The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-23
HOW SOCIETY FIGHTS
CRIME.

world. I think Gaboriau is responsible
for this fsIlacy. and to some extent Edgar
Allan Poe also. The Monsieur Lecoq OF the
one, and the Monsieur Dupln of the other,
are accepted az types of the French secret
police. As a matter OF fact they are moth
ing OF the kind Indeed. the profession OF
detective Il held in France in so little re-
pute that few Frenchmen engage in IL.
and the majority OF the members OF the
Surete Force Gas the secret police is called
are Corsicans OF Alsatians. The Corsican,
by the way, Il born policeman or gaoler-
He delights in these two professions which
crafty his wish for power. Yet the Corsi-
can himself shares in. or rather defers 10,
the public adherence in France for people
who earn their living as purveyors to the
prisons and guillctine, and a phraseolOgy
OF a euphemistic nature has been adopted
In the island to describe this kind of en-
ploynent IL was my late friend Alphonse
Daudet who told me this. You ask i'm
Cof-ican cottage" he said. what has be-
come OF PaoIo. or JOachino and i'm nine
cases out Of ten the answer will be, oh,
he Is employed over the water in the rail-
ways I" "In the railways means in the
police or prison forces. 1 should remark
as to this adherence that 1t does not apply
TO policemen or gendarmes I'm uniform. 1t
Is the secret police. the mouchard as they
call him I'm France the man who listens at
doors. who uses disguise and so on in the
pursuit OF criminals. who Is despised on
the continent. Here Sherlock Holmes
such a hero In England and the States
would be looked upon as very contempti
bic fellow. II Is an unjust prejudice, of
ffff &c nd date
from the time when the police were in the
hands OF tyrants and autocrats, instru-
ments rather OF oppression than an army
in the defense OF society.
I say that such as they are, the value of
the French detectives has been much over
rated. i have come to this opinion after
reading the innumerable volumes of Me-
moirs published by ex-chiefs OF the surete
department. beginning with. those of Mon
sieur Claude and coming down to those of
Monsieur Goron. with whom | was per-
sonally acquainted. For every head of the
detective department, after his forced
resignation. hastens to coin his souvenirs
through the agency OF the press. Well, i'm
all these books I have looked i'm vain for
Instances OF that acumen with which Sir
Conan Doyle endows his hero. In almost
every case the detection of great criminals
has been brought about by mere chance.
Goron specially insists on this. and unlike
some OF his predecessors claims very little
credit for mis- captures. He admits, for
instance. that Pranzini would never even
have been suspected of the multiple mas
sacre i'm the rue Montaigne, but for his
rank folly at Marseilles, distributing the
jewels of which he robbed his victims.
Geomay, again. might have done well in
the army after the murder of Mother
Gronde, but for his carelessness in leav-
ing his name and address by the side of
the mangled corpse. The police were alto
gether on a wrong track, and after his
arrest he might still have escaped convic-
ton If he had followed butcher Avinain's
advice. "Never confess" for a day or two
after his capture the discriminating en-
velope the only piece de conviction which
the prosecution could produce against him
was mislaii and could never be found
again.
RECOGNIZING CRIMINALS.
When the criminal takes ordinary pre-
cautions. keeps his head and does not rush
OF to enjoy the fruits OF his spoils at once,
for any resources that the police possess
his detection is anything but assured For
tunately such men are rare. The ordinary
murderer seems to have no other object
than to draw the attention of the police
10 himself. He goes to places of entertain
ment and spends his money Iavishly. And
the first thing that the keeper of the par
ticuiar place Of entertainment does is to
send round TO the nearest police station
TO say, ''Ne have a stranger here who is
spending money like water" Then a de-
tective is sent. the man is placed under
observation and followed. while inquiries
are set on foot. This is what invariably
happens and 4 once amused myself by
testing il in my own person / went late
one night TO supper-house. much fire.
auented BY flash society. at the Paris Cen-
trail Markets, flourished handful of notes
and stood up drinks all round. About
half an hour after 1 had been behaving in
this way. a man entered the cafe and sat
down at the table next to mine. 1t needed
but a glance at his looks to convince me. i'm
spite of his getup as a man about town,
that he was a detective. for the French
piain-clothes policemen all wear boots of a
particular regulation pattern. by which
they can be recognized under no matter
what disguise. The man tried o. get into
conversation Win me, Dut 1 mad nau
enough of the pastime and shortly de-
parted. Ny horsepower next evening told
me that the detective had been To inter-
view him and had questioned him at great
length about me. The indicator plays
an important part in Continental police
methods. In England this sort of vermin is
known i'm criminal circles as 1.-THE copper s
mark There are thousands OF them i'm
Paris. people OF both sexes and belonging
tn all classes. The heads of the police deny
that they render any real services, or only
very occasionally, yet not inconsiderable
sum of secret service money is paid out
annually I'm exchange for indications"
The sums paid are usually very small,
sometimes as little as eighteen pence Us
considered fair value for pointer" But
no doubt many arrests and much detection
result from the labors OF these spies IN
my journalistic career in Paris, 1 have
frequently been I'm conversation with pro-
fessed indicators. who have generally told
me that they took delight In msinforming
the police. Its great fun" said the
famous mark Blbi-la -Puree, Ito pocket
the premium and To send the police off on
a wild-goose chase But / doubt his SIN
certify One indicator whom I used TO
observe man who collected cfCar