The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-23
TRUE STORIES OF CRIMES AND CRIMINALS
By r. ii. SH Err A K d


ing OF the French police "cherchez la
was brought to the scaffold by the denun-
Citations OF three jealous women. who were
skilfulIy manipulated against him to this
end by Monsieur Guillout, the examining
magistrate. ! shall never forget the scene
in court at TINS trial. when the wretched
man was confronted with these women.
They had loved him. but his infdeiity had
Infatuated them. and each We'd with the
other in clamoring his guilt. in crying
for his blood Prado. by the way. had be-
trayed himself TO Eugene Forester by this.
that ON the night following the murder of
Marie Aguetant he had repeatedly washed
his hands The murderer haunted by
the smell OF the blood he had shed-al-
though the medical evidence was to the
effect that no such odor would cling to the
hands after they had once been carefully
cleansed. There was in real life enacted
one OF the most terrible scenes i'm Shaks-
pesre's tragedies. The hands never would
be clean,
HOTEL INFORMATION.
a regulation on which the continental
police rely greatly for tracking suspected
persons is the one which obliges all hotel
and innkeepers. as we'll as all who keep
lodgings. to enter in special book the
names. ages. professions. with other de-
tails. Of all persons who sleep in their
houses even for one night only. 1t should
be added that on the continent everybody
has to carry papers of identification and
must satisfy his landlord as to his identity.
You may be stopped anywhere on the con-
tinent by a police officer and requested TO
show your papers. In Paris police lnspec-
tors visit all hotels. inns. and lodging
houses every morning and read over the
nights register. This service des garnis
renders little help. for the innkeeper rarely
asks for proof of the correctness Of the
entries. Ii has often failed i'm a signal
fashion and of this 1 can recall no better
instance than the case of the man walder.
Walder was a chemists assistant In
shop on the Place Beauvan in Paris On
Oct. ), 1879. he murdered his master, Mon
sieur Lagrange, and the servant. beating
their brains out with pestle. His object
was robbery and before taking his fight
he left letter for Madame Lagrange con-
Tossing his crime and promising that If he
ever made fortune he would refund what
he had stolen. His description was sent
i'm every direction, but lie has never been
arrested. Yet ii was afterwards proved
that he had slept several times at different
Paris hotels. registering himself as wal
ter" and one of the inspectors Of the serv-
ice DIES garnis who had seen these entries
without his suspicious being aroused was
punished for grave negligence Walder
went to America, and made fortune and
off ia 10 Do xxh or
his assumed name. he was decorated with
the ribbon OF the Legion of Honor. In
France. and indeed all over the continent.
the crime of murder is prescribed after
twenty years. That is to say. that oct.
5. 1899. Walder was quite at liberty to walk
about the streets of Paris, having nothing
to fear from the police. In England, of
course. the Kings warrant runs without
limit of time We have no statute of imi-
tations for murderers and other criminals
The killers of women enjoy particular
immunity under French detective methods.
Under the reign of Monsieur Goron. as he
candidly admits. only three murders. of
great number committed during his tenure
of office, were brought home to their per-
petrators, and i'm not one case was this due
to any skill the part of the detectives.
Within the last fifteen years. as matter
of fact, ] can only recall one case where
the methods of Monsieur Lecoq were sue
cessfuly applied, the case of the murder of
the old house-portress i'm the Rue Bona
parte, where two detectives. ToXe and La
trille. both consummate actors. disguised
themselves. and passing thieves, fire.
quented, at the certain risk of their lives,
the slums and dens of Paris for more than
ten days, inviting condolences, with the re-
suit that i'm the end they were able to dis
cover the three murderers. But men like
Toxe and Latrille are rare at the Quai DIES
Orfevres, and the reason of this is that
they are so badly paid and receive such
ludicroSs allowances for expenses that they
are practically impotent. A political Of
fender who is now in London and who
used to, be Swallowed i'm Paris whenever he
went out. often. he has told me. took COM
passion on the poor wretches whose duty
IT was to follow him. after seeing them
painting after my cab for miles" he said,
II have sometimes told my cabman to
stop and have invited my shadow to get
up on .he box and save his breath"
SUSPECTED LETTERS.
The use of the cabinet noir, that is TO
say the confscation, the opening and
perusal of letters written addressed to
suspected persons. Is, of course. general
amongst all the police forces Of the world.
The French authorities curiously enough
deny with indignation that this method is
ever resorted to. / could give evidence
from personal experience TO the contrary.
but that is hardly wanted. Everybody
knows that the thing is done i'm Paris as
much as in London or Berlin. 1t was,
thanks TO this method By the way. that the
arrests of Percy LEROY and of James Can
ham Read were brought about in England.
There IL was done unofficially; i'm France
it is done officially. An order is sent TO the
postoffice of the person whose letters are
Ito be dealt WITH and these are handed
for manipulation TO the detectives. "A
wanted person usually writes TO some
friend a sweetheart or relation. so that
that persons mail matter is likely to
contain interesting information as To his
whereabouts. There are devices. of course,
by which the operators of the cabinet noir
can be checkmated but this is not the place
to describe them. 1t was. however. neces-
sary I'M speaking of foreign police methods
to refer to the cabinet nor, which most
continental detectives consider their
,r,,,r-ca rd I'm tho oamc against crime