VACHER (Joseph 1868-1898, mort guillotiné, dit le tueur de bergers)

Autograph letter signed, dated January 31, 1898, Lyon, Jerusalem. One page in-12 "Relevé d'une lettre adressée à Mr. Procureur général. Dieu-Droit-Devoir. Monsieur le Procureur général, I believe you are capable of making, of letting an Innocent person die...because as well you do not have the right to lock up an innocent or suspected innocent person within the walls and with real criminals...as well she does not come under your courts any more than all those of the Universe!... signed Jh Vacher. P-S. Dieu me protège.... ". Joint: Vacher l'éventreur, by Pierre Bouchardon. Albin Michel éditeur, 1939; in-12 paperback (19x12 cm). First edition, 252 pages uncut (some foxing). Service de Presse. Autograph signed letter from the author to Louis Boursiac (writer). Vacher is perhaps the most appalling criminal the last century has known. This Ripper traveled France on foot, spreading terror, and Vacher's bloody trek lasted several years. Suspected of being the perpetrator of some fifty crimes, he was arrested thanks to the perspicacity of an examining magistrate from a modest arrondissement. Vacher was guillotined on December 31, 1898. This story inspired Bertrand Tavernier's film Le Juge et l'Assassin. Juge et l'Assassin" (1976), starring Michel Galabru as Vacher and Philippe Noiret as the judge.