CHAPTER XVI.

SOME FEMALE CRIMINALS.

Criminal Women worse than Criminal Men--Bell Star--Comtesse Sandor--Mother M----, the famous female Receiver of Stolen Goods--The "German Princess"--Jenny Diver--The Baroness de Menckwitz--Emily Lawrence--Louisa Miles--Mrs. Gordon-Baillie: Her dashing Career: Becomes Mrs. Percival Frost: The Crofter's Friend: Triumphal Visit to the Antipodes: Extensive Frauds on Tradesmen: Sentenced to Penal Servitude--A Viennese Impostor--Big Bertha, the "Confidence Queen."

It has been universally agreed that criminal women are the worst of all criminals. "A woman is rarely wicked," runs the Italian adage, "but when she is so, she is worse than a man." We must leave psychologists to explain a fact which is well known to all who have dealings with the criminal classes. No doubt, as a rule, women have a weaker moral sense; they come more under the influence of feeling, and when once they stray from the right path they wander far, and recovery is extremely difficult. Many succumb altogether, and are merged in the general ruck of commonplace, habitual criminals. Now and again a woman rises into the first rank of offenders, and some female criminals may be counted amongst the most remarkable of all depredators. One of these appeared in Texas not many years ago, and, as a female outlaw, the head and chief controlling spirit of a great gang, she long spread terror through that State.

BELL STAR

was the daughter of a guerilla soldier, who had fought on the side of the South, and she was nursed among scenes of bloodshed. When little more than a child she learnt to handle the lasso, revolver, carbine, and bowie knife with extraordinary skill. As she grew up

she developed great strength, and became a fearless horsewoman, riding wild, untamed brutes that no one else would mount. It is told of her that she rode twice and won races at a country meeting, dressed once as a man and once as a woman, having changed her attire so rapidly that the trick was never discovered. She was barely eighteen when she was chosen to lead the band, which she ruled with great firmness and courage, dominating her associates by her superior intelligence, her audacity, and her personal charm. Her exploits were of the most daring description; she led organised attacks on populous cities, entering them fearlessly, both before and after the event, disguised in male attire. On one occasion she sat at the _table d'hôte_ beside the judge of the district, and heard him boast that he knew Bell Star by sight, and would arrest her wherever he met her. Next day, having mounted her horse at the door of the hotel--still in man's clothes--she summoned the judge to come out, told him who she was, slashed him across the face with her riding-whip, and galloped away. Bell Star's band was constantly pursued by Government troops; many pitched battles were fought between them, in one of which this masculine heroine was slain.

Another woman of the same class was of French extraction, and known in the Western States under the _sobriquet_ of "Zelie." She also commanded a band of outlaws, and was ever foremost in acts of daring brigandage, fighting, revolver in hand, always in the first rank. She was a woman of great intellectual gifts and many accomplishments, spoke three languages fluently, and was of very attractive appearance. She is said to have died of hysteria in a French lunatic asylum.

Many other instances of this latter-day development of the criminal woman may be quoted. There was at Lyons an American adventuress and wholesale thief who, having enriched herself by robbery in the United States, crossed to Europe and continued her depredations until arrested in Paris. La Comtesse Sandor, as she was called, was another of this type, who went about Europe disguised as a man, and as such gained the affections of the daughter of a wealthy Austrian, whom she actually married. Theodosia W., again, made a large fortune in St. Petersburg as a receiver of stolen goods, and managed her felonious business with remarkable astuteness.

"MOTHER M----."

Another notorious female receiver was "Mother M----," of New York, who, with her husband, kept a haberdashery shop in that city towards the end of the 'seventies. They were Jews, and keen traders. Their shop was a perfectly respectable establishment on the surface. The proper assortment of goods was on hand to supply the needs of regular customers. "Mother M----" served in the shop herself, assisted by her two daughters, and did so good a business that they might have honestly acquired a competence. But she was in a hurry to grow rich and had no conscientious scruples. She soon opened relations with thieves of all descriptions, and was prepared to buy all kinds of stolen goods. Her dealings were said to be enormous; they extended throughout the United States and beyond--to Canada, Mexico, even to Europe.

As time went on she developed into the champion and banker of her criminal customers. Under cover of her shop she ran a "bureau for the prevention of detection," and was always ready to bribe police officers who were corruptible, or throw them off the scent, and for due consideration she would arrange for the defence of accused persons. It was said that she had secured in advance the services of celebrated criminal lawyers of New York by paying them a retaining fee of 5,000 dollars a year. When any of her clients were laid by the heels, she acted as their banker, providing funds if required, and helping to support their wives and families while they were in custody. She was extremely cautious in her methods. No one was admitted to the office behind the shop, where the real business was done, without introduction and voucher. "Mother M----" allowed none of the "swag" to come to the shop. The bulk of the proceeds of any robbery was first stored, and the receiver invited to send an agent to examine and report upon it. Having estimated its value, she then proceeded to haggle over the price, which eventually she paid in cash, taking over the whole of the property and accepting all the risks of its disposal. As a general rule, she secreted it or shipped it off, and generally succeeded in escaping detection. Once or twice, however, she came to grief. The proceeds of a great silk robbery were found in her possession, but on arrest and trial she was acquitted. At last, in 1884, New York became too hot to hold her, and she crossed the frontier into Canada, and she is said to be still there, living a quiet, respectable life. If report is to be trusted, she regrets New York and the large circle of friends and acquaintances she had gathered round her. In the days of her great activity she kept open house for thieves of both sexes, gave handsome entertainments, employed a good cook, and had a full cellar of choice wines. She enjoyed an excellent reputation also as a liberal supporter of the Synagogue and Jewish charities, and was generally esteemed.

THE "GERMAN PRINCESS."

Female sharpers have abounded in every age and country. The feminine mind is so full of resource, a woman can be so inventive,

so clever in disguising frauds and keeping up specious appearances, that we come upon the female adventuress continually. As far back as the seventeenth century there was the celebrated "German Princess," who took in everyone right and left. Although she was nothing more than a common thief, the daughter of a chorister in Canterbury Cathedral, and the wife of a shoemaker, she passed herself off at Continental watering-places as the ill-used child of a sovereign prince of the German Empire. At Spa she became engaged to a foolish old gentleman of large estate, and absconded with all her presents before the wedding-day. Then she established herself at a London tavern and, as an act of great condescension, married the landlord's brother, who suddenly found that she was a bigamist and a cheat. Her committal to Newgate followed, but on her release she resumed her _rôle_ as the "German Princess" and went on the stage to play in a piece named after her, and the plot of which was founded on the strange ill-usage of this high-born lady. After this she resumed her robberies and led a life of vagabondage, in which she swindled tradesmen, especially jewellers, out of much valuable property. Fate presently overtook her and landed her at the plantations as a convict; but even in Jamaica her effrontery gained her the friendship of the governor, and she soon returned to England to resume her career as a rich heiress, whereby she duped many foolish people and committed numbers of fresh robberies. One day, however, the keeper of the Marshalsea prison, who was on the look-out for some stolen goods, called at the lodging which she occupied, recognised her, and carried her off to gaol. She was soon identified as a convict who had returned from transportation, and her adventurous career presently ended on the gallows.

JENNY DIVER.

Mary Young, _alias_ Jenny Diver, was of the same stamp as the "German Princess," but in a somewhat lower grade and of a later date. Her business was chiefly pocket-picking, her adroitness in which gained her her _sobriquet_, as one who "dived" deep into other people's pockets. She was an Irish girl in service, who formed an acquaintance with a thief, and accompanied him to London. The man was arrested on the way, and Mary Young, arriving alone and helpless, soon joined a countrywoman, Ann Murphy, and tried to earn her livelihood by her needle. Murphy told her of a more lucrative way of life, and introduced her to a club near St. Giles's, where thieves of both sexes assembled to practise their business, and she was taught how to pick pockets, steal watches, and cut off reticules. She soon displayed great dexterity. An early feat, which gained her great renown, was that of stealing a diamond ring from the finger of a young gentleman who helped her to alight from a coach. Another clever trick of hers was to wear false arms and hands, while her own were concealed beneath her cloak, to be used as occasion offered. It was her custom to attend churches, and, when seated in a crowded pew, make play on either side. Another clever device was to join the crowd assembled to see a State procession. She would be attended by a footman and by several accomplices. Seizing a favourable opportunity, between the Park and Spring Gardens, she pretended to be taken seriously ill, and while the crowd pressed round her with kindly help, her confederates took advantage of the confusion to lay hands on all they could "lift"; jewels, watches, snuffboxes of great value were thus secured. Yet again, accompanied by her footman, she would pretend to be taken ill at the door of a fine house and send her servant in to know if she might be admitted until she recovered. While the occupants, who willingly acceded to her request, were seeking medicines she snapped up all the cash and valuables she could find. But she was at last arrested in the very act of picking a gentleman's pocket and was transported to Virginia, whence she returned before the completion of her sentence and resumed her malpractices. Having made a successful tour through the provinces, she returned to London, frequented the Royal Exchange, the theatres, the Park, and other places of the sort, where she preyed continually on the public and with continued immunity from arrest, till she was caught picking a pocket on London Bridge and was again sentenced to transportation. Again she returned, within a year, and was finally arrested, tried a third time, and sentenced to death.

THE BARONESS DE MENCKWITZ.

The type of Jenny Diver was not uncommon then or since, and many names might be quoted in proof of this. A very notorious female swindler came over to England towards the end of the eighteenth century, and managed to defraud numbers of London tradespeople of considerable sums. Her plan of procedure was always the same: to pass herself off as a lady of distinction, take a house in a good part of the town, furnish it on credit, make away with the goods, and then abscond. She was arrested again and again, and spent much time in Newgate or the Fleet Prison. One device was to open a picture gallery where busts and portraits were on sale, which she had obtained, the first from an Italian image boy, the second from credulous dealers. Sometimes she got a bill discounted on the strength of having a consignment of wax figures detained in the Custom House. She set up an establishment as a "fancy dress-maker" in Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, but the house was only a cloak to debauchery and malpractices.

In carrying out these various frauds and crimes she assumed many aliases, and was now Miss Price, next Mrs. Douglas or Lady

Douglas, Mrs. Wray, Mrs. Hughes, and finally, having joined forces with a German swindler whose acquaintance she had made in the Fleet Prison, she took rank as the Baroness de Menckwitz. This Menckwitz was a dismissed lieutenant from the Imperial service, who had committed many depredations in Vienna, and was much "wanted" by the Imperial police. A handbill circulated at the time described him as twenty-eight years of age, about the middle height, hair inclined to be reddish and worn after the English fashion "tied and in a bag"; in the face he was blotched, had grey eyes, was rather thin but well made, and he usually wore the cross of the Holy Order of St. Stanislas on his breast.

His associate, who had passed also as a Baroness de Kenentz, was described in the same handbill as five feet in height, rather thin, but of strong build, having quite black hair and eyebrows, somewhat brown complexion, black eyes, and wearing her hair "quite negligent or loose without powder." To this physical _signalement_ a contemporary account adds: "She has the tongue of a siren, the bite of an asp, and the fangs of a harpy.... She is devoid of every particle of gratitude, and would sacrifice the best friend the moment her turn is served.... Her art is so excessive that though you were warned against her, she would find out new ways to deceive you," and more to the same effect.

Together this precious pair made a fine harvest for a time. They took a house in Somerset Street, Portman Square, for six months, and hired a set of servants; also a chariot, "the better to carry on their depredations." They now pawned the plate they had obtained by fraud in Vienna. A most elaborate scheme of fraud was practised on a London merchant, to whom they presented themselves armed with a bill of exchange drawn in Hamburg, and on the strength of which they obtained a loan of £100. This they repaid, but obtained a fresh loan of £1,100, covered by the pledge of a diamond ring. This sum was needed, they pretended, to complete the purchase of a large stud of horses for the Grand Duke Ferdinand, which was on the point of being shipped at Yarmouth. They furthermore represented that the Baron was about to be appointed Austrian Ambassador in the room of Count Starenberg, on the eve of being recalled. On these pretences the loan was advanced, and only partly repaid. Other frauds were perpetrated upon jewellers, who parted with valuables, which the two Menckwitzes pledged. For this they were arrested; but the London merchant backed their bail, entirely to his own loss.

After this the woman deserted her companion and took the name of Douglas, to pursue her depredations her own way, and to meet with the requital at last that she deserved.

EMILY LAWRENCE.

Before passing on to more recent female swindlers, it may be interesting to mention briefly one or two who were well known between 1850 and 1870. Emily Lawrence, a dashing adventuress and adroit, daring thief, had few equals. She is described as a most ladylike and fascinating person, who was received with effusion when she descended from her brougham at a shop door and entered to give her orders. Her line was jewel robbery, which she effected on a large scale. At one time she was "wanted" for stealing "loose" diamonds in Paris to the value of £10,000. Soon afterwards she was arrested for other jewel robberies at Emanuel's, and at Hunt and Roskell's, in London. Imprisonment for seven years followed, after which she resumed her operations, now choosing for the scene of her depredations Brighton, where she stole jewels worth £1,000 while she engaged the shopman with her fascinating conversation. Apprehended as she was leaving Brighton, she asserted that she was a lady of rank, but a London detective who came down soon proved the contrary, and she again got seven years. It was always said that this extraordinary woman carried a number of valuable diamonds with her to Millbank penitentiary, and succeeded in hiding them there. A tradition obtains that the jewels were never unearthed, and that the secret of the hiding-place long survived among the fraternity of thieves. Women, it was said, came as prisoners almost voluntarily, in order to carry out their search for the treasure, and a thousand devices were tried to secure a lodging in the cell where the valuables were said to be concealed. Whether they were found and taken safely out of Millbank we shall never know. Probably the whole story is a fable, and it is at least certain that no jewels were discovered when Millbank was destroyed, root and branch, a few years ago (1895), to make way for the National Gallery of British Art.

LOUISA MILES.

Louisa Miles was another of the Emily Lawrence class, who kept her own carriage for purposes of fraud, and called herself by several fine names. One day she drove up to Hunt and Roskell's as Miss Constance Browne, to select jewels for her sick friend, Lady Campbell. Giving a good West End address, and a banker's reference, she asked that the valuables might be sent home on approbation. When an assistant brought them, he was told Lady Campbell was too ill to leave her room, and they must be taken in to her. He demurred at first, then yielded, and never saw the jewels again. After waiting nervously for half an hour the assistant found he was locked in. When the police arrived to release him the ladies had disappeared, and with them the jewels. The house had been hired furnished, the carriage also was hired, as well as the footman in livery. Pursuit was quickly organised, and Miss Constance Browne was captured in a second-class carriage on the Great Western Railway, with a quantity of the stolen jewels in her possession, and was sentenced to penal servitude.

MRS. GORDON-BAILLIE.

The modern female sharper is generally more inventive than were her predecessors, and works on more ambitious lines, although there is little to choose between the old and the new in criminality. If the "German Princess" had had the same scope, the same large theatre of operations, she would probably have outdone even the famous Mrs. Gordon-Baillie, whose extensive frauds gained her a sentence of five years' penal servitude. This ingenious person long turned the credulity of the British public to her own advantage, and, posing as a lady of rank and fashion, became noted for her heartfelt philanthropy, her eager desire to help the distressed. It was in 1886 that a certain Mrs. Gordon-Baillie appeared before the world as the champion and friend of the crofters of Skye; a dashing and attractive lady, in the possession of ample funds, which she freely lavished in the interests of her _protégés_. No one knew who she was or where she came from, but she was accepted at her own valuation, and much appreciated, not only in the island of Skye, when she was "on the stump," but also in the West End of London, and by the best society. She made a sensation wherever she went. She was a tall, light-haired, fresh-complexioned woman, much given to gorgeous apparel, and her fine presence and engaging ways gained her admission to many good houses. Her movements were chronicled in society papers; she was often interviewed by the reporters, and she had a bank balance and a cheque-book as a client of one of the oldest banks in London.

All this time the popular Mrs. Gordon-Baillie was a swindler and a thief, whose chequered career had commenced by a term of imprisonment in the general prison of Perth, who indulged in several aliases, had been twice married, and was so deeply engaged in shady transactions that she had been very much "wanted," and had only evaded pursuit by changing her identity. She was born of humble parents at Peterhead--her mother having been a servant, her father a small farmer--and first became known to criminal fame about 1872 as a pretty, engaging young person who had swindled the tradesmen of Dundee. She was there convicted of obtaining goods under false pretences, having hired and furnished a smart villa, where she lived in luxurious comfort until arrested for not paying the bills. She was at this time Miss Mary Ann Sutherland Bruce, her own name, and she retained it after her release, when she returned to her swindling courses, this time in Edinburgh, whence she was obliged to bolt. Her movements were now erratic; she passed rapidly from London to Paris, from Paris to Rome, Florence, Vienna, visiting all the principal cities of Europe, and leaving behind her unpaid tradesmen and disappointed landlords, but turning up smiling in new places, and soon securing new friends. As a proof of her audacity, about this time she made overtures to buy a London newspaper, and to start in the management of a London theatre. She was now resident in a pretty house near Regent's Park, with a lady companion, a brougham, and a well-mounted establishment. Once again fate checked her career, in the shape of warrants for fraudulent pretences, and she found it advisable to disappear. When next she rose above the surface it was in a new aspect, with a new name. She was now Miss Ogilvie White, sometimes Mrs. White. During this period she was summoned at the Mansion House by a cabman, and was described as of York Terrace, Regent's Park.

Her first appearance as Mrs. Gordon-Baillie was in 1885, when she became intimately acquainted with an old baronet, a gentleman on the other side of eighty, now inclining to dotage. Under his auspices she launched out again, had a charming house in the West End, and money was plentiful for a time. It was a costly acquaintance for him; when the supplies ran short (and she seems to have extracted quite £18,000 from him) she easily persuaded him to accept bills for large amounts, which were readily discounted in the City until it was found there were "no effects" to meet them. The aged baronet was sued on all sides, and although his friends interposed declaring he was unable to manage his own affairs, having signed these acceptances under undue influence, a petition in bankruptcy was filed against him, so that the claims, which ran to thousands of pounds, might be thoroughly investigated. Mrs. Gordon-Baillie was much "wanted" in connection with these transactions. But she was not to be found, and it was reported that she had gone to Australia, although her visit to the Antipodes was really made at a later date.

It was about this time that she married privately--for she retained her more aristocratic surname--a certain Richard Percival Bodeley Frost. Her husband was fairly well born and had good connections, but he was put to hard shifts for a living, and found his account in floating the bills which his future wife was obtaining from the baronet above mentioned. The manipulation of these considerable sums gave him status as a man of substance, and he became largely engaged in company promoting, entering into contracts and other speculations. It was proved that he was at this time entirely without means, yet he contrived to get good backing from bankers in Lombard Street, and one City solicitor lent him £1,000 for a week or two on his note of hand. The money was never repaid, and when Mr. Frost was finally exposed he appeared in the bankruptcy court with liabilities to the tune of £130,000.

Meanwhile his wife had espoused the cause of the crofters of Skye. She appeared there in the depths of a severe winter, but, nothing daunted, went on stump through the island, received everywhere with enthusiasm by the crofters, whom she harangued on every possible occasion. Her charity was profuse, it was said, although the source of the funds she distributed was somewhat tainted. At the end of her tour she collected £70 towards the defence of the crofters about to be tried at Inverness, and for this notable service she was presented with an address signed by the member for Skye and others. Now she went out to Australia, partly on private business, partly to seek assistance for her crofters and acquire lands on which they might settle in the New World. Her visit was one long triumph. She was warmly greeted whereever she appeared. Colonial statesmen gladly fell in with her views, and when she returned to England, it was with a grant of 70,000 acres from the Government of Victoria.

Frost, to whom she was no doubt married, joined her in Australia, and the couple returned to England as Mr. and Mrs. Roberts. She, however, resumed the name of Gordon-Baillie, and as such embarked upon a new career of swindling, which was neither profitable nor very successful. Her system argued that she was no longer backed by capital, and that she was reduced to rather commonplace frauds to gain a livelihood. Her usual practice, about which there is little novelty, was to order goods from confiding tradesmen, pay for them with a cheque above the value, and get the change in cash. The cheques were presently dishonoured, but Mrs. Gordon-Baillie had scored twice, having both ready money and the goods themselves, which she promptly re-sold. Frost was concerned in these transactions, for the counterfoils of the cheque-book were in his handwriting. The Frosts constantly changed their address, moving from furnished house to furnished house, adding to their precarious means by plundering and pawning all articles on which they could safely lay their hands.

In all this she was no doubt greatly aided by her fashionable appearance and winning ways. Not only did shopmen bow down before her, but she imposed upon the shrewd pressmen who interviewed her, and towards the end of her career, when funds were low, she persuaded a firm of West End bankers, hard-headed, experienced men of business, to give her a cheque-book and allow her to open an account. She soon had drawn no less than thirty-nine cheques on their bank, not one of which was honoured. When at last fate overtook her, and the police were set on her track by the duped and defrauded tradesmen, she brazened it out in court, declaring that her engagements were no more than debts, and that she was no worse than dozens of fashionable ladies who did not pay their bills. The prompt disposal of the goods she had obtained was, however, held to be felonious. Nor would the judge allow her plea that she always meant to replace the furniture she had pawned. Severe punishment was her righteous portion, and all who were associated with her suffered. As Annie Frost she was sentenced to five years' penal servitude; her husband, Frost, to eighteen months. Since her release, she has been reconvicted for the same class of fraud, but she is, I believe, now again at large.

A VIENNESE IMPOSTOR.

An ingenious fraud was not long since devised and carried out with a certain impunity by a young woman of Vienna. She pretended to have been struck with a sudden admiration for some one of the gilded youth of the Austrian capital, and so far forgot maidenly reserve as to write and confess her weakness. She chose a well-to-do but easily gullible person--and not one, but dozens, telling them one and all the same story. As she signed herself in full with the aristocratic name of Kinsky, just then borne by a beautiful and wealthy member of that high family, the individuals selected felt themselves on the high road to fortune. The correspondence which followed was of the romantic kind, and it ended in a consent to elope at an early date.

That was, however, impossible until sufficient funds were forthcoming to bribe the servants of the Kinsky mansion--the concierge, the lady's maid, the footmen, coachman, and so forth. Ample supplies were forthwith despatched to the young lady, who thus realised a very considerable sum. About this time the fraud became known to the police, and the false countess was arrested under the more plebeian name of Marie Lichtner. She seems to have enjoyed the whole joke, which was both profitable and amusing, despite the penalty of imprisonment that overtook her. On one occasion she gave a rendezvous to all her admirers at the opera, and on the same night. They were to appear in correct evening dress, and each was to wear a white camellia in his buttonhole. Marie Lichtner was there, but so also was the true countess, in a box upon the Grand Tier, resplendent in her beauty, and no doubt the false lady had the mingled pleasure and pain of seeing many lovelorn looks addressed to the Kinsky box and its handsome occupant.

BIG BERTHA.

America has produced a rival to Mrs. Gordon-Baillie in Bertha Heyman, sometimes known as "Big Bertha," sometimes as the "Confidence Queen," a lady of like smart appearance and engaging manners, who reaped a fine harvest from the simpletons who were only too willing to believe in her. One of her first exploits was to wheedle a thousand dollars out of a palace car conductor when travelling between New York and Chicago. Soon after that, with a confederate calling himself Dr. Cooms, she was arrested for despoiling a commercial traveller from Montreal of several hundred thousand dollars by the confidence game. Her schemes were extraordinarily bold and ingenious, and they were covered by much ostentatious display. It was her plan to lodge at the best hotels, such as the Windsor, the Brunswick, and Hoffman House, New York, the Palmer House in Chicago, or Parker's in Boston, to have both a lady's-maid and a man-servant in her train, and to talk at large about her influential friends. Yet she was constantly in trouble, and saw the inside of many gaols and penitentiaries, but she came out ready to begin again with new projects, often on a bolder scale. One of her last feats was in Wall Street operations in stocks and shares. With her specious tongue she persuaded one broker that she was enormously rich, worth at least eight million dollars, and by this means won a great deal of money. The fraud was only discovered when the securities she had deposited were examined and found to be quite worthless. "Big Bertha" was gifted with insight into human nature, and is said to have succeeded in deceiving the shrewdest business people. Of late nothing has been heard of her.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] "Records of Indian Crime," ii. 158.

[2] "Medical Jurisprudence of India," p. 21.

[3] "Reminiscences of an Indian Police Official," p. 66.

[4] Some other very creditable exploits of this Indian detective, Abdul Ali, in elucidating murder mysteries will be given in a later chapter when dealing with Indian police.

[5] In the possession of Mdme. Tussaud & Son, Ltd.

[6] Abridged from the full account given in the "Tales from _Blackwood_," Second Series.

[7] _See_ "Secrets of the Prison House," vol. i.

[8] "Criminal Law of England."

[9] Townsend's "Life of Justice Buller."

[10] These _convulsionnaires_ were a sect of the Jansenists who met at the tomb of "Francis of Paris," where they preached, prophesying the downfall of the Church and the French monarchy. Their ceremonies were wild and extravagant; they contorted their bodies violently, rolled on the ground, imitating birds, beasts, and fishes, until these convulsions (hence their name) ended in a swoon and collapse. The law was very severe against these fanatics, who, however, survived the most vigorous measures.

[11] Pasquier, Mémoires, iii., p. 311.

[12] See _post_, p. 337.

[13] See _ante_, p. 236.

[14] See _ante_, pp. 226-228.

[15] George Augustus Sala, "A Journey Due North."

[16] Mr. George Kennan, in the _Century_ Magazine.

[17] "India in 1880," p. 203.

[18] See _ante_, pp. 241, 242.

[19] The opinion expressed by a Parliamentary Committee, in 1833, on this wearing of plain clothes is worth recording. "With respect to the occasional employment of police in plain clothes," says the Report, "the system affords no just matter of complaint while strictly confined to detecting breaches of the law.... At the same time, the Committee would strongly urge the most cautious maintenance of these limits, and solemnly deprecate any approach to the employment of spies, in the usual acceptance of the term, as a practice most abhorrent to the feelings of the people and most alien to the spirit of the Constitution."

* * * * *

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

Brunel=> Brunell {pg v}

preqared to submit herself=> prepared to submit herself {pg 123}

province of Limgoes=> province of Limoges {pg 139}

End of Project Gutenberg's Mysteries of Police and Crime, by Arthur Griffiths