^4EM0IES_0FAJ^ETEEAJ!r DETECTIVE.
19
affair
witness_ to
» pn thev tried to get hold of Jafllé as a
When mcj                           PnmnW   r-honarl
the swindle.    Petit Pompier chased
itive at the top
tl>eiX   v„„ have been
it the top of his speed, shouting:
You liave been robbed!    You have
st°P: .         i    Stop.
head still felt the
the wine.and whose conscience smarted
Btt our mSic gull"w
., » 0f the wine, and
—•j of his own knavery, misunderstood
with *.!,! f behind him, and redoubled his speed.
Theïenl however, overtook him at lastand the
,,.,i^l Tafflé threw himself at his feet, and
gored Mm hy all he held most dear to let
iu7S°know I am a scoundrel," he cried,
«hut I have a wife and children. Do not dis-
cethem! I will reimburse the gentleman
fur times what I cheated him of. I implore
vou, sir, let me go!"                    *¦-,**
1 This however, the police agent could not do;
«i he brought him to my office, vainly trying on
the way to open his eyes to the true state of
things I found i{ equally impossible to make
him understand that he was not the villain, but
the dupe; the poor fellow was as obstinate as a
mule. Seeing at last the uselessness of my en-
deavors, I sent him down to the witness cell for
the night. The next morning he was .more
amenable to reason ; but, nevertheless, I had the
neatest difficulty in making him comprehend
that he had been  victimized by a couple of
th'eves'                    i ,.        •    a.
It is not easy to believe m the existence of
people so dull,' so stupid, as to be duped by such
transparent frauds as these ; and yet the experi-
ence of every police agent, and the frequent
convictions before the criminal courts, demon-
strate incontestably that the swindle " à l'Amér-
icaine" is still constantly practiced with suc-
cess.
Category fourth embraces the " cambrioleurs,"
or chamber thieves, vagabonds who make it
their business to enter and sack private apart-
ments by the use of skeleton-keys, or by forcibly
breaking locks and doors; sometimes murdering
the occupant.
The class is numerous, and its numbers can
he arrived at only approximately. From the
number arrested by me during the year 1851,
in addition to the thirty or more who, to my
own knowledge, escaped capture, I place the
number of those engaged in this species of rob-
bery at about one hundred and sixty for that
year.
I am familiar with at least six sub-divisions of
these cambrioleurs.
Subdivision one comprises the " carrou-
Heurs" (skelton-key thieves). Like the crack
swells of the haute pègre, the carroubleur
proper never undertakes a professional job till
it has been carefully and thoroughly matured.
Familiarity with localities, a knowledge of the
habits of individuals, and wax impressions of
keys, are the essential conditions of his success.
He assures himself by personal observation of
the departure of his victim, and never executes
a scheme until certain that the latter has left his
house.
Subdivision two embraces the " carroubleur à
la flan, or the " happy-go-lucky," who enters
Mises at hap-hazard without pre arrangement,
and knocks at tbe first convenient door. If no
one responds, he enters with a skeleton-key and
helps himself.
Subdivision three.-The " carroubleurs au
Z  if    Llke the members of the preceding
ass, the carroubleurs à la flan, these rarely
ase pains to study the premises before entering
House; and instead of false keys, they use I
5 7!w>r,   called    a   marseigneur  with
staneV   rli!"',eak   °Pen   locks   and   tear   out
«aptes, and bolts.
bi.rSfiSnn f?ur—The " boucarniers," or
in ntff; 0ccasionally this class of criminals,
CIS0?,t0 usinS violence, make use of
on their I a Peg"ots>" who steal into a shop
of cln ¦ ds ?d knees Just bef°re the hour
corner ZS' ?d Wdo «selves in a dark
morning .under.°neof the counters. Toward
• 0I» a signal given by the burglar out
*, the
Penetrate
_        •        w---O* " -Ji*    '-'J    Mil^   UKllglCLÀ.     Villi-
ijff™t.opens the door and aids his
~, the booty.
Vanterniens," men who
means of w? at ?Sht through a window, by
SubdivS^^drope-laddek
àlacatCle"1X'~laStaadwOTst-
» ..»«»,—"Escarpes
t murder *7               e rufflans do not hesitate
cnteradwellinÏÏmpnsh their Purpose. They
of *e nremi»og;h0?se and facilitate the robbery
blood. P  miSes ^ kllhng the occupants in cold
^r£r,u185,2' a larSe M°iber of these
generally  known   as  "cambrioleurs,"
ipaid with   hen- lives for their many offenses
against society.    Prominently among them Le
, morne, Poulman, Jadin, Lacenaire Ind Avril
j I may mention also Verner, Tabouret, Plachat'
j Chapon   Dagory, Puteaux, Penaud, and God-
mus; as having attained an almost equal celebrity
for the audacity, ability, and perseverance ex-
hibited by them in the perpetration of their
The usual resorts in my day of these cam-
brioleurs were certain billiard-rooms and
liquor shops, kept by discharged convicts, espe-
cially a saloon called the Quartre Billards
and a score of lodging-houses of inferior rank,
called "thieves' rookeries," the keepers of
which, through interest, instinct, or indifference
were generally hand in glove with their lawless
tenants.
Here these bandits might lurk in comparative
safety, while maturing their schemes of vio-
lence. If the police visited the place in search
of some notorious criminal, the landlord warned
his tenant the same evening, and the latter
either shifted his quarters without delay, or
registered himself in the same house under a
different name.
From these rookeries, a regiment of ruffians
stained with every crime forbidden in the deca-
logue, was let loose every day upon society.
Their numbers were still greater in the suburbs
beyond the walls; and here the landlords were
always ready to protect a tenant by a change of
name, and equally willing, if need be, to omit
him altogether from the list kept for the inspec-
tion of the police.
Category fifth embraces the " rouliers," or
" rouletiers," who exercise their ingenuity, as
their name indicates, in robbing wagons" and
loaded trucks. Dressed in a blouse and cap,
they follow a truck till the teamster enters a
house to receive or deliver freight, when the
roulier unloads and makes off with a valise,
or parcel, sometimes even more bulky pack-
ages of goods, using for this purpose a small
, hand-cart, with which they are provided. The
similarity of their dress with that of the drivers
of the vehicles, assures them impunity in nine
cases out of ten.
The roulier never premeditates a job, but
relies wholly on accident and chance. Some-
times he scents his prey in the streets of Paris;
sometimes he prowls round the city gates, and
takes note of the carriers, who are apt to hide
their purses under the straw of their carts. The
rouletier makes sure of the position of the
purse, and watches «jvery movement of the car
rier ; and the moment his back is safely turned,
or he leaves his wagon for a moment in the road,
the money vanishes. A good deal of assurance
is required in this department of pillage. Its
risks are considerable, its difficulties great, its
profits often insignificant. I knew in my time
of not more that thirty professors of the art.
Category sixth.—This comprises what are
called " scionneurs," or thugs, who rob, and
not unfrequently murder, foot-passengers found
in the streets after midnight. The scionneur
conceals himself round a neighboring corner, or,
better still, in the alley at the side of some
house where no porter is employed, and from
here springs suddenly on his unsuspecting vic-
tim, who is the first well-dressed man who
conies along. As these malefactors always work
in couples, one of them seizes the sufferer by
the throat with one hand, and covers his mouth
with the other, while his confederate robs him
of his money, jewels, and clothes. The ruffians
then make their escape, leaving the poor victim
half strangled on the sidewalk.
In the vicinity of the canal, things assume a
still more serious phase. A couple of scion-
neurs conceal themselves behind a tree, a
heap of stones, or a pile of boards, and one of
them approaches the first well-to-do person who
comes in sight, and asks the time. A short
halt is the result, which the confederate avails
himself of to throw a cord round the victim's
neck and pull him down. The victim loses
consciousness from terror and suffocation, and
the two ruffians rob him at their ease. They
finish the affair by throwing him, dead or
alive, into the canal, and another suicide is re-
ported in the next morning's papers.
The rookeries which this class of criminal fre-
quent are the haunts of the most infamous and
abandoned of mankind. Birds of prey, as they
are, and prowling only at night, they lurk in
concealment during the day, and live for the
most part in concubinage with the public women
of the barrières. Their numbers, my impression
is, are diminishing: their audacity having left
them since the arrest of fourteen of them at
once of whom one, Pournier, was guillotined
and the rest sent for life to the galleys.
nnW.e/H7tS?venth is made up of thieves "au
poivnei (strippers of persons in liquor). Re-
^hng in many respects their congeners, the
»nr? h^T'   ,'ey are yet much les8 dangerous,
,,' drunken men who fall into their hands
usually get off with the loss of their money
watches and clothing. This class passes ils
ohm,, 3 .d™k«Wm Ow low pot-houses which
abound in the suburbs, and toward midnight go
out in search of some sot whom they may de-
vour. Occasionally, for want of their ordinary
game, they attack a belated passenger and com-
pel him by threats to surrender his valuables-
Out such cases are very rare, for the poivrier
scarcely ever resorts to open violence.
(< Category eighth.—Robbery "à.la vrille " or
gimlet. This, and the three following sorts
ot robbery, are committed almost exclusively by
Jews, who make them a specialty. The rob-
bery a la vrille is committed invariably at
night, and consists in piercing the shutters of
shop windows, the blinds of notaries' offices or
the doors of any well-furnished apartments
marked out for pillage. As the name denotes,
it is done with a stout gimlet or auger, with
which fan-holes are bored at equal distances
apart, in the form of a square. The square of
wood between the holes is removed with a deli-
cate steel saw. It varies in size from an aper-
ture, big enough to admit the hand to one so
large as to afford a passage for the whole body
Category ninth.—Robbery "au bonjour." As
shown by its name, this species of spoliation is
committed in the early morning, at the hour when
servant girls go out for the milk and leave their
doors on the latch, or the key in the keyhole. The
adroit rogue profits by their negligence to make
off with the plate. But it is in furnished lodg-
ing-houses that this kind of pillage is commonly
practiced. Here the bonjourier, or peep-of-
day boy, is at home. Shod in the thinnest
shoes, he slips noiselessly into the house ; and
woe to the careless lodger who, to accommodate
servants and escape being waked too early, has
left his key in the lock. The thief opens the
door softly, and, after appropriating the purse
and jewels of the sleeping victim, makes off as
silently as he came. If, contrary to his expecta-
tion, the bonjourier finds the' lodger up, or
awake, he takes the misfortune very easily, ex-
cusing his intrusion by saying he has mistaken
the floor, or the room, and quitting the house
before the alarm can be given. If luck be dead
against him, and he is taken in the aet, he
throws himself on his knees, and declares, with
many tears (the accomplished bonjourier is
able to turn on tears at will) that he belongs to
an honorable family whom his arrest will plunge
into despair; that he has been tempted to the
commission of this shameful act for the first
time in his life, through the misery occasioned
by a passion for play; and that if his captor will
but show the nobility of his soul by sparing
him, he will not only save an unhappy mother
and sisters from disgrace and suicide", but will
redeem a wretched and penitent sinner, who, on
the honor of a gentleman, will never yield to
the solicitation of the devil again.
If the captor believes his story, and lets him
go, the bonjourier will tell his comrades over
his bottle of bad wine, how that morning he had
an affair with the biggest " pentre " (imbecile)
he ever saw in his life.
Category tenth.
SUCctK   uOQQJCi        j- uij      \jc*xj.cLii      io   in v annul y
dressed handsomely and well, in the most fash-
ionable coat, the finest hat, and the freshest
gloves; and a jeweler's shop is generally the
theater of his performances. He enters with
the air and bearing of a gentleman, and asks to
be shown diamonds, pearls, and other precious
stones; and it is rare that he does not succeed
in collaring some of them in the hollow of his
hand, previously covered with a sticky paste ;
or he swallows one or two while the jeweler's
back is turned. Or again, while he is atten-
tively examining the beauty of the pearls or
the water of the diamonds, a confederate in
rags presents himself at the shop-door and begs
for alms in a voice of misery. The carreur
charitably draws a small coin from his pocket
and purposely drops it on the floor. The pre-
tended mendicant stoops and picks it up, and with
it two or three diamonds which his benefactor
has dropped at the same time. The beggar
then goes away. If the dealer, when replacing
the objects he has laid out, discovers the larceny
and speaks of it, the customer puts on an air of
insulted innocence, and insists on being searched
-Robbery " à la carre," or the
The "carreur" is invariably