Vidocq, Eugene Francois

ve-dok', Eugene Francois (1775-1857), a noted French adventurer and detective. Vidocq was born at Arras. His father was a baker. Vidocq began life by robbing his father's till of $400 and running away to Ostend. As might be expected he soon ran through his money, and for years lived the life of a vagabond. He enlisted but soon deserted the French army for the Austrian service. He received a sentence of eight years for forgery but escaped and sought refuge in Paris where he became a member of the secret service. Vidocq's knowledge of thieving and his personal acquaintance with thieves was so extensive and accurate that he was placed at the head of the Parisian detective service, a position which he held from 1812 to 1827. After his dismissal he is said to have lived an honest but obscure and poverty-stricken life. He left a volume of memoirs, but it is not believed that his statements are accurate. Vidocq figures extensively in the cheap French novel of the nineteenth century.