Show I dE i 1 The Church of the Sacred Heart which overlooks the r 1 v district of r oC C Paris where g I 1 Bar and many other simi F ry tar are located Y C I l Sr-r Sr X 4 My f t r t twY I wY i v vr r I i 5 zi 4 S F t Na I I d e eF s r bt h 2 By CARL DE VIDAL HUNT PARIS T TT F you want to s see the real Paris Pari I underworld go to the Assassins Bar Another guide had offered to taketo take Ia Iato to the Skeleton in the Sewer where we e could dine on slabs stolen from the morgue but we decided to start our round at the Assassins and take our lives into our hands At some future time we thought we would wO would enjoy a meal at the Skeleton after visiting The Smoking Dog the Guillo tine Cellar and Marie Brain Marie eater eater It was three o'clock in the morn morning ing and freezing freezing cold Going up the Rue epic Lepic we passed only a afew afew afew few muffled and shivering females in slow slaw gaited quest of adventure poor creatures of the night too old or too ragged to venture down into the bright lights of the Boulevard or the brilliant gay gay- gay sties of the Rue We made our way toward the crest cres t of the Butte Under the gray leprous tT walls of the ancient monastery up o on top of the hill we paused a moment tor fo T breath and then boldly walked into a narrow blind alley at the end of which we were to meet whatever fate had in i store for us us After hesitating ever so o slightly in i n front of a 1 forbidding shack that had ha d all the appearances of a murderers den we crawled down a slippery staircase of o f old masonry and came to a ily hea y bolted that might easily have hav e barred the entrance to a a Bastille dun dun- dungeon dungeon geon peon Our guide knocked four times time I upon the panel of ot that door telling us u uto s to remain perfectly quiet and turn our ow r faces toward the wheezy little oil lam lamp Jams that dangled frigidly over the unsavory ry entrance We promptly obeyed and at once be became became came conscious that some one back of o f some unseen peephole was scanning our ou r appearances most closely Evidently we w e passed muster satisfactorily The hea vY portal opened slowly and noiselessly Ten or twelve more steps brought us u s down into a- a a cavernous hole black as a g night and filled tilled with nauseous odors of o f garlic and stale beer From l e beyond the inky blackness came came the th e scratching l sounds of ofa a sickly sickly- violin and an anthe d the dull thumping of a guitar Suddenly y a door was flung open A man appeared appeared d In the vague light of the threshold and andin an anin andin d in a sinister voice bade us enter Pas Paa dans dens les his he snarled marled in true Apache style passing passin g a quick hand over our hips in searcha search of ofa o ofa t a possible weapon But we had been told to leave our reo revolvers re revolvers safely locked up In tn our rooms room S Sand and to trust ourselves implicitly into int a athe the hands of the worst thieves and an J assassins of the old Butte Montmartre a If It anyone any one insults you our g guid e had cautioned dont pay any attention n to it it And if they want to fight tight e their challenge and buy them a round roun d of wine With this advice soundly lodged In Ii n our minds we entered the room a II low to w ceiling ed affair with heavy rafters over head overhead and two or three smelly amelly oil lamps lam Ps trying trying- to diffuse the clouds of amok e that filled the gloomy place Dont get funny you pigs said id the theman th theman o man v who oho ho had bad admitted us us o t lF t l fM f El E f lm o t t tl l m f x I 1 I 2 6 4 7 1 f i I if Y tt oj 7 7 I p 1 i Ar Ars s I J w ti 1 f 1 l t t A f fA i i I t The cafes cafe's barmaid barmaid and and lusty enough to serve as a bouncer in in case of necessity wondered Wc We wondered if he had meant us but buthe bu buthe he be evidently had addressed that remar remark k to some tough looking characters at one of the nearest tables Dont get excited you vermin he repeated only some of those cursed Americans We did not attempt to resent this reflection on our nationality We reo re- remembered re remembered the guides guide's admonition and meekly sat down where the tho owner of the place made room for us Our Out eyes gradually c became a accustomed cus- cus tomed toured to the sepulchral dimness of the room Anyhow we could see enough to read upon a soiled wine card that the chea cheapest est thing on the bill was cham champagne at francs a bottle We ordered a bottle hoping that the fierce company around us would not begin fighting immediately and thus compel us to buy wine for everybody There were about forty persons in inthe inthe the room men and women and judging from their appearance appearance a bottle apiece would not have been too much So we pretended to be thoroughly absorbed by pur our own affairs At the table next to ours sat three men playing cards with two women standing back of their chairs and watching them The men were were typical Apaches un- un unshaved Unshaved un shaved unkempt eyed low individuals uala with greed and crime written all allover over o their faces aces The two women behind them like most of the women in io the room roam were the sort that slave for these men and receive beatings in return for their devotion They were smoking cigarettes and watching the tho game in- in interestedly in One of tha the men hada had a murderous knife stuck in the table nea neat near his hig elbow Evidently at the least provocation this and other knives would be drawn and a general g massacre would bel begin n The four or five other tourists in the place did not make nake us feel more secure c Ic I Ir I t 1 n i At one table three r y typical Apaches C- C with greed d and X F I crime written all kI kIt over them were t- t i playing cards while two pretty but hard L t women looked on ort One of the S players hada had a murderous knife stuck in the table close to his elbow fl j A Night of Thrills rf 4 a ti tir tit at I in in a Notorious Paris r v r t Underworld Resort I and the Astonishing It Revelation It Brought rou ht the t e U Unsuspecting g Visitors From America in the event of a to hand-to-hand fight tight and ande we e were hoping now more than ever that nothing would arouse the brutes to violence Farther down the room others were playing cards or dominoes In a corner near the bar an old violinist with the tragic face of a hungry actor was scrap scrap- ing scraping his fiddle to the accompaniment of the guitar g A few couples were ere dancing a tango around the tables So far everything seemed safe but presently a young woman oman with wilh her hair almost hiding her face and smoking a avile avile vil avil vile cigarette came and sat eat down with us Another glass Victor she called In about five minutes we had three betties women beside us and three empty bot bot- bottles bet bet- bottles ties They were the thirstiest women we had seer in a long while and we were just juit preparing to order another bottle when something happened A shrill whistle came from the door through which we had entered In a moment all cards disappeared from the tables near us The men sat at back and started to sing and and the women got up to dance Two policemen stood in the doorway The place is pinched whispered our guide Dont move To be honest we could not have moved had we wanted to There Thera was wag tragedy in the foul air and we were ere be be- be binning binning bo-binning to be sorry we had come The Tho policemen slowly walked around toward where we were sitting and tooka took a good look at us They did not say say anything Should we ask them to have a drink with us we asked our guide g It seemed to be the proper thing to todo do and we were ready to do almost any thing anything by this time Ime to save our skins So Sowe Sowe Sowe we ordered two more bottles and invited Ut oJ the policemen They accepted with alacrity and pretty soon we had the jolli jolli- jolliest est jolli-est est party around u- u u that could be imag imago imagined ined fined in the circumstances We danced and nd enjoyed our our- ourselves our ourselves selves hugely We even dis- dis discovered dis discovered covered an old Englishman who seemed to be having the time of his life Then with the sudden sudden sudden- ness of a flash came the end The I The police inspector had been sighted by the out look In In less i f time than it takes to tell it the whole company disappeared into t another room all room all except the tourists We took this to be our cue to vanish The old Englishman re- re remained remained re remained with us but the guide had dis- dis disappeared dis disappeared appeared with the rest of the gang Five minutes later we were back under the grim walls of the monastery and thanking our stars that we had got got- gotten got gotten gotten ten away with our lives The old Eng Eng- Englishman Englishman lishman Tishman for some mysterious reason was chuckling to himself as he conducted us down the long flight of stairs that lead down from the crest of Montmartre to the Rue de Clichy I suppose you got your moneys money's worth bo he smiled as we sat down for a acup acup acup cup of coffee in one of the early morn morn- morning morning morning ing cafes but you are entitled to a little information I I should say You remember that young oung disheveled woman with the evil smelling cigarette Well she is known as the Baronne do de and spends three or four nights a week is 11 i that place The others I I mean the card players and the rest of the tough looking are individuals individuals part o othe o the he scenery The whole affair is fictitious Even the two policemen are in the game Some out down J IW Ina to k t One of several ambitious young actresses who q figure as dissipated and depraved Apache l a 1 1 girls at the Assassins Bar during i 2 the early morning hours tt 0 n if F y f Quaint old musician musi- musi dan cian who enter enter- entertains entertains the visitors to one of the better known Montmartre cafes gentlemen find it a good way to make mako II a little money and the women you saw were not at all what you OU thought they were It is merely mereb a little spectacle for forthe forthe the tourists how much did it grit lit you About six or eight quid we said all Quid is the English slang for the sovereign which is worth a little less than 5 in American mone money Not INot Not bad not bad our English friend replied The wines there them are aregood aregood aregood good even though the prices are arc ex ox ex- ex exorbitant exorbitant And one should pay something for the atmosphere which i is as near that ofa of a Teal leal real Apaches Apache's den as the average tourist will probably ever get And then thel he went on to explain how Paris not daring to let tourists be bo led to the underworld haunts where the Apaches plot their crimes and squander their ill-gotten ill gains obligingly ob ob provides realistic imitations of them in places like the one we had had Just left We could hardly believe that the men with the murderous knives and the pretty but hard faced women who drank so 50 thirstily at our expense were only playing a 11 game for our benefit and we expressed our incredulity to our En Eng Eng- English Eng English lish friend There was not a real Apache he assured us not a real citizen of the tho underworld in the place It was all playacting play acting Everybody was playing playing- D a arole arole role of some sort to sort to amuse amuso you and mak make money for tor themselves Very good actors some of them are too The Tho first of the women who Invited themselves to share your your wine is reo re- regarded re regarded by the critics as one of the most promising remising of the younger actresses actresses on onie 8 the Paris stage Probably you will reco recognize nue nize cue her in anew month next comedy-next |