r,
THE SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE SECTION
von against the vermin thai make them dangerous
a! a distance. The discipline and tlio uniform of a
prison or nn nsyluin may revive in thorn, for tho t into
being nl any rnlo, the shadow of former decent
habits and correct mamiciM, hut nothing else will.
There is a third type- I hi' man of good liirlh,
clever, active, lint profoundly immoral, who has
siimndei'cd his las), cent in a life of dissipation and
debauchery, and is ready lo adopt any expedient
which will h"lp to maintain him in his social posi
tion. Here is an example drawn from the gay cir
cles of the smartest Parisian society.
Count Georges do ('. belongs lo one of the inosl
aristocratic families in I'Yanoo, whose ancestors uro
famous for having founded one of our oldest colo
nies. He was lirsl brought under my professional
mil ice in connection with a crime, provoked hy jeal
ousy, of which ho came very near lo being the victim.
His inherited fortune had already been dissipated.
He was handsome, with perfect maiinci's, and had the
liraiu if a lirsl-rlnss engineer; hut the brain onlv, for
there was no solid instruction behind it. I saiil to
myself at the lime: Young man, you and 1 are des
tined to meet again. However, twenty years elapsed
before 1113' prophecy came true. In the meanwhile,
Count do ('. continued to cut a brilliant figure at all
the fashionable watering-places. Now ami again, of
course, a shadow fell upon the picture. At one time
it was a sensational duel, and the whisper went round
that the Count had been aroused of cheat iug at cards.
HIS two sisters, with their tilled husbands, all of
them as smart and good-looking as himself, con
stituted a glittering center of attraction to every
moneyed "mug," anxious for social introductions,
who crossed their path. There was not a shady trick
which they did not suocessfully practice. They sold
old pictures and jewelry; they placed bogus mining
shares, acted as betting and matrimonial agents. It
was this last-named expedient, a marriage affair, eon
ducted with less than their ordinary prudence, which
brought them into the clutches of the criminal law.
Some poor ninny in their own rank of life had been
A human ahipwreck of Aristocratic origin
induced by false prclcusis in advance ninncv on the
prospective dowrv of a rich trill wlm bad never bad
the least intention of marrving him. The victim had
even supplied funds lor the purchase of engagement
presents, which the Count had pocketed. The pen
alty was not a very severe one not nearly severe
enough but it siilliced to rid 11 certain snciot v of the
do C s. Do not imagine, however, that this gang
will now he driven to commit burglaries. They will
do nothing so foolish. A simple change of name,
ami they will seek new dupes in a social circle a lit
tle less elevated than that which they have hitherto
exploited, and whole they will not be recognized.
"Society," said Professor Lacassagne at the Con
gross of Criminal Anthropology, hold in Home in
188.'), "has the criminals that it deserves." This may
sound paradoxical, but it is profoundly true. What
wo police ollicials notice in a general way is that
crime increases in proportion as its legal repression
becomes less severe, and the public feeling of repro
bation diminishes. Moreover, each new development
of civilization brings in its trail a novel form of
crime. Take, for instance, the vast new Palace Ho
tels, the network of which, spread practically over
the entire globe, is an innovation of recent years.
The immediate result has been the spontaneous crea
tion of a new type of thief the "hotel rats," "rots
d'hotel," as we call them. In view of their relative
insignificance, 1 should hesitate to refer to them,
were it not for tho fact that many good people have
declared them to he creatures of imagination in
vented hy the police, and on this point 1 feel rather
keenly, for I was one of the first, if not the first, to
(Continued on Page 9)
A PARABLE FOUND AMONG THE TOLSTOY MANUSCRIPTS
LEO TOLSTOY
ILLUSTRATION ZjC-BFALLS
A NO 1I1M1 Kill him! Shoot him!"
shouted the crowd.
A horrible, callous, cruel crowd of
men and women was closing in upon
u man who walked along in their
midst, tall ami calm. He looked as
callous as the crowd itself.
"Kill the scoundrel!" shouted the crowd.
lie did not seem surprised at this and appeared lo
take it as a matter of course. What was to he done'.'
lie could not expect force and power to be always on
his side. It was now his turn to die. . . . Well,
what mattered it 1
He was one of those who had fought on the side of
tho Government against the people, lie had been
caught in his own house and was being driven he
knew not where.
"To death, to death with him! Kill the scoun
drel !"
A woman rushed up to him and grabbed him by the
hair, shouting:
"lie is a policeman, ho fired at us. Down on your
knees, you scoundrel!"
"Yes, 1 did shoot," said the man.
Shouts of "Kill him! Hang him! Shoot him on
tho spot!" resounded around him.
"Kill him hero!"
"No, lead him farther on! Take him outside the
town! We will kill him there. (Jo on, go on 1"
"I will go whore you wish," replied the captive.
They thronged around him loading their, guns.
"Kill him like a wolf!"
"Ncs, I am a wolf, and you are dogs."
"Now he is starting to abuse us! To death with
tin scoundrel!"
Some of the crowd, pale with anger, Hew at him,
shaking their lists in his face. A hundred voices
.veiled around him: "llaiighim! Kill him!"
He walked 011, surrounded by this noise ami rage, as
calm as if ho felt bored by it. In tho street through
which they passed lay several corpses. The victims
might have been killed by this very man. He did
not seem embarrassed at the sight, but hold his head
all the higher. There was nothing to he done, lie
hated them; he hated them as much as they hated
him. Had he been the victor, ho would have shot
them all.
"To death! To death! Yesterday, even this
morning he shot at us!
Kill the spy, the trai
tor, the accursed one.
Kill him, kill him!"
Suddenly a v o i e 0
was heard, not an or
dinary voice hut a tiny
weak one, saying:
"It is ... it is
father."
It was a child, six
years old. Putting up
both his little hands,
ho implored the people-
and begged, then
threatened them. Hut
they all shouted:
"Kill hint; shoot the
scoundrel! Th e re is
nothing to wait for
!"
Tho child forced its
wv through to his
father, foil on his
knees at his feet and
exclaimed :
He wu one of those who had fought against the people
"Papa, what do they want to do to you?''
Hut the people did not hoar; they took no notice
of it. The whole street was filled with terrible peo
ple. They were all shouting:
"Down with Kings! Down with the priests!
Down with the ministers! Down with the spies!
We will crush them all! They are all scoundrels!"
Hut the child wailed :
"I tell you ho is my father!"
"What a dear little child," said a woman, "what
a fine child!"
Another woman said :
"Hoy, how old arc yon?"
Tho hov replied:
"Do not kill my father!"
One of the angry people who looked more angry
than the others, shouted to the boy:
"(Jet out of the vvav!"
"Where should 1 go 9"
"Go home."
"Why?"
"Go to your mother!"
"His mother is dead," said the father,
"lias he no one besides von?"
"Well, what of that? ! . . Kill me," replied
the father.
HH hold the hoy and warmed his hands. Then he
said to him:
"You know Kate?"
"Our neighbor?''
"Yes, go to her."
"With you?"
"I will come later 011."
"1 won't go without von."
"Why not "
"Mecause they want to hurl you, to kill you."
"No, they are only pretending," said tho father,
and he turned to the man who was leading him and
said (juicily:
"Don't hold me by the collar, but take hold of my
hand. Then tho child will believe that 1 shall come
homo tomorrow. You can shoot me in any case as
soon as we gel round the corner, or anvwhero vou
like." '
"All right," replied the man who was loading him
and took hold of his baud.
Then the father said to his sou:
"Now von seo he
and I are friends; I
am taking a walk with
these gentlemen. He a
w i s e b o y a nil go
home."
Tho child believed it
and left his father,
liacified and contented.
When he had gone,
tho father said:
"Now we are alone,
kill me. Where shall
1 go?"
Suddenly through
tho crowd but a mo
ment before so relent
less, swept a new
force; some one was
hoard exclaiming:
"We must let him
go," and the shout was
taken u by them all.
"Let him go; set him
free; lot him go where
ho pleases!"
