is, including stamp and
registering, 3_f._ 50_c._; coach-hire, 5_f._; for arrest and
entry in the prison books, 60_f._ 25_c._; office dues, 8_f._
Total, 76_f._ 75_c._ A bill of the usual scale ordinarily
charged by sheriffs' officers, now lying before us, shows that
these allowances by law are magnified by the extortion of the
officers into a sum of about 240_f._, instead of the 76_f._ they
are alone entitled to claim."

The same journal says: "Sheriffs' officer ---- has been to our
office, requesting us to correct an article which appeared in
one of our numbers, headed, 'A woman hung.' 'I did not hang the
woman!' observed he, angrily. We did not assert that he did,
but, to prevent any further misapprehension, content ourselves
with reprinting the paragraph in question: 'A few days ago, a
sheriffs' officer, named ----, went to the Rue de la Lune, to
arrest a carpenter, who dwelt there. The man, perceiving him
from the street, rushed hastily into his house, exclaiming, "I
am a ruined man! The officers are here to arrest me!" His wife,
at these words, hastened to secure the door; while the carpenter
ran to a room on the top of the house, to conceal himself. The
officer, finding admittance refused, went and fetched a
magistrate and a blacksmith; the door was forced, and, on
proceeding up-stairs, the woman was found hanging in her own
bedchamber. The officer did not allow himself to be diverted
from the pursuit by the sight of the corpse; he continued his
search, and at length discovered the husband in his
hiding-place. "I arrest you!" cried the bailiff. "I have no
money!" replied the man. "Then you must go to prison." "Let me
at least bid my wife adieu!" "It is not worth while waiting for
that,--your wife is dead! She has hung herself!"' Now, M. ----
(adds the journal we have quoted), what have you to say to that?
You see we have merely copied your own statement upon oath, in
which you have detailed all these frightful circumstances with
horrible minuteness!"

The same journal also cites two or three hundred similar facts,
of which the following may serve as a specimen: "The expenses
upon a note of hand for 300_f._ have been run up by the
sheriffs' officers to 964_f._; the debtor, therefore, who is a
mere artisan, with a family of five children, has been detained
in prison for the last seven months!"