Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection by Dorothy Hoobler, Thomas Hoobler Page A
Authors: Dorothy Hoobler, Thomas Hoobler
Tags: History
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dead ends where bodies were dumped. There were no spacious boulevards
or parks with gas lighting. The metropolis was a hotbed of vice and disease. Hordes of people lived in ramshackle ancient
buildings; epidemics of cholera periodically swept the city. In this world, the poor were forced to steal for their bread,
and street urchins needed sharp wits to survive.
In 1809, during Napoleon’s rule, Vidocq decided once again to make a break with his criminal past. He sent a letter to “Papa”
Henry, divisional chief of the Police Prefecture of Paris, offering his services as a spy in the underworld. Henry could see
the value such a man would have, and referred the letter to Baron de Pasquier, the prefect of police, who agreed to give him
a chance. In his
Memoirs,
Vidocq referred to the two men as “my liberators.” 7 For the next two decades, he would employ his talents on the right side of the law.
At first he served as an informant in La Force Prison in Paris. The authorities had spread rumors that Vidocq had committed
a particularly heinous crime. This earned him the respect of the other inmates, who “whispered and even said aloud in talking
about me, ‘He’s a murderer,’ and as in that place a murderer ordinarily inspires great confidence, I was careful not to refute
an error so useful to my projects.” 8 Some inmates also recognized Vidocq from having served with him in other prisons and knew that he had escaped, adding to
his criminal reputation. Finally, after twenty months, he feared that his cover was blown and he “escaped” once again, this
time with the connivance of his jailers.
He returned to Paris, where he lived with his wife in the Marais section. At night he frequented the gaming dens, saloons,
and brothels in the most dangerous sections of the city. He listened to the schemes and plots being hatched — sometimes being
invited to take part in them — and then reported them to his superiors at the prefecture. “The rogues and thieves whom I daily
met there firmly believed me to be one of themselves,” he wrote. 9 He did not see himself as a traitor, because he did not believe that he was a criminal — only a person who had taken up crime
out of necessity. He further claimed that he never turned in anyone for stealing bread to feed himself or his family.
All the while, Vidocq’s ability to disguise himself continued to improve. His biographer Joseph Geringer wrote, “He played
pirates with black-patched eyes, runaway convicts under a month’s chin growth, aged thieves behind gray side whiskers, pickpockets
with a limp and a cane and a ragged frock, even persons displaced from their homeland — a scar-faced German swordsman wanted
by the Berlin police for killing two men in a duel, the dark Sicilian Gypsy who had killed a wife in Castelvetrano, the British
barrister, complete with spectacles, wanted for cutting the throat of a rival attorney in London. With dialect and colloquialism
to accompany each caricature, Vidocq carried every animation with aplomb.” 10 He was so adept at disguise that he was once approached to make a hit on himself.
In real life, changing one’s looks and name to alter one’s history, even when practiced by lesser men than Vidocq, was a perennial
problem for police forces. In France, galley “slaves” — those who had been sentenced to forced labor — were branded to prevent
them from escaping, 11 a practice that was banned in 1832. Afterward, the police had no real way of knowing whether a suspect was a recidivist,
or career criminal, because it was nearly impossible to determine if he had ever been arrested before. Vidocq himself, adept
at shifting personae, began to tackle that problem.
ii
The population of Paris grew to more than one million people between 1800 and 1850, making it the largest city on the mainland
of Europe. Vidocq recognized that the sheer size of the metropolis caused difficulty for the
or parks with gas lighting. The metropolis was a hotbed of vice and disease. Hordes of people lived in ramshackle ancient
buildings; epidemics of cholera periodically swept the city. In this world, the poor were forced to steal for their bread,
and street urchins needed sharp wits to survive.
In 1809, during Napoleon’s rule, Vidocq decided once again to make a break with his criminal past. He sent a letter to “Papa”
Henry, divisional chief of the Police Prefecture of Paris, offering his services as a spy in the underworld. Henry could see
the value such a man would have, and referred the letter to Baron de Pasquier, the prefect of police, who agreed to give him
a chance. In his
Memoirs,
Vidocq referred to the two men as “my liberators.” 7 For the next two decades, he would employ his talents on the right side of the law.
At first he served as an informant in La Force Prison in Paris. The authorities had spread rumors that Vidocq had committed
a particularly heinous crime. This earned him the respect of the other inmates, who “whispered and even said aloud in talking
about me, ‘He’s a murderer,’ and as in that place a murderer ordinarily inspires great confidence, I was careful not to refute
an error so useful to my projects.” 8 Some inmates also recognized Vidocq from having served with him in other prisons and knew that he had escaped, adding to
his criminal reputation. Finally, after twenty months, he feared that his cover was blown and he “escaped” once again, this
time with the connivance of his jailers.
He returned to Paris, where he lived with his wife in the Marais section. At night he frequented the gaming dens, saloons,
and brothels in the most dangerous sections of the city. He listened to the schemes and plots being hatched — sometimes being
invited to take part in them — and then reported them to his superiors at the prefecture. “The rogues and thieves whom I daily
met there firmly believed me to be one of themselves,” he wrote. 9 He did not see himself as a traitor, because he did not believe that he was a criminal — only a person who had taken up crime
out of necessity. He further claimed that he never turned in anyone for stealing bread to feed himself or his family.
All the while, Vidocq’s ability to disguise himself continued to improve. His biographer Joseph Geringer wrote, “He played
pirates with black-patched eyes, runaway convicts under a month’s chin growth, aged thieves behind gray side whiskers, pickpockets
with a limp and a cane and a ragged frock, even persons displaced from their homeland — a scar-faced German swordsman wanted
by the Berlin police for killing two men in a duel, the dark Sicilian Gypsy who had killed a wife in Castelvetrano, the British
barrister, complete with spectacles, wanted for cutting the throat of a rival attorney in London. With dialect and colloquialism
to accompany each caricature, Vidocq carried every animation with aplomb.” 10 He was so adept at disguise that he was once approached to make a hit on himself.
In real life, changing one’s looks and name to alter one’s history, even when practiced by lesser men than Vidocq, was a perennial
problem for police forces. In France, galley “slaves” — those who had been sentenced to forced labor — were branded to prevent
them from escaping, 11 a practice that was banned in 1832. Afterward, the police had no real way of knowing whether a suspect was a recidivist,
or career criminal, because it was nearly impossible to determine if he had ever been arrested before. Vidocq himself, adept
at shifting personae, began to tackle that problem.
ii
The population of Paris grew to more than one million people between 1800 and 1850, making it the largest city on the mainland
of Europe. Vidocq recognized that the sheer size of the metropolis caused difficulty for the
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