West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1877-10-13
Detectiyes-Taking Thieves TO Catch
Thieves.
lNcw Yerk Commercial Nd,crti.crl

tcctives play in modern literature is we'll
known. Until n very recent period they
were set forward as examples, and
American editors were i'm the habit of com
pairing their shrewdness, great success,
and the secrecy with which they went
about their work To the open, undisguised
manner which characterized the Amcri-
can, and especially the New York officer.
The disguises of Hdrkshd,c, in the
Ticket of Leave Man" has served no
end of times, and has been a prolific
theme whereupon the writer this side
the Atlantic has dilated upon the efli-
cheney, eNpertness, and success of the
secret police officer on the other side.
The recent disgrace that has come upon
several of the oldest and most distin-
guished of the Scotland Yard London)
detectives will be likely, however, TO
change this tune, and impress upon the
writers who find nothing To commend
here, but everything to applaud abroad,
that IT our officers are not what they
should be, they are not the only ones in
the world who do not deserve praise.
The detective is subject to the keenest
temptations, and that so many are invul-
nerable is greatly To their credit "a a
class. Dickens i'm several of his works
perseverance, and the French criminal
records arc brilliant with their deeds.
The French detective system is the oldest.
1t fiourished long before the English,
and consequently America made no at
tempt To copy il. A century and half
ago the Comte dc Sartine, then Lieuten-
ant General of Police, was said TO man
age his Office so well that half the popu-
lation was engaged in spying upon the
other half, and yet he himself declared
that he was II child beside his prede-
cessor, La Reynie, who directed the
police of Louis XIV and, among other
achievements, brought that notorious
poisoncr, the Marquisc dc Brinvilliers, To
justice. To a nobleman who expressed
doubt whether the Comte de Sartinc's
police were 80 keen as il was pretended,
the Count answered that he was
informed of every one who entered
Paris or left il, and he laughingly
challenged the doubter to put him
To the proof. The nobleman feigned to de-
cline the offer, and let six months elapse.
then one morning started from Paris i'm
disguise, with friends passport tray
eled To Bourges, thence To Orleans,
thence to Tours, changing his passport at
every town, and finally returned To Paris
persuaded that no one had or could have
followed him in his wanderings His
modification was great when, upon
reaching the barriere, n police officer re-
spectfully handed him letter i'm which
the Lieutenant General congratulated
him upon his safe return to Paris, invited
hlm To take supper, and at the same
time warned him about the danger of
travelling under false names. The draw
back To the Comte dc Sartine's admirable
organization was that it had only polit-
ical utility, for life and property were
never so unsafe as during his tenure of
office; indeed, in l745, he was reduced to
issuing notice cautioning orderly per
sons To remain at home as much as posi-
bic after dark, seeing that the streets
were infested by highwaymen. When
it is recollected that hanging was at that
time the penalty for theft, that male
factors were subjected to torture to make
them reveal their accomplices, so that
when one man was caught whole gang
was in custody soon afterwards when
we remember, again, that orderly persons
showed much more alacrity than they
do nowadays in assisting the police to
pursue eyildoers, one can not but con
clude that the Comte de Sartine had a
one-eyed way of looking at his duties.
The Counts next successor but one, NJ.
Lenoir, was n different type of man, and
set himself TO hunting down criminals
with a zeal that kept judges i'm full
work; unfortunately the revolution put
a stop to his labors, and the advent of
the Republic presently broke up the
Royal police system altogether. 1t was
not fairly remodeled until the accession
of Bonaparte, who intrusted the difficult
and delicate duty to Fouche, afterwards
created Due dOtrant0.
Fouche, who had been terrorist and
regicide has left terrible name as a
| policeman; but nc again, like Sar-
| tine, was more concerned about
tracking conspirators than meaner
rOgues; so that il took his men not less
than seven years 10 detect the famous
Renaud gang Of bank note forgers, whose
workshop was within stones throw of the
Rue de Jerusalem. Upon Pouches
disgrace, Savary, Due de Rovigo. was
| appointed, but Fouche had played him a
spiteful trick in carrying away all the
lists of spies in high life, in consequence
of which the work Of reconstruction had
to be commenced afresh. Very faultily
was it done, TO all appearance, for
/ when VI. Decazes Gather Of the present
| Duke) was nominated in 1915 he was
disguised TO find the Prefecture infested
with discharged convicts, in whose hands
the business Of detecting crime entirely
lay; nor would the chiefs of the depart
ment entertain any proposal for getting
rid OF these suspicious helpers. One Of
| these chief inspectors answered the new
\ Police Minister with an argument that
must have been irresistible: Why"
said he, was ten years at the galleys
myself. How else could have picked
up the knowlcge necessary for my present
post?
IT was VI. Gabriel Delessert, appointed
/ in 1892, who purgcd the police staff by
/ wedding IL Of criminals and laying down
as rule that detective must be q man
Of blameless antecedents However, he
/ retained the ex-convict Vidocu for
awhile, and ne is believed not to have
\ enforced his own rule beyond the point
/ Of excluding all discharged criminals
/ from the higher posts in his office.
! To this day criminals are en-
! plOyed by the Prefecture for special
work, such as wheedling confessions out
Of prisoners whose cells they share, spy
| ing upon the cOnvicts in penal colonies.
/ 4 4