Page:Edward Prime-Stevenson - The Intersexes.djvu/461

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a perennial trait of effeminate Uranians; sometimes of "Uranians not otherwise effeminate. Heliogabalus, Philippe d'Orléans and Henri III, are aristocratic examples. It is a common artifice of male prostitutes, and of the homosexual who finds fun in adventures in such costume. Here is an English example in prostitution from a contemporary London police-blotter:—

Instance.

"Much attention was stirred up today we are informed, in the Clerkenwell Criminal Court, over, the examination of a young man who appeared in the dock as an elegantly attired—lady. He wore an irreproachably-fitting black walking-costume of the newest fashion, made to order, a gray feather 'boa', and a coquettish sailor-hat of fine felt. His hands were covered with ladies's gloves in pearl-grey, and he carried a handsome muff. According to his responses to, the Court, the defendant had been until recently a domestic servant in a family of distinction in G— street. Having been discharged he had appeared in Euston Road in this array, and had attracted the notice of the passers-by. A member of the detective-police of the city has been for some time "looking after" the fellow, and on the evening in question the latter approached him and accosted him. To his disagreable surprise, he was promptly arrested for a misdemeanour. He resisted the arrest, in great indignation, declaring to the officer "You wretch! I am a lady!" As the officer did not regard this statement, the complainant gave him a violent blow in. the face; and a fierce battle began at once, in which the "lady" bit the officer's finger! With the assistance of other policemen, he was overpowered and brought, struggling, biting, scratching, and spitting, to the police-station. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment for wearing female attire, and to three months more for resisting arrest." The following item from a Paris journal, of December

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