Memoirs of Vidocq, Volume II

by Eugène François Vidocq

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

A Collection

OF THE

MOST INSTRUCTIVE AND AMUSING

LIVES

EVER PUBLISHED,

WRITTEN BY THE PARTIES THEMSELVES.

WITH BRIEF INTRODUCTIONS, AND COMPENDIOUS SEQUELS CARRYING ON THE NARRATIVE TO THE DEATH OF EACH WRITER.

VOLUME XXVI.—VIDOCQ.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR HUNT AND CLARKE,
YORK STREET. COVENT GARDEN.

MEMOIRS

OF

VIDOCQ,

PRINCIPAL AGENT OF THE FRENCH POLICE

UNTIL 1827:

AND NOW PROPRIETOR OF

THE PAPER MANUFACTORY AT ST MANDÉ

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

“Que l’on m’approuve ou non, j’ai la conscience d’avoir fait mon devoir; d’ailleurs, lorsqu’il s’agit d’atteindre des scélérats qui sont en guerre ouverte avec la société, tous les moyens sont bons sauf la provocation.”

Mémoires, Vol. II.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

LONDON, 1829:
PRINTED FOR HUNT AND CLARKE,
YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

 

LONDON:

C. AND W. REYNELL, PRINTERS, BROAD STREET, GOLDEN SQ.

 

CONTENTS.

---

CHAPTER XV.

Page.

A receiver of stolen goods—Denouncement—First treaty with the police—Departure for Lyons—A mistake ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

1

CHAPTER XVI.

Residence at Arras—Disguises—The false Austrian—Departure—Residence at Rouen—Arrest ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

11

CHAPTER XVII.

The camp at Boulogne—The rencontre—The recruiters of the ancien regime—M. Belle-Rose ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

23

 

CHAPTER XIX.

Continuation of the same day—The Cotemporaine—An adjutant de place—The daughters of mother Thomas—The Silver Lion—Captain Paulet and his lieutenant—The pirates—The bombardment—Departure of lord Lauderdale—The disguised actress—The executioner—Henry the Ninth and his ladies—I embark—Sea-fight—Paulet's second is killed—Capture of a brig of war—My Sosia—I change my name—Death of Dufailli—Twelfth-day—A frigate sunk—I wish to save two lovers—A tempest—The fishermen's wives ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

46

CHAPTER XX.

I am admitted into the marine artillery—I become a corporal—Seven prisoners of war—Secret societies of the army, 'The Olympiens'—Singular duels—Meeting with a galley-slave—The count de L——, a political spy—He disappears—The incendiary—I am promised promotion—I am betrayed—Once more in prison—Disbanding of the Armée de la Lune—The pardoned soldier—A companion is sentenced to be shot—The Piedmontese bandit—The camp fortune-teller—Four murderers set at liberty ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

81

 

CHAPTER XXI.

I am conducted to Douai—Application for pardon—My wife marries again—The plunge in the Scarpe—I travel as an officer—Reading the dispatches—Residence at Paris—A new name—The woman of my heart—I am a wandering merchant—The commissary of Melun—Execution of Herbaux—I denounce a robber; he denounces me—The galley-slaves at Auxerre—I am settled in the capital—Two fugitives from the Bagne—My wife again—Receiving stolen goods ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

109

CHAPTER XXII.

Another robber—My wicker car—Arrest of two galley-slaves—Fearful discovery—St Germain wishes to involve me in a robbery—I offer to serve the police- Horrid perplexities—They wish to take me whilst in bed—My concealment—A comic adventure—Disguises on disguises—Chevalier has denounced me—Annette at the Depôt of the Prefecture—I prepare to leave Paris—Two passers of false money—I am apprehended in my shirt—I am conducted to the Bicêtre ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

127

 

CHAPTER XXIII.

A plan of escape—New proposal to M. Henry—My agreement with the police—Important discoveries—Coco-Lacour—A band of robbers—The inspectors under lock and key—The old clothes woman and the assassins—A pretended escape ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

147

CHAPTER XXIV.

M. Henry, surnamed the Evil Spirit—MM. Bertaux and Parisot—A word respecting the police—My first capture—Bouhin and Terrier are arrested upon my information ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

165

CHAPTER XXV.

I again meet St Germain—He proposes to me the murder of two old men—The plunderers—The grandson of Cartouche—A short account of instigating agents—Great perplexities—Annette again aids me—An attempt to rob the house of a banker in the Rue Hauteville—I am killed—Arrest of St Germain and his accomplice Boudin—Portraits of these two assassins ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

172

 

CHAPTER XXVI.

I continue to frequent places of bad resort—The inspectors betray me—Discovery of a receiver of stolen goods—I arrest him—Stratagem employed to convict him—He is condemned ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

188

CHAPTER XXVII.

Gueuvive's gang—A girl helps me to discover the chief—I dine with the thieves—One of them takes me to sleep at his house—I pass for a fugitive galley-slave—I engage in a plot against myself—I wait for myself at my own door—A robbery in the Rue Cassette—Great surprise—Gueuvive with four of his men are arrested—The girl Cornevin points the others out to me—A batch of eighteen ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

194

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The agents of the police chosen from amongst liberated galley-slaves, thieves, bullies and prostitutes—Theft tolerated—Degeneracy of the inspectors—Coalition of informers—They denounce me—Destruction of three classes of thieves—Formation of a new species—The brothers Delzève—How discovered—Delzève the younger arrested—The perquisites of a préfet of police—I free myself from the yoke of the peace officers and inspectors—My life is in danger—A few anecdotes ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

202

 

CHAPTER XXIX.

I seek two celebrated thieves—The music mistress, or another "mother of robbers"—A metamorphosis, which is not the last—Scenes of hospitality—The false keys Ramifications of an admirable plot—Perfidy of an agent—The plan detected—Mother Noel accuses me of having robbed her—My innocence recognized—My female accuser sent to St Lazarre ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

214

CHAPTER XXX.

The police-officers sent in pursuit of a celebrated robber—They are unable to discover him—Great anger of one of them—I promise another new-year's gift to the préfet—The yellow curtains and the hump-backed female—I am a good citizen—A messenger puts me on the right scent—The chest of the prefecture of police—I am a coal-man—The fright of a vintner and his wife—The little Norman in tears—The danger of giving Eau-de-Cologne—Carrying off of mademoiselle Tonneau—A search—The thief takes me for his mate—Thieves laugh at locksmiths—The jump from the window—The effects of a long slide, or broken stitches ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

227

CHAPTER XXXI.

A general clearance at la Courtille—The white cross—I am called a spy—The popular opinion concerning my agents—Summary of the results of the Brigade de Sureté—Biography of Coco-Lacour, M. Delavau, and the Trou-Madame—The grant of my pardon—Retrospective glance over these Memoirs—I can speak, I will speak. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

244