Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 10 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

; , : | ' oe ! naval depot. From the midst of a thick atmosphere of I have since learned that he had me followed for seve- smoke which surrounded him, he viewed me at first ral days, to be assured whether or no I took the road with a contempt which had not a good appearance, to Lille, which I had told him was my intention. and my conjectures were soon realized, for I had I did goto that city, led by a childish wish to see scarcely offered my services than he fell upon me with Francine, and take her with me to Holland, where I | a shower of blows. I could certainly have resisted had formed a plan of a small establishment. But my _ him effectually, but astonishment had in a measure de- | imprudence was soon punished; for two gendarmes, rived me of the power of defense; and I saw besides, who were drinking in a pot-house, saw me crossing the | n the court-yard, half a dozen sailors and anenormous | street, and they resolved on following me to ask for my Newfoundland dog, which would have been powerful papers. They overtook me at a turning, and the odds. Turned into the street, [ endeavored to account | trouble which their appearance caused me, determined for this singular reception, when it occurred to me that | them on apprehending me, They took me to the. Peters had mistaken me for a spy, and treated me ac- brigade prison, where I was always looking out for | cordingly. means of escape, when I heard some one say to the | This idea determined me on returning to a dealer in | gendarmes, “ Here is the guard of Lille; is there any | holiands, who had told me of him, and he, laughing at | one for the prison?” Two men of the Lille brigade the result of my visit, gave me a pass-word that would | came to the prison and asked if there was any game in procure me free access to Peters. Thus empowered, 1 | the trap. “ Yes,” said the fellows who took me, * we | again went to his formidable abode, having first filed | have one named Leger (my assumed name), whom my pockets with large stones which, in case of a second | we found without a passport.” They opened the door, | attack, might protect my retreat. Fortunately I had | and the brigadier of Lille, who had often seen me at no need of them. At the words “‘Beware of the | the Petit Hotel, cried, “‘ By Jove, ‘tis Vidoeq!’’ Iwas | sharks * (custom-house officers), [ was received in a compelled to confess it, and setting out, 1 entered Lille most amicable manner, for my strength and activity a few hours afterward between my two body-guards. | made me a valuable acquisition to the fraternity, who | CHAPTER VI. , are often compelled to carry with aie from one spot to another, the most oppressive loads. A Bordeaux I rounp at the Petit Hotel the greater number of the man, who was one of the gang, undertook to initiate | prisoners who had been emancipated before my es-_ me, and teach me the stratagems of the profession, | cape. Some of them had made but a very short ab- | which, however, I was called on to put in practice be- | sence, and were ym el apprehended, charged with | fore my tuition had progressed very far. fresh crimes or fresh offenses. Amo them was I “ at Peters’ house with a dozen or fifteen smug- | Calandrin, whom I have spoken about; enlarged on the gleis, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, and Rus- | 11th, he was retaken on the 13th, charged with burglary | sian; there were no Englishmen, and only two French- | and being an accomplice of the Chauffeurs, whose men. The day after my installation, as we were all | name alone inspired universal dread. On the strength getting into our hammocks, or flock beds, Peters en- | of the reputation which my various escapes had pro- tered suddenly into our chamber, which was only a | cured for me, these men looked on me as one on whom cellar contiguous to his own, and so filled with barrels | they might rely. On my side, I could scarcely separate | and kegs that we could scarcely find room to sling our | myself from them. Accused of capital offenses, they hammocks. Peters had put off his usual attire, which | had a powerful motive for being secret concerning our was that of ship-caulker, or sail-maker, and had on a | attempts, while the unfortunate “ petty larceny ras- hairy cap, and a long red shirt, closed at the breast | cal ’’ might denounce us, in the dread of being accused | with a silver pin, fire-arms in his belt, and a pair of | of being privy to our designs. This is the logic of the > thick large fisherman’s boots, which reach the top of | prison. This escape, however, was not so very easy a vhe thigh, or may be folded down beneath the knee. | matter, as may be surmised when I say that our dun- | *A-hoy! a-hoy!” eried he at the door, striking the | geons, seven feet po eh had walls six feet thick, | round with the butt-end of his carbine. ‘Down with strengthened with planking crossed and riveted with | he hammocks, down with the hammocks! We will iron; a window, two feet by one, closed with three iron | sleep some other day. The —— has made signals | gratings placed one after the gther, and the door cased | for a landing this evening, and we must see what she | with wrought iron. With s precautions, a jailor | has in her, muslin or tobacco. Come, come, turn out, might depend on the safe keeping of his chargp, but | my sea- a | yet we overcame it all. In a twinkling everybody was ready. They opened | I was in a cell on the second floor with Duhamel. an arm-chest, and every man took out a carbine For six franes, a prisoner, who was also a turnkey, or blunderbuss, a brace of pistols, and a cutlass | procured us two files, a ripping chisel, and two turn- or boarding-pike, and we set out, after having drunk | screws. We had pewter spoons, and our jailer was so many glasses of brandy and arrack that the bot- | probably ignorant of the use which prisoners could tles were empty. At this time there were not more make of them. I knew the pungaen ey; it was the than twenty of us, but we were joined or met, at one | counterpart of all the others on the same story; and I awa or another, by so many individuals that on reach- | cut a model of it from a large carrot; then 1 made a ng the seaside we were forty-seven in number, exclu-| mold with a crumb of bread and potatoes. We want- sive of two females and some countrymen from the | ed fire, and we procured it by making a lamp with a adjacent villages, who brought hired horses, which | piece of fat and the rags of a cotton cap. e key they concealed in a hollow behind some rocks. | was at last made of pewter, but it was not Be: perfect; It was night, and the wind was shifting, while the | and it was only after many trials and various altera- sea dashed with so much force that I did not under- | tions that it fitted at last. Thus masters of the doors, stand how any vessel could appecece without being we were compelled to work a hole in the wall, near the cast on shore. What confirmed this idea was, that by | barns of the town hall. Sallambier, who was in the the starlight I saw a small boat rowing backward and dungeons below, found a way to cut the = by work- forward, as if it feared to land. They told me after- | ing through the planking. All was ready for our es- ward that this was only a maneuver to ascertain if all | cape, and it was fixed for the evening, when the pase was ready for the unloading, and no danger to be ap- told me that gs! term of dungeon imprisonment had | prehended, Peters now lighted a reflecting lantern, | expire’. and I should be placed again with the other | which one of the men had brought, and immediately | prisonevs. extinguished it; the Squirrel raised a lantern at her; A favor was never less welcome; I saw all my prepa- | mizzen, which only shone for a moment, and then dis- | rations useless, and I might wait a long time for cir- appeared like a glow-worm on a summer's night. We | cumstances as favorable. I was, however, com lled | then saw it approach, and anchor about a gun-shot off | to foilow the jailer, whom I wished at the devil with | from the spot where we were. Our troop then divided | his congratulations. This disappointment affected me | into three companies, two of which were placed five | so greatly that all the prisoners saw it. One of them | hundred paces in front, to resist the revenue officers if | having learnt my secret from me, made some very just they should present themselves. The men of these | observations on the danger I ran in eg a with such companies were then placed at intervals along the men as Sallambier and Duhamel, who would perhaps round, having at the left arm a packthread which ran | not be out of prison twenty-four hours without com- rom one to the other: in case of alarm it was an- | mitting a murder. He even made me promise to let nounced by a slight pull, and each being ordered to an- | them go, and wait myself for some other opportunity. swer this signal ng his gun, a line of firing was I followed his advice, and it was well that I did so; I thus kept up, which tp omg the revenue officers. | even took the precaution of tel Duhamel and Sal- The third company, of which I was one, remained by | lambier that they were suspected, and that they had the seaside, to cover the landing and the transport of | not a moment to scare in saving themselves, They fol- the cargo. | lowed no advice literally, and two hours afterward All being thus arranged, the Newfoundland dog al- | they had joined a band of forty-seven Chauffeurs, of ready mentioned, and who was with us, dashed at a whom twenty-eight were executed the following month word. into the midst of the waves and swam powerfully | at Bruges. in the direction of the Squirrel, and in an instant after-| The escape of Duhamel and Sallambier made a great ward returned with the end of a rope in his mouth, | noise in the prison and throughout the city. They Peters instantly seized it, and began to draw it toward found some extraordinary circumstances belonging. (6 | him, making us signs to assist him, which I obeyed | it, but the jailer was the more astonished that I | wechanically, After a few tugs, I saw that at the end | not made one of the Day: It was n to repair of the cable were a dozen small casks, which floated | the breach they had made, and workmen came ; and voward us. I then perceived that the vessel thus con- | een stationed at the bottom of the staircase a guard crived to keep sufficiently far from the shore, not to | with orders not to let any one The thought came run a risk of being stranded, | to me-of deceiving the sentinel, and getting out by the In an instant the casks, smeared over with some- | breach which was to have aided my escape before. rhing that made them water-proof, were unfastened | Francine, who came every day to see me, brought and placed on horses, which immediately dashed off | me three ells of tri-colored ribbon, which I re- for the interior of the country. A second cargo arrived | quested her to procure. With one plece I made a belt, with the same success; but as we were landing the and ornamenting my hat with the rest, I passed, muf- third, some reports of fire-arms announced that our out- fled up, by the soldier; who, taking me for a municipal vosts were attacked. ‘‘There is the beginning of the | officer, presented his arms. I ascended the staircase ball,” said Peters, calmly; “*I must go and see who quickly—reached the opening, which I found guarded will dance;”’ and taking 4 his carbine, he joined the by two sentinels, one in the granary of the town-hall, vutposts, which had b is time joined each other. and the other in the passage of the prison. I told the The firing became rapid, and we had two men killed, latter that it was im ible for a man to pass through | and others slightly wounded. At the fire of the rev- | this opening; he insisted on the contrary; and his com- | enue officers, we soon found that they exceeded us in | rade, as if, plotting with me, said that I could get number; but alarmed, and fearing an ambuscade, they | through with my clothes on. I said I would try; and | dared not to approach, and we effected our retreat creeping thro h barn. . Pre- | Vidocq, The French Police Spy. even Francine, who most ingeniously declared that she _ thors of my escape, I left t where the juggier Oliver and the quack Devoye enro declared that a hundred crowns had m | dered my 5 » - -_— knew nothing of how I had liberated myself, for she had brought me the ribbon without knowing the pur- ose for which I intended ®. She was however con- ed; but this revealed nothing, the soldiers, who had allowed me to pass, taking good care not to implicate themselves. While they were thus epagareme 3 the pretended au- e city and reached Court _ me in their ey, oe play pantomine. Isawthere many , prisoners who had escaped, whose acting costume, which they always wore (because a. had no other),4 served greatly to mistify the police. om Courtrai wel returned to Ghent, whence we were soon to depart ‘or the fair of Enghien. We were in this latter city for five days: and the receipt, of which I had a share, was very good; when one evening, aS I was about to go on the stage, I was arrested by the police officers, to whom I had been betrayed by the Merry Andrew, out of malice at seeing me fill the chief characters. I was again taken back to Lille, where I learned, to my great grief, that my poor Francine had been sentenced to six months’ confinement for having aided my escape. The turnkey Baptiste—whose only crime was that of hav- ing taken me for a superior officer, and having allowed me in this capacity to quit St. Peter’s Tower—the un- lucky a ogee was also imprisoned for the same fault. The terrible charge against him was, that the prisoners (overjoyed at an opportunity of revenging themselves) e him take a young man of nineteen for an old soldier on the shady side of fifty. As for me, I was sent to the prison of the department of Douai, where I was treated as a dangerous man; | that is to say, I was thrust into a dungeon with my hands and legs in fetters. 1 found there my townsman Desfosseux and a young man named Doyenette, con- _demned to chains for sixteen years for a bivgiary ef- fected with his father, mother, and two brothers under fifteen years of age. They had been feur months in the dungeon where I was put, lying on straw, eaten up with vermin, and living on bean-bread and water. I or- rovisions, which were soon consumed; we then talked over our business, and my fellow-prisoners told me that for the last fortnight they were making a hole under the pavement of the dungeon which would open at the level of the Scarpe which washed the prison walls. I at first regarded the enterprise as difficult, as it was necessary to pierce a wall five feet thick and yet avoid the observation of the jailer, whose frequent visits would not allow of our suffering a morsel of rubbish to We eluded detection from this by throwing out of the window, which overlooked the Scarpe, every hand- ful of rubbish that we got from our mine. Desfosseux had besides found means of ridding us of our fetters, and we worked with less fatigue and difficulty. One of us was always in the hole, which was already large enough to admit a man. e thought that we had at length terminated our labors and our pth & when we discovered that the foundations, which we had im- ined to be composed of common stone, were formed of masses of sandstone of large size. This compelled us to enlarge our subterranean gallery, and for a week we workea at it unremittingly. To conceal the disap- arance of that one of us who might be at work when he guard went round, we had filled a vest and shirt with straw, and placed the figure in the posture of a — man. ter fifty-five days and nights of unrelaxing toil, we at last so far completed our work that we had but one stone to remove and then should reach the river's banks. One night we determined on making an essay, and all appeared favorable to our design; the jailer had locked up earlier than usual, and a dense fog gave us a confident hope of avoiding the sentinel of the bridge.. The shaken stone yielded to our efforts, and fell de the aperture we had made; but the water followed it at the same time as if impelled by the sluice ofamill We had calculated our distance incorrectly and the hole being made some feet beneath the level of the river, we were soon deluged. At first we endeav- ored to plunge through the opening; but the rapidity of the current precluded all attempts, and we were compelled to for help, or remain immersed in water for a whole ee At our cries the jailer and turnkeys ran to our tance, and were greatly astonished et finding themselves mid-leg deep in water. All was soon discovered and the mischief repaired, while we were shut up singly in dungeons in the same gallery. This catastrophe filled me with very sad reflections from which I was very soon aroused by the voice o Desfosseux, who told me, in slang terms, not to de- spair, but to take courage by his example. osseux was certainly endowed with a strength of mind which be seen. | nothing could depress: cast half-naked on the straw in a dungeon, where he could scarcely lie at length, load- ed with thirty pounds — of fetters, he yet sung with great vociferation, and was only devising means of escape that he might again do some evil deed; and opportunity was not long wanting. nthe same prison with us were confined the jailer of the Petit Hotel of Lille, and the turnkey Baptiste, both accused of having aided my escape for a bribe. The day of their trial having arrived, the jailer was ac- quitted, but Baptiste’s sentence was deferred, the tri- bunal having decreed a fresh process, in which I was to be heard. Poor Baptiste then came to me, begging me to tell the truth, At first I only gave him evasive answers: but Desfosseux having told me that the man might serve us, and that we must arrange terms with him, I promised to do what he wished: on which he made me vast professions of gratitude and offers of service. I took him at his word, and desired him to bring me a knife and two large nails, of which Desfos- seux had told me that he had need, and in an hour 1 had them brought to me. On learning that I had p:o- cured them, Desforseux made as many jumps as his! the hole, I got into the without any attempt on their oe to prevent it. From | tending that I had hurt myself in passing, I told my | the beginning of the fight the | had weighed two men that as I was on that sid should go round | fetters and his hounded space would allow. Doyeneite , anchor and stood out to sea, for fear that the noise of | by another way. ‘In this case,” said he who was in | equally gave himself up to the most excessive joy; the firing would cep down on her the government the gr y, “ wait while I open the door;”’ and putting | and, as gayety is in general catching, I felt myself too cruiser. I was told that most cig she would un- | the key in the lock, I jum at two bounds down ve ina mirthtul mood, without rag! nowing why. load her cargo in some other part of the coast, where | staircase of the town-hall and got into the street wi | When these transports had a little subsided, Desfos- the owners had numerous agents. | my ribbon still on, and which would again have caused | seux desired me to look at the roof of my dungeon On the return to Peters’ house, at break of day, I | my arrest had not the day been drawing to a close. and observe if there were not five stones whiter than plying in the affirmative, he threw myself into my hammock, and did not leave it’ was scarcely out, when the Pong who rarely lost | the rest; and, on my rep for eight-and-forty hours; the fatigue of the night, the | sight of me, said, “Where is Vi ocq?”” They told him | desired me to try the divisions with the t of my moisture which penetrated my clothes, while exercise | that I was taking a turn in the yard; but when he went | knife, which I did, and found the ceme