The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-09 00:00:00

SENTENCE ON THE COMMUNISTS.

Judgment was pronounced on Saturday 1T the Ver-
sailles tam t-marnal on the Communists who have been
arraigned. There were spectators in court all day,
many coming and going frequently, but some, and
ladh, especially, waited the whole day
The reading of the judgment by Colonel Merlin took
two hours. The court stood up the whole time and
wore their kepis. ,The guard of lamonr should by rights
have remaino l during the twohours with presented arms
but this regulation being incompatable with human en-
Ourance, a private order to ground arms was given
after the first lour. The Machinery for lighting the
vast hall was altogether inadequate. Three lamps,
.sly two Of Avld,lll.,trael well, seem allotted to the
r, net. 20.,t half is den eln :lei wc:e diAtrihuted
to the bar staid the The lily if the Ceett,
j,,111,1 ly I leei te,L Was in utter darkne,. It was
rumoured ant Ferri,'s sister was among the audience
and intended to make a demonstration by screaming
when her brother's sentence was pronounced. She,
h. ovever was will advised enough to be silent.
. . . .

l'Cothlng could IsTle.s; iitercsigthan the judgment.
Colonel Merlin read to rapidly as to be almost inau-
dible, the questions, amounting to no less than 517
which were submitted to the Court. Then he read
the votes of the court upon the different articles
of the code which the pi-mixers were alleged to have
Mfringed. There were many votes of 4 to 3 and 3
to 4 which aimided capital punishment. The end of
all was that, if the 17 tirisoners, I lysss, dtrent,
and De-a-amps Ire, msruitted ; Courbet was sen-
tenced to six months' impiisonment and a fine of
509 f. ; Clement to three mouths' imprisonment only.
The other sentences were : —Ferrel, death ; AFA, trans-
portation in a fortress ; Urbain, imprisonment with
hard labour for life ; Ifillioray, transportation Jour.le,
transportation ; Trifiquet, imprisonment with hard
labour for life ; Champy, transportation ; Reg,ll-e,
transportation in IC fortified place ; Lullier, death ;
llestonl, transportation ; Paschal I lrousset, transporta-
tion ; Ferrat ansl Verdure, transportation.
As son as the court had withdrawn, the large hall
was cleared, and a tn lop of gendarmes and soldiers
entered, carrying their nmskets loaded, the bayonets
glittering in the light of the lamps. This force Laving
been ranged in the form of a horse-shoe, in their nil-let
was placed a table on which was placed a powerful light.
The condemned werethen brought in and placed in front
of the registrar, on 1 there made acquainted with the
deelsion Id the court, While Fern, was being informed
that he was condemned to death, he remained qcietly
wiping the glasses of his spectacles. Aid, in spite of
himself, could not restrain a movement of satisfac-
tion. Urban did not seem by any means to relish the
idea of bard labour. I.ullier was perfectly impassible.
All those men . watched each other minutely, but as
they had not the opportunity of disraving their
stoicism to the public, they could only exhibit their
weakness before each other; and they did not seem
to preoccupy themselves much giant the troops, who,
nis in hand, were the sole witnesses of their emotion.
They returned to their cells with a firm step, each
being held by two gendarmes. Assi raised his head
proudly ; 15lgisre assinned the air of a Christian
martyr ; whilst Grousset showed evident marks of dis-
couragement. They all seemed to have suffered
severely from anxiety during the long deliberation of
the judges.