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

THE MASSACRE AT LA ROQUETTE!

The following account of this catastrophe, from
the Abbe LEIIIIIMOU, appears in the Peed Moniteur
(Interred of Monday evenly g
„..

Pala, May 2S, 1871.

We came forth this very morning from the prism of
Le it leette-10 eccieslastics, 40 aergene Or otlle, and 82
soldiert—elter escaping from death by the exert se of auda-
city and coolness. Having been • priaorier of the C a-
mitten of Public Safety at the Conelergerie at NI .zas and at
La Roquette. I *ill bs sparing of the details of thine horrible
events which have occurred in the lastopentioned prison,
and which wit hereafter confer upon it • sinister celebrity.
As one instance. I may mention mat • ciente., of the Church
of Notre Dame cm Victoires and myself passed a half hour
on Tonrsday, May 25, in preparing ourselves for being .hot.
It proved to be a false alarm, ai.d the agents of the I.' im-
mune who had given the warning cff ered us a consolation
that lilt had not come off one day It woul t d• no the next.
All that was then dohs was to bring one of our companions
before a sort of court-martial, which we, Bitting oa the
officers of the prison, and which was composed of citizens
who were ct Is fly remarkable for brutal ferocity. Since the
atrocious elecutions of the Archbishop of Parte, the Curt, of
the Medeleine, President Bonjean. M. Allard, a former We
slonery, and the Jesuit Fathers Ciair and Ducoudray, on
Wednesday hut, in • corner of the outer yard of the "Piton,
with, ut cause, without Judgment, without examination, to
the presence of. delegate of the Commune, wno had no other
evidence of authority than the revolver in ha great', of a
bolt of National Guards, who spared no Mound without
any rodent for the bodies of these noble victims, which
were stripped of their garments, thrown into • common
mart, and finally mat out upon • piece of ground at I ha-
ronne—after such evidence we could not doubt that the
burlesque acts of the Commune were to be succeeded by de-
structive and sanguinary sets, and that the hostages who had
been removed from Mazes to Ls Roquette oaths day after
the entry of the troops into Paris were destined to meet the
tame fate. On Friday, the 25th of May, thirty-eight gen-
darme. and sixteen priest, were taken out to Pere is Chaise
for execution. On the following day, as the Versailles army
was approaching the heights of Pere la Chaim, where had
been raised that Infernal battery which was to destroy the
finest monuments of Paris, an order was given to shoo, &lithe
priest., the soldien, and the sergene de oiiie who still re-
mained in the prison. The members of the Commune who
devoted themselves to this horrible task held their dellbera-
Roos in the office of the prison of La Roquette. From my
cell I Was enabled to hear their Recessions, and I can affirm
that never in the lowest drinking shop could there be viler con-
versation. At half -past three the superintendent of the execu-
tions issued an order to the prisoners lodged upon the second
and third stories to come down. Obeying a generouranstinct el
humanity, one of the prison warders, whose name ought to
be made public, M. Pinot, rapidly opened all the cell doors
and declared Rut he was horrified at seeing honest men
untanned to death by low ruffians, that he could malice
his Me for ours if we would offer the beet redstanos in
our power. Ibis prOpoo3o4l was eordhaly received. Meth

men provided himself with • AIM 01l wood rie a her Of
iron two solid barricades wage formed M the entranCre
MI" °I the third etOrY; on opening woe mode in the
flooring to allow our determination to be made known to the
denizens of the second story, the serpent de voile, who were
meditating a similar design. Under the climatal of hi
Pinot and of an enterprising Z mare, the eastern pavilion
of the prison became • real fortreas. The Commune, which
parodied, Lod even exaggerated, all that was odious autl
grotesque in the Revolution of 1791, permitted the wort-
) aid to be filled with that vile race which is no. seen to
Pule but In days of disaster, Mat tliey might revill lia the
spectacle of another 11081,11 of the Septeerlrer Wausau.
ramble furious menaces, some of the National Guards
who had been appointed to be our executioners ascended to
the third story, and declaring that they intended to blow
up the prison by means of • mine already prepared, or else
to reduce it to ruins with their artillery at Pore In Chaise,
they set fire to one of our birricadee, with the view of suf-
focating us. The fire was soon extinguished. One feet
I cannot avoid noticing is, that the man who woe
moot demonstrative towards us with his musket bad
been condemned to death by the Amiss Conti of the
Seem, and had been relea•ed by the Commons, Our de-
termined resistance caused great astonishment to the
Communists., who shortly afterward. disappeared from the
pima, sod made oH towards Cheroot)* and Belleville. The
mob which had gathered in the yard, impressed by this ex-
ample, soon followed it, and it became pont/hie to Mom the
gates of the prison. We were thus to eons extent nude
mfr, and after • little while we heard the crowds assembled
before the prison ousts, from threats to seductions, shout-
ing out Moe ia Liget ' and declaring that they sought the I
release of all prisoners. Pour secieelsetlee and IS soldier,
allowed themselves to be deceived by these crime They
were immediately shot against one of the walls of the
prison, and the bodies of four prieets served to crown •
niughbouriug barricade. During the tight a strict watch '
was observed upon the two upper stories of the pima. The ,
threatening yells which we heard proceeding from the out-
side did not 11111201 us. At last, on Sande, at daybreak, the
firing of the troops from Versatile., the sound of which we
had listened for with an anxiety which may readily be coo-
mired, became nearer, and at • quarter-past five the hand.
code in front of Ls Requette was carried at a rush, Lad the
Marine. took poriseaslon of the prison. We were thus teetered
In an unexpected manner to life, after undergoing four days
of the cruellest agony which It is possible to imagine.
" L'Amme Lexemoc, Violate of the Madeleine,"
• • •

Another prisoner at La Roquette, M. Errata,
Sergeant-Major of the ioeth Battalion of National
Guards, adds the following particulate of the mas-
sacre :

't Oa Wednesday, May 94, at half-put seven in the evening
the director of the prison, one Lefranctis, a namesake of the
member of the Commune, and who had himself spent its
years at the Brgne, upended at the head of fifty Federate to
the gallery where the principal prironere were confined. Au
officer went round to each cell, summoning Aral the Arch-
bishop, and then in air:cession U. Wm's., the Abbe
Allard, Fathers Dacoudray and Clair, and the Abb., Da-
guerry, Cut, of the Madeleine. As the prisoners were sum.
month they were marched down to the road running round
the prison, on each side of which, as far as I could the,
were arranged Notional Guard& who received the captives
with insult, and epithets which I cannot transcribe lAy
unfortunate companion. were taken into the courtyard
tacit g the infirmary, where they found • firing party await
log them. Monseigneur Darboy stepped forward, and ad-
dressing his assassins' uttered a few words of pardon. Two of
Sheer men approached the Archbishop, and in face of their
comrades knelt More him, Imeeeching his forgiveness. The
other Federal' at once rushed Upon them and drove them
bock cub insulting reprJachee, and then, turning towards
the prisoner, gave vent to most violent expressions The
commthder of the detachment even felt ashamed of tale,
and, ordering silence, uttering • fright! al oath, telling hie
men that they were there • to shoot those people, and not to
built them.' The Yederals were silenced, and upon the
orders of their lieutenant loaded their weapon& Father
Allard was placed against the wall and was the drat shot
down. Then 11. Darboy, th tie turn fell. The whole
six prisoners were thug shot, all evincing the utmost
calmness and courage. M. Deeuerry alone exhibited • mo-
mentary weakness, which was attributable rather to his
state of health then to fear. after this tragical execution,
carried out without any formal witnesses and in the presence
only of a number of bandits, the bodies of the unfortunate
victims were placed in a cart belonging to a railway com-
pany, which had been requisitioned for the purpose, and
were taktn to Pere le Chaise, where they wore placed in the
last trench of the "June commune" side by tilde, without
even any attempt to cover them with earth."

The same witness thus describes his own escape
On Saturday, Forte,' a member of the Commons and
Delegate of the Public Safety, came to the prison, and sum-
moning all those who were under sentence of penal servitude
t aid them that they were all free. Arms and uniforms
were then given to them, and Immediately commenced
• scene of slaughter of the etispreted prisoner., among
whom were strip-six gendarme., who were all killed, give
other gendarmes In the infirmary escaped. About seven o'clock
toe newl).armed guards being either drunk or wearied with
their bloody work, one of the warderi of the prhion, [Ange-
vin, orened the cell doors and Invited the prisoners to nine
a rush tosses their lire.. Acting upon this a trice, it. Berard
and many other, got through the gate. and, di.persiug
median ly, su3ceeded hi effecting Mar escape."