a farreaching conspiracy. I think that it is extremely probable."