DARING DEEDS OF FAMOUS DETECTIVES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 108, 25 April 1908, Page 4

DARING DEEDS OF FAMOUS DETECTIVES

M. YIUOCO. HOW UK BECAME till-; WORLD'S <;ici;aiksi police spy. HI.S CAREEK AS COINER. BUIIGKAI:. AND ASSOC lA'l'K lII' THIEVES. "The fellow has made his escape bv the roof!" A little hand of I'aii-ian police had pai! a -urpri-e vi-ii to a an, diilv " «' '» 01 f the mo-t disivputabipa. s of Paris, h n, ahout 3 o'clock in the inoriiiiiL' when an ollicer tapped at the door and demanded admittance of the trembling person who opened it. . Eslii.pinj; pa-l liim, they crept swiftly : and noiselessly „p x \ lv r 'jcketv -tails to the door of a room, opened it', and lushed in. But the lied in which they expected to find their man was empty. Ue uiiLst. have heard them stealing up the stairs and escaped by the window.

The officer in charge of th.. parte looked out. In the darkness lie could distinguish nothingll Jiut the man must lie there. Jlis clothes still lav beside the Ikhl, where he hid cast them down when he had rctind the night before. Some of the ino.-t daring of the otiicers crawled Out after him, while others went for ladders to reach the roof from the street. The man must lie caught! He was found at la-t. Crouching down and seeking to hide himself among the chimney-stacks, the officers pounced on aim. ? A short time Liter he was before one of the chiefs of police. '•Good day, it. Henri," lie said, saint-

ing the stem-looking official. '••Someone has onee mor e betrayed me into your hands."

'•You are accused of being in league with coiners and passers of bad money," said the official. '•What have volt'to say!"

•*Only that I am innocent, monsieur, though the people in the house where I lodged were guilty of such practices. I had the honor 01 calling on monsieur some time lack, and of saving that I could put it in his |Hjwer to' clear Paris of such scoundrels." The man the officers had found upon the roof and who addressed these words to the police official was one Vidocq—a man destined to lieeome famous as one of the greatest detectives of modern times.

VidOcq had been concerned for years past in all manner of rogueries. He had received various various terms of imprisonment He was regarded as one "I the most dangerous of the hundreds of criminals that threatened the honest citizens of Paris. He was daring, full of resource, a man of marvellous physical strength and audacity. Upon two previous occasions his accomplices had, knowing how much the police valued his capture, lierayed him into their hands. This was the third time Vidocq hail so suffered. Two could play at that game.

"M. Henri," said Vidoccp •■make me one of your agents, and I swear to put you in possession of the secrets of half thee riminals in Paris."

The offer was a tempting one, for the Parisian police were then baffled bv criminals of all descriptions, and Parisians were crying out for more efficient guardians. "We will see," replied the official. A short time later Vidocq found himself in prison, condemned to serve a sentence of eight years! But that miserable convict sentenced to that terrible sentence was really a police spy. H« was popular with otuer convicts, and learnt all their seems. Each night he used, in his cell, to write out an account of the discoveries he had made during tlie day. The report was dispatched til the chief of police and proved remarkably useful. One day the criminal world of Paris was amazed and joyful over the marvellous escape of Vidocq from prison. They reerived him with open arms. A- a matter of fact the authorities had come to the conclusion that Yidoe<| could lie much more useful to them outside than in that grim place Hi? escape had all been planned. Vidoe<| returned to his associates as a hero. In fact, he was a spy—a spy with th» keene-t eyes, the most alert ears, tin- most subtle brain to learn all the villainy going. Ft was wonderful what ill luck began fr henceforth to dog the criminals of Paris. All their plans came in lOme mysterious manner to the ears of the police. YVa- it \ idncij who bertaved them. Some of them were so convinced of it that at la-t Vidocq found it nece-sary to disguise him-elf and act the part among them of a new hand of crime. A consummate ina>t"r of disguise, he went amongst them still unsuspected in his new ro!e. He was certainlv one of the most use. ful fellows that the police had ever had as an ally.

-Vidnn|.' said M. Henri |o him one day, "we mu-t find that fellow Fossard. the man who escaped from the prison ai Brest. He is in Paris, hiding somewhere. His lodging i- in a house in a by-street near to a market place. And there are yellow ,ilk curtain, to the window of his room. In the same hous'j their live* a woman with a humped Itack. That is all I can tell von about the follow-all I have been' able to learn."

It was a vague clue to work on. Vidocq, anxious to distinguish himself, .set off. A window with yellow curtain-' A woman with a humped back! For weeks he walked alxmt Paris searching for such a window in a house in which lived such a female.

Ho found it at last. The huuipcdbacked lady was a steainstress, and Viilo«l made himself .-o agreeable to he>that he quickly learnt all about the lodgers in the building. Fossard under another name of course, tenanted a. room at the top of the building. How was he to he got at? He was a man of prodigious strength, a man who had vowed he would never be taken alive, a man who always carried firearms, ready to slay anyone who might seek to take him.

"Such a man i' best taken in his bed. M. Henri." suggested Vidocq. The onlv difficulty iva> how it was to be managed to hake him so.

Fossard, in spite of hi= being such a de»perat e criminal, was a hit of a fop. He used to keep a bottle of eau-de-Co-logne in his room. That scene was to prove his undoing. It is not the only occasion that perfume has proved disastrous to criminals who have indulged in it. A lew night, later, when Fossard was in lied and fast a-Iccp, he was awakened by a timid knock at his door, tailing out to know what he was disturbed for, he heard a timorous cliild'toice in reply. It informed Fos-ard that the knocker wa- poor little bjui-. the nephew of a woman On the next floor who had been taken verv ill. and who had sent the child to beg 11. Fossard to lend her his liottle of eau-de-Cologne. Fossard groped round for the liottle. and with it in his hand, threw open the door. Vidocq and his helpers were on him in an instant. "The most terrible man in Paris"— -uch liecame the deseription among the dangorou- classes „f \ idocq. now a re--f"_-nised agent of the police. He was not regarded with favor l,v member- <>f the detective -crvicc. I'li'i might well, ind I. look a-kancc at a in hi '.villi -it'll a record.

"I have never caught any criminal who more de-erved imprisonment than \I. Vidocq." protested an indignant ollieer to M. Henri one day.

Hut Vidocq was too useful to be hastily s«>t aside. Never had the criminals of Paris -uch a bad time ;c they were now euoying with Vidocq in the dolelive lorce.

He organised tin tii-t really ellicicui detective -ervic i the Continent. The U-l. ..| -elc-tin- tvwlve a--i-tan- was

...mi,!,.,! u, i,i,,i. Vidoi-q e]l„-,. the majoiitv ~f ihein from the eh-veve-t thieve. !„. knew. T!,.w tl had I n pick pocket- he lliade weir "love-. It WU-iiii|».-ibl," for Hi, in to iudiiloe in their former bad habit- while w.-ariiiL' tho-e fa-lii,,nal.l" arti,!..-'.

Tall, "f m.ieiiitieeut phv-i.pic. with with lave.,- Iwink-Jiri* hine eye-, and ;i mouth that -ecm-d to !)»: ,-u-i ready f Ureak into «0..d-natnr,-,l lan-hler. \i,i..e,| w.i- perliaj.- tin- l.i-t iii.ni in tinworld to lie taken lor a detective. I aluay- resetted, lie declared one. -Ihat mv duty prevented me t'n.in .nl ■ iv.itin;.' a m.iu-tache. hut if would !•■ i -id liindr.iiK my >li-".ui.-in'_' in.i-eir. I h.i.l i" -jive the i.i.-a up. (iiminalw..;il.| have «..-f to know that mnus

*«.. he remained a el'ise-shaven man to ' in! of hi- days. Perhaps there i-i-: v.- a more ,-!icr«<-ti,. di-jruiscr •,,., Vid. - i II" relied u|iOii his mar.•!i..:i- :... ..-. in makiii" no to utterly ~-vil.ler the j,r..t.--i..ii.il ,-riniin,ils ha p. ~,'•■ d.n'- wok he a-nnic'l no few- . -loin tw-lv.- di-ioi.-t ,li-lli=,-. -,i-. ...n-T.mflv !. A „i-,,,| l'.,v . ~|v ■ , hi- hand in a p ,-ket ~f I,;'- ,„!-.„-,- -Vh,-. and .. da-eer w.p- ~.n-c.iV.l c.i V.l in the' irviit uf hi: '••.■ at.

At the end of ti-u years' service hj" I retiroil.

■Vidocq has been arrested!" ToV now.-, spread .ill over Paris. Vidocq. whi. kill made the j.c.Ju-.- of |\,ris i,„ m . feared than they had over I n before, was actually in thi' hands of the police. He h-id, alter his i-ctirenicul from the force, established a private enquiry ol-lii-e. an.l clients o! all kinds Hocked to him. Then Iti- opened an agency I'm the protection of shopkeepers ugaiiisf fiMucl ulent customers. He liad as many as 80110 customers on his Looks when the |»lice arrested him, and lie was now accused nf having in many rases Ik-coiiic Mm ally of the very people from whom he was supposed to he protecting his customers. lie was found guilty, and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. When he at last got the conviction reversed. Vidocq found Himself a ruined man.

One of the attractions at a place of entertainment in Ijoncion some fifty years ago was ,\l. Vidocq. The grea't detective had taken to the stage! Enormous audiences came to see the strange man, who related Ids extraordinary experiences and seemed like a dozen different men upon the stage by his marvellous quickness in changing his appearance. One day ill 18.">7 a white-haired, feeble, niubling old man lay dying in a lie.l in the garret of a house in a miserable il'aris street. lie was Viiloci|. the marvellous detective! Helpless, in poverty, dependent on the charity of friends, th•■ once terrible man lay there awaiting the approach of death.' Almost his last words, according to tile one who attended on him, were, "You are my prisoner!"