The Vidocq Society

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The Vidocq Society - William A. Fleisher
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http://www.vidocq.org/

In 1990, several forensic experts got together for lunch
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and organized the Vidocq
Society for the purpose of solving unsolved crimes.
Thirteen years later, the organization is thriving. The
following is a biographical sketch of Eugéne François
Vidocq (1775-1857) and a short history of the Vidocq
Society which took his name.

Eugéne François Vidocq was born July 23, 1775, in the
French town of Arras, in a house adjoining the one where
Robespierre was born 16 years before. The son of a
successful baker, Vidocq was an extremely large and strong
child, who appeared much older than his age. At age five
he started school with the Franciscan Fathers; two years
before most other children. Vidocq received an excellent
education for the times. He was a precocious child,
looking much older than he actually was. Due to his
mischievous nature he was often at odds with his parents
and neighbors. Vidocq regularly stole bread from his
father's bakery and sold it for the small sum of spending
money it provided him.

In time, Vidocq fell in with a local group of somewhat
delinquent youths. On one occasion, at their urging, he
helped them steal a sum of money from his father's bakery.
As a consequence of his act, Vidocq was forced to run away
from home. In the company of a young woman he ran off
with, he traveled to various French seaports seeking
passage to the "New World". Interestingly, Vidocq was
actually trying to get to Philadelphia to find his
fortune. Instead, young Vidocq got himself drugged, beaten
and robbed by the woman.

Left penniless, the lad took up with a group of traveling
charlatans (petty thieves and con men much like the
Thenardiers in Les Misérables ), and soon found himself
their virtual "slave". These rogues often beat him; and,
all in all, his life was not an easy one.

Finally, young Vidocq was able to escape these villains.
Soon thereafter, he was befriended by a traveling
puppeteer and his young wife. Unfortunately for Vidocq,
the puppeteer's wife became enamored with the handsome
young man and tried to seduce him. The puppeteer
discovered this "budding romance" and again Vidocq had to
beat a hasty retreat.

Shortly after his adventure with the puppeteers, Vidocq
returned home to Arras in order to patch up relations with
his father. As you might suspect, Vidocq's father was less
than happy to see him. To avoid his father's wrath, Vidocq
enlisted in the army, where, already being an excellent
swordsman Vidocq rose quickly through the ranks and was
highly decorated for bravery. He spent many years in the
service of the Crown before deserting, a pattern of
behavior he was quick to adopt.

While in the Army, Vidocq took to dueling as a past-time
and, according to his Memoirs, he was soon engaging in one
or two duels a day. Predictably, it didn't take long for
him to be seriously wounded.

It was the beginning of the "Reign of Terror", the French
Revolution, and eventually Vidocq, himself, became caught
up in lunacy of the times. He was falsely denounced as a
traitor to the Revolution, by a jealous woman, and quickly
found himself imprisoned awaiting trial with various
members of the French Aristocracy.

It seemed for awhile, he would be receiving the swift and
fatal kiss of "Madame Guillotine". Fortunately, through
the intervention of his family and the evidence they
uncovered of his accuser's deceit, Vidocq was released
from prison to continue his reckless ways.

Due to this dangerous revolutionary atmosphere in the
country, Vidocq was compelled to enlist in the
Revolutionary Army to prove his loyalty to the Revolution.
Because of his previous military experience, he was soon
made an officer. True to form, he quickly deserted,
traveled the country and got himself involved in numerous
adventures and affairs of the heart. In order to survive
these many escapades, Vidocq became a master of disguise
and the use of false identities; even to the point of once
dressing as a nun to escape the authorities.

During this period in his life, he took up with many
strange characters including Bohemians (Gypsies) and, on
one occasion, even a group of coast smugglers. Vidocq's
insolent and fearless nature landed him in jail. This time
for misdemeanor assault offense which was the result of an
argument over a women. While there, Vidocq was accused by
another convict of helping a fellow inmate, a poor farmer
who had stolen some grain, escape through the use of
forged release documents. Vidocq was convicted for this
crime and his original sentence was extended. He did not
like being confined and, after several escapes and
recaptures (sometimes under false identity), he was forced
into the Galleys, where only the most dangerous convicts
were kept. Determined to live free, he escaped. While
again a fugitive from justice, Vidocq had many more
exciting adventures.

In 1809, while still a fugitive and, after several years
of running a successful second hand clothing shop in Paris
with his mother and mistress, Annette, he found himself
being blackmailed by some underworld scoundrels who had
discovered his true identity. Unable to endure their
blackmail demands any longer, Vidocq turned himself into
the police and facing, what in effect was spending the
rest of his life in prison, offered a deal in which he
would become an informant for Monsieur Henrí, head of the
Criminal Division of the Prefecture of Police in Paris.
In return, he wanted the authorities to reduce his
sentence and remove the threat of spending the rest of
his life in prison.

M. Henrí was interested in Vidocq's proposal, and seeing
the opportunity to solve a particularly dastardly robbery
murder, agreed to the bargain. He immediately utilized
Vidocq by placing him in the notorious La Force prison in
Paris to win the confidence of a suspect of that horrible
crime who was imprisoned for an unrelated offense.

Vidocq, whose reputation for being a master criminal and
escape artist was known throughout the French prison
system, quickly gained the unsuspecting convict's
complete confidence. The convict confided to Vidocq about
the murder and told him about a witness, a street porter,
who the police failed to question. Vidocq smuggled this
information out of prison via Annette, who visited him
there regularly.

Armed with Vidocq's information, a confession was easily
obtained from the suspect by the authorities. Vidocq,
fortuitously, went unsuspected by his fellow inmates as
being the source of the information. It is interesting to
note, that Vidocq was at the time so famous in France as
a master criminal and escape artist that he was known
everywhere simply as "Vidocq"; with many impostors
trading on his name and fame.

At the request of M. Henrí, Vidocq was released from
prison to establish an investigative unit for the Paris
Police. Although, his police colleagues were jealous of
his many achievements and resented the trust M. Henrí
placed in him, Vidocq was eventually made an official
member of the department.

He possessed an amazing memory and could remember
criminals whose faces he had not seen in twenty years.
Vidocq's use of disguises and undercover identities was
legendary. He routinely wore loudly colored scarves which
he changed frequently when conducting surveillance in
order to fool the person he was following. He could
change his appearance almost at will, often fooling
criminals who personally knew him. One day he would be a
very old man; the next, a laborer.

In 1812, based on his own idea for a criminal
investigation department, Vidocq established the French
Brigade de la Sûreté, commonly known as the "Sûreté". He
ran the organization in an efficient and faithful manner;
serving as its Chief until his retirement in 1827.

Unfortunately, because of the intense jealously they felt
about his achievements, his police colleagues still
considered him a "convict". In 1817, in order to remove
this stigma against him and legitimize his position,
Vidocq was "rearrested" so he could then be officially
pardoned.

Although its name has been changed subsequently to the
Police Judicaíre, the Sûreté with its extensive record
keeping system and innovative investigative techniques,
initiated by Vidocq, remains one of the most prestigious
law enforcement agencies in the world.

It is important to point out that prior to Vidocq, the
French Police, as well as most other European police
organizations, functioned primarily as secret police
agencies looking for subversives and other perceived
enemies of the state; not as criminal investigators.

It was Vidocq that made criminal investigation the
"business" of the police. In fact, when Scotland Yard
was established Sir Robert Peel, its founder, sent a
delegation of British police officials to Paris to
consult with Vidocq and study his organization. Sir
Robert then modeled the "Yard" after Vidocq's Sûreté.

After his retirement, Vidocq built a paper box
manufactory near Paris, at St. Mande. There he employed
approximately 40-50 ex-convicts and others who had been
destined for the Galleys if not for his interest in
reforming them.

Vidocq had always spoken out against social injustice and
the inhumane treatment of prisoners. Something else which
had not endeared him to his police colleagues. Remarkably,
Vidocq was an extremely innovative man; holding patents
for indelible ink and unalterable paper, which were used
for banknotes and bonds. He had also developed an
un-pickable lock. He was the first detective to dabble in
the use of fingerprints and ballistics in criminal
investigation.

After leaving the Sûreté, Vidocq started the world's first
international private detective agency and credit
reporting service, which he called the "Information
Bureau". This enterprise was a great success and made him
a small fortune.

In 1836, a two-volume book, The Thieves, purportedly
written by Vidocq, was published in Paris and immediately
became a bestseller. This was a comprehensive work about
crime in France and gave publicity to Vidocq's private
detective agency, the Information Bureau.

Vidocq was an exceptionally impressive man. His corpulent
good looks, sharp wit and eye for fashion in his dress,
made him one of the most popular figures of his time. He
counted among his friends high government officials,
writers, artists and the socially elite. But he never
forgot the common man. He often helped the unfortunate,
including those falsely accused of crimes they did not
commit.

He loved the good life; enjoying fine dining, the theater
and the company of young actresses. While head of the
Sûreté, he had a small money lending business on the side,
which in those times was not considered a conflict of
interest and was quite legitimate.

Vidocq's investigative successes were myriad, solving
crimes and mysteries worthy of Holmes, Poirot, Spade,
Fillinger and all the other great detectives, real or
created.

Vidocq was a longtime friend of Victor Hugo and Honore de
Balzac. In fact, Hugo often ate dinner with him, and once
wrote that Vidocq's "stories so fascinated [him] that he
sometimes forgot to eat or drink." Balzac used him as the
model for his detective Vautrin in his Comedie Humaine.
Dickens used him as a model for the convict in Great
Expectations. Gaboriau used Vidocq for Lecoq, himself; and
Poe and Conan Doyle were both interested in Vidocq as a
model in their creations. In fact, when pressed Edgar
Allen Poe admitted that he used Vidocq as the model for
the Inspector in his story Murders of Rue Morgue.

Vidocq's description of life in prison and some of the
characters he met there, practically parallels that of
Hugo's writings in Les Misérables. I am convinced that
Hugo, as other authors had also done, used his friend
Vidocq as the basis for both the redeemed convict Jean
Valjean and the Police Inspector Javert. If we look
closely at Vidocq the man, it is obvious that the
"redeemed convict" and dedicated "Police Inspector" are
two faces of that same coin. I am not alone in my opinion.
In 1934, Edwin Gile Rich, who edited and translated into
English from the original French, Vidocq, The Personal
Memoirs of the First Great Detective noted in the book's
foreword, that Vidocq's Memoirs have been:

"...a source of inspiration for some of the greatest works
of literature. Les Misérables must be regarded as a direct
descendant of Vidocq. In fact, whole chapters, scenes,
pages of Hugo's masterpiece are stamped Vidocq."

Today, Vidocq's memory is honored by the Vidocq Society,
which was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1990
by Frank Bender, a forensic artist; William Fleisher, a
U.S. Customs Service Supervisory Special Agent and Richard
Walter, a forensic psychologist.

Society membership, which is limited to 82 members (82
being symbolic of the number of years Vidocq lived), is
comprised of individuals whose interest in, and dedication
to, the search for truth and the solving of mysteries
binds them together in the tradition of the great
detectives past and present; real or fictionalized.

Society members are from all walks of life, residing all
over the United States, Europe and the Far East. The
Society counts among its members many prominent
investigators from various law enforcement agencies and
the private sector; internationally renown forensic
experts in the fields of pathology, criminology,
dactylography, forensic dentistry, psychology, polygraphy
and anthropological facial reconstruction. Also members
are the District Attorney of Philadelphia, several
practicing attorneys, including a Temple University law
professor and several former and present federal and local
prosecutors.

The Society as well, includes as members other individuals
who have demonstrated an interest in solving crimes and
mysteries.

Vidocq Society Members meet at least four times a year to
discuss and ponder solutions to various unsolved crimes
which are presented to them as they dine. Vidocq Society
Members can be recognized by the red, white and blue
rosette worn in their lapels. This rosette is unique to
the Society; the colors symbolizing the American flag and
the French Tri-colors. The rosette itself has its origin
in Napoleonic France. In addition, Vidocq Society members
are authorized by the power of its charter to use the
letters "VSM" after their names; indicating that person is
a "Vidocq Society Member".

The Vidocq Society is governed by a Constitution and has a
Commissioner, two Deputy Commissioners, a Secretary, a
Treasurer and a Board of Trustees. These officers oversee
the activities of the Society. The Society has established
"flying teams", consisting of volunteer members, to
assist, on a "pro bono" basis, any law enforcement agency
that has a particularly difficult case on its hands.

Additionally, as a result of a demonstrable need the
Society has been providing private individuals assistance
in terms of free consultation in solving serious crimes
when no other help is forthcoming.

Vidocq Society members pride themselves in the fact that
they are much more than a group of individuals who enjoy
discussing murder and mayhem; they are a society of
professionals dedicated to serving their fellow man by
discovering the truth about unsolved crimes. By that ends,
the Society is not in competition with law enforcement
agencies; but shares a common goal - justice. In fact the
Society motto is "Veritas Veritatum"; "Truth begets
Truth". All of this the Vidocq Society does in the
tradition of the world's first great detective, Eugéne
François Vidocq.

The major sources for this article are Memoirs of Vidocq,
translated from the original French, reprint of 1828-29
version, Arno Press, New York, NY., 1976; The Police of
France, by Philip John Snead, MacMillan Publishing
Company, New York, NY.; The Vidocq Dossier, by Samuel
Edwards, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA., 1977; and
Vidocq, the Personal Memoirs of the First Great Detective,
by Edwin Giles Rich, Houghton Mifflin Company, Cambridge,
MA., 1935. Vidocq has also been referred to by some
sources as "François Eugéne Vidocq". His friends called
him, "François". But his appointment document to the
Sûreté refers to him as "Eugéne François Vidocq"; and on
his own private detective agency advertisement flyer his
name appears as "E.F. Vidocq". Victor M. Hugo, Les
Misérables (English version, edited and annotated by D.
L. Buffum, PhD); Henry Holt & Company; New York, NY; July
1924. Samuel Edwards; The Vidocq Dossier; Houghton Mifflin
Company, Cambridge, MA,; 1976; p. 11. Rich translated
Memoirs into the "modern idiom" in order to make it more
readable; this may explain the transposition of Vidocq's
first and middle names in some publications. Please note
that since its original publication several translations
of the original Vidocq Memoirs have appeared under
different titles.

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