INFAMOUS BRIGADE OF THE BAT

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

INFAMOUS BRIGADE OF THE BAT

8y... Capf. Eugene. de Beck

SYNOPSIS. Captain da Beck and Louis Lemoine, master disguise artist and secret police operative, are sitting In conclave with Inspector Guichard, Marseilles police chief, following the eecape from their clutches of Lstouche the Jackal, apache leader. They plan to use his hatsd rival, Michel the Bet, whom they have brought back from Devil's Island, where Latouche had sent him by false evidence, as unconscious bait to trap their enemy. Latouche Is unaware of Lemoine'e part in his capture, earlier related, but is "after" tfts author, aleo his former sweetheart who had "squealed" to secure her own freedom. The three friends plan to "reecue" Michel the Bat from the police by means of a fake underworld gang, The Brigade of the Bat. LEMOINE was unperturbed about the effect of his words on Inspector Guichard. I was amazed. Here was a new Lemoine revealing himself to me in every, word. A Lemoine who could speak graciously to an important inspector of police, as if they were at least colleagues. And suddenly it popped Into my head that never, in all my experience, had I met a policeman like him. He was— and is, I veritably believe —unique. What was his real rank! I had always assumed that he was just a humble, although brilliantly efficient, undercover man. Certainly Guichard treated him so, when outsiders were around, even when other undercover men tvere around. But now that I had the good fortune to be thoroughly accepted by these clever men, I was being permitted to sense their real relationship. What was the actual rank of this strange man Lemoine, whose real identity was unknown even to the public prosecutor, who I was to learn, told prefects and prosecutors what to do? I do not know. To this day I have never found out. "I Will Explain" But I digress. For this rambling I insist be forgiven, for I am a man of action and no scribbler. I can but set the facts down as I saw them unfold. "I will explain," said Louis Lemoine. "The police "ill not become the laughing stock of the world, l'or who will tell the world about it? The police will not talk. And we assuredly will not — except—" . "How then —" nsked Guichard. "We will not talk, except to the underworld," Lemoine said. "And who ever believes what the underworld says about the police? No. nioii ami. This little coup of ours will create nothing but a delectable morsel of propaganda in the underworld." (Juieliard's eyes gleamed. "But—" "Mn foil" he exclaimed. "1 don't \Uiow where von get such idea*!" "It is not new," said Louis, wit 11 iwniiz. tng modesty. "It haw linen done before," ••When—where?" demanded the inspector and 1 in utiixoh. "The great Vidocq," replied Louis. "Once when he was awaiting trial, manacled with other prisoners, ho contrived to pick up fl'oin it Itoneli the great,cloak and hat. of a guard. Slipping these on, covering his manacled fiitnds with the clonk's folds, he murmured to another handcuffed prisoner. The two quietly arose. They walked out. And the sentry, thinking Vidocq a guard tinder

special order*, sainted them aa they departed! lit idea, my inspector, is not new. Just"—he added complacently, " —modernised. There i* nothing new nnder the sun." After that there vu nothing: more to say. I shall not tell yon in detail the > patient, infinite detail of Louis Lemoine —how we "stole" Michel the Bat. For It was really so simple. First Lemoine picked his men—l being one— and disguised them as apaches. Next he learned that a police car was to be parked, unguarded, on a lonely street near the waterfront. Finally he received the "forged" order for the Bat's delivery and with it the information that the police wardrobe room would he amazingly unguarded at a certain hour that night. There was nothing to it. Lemoine in person "stole" the uniforms. Then we "stole" the car, drove to the prison.

Lemoine, his face adorned now with a bristling got of moustaches, pompously presented the "forged" order. And so tlicv delivered tlie Bat to us—sullen, dark and glowering. Lemoine shackled tlie brute to his own wrist. "Bettor behave yourself with me, my line fellow," Louis blustered, for the benefit of the oilieer who had delivered thi' prisoner. The Bat snarled at him. They ?;<it In. We drove away. No. there wiim nothing to all that, for anybody can fool tlie police when 'he heads of the departments all conspire to be fooled! Hut the face of the Bat, when wo threw off our "stolon" police uniforms and embraced him! Tie had stared with unbelief when we drove down to the wharf district, and led him into a little cellar, located under the notorious underworld dive, "Le Nain Riant" (The Laughing Dwwf). H» mis «lTrmt

French Secret Police

stnpified with amazement when Lemoine | took off the handcuffs—and kissed him j on both of his swarthy, greasy cheeks. "But—what?" he muttered. "I do not j understand!" Of course he did not j understand. If he had not been a blood- j thirsty, depraved rat, many times a murderer, I could have sympathised with him, caught as he was in the toils of a ! man so infinitely his superior in brains and guile. But Lemoine convinced him— with real tears in his eyes. "Ah, Michel!" he cried. "Wt> are not! the police! We are your devoted fol- ! lowers. Listen, for years I have dreamed j of meeting you. We need you as our; leader—you'll never know how much we! need you. And to-morrow all Marseilles j —all France —will apain ring with your ! name, when the world learns that The! Brigade of the Bat has stolen their great | leader from the stupid police!" Half-believing delight began to gleam , in the Bat's murky eyes. j

"That. Latouche!" cried Lemoine. An the Bat's face turned all animal. '"I spi on Latouche!" He spat. "All of youPierre. Andre, Ripper—we all spit o Latouche!" We all spat. It was a remarkable" scene as tjii depraved criminal allowed himself to b convinced that we were his loval rats recruited bv his chief hero worshippei Latum- (Lemoine).But why should he not he convinced especially with the criminal's swolle ego working towards his own undoing How could he even dream that th police had kidnapped him from th police? He asked a thousand question; Lemoine had answers for all. Swiftlj the devilish subtlety of Lemoino'? pin wime 1 the Rat to the intoxieatinc belie that he had been restored, after year of incarceration, to tlife leadership of i clever, reel-Jess gang.

It seemed foolproof. The odds would be fax less against us than they were during the raid on the "Painted Virgin." I didn't see how we could fail. "But, mon ami, we are away too 1 long!" Lemoine said aloud. "Monsieur,"! he said, leering at the villainous looking j Malay who was tending the bar. "did ; you know"-—another hiccough—"that a I certain bat has flown into your cellar, again ?" With that we went down to j our own quarters. We found the Bat stripped to the waist. He was covered with knife sear* and tattooing, which he was showing the admiring members of his "gang." . j "Now that," he said, pointing to a i woman's face, "was Marie. Ah, she wasi good, that one!" And then this tattooed, moustached scoundrel began to boast. Woman by woman, and his knnescarred hide was a veritable gallery of' women, he talked about them, telling stories which I cannot repeat —itories which I try not to remember. Occasionally he'd lovingly linger the raised welt of some knife scar, and tell u= a boastful tale of how he had slit the throat or the abdomen of the man who had caused that scar. And it was no' all boasting. Weakened as he was by years in Cayenne, i the Bat still knew the tricks of murder, and could practice them. Facing the staircase across the cellar was a heavv thick door leading to a little storeroom —the cellar's y only other room. Into that door the Bat threw three knives. , standing all the way across the cellar at j the foot of the stairs while he threw. And all three knives stuck in a knot no larger than a shilling. Stuck so hard thut it took a severe wrench to pull each one out.. Plan To Catch Apache Alive But always he returned to talk of women, until Lemoine made up his. mind to seize the opportunity to further the scheme. "Michel." said he. "I have a plan. A scheme to catch Latouche—alive:'' Michel the Bat's nostrils widened. His chest rose. and a woman. Michel, a woman shall help us trap him. Her name is— Xanette Battice." "11l kill them both!" screamed the Bat. "I'll " j "But wait. Michel. Kill her bv all means, if it will amuse you. Tliuugh ; perhaps you have not heard it was she | who now has betrayed Latouche. | years ago she betrayed you."' The Bat j had heard of Xanette's double treacherv —heard of it through the prison urnler- | ground which works a« well in other ■ countries as it doe? in the United States, j But he vowed that even though the I girl's belated repentance had cau.-cd him ; to be brought back to France—and mad.' his "escape" possible—lie would kill her But I could sense the bluster in his loiui words. Xanette, I suspected, was h:weak spot. And at once I could see that Lemoine thought so, too. "Of course, of course," he agreed, soothingly. "But. before you kill her — ! wouldn't you like Latouche to die- —in i front of the two of you—watching vou hold her in your arms?" He spoke "the words horridly. The Bat. his black eyes ablaze now, opened his mouth and displayed teeth as yellow and irregular as ' cracked corn, while he bellowed in glee. ! But suddenly he thought of some- : thing. It wouldn't do to let his "gang'' see this lieutenant, "Latour" outdo him in ferocity. "Yes," growlethe Bat. "Not a bad idea. But only after I have cut off both . his ears. Then I shall chop them up tine 1 —very fine. I shall take a couple of eggs, a little cream. I shall make an omelette, my friends. Latouche will wi.tch me make this omelette—putting his ears into it." He paused for effect, stepped back with a gesture. "And then, my friends." he snarled. "Latouche shall eat the omelette!" i He meant it, too. Like Lemoine's | trick of stealing police trappings to free 1 | a crook, it had been done before. I (To be continued Saturday next)

I "Your escape," sti wrested Lemoine, : cringing' before him, "that, of course, I was able to engineer only because I ,stndied your methods so doe-ely." ! "But, naturally," agreed the lordly leader. *Yon did well enough. An apt pupil. But," gently he reached over, pulled a knife from Lemoine's sash. Gently he presented the point to Lemoine's gullet. Louis never flinched. ! the Bat withdrew the knife. He smirked \ pompously. 1 "That was just to show you what | will happen, my friend, if you ever | forget who is the leader of these rate." I "Ah, Michel!" Louis protested. i The living bait was in the trap. Outjfide. in the man-made jungle, the tiger prowled. Bay Bottles Of Cognac But other things remained to be done. Lemoine and I now had little chance to talk together, so before the night was over he took me upstairs to buy a couple of bottle? of cognac for our peerless leader and his "rats." Le Xain Riant was another hell-liole like The Painted ! Virgin, but located no more than 50 to ! f!0 feet from the inner end of one of .the great wharves of the harbour. j j Swiftly, standing near one corner of j !the bar in that incredibly grimy, smoky I and smelly dive, Lemoine poured more : of his marvellous strategy into *uy ear: j i '"I've got to reconcile him with Kan- | iette." he said. "That will be the final, j 'crowning insult to Latouche. Then we'll | have two innocent little lambs in our i ! nice tiger-trap." In spite of myself, I shivered. For here another facet of Lemoine's aston- | ishing .character was revealed, and I realised that he cared not a straw if; both the Bat and Xanette were killed— j eo long as he caught Latouche. "Then what?" I asked quickly. "Then, of course, we spre«d the word throughout, the underworld that the Bat is hiding in his oLI cellar. He used it years ago. with' Latouche. They were close friends then, before they quarrelled over Xanette. That is why I selected this place." "To-night and to-morrow." Lemoine told me. "the underworld will learn about the marvellous trick played on the police by The Brigade of the Bat. And as we circulate the rumour through nil the dives that the Rat has returned, we'll also spread the word that Nanette is with him. and that our beloved chief is going to kill Latouche. And that will bring Latouche. On the run." "But how?" I asked. "How are we to expect Latouche to strike?" | He Spilt His ' j Own Cognac ' "I can picture the scene for tou." Lemoine drained the glass of fiery cog-nac—-letting most of it trickle on | his many-sweatered chest. "Visitors | will come to us in our nice snug little I den. Old friends. Xew admirers. Then 5 F.ugene, some night soon a few of Lae touches !ads will drift in. He'll pick I', follows he doesn't think well recognise. •| Suddenly there'll be a shot. The light ' will go out. And Latouche with the • rest of his rats will rush the cellar." ~ I How tragically wrong Lemoine was I doomed to be! e; "And we?" I asked. "We will have our flares to light the place. when the lights go out. And I n have the whole district watched by f undercover men. At tlie first sign of s commotion in oiii lntle mansion—voila! ft They close in. We have Latouche, we have the Bat. Alive or dead."