Authors and Afterwards

Vincent McConnor’s book on Eugene Vidocq was published in 1985 – about the same time we came to Wisconsin – and sold for $16.95. Henry bought the book when he found it on a remainder table for $2.45. He especially liked the sound of the title. I AM VIDOCQ! He didn’t know anything about Vidocq at the time but that’s why you buy books – to learn, right? For all these years, the book has been patiently waiting to be read. No matter how many times he’s culled the shelves, he hasn’t been able to jettison that book.

Joan is the mystery reader in the house and a while back Henry found a mystery in the library that sort of grabbed out at him. It was about Vidocq. He brought it home and she read it. Then they found these movies about Vidocq, so they got them and looked at them. And then Henry remembered I AM VIDOCQ!, which he turned over to Joan and finally, after all this time, the book’s been read. But then Henry thought, why not a column about this strange man who lived such an interesting life on both sides of the law? So here it is, mostly Joan’s work, presented with dedication and appreciation to Sarah Taylor and Lynn Kaczmarek who are teaching A Mystery Lover’s Knapsack this winter at The Clearing.

Eugene Francois Vidocq (July 23, 1775 – May 11, 1857) was the man credited with having revolutionized crime detection. On both sides of the law, his life reads like an adventure story.

Born in Arras, France, he was first infamous and subsequently famous in his own time. At age fourteen, he stole money from his parents and planned to run away to America, but he encountered an actress who relieved him of his funds. Penniless, he joined the Bourbon Regiment where he rose to the rank of grenadier corporal. However, he had a penchant for dueling and when a superior officer refused to duel, Vidocq struck him – an offense that could result in a death sentence. As a consequence, he deserted and moved back to Arras and then Paris where he spent his money on so-called loose women. When one cheated on him, he beat up his rival and was sent to prison. Incarcerated, he met Boitel, a fellow prisoner, who had been sentenced to six years imprisonment for stealing cereals (More on this later). Accused of forging a false pardon, Vidocq was sentenced to eight years hard labor. He was then transferred to Brest to labor in the galleys, but he again escaped. At age 23, he moved to the Netherlands and became a privateer, raiding English vessels. Arrested again, he once more escaped and returned to Arras in 1800. This pattern of escapades, arrest and escape continued until 1809.

Wanting to change his life because he was tired of constantly running from the law, he volunteered to become a spy for the police in Paris in return for amnesty. Refused, he tried to volunteer again, asking not for amnesty but only to be confined to prison and not the galleys. The chief inspector challenged Vidocq to escape and to report back to him to prove his honest intentions. He did just that. And so he came to the sweet side of the law. In 1812 he suggested a plain clothes police unit, the Brigade de Surete (Security Brigade). He then commanded this brigade that consisted of ex-criminals like himself. The unit was notably successful and evolved into the Surete Nationale. In 1818, Vidocq was pardoned for his past crimes by Louis XVIII, who had been restored to power during the French Restoration following Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile.

His innovations in detection are impressive. He introduced a scientific method, he cast molds of evidence such as footprints found at crime scenes, he insisted on detailed record keeping and began ballistics investigation. He used disguises in addition to plain clothes detective dress. In 1833 he created the first private detective agency. He closed this agency in 1847, but continued to work occasionally until his death in 1857.

So much for the facts. Surely we could expect great fiction and film from such a life? Well, yes and no.

Louis Bayard’s recent (2008) novel, The Black Tower, is set in Paris in 1818. Vidocq, as chief of the Security Brigade becomes involved in investigating a murder with only one clue left behind – a man’s name on a note found on the victim’s body. Vidocq successfully follows this lead to a medical student who bears the name. Complication follows complication, but ultimately the two of them become entangled in pursuing the mystery of what happened to Louis Charles (Louis XVII). As the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he had been imprisoned in "the black tower" during the French revolution. Bayard’s depiction of Vidocq is basically accurate: the use of detailed record keeping, the wearing of disguises, the role of the Security Brigade, and also Vidocq’s philandering for which he was well known. But in Bayard’s treatment, Vidocq emerges as somewhat scruffy and crude despite his successful methods.

Vincent McConner’s I Am Vidocq (1985) takes place in Paris in 1823. Here, Vidocq has his hands full with apparently unrelated crimes that eventually merge: the murder of two famous courtesans and a third prostitute, the murder of the owner of a highly successful jewelry establishment, the murder of his business manager, the disappearance of a diamond bracelet belonging to an American visitor, the looting of chateaus south of Paris by a mysterious masked bandit known as Le Diable Noir (the Black Devil). Once again the portrayal of Vidocq appears accurate: the assistance of his colleagues in the Surete Nationale, the use of ballistic investigation, the wearing of disguises, and once again his philandering. In McConnor’s depiction, however, Vidocq emerges with sophistication and panache. He is a man concerned about the lives of those around him – his family, his colleagues, his courtesan acquaintances. He succeeds in bringing the villains to justice but he also brightens the lives of those he can serve.

In film, Vidocq appeared in A Scandal in Paris (1946). In this first effort, George Sanders portrays Vidocq as debonair and charming. The plot maintains a thread of history but filming was regrettably in black and white, which does not do justice to its spectacular costumes and sets. Vidocq has also appeared in two French TV series (1967 and 1971), and recently in Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq (2006) with Gerard Depardieu. This last effort is murky, over-produced and over-acted – a disappointment to say the least.

When we turn to Vidocq’s legacy in literature, he was said to have inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write the first detective story. In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo based his character Jean Valjean on Boitel’s experience and Javert, the police inspector who pursued him on Vidocq’s investigations. Alexandre Dumas came under Vidocq’s spell in his writing of The Count of Monte Cristo with its adventures, escape and revenge. It appears that Vidocq’s innovations in police detection and his influence on master writers was no small legacy indeed.