Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 10 — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

36 pmare I awaited him firmly, when one day that a re- | igious solemnity had attracted a vast crowd to Saint Roch, he announced to me that he had orders to attend there with me. ‘IT shall take Compére and Manigant with us,”’ he added, ‘“‘as we learn that at this moment there are many strange robbers in Paris, and they will point out to us all they know.” ** Take whom you please,”’ I answered. aud we set out. When we reached our destination, there was a considerable crowd; the service we were upon did not require that we should all unite at one point. Mani- gant and Gaffré went first, Suddenly, in the place they were, | remarked an old man, who, by being presse aoxinst a pillar, did not know where to put his head; he did not cry out, from respect to the sacred place, but his whole person was disarranged and his wig knocked awry; he lost his footing; his hat, which fell off, and which he nuixiously followed with his eyes, was rolled from place to place, sometimes from and sometimes towards him. “ Gentlemen, I beseech you, I beg of you,”’ were the only words which he pronounced in a most piteous tone; and, hidiug in one hand a gold-headed cane, and in the other his snuff-box and pocket-handerchief, he shook his hands ii} the air, as if he would have reached the ceiling with .@ - thera. I found he had lost his watch, but what could ldo? _ | was too far distant from the old gentleman; besides my uivice would be too la'e; and then Gaffré, was he not aiso a witness of the scene? and although he said nothing, he toubtless had some motive forit. I adopted the wisest pian, and was silent to see what would ensue, and turing the space of two hours, the duration of the ceremony, I had an opportunity of observing five or six af theee concerted squeezes, and saw Gaffré and Manigant piwaysin them. The latter, who has since undergone a confinement of twelve years in the Bagne at Brest, was at this oes the most expert pick-pocket in the capital; he excelled in extracting the money from a person’s pocket rnd transferring it into his own; with him the transmu- tation of metals was reduced to a eimple displacing, which he effected with incredible talent. The short stay in the church of St. Roch was not par- ticularly productive; however, without including the old man’s watch, he had stolen two purses and some otber articles of value. After the ceremony had terminated, we went to dine at a cotfee-house; the worthies paid the expenses, and noth- ing was spared; we drank deeply, and at the dessert they confided to me what I could not fail to have known, At first they only mentioned the purses, in which they found & hundred and seventy-tive francs in hard cash. ‘The bill paid, there remained a surplus of one hundred francs, of which they handed me over twenty as my portion, coun- seling me to be silent and discreet. As money has no name, | thought there was no reason for a refusal. The petty at tera enchanted at having thus initiated ine, and two flasks of Beaune were emptied to celebrate the occasion, No mention was made of the watch, nor did I allude to it; not only that I might appear ignorant of it, but I was also all ey: 8 nid ears, and was not slow in learning that it was in Gofive’s possession. I then began tv assume the appearance of a drunken man, and sham- ming a call of necessity, | desired the waiter to lead me where T wished to go, He conducted me out, and when slone Ll wrote with a pencil this note:— * Gaffré and Manigant have just stolen a watch in the church of Sa st Roch: in an hour, unless they change thelr intention, they will cross the market of St. Jean. Coifré carries the ‘P ils.” | hastily decended, and whilst Gaffré and his confeder- ate thought me enyaged up five pairs of stairs, I got into the street and despatched a messenger to M. Henry. 1 went back again without loss of time, and my absence had not been of long duration. When I entered I was out of breath, and as red as a turkey cock. ‘They asked me if I felt better. ‘Yes, a great deal,’ I stammered out, and falling rearly under the table. “Steady, boys, steady,” said Manigant. “He sees double,”’ observed Gaifré. “* He is done up,”’ added Compére, ‘* quite done up, but the air will revive him.”’ They gave me some sugar and water. ‘‘Go to——” I] tried out. ‘‘What! water for me, water forme!” ‘* Yes, it will do you good.” ** Do you think so?” I extended my hand, butinstead of seizing the glass I upset and broke it. I then played a few silly drunken tricks, which amused the party, and when I judged that M. Henry had received my dispatch, and taken measures accordingly, I insensibly came to myself. On going out 1 saw with pleasure that our route was “ot changed. We went toward the market of St. Jean, and there saw a file of soldiers, When I saw them sitting at the door, I did not donbt but that they were there in consequence of my messave, and the less so as I observed Menager the inspector following us. When we passed they eres i us, and, wy us politely by the arm. invited us to enter the guard house, Gaffré could not imagine what this meant, but supposed the soldiers were in error. He wished to argue the point. They desired him to obey, and he was compelled quietly to submit. They began with me, but found nothing: when the caine to Gaffré’s turn he was not at all easy. At lengt the fatal watch was produced from his fob; he was a little disconcerted, but at the moment of his examination, ant particularly when he heard the commissary say * Write a watch set with dbrilliants,”’ he turned gale d looked at me. Had he any suspicion of what had pass- vd’ Ido not think so, for te was convinced that I did «6! kuow of the robbery of the watch; and, besides, he was sture that, if I had known it, as I bad not left them, I sorld not bave turned nose. Giaffré, on being questioned, pretended that he had vourht the watch; they were persuaded that this was a liv, but the person who was robbed not being present to clniny his property, it was not possible to condemn it, tls was, however, confined for a time in Bicétre, and then ec ot under surveillance to Tours, whence at a later period t returned to Paris. This villain died there in 1822. At this period, the police had eso little confidence in tl.eir avents, that there was no kind of expedient !o0 which they bad not recourse to prove them, One day Goupil was tay loose upor me, and came with a singular pro- osal, Be You know Francuis, the publican?’’ said he to me, “Yes, and whut of thaty” sine if you will help ine we will draw a tooth or two from m +e How dad : ‘ Why he has very frequently addressed the perfecture w ontein permission to keep open house during part of the night, which request has always been denied; and I heee otven him to understand that it only depends upou you (o procure what he is so anxions to have.’ “” You are wrong for] oan do Noy The New York Library. “You can do nothing! very true, certainly! Oh you can do nothing, but you can buoy him up with the hope that you can do it.” ‘ ‘That is true, but wherein would be the benefit to im?’ ‘Say the benefit to us. Frangois, if well managed, would bleed well. He is already told that you are the man who is ‘all in all’ in the administration; he has a good opinion of you, and so no doubt he will tip freely on the first requisition.” ‘Do you think he will part with the blunt ?” ‘*T am sure, my boy, he will shell out six hundred francs as easily as a penny; we shall handle the ready, that is the main thing, and we can afterwards leave him to his reflections.” ** Well, but he will be enraged.”’ ‘*Never mind, let him do his worst: but give yourself no trouble, I will provide for all. Mv dlack and white work (writing) mind; you know the proverb, ‘‘ Writings are men, words but women.”’ “True as gospel; no receipt for cashin hand, and yet we can safely pocket.” ‘* Certainly, he who sows should reap: and no labor no profit. Meanwhile I will go and see how the land lies, and sound the old boy.”’ Goupil then took my hand, and shaking it heartily added, **Il amnow going straight to Francois, I will tell him you will call in the evening; I shall fix the hour for eight o'clock, but do you not come till eleven, because (as you must say) you will have been delayed; at midnight we shal) be told to go out, you must appear to comply w th this formality, and Francois will seize the opportu- nity of urging his request. You are aman of experience, and know how to play your cards. Farewell for the present.” ‘** Adieu,”’ L replied, and we separated. Scarcely, how- ever, had we turned our backs on each other than Goupil returned. “Oh!” said he, “you know that very frequently the feathers are more valuable than the bird; I want a pluck at the feathers, otherwise —— ” and he assumed a pereoe attitude, opening his enormous mouth, holding lis hands about six inches from the ground, as if he was about to scrape the pavement, and completing the menace by drawing back his body and pivancing his legs, in which the mobility of his feet were not the least comical part of his attitude. ‘All's right,’ said Ito Goupil, “ you shall uot swallow me. We will divide,—it is a bargain.” ‘*On the wordof a thief." “Yes, make yourself easy.” Goupil immediately took the road » the Courtille, where he very frequently went, and 1 that of the prefect- ure of police, when Linformed M, Henry of the proposal maue tome, “I hope,” said he, ‘‘that you will not lend ‘ourself to the plot.”’ I protested that I was not at all inclined to do so, and he evinced his pleasure at my free communication. ‘ Now,” he added, “I will give you a proof of the interest that { take in you;”’ and he arose to reach from his chest a packet of papers, which he opened, ** You see it is full, and they are all reports against you: they are in abundance, but yet I employ you, because I do not believe one word of what they say.’ Gaffré and Goupi) having failed in their plans for my destruction, Corvet resolved to try his successin the same way. One morning when I was in want of some particn- lar information, I went to the house of this agent, whose wife was also attached to the police. I found both man and wife at their lodging, and although I only knew them from having once or twice co-operated with them in some unimportant discoveries, they gave me the information I required with so much good-will, that, like a man who has the feelings of good fellowship towards those with whom he is associated, 1 offered toregale them with a bottle of wine at the nearest cabaret. Corvet alone ac- cepted the proffer, and we went together and seated our- selves in a privnte room. The wine was excellent; we drank one, two, three bot- tles. A private room and three bottles of wine led on to confidence. About an hour afterwards, I thought I erceived that Corvet had some proposal to make, and at ength he somewhat suddenly said: ‘‘ Listen, Vidocq (and he knocked his glass on the table with some emphasis), you are a jolly lad, but you are not open amongst friends; we know well enough that you are a fellow workman but youare a deep jfile; we two might doa fine stroke of business.” I promenden not to comprehend him, ‘“Nonsense, come, come,’’ he replied, ‘no gammon, that will not go down with me, I know you are a cunnin fellow, although I don’t know your place of work. will 4 rer to you as I would to my own brother, if I think I may depend upon you. Itis all very well to serve the police, but thereis nothing to be made out of it, and a crown changed is acrown spent and gone. Now if you will keep counsel, there is a job or two which I have in my eye which we will do together, and which will not hinder us from doing our friends a good turn.” “ How,” said I, “* would yon abuse the confidence placed in you? that is not right, and I am sure that if it were known at the prefecture, they would give you two or three years of itat Bicétre.” “Ah! you are like all the rest,” replied Corvet, “you are going to be mealy-mouthed and squeamish; bee are delicate, are you? come, come, we know one an- other.” I testified much astonishment at his holding such lan- guage to me, and added that I was fully persuaded that e only said so to try me, or perhaps lay a snare for me. ‘*‘A ‘snare!’ cried he, “*a snare! bring you into trouble. I had rather put my own neck in jeop- ardy; you must be mad to “ree it. I do not beat about the bush; when say anything it is blant and straightforward; with me there is no back door, and as a proof thatall is not as you believe, I will tell you that no later than this evening I am going to work. I have already laid my plan, the keys are made, and if you will come with me, you shall see how I will do the job.” ‘** 1 doubt you have either lost your senses, or you wish to entangle me in your net.” ‘* What, do you not give me any credit for better feel- pd (Elevating his voice,) I tell you then you shall not have a finger in the pie. What more would you have? I shall take my wife with me, it will not be the first time, but it will be the last if yon choose to make it so. With two men there is always avesource at hand. The busi- ness of to-day regards you nothing; you will wait for us in the coffee-house at the corner of the Rue de la Tabletterie. It is almost facing where we are going to work, and as soon as you see us come out do you follow; we will sell the booty, and we wil) go snacks, After that you will no longer distrust 148 What think you, vm 7 et eee There was so much Beearence of sincerity inthis dle. course, that I really har ly knew how to act with Corveg. Did he want an accomplice, or did he seek a means of destroying me? I have still my doubts on this point; but in either case Corvet was a manifest rogue. By his own confession, his wife end he committed rob beries. If he had spoken the truth, it was my duty to deliver him up to justice; if. on the contrary, he had lied, | inthe hope of conenene me into acriminal action to denounce me, it was only right to prosecute the plot to its termination, that I might show to the authorities that to tempt me was labor in vain. Ihad endeavored to dissuade Corvet from his desigt, but when I saw that he persisted, I feigned to allow my- self to be seduced. ‘* Well, then,” I said, ‘“‘since it must be so, I accept the proposal.” He instantly embraced me, and the rendezvous was fixed for four o’clock, ata vintner’s. Corvet returned home, and as soon as he had left me, I wrote to M. Aliemain, commissary of police, in the Rue Cimetiére St. Nicholas to inform him of the robbery which was to be perpetrated in the evening. I gave him, at the same time, all the necessary information for seizing on the culprits in the very commission of their crime. I was at my post at the agreed hour; Corvet and his wife were not long after me, and after drinking a bottle ortwo of wine to cheer them in their work they pro- ceeded on their enterprise. A moment afterwards, and I saw them enter a court-yard in the Rue de la Haumerie. The commissary had so well contrived that he appre- hended the two at the moment, when, laden with booty, they left the apartment they had ransacked. This couple were condemned to ten years’ confinement. During the trial Corvet and his wife asserted that I had tempted them tothe robbery. Certainly in the line I had pursued, there was nothing that could be construed into such a temptation; besides in a robbery I did not see how there can be any provocation possible. A man is honest or he is not: if he be honest, no consideration can be sufficiently powerful to determine him on committing a crime: if he be not, he only wants the opportunity, and is it not evident that it will offer itself sooner or later? CHAPTER XXVIII, In 1810, robberies of a new kind and inconceivable boldness suddenly awakened the police to the knowledge of the existence of a troop of malefactors of a nove) description. Nearly all the robberies had been committed by ladders and forcible entries; apartments on the first and even second floor had been broken into by these Bi cn ge ger thieves, who, till then, had confined themselves to ric houses; and it was evident that these robbers must have had a knowledge of the localities, by the method of their burglaries. All my efforts to discover these adroit thieves were without success, when a burglary, which seemed almost impracticable, was committed in the Rue Saint-Claude, near the Rue ‘Bourbon- Villeneuve, in an apartment in the second floor above the ‘‘entresol,’’ in a house in which the commissary of police for the district actually resided. The cord of the lantern which hung at his house-door had served for a Jadder. A nosebag (a small bag in which corn is put for horses to feed from when on the coach stand) had been left on the spot, which gave rise to a surmise that the pe trators might be hackney-coachmen, or at least that hackney-coaches had been employed in the enterprise. enry directed me to make my observations amongst the coachmen, and I discovered that the nosebag had belonged to a man named Husson, who drove the flacre, No. 712. I reported this: Husson was appre- hended, and from him we obtained information concern- ing two brothers, named Delzéve, the elder of whom was soon in the hands of the police; and on his interrogation by M. Henry, he made such important discoveries as led to the apprehension of one Métral, a room-cleaner in the alace of the empress Josephine. He was stated to be he receiver of the band, composed almost entirely of Savoyards, born in the department of Leman. ‘The con- tinuation of my search led to my securing them all, twenty-two in number, who were subsequently con- demned to imprisonment. These robbers were for the greater part messengers, room-cleaners, or coachmen; that is, they belonged to a class of individuals proverbial for honesty, and who frota time immemorial had been celebrated for probity through. out Paris; in their district they were all considered az honest men, incapable of appropriating to themselves tha property of another; and this opinion contributed to render them the more formidable, as the persons who employed them, either in sawing wood or in any othe: kind of work, had 10 distrust in them, and gave them free ingress and egress everywhere, and at alltiines. W hen it was known that they were implicated in a criminal affair, they were not believed to be guilty; and I myself, for some time, hesitated in my opinion. However, evidence was adduced which was against them, and the ancient re nown of the sive n a capital in which they had poate unsuspected for ages, was blasted never again to ourish. During the year 1812 I had rendered to justice the prin- cipals of the band; but Delzéve, the younger, had baffled all efforts to capture him, and bid defiance to the pursuite of justice, when on the 31st of December, M. Henry said to me, I think, if we manage well, we can get hold of the crab Ecrevisse (Delzéve’s cognomen): to-morrow will be new-year’s day, and he will be sure to visit the washer woman, who has so often given him an asylum, as well as his brother; I have a presentiment that he will be there this evening or during the night, or certainly early in the morning." I was of the same opinion; and M. Heary ordered me to go, with three officers, and place ourselves on the watch, near the washerwoman’s house, who lived in the Rue de Gressillon, I received this command with a satisfaction which is always with me a pres of good luck. Attended by the three inspectors, | went, at seven o’clock in the evening to the appointed spot. It was bitterly cold, the groun covered with snow, and never had winter been more severe, We stationed ourselves in ambuscade; and after many hours, the inspectors, a ae with cold, and unable any longer to endure it, proposed that we should quit our station. I was half-frozen, having no covering but the light garment of a messenger. made some remarks to them; and, altho it would have been intinitely more able to me to have ret