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

from door, and pointing II, In the dim
light, as II II were pistol, swore to blow
out the brains OF the first man who touched
him, The guards recoiledj he darted past
them, and In moment was beyond pur'
suit
The sergeants, returning chopfallen from
the chase, gave out that he had fired two
bullets at their heads. Nor was this lie by
any means the most ridiculous which the
their credit with the simple. One gendarme
swore that VIdocq was a werewolf. An
other gravely related that one day, when he
himself had seized his collar, the fugitive
had turned himself into truss of hay, OF
which, in just displeasure, he had made a
bonfire.
But wizard or. no wizard, Vidocq
found that Arras was too hot to
hold him. He left the town; but he had
only jumped out OF the frying pan to fall
into the fire. He was trudging, as ped
Ter from the fair of Nantes, when he was
recognized and seized, placed among a
chain gang and set out upon the march to
Douai.
While on the road he was secured one
night within the citadel at Bapaume. Next
morning, while the prisoners were being
counted in the barraek yard, and while the
notice OF the guards was taken by the sud-
den entrance OF another gang, Vidocq spied
baggage wagon just about to leave the
yard. In an instant he had slipped in at
the back. The wagon logged out OF the city;
and Vidocq, while the driver was stopping
for tankard at a tavern, glided from his
hiding place and concealed himself till
nighttall in field of maize.
He wandered to Boulogne, where he
fell in at tavern with a crew of pirates,
who, having just put into harbor with a
prize, were roaring songs in chorus and
getting all as drunk as pipers. Vidocq
Joined these merry buccaneers. A few days
afterwards they put to sea. AT first they
were unlucky; but one midnight, off Dun
kirk, sail was seen to glitter in the moon
light. The pirates boarded with such fury
that within ten minutes the black flag was
flying from the masthead of the prize. But
they had lost II men. One of these, Lebel,
who formerly had been a corporal, SO
curiously resembled Vidocq, that they were
constantly mistaken. Vidocq hit upon q
luckily thought. Before the corpse was
stitched into the sack Of sand in order to be
be thrown into the sea, he took possession OF
the dead mans pocketbook and passport.
He resolved to be no longer vidocq, the
escaping galley-slave, but Lebel the cor
poral.
AT Boulogne, to which the ship returned,
he Joined q company Of gunners. As Lebel,
he took ut first the rank Of corporal; but his
zeal and steadiness soon marked him for
promotion. One night, when he was on his
rounds, he spied the twinkle OF light
within the powder magazine. He darted 10.
A lamp was set beneath powder cask; the
wood was taking fire; another Instant and
the building would be,blown into the air.
Vidocq rushed up, seized the lamp, stamped
out the sparks and saved the magazine. The
keeper OF the stores, who bad contrived this
scheme In order TO conceal his thieveries,
had disappeared. SIX weeks afterward he
was discovered lying in q wheatfield with
pistol by his side and bullet through his
head.
Vidocq, TOR this act Of promtitude. was
made sergeant. And now at last his path
seemed clear before him. Lebel, the SER
geant, was q rising soldier. Vidocq, the
galley-slave, was at the bottom of the sea.
But how long was this to last? Not long.
Fate made him quarrel with certain quar-
termaster. They drew, and Vidocq wounded
his opponent in the breast. On stripping off
the quartermaster's thirt to staunch the
hurt, Vidocq perceived a serpent's head Ia
tooed upon his chest, the tail of which went
round one arm and coiled about an anchor.
Vidocq recognized the serpent; he had seen
1t at the galleys. The quartermaster, like
himself, was an escaper; and what was worse,
at the same instant he looked eagerly at
Vidocq, and recalled his face to mind.
The pair of galley slaves, thus strangely
met, struck up show of friendship. Each
swore to keep the others secret; but the
quartermaster proved traitor, and con-
veyed hint to the police, At o'clock one
morning Vidocq was arrested, bound with
cta tad on ho me or1h fo
Douai. His dream was over. Lebel was
dead in earnest, and the old Vidocq was
alive once more.
At Douai, where he was detained
some months, he sometimes ate
his dinner In the gaoler's room, of which the
window, opening at dizzy height above
the river Scarpe, had been left without a
grating. One evening, after dinner, Vidocq
watched his moment, bounded through the
window, and made the giddy plunge into
the river. The window was so far aloft that
the astounded gaoler failed to spy him
swimming in the twilight down the stream.
The banks were searched; his hat was found;
but unhapplly for the pursuers his head
was not inside it. By that time, he had
reached the water-gate beneath the city
walls, dived under it, and found himself
outside the town. Then, gasping and ex-
hausted, he dragged himself to land.
He dried his dripping garments at the
oven of friendly baker, and again
made off across the country. For some days
he hid himself at Duisans in the cottage of
a captains widow, an old friend. Thence,
in disguise, he made his way to Paris.
where, buried in the heart of the great city,
he conceived hope of living unobserved.
His mother Joined him. and with her as
sistance he acquired the shop and business
of a master tailor. Ludicrous as the idea
appears to those who know his character,
for eight Honths Vidocq handled patterns,
measured customers, and, what is more, grew
prosperous and contented. But his disas-
tcrs were not over. Ond day he chanced to
come across Chevalier, his wife's brother,
whom the world had used so basely, that in
stead of sending lords and ladies to the
guillotine, he had just come out of a gaol
for stealing spoons. This reptile worked on
Vidocq's trepidation, drained him OF his
money, and as soon as he had sucked him
dry, betrayed him to the guards, with whom
it was his aim to curry favor.
A few days afterward, at day.
break, band of gendarm's knocked
at Vidoeq's door. He rushed into a neigh
boris attic and concealed himself beneath
mattress, where the searchers, though they
shook the mattress, failed to find him.
Then he took lodgings with coiner by the
name of Bouhin. But Bouhin also turned
against him. At 8 o'clock one night a
party came to seize him. Vidocq. in his
shirt jumped out of bed, dashed up the
stairs, and crept out Of window on the
tiles. But the pursuers were behind him;
there was no escaping from the roof; and he
was seized among the chimneys.
v.
Vidocq was weary OF escapes and
captures. He took vital resolution, a
resolution which affected his whole future
life. He wrote to NJ. Henry, the Chief of
the Police, and offered him his service as a
spy.
NJ. Henry wavered. There were points in