Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-27
HAsEhORMOUSPOW
A Juge d'Instruction is a Big
Man in France.
"A POO BAH IN LAW
M. BoUCARD's PART IN THE sYvE-
TON MYSTERY.
How He Handles Case Magistrate
and Detective as Well as
Judge and Jury.
,eeial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

PARIS. January 9, 1905.
The most-talked-of man at present in
Paris is Henri Boucard. The papers devote
columns to what they think he is thinking.
Reporters in swift automobiles follow him
in all his goings and comings. They pur
sue each visitor who quits his office.
Henri Boucard is the .juge dinstruc-
ton of the Syveton mystery. Every now
and then a juge d'instruction comes out
into the white light of Partisan publicity,
becoming for the moment q tremendously
important figure because of the enormous
and unbridled power he exercises over the
liberties and regulations of French citi-
zens.
We have nothing like the office in Ameri-
ca. 1t is a relic of the Odd system of the
inquisition. Henri Bouchard acts at once
as committing magistrate, grand jury,
chief of detectives. prosecuting attorney,
judge. jury and the possible best friend of
the accused-if the accused be innocent.
A short time ago General Andre then
minister of war, was struck in the face by
a deputy named Gabriel Syyeton, at the
moment when the general had finished q
speech defending his administration from
the admitted charge of establishing spy
system over army officers. Gabriel Syve-
ton, it is now known, negotiated the pur-
Z chase of the evidence, as treasurer OF the
League of the French Fatherland the great
nationalist organization.
You know how he was found dead on the
day before his trial for assauitng Gen.
Andre. His widow said it was an accident
he had been suffocated by gas from
gas stove. Struck by the coincidence OF
his violent death the eve of a trial
which they all anticipated would end in a
triumph for both Syveton and their party,
his friends at once cried assassination
In reply to it the government, annoyed by
the coincidence, set the machinery of the
Iau TO yyprlS-3nI- Henri BOucaru luRG
d'instruction, appeared upon the scene.
Honor and Responsibility.
There are twenty-five JUICES d'instruction
attached to the Paris courts whose names
rank on the list ahead of Boucard's. He is
one of five 'suppleant' judges, on salary
of s4Co per year and a liberal allowance
for expenses; but when, in the course OF
time, he shall leap to full judgeship, ne
will draw s., 400 per year. Meanwhile his
place is one of great honor and response
blity He is a judge, learned in the law,
like any other judge, and some day he may
sit on a supreme court bench, deciding
questions of pure law, but now, and for
years past he has been attached to the
.'instructing' of cases.
| myself saw Judge Boucard some ten
wears ago then on his first promotion in
Paris after being brought from Chartres.
He was then subStitute-aS he is now sup
plcmentary-and he passed his day IN
structing" petty cases. A young Ameri-
can in Paris, late at night, in front or
the Cafe American, had chivalrously
punched the head of an individual he saw
ll-treatng a girl. The policemen, COM
ing late. took the American BECAUSE they
saw him punching. To complicate things,
he" had looked on the Wine when ~it~ was
red; and he resisted arrest and clustered.
SO in the morning he awoke in the lock-
up with rather complicated charge
against him.
We hurried to the "parquet." for we
knew that a juge Construction would
sit ON his case within twenty-four hours:
and so it happened saw Henri Boucard.
He was sitting at a desk behind a railing
in a tiny room of the labyrinth behind
THE scenes of the Palace of Justice He
is still young, as judges go in France.
He was younger then, with a high fore
head threatening badness, near-sighted
eyeglasses, plnk-and-Wh1te blonde
complexion, sandy mustache and pointed
beard. He was well groomed, well dressed
and had the clean, smart look of the I'M
mistakable gentleman. Also, his manner
was a mingling of alertness and friendli-
ness; and / admired the eaSy-going pa
thence of his dealing with the wretched
throng that passed all day before him.
Methods Of Work.
Judge Boucard was doing the talking,
and ais clerk was doing his best to write
it all down in long hand. An old man was
brought accused of begging. Boucard
opened pasteboard portfolio and read
to him lots of details of his past life and
previous convictions, heard the old fell
lows story with great patience, asked
him if he really liked to live by begging
said that he would recommend the trial
judge to send him to the Nanterre work
house; and all this was written down and
the old beggar signed it,
There came a boy accused of stealing
apples. Boucard opened another paste
board PORTFOLIO, read him a lot of details
of the same kind, mingling his past life
and present apple -smouching with his
preference for this or that trade, the ex-
tent of his schooling, and the boys esti-
mate OF his own parents. Two girls came
charged with finding pocket book
where it was not lost; workingman
who had kicked his comrade in the stom-
ach; an habitual drunkard whom he
passed for examination to the experts;
and then we had our turn for the young
reports of the policemen, their examina-
ton and that of the accused by the local
commissary, and report of the Bertillon
measuring service. which declared the
young American to be unknown to French
justice, happily for him.
We had a card from the American en-
bassy, and we certified our friends good
family and character. In a word, we plead
ed the baby act for him, taking good care
not to press his real innocence or impugn
the tale of the two policemen. "Win he
leave the country" asked Judge Boucard
We were too foxy to say yes; we said that
wrote on a form. ut is your friends pro-
visional liberty he saba favor there
being no compulsory bail in France. So we
got him out: and so he skipped to England;
and month later he was tried and given
one month by default.
Keep Thorough Record.
The 'instructing" of our friend case was
trifiing because he was foreigner and be-
cause he left a vacuum behind him when
he skipped to England: but had he been
Frenchman or even n American domiciIed
in Paris, 1t would have extended to lot
of his family history, description of his
living place, the estimate of his janitor and
others. his habits of life, his probable in
come Ito determine the fine his social place
and the moral guarantees for future good
conduct it might indicate) and who knows
what other sde-Hghts!
All this information. gathered and sifted
by the Juge Construction. would go up with
the case to the trial Judge. to inform his
conscience and save him labor. When no
strong fight Is made at the trial itself. the
JUICE Construction has really tried the case
already. The trial judge just follows his
report Even when a fight is made there is
a tendency that way, the only great dis
turber Of this seemly routine being the ilry
of the court of assiZes. Therefore LAWYERS
try to get p,,itf ,iia