The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-06-03 00:00:00

SETTLING WHETHER PARIS SHOULD BE BURNT PR

BLOWN UP I

It appears that It was discussed by the membays of the
Commune whether It were preferable to burn or to blow up
Perla. Mercifully, the former plan was chosen, but mines
have been discovered leading from the Hotel de Ville to the
Louvre, which seem to point to an idea of finally concluding
their reign with an explosion as soon as their great strong-
hold should become untenable. Plank too, have been die
covered among their papers for laying wire. in the great
sewers, which should by a complicated arrangement of
galvanic batteries communicate with dent:ire of plcrate of
potash and blow up the whole of the great city at the name
Instant. People bare long said that there was a preeentl-
went of danger In the air, but it remained for the member.
of the Commune to show us how vast and diabolical a
scheme of destruction they were capable of inventing, but,
fortunately, not of putting into execution.

A PART! OP 900 PRISONERS !
A party of 900 prisoners has just gone put my windows
escorted by • company of [lunar.. Among their number was
• woman with liming black hair, who showed sympt,ims of
contumacy, and was several times pushed back Into the ranks
with the flat of the sword, ohs made several attempt& to
escape, and at laid, having wearied th e pstien co of her captors,
*soldier raised his revolver and shot her through the heart
She fell, • heap of dark Clothes; the•cor lige passed on, leaving
her lying as she had fallen, and there she lies stilt Citizen
Yailha wu taken opposite the liOtel de Vii., and, like
Billioray. made a struggle for life, lie was dragged up the
Avenue V ctoria with some other members of the Commune,
and, in Consequence of his Insubordination, received a mine
cut across the lace. Arrived under the Tour Si, Jacques, •
volley wu deed on him which stretched him on the ground.
Still he continued to writhe, and the persons who had been
taken with him, and who expected momentarily to share his
fate, Implored the captain of the plaid to put him out of his
misery; • bayonet tin ust was given, and it was all over. HU
remains were conveyed to St Germain l'Auxerrois.

FTRANGE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS!

. . . The angry ring of the volleys of execution; the strings
of men and women hurried off to their doom ; the curses of
an Infuriated populace the brutal violence of an exasperated
soldiery, are sights and a,unds calculated to produce •
strange and powerful effect on the mind. Yesterday alter-
noon I drove over as much of the city already in the occur,.
Mon of the Yersaillists a. was consistent with safety, and
with the limited experience which, owing to my arrival only
ihe night before, I poaseuul. Following the BJulevard
Clieby in order to avoid the chalnes In the nelahhourhood of
the Madeleine, I passed the scenes 01 terrible fightirg. The
Place Clichy was a mass of barricades and shattered houaes,
the lac ad.., marked with bullets as if pitted with the
smallpox, the windows smashed, and the evidences of • fear-
ful r truggle visible where. It seemed a. If the ground
bad been disputed here house Iv house ; but from all I can
learn of the resistance, the actual defenders of the barricade.,
though resolute men, • ere few in number (1.1,01 the most
marked characteristics of this fighting has been the cowardice
of the many se compared with the courage and re iclution of
the few ; come of the barricades were abandoned by their
defenders by hundred., only ten or • darn remaining to the
last, and holding their ground until they were all killed or
wowarded.

EXAMINING THE PRISONERS !
Paulin tip the Rue Lafayette, I reached the Read Quarten
of the Fifth Carps, where, happening to know an officer, I
was present at the examination of some primners who were
brought In, ae every soldier who thinks he has good ground
for suspicion can arrut men or women, and drag them to
the divisional tribunal. Tory are captured in Moab. One
lame man with • villainous countenance, who was brought In
while I was there, wee accused of being • 011 lie blmeldr,
and haying been taken in the act. Ile was put through a
short sharp fire of cross-examination, him pocket& emptied
sad his &wing felt, and he was then hurried off to take his
place in the ranks of the condemned ones that are forwarded
to \ ersailles. Instant execution is only ordered in the more
extreme cues, excepting where the fighting is actually going
on, and thou the troops give very little quarter. The bitter-
ness of the belligerents against eaoh other Is of a far
more intense and sanguinary kind than that wlttet ordin.
slily exists between combatants. The soldiery, looking at
the pedestal on the Place VenlOme and at the num.rous
public buildings which In some form or other are associated
with ,thetr military 111,tory, now all smoking ruins, cm
scarcely contain their rage, and not unnaturally vent it with
ferocity on an enemy which deliberately planned the de-
struction of Paris as the price of victory to the cot querore,
and who are even yet endeavouring ti carry out their
diabolical design of destroying the houses still unit. Fired
by morally Introducing petroleum balls and fusses Into the
cellars I saw • wittier muldetily eelse • man la he was
apparectly harmlualy walkleg along the street; his pockets
were emptied and found to c ,ntain cartridges and com-
bustible balls of tuition. slue Another wilier and • calor
tubed to the spot ; tho latter drew hie revolver, and I ex
peeled would have thot the man then and there, but lie wan
eatisfled on seeing his comrade prod him sharply with his
bayonet. Ile two soldiers then hurried the culprit off In
front of them, cuffi g him oecasiondly on the head, and
accelerating hi. progress with the points of their bayoneta,
while they cursed him heartily. A small crowd eagerly fol.
lowed to see his fate, which they loudly hoped would be
Instant execution ; and, loJklog at the delestah'e nature of
the contents of hie pockets, it'd of his Intention, one could
scarcely blame either ht. captors or their sympathizers if they
called for vengeance, and long ere this, he has probably
named to Wet ...

THE DESOLATION AND RUIN, LAMENTABLE TO BEHOLD!
There was fighting at the Chateau d'Eau, and without
either • peso Or an ambulance bra Beard a nearer approach to
the scene of action was undesirable; Indeed, until recently
the shells had been bursting here in every direction, and their
holes might be seen In the centre of those pavements hereto-
lore sacred to fleeces of Paris. Etrewn over the streets
were branches of trees; and fragments of masonry that had
been knocked from the houses, bricks and mortar, torn pro-
clamations, shreds of clothing half concealing bloodstains,
were Pow the interesting and leading features of that
fashionable resort; foot passengers were few and far between,
the shops and vats hermetically sealed, excepting where
bullets had made air holes and during my whole altarnoon's
promenade I only met three other carriages besides my own.
The Place de l'Opira was a camping ground of artillery, the
Place Vendome, confusion of barricades, guarded by sentries,
and the Rue Royale a mass of debris Looked at from the
Madeleine the desolation and ruin of that handsome street
were lamentable to behold. The Place de la Concorde was a
desert, and In the midst of It lay the statue of Lille with tha
head oil The last time I had looked on that face It was
covered with crape, in mourning for the entry of the Prusalaus
Near the bridge were twenty. four corpses of Insurgent., laid
out in a row, welting to be buried under the neighbouring
paving atones. To the right the skelek n of the Tuileries
reared lie gaunt shell, the framework of the lofty wing next
the Seine still standing; but the whole of the roof of the
central building WWI gone, and daylight Mille through all
the windows right into the Place de Carrousel General Mac.
Mahon's headiquuters were at the Affairs. Etrangeree, which
IMO intact. Altar • visit there. I pseud the Corp. &IMO,
also uninjured by fire, but much marked by shot and shell, and
so along the Quais the whole way to the Mint, at which point
General Vinoy had established his headquarters At the
Corner of the Rue de 13 se the destruction was something
appalling The Rae de lisc lean Impassable mound of ruins,
15 or 40 feet high, completely across the street as far as I
could see The Legion allonneur, the Coors des Complee,
and Connell d'Etat were still smoking, but there was nothing
left of them but the blackened shell. of their noble pod.,
to show how handsome they had once been. At this point,
In whichever direction one looked, the same awful
devastation met the eye—to the left the smouldering
Tonsil., to the right the long line of ruin where the tire
had swept through the magollicent palaces of the Qua'
and overhead again to-cay • cloud of smoke, more black and
abundant even than yesterday, incessantly roiling its dense
volumes from behind Notre DAMS, whose two towers were
happily etamitng uninjured. The fire issued from the
Granter d'Abondence and ether building. In the neighhours
hood of the Judi° des Plantes. In another direction the
Arsenal was also burning. One marked result of a high state
of dent:Won le, that it has furnished improved facilities
for ingendiarlsm, wl irh mem to have beau developed even
more completely than the means of c insteracting them.