MEMOIRS OF ATETERATT DETECTIVE.
iir columns rushed in silence to-
tbe cWe' emy's batteries. The guns were
v8j t nnre noint blank on our divisions, and
imi tw ith -rape and canister. Scarcely had
swep led when the commander of our second
ffe.Str!vn received a mortal wound, the captain
Tx imDany was struck in two places, and
>f mTc0. gui/aut and the color-bearer of the
MK'feTldead at the same moment, together
tfth hundreds of the rank and file
pistinct over
all the roar of cannon and mus-
ketry '
could hear the calm voices of our offi-
 they ordered us to " close up the ranks."
Another moment of suspense and carnage,
a the drummer of a regiment in front had his
S,t arm taken off by a cannon-shot in my
 it He continued to beat the charge with
il. left till he fell fainting from loss of blood.
um him at the Invalides in Paris, in 1828.
Ve continued to press forward against the
TVlish guns, which all the time poured down
rter torrents of grape upon our decimated
ranks No sooner had we succeeded in gaining
te t0p of the plateau, than we were fallen
iinon by a division of dragoons, who attacked us
with yells and cries of fury. The leading regi-
ments, not having had time to form square,
were unable to offer resistance to the attack,
and were driven back in confusion.
A carnage now began, every man fighting on
his own account and separated hopelessly from
his comrades. Only the saber and bayonet
could be used, the crowded mass preventing
the use of fire-arms. The position was no lon-
ger tenable for isolated squads fighting against
cavalry, and I soon found myself disarmed and
a prisoner. The next moment I heard the com-
mand, " Trot." French lancers and cuirassiers
had been sent to our support. The English
dragoons wheeled to repel the attack, and Iwas
left alone. I profited by the opportunity to hide
myself in a corn-field close at hand. The
French cavalry charged the dragoons with such
resolution that the latter were compelled to quit
the field with heavy loss. I now attempted to
rejoin my corps by crossing the battle-field in
the rear; and, while doing this, I came upon
the body of a British officer of dragoons, whose
bead had been split in twain by a saber-cut. A
superb gold chain hung from his fob, and, not-
withstanding the precipitancy of my flight, I
stopped to take possession of it, and' with it a
beautiful gold watch, still going. As the En-
glish had appropriated my arms and knapsack,
I felt no scruples in thus enforcing the principle
of "lex talionis." A littlo further on, I came
upon a bag marked, " Labigne, Sub-Lieut.,
53d;" and, finding it full of clean linen, of
wliich I felt the value, having only the clothes
stood up in, I appropriated this also. Not
tar from here I encountered the Colonel of my
regiment, with one or two officers, running
about hke mad, and shouting, ' ' This way, 28th,
tins way!" I was about to join him, when my
attention was drawn by cries of distress at my
, ,',7   turninS in the direction, I found,
retched upon the ground, a young soldier of
we 105th .of the line,   whose leg had   been
okenby a bullet, and who was suffering tor-
tures from lus unbandaged wound.
tau    a(M" he cried, "do not leave me here
be trampled to death by cavalry. For God's
e, help me !"
Jy* <i resist his appeal, I hurried to his
ont i-*roS myself on my knees, pulled
wonnrl t, frm ffly baS and bound up his
ham  i   Tihen' takinS Mm  on my back, ex-
w ted as I was, I carried him across the field
lothenearest ambulance. This done, I hurried
intraW !?y ?mrades; and we were wander-
 about the battle-field at hap-hazard, when
Wired 2 Way of a general officer, who in-
ere lonktr,6 Ie were ing.   We told him we
^looking for our regiment.
dilated    ^'nsaid hc; "ynr regent i8
Follow me; I will find work for
you.
dewfe'he placcd us acrss the road, with
In i, t! PaSS none but the wounded.
\CdXgtit7 we bad stopped 0Yer
iBC1^^ned*mtilthe whole army was
WaSons aridI  $?*l Charleroi ; with its caissons,
ed W with , cles,of cvery description, load-
,llc horrible' ,wo?nded men, whose shrieks, as
!'r;1'ies WJL, oa<;s  shook up   their bleeding
,'      Ita(,Ittollstmto-
?*, and Vo rsu,ards now struek across the
i? the mo nlf ^d Charleroi at five o'clock
Bean>ont nfcl t ?m there 1 marched for
gani^mobofl i,-found assembled a disor-
moj of soldiers of all arms, like myself,
come thither in the hope of rejoining their corps,
and of marching once more against the enemy!
I was suffering from an extreme need of sleep 
tor during the fourteen hours since I left the
battle-field I had not had a moment's rest.
However, swallowing a little food, I pushed on
at once for Avesnes, which I reached at 9 p. u.
ihe gates were closed and the drawbridge
raised; I was forced to lodge for the night in the
open field. But at eighteen, after a trudge of
ninety miles and forty-eight hours with almost
no sleep, one is not over-fastidious. Besides
were there not hundreds In the same predicament
to keep me company?
I slept soundly till 5 a.m. when the gates
were opened. An adjutant sent by the com-
manding officer came out to inform us that the
garrison was overcrow-ded and we could not
enter. He added that the army was reorganiz-
ing at Laon, .and we should find there every
facility for rejoining our respective corps.
Among the soldiers who reached Avesnes at
the same time with myself, I found three of my
own regiment: Millet, sergeant of grenadiers
his left arm taken off by a round shot; Vernon
also a sergeant ; and Forestier, a corporal, both
also wounded in the left arm.
We set off together for Laon, on reaching
which place my three friends went into the
hospital. As for myself I rejoined such of my
comrades as I could find, and for some time we
drilled, marched, and rested under the command
of our Colonel, who had escaped injury. At
the opening of the campaign, our regiment had
numbered fourteen hundred men ; scarcely two
hundred came together at Laon. In this cam-
paign of four days, the Emperor had delivered
the two great battles of Fleurus and Waterloo.
On the 28d of June, Marshal Soult reviewed
the troops at Laon. On the same day I sold to
a dealer, for one hundred and twenty francs,
the watch I had taken from the body of the
British officer, and wliich was worth not less
than five hundred francs. However, I was
satisfied; and unquestionably the purchaser was
equally contented with his bargain.
From Laon we marched for Soissons; but
before crossing the latter city to camp outside
the gate, we were formed in squares while our
Colonel read to the regiment the abdication of
Napoleon. It came upon us like a thunderbolt.
In vain did the Colonel strive to reanimate our
enthusiasm by shouting " Vive Napoleon II. !"
The regiment, or what was left of it, responded
with " Vive Napoleon II. !" But it would not
do. Dismay sat on every face, and not one of
us whose aspect did not say far louder than
words: " What will become of us without our
beloved Emperor?"
Three days later we left Soissons for Com-
piegne, but the English had arrived there before
us. Our infantry threw itself hastily into the
woods alongside the road, and the artillery
halted on the causeway to reply to the enemy's
fire. After an hour's skirmishing, the recall
was sounded, and forming into columns by
divisions, we marched for Villero-Coterets, and
thence for Senlis where we arrived at ten
o'clock in the evening. There, too, the enemy
had got the start of us, and here commenced
a dreadful march across the open country for
upward of thirty hours. Exhaustion, heat,
and hunger combined to break down the men ;
sleep overpowered them. We slept marching;
we would gladly have fought sleeping. At two
in the morning we halted, and after a brief rest,
started again across plowed fields, arriving at nine
o'clock the following evening at Bondy, where
we passed the night. Of the forty-nine hours
we had been on the march we had rested two.
At 5 a.m. we moved again, to camp at the
Barrire de Montreuil. Eight days later we
crossed the Loire, en route to Bergerac, and here
remained till we were disbanded on thc 29th of
September, 1815. The men of each corps were
sent to their respective departments, to form
what was called the " departmental legion."
Three of us belonged to Pas-de-Calais; Ville-
mand, musician, Pnot, private, and myself.
We made the journey together, and having sur-
rendered our arms at Tours, headed at once for
Paris. To reach the city we had to cross the
Bois do Boulogne, and here we found several
British regiments bivouacked. These, seeing
us without arms, pursued us with jeers and
laughter till we got beyond their reach, no
officer interfering to check their cruel insolence.
We continued our journey together as far as
Arras, where I was enrolled in the Legion of
Pas-de-Calais, and promoted to a sergeantcy.
In August, 1816, we left Arras to take post at i
Saint Omer; thence we were transferred, De-
cember 24th, to Paris, which we reached on the
3d of January, 1817.
| On the 24th of December of the same year I
; married the daughter of a prosperous poulterer
.named Demsot.    My honeymoon was of the
shortest; for five days after my marriage the
j regiment quitted Paris for Rennes in Brittany
j where we arrived on the 11th of January, 1818
Here we remained .about three months, when
, we were transferred to Havre; where/on the
charge.       m'   818' * btained my nal dis'
I    Behold   me   once   more  in   Paris!    But to
; live_ m 1 ans requires either an office, a pro-
; lession, or a private income.    Unluckily I had
i neither nor had I any idea what I was good
, tor.    However, I resolved to learn a trade, and
became an .apprentice in the factory of a M
I lliomas, paper-maker, No.   10   Eue  d'Aligre"
where 1 ground colors from morning to night'
carried bundles all over the city, and got home t
my wife never before six in the evening    Still I
should have soon become reconciled to my lot
but for the incessant ill-usage of my master-
and disgusted with the business I at   length
abandoned it forever.
Not long after this, I was passing through
the Rue Saint-Sbastien, and came upon a
crowd of people collected before a house. On
inquiring the cause, I was told that in one of
the rooms in the third story, the tenant had
found a thief in the act of stealing his property
; and that on his attempting to seize him the lat-
ter had drawn a knife. The tenant, therefore,
had turned the key on his mutinous visitor and
i had gone in search of the police.
"It will be useless, I warrant you," said my
! informant.    " Tho thief will have vanished up
the chimney long before the police get here."
I    "Then, why wait for them?" exclaimed  I.
I " The rascal should be arrested at once."   And
darting into the house, I dragged the porter up
stairs, three steps at a time, to point out the
room, and kicked open the   door.    The nest
. was emptythe bird had flown.    Running to
; the fire-place I could see my man's boots as he
was struggling to reach the top of the chimney.
I seized a mattress off the bed, and grasping a
double handful of straw, threw it into the fire-
place and touched it with a match.    The next
moment   I heard a hoarse voice from above
crying,   "Stop!   Mercy!   I   surrender! I   am
dead!    Let me down!"   And down its owner
came, much faster than he went up.    As soon
as his legs presented themselves, I seized them
with a grip of iron, and gave them a jerk which
brought the thief down with a run on the fiat
: of his back.    I disarmed him of his knife, and
i with the aid of the porter held him till the
police came and relieved me.
He was sentenced not long afterward to seven
years' hard labor.
This exploit suggested to me the notion of
making a business of the capture of criminals;
so, making application to the police department
for the office of inspector, the lowest round of
the ladder, I received the appointment a short
time after the assassination of the Duc de
Berry.
CHAPTER II.
MY ENTRANCE  INTO  THE  POLICE  POBCE  OF
PARIS.
On the 25th of April, 1820, the day on wliich
I reported for duty at headquarters, I was
placed under the orders of a M. Dabasse, one of
the twenty four officers of the peace detailed
to keep Paris in order. The personnel of the De-
partment of Police, prior to the assassination of
the Duc de Berry, about which I ma}' hereafter
have some words to say, was made up as fol-
lows :
M. Angles, Minister of State, and Prefect of
Police.
M. Fortie, Secretaiy-General.
M. Poudras, Inspector-General.
M. Delaporte, Assistant Inspector-General.
Also, twenty-four " officiers de paix," and one
hundred and four inspectors; and in addition to
these, five clerks or stationary inspectors, two
of them detailed from the office of the In-
spector-General, and whose names were Man-
toux and Bailly. The salaries of these two last
were twelve hundred francs a year. Mantoux
died a few years ago, leaving to his heirs a fort-
une of eight hundred thousand francs. Bailly
may be still living, but has accumulated little
or no property.
The murder of the Duc dc Berry on the 13th
of February, 1820, led to an extensive reorganiza-