The Good Citizen

The railway has always been a target of armed robberies, the names of famous criminals from the Wild West like Butch Cassidy and Jesse James or Bruce Reynolds and Ronnie Biggs from the `heist of the century` in Britain are almost household names and their fame seems not to fade but to be prolonged with each new film, documentary or book dedicated to them.

In all that colorful gallery of characters, one stands out who, with his self-awareness and anonymity, is like a black sheep in the robber community, primarily because of his double life and pronounced Robin Hood complex, and probably also because of his ideological motivation. In December 1946, an unforgettable robbery took place on the railway line between Troyes and Chaumont in France, in which a single masked man appeared with a gun in front of the shocked guards of the postal car of train no. 426 and addressed them with the words - ``Don't be afraid, just calm down, I need the money looted from the state and nothing more.'' He left with 2.5 million Francs, today's equivalent to some 7.5 million euros. And that would have been nothing special or significant if after a few weeks all over France about 500 people had not received a small parcel with 4,500 Francs (13,500 euros) - which came as a gift from heaven...

This event would be the first in a series of similar ones in the next seven years, behind which stood Barthélemy Varze, at first glance a pious and modest guy, a good and conscientious citizen and a family man who did not stand out in any way from the environment in which he lived. Except perhaps for his penchant for good food and good wine, with an emphasis on canned chicken, a specialty of a single factory in France...The only thing that, if I may say so, 'stood out' about Varze was the fact that he had never voted in elections, local, regional or national, and when asked why he did not vote, he would answer - 'I have never voted because I do not agree with the system. I do not want to know anything about a state that is wasting billions of francs while thousands of children are suffering in dire poverty.'

For some, this might have been a sign of alarm, but the good people of Montribourg were not particularly perceptive anyway...The next robbery took place on March 23, 1948 on the Périgueux-Brive line, where the train was transporting municipal money, 250,000 francs (or 750,000 today's euros). A copy of the first attack - this one also went off without a hitch. The third attack was on December 1 of the same year on the Rodez-Severac line and the loot was 100,000 francs.

The police began to suspect an organized group that was `serially` robbing trains, and the events began to become a topic of conversation among the local population. Barthélemy had come to terms with the double identity to such an extent that in conversations with his friends he complained about the police's inability to deal with such impudent robbers! The railways began to hire armed guards, a fact that did not prevent the next (fourth) attack - at the Longre railway station in February 1950. This time the situation turned out to be tense, the guard did not listen to Varze, who ordered him to hand over his weapon at gunpoint - but hit Varze with his fist and tried to take the revolver out of its holster. Varze did not hesitate, fired three bullets, one of which was fatal for the guard because it hit him in the head full of empty heroism at the expense of the state. The loot was 3,086,000 francs, which would remain a record single sum `expropriated` by Varze. The mystery of the money shipments arriving at addresses of the poor was enough for the police to suspect a large and well-organized group. Whether Barthelemy acted alone or had helpers, whether he had 'greased' employees at the post office and in general how the money reached the people has never become clear...The fifth action, in February 1951, a train on the Paris-Dijon line in which the guards were obedient and the bags were full of 1,120,000 francs - was a turning point in the investigation because the efforts of the police through their informants and informants in the underground to find out anything - were in vain - leading to the conclusion that it was a Lone Wolf or a small group, a renegade Robin Hood character who probably had no record or any problems with the 'law' before. Plainclothes cops began to nap at various train stations and travel by train, armed and ready in case the unknown benefactor appeared from somewhere.

However, the public expected results and the promotions were superior and therefore without any special evidence - two petty criminals were arrested and charged with the robberies and murder of the station guard in Longre. Varze, in accordance with his convictions, did not want to let innocent people suffer because of him and therefore sent a letter to the court in which he listed the serial numbers of the bags of cash as proof that the anonymous letter was indeed from the real perpetrator. The judicial authorities were slow in their reaction and after several months the wrongly suspected were still in custody, which prompted Barthélemy to send another letter - this time with two bullets inside addressed to Judge Le Pen, which stated that in case the suspects were not released - the same bullets would end up in the judge's head...

After the release of the two ``scapegoats'', Varze went into hiding for some time. An anecdote from that period best describes the character of Varze, namely, in winter time, he got stuck in the snow with his car, when a peasant came across him with a horse-drawn cart. When asked to be pulled out, the peasant hired the horses that pulled Varze's car out of the snow. In addition to the verbal gratitude, 1,500 francs that he had with him (4,500 euros) were added as a reward for the shocked peasant...

On September 12, 1952, Varze set off on another 'hike', this time on the Saint-Étienne-Clermont-Ferrand line. He returned home with 585,000 francs and the idea of ​​writing a book about his life, actions and views on life, since he was aware that the undertaking would not last forever...April 10, 1953, attack on the Le Mans-Tours line with 270,000 francs taken from the state. On October 23 of the same year, Barthélemy Varze's last attack, the station in Gisées, targeted 350,000 francs, but this time the money was protected by several armed guards joined by several plainclothes police officers. Varze arrived at the station as an ordinary passenger, with a paid ticket and a bag, and planned to escape in a seized vehicle. The situation escalated quickly, a shootout began in which two guards were wounded, which allowed Varze to escape despite the hail of bullets with the help of a seized car - but this time he left behind a bag containing one of his favorite cans that were produced in only one factory...

This clue was enough for the not-so-bright investigators who were working on the case. On November 21, 1953, the police surrounded Varze's house in Montribourg. Varze had enough weapons to try to break in, but the fact that his wife and several relatives were in the house and would be in mortal danger if shooting began - he decided to surrender peacefully. A few days later, the police, guided by their innate genius - arrested Varze's wife because they believed that it was impossible for her to have known nothing about her husband's actions. She was later sentenced to five years in prison, although the fact remained that she was not familiar with her husband's secret life - like no one else in the world...

Inspector Tagan, who was assigned to interrogate Varze, described the subject surprisingly accurately...`People want to believe that he is crazy. Personally, I am firmly convinced that he is not crazy at all, on the contrary, he is an exceptionally smart and impudent man. A man who lived a double life in all areas, a contradictory and conflicted personality, uneducated yet writing books, serving double military service yet being a fierce anti-militarist, seemingly a fanatical Catholic - but in fact a fanatical Anarchist, a man who cared for everyone, who distributed money to poor widows and sick children, a man who left crumbs every day for the birds that landed in his yard - and who did not hesitate to shoot a human being when he was in trouble. I cannot agree with the claims of some who say that Varze is just an ordinary criminal because he is more like a literary character who escaped from the pages of a book.

Barthélémy Varze, the guy who robbed and gave away over 8 million francs (24+ million euros) - was found dead in his cell in January 1954. The man who changed thousands of destinies for the better (or at least tried to) and who never stole private property, only `state` money - voluntarily went into the abyss of anonymity as an anomaly that must not exist in such a world, a ray of light that revealed too much in the field of view of a paradise accustomed to narrow band vision...

(Roger Mortis, 071)