Eugene Francois Vidocq biography. Biography. Why Vidocq is not a marshal
His life was so rich in the most incredible events and adventures that the best novels faded next to it. François Vidocq loved women, money and duels too much...
A famous French criminal, later a detective. Served in the army. He was convicted of desertion and treason; for theft he was sentenced to six years in galleys and escaped. He joined the police as a detective and rose to the rank of chief of a police detachment. After retiring, he wrote “Memoirs” (1826). In 1836 he organized a private detective bureau, which was closed by the authorities. In 1844 he published his memoirs entitled: “The True Secrets of Paris.”
The true biography of Eugene-François Vidocq is so rich in the most incredible events and adventures that the most sophisticated detective masters - from Conan Doyle to Marinina - have never dreamed of. By the way, not only the police showed interest in this famous criminal detective, but also writers whose literary talent had long earned universal recognition. The creator of The Human Comedy, Honore de Balzac, maintained an acquaintance with him. It was Vidocq who inspired him to create the image of the escaped convict Vautrin. Victor Hugo remembered Vidocq when he wrote Les Misérables: direct “quotes” from his biography can be discerned in the life story of Jean Voljean. And Eugene (Joseph) Sue generously drew from the fantastic stories in which Vidocq found himself, material for his “Parisian Mysteries”, from which the glory of one of the genres of mass adventure literature began. Inspired by reading Vidocq's Memoirs, Edgar Allan Poe wrote some of his stories...
And so - reliable facts of the life of today's birthday boy:
Eugene Francois Vidocq
(1775 - 1857)
Born on July 23, 1775 in Arras, near Lille, in the family of a baker. On the night of his birth, it was pouring rain, and the relative who delivered the child suggested that a stormy life awaited him.
Eugene Francois was a strong and handsome guy. He worked as a door-to-door bread delivery boy. But Vidocq was thirsty for adventure, and, taking two thousand francs from his parents’ cash register, he went to Ostend, from where he could sail to America. But in Ostend the gullible young man was robbed. Vidocq joined a traveling troupe of artists. Here his talent as an imitator manifested itself, which subsequently saved his life more than once. Then he helped the wandering doctor invite customers. Having been pushed around, Eugene Francois returned to his native Arras. But he didn’t stay there for long either. In 1791, when the young French Republic was going through difficult times, Vidocq went to Paris as a deputy to the Estates General.
In the capital, he volunteered for the army, where he was enlisted as a huntsman thanks to his strong appearance, posture and fencing skills. Before the battle with the Austrians, he was promoted to corporal of the grenadiers. However, Eugene Francois endlessly started quarrels and in six months managed to fight several duels, killing two opponents. After a collision with a non-commissioned officer, Vidocq was forced to go over to the side of the Austrians, who assigned him to cuirassiers. But the traitor did not want to fight against his own and pretended to be sick. After leaving the hospital, Vidocq invited the garrison officers to learn the art of fencing from him. There was no end to the students. Eugene Francois made good money on this, but soon he quarreled again, this time with the foreman, for which he received twenty lashes as punishment. Vidocq, abandoning fencing lessons, got a job as an orderly for a general who was about to go into the active army. On the way, Eugene Francois fled from his boss and, posing as a Belgian, joined the cavalry. When an amnesty was announced, he left the service and returned to Arras.
At this time, terror was already raging in the country. The period of “guillotinades” has begun. Vidocq, having seen enough of the terrible executions in his hometown, re-joined the army.
The hot-tempered Eugene Francois slapped one of his commanders in a quarrel. And only a battle with the Austrians, and then a wound - a bullet damaged Two Fingers - allowed Vidocq to avoid severe punishment. He escaped from the hospital.
On the way to Brussels he was stopped by a police patrol. Since he did not have a passport, Vidocq was arrested and sent to prison. In order not to be exposed, the adventurer escaped from prison and hid with his Girlfriend. After waiting a little, he put on his overcoat, put black taff-TU with a plaster on his eye, and in this masquerade he headed to Amsterdam.
In the spring of 1796, Vidocq arrived in Paris. But even here the adventurer was let down by his explosive character: having quarreled with an officer, Vidocq, fearing arrest, was forced to leave the capital. He headed to the border city of Lille, a city of great opportunity. Here he fell in love with a certain Francine. The girl turned out to be loving, and the captain of the engineering troops used her services. Vidocq, finding them in an unambiguous position, beat his opponent in a rage, for which he was imprisoned in St. Peter's Tower for three months. It was here that the fateful event occurred, which predetermined his entire future fate.
Among the prisoners was Sebastien Boitel, sentenced to six years for stealing bread. This peasant, who had a large family, had a hard time being separated from his wife and children. He said that he would pay generously to anyone who would free him. Gerbo and Grouard, convicted of forgery, volunteered to help the poor fellow. Wanting to receive a reward, within a few days they concocted the document necessary for release. Soon a messenger appeared and handed the jailer a package containing a document fabricated by the scammers - an order for release. When the jailer showed the order to the inspector, he immediately recognized the fake. In this case, both swindlers, the jailer and Boitel, were brought to justice. They all showed that Vidocq was the instigator of this adventure, and he was sentenced to eight years in chains.
At this dramatic moment, the repentant Francine came to him on a date. With her help, Vidocq made a daring escape from prison. The girl brought him a prison inspector's uniform. Having put on make-up and dressed to look like an inspector, Vidocq passed the unsuspecting guards and left St. Peter's Tower. However, he was soon caught and ended up back in prison. But the thought of escape now did not leave him.
One day Vidocq and several other prisoners were summoned for questioning. In addition to the prisoners, there were two gendarmes in the room. One guard left, leaving his overcoat and hat near Vidocq. Another one was called at the same time. Vidocq quickly put on his overcoat and put on his hat, grabbed one of the prisoners by the hand and resolutely walked to the door, pretending to accompany him to the toilet. The soldiers in the corridor let them through.
Once free, Eugene Francois immediately went to Francine, where the police were already waiting for him. The daring fugitive was sent to the Parisian prison of Bicêtre, from where he was on his way to hard labor in Brest.
In Bicêtre, where Vidocq arrived with a party of convicts, chained in pairs during the journey with a thick iron hoop and heavy leg shackles, he met the fist fighter Jacques Gutel, from whom he learned a lot.
In this prison, prisoners could move freely around the territory and go about their business. Many received tools and money from the outside to escape.
Vidocq did not stay in Bicêtre for long. Soon the prisoners began to be prepared to be sent to hard labor. Collars were cut off on clothes and brims on hats. Then everyone was chained in pairs with a chain attached to a common iron bar for twenty-six prisoners, meaning they could only move together.
Twenty-four days later, a party of five hundred convicts arrived in Brest, where they were dressed in red jackets with the letters OAL, green caps with iron plaques and numbers, the TR (hard labor) brand was burned on each shoulder, and their legs were shackled. Vidocq tried to escape several times, but was unsuccessful. Finally, having filed away the shackles and changed into the dress of the nun who was caring for him in the prison infirmary, he escaped. Vidocq reached Nantes, where he got hold of peasant clothing.
He returned to Arras and told his parents about his misadventures. This story was more fiction than truth, but the parents realized that their son was on the run, and transported him to a former Carmelite monk in a small village. Vidocq began to help the monk in worship and teaching children. Eugene Francois coped with this role excellently; no one even thought that the young monk was an escaped convict. This time his passion for women failed him. One night, in the hayloft, he was captured by local jealous women. He was stripped and flogged with nettles, after which he was pushed naked into the street. A few days later, having recovered, Vidocq went to Rotterdam.
In Holland, Vidocq hired himself as a sailor on a privateer. No one asked him for a passport, so he called himself Auguste Deval. He boarded English merchant ships, because France was at war with England, for which he received his share of the captured booty. Having saved a considerable sum, Vidocq began to think about opening his own business, but in Ostend the police raided the privateer. Since Vidocq did not have documents, he was asked to go ashore and wait at the station until his identity was established. On the way to the police station, Vidocq tried to escape, but was unsuccessful. He was sent to Toulon, where he was given convict clothing and put in hand shackles. For escape, Vidok's sentence was increased by three years. He found himself among the “turnaround horses,” that is, fugitives and recaptured criminals. They were even released from work to prevent the possibility of escape.
The conditions in Toulon were much worse than in Brest. Eugene Francois lacked food, slept on planks, was chained to a bench and suffered from cruel treatment. In order to be admitted to the hospital, he pretended to be sick. And when the paramedic inadvertently left behind his coat, hat and cane, Vidocq, dressed in his dress and made up with a previously prepared wig, safely escaped from prison. However, this time he did not manage to get far.
For his daring escapes, Vidocq was nicknamed “the king of risk.” Legends began to be made about him. They said that he was a werewolf, capable of passing through walls, that he did not burn in fire and did not drown in water. One day Vidocq actually jumped into the river from a prison window. It was dusk and it was difficult to swim. He was chilled and his strength was running out, but nevertheless the fugitive managed to get ashore. Another time, in winter, he threw himself into a stormy river to escape the police. The pursuers thought that the fugitive had drowned, but luck was on Vidocq's side.
Once again he was arrested in Manta. As a convict, he was sent to Paris, accompanied by gendarmes, who had with them the instructions: “Vidocq (Eugene Francois) was sentenced to death in absentia. This subject is extremely enterprising and dangerous.” They didn't take their eyes off him all the way to Paris. He understood that his situation this time was very serious, so there was only one way out - to run.
In Paris, Vidocq was thrown into prison located in the Louvre bell tower. On the very first night, the “king of risk” escaped by sawing through the bars on the window and climbing down a rope woven from sheets.
There were new adventures ahead. At first, Vidocq hid, disguised as a captured Austrian. Then he served on a pirate ship, went on board with the famous pirates Paul and Jean Bart, and sank during a storm. He then re-enlisted in the army, where he received the rank of corporal in the naval artillery. And then fate brought him together with members of the secret society “Olympians”, into whose secrets he was unwittingly initiated.
This secret society, as Vidocq claimed, was organized in Boulogne on the model of Masonic lodges. Nevertheless, the activities of the secret society did not cause concern to the authorities. But the cautious Minister of Police sent his agent into the ranks of the conspirators, who acted very successfully. It was from the secret agent, when he drank too much, that Vidocq learned about the existence of the “Olympians”. Soon, many members of the secret society were arrested, apparently based on the denunciation of this police agent.
Although Vidocq then refused the offer to become an informant, this thought entered his head, because he wanted to live honestly. Eugene Francois, after hesitating, wrote a letter to the gendarmerie colonel, in which he reported that he knew who committed the last high-profile robbery. He described the appearance of the criminals, and soon they were captured based on these signs. True, Vidocq did not sign the letter.
A little later he became aware of the impending robbery and murder. This time Vidocq went to the Paris police prefecture to the chief of its First Department, Mr. Henri, who was in charge of the fight against criminal offenses. The policeman received the informant favorably, but stated that he could not give him any guarantees, and the deal did not take place.
Soon Vidocq ended up in Bicetre prison, where he was accepted as a recognized authority in the criminal world. The criminals obeyed him and pleased him. Meanwhile, Vidocq again offered his services to the police, subject to release from hard labor and serving his sentence in any prison. He sent Mr. Arnie a message with important information, assuring that he would continue to provide valuable information. Monsieur Arni reported his proposal to the Prefect of Police Pasquier. He, after thinking about it, gave his consent.
Vidocq was transferred to Force prison, with a less strict regime. During the twenty-one months that he was in prison, thanks to his denunciations, the police managed to expose and arrest many dangerous criminals. Considering his merits, Vidok's escape was organized so as not to arouse suspicion from his accomplices.
Thus, one of the most amazing transformations of the “king of risk” took place. From a criminal persecuted and persecuted by society, he became its zealous defender. He rightly considered Henri and Pasquier to be his benefactors. The same Mr. Henri directed Vidocq's first steps in the field of detective work. He was a cold-blooded man with a strong character, and also very observant and an excellent physiognomist. In the criminal environment he was called Satan or the Evil Genius. And he deserved these nicknames. A born policeman, he had true detective talent. Henri had two faithful assistants - investigator Berto and prison director Parisot.
Vidocq was given the task of clearing Paris of criminal elements. Subordinate to the newly appointed chief of the criminal police there were only four assistants - former prisoners just like him. Vidocq's first major success was associated with the name of the famous counterfeiter Vatrin, for whose capture he received a monetary reward.
The “King of Risk” could transform into anyone. During the hunt for criminals, he appeared on the Parisian streets, brothels and slums under the guise of a servant, artisan, coal miner and water carrier. Moreover, he could equally deftly wear the costume of a tramp and an aristocrat. In the fight against criminals, he chose the method of personal observation. Visiting hot spots under false names, Vidocq pretended that the police were pursuing him and gained confidence. Thieves, bandits and swindlers considered him their friend, because he spoke to them in thieves' jargon, knew the laws of the criminal world, and told stories about his adventures. Every day Vidocq managed to catch someone, but none of those arrested even suspected that they were put behind bars by his grace.
Vidocq's office was located on Rue Sainte-Anne, not far from the police prefecture. He selected his assistants from among former criminals. At first the department consisted of four people, then expanded to twelve. Nevertheless, Vidocq managed to arrest up to a hundred murderers, thieves and swindlers a year, and neutralize entire gangs. The criminal world declared war on Vidok, threatening him with violence. The police also disliked him, envious of his dexterity and luck. They spread rumors that Vidocq was receiving bribes from criminals, and meanwhile they themselves entered into an agreement with the bandits, revealing to them the plans of their colleague.
Despite these machinations, his authority among his superiors continued to grow. Vidocq was entrusted with the most dangerous and complex cases, which he always successfully handled. But he was still considered a secret agent, he was not pardoned, although the position promised freedom. And only when he became the head of the Surte detective - the criminal police - did Vidocq feel that he had achieved recognition and gratitude.
He seriously thought about rebuilding the entire system of punishing criminals - first of all, he proposed improving conditions in prisons, since from his own experience he knew that a cruel regime embitters a person, especially those who were imprisoned for an insignificant offense.
True, there were also those who called not to trust the “Vidocq gang”, since it consisted of former pickpockets and criminals. Then he ordered his employees to constantly wear suede gloves, in which not a single pickpocket could work.
Meanwhile, the department already had more than seventeen thousand (!) detained criminals. He managed to uncover several thefts committed in the apartments of the Prince of Condé, from Marshal Bouchu, in the Louvre Museum, where the Comte de Roussillon was detained, whose pockets were full of jewelry, and in other houses of aristocrats and bankers.
In 1827, Delaveau was appointed prefect of police, with whom Vidocq did not immediately develop a relationship. The chief began to find fault, reproaching his subordinate for the fact that the employees of his department disgraced the police outside of work (in particular, they did not attend church). Eugene Francois finally could not stand the unfair reproaches and, after 18 years of service in the police, resigned.
A few days later, a message appeared in the newspapers: the police commissioner informed Vidocq that, by order of the prefect of police, he would be replaced as chief of the Sûreté by Monsieur Lacourt, a former deputy of the department. That same evening Vidocq left for his country house. He was paid three thousand francs, but was not given a pension.
Almost immediately after his resignation, Vidocq sat down to write his memoirs. The publisher Tenon paid him a deposit of 24 thousand francs. Published in 1827, the memoirs of the former detective were translated into many European languages, including Russian.
Vidocq settled in Sainte-Mandé, purchased land, built a new house, and created a paper factory. At the same time, he most often hired workers from former convicts who could not earn an honest living for a piece of bread.
Vidocq's personal life remained shrouded in secrecy. He was sometimes presented as a kind of Don Juan, who seduced hundreds of girls. Vidocq really often fell in love, and he preferred actresses and milliners, whose claims were not very burdensome. At 45, he married Jeanne-Victoire Guerin, a 30-year-old widow. Four years later the wife died. His next chosen one, 30-year-old cousin Fleuride-Albertin Magnier, became his real assistant and friend.
In 1830, the July Revolution took place in France, and in 1832 another uprising took place. At this time, Louis Philippe's power hung by a thread. Vidoku. again offered to head the Surete. After hesitation, he agreed. Under his command were again his twenty employees from former criminals. The small department successfully acted against the rioters. Vidocq was later called the savior of the kingdom. But the troubled days had barely passed when; Vidocq was criticized by the opposition press. Then the prefect of police, Gisquet, merged the Surete with the municipal police and invited Vidocq to resign.
The “King of Risk” decided to create his own private police. His “Bureau of Investigations for the Interests of Trade” on the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Eustache was engaged in protecting entrepreneurs from swindlers. A potential client had to subscribe to the services of the bureau and pay a purely symbolic fee - 20 francs per year.
A year later, he already had four thousand subscribers - businessmen, bankers, industrialists. Branches of the bureau sprang up in the provinces and abroad. Vidocq's income at that time amounted to millions, which worried the prefecture.
On November 28, 1837, four police commissioners and twenty agents burst into Vidocq's office. About six thousand documents were in the hands of the police, including the personal archive of the bureau chief.
Vidocq began to protest and write to newspapers. He filed a complaint with the royal prosecutor, hired the famous lawyer Charles Ledroux and sued the prefect of police and his subordinates. After taking steps in his defense, Vidocq... was thrown into the Sainte-Pélagie prison. The trial attracted 350 witnesses. Vidocq counted on the objectivity of the judges. He was found not guilty and released from custody.
At sixty-three, he continued to head his bureau, whose clients included royal princes, counts, barons and ministers. But at the same time, Ulysses Perrenot appeared among his twenty employees, whom the police instructed to monitor Vidocq.
In the summer of 1842, several people who had become victims of the swindler Chempe turned to Vidocq. Vidocq met with the swindler and convinced him to return the money in exchange for freedom. However, Shempe was soon arrested. Vidocq was accused of abuse of power, as well as for allegedly arresting and then kidnapping Champe. To Vidocq's surprise, the swindler confirmed this absurd accusation and sued him. And again Vidocq was imprisoned in Conciergerie, where he spent more than a year, after which the court sentenced him to five years in prison, five years of strict supervision and a fine of three thousand. Vidocq appealed. The famous lawyer Landrien delivered a brilliant speech in defense of his client at the rehearing of the case, which greatly influenced the court's decision to acquit him.
Alas, his latest imprisonment in the Conciergerie prison affected his work. The clientele has noticeably decreased. Finally he realized that he was on the verge of ruin. This happened during the revolution of 1848. With the coming to power of Napoleon III, Vidocq left the department and retired to his estate. The authorities left him alone. The former detective, finding himself in a bad financial situation, tried to get himself a pension. He was eking out a miserable existence when he was finally given a monthly pension of 100 francs.
Vidocq died in 1857 at the age of eighty-two. Until his last minute, he lived without fear, taking risks and hoping. They say that in his dying delirium he whispered that he could become Kleber or Murat, achieve the marshal's baton, but he loved women, money and duels too much...
Eugene François Vidocq (July 23, 1775 - May 11, 1857) was a French criminal who later became the first head of the General Directorate of National Security, and then one of the first modern private detectives and the “father” of criminal investigation in its modern form.
Most of the information about Vidocq comes from his autobiography. According to her, Vidocq was born on July 23, 1775 in the French city of Arras. His father was a baker.
At the age of 14, he apparently accidentally killed his fencing teacher and decided to flee the city. Initially, he intended to go to America, but spent all his money on an actress, a lady of easy virtue. In the end, a year later he was forced to join the Bourbon regiment.
He was far from an ideal soldier: he later recalled that he fought 15 duels, killed two opponents, and was subject to numerous disciplinary actions. During the war, Francois was forced to go over to the side of the Austrians, but, not wanting to fight against his own, he pretended to be sick before the battle.
During the French Revolution, Vidocq, according to his own statement, saved two noblewomen from the guillotine, but was subsequently arrested himself. His father saved him by turning to the Chevalier family for help. François fell in love with their daughter Louise and married her when she pretended to be pregnant. Having learned about her officer lover, Vidocq left for Brussels using false documents, where he courted a baroness older than him and was a member of a gang of raiders.
Having moved to Paris, he spent all his money on women of easy virtue and moved to the border city of Lille, where his relationship with a certain Francine began. Once catching her with her lover, Vidocq beat him, for which he was imprisoned for three months in St. Peter's Tower. There he met the peasant Sebastian Butatel, who was sentenced to six years for stealing bread and was having a hard time being separated from his large family. Subsequently, Sebastian was released on a fake petition drawn up by his cellmates Gerbaut and Grouard. Vidocq denied his involvement in this (according to him, Gerbaud and Grouard only used his camera without telling him the essence of the matter); cellmates claimed that it was Francois who was the instigator. Vidocq and Gerbo were sentenced to 8 years of correctional labor, but Francois, with the help of the repentant Francine, escaped from Brest prison, disguised as a police inspector.
In 1798 he moved to the Netherlands, where he helped the privateer Fromentin rob English ships. In Ostend he was again arrested and sent to Toulon prison under strict guard, from where he escaped thanks to the help of another prisoner.
Having tried many professions, Vidocq was imprisoned more than once, escaped and ended up behind bars again, for which he was nicknamed the “king of risk” and the “werewolf.” In 1799, Vidocq escaped from prison once again and lived in Paris for 10 years.
Blackmailed by his former neighbors in a prison cell, he took a decisive step: he went to the police prefecture of Paris and offered his services. In 1811, he formed a special brigade of former criminals according to the principle: “Only a criminal can overcome crime.” Largely for this reason, there were bad rumors about his office, which did not prevent him from enjoying the favor of his superiors. The brigade was named "Surte" ("Security").
Before Vidocq, the detective service actually did not exist, although there were many attempts to create it (one of them was undertaken in England by the famous writer Henry Fielding). Almost immediately after the French “Surte”, such services appeared in other countries.
Under the leadership of Vidocq, 12 people worked, who, together with their tireless boss, achieved unprecedented success in a short time. If you believe the numbers, then in a year he detained 15 murderers, 120 burglars, 73 pickpockets, 38 buyers of stolen goods, 227 vagrants. During the same period, he solved 811 crimes and prevented about a hundred. Vidocq knew his “wards” very well, storing in his memory thousands of faces and names of criminals without any filing cabinet. Although his former colleagues sentenced him to death, he appeared without fear in the most remote slums thanks to the art of changing his appearance. Coming to seedy places, he ingratiated himself with the trust of their visitors, and they believed him - after all, he was a master of thieves' jargon, known only to the initiated. Many times, the creator of the detective agency asked to participate in crimes and even organized them himself, in order to later hand over his comrades to the police. In just 18 years, 17 thousand people were arrested on his tip, more than 400 of whom were sent to the guillotine.
Eugene François Vidocq remained at the head of the "Surte" for over 20 years. However, in 1827 he was forced to resign. He was again called upon to lead the "Surte" during the revolutionary uprisings of 1832, after the suppression of which he was again dismissed.
Vidocq is considered one of the first professional private detectives. The pinnacle of his career was the position of head of the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the de facto head of the government of A. Lamartine during the Revolution of 1848. However, with the coming to power of Emperor Napoleon III, he retired.
As usual, envious police officers disliked Vidocq. They assured that he only extradited small fry, and released criminal “generals” for bribes. They said that his subordinates themselves were engaged in theft - then he dressed his team in white gloves, in which a pickpocket cannot work (employees of the French "Surte" still wear them as a sign of the cleanliness of their uniform).
The former criminal became famous, and King Louis XVIII himself, who came to power after the fall of Napoleon, pardoned him, solemnly canceling his long-standing death sentence.
At the same time, Vidocq had to overcome new difficulties that fate had in store. And there were many of them - the political life of France was still seething, and it was not easy to remain in office. In 1827, Delaveau was appointed prefect of police, who immediately disliked Vidocq. His team was subjected to endless checks and nit-picking. The King was accused of his subordinates behaving immorally, for example, not attending church. Delaveau's calculation was justified - enraged by this nonsense, Vidocq resigned.
He was not given a pension, and soon the detective, accustomed to living in grand style, needed money. Seizing the moment, the publisher Tenon invited him to write his memoirs and paid him a generous deposit - 34 thousand francs. Within a few months, the first of four volumes of Vidocq's Notes was published, which was a resounding success. We can say that this book, published in France alone with a circulation of 30 thousand, became one of the first international bestsellers - in the coming years it was translated into eight languages, including Russian.
Subsequently, a good dozen more books came out from his pen. Among them was the documentary study “Thieves”, and the “Dictionary of Thieves’ Argo”, invaluable for researchers, and the novel “The Real Secrets of Paris”, written in defiance of the sensational “Parisian Secrets” by Eugene Sue. He also created the treatise “A Few Words from the Author,” where the writer-agent proposed his methods of fighting crime, including “re-education through labor” and the humanization of the conditions of detention of prisoners. To prove that he was right, Vidocq opened a paper mill in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Mandé, where former prisoners worked.
But in 1832 this work, useful for society, had to be interrupted. A republican uprising broke out in Paris, and Vidocq was again called to the head of the "Surte" to fight the rebels. He quickly created “flying detachments” that penetrated the rear of the rebels through secret passages known only to him. The uprising was suppressed, and the former convict received personal gratitude from King Louis Philippe, who called him “savior of the throne.” But his enemies did not calm down - already in September Vidocq was put on trial, accusing him of provoking a gang of thieves to commit a crime. The detective was perplexed - he had always used this method, why was he being judged? One way or another, the thief should be in prison, and why not speed up sending him there? This time Vidocq escaped justice, but soon he was dismissed anyway.
In 1833, the tireless Eugene Francois opened his own Bureau of Investigation - the first private detective agency in France, and perhaps in all of Europe. It was engaged not only in searching for criminals, but also, so to speak, in consulting: here, for a fee of 20 francs, businessmen could make inquiries about their business partners in order to find out the degree of their honesty. Over the course of a year, the number of Vidocq's clients reached 4,000; in business circles it became good form to present a certificate from the Bureau when making a transaction. But the enemies from the police did not calm down, bringing one accusation after another against Vidocq - now a detective.
First, they raided his office, confiscating several thousand files. Vidocq did not give up - with his phenomenal memory, he kept the most important facts in his head. Then they tried to put him on trial again, but then the power changed once again - monarchy to republic, then Emperor Napoleon III was on the throne. With all this leapfrog, the police forgot about the competitor.
Vidocq's clientele grew year by year, and the Bureau opened branches in the provinces. Now, in addition to criminal and economic crime, it was engaged in proving adultery - Eugene Francois had considerable experience in this matter. He worked until his death, which overtook him on May 11, 1857, shortly before his 82nd birthday. The “King of Risk” had no heirs, and a considerable fortune, which was vainly claimed by two or three illegitimate sons, went to his brainchild - a detective agency.
Before his death, Vidocq said with regret: “I could have become a marshal if I had not loved women and duels so much.”
The amazing fate of Vidocq, reflected in his memoirs, could not help but impress French writers, many of whom were personally acquainted with the famous detective. Vidocq served as the prototype for such characters as:
- Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert in “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo;
- Vautrin in “Human Comedy” by Honore de Balzac;
- Auguste Dupin in “Murder in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe, etc.
There is also a film directed by Jean-Christophe Comard "Vidocq" (French: Vidocq), released in 2001, in which the famous French detective fights a sorcerer nicknamed the Alchemist. The action of the science fiction film takes place against the backdrop of historical events - the July Revolution.
French criminal, detective and writer Eugene-Francois Vidocq had the most significant influence on the emergence of the detective genre and became the prototype of many literary heroes.
Eugene Francois Vidocq(Eugene-François Vidocq) was born on the night of July 23-24, 1775 in Arras (France). His father was a baker and a very practical person, and therefore quickly put his son to work, entrusting him with delivering bread to customers from the city. Eugene was the third child in the family of baker Nicolas Joseph Francois Vidocq. In total, Vidocq had four brothers and two sisters. Little is known about the childhood of the future celebrity, except that his nickname has been preserved Sword, since he spent a lot of time practicing fencing. But Vidocq grew up as an uncontrollable child and quickly began to steal from his parents. At first, he spent the stolen money on the usual pleasures for young people of that time, but later he began to save, hoping to collect the amount necessary for a trip to the New World. Ironically, the stolen money did not bring him happiness; he was robbed on the way to the port and, after a series of misadventures, he was forced to return to his home. When the money came Vidocq was initially afraid to return home and was forced to work as a juggler in a traveling circus. He also portrayed a cannibal from the Caribbean and eats raw meat in full view of the audience. Unable to withstand the regular beatings, he ran away and joined a group of puppeteers, but was also expelled from there because he flirted with the owner’s wife. Working as a street vendor, he reached his native Arras, asked for forgiveness from his parents and was received with open arms, but out of harm’s way they sent him to the army.
The service was successful, Vidocq took part in the battles of Valmy and Zhammapes and returned to his hometown safe and sound. Here he married Marie-Anne-Louise Chevalier in 1794, but soon abandoned him because he learned about her affair with another man. Failure on the personal front caused a trip to Belgium, where Vidocq got a job as an officer in the active army. There he became known as a bully with a hot temper and a formidable duelist. In six months, he fought 15 times and killed 2 people. After another quarrel with a colleague, he was sent to prison.
From this moment begins a period consisting of a series of imprisonments and escapes. Vidocq seems to find no place for himself in peaceful life. In 1796, he was sentenced to eight years of forced labor for forging a document emancipating laborers. In 1798 he was transferred to Brest, from where he successfully escaped, and the very next year he was caught and imprisoned again. The following year he was transferred to Toulon, after which a series of escapes and imprisonments followed. Vidocq gained a reputation as a successful fugitive among the criminal elements of Paris and entered their circle. The only exact date for this period was the divorce from his first wife in 1805.
Numerous crimes in the form of forgery of documents, escapes and thefts led to the fact that he was sentenced to death, but since he managed to escape once again, his friend was executed, which Vidocq witnessed. This execution had a profound impact on him, and the clever criminal decides to change his lifestyle.
In 1809, Vidocq decided to go legal and offered his services to the police. In his letter to the head of the Surete, he discussed in detail the unprecedented prevalence of crime in Paris and hinted that he knew one person who was well acquainted with the criminal world, since he himself was a former criminal. So Vidocq hinted at his own benefit for criminal investigations. But the police leadership believed that this was just a new sophisticated trick of another swindler, and Vidocq was assigned to begin with as a secret agent of Surte.
To ensure that his cooperation did not arouse suspicion, in 1810, with the approval of the new prefect of police of Paris, with whom Vidocq later became friends, he was arranged another jail break. And in 1811, Vidocq was given police powers and appointed head of the detective department in the Surete. By 1817, Vidocq's department had 17 agents, and under his leadership, 772 arrests were made, which was an absolute record for those years. In 1824, his department consisted of 31 agents, including 5 women.
In 1820 Vidocq married Jeanne-Victoire Guerin (Jeanne-Victoire Guerin), who died in 1824, after which he married his cousin Fluride Magnez (Fleuride Maniez).
By 1827, Vidocq was such a popular figure in Paris that he had many envious people who, through intrigue, forced him to resign. Vidocq bought a paper factory, and in order to reduce the cost of expenses, he used former convicts in his work. The business was so successful that Vidocq turned to writing memoirs. Full of incredible adventures and unprecedented details for that time, Vidocq's books sold in huge numbers.
At a moment of political instability in 1831, Vidocq returned to the police force and was even rumored to have played an important role in securing the throne for Louis Philippe. But the new prefect of the Parisian police was one of the secret envious people of the former criminal, and therefore through open confrontation he forced Vidocq to resign once again.
Vidocq was a very sociable person and easily made friends with prominent figures of French culture and literature. In 1832 he met Honore de Balzac, who was delighted with the criminal policeman and described Vidocq in Human Comedy . Vidocq was also familiar with Victor Hugo and a number of poets of that time. He himself wrote crime novels, which became the models that many creators of the first detective stories later relied on.
Vidocq's creativity
Eugene-Francois Vidocq was the first official detective of the Western world. After leading the life of a tramp, actor, soldier, brigand, card player and prisoner, in 1809 he was appointed as a police informer. Two years later, from an agent he became the head of the detective department in the Surete. The phenomenal success of his investigations was vividly described in his memoirs, and Vidocq became a legend not only in France, but also in England and Germany. His books were published even in the USA and Russia.
Vidocq's memoirs played a crucial role in the emergence of the detective genre. It was these memoirs that inspired Edgar Allan Poe to create the first detective stories. But Poe considered Vidocq brilliant guesser It was precisely by pushing away from the intuitive solving of cases that the American writer created Dupin's logic. Edgar Poe's hero is the mask of the writer himself, and the complete opposite of Vidocq. If the French detective is a bourgeois, bourgeois and bureaucrat, Auguste Dupin is an aristocrat, a poet with a mathematical mind.
Vidocq's successes in the investigation are not based on a logical method or harmonious reasoning. They are based on good knowledge of the criminal world. Vidocq is a master of disguise and disguise, and therefore he receives a lot of information from unsuspecting people. In his memoirs, the French detective describes methods that are more suitable for criminals than for police officers. But Vidocq's talent and skill were so strong that they were reflected not only in the stories of Poe, but were also captured in the novels of Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Eugene Sue, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Emile Gaboriau, Maurice Leblanc, G.K. Chesterton and Leslie Charteris. Vidocq became the prototype for many popular criminal heroes - Arsene Lupin, Raffles and the Saint.
Selected bibliography
Notes from Vidocq, Chief of the Paris Secret Police
(Mémoires de Vidocq, chef de la police de Sûreté, jusqu’en, 1828)
The thieves
(Les voleurs, 1836)
Reflections on prisons, penal servitude and the death penalty
(Considerations sommaires sur les prisons, les bagnes et la peine de mort, 1844)
The real secrets of Paris
(Les vrais mysteres de Paris, 1844)
Stokers of the North
(Les chauffeurs du nord, 1845)
Who was this Frenchman, a thunderstorm, or the king of bandits!!
Famous French detective. Served in the army. He was convicted of desertion and treason; for theft he was sentenced to six years in galleys and escaped. He joined the police as a detective and rose to the rank of chief of a police detachment. After retiring, he wrote Memoirs (1826). In 1836 he organized a private detective bureau, which was closed by the authorities. In 1844 he published The True Secrets of Paris.
Eugene Francois Vidocq 1775-1857
Eugene François Vidocq is a man whose activities cannot be assessed unambiguously.
More than 17 thousand criminals caught, the founding of the criminal police in France, the opening of the world's first detective agency, the creation of personal cards for each detainee - this is an incomplete list of all his crimes. A man of extraordinary intelligence, not without a thirst for adventure and danger - how did he accomplish so many things in those days? The answer lies in his childhood and adolescence, it was they who helped him become a man - a legend in his life.
The future scourge of criminals was born in the family of a baker from Arras in 1775. Until the age of 35, Vidocq's life was a chain of chaotic adventures. According to Eugene, the father hoped that the unlucky son would eventually come to his senses and take his place in the bakery. But no! The son's irrepressible imagination was full of adventures. Having stolen two thousand francs from his father's cash register, Vidocq ran away from his parents' house, intending to go to America. But in the nearest port, the teenager was robbed by scammers. Left penniless, he joined a troupe of traveling performers. On the stage of the booth his talent for transformation was fully demonstrated. Vidocq masterfully changed his appearance, voice, and manners, which was very useful to him in the future.
The year was 1791. France was at war with all of Europe. Fed up with the booth, Vidocq volunteered to join the army. At the age of 16 he was promoted to grenadier corporal. Tall, stately, broad-shouldered, excellent with weapons, Vidocq quickly made a career in the Republican army, but he was let down by his quarrelsome, proud, explosive and cocky character. Over the course of six months, he dueled with fifteen opponents, killing two of them. After a quarrel with a non-commissioned officer, he had to desert: duels with senior ranks were prohibited, and Vidocq faced severe punishment. He defected to the Austrians and Prussians, then, under a false name, returned to his own people. In between serving in a variety of troops, Vidocq managed to be a smuggler and corsair, and participated in naval battles. A trail of scandals, scams and frauds trailed behind him like smoke from a fire.
But sooner or later such a life comes to an end and Vidocq was no exception. Before going to prison, Eugene was an actor and a soldier, a sailor and a puppeteer, and finally became
a prisoner (for beating an officer who had seduced one of his girlfriends), who committed
several daring escapes. But even in prison, the future police chief did not lose heart. Vidocq was nicknamed the “King of Risk”, he became a legend and authority of the entire criminal world of France. The resourceful and tireless prisoner dug tunnels, sawed through bars, jumped from the dizzying heights of the prison tower into the icy seething river flowing underneath, pretended to be sick and disappeared from the prison infirmary in a dress the nun who looked after him. He even managed to escape from prison in a stolen gendarme uniform. But every time he was caught, and in the end Vidocq was sentenced to hard labor and chained. In prisons, Vidocq lived for years side by side with the most dangerous criminals of those days. Among others - with members of the famous French Cornu clan. Members of this clan of murderers, teaching their children to commit future crimes, gave them dead heads to play with.
teaching their children to commit future crimes, they gave them dead heads to play with.
In 1799, Vidocq escaped from prison for the third time, this time successfully. He lived for ten years in
Paris, selling clothes. But all these years, former cellmates threatened Vidocq that they would extradite him
To his authorities. Eugene understood perfectly well that they would not leave him alone. But what to do? Pay tribute and live all his life in fear that he will be extradited? Or kill the blackmailers? But Vidocq chose an unconventional and decisive path: he went to the Paris police prefecture and proposed using the wealth of experience and knowledge of the criminal world he had acquired over many years of imprisonment to fight crime. In return, he asked to be spared the threat of arrest for previous cases.
Seven decades later, some representatives of the Sürte were already experiencing the famous
awkwardness when it came to Vidocq and the birth of the Sûreté. I didn’t get along too well
biography of the latter before 1810 with ideas about the
the origin and life path of not just a policeman, but the chief of the criminal police. TO
At this time, everyone forgot the most difficult situation, which then forced Henri, the chief
of the First Section, and Baron Pasquiot, acting Prefect of Police of Paris,
make an unprecedented decision: assign Vidocq to lead the fight against crime in
Paris.
In order to hide Vidocq's true role from the criminal world, he
first they were arrested, and then, having staged another successful escape from prison,
released.
Near the police prefecture, in a gloomy building on the small street of St. Anne, and
Vidocq settled. In choosing employees, he was guided by the principle: “Overcome
Only a criminal can commit a crime.” At first Vidocq had only 4 workers, then 12 and
then 20 former prisoners; he paid them salaries from a secret fund and
kept under the strictest discipline.
In just one year, Vidocq with twelve employees managed to arrest 812 murderers (!!!),
thieves, burglars, robbers and swindlers, liquidated brothels that had not been visited before
Not a single magistrate or inspector dared to poke his nose in. For 20 years, Vidocq’s organization (which soon became known as the “Surte”)
grew and strengthened, becoming the core from which the entire French culture subsequently developed
criminal police.
Transformations with a thousand faces, secret penetrations into dens, staged
arrests, “planting” Surete employees in prison cells, then organizing their “escapes,” even staging the death of employees after they completed tasks - all this provided Vidocq with a continuous flow of necessary information.
Thorough knowledge of the underworld, its members, their habits and methods
crimes, patience, intuition, the ability to get used to the image of what is being observed, the need to be aware of every detail in order to never lose the “feel for a criminal”, tenacious visual
memory and, finally, an archive in which information about the appearance and methods of “work” was collected
all the criminals known to him formed a solid basis for Vidocq’s successful activities.
Even when it became impossible for Vidocq to further hide his role as chief of the Sûreté, he still
equally continued to systematically appear in prisons, if only in order to remember
faces of criminals. The criminal world declared war on Vidok, but he easily avoided the traps set. Several attempts on his life ended in nothing. The chief of the "Surte" forestalled attacks: having information, he was always one step ahead of his opponents.
When the entire underworld of France knew perfectly well that Vidocq was the chief of the “Surte”, he began to systematically visit prisons, where he examined the prisoners, memorizing their faces and appearance. In this way he developed a photographic memory. In his work as a detective, Vidocq made extensive use of the actor's talent. He skillfully transformed himself into a coal miner and a water carrier, a ragpicker and a craftsman, and appeared in taverns and flophouses, brothels and slums, where criminals of all stripes were holed up after their “case.” Under the guise of a criminal hiding from justice, Vidocq easily gained their trust. Cool and observant, an excellent physiognomist, Vidocq methodically collected information in the enemy’s camp and, having accurately calculated everything, arrested his former “colleagues” in the “hot”, red-handed. During his 18 years of service in the “Surte”, Vidocq brought 17 thousand criminals to justice, more than all the police officers in the country combined.
But still, in 1833 Vidocq had to resign because the new prefect of police, Henri Gisquet, did not want to put up with the fact that the entire staff of the Paris criminal police consisted of former prisoners. The active Vidocq immediately opened a private detective office (perhaps the first in the world) “Bureau of Investigations in the Interests of Trade,” whose tasks included protecting entrepreneurs from swindlers. Vidocq's clients included not only merchants, industrialists and bankers, but also aristocrats, ministers, and royal princes. Branches of the private agency were created throughout France. Every year the former convict earned up to 6 million francs! Eugene became a successful businessman and writer, and more than once suggested plots for novels to the great Balzac, so he lived the rest of his days in a very interesting way. Vidocq died in 1857 at the age of eighty-two. Until his last minute, he lived without fear, taking risks and hoping. They say that in his dying delirium he whispered that he could become Kleber or Murat, achieve the marshal's baton, but he loved women and duels too much.
The Surte survived four political revolutions in France: from Napoleon to
To the Bourbons, from the Bourbons - to the July monarchy of Louis Philippe d'Orléans, from the July
monarchy - to the empire of Napoleon III, from Napoleon III - to the Third Republic.
From Vidocq's gloomy headquarters on the Rue Sainte-Anne, the Sûreté first moved to
less gloomy room on Ke-d"0rlozh and finally located in the prefectural building on
Ca-d "0rfev. Now several hundred inspectors worked here, and not twenty employees, as in Vidocq's time. Vidocq's subordinates with a criminal past gave way to more or less respectable ordinary people. But neither Allard and Canle, nor Claude and Mase, in fact , never abandoned the methods of work that Vidocq introduced into practice; moreover, the number of former criminals whom they attracted as paid employees and spies was constantly growing.
Criminals expelled from Paris, but still illegally returning to it, when re-arrested, were given a choice: either work for the Sûreté, or end up behind prison bars again. Sürte still did not neglect the introduction of its agents (their
called “rams”) into prison cells so that they would gain confidence in their neighbors and
they cunningly extracted the necessary information from them. The inspectors themselves regularly visited
prisons and ordered to lead prisoners around them in the prison yard in order, as Vidocq once did, to train “photographic memory” for faces, capturing them in his
Such a “parade” remained the most common method of identifying previously convicted criminals, and sometimes helped to identify among prisoners those who were wanted for committing other crimes.
Vidocq's archive turned into a gigantic bureaucratic structure. Mountains of papers in
lay in disarray in gloomy and dusty gas-lit rooms
prefectures. Here a card was created for each exposed criminal. into her
The following were entered: last name, type of crime committed, criminal record, description of appearance; V
The total amount of such cards was collected about five million. And their number kept increasing,
since by that time all hotels and visiting houses began to be subject to inspection, and even all visiting foreigners were taken into account. In addition, since they began to photograph criminals in one of the Brussels prisons in the 40s, the number of their portraits accumulated by the Paris prefecture amounted to 80 thousand. However, no matter how much foreigners admired the quick exposure in Paris of criminals who had fled there from their country, and no matter what legends were born about the Parisian police, Surte was waiting for her new talent, which would inject new breath into the investigative methods of the French criminal police.
There was also a film directed by Jean-Christophe ComAr (creative pseudonym “Pitof”), released in 2001, in which the famous French detective Vidocq (historical figure) fights a sorcerer nicknamed the Alchemist, who steals other people’s souls.
The name of Eugene François Vidocq is not known to everyone in Russia. The maximum that some people will remember is the film “Vidocq”. This is where, perhaps, all knowledge about this person ends. However, in France this name is pronounced with particular reverence, because Eugene François Vidocq is a star of the criminal world, and French criminologists divide the history of detective work into the “period before Vidocq” and the “period after Vidocq.”
Eugene François Vidocq is not only the “father” of criminology. It was his memoirs, written by a “literary black” in his own words, that laid the foundation for detective novels as a literary genre. The figure of Vidocq itself is very ambiguous. In the past, a criminal who always eluded the police and escaped the death penalty, Vidocq solved as many crimes and caught as many criminals as even the inhabitants of the famous Scotland Yard could not dream of. There were so many rumors and legends around the most famous detective and head of the Main Directorate of National Security that go figure out what is fact and what is fiction. Vidocq himself said that he likes to lie and brag, which is why it is sometimes difficult to trust his memoirs. And if you consider that a huge number of books are sometimes attributed to the authorship of this person, you can get completely confused.
However, researchers authoritatively declare that most of the books attributed to Vidocq’s authorship are just fakes, written by fans of the famous detective. The only work that was written from the words of the famous detective - "Notes of Vidocq, Chief of the Paris Secret Police". Eugene François Vidocq himself not only didn’t know how to write, he couldn’t: he was too insidious and, as a result, not suited for this task. That is why he hired another person as his assistant, who recorded all the adventures of the most famous adventurer of that time.
Today we will try to consider the facts about Vidocq’s personality that have come down to us from the point of view of System-Vector Psychology of Yuri Burlan and try to understand more deeply the personality of this legendary man.
So, on June 23, 1775, in a place called Arras, located near Lille, a baby was born, named by his parents Eugene Francois. They said that the midwife predicted that the child would have a stormy life. However, later Vidocq himself, skeptical about such things, will say: “Be that as it may, one must think that it was not for me, in fact, that nature raged, and although the miraculous is very attractive, I am far from supposing that there, from above, they would care in any way about my birth.”.
Even as a child, Eugene François Vidocq terrified all the neighborhood children. He was very pugnacious and constantly gave blows to other children if something did not suit him. He always stood up for trouble and was not afraid of anyone. This character trait will not serve him well in the future: it is precisely because of his temper and constant duels that Vidocq will more than once get into trouble and be persecuted by the authorities.
Even at such an early age it was impossible to cope with the boy! He was completely uncontrollable - his parents clutched their heads: neither punishment nor affection helped. Eugene is used to doing everything his own way. At the same time, the child constantly got involved in adventures, stole more than once, ran away from home and cunningly achieved what he wanted. “Even then, Vidocq’s main character traits appeared: complete fearlessness, frantic ambition and incredible cunning in achieving his goals.”. Fearlessness, ambition, uncontrollability, a tendency to eternal escape - all this indicates the presence of a urethral vector. A desire for theft and profit, cunning, and a love of adventure are character traits.
Vidocq, without a doubt, was also visual, thanks to his inimitable acting talent, he fooled more than a dozen police officers and criminals.
Eugene was an excellent fencer, despite his powerful physique, and was a very dexterous and active child.
In vain the father tried to instill in his child the values of the anal vector and tried to teach Vidocq to help his parents, so that in the future he could continue the work of his father, the owner of the bakery. The boy constantly stole money and lied that hooligans had taken it. The parents did not know that even the older children looked at Vidocq with fear and reverence in their eyes. Eugene spent the money he received in taverns on alcohol and girls. One day, card sharpers “warmed up” the boy and put him on the counter, which is why he had to steal all the silverware from the house. After this prank, the anal father lost his temper and sent the tomboy to prison for ten days. Maybe he'll become smarter this way!
The desire to steal is an archetypal feature of the skin vector, the main function of which is “to get at any cost.” In childhood, children with the skin vector, especially under stress, can steal and lie left and right. In this case, many parents prefer to “treat” the child with spanking, hoping to beat the crap out of the careless child, but they only make things worse: the properties of the beaten skinner stop developing, and he remains stuck in the archetypal state. It turns out: the more you beat a child with a skin vector, the more stress you create for him, and he only steals more.
It is not known whether Vidocq’s parents beat him, but they certainly could not cope with him. Here you won’t get away with a simple restriction if there is a urethral vector that does not tolerate any restrictions. Imprisonment in prison for 10 days for a urethral specialist is like a red rag for a bull. Very soon after this event, Vidocq steals money from his parents and runs away.
Escape is a typical scenario for a child with a urethral vector, who is constantly limited and whose natural properties are clamped. If he is not allowed to realize his traits as a leader, then he simply runs to where he can realize himself - to the street. Very often, such children become the head of a street criminal gang - they organize their own “pack”, in which they can show their characteristics of a leader.
A slightly different fate awaited our Vidocq. He planned to go to America - a country of freedom and enormous opportunities. But trouble happened. While he was sleeping, he was fleeced to the last penny and, unfortunate, was left broke. He didn’t know what to do next and joined a traveling circus. The circus performers really liked the dexterous young man, and they used his natural properties to their advantage: Vidocq successfully played the role of a “horse”, performing incredible tricks on stage. But very soon such a “role” ceased to suit the boy: his body ached from excessive stress. Then he was asked to live in a cage as a cannibal: wear rags, eat a raw rooster in front of spectators, and sometimes snack on stones. He simply could not tolerate such humiliation and immediately refused.
When the circus owner slapped the boy in the face for refusing, Vidocq grabbed a club and, if not for the members of the circus troupe, who barely pulled the guy, distraught with rage, away from the frightened director, he would have beaten the unfortunate man to death. Uncontrollable anger is a typical reaction of a person with a urethral vector to an attempt to violate the ranking. How dare this director invite him, the leader, to sit in a cage and eat stones and even give him a slap in the face? A urethral in anger is a very dangerous phenomenon. This one can easily kill.
So, the boy was thrown out of the circus. The owner of the puppet theater came to his rescue, inviting the quick-witted Vidocq to be his assistant. And everything would be fine if the sixteen-year-old beauty - the wife of the theater director - did not fall in love with Eugene and he did not reciprocate her feelings. The result is another fight and scandal, after which the boy ends up back on the street. What to do? Where to go? Vidocq, reluctantly, returns to his native Arras and asks for forgiveness from his parents.
Having found the strength to forgive the “prodigal son,” the father and mother hoped in vain that during their wanderings their offspring had become wiser and settled down. Instead of working, Vidocq just vegetates in taverns and plays tricks with visiting actresses and milliners. By the way, actresses, milliners - owners of the visual-cutaneous ligament - are the dream of any man, and especially the urethral one. After all, the skin-visual female is the leader’s female. This is his muse, his inspiration, the only weakness of the uncontrollable urethral, for the sake of which the leader is ready to move mountains and lead the entire flock into a trap. He even decided to run away with one married actress, disguised as a girl. But very soon he returned back and told his parents that he was going to join the army for exploits (at that time the neighbors decided to attack revolutionary France).
Army
It is very difficult for people with the urethral vector in the army, because... The army is, first of all, discipline and following clear rules. Vidocq constantly missed roll calls, merchants - the fathers of girls in love with the young man - hired guards for him, and he himself constantly got involved in scandals and arranged duels with other soldiers. “Thus I was in the most brilliant position and had almost no sense of discipline,”- Vidocq will say and add: “ Many took pleasure in pushing me into quarrels, so in six months I managed to kill two people and fought fifteen times in duels.”.
Vidok took great pleasure in the battles in which he fought without fear. For failure to comply with discipline, the young man was sent to prison more than once. During his first arrest, Vidocq felt sorry for his colleague, who was awaiting punishment for theft. With his friend, the young man organized an escape for the unfortunate man, and when he was about to give up, he pushed him into the ditch. The rescued man, of course, remained lame, but was able to escape punishment and return to his family.
After another arrest for a duel, Vidocq and his second were forced to flee, cunningly disguised. Then the young man crosses the border and continues to serve on the side of the Austrians, teaching soldiers fencing. But even here, our hero’s eternal tendency to get involved in a squabble with higher ranks plays a cruel joke on him. Vidocq is sentenced to twenty lashes in public, after which he escapes, unable to bear such punishment.
Despite the fact that, according to the rules, defectors are subject to the death penalty, Vidocq manages to avoid such a fate. At the age of 18, he returns to Arras, where the Jacobins are raging with might and main, and every second person is sent to the guillotine. Passions are raging around our urethral cavity. Either a woman twice his age falls in love with him and almost frames the young man by accusing him of complicity in a robbery, then young Marie feigns pregnancy and forces Vidocq to marry. But the family hearth is not able to keep the urethral leader in place. Having learned that he was deceived, the young man runs away, taking his belongings with him.
Vidocq's further life is a series of stories from the life of a traditional trickster, when the hero gets into trouble either because of love, or because of anger, or because of the desire for profit. Each time he is sent to jail and each time he manages to escape, leaving the police with their noses. During these times, Vidocq fully demonstrates his acting abilities of the visual vector and the incalculability of the urethral, fooling the guards of the law, disguised as a tramp, then a priest, then a police inspector, or someone else.
“...no actor could compare with him in the art of putting on makeup and playing any role; for him it was a toy to instantly change age, physiognomy, manners, language and pronunciation. Even in daylight, disguised, he fearlessly exposed himself to the experienced eye of gendarmes, police commissars, prison guards and even former accomplices, people with whom he lived and from whom he had nothing secret. Despite his tall stature and corpulence, he knew how to dress up even as a woman. In addition, this strange man, with an iron temperament, had at his disposal a very patient stomach, which allowed him to endure prolonged hunger and indulge in all sorts of excesses; after a hearty dinner he could, with feigned greed, consume the strongest drinks and the most indigestible foods.”
All adventures, of course, turn out to be in one way or another connected with the ladies of his heart, who follow him wherever the young man goes. So Vidocq, making another attempt to escape, takes with him a beautiful cocotte, whom he brings to his hometown and, having given shelter, runs away again towards adventure. And because of the skin-visual beauty Francine, who constantly spent evenings with other men, our urethral leader again flies into a frenzy and beats his lover half to death, for which he once again ends up in prison.
Vagrancy with gypsies, rampant attacks with the pirate Jean Bart, participation in a secret society, endless adventures... The tireless daredevil is caught and sent to hard labor, from where he constantly escapes. The police no longer know what to do with Vidocq: every time he is caught, he manages to fool everyone and slip out from under their very noses. In the end, he receives a well-deserved nickname - "King of Risk", is considered the most dangerous criminal and is sentenced to death in absentia. They're trying to catch Vidocq all over France! He is constantly on the run, posing as completely different people.
New life
Risk is a favorite word for owners of urethral and skin vectors. The former simply do not feel danger and are used to going ahead, while the latter love the feeling of adrenaline in the blood. If the urethral system does not receive proper development, it constantly experiences a craving for unjustified risk. Such boys are unconsciously drawn to walk on rooftops, ride motorcycles and poke around wherever danger awaits them. Unfulfilled in the pack, Vidocq only miraculously survives all the troubles.
However, Vidocq longs for a different life. He always wanted to be an honest guy and do something for the good of society. He increasingly thinks that he could be, for example, a secret agent... When our hero turns forty, he already lives in Paris and is forced to provide for the family of his first wife. Despite all the troubles, Vidocq does not refuse the backbiters that have fallen on his neck, but helps them as much as he can. But because our hero is not used to living within the law, he again ends up in prison, where he writes a letter to the head of the First Department of the Parisian police. In the letter, Vidocq speaks of his desire to serve justice and announces his intentions to become a secret agent. To prove his loyalty, the King of Risk reports an impending robbery of a jewelry store. The robbers are caught, and Vidocq becomes a special agent.
Because The king of risk was idolized by all people from the world of crime; he very easily lured out the necessary information. And no one could ever have thought that Vidocq had betrayed them! He himself perfectly knew thieves' jargon and prison customs, so he could not arouse suspicion among criminals.
At the same time, the head of the First Department of the Parisian Police - Mr. Henri - Vidocq comes up with "Surte"(“Security”) is the world’s first criminal investigation organization. The organization is headed by the skinny Henri, and Vidocq heads a special detective team, which includes 12 people - all former criminals. Eugene Francois believed that only criminals can fight crime, because... only people from the criminal world know all the features of thieves, cheaters, robbers, etc. The detective team solves a huge number of crimes in the shortest possible time. In just one year, more than a thousand people end up behind bars! “If you believe the numbers, then in a year he detained 15 murderers, 120 burglars, 73 pickpockets, 38 buyers of stolen goods, 227 vagrants. During the same period, they solved 811 crimes and prevented about a hundred.”.
