Arsenio Lupinethe “gentleman thief” conceived by the writer Maurice Leblancis the protagonist of numerous novels of the French novelist, whose first (Arsenio Lupin’s arrest) was published in 1905 in the magazine Je sais tout. Although everyone knows Lupine, not everyone knows that it could be inspired by a truly existed French thief, the Frenchman Alexandre Marius Jacob. The author has always denied that there was a connection, but the similarities between Jacob and Lupine are many: to steal to bring justice, class shots, disguises, the choice of non -violence, the attack on power. Jacob, born in 1879, of anarchist extraction, has made beyond 100 spectacular theftsto then be arrested and sentenced to serve a long sentence: in the last years of his life he maintained his positions, until then to commit suicide in 1958.
Alexandre Marius Jacob, a good thief who inspired Maurice Leblanc
The story of Alexandre Marius Jacob can vaguely remember that of Renato Rininothe “Lupine of the Rivera”, but Jacob was a real contemporary of the “true” Arsenio Lupine. He was born in Marseille, in the south of France, on 29 September 1879, the son of a sailor. At 13, he embarked as a hub on a ship that takes him to Australia. Here he embarks again to go home, but he discovers he has climbed aboard a pirate ship, which performs looting and in the wickedness: returned, he says he was horrified by what he has seen, and pronounces the sentence “I saw the world, it’s not nice”.
The long stay at sea has debilitated him, Jacob has to stay in bed, and so he starts reading Anarchist texts. Authors like Sante Caserio and Bakunin are illuminating for him, perhaps also for what he lived at sea: Alexandre Marius Jacob He begins to think of manufacturing a bomb to subvert power, but is discovered and arrested. I discount six months in prison, and here he decides that he wants to become a professional of “justice”, but understood as a professional who does justice: and therefore, he steals, if necessary, but never without violence or cruelty.
Leaving the prison, the French police would like to take him as a spy: but Jacob continues in his intent and founds his gang of collaborators, Les Travailleurs de la nuit – The workers of the nighta group of anarchists who, in a few years, It performs over 100 thefts. Among his “victims”, dishonest traders, a very rich countess, the Montecarlo casino. Jacob and his hit only where the wealth is too much, or unjust: like Robin Hood and how Lupine will be.
Very skilled in disguisesJacob is arrested several times but always manages to escape. During the trial that sees him attributed in 1905 together with his gang, accused of the death of a policeman who took place during his escape after his theft, his declaration passes to history and against power, the magistrates, the clergy, and those who usury freedom:
“Each man has the right to enjoy life. The right to live does not lie, he takes … I understand that you would have preferred that I was submitted to your laws, that docile worker I had created wealth in exchange for a miserable salary. And that, the exploited body and the bounded brain, I had let myself be cracked at the corner of a road. In that case you would not have called me” cynical bandit “but” honest bandit ” Thank you very much of so much goodness, of so much gratitude, gentlemen!
Marius Jacob: life imprisonment and return to France
He is sentenced to life imprisonment, but tries to escape and is sent to the French guyana in penitentiary. Subsequently, he is placed, always in prison, at Îles du salut Where a 23 -year sentence is discounted, during which he tries to escape 17 times.
Jacob returns to France in 1928: his historic partner, Rose, died. He begins to work as an street vendor and, he goes to Spain during the civil war and during the Second World War, he gives refuge to the partisans. He remarried and, in 1958, he decided to end your life – and that of his elderly dog - with a lethal dose of morphine, leaving a letter:
“I consider myself satisfied with my destiny. So, I want to leave without despair, the smile on the lips and peace in the heart. I have lived. Now I can die. PS: I leave you here two liters of rosé wine. Toast to your health”.
