Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-12

stripped of bis coat, began to dig beneath q
certain biroh-tree, and speedily turned up
| the box of treasure. But as he gazed upon
the spoil with glistening eyes, to his inex-
pressible dismay his colleague seized the
spade, threatened to knock him on the head
ii he resisted, and marched him on to meet
his doom. The luckless sexton walked as If
in stupefaction; but 1t is said that on the
road he muttered over to himself thousand
times. "Who could have believed 1t! And
he looked so greenP
These exploits, aud thousand Of which
these are merely typical examples, raised
Vidocq's fame to prodigious height As q
fslon, he had been the prince Of prison.
breakers. He was now regarded, and with
justice, as the greatest felon catcher ever
seen. Soon he rose to be chief agent OF the
Guard of Safety. For 18 years the min
gled skill and daring of his captures were
without a parallel. 1t is said that, at that
time, he cleared the slums sof Paris OF more
than 20, 900 rogues. Yet the man who was
the scourge of criminals was himself
galley slave, for whom, if the authorities so
willed, the fetters and the bench were still
in waiting. At length, in 1927, he was con-
sidered to have earned his pardon. He had
made sufficient money for his wants, and he
resigned.
But the vicissitudes Of fate were still be-
fore him. He started, with his little fortune,
a card and paper factory at st. Msnde, in
which all the workmen were old criminals.
But his capital ran short; the neighbors
grumbled at this colony of rogues among
them; and the business had to be wound up.
He then set up, at Paris, Secret 1nforma-
tion Office, which was, at first, great sue
cess. But before long he was charged with
wripging money from the fears OF those
whose secrets he acquired. He was arrested,
tried, and though at last acquitted, was
brought down to the verge Of ruin.
He then resolved to try his fortune as
public entertainer. In 1S45 he crossed to
London and produced his exhibition at the
Cosmorama. His exploits were on every
tongue; and thousands of spectators focked
to see his show. Vidoco, at 20, was strik-
ing figure. No spectator could forget the
tall form, now grown portly, in drab
breeches, white silk stockings and shoes
with silver buckles, the bull neck, the
strange face, sloping upward like q pear,
the ears pierced with slender golden rings,
the grizzled hair and the bushy brows above
the steel gray eyes which glittered like a
lynx's. His performance must have been
immensely entertaining. He told the story
Of his life; he donned his chains, his galley
dress and the huge iron balls which he had
worn ut Brestj ne Drought forth relics OF
great lefactors-Fieschi's coat, Paparo-
nie's cap, the crucifx which Raoul had
used In the last cell he related his escapes
and his most famous captures--and as he
told his stories, he changed his face and
decked himself In the disguise which he had
worn on each occasion, and appeared sue
cessively before the eyes OF the spectators as
piokpocket, q coal HEAVIER, o galley slave,
o sculllon and O num-
BY this performance, Vidocq cleared
enough to buy himself small annuity.
He retired to Paris, and there lived quietly
In lodgings until 1857, when, at the great
age Of so, he was struck down with paraly-
sis. On finding his end near, he sent for q
con nfessor, and-so whimsical q thing is
human nature-he greatly edited the holy
man dying like saint. One trifing peccadillo
he perhaps forgot to mention. The breath
had scarcely lett his body when ten lovely
damsels each provided with a copy OF his
will which left her all his property. arrived
upon the scene. Alas for all the tenl
Vidocq had always loved the smiles of
beauty, and had obtained them by gift
which cost him nothing. He had left his
whole possessions to his landlady.- Temple
Bar.