Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-04-16
ABEL PoLLET.
"The Cartouche Of the North" and His
Following In Crime.

"The cartouche Of the North" and Hi
Following In Crime.
All Paris talks Of Abel Pollet, 9TH
cartouche of the north" Of his 10O
brigands by night but decent citizen
by day: Of Widow Fauvart's secre
passages and underground halls, ant
Of the one thousand crimes that, II
two years, have terrorized the ancien
provinces Of Artois and Flanders.
When mysteries prove too compli
Gated for the provinces they send t
Paris; therefore, when, in May, 1906
! the Parquet Of Bethune received from
NJ. Hennion, now director Of the gen
eral secret service, two Of his con
summate sleuths, Special Commissar!
Vignolle and Principal Inspector For
est, it hoped for quick action. Blu
nine months had to pass in burrow
ing, in which the sleuths bought farm:
and engaged to marry.
It was an intensely farmed country
interspersed with manufacturing
towns and coal mines. Every one
seemed industrious and reputable
Yet the crimes continued.
Forest and Vignolle were almost ir
despair when, on strange tip, they
arrested two brothers. Abel and Au.
guste Pollett, and Vromant Canut
for a burglary and triple assassina.
ton in the village of Viclaines. II
was an extraordinary find. because ir
Abel Pollet 1t turned out they had 9
veritable generalissimo in crime
whose troops, increased by a crowd
Of indicators and receivers, were or
ganized and prosperous, and II Abe
lived from day to day, too prodigal
too humorous to amass wealth, 1t was
he alone-true captain Of adventures
whom all, both rich and poor, obey
ed.
From childhood this disdain for ex-
terror distinctions characterized Abel
He Is seen as a capable young snug
gler Of fifteen, with his brother Au-
guste making night trips across the
nearby Belgian frontier for tobacco,
coffee, tea and matches. Once the gen.
darmes caught him crossing the line,
but as they slipped on the handcuffs
Abel butted one and tripped the 9TH
er, and ran, handcuffed, back to Bel
GUM, where they dare not follow.
"At least give us back our hand
cuffs!" they cried, loath to tell they
had been tripped and butted by boy.
."Give me back my pack!" cried
Abel. So they carried pack and key
to the line, where Abel unlocked the
handouts, threw them down, and
made off with his merchandise.
The easygoing neighbors Of the
frontier smiled indulgently on young
smugglers. Certainly none connect
ed Abel with the robberies that had
begun to trouble the land. and his
reputation was the better for his al
most exclusive Reorganization Of the
picus Fauvart family. True he show
cred gifts on Julienne, the 15-year-
old sister of his smuggling compan-
on, Auguste Platteel; but "he will
Marry her when he has done his mill
tary service!" they said and he did
It! At twenty he began doing his
'hree years in the 10th Of the line,
md was discharged with a certificate
IF good conduct, which hung. framed,
ut the head Of Julienne's white bed.
The night Of his marriage he and the
'wo Augustes robbed q house In Pra-
delles of 514 francs-and no one knew
1t!
It was virtuous little company
that met for conservative converse
ton evenings around the lamp in Wild
ow Fauvart's ancient wainscoted sit
ting room. The house is almost his
toric monument, dating from the
fourteenth century, a fit setting for
the Fauvarts, a legitimist family.
There came Abel, his young wife and
the two Augustes, Theophile and Mar
rel Deroe, Victor Note, member of
the Royalist committee Of Allougne;
the butcher Giesel another ardent
Royalist, and the three Fauvart sons.
Who could dream that an ancient
stone chapel long since become dis
used blacksmith shop and now the
vague storehouse of one Levers, was
connected with the Fauvart house by
secret passages? And that between
them, underground and half q block
away, were vast underground halls.
the crypt and cellars Of some long
forgotten Gothic building? And that
similar underground passage gave
secret access to the Deroe house, two
blocks away, on the other side Of the
street?
How and when the Fauvarts discoy-
cred the Gothic crypt and passages
remains a mystery; but its common
possession with the Deroes and Lew
ers made a strong bond between them
and suggested occult manoeuvres and
clandestine warehousing. AS to Its
secret, Widow Fauvart's second son,
Henri, became its dread guardian.
Morose, silent and brooding, he let 1t
be known that false comrades would
make the acquaintance Of his needle
pointed stilletto.
1t was not yet a disciplined band
but the spirit of solidarity was grow
ing. One Sunday afternoon In Au-
gust, 1908, young Abel and his Juli-
enne broke in, triumphant, on them
AS he threw down a heavy money
sack, he boasted:
That's the way I operate; I took
It during vespers from the strong box
of the notary of Merville. Count 1t;
(There were $3.50 in gold and notes. }
Here, Julienne. (He handed her
5000 Now, you others, you divide
the rest among you. We can find
more when it's spent!"
While the company was simply daz-
zled by such high-souled generosity
Victor Notte, an old man, sat medi-
tating on Abel's energy and audacity
and all the advantages toward discip-
line and devotion that might be drawn
from their blind admiration for him.
On Notes proposition Abel was ac-