Show I 1 I I waved gif r Iron h Little Jules Revealed to the r 4 Paris Police a Thieves Den Were Taught to Steal Just as in Dickens Famous at attl tl T st f 4 k 1 a jJ t dy J 1 1 I L Ii l I 2 tIl I I V f F Jules Bouton the boy of the Paris slums whose ij shrewd detective work discovered a crime I school where his sister and other y young ung girls were ff f being trained to be pickpockets and shoplifters t 1 i By C DE VIDAL HUNT PARIS PARIS PARIS- BOY of the slums alums called Jule Jules Jules- Jules k J A ABOY the Snail has become the hero of o the Rue du Bel Air because he discovered a college where two women and a year old girl were training young girls to become expert pick pick- pickpockets pickpockets pickpockets pockets and shoplifters Incidentally n the little boy whose real name is Jules U Bouton saved his sister who was a aS S La prisoner of the pickpocket professors The two women Berthe Raulin Paulin and Amanda Godart and the girl Zuleika were arrested and the two former iden iden- identified iden- iden identified identified as old timers The story of Jules and his little si sister ter Marcelline as they told it to the Police Judiciary sounds like a modern version of Oliver Twist and with withold withold withold old Fagin in Dickens famous novel Only in this case the Fagin was enacted by two of the most redoubtable women in the Paris slums Jules and his sister are th the children of ofa ofa ola a sickly mother who earns a livelihood by selling newspapers The little ones CInes never knew their father Cather They grew V up in the appalling surroundings of the Rue flue du Bel Air a sunless street filled with foul odors in the vicinity of the Place St Michel Jules was called the snail by the theother theother theother other street urchins because he was al- al always always al always ways the last tJ to reach the goal in the races they organized in the Luxem Luxem- Luxembourg Luxembourg Luxembourg bourg Gardens after school Jules rover got angry over his nickname lie He usually walked the last half haIC of the race and when ho he joined his companions said Ive got all my wind and got here just the same came Anybody in this bunch wants a good beating now's the time and pl place ce But the bos bo's boys would not tackle him They knew Jules had never been licked except at running Which proved that thc Snail the Snail had some qualities It was his instinct as a detective that made him the hero of the Rue flue du Bel Eel Air when his little sister Marcelline was stolen by the thieves who wanted to tomake tomake tomake make a thief of her Marcelline disappeared from the two two- two room room apartment she called her home homei i just about a month ago The mother reported her absence to the police but no trace was found of the little girl Jules eleven years old from that day on did not return to school He kept away from the other street gamins and walked around for tor hours in the neigh neigh- n neighborhood neighborhood of the Place Maubert sneaking in and out of the narrow streets that run rud from the quays of the Seine into the slums lIe He probably knew what ho he was after but If it anyone any one asked him he said he be was just looking for something to look at One One day he saw two girls of about his bis r 7 own age talking to an elderly gentleman gentle gentle- gentleman He noticed that man one of the girls was s carrying flowers and engaging the tho I attention of the elderly man an while p pan the other deftly drew his handkerchief from his pocket Jules could have gone right up to the theman theman theman man and told him of the girls deed but instead he stood quite still and when the girls walked off ofT with the stolen handkerchief he followed them lIe watched them as they repeated the trick four times and also when they stole a remnant of silk stuff in front of the Still he did nothing lIe simply kept on the trail of the girls He lIe wat watched hed them as they finally dis- dis disappeared disappeared dis disappeared appeared in a small grocery right around the corner of Rue des They did not come out of the place that eve eve- evening eve evening ning For a week the Snail watched the grocery store from b behind ind a board fence across the way He lIe saw other girls go in and out of the front door and not one of them was older than himself One evening just before the closing hour Jules Jules entered entered the shop and asked for five sous worth of candy It was the woman Raulin Raul n who ho waited on him While he was fumbling in his pocket to find his five sous two girls came in and walked right through to the rear of the shop They were the same girls he had seen stealing handkerchiefs Jules merely gave them a casual look k He lie continued searching his pockets for money to pay for the candy but finally gave it up lIe didn't have a sou to his name Get out of here you dirty brat the woman yelled at him threat threatening ning him with her stick the Snail slowly made sot lor the thedoor thedoor thedoor door When he ho turned around he saw that the woman was looking toward the rear door It was just a 8 second but enough f for fr r him to carry out his plan lIe dropped to the floor and qUIckly crawled back toward the counter where the woman could not see him There he waited a 8 moment Then he continued toward the rear of the shop noiselessly as a cat and hid behind some potato sacks The woman Raul Raulin n evidently thought he had left the place In a 8 J little while she got up and locked the front door putting the key in her apron pocket Jules never budged lie lay behind the potato bags as still as a 8 mouse Pres Pres- Presently Presently Presently he saw the woman go out of the back door lIe He followed her a few minutes later and got Into a dark nar nar- narrow nar- nar narrow narrow row passage way that led into a bed bed- bedroom bedroom room There was no light in the room but Jules could hear girls voices corning coming from somewhere near where he was lie He could not make out whether the voices came from the cellar or an nn adjacent room but he be was sure they were eating enting dinner judging from the rattling of spoons and dishes Suddenly ho he heard a voice that nearly made him cry out out with joy and fear It was his little sisters sister's voice He lie heard ff 74 J r When the pupils could extract a purse from 7 s w a t the h e pocket 0 of ofa F a d dummy of 0 F t h e 0 human figure without ringing any of the r W- W bells that covered it their their numerous numerous lion hon was complete and they were thought fit to graduate into info actual stealing on the street iIi her say she was hungry A woman's wom wom- woman's ans an's harsh voice answered her II Heres eres ere's a plate of soup for you but its it's the last until you can open t that hat handbag without my feel feel- feeling feeling feeling ing it That was wase e enough n 0 ugh for Jules lIe Ile crawled back t through h r 0 u C h the dark passage into the fron front t shop where he broke a window windowpane windowpane pane to get out into the street lIe ran to the police ce station faster than any of his racing companions had ever raced in inthe inthe inthe the Luxembourg Gardens and a n d within fifteen t teen minutes m i nut e s was back with three policemen Luckily the women in the ki kiJ J o 4 w r tr p s ir irr t r J Jy y I b N Marcelline Bouton who was rescued from the thieves den by her brother Jules and in the oval Zuleika one of the three women who ran the school and trained girls for lives of crima rear of the house had not heard the bursting of the window Led by Jules the three policemen crawled into the shop through the same opening and two minutes late later late broke into the room where Berthe Raulin and her partner in crime Amanda Godart were just putting five girls through their exercises Amanda was dressed as a man The girls evidently had been practicing the hand hand- handkerchief handkerchief handkerchief kerchief trick on her Little Marcelline fell around her brothers brother's neck and wept with joy lie Ile was only three years older than she but she knew he was the biggest brother bro any girl ever had t the police station the girls told the story of how the two women Berthe Raulin and Amanda Godart had taught them to become pickpockets pickpockets- First was It-was It was Zuleika the Algerian girl they s said id who had given them candy Zuleika worked c C 1928 nl 9 by br for the two women She always brought brought new recruits by telling the girls she knew a place where they could get all the candy they wanted for nothing Zuleika had attracted little Marcelline l In the same way She had depicted the good Mme Raulin as a 8 wonderful woman who had a heart of gold and and loved lonely little girls better than a real mother Marcelline went with Zuleika but when she saw Mme Raulin sh she did not like her She wanted to leave the gro- gro grocery grocery gro grocery cery shop right awa away but Zuleika pushed her back and locked her up in 8 a dark closet where there were rats Immediately Marcelline began to shriek and pound on the door with wilh her two little fists Mme Raulin came to thedoor the thedoor door and said she would let her out if she promised to do everything she was told to do Of cour course e M Marcelline would d 10 lua have promised anything to get away from those rats that kept running over her feet She was taken into the dining room where about eight other girls were eat eat- eating cat ing ing supper At the head of the table was a woman Amanda Godart who was dressed as a 8 man There were no win win- windows win windows dows doors in the place The girls were eat cat eating cat ing ing heaps of boiled rice but only two of th them m got sugar on it They were the ones who had done the best bet work by taking a purse from a dummy figure without causing even the faintest tinkle from the bells that covered it it Marcelline was as told toM to sit down and eat cat but she wept continuously and wanted to go home home to her mother Finally Zuleika slapped her in the face Zuleika was a 8 big girl of fifteen and all the girls were afraid of her B But Buk Mar Mar- Marcelline Marcelline celline cried all the more and tried bled to JJ open the door It was locked of course and all her crying could not help her Mme Ime Berthe as the girls called one of the the women eventually took Marcelline Marcelline Marcel- Marcel Marcelline line into another room and made her strip to the skin She had a cruel look look- looking looking looking ing lash in the hand and threatened to whip Marcelline if she did not obey So the poor girl did as she was told Mme Berthe then gave her a 8 gunny sack with hol holes s for her arms When you can work as you are told to the woman said Ill give you back your our clothes That night Marcelline slept with the theother theother theother other girls in a stuffy cellar For beds they had large bags filled with straw The The next day she got her first le lesson son sonin in picking pockets It was Mme Ime Amanda dressed as a man who gave it to her With four bouquets of arti arti- artificial artificial violets in one hand Marcelline was expected to withdraw a handkerchief from the trousers pocket of Mme Amanda without being noticed It was just like play the other girls said and they laughed when hen Marcelline slid said she did not cue care for the game Mme Amanda laughed too and said Marcel Marcel- Marcelline Marcelline line surely would join the game in the afternoon after watching the others eat eat- eating eat eating ing their noonday mel l meal Marcelline did not get anything to eat that whole day and in the evening she finally tried to do as she was told She was very clumsy about it of course and was hit on her fingers with a thin stick several times before she could pull the handkerchief out of Amandas Amanda's pocket All the time she was thinking of how she could get away from the place and go back to her mother and brother Jules That night she asked the girl who slept beside her on the straw what would happen hap hap- happen happen pen if any of them tried to run away One girl once tried it said her little companion but Zuleika got her Zu- Zu Zu Zu-leika Zu leika always ahva's gets them Marcelline then told the police more experiences es in the Raulin crime I I school how how the table in the dining i room was turned into the tha semblance of ofa ofa ofa a counter and how the girls were vvera taught to slip small silk remnants under their black aprons or into make make- make believe believe bundles that were holl hollow w inside Zuleika was present when Marcelline told the police She looked viciously at atthe atthe atthe the girl but Marcelline was wa's was no longer afraid Jules was there to protect her The two older women and Zuleika were sent to Saint Lazare prison and the girls placed in the House of the Good Shepherd lIlor More Mom than 1000 handkerchiefs handkerchiefs handkerchiefs chiefs were found in the Raulin house and fourteen cases filled with watches women's toilet articles fancy lipsticks powder boxes end and cigarette cases hand hand- handbags hand bags bags and purses |