Eugène-François Vidocq: biography of the first private detective

He has justly been called "the first detective in history." And it is that the world of criminal investigation owes a lot to Eugène-François Vidocq, since it was he who, at the beginning of the 19th century, laid the foundations of modern criminology.

On the other hand, what would detective literature have been without him? Edgar Allan Poe himself was inspired by Vidocq (or so they say) to give life to the detective Auguste Dupin from The crimes of morgue Street, and Émile Gaboriau, the famous French crime novelist, took it as a model for his Monsieur Lecoq (his name, with that “q” that closes the last name, is already quite “suspicious”).

But if Eugène-François Vidocq is famous for something (in some sources, his name appears backwards, François-Eugène) it is for having inspired by one of the greatest characters in universal literature: Jean Valjean, the ex-convict played by Victor Hugo in his novel The Miserables and that, as we will see, he bears many similarities with our character.

Brief biography of Eugène-François Vidocq: from ex-convict to detective

Vidocq's life is worthy of an adventure movie. In fact, two film productions have already been made based on his story: vidocq, the myth, directed in 2001 by Pitof and starring Gérard Depardieu, and the most recent The Emperor of Paris (2018), by Jean-François Richet, in which Vincent Cassel gives life to the legendary character.

Even his contemporaries knew the goldmine that was the life of the ex-convict turned detective. When, in 1828, his Memories (no less than four volumes), these were an unprecedented sales success. Everyone wanted to know about the famous Vidocq, the mythical thief who had managed to found the first detective agency in history.

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Robberies, prisons and desertions

Of Vidocq it can be said, as the saying goes, that he was already pointing out ways. And it is that At only thirteen years old, he reaches into his father's money drawer, a modest baker from the city of Arras, in the French Artois, and he steals no less than 2000 francs, with which he intends to embark to America. Before that, according to some sources, he was already stealing loaves of bread from his own father, in cahoots with his brother.

When the father finds out about the theft, he denounces little Eugène-François and the teenager spends ten days in jail. When leaving he does not seem to have learned his lesson (he was, in addition to being a thief, frivolous, seductive and quarrelsome), so the The jaded Monsieur Vidocq Sr enlists him in the army, where, for a change, he becomes little or no soldier copy. It seems that on one occasion he assaulted a superior (an act for which he is sentenced to death) while give up fighting a duel with him, so he must quickly flee and take refuge again in Arras.

He will not last long the act of contrition that he performs before his family. After serving in the French revolutionary army, Vidocq enlists in the Austrian counterrevolutionary forces., the supposed enemies of his homeland. Apparently, the young François (he is almost twenty years old now) cares very little about which side his sympathies are on. The only thing that interests her (and the only thing that will apparently interest her in his entire life) is his own benefit.

From then on, Vidocq's existence until his recruitment by the Paris police will be a pilgrimage throughout prisons in France, in which he sometimes serves his sentence and other times, directly, he escapes, using a tactic that will later make him very famous: the costume. And between jail and jail, robberies and various goings-on. In Belgium, for example, he joins a gang of criminals, after which he returns to the French capital and squanders the money on parties and prostitutes. In 1801, in Boulogne, he joined a privateer ship that was dedicated to assaulting English ships (let's remember that it is the time of the Napoleonic wars), for which he is taken back to prison... Slowly, he forges the legend.

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The criminal who works for the police

His steps are not very clear until he finally settles in Paris in the pay of the city police. In his Memoirs we find obvious exaggerations and distortions of reality, when not direct inventions. It is difficult to reconstruct Vidocq's career before the year 1809, when, after being arrested by the Parisian police, he makes them a curious proposal.

Again we can question the veracity of the anecdote, but that is how it has transcended into history. It seems that the police finally catch up with the criminal, but when they take him to prison, Vidocq proposes that they hire him to work for them. To the surprise of the person in charge, François smiles and tells them: “Okay, take me to prison. If I can get rid of these shackles along the way and get back here with you, you hire me.

No sooner said than done. Surprised by the efficiency of the prisoner, the superior agrees to hire Vidocq's services. In the first moment, His mission is to remain vigilant in the prisons of Paris (Bicêtre and La Force), and tip off the police about what the prisoners are telling each other there.. And Vidocq performs his role so extremely well that soon the authorities simulate an escape to get him out of there. From now on, Vidocq will work for them directly on the streets of Paris.

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the sureté

The presence of Eugène-François Vidocq in Paris leads to the arrest of hundreds of criminals highly wanted by the police. The ex-convict is the only one to track down, sniff out the clues and find the aforementioned. Apparently, it is thanks to him that the police investigation acquires a new dimension; Various innovations are credited to it, among them, the first ballistics analysis, through which it was possible to begin to determine with which weapon a bullet had been fired.

In 1811, and under the protection of the prefect Pasquier, François proposed the creation of the Security Brigade (embryo of the future Sûreté Nationale), and adheres to it in command of twelve detectives, mostly ex-criminals like himself. Undoubtedly, these procedures would be more than debatable today, but at the beginning of the 19th century there were not too many scruples, as we can see.

Various events take place in France in that turbulent 19th century; after the empire of Napoleon and the restoration of the monarchy, come the new revolutions. After that of 1830 and the accession to the throne of Louis-Philippe of Orléans, Eugène-François fell into disgrace and was forced to leave the Sûreté. A new stage begins for the incombustible Vidocq.

The first private detective

The detective agency that Vidocq founded in 1833 is considered the first in history, since, although at the end of the In the 18th century certain "information agencies" already existed, François's true innovation will be to add research private.

Vidocq is almost sixty years old when he takes charge of The bureau des renseignements, which will not only focus on issues of an economic nature, but also of a private sphere. Not to lose the habit, the detectives under his command are also ex-convicts. The point is that the Bureau it was incredibly successful, which only fueled Vidocq's fame.

Suspicious, the "official" police did everything possible to close our protagonist's business. It seemed that they would succeed in 1842, the year in which François was accused of illegal detention and embezzlement. Vidocq appealed and was acquitted, although the matter of embezzlement should not be so absurd, since the ex-convict had accumulated no less than a million francs (and, as an agent of the sureté, "only" earned 5000 a year).

the end of Bureau It came in 1847, when, old and tired, Vidocq withdrew from the public scene and went out of business. By then he was already a celebrity in France, as his Memories (1828) had been a resounding success, as were the novels that, encouraged by triumph, he wrote later (Thieves, from 1830, and The true mysteries of Paris, of 1844). In his literary work, he merges the memories of a lifetime searching the underworld, between robberies, duels (he was an unrepentant bully) and love affairs..

Whoever was a true media star in the 19th century is almost unknown in our world today. The name of Eugène-François Vidocq hardly sounds familiar to anyone, unless one evokes his alter ego literary: Jean Valjean, the eternal convict of The Miserables condemned for having stolen a piece of bread.