Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 10 — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

28 that Christiern had already undergone his sentence; but at the instant when his eyes were covered with the fatal bandage, and on his knees he awaited the execution of his sentence, an aide-de-camp had stopped the fire of the musketry. ‘The prisoner again saw the light of Heaven, and was to be restored to his wife and children, whose prayers and supplications to marshal Brune had been the means of saving his life. Christiern, led back to confine- ment, was still full of joy, as he had been assured of his «peedy freedom, The emperor had been petitioned for his pardon, and the request, made in the name of the cuarshal himself, was so generously urged, that it was impossible to doubt of success. ‘he re urn of Christiern was an event on which we did uot fail to congratulate him: we drank to the health of the returned prisoner; and the arrival of six new prison- ers, who paid their entrance fees with much liberality, was an additional incentive to re ome These men, whom I had known as a part of Panlet’s crew, were sentenced to a few days’ confinement, as a punishment for having, in boarding a prize, in defiance of the articles of war, plundered the aie poe captain. As they had not been compelled to refund, they brought their guineas with them, and spent them freely. We were all satisfied: the gaoler, who collected even to the very smallest portions of this golden shower, was so pleased with his new eats, that he relaxed his vigilance, although there were nm one room three prisoners under sentence of death, Lelievre, Christiern, and the Piedmontese, Orsino, a chief of Barbets, who having encountered near Alexandria a detachment of conscripts marching toward France, had got into their ranks, where he had supplied the place and name of a deserter. Orsino, whilst serving under this flag, had conducted himself irreproachably, but had marred all by an indiscretion. A price was set upon his head in his own country, and the sentence was to be put into execution at Turin, Five other prisoners were under the weight of charges of the gravest nature. Four were merines; two of them Corsicans and two Provencals, charged with the assassination of a woman, from whom they had stolen a golden cross and silver buckles; the fifth had been, as well as they, of the army de la Lune, an’ to him were attributed very peculiar powers: the soldiers asserted that he conld render himself invisible, and mp ee himself as he pleas: d; he had, besides, the gift of ubiquity; in fact, he was a sorcerer; and that because be was hump-backed, facetious, severe, a great tale-teiler, and, having been a sharper all his days, was clever in many tricks of legerdemain. With such com- pany, most gaolers would have used the greatest precau- jon, but ours con-idered usas only skillful practitioners, and constantly associated with us. Besides, for ready cash he provided for all our wants, and had no idea that we could have any wieh to leave him; and he was correct to a certain point; for Lelievre and Christiern had not the least wish to escap:; Orsino was resiyned: ihe marines did not anticipate a very severe sentence; the sorcerer relied on the insufficiency of eviience: and the privateer-, ithe be gegen felt no sort of melan- choly. lalone nourished the idea of getting away; but that I might not be suspected, I affected to be undis- turbed; and so well did I conceal my intent, that it seemed ax if the prison were my natural element, and all \thought that ] was as comfortable there as a fish in the ‘water 1 did vot drink but on one occasion--that of Christiern’s return amongst us. That night we were all somewhat in liquor, and about two in the morning I felt a burning thirst which seemed to inflame my whole body: and on getting out of bed half awake, I groped shout forthe pitcher, and on drinking I found a most horrible mistake: I hud taken one vessel for another, and ‘was almost poisoned. By daybreak I had scarcely re- pressed the violent commotions of my stomach, when one of the turnkeys came to tell us that there was some work to be done. As this afforded an opportunity for getting a little air, which I thought would revive me, I offered my- self as substitute for a privateer, whose clothes I put on; and crossing the court-yard, | saw a subaltern ofticer of my we vrata who came in with his cloak on his arm, He told me that he was sentenced to a month's imprison- ment for having created an uproar in the theatre, and had just been entered on the prison book. ‘In that case,” said I, ** you can begin your work at once; here is the trough.” The subaltern was accommodating, and did not require a second hint; and whilst he very readily went to work, I passed boldly by the sentinal, who, fortunately for me, took no notice of me. Leaving the prison, I made my way into the country, eid did not stop till I reached the bridge of Brique, where ] pansed in a small ravine, whilst I reflected on the best mode of escaping pursuit; and at first resolved on going to Calais, but my unlucky s@rs suggested my return to Arras, In the evening I went to sleep in a barn, in which travelers rested. One of them who had left Boulogne three hours after me, told me that the whole city was plunged in grief at the execution of Christiern. “It is the only t ing they can talk about,” said he. “It was expected that the emperor would pardon him, but the tele- gy. ph signaled that he was to beshot. He had once nar- row ly escaped, but to-day he has suffered. It was piteous to hear him cry ‘Pardon, pardon,’ whilst endeavoring to ruise himeeif after the first fire, amidst the howlings of some dogs behind him, whom the shots had struck! It went to the very heart, but yet they finished their work. It was his po Although this information caused me great affliction, I gould not help thinking that Christiern’s death would eff ct a diversion in favor of my escape; and as he told me nothing which seemed as if I had been missed on the yeneral muster-call, I thought myself in security, I ruched Bethune without mishap, and went to lodge with an old regimental acquaintance, who received me kindly. Dut however prudent one may be, there are always some unexpected occurrences; I had preferred the hospitality of « friend to a lodving at an auberge, and I had thereby pinced myself in the jaws oi danger; for my friend was recently married, and his wife’s brother was one of those obstinate brutes, whose hearts, insensible to glory, only desire Inglorious peace. Asa natural consequence, the abode I had chosen, as well as those of all the young fel- Jow's relations, were frequently visited by the gendarmes; and these very agreeable gentiemen invaded the residence of iny friend long before daybreak, and, without any re- spect to mv slumbers, demanded to see my papers. For want of a passport I endeavored to enter into certain ex- planations with them, which was but lost labor. The briga- dier, after viewing me a\tentively, cried out, ‘*l am not mis- taken, ‘tis he; Ihave scen him at Arras; ‘tis Vidocq!" was compelled to get up, and in Jess than a quarter of an ar found myself in the prison of Bethune. Perhaps, before | proceed, my readers will not be so to }eurn the fate of niy companions in captivity, whom tad left at Boul gne; and 1 can satisfy their curiosity of them. thak Cll wish Teapect to some We have — The New York Library. tiern was shot, brave, good fellow as he was! Lelievre who was equally worthy, lingered on between hope und fear till the year 1811, when the t phus fever terminated his existence. The four sailors, the murderers, were one night liberated, and sent to Prussia, where two of them received the cross of honor under the walls of Dantzic; and the sorcerer was released without any sentence hav- ing been passed. In 1814 he called himself Collinet, and was the quartermaster of a Westphalian regiment, of which he hoped to get the chest for his own particular rofit. This adventurer not knowing how to dispose of is booty, went on the wings of haste to Burgundy, where, in the neighborhood, he fell in with a troop of Cossacks who compelled him to surrender, and give an account o himself. This was the last day of his life for they ran him through with their lances. My stay at Bethune was brief; for the day after my cap- ture I was forwarded to Douai, whither 1 was conducted under good escort. CHAPTER XIX. I HAD scarcely set foot in the prison, when the attorney- general Rauson, whom my repeated escapes had irritated against me, appeared at the grating, and suid—‘*What, Vidocq has arrived! Have they put him in fetters?”’— “What have I done, sir,” said I, **that you should wish to be so severe with me? Is it a great crime because I have so frequently escaped? Have I abused the liberty which I hold so precious? When I have been retaken, have I not been found exerting myself to arte honora- ble modes of livelihood? I. am less guilty than unfor- tunate! Have pity on me,—pity my r mother; if lam condemned to return to the Bagne, she will die!" These words, pronounced with accents of sincerity, made some impression on M. Rauson, who returned in the evening, and deo me at length of the mode of my life since I had left Toulon; and asin proof of what I told him I offered indubitable testimony, he began to evince some kindness towards me. ‘**Why do you not draw up,” said he, “‘ an application for pardon, or at least for a commutation of the sentence? will recommend ou to the chief justice.’’ I thanked the magistrate for is proffered kindness to me, and the same day a barrister of Douai, M. Thomas, who took a real interest in me, brought for my signature, a petition, which he had been so kind as to draw up for me. I was in expectation of the answer, when one morning I was sent for to the police-office. Imagining that it was the decision of the minister which was to be communi- cated to me, and impatient to know it, I followed the turnkey with the haste of a man who anticipates agreeable intelligence. I relied on seeing the attorney-general, but —my wife appeared, accompanied by two strangers. endeavored to guess the I pra sa of her visit, when, with the most unembarrassed tone in the world, madame Vidocq said to me, ‘tI have come to tell you that the sen- tence of our divorce has been pronounced. I am going to be married again, and therefore I have judged it best to go through this formality. The clerk will give you a copy of the judgment for perusal." Except obtaining my freedom, a could be more agreeable to me than the dissolution of this marriage, as I was forever embarrassed with a creature whom I loathed, I do not know if I had sufficient command of myself to restrain my joy, but certainly my countenance must have betokened it; and if, as I have cogent reasons to believe, my successor was present, he retired with a conviction that I did not at all envy him the treasure he was about to possess. My detention at Douai was painfully ——_ I was in pene for five whole months, and nothing arrived from Paris, The attorney-general had evinced much in- terest for me, but misfortune engenders distrust, and I began to fear that he had led me on with a vain hope, that I might form no plans of escape before the departure of the eames and struck with the idea, I again plotted deeply-laid projects for escape. The gaoler, named Wettu, viewing me as gained over and peacveable, showed me various little favors; we fre- quently dined together téte-a-téte in a small 100m with one window, which looked onto the Scarpe. It etruck me, that with the aid of this opening, which was not ated, some day, after dinner, I could easily take French eave, and depart; only it was abs ar necessary that I should secure some disguise, which, when I had effected my escape, would effectually conceal me from all pursuit. I confided my intentions to some friends, and they pro- vided for me the nniform of an artillery officer, of which I resolved to avail myself at the very first opportunity, One Sunday evening I was at table with the gaoler, and the agers urtrel; the wine had made them very merry, for I had pushed it about briskly. ‘Do = know, my hearty,’ said Hurtrel to me, ‘‘ that it would have been no safe business to have put you here seven years ago, A window without bars! By Jove, I would not have trusted you,’’—** And farther, Hurtrel,""1 replied, ‘one shonld be made of cork to risk a plunge from such a height; the Scarpe is very deep for a person who cannot swim.’’— “ True,"’ said the gaoler; and there the conversation rested, but my determination wastaken. Some friends arrrived, and the poe sat down to a them; and fixing on the moment when he was most intent on his game, I threw myself into the river. At the noise of my fall, all the party ran to the win- dow, whilst Wettu called loudly to the guard and turn- keys to pursue me. Fortunately, twilight rendered it scarcely possible to discern objects; und my hat, which I had thrown designedly on the bank, seemed to indicate that I had immediately got out of the river, whilst I had continued swimming towards the Water-gate, under which I passed with great difficulty, in consequence of being very cold, and my strength beginning to fail. Once out of the cam I aren the bank, my clothes full of wa- ter, not weig ing less than a hundred weight; but I had made up my mind not to delay, and pushed on at once for Blangy, a village two apes from Arras. It waa four in the morning; and a baker, who was heating his oven, gave me leave to dry my : arments, and ce me with food. As soon as I was dried and refreshed, I start- ed for Duisans, where the widow of an old friend of mine, a ge resided. A messenger was to bring to mne there the uniform which had been provided for me at Douai: and no sooner had I obtained it than I went to Hersin, where I etayed a few days with a cousin of mine, The advice of my friend-, which was very rational, urged me to depart ae quickly as possible; and as I learned that the police, convinced that I was in the vicinity, were beating up every quarter, and were approaching the place of my abode, I det: rmined not to wait for them. It was evident that Paris ony could afford me refuge; x but to get to Paris it was indispensable I should the said Armand Saint er, an old sailor, born a.- through Arras, where I should be immediately senognioed. Bayonne, and (ésar feria a freed galle sla ye, bory I em the means Of obviating thie danger; and | ai aecused and couvicted of murder," =< So ee _ Pee a re ee we, dt SS —<—-« prudence suggested to me to get into the wicker calash of my cousin, who had a famous horse, and was the clever- est fellow in the world for his knowledve of the cross- roads. He oo himself, on the reputation of his tal- ent as a guide, toearry me in safety by the ramparts of my native town; and I wanted no more at his hands, trusting in my disguise to effect the rest. I was no longer Vidocqg, unless I was examined very closely; and on reaching the bridge of Gy, I saw, without the least alarm, eight horses belonging to gendarmes, tied to the door of a public-house. I confess I would rather have avoided the rencontre; but it faced me, and it was only by fronting it boldly that I could hope to escape detec- tion, ‘‘Come on,’ said Ito my cousin; ‘here we must make an essay; get down; be as ance =o be can, and call for something.*’ He immedia ly alighted, and en- tered the public-house with the air of a man who had no dread of the eye of the brigade. “ Ah!" said they, “it is your cousin Vidocq that you are driving!""—* Perhaps it may be,’’ he answered, with a laugh: ‘‘ go and see.”” A gendarme did approach the calash, but rather from curi- osity than suspicion. At the mie of my uniform, he respectfully touched his hat, and said,‘ Your servant, captain!” and soon afterwards mounted his horse with his comrades. ‘Good journey,” cried my cousin, crack- ing his whip; “if you lay hold of him, perhaps you will write us word.”—" Go your way,’ said the uartermaster, who commanded the troop, ‘‘ we know his t; Hersin is the word: “and to-morrow by this time, he will be again between four walls.” We continued our journey very quietly, but yet one’ thing made me somewhat pnoay i my military dress might expose meto some diflicu ties which would have: an unpleasant result. The war with Prussia had begun, and there were but few officers in the interior, unless th’ y were confined there by some wound. I determined on carrying my arm in a sling as an officer who had been dis- abled at Jena; and if any qnestions were asked, I was paprses to give all particulars on this subject, which I learnt from the bulletins; and to add those which I could pick up by hearing a multitude of accounts, some true and some false, from witnesses either ocular or not, in fact, I was quite au fait concerning the battle of Jena, and could speak to all comers with perfect aS ip § of the subject; nobody knew more of it than Idid, [I ac- quitted myself in admirable style at Beaumont, when the weariness of our horse, which had conveyed us thirty. three leagues in aday and a half, compelled us to halt, I had already begun conversing in the inn, when I saw a quartermaster of gendarmes go straight up to an officer of dragoons, and ask for his papers. I went up to the uartermaster and asked him the motive of this precau- tion. ‘** Lasked him for his route,” he anewered, ‘ be- cause when every one is with the army, a healthy officer would not be left in France.” “ You are right, comrade," said I, ‘duty must be performed;”’ and at the same time, that he might not take a fancy to ask me a similar ques tion, 1 asked him to dine with us; and during the meal I so far gained his confidence, that he requested me, on reaching Paris, to use my interest in_procu him a change of quarters. I promised bim all he asked, which t.uch pleased him; as I was to use my own influeuce, which was great, and that of others still more powerful. We are geoqrally prodigal in bestowing that which we have not. However it may be, the flask circulated rapidly; and my guest, in the cnthusiaem of having secured an interest which was 6o desirable to him, began to talk that voluble nonsense which ueually pre. cedes drunkenness, when a gendarme brought pects of despatches. Heo them with an npspeaty and,and attempted to read them, but his eyes refused th oftice, and he begged me to peruse them for him. I open. eda letter, and the first words which struck my sight were these: “ Brigude of Arras.” I ‘orgs read i found that it was advice of my traveling towards mont, and adding that I must ha the Silver Lion. In spite of my agitation, I read the letter to him, omitting or adding particulars as I pleased ‘Good! very good! said the sober and vigilant quarter master; “the conveyance will, not pass until to-morrow and eau- morning, and J will take due care."’ He then sat down . with the intention of drinking more, but his strength did not equal his courage, and they were obliged to carry hir to bed, to the great scandal of all the lookers-on, whe repeated with much indignation, ‘‘ What! the master! a man of rank, to behave so shamefully!’ the man of rank; and at five o’cleck got into the Bean mont diligence, which conveyed me safely to Paris, where’ my mother, who had remained at Versailles, rejomed mo. : e gre together for some months in the faubourg Saint enis, Jacquelin, whom I was compelled, to a certain extent, to make my confidant, because he had known me at Rouen: under the name of Blondel. It was at his house that | met a madame de B——, who holds the first rank in the: affections oi my life. Madame de B——, or Annette, for so I call her, was a very pretty woman, whom her hus band had abandoned in consequence of his affairs turnin out unfortunate. He had fled to Holland, and had no been heard of for a considerable time. Annette was then quite free; she pleased me; I liked ber wit, understand. ing, kindly feeling, and ventured to tell her so: she saw soon, and without much troub