The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-08-13 00:00:00

LYNCH LAW IN PARIS!

I was a witness yesterday afternoon of a highly disgractfu
execution of Lynch law, of which two respectable banking
houses were the victims in the most frequented part of
cicilised" Parts (writes the Correspondent of the Daily
Nora) At about five o'clock, just as a second edition of
the Gatelois had come out with the news of the Prussian
victory at Welssenburg, hsaw • crowd at the doors of the
money changers, MM. Leon and Dreher, at the corner of
the Rue tte Richelieu, on the Boulevard. It was neither a
very great nor a very tumultuous crowd ; and was one which
might easily have been dispersed by the police had It been so
disposed I was on the opposite side of the way, and although
some people near me stood upon benches to see what was
going on, just as they might have done If a poll parrot had
flown out of a fourth-floor window, I did not think it worth
while to crou the street to see precisely what was the mat-
ter. I fancied that the group was struggling t get • number
of the Canton, or perhaps listening to some one reading it
aloud. .

A-rt-"hour later I paned by the lame spot, and saw still a
crowd, and then I saw that the windows of Megan. Leon
and Dreher had been broken, and their Once shut up. Oil
the closed llon shutters I read the following Inscription,
traced in large letters p a very g 'rod penman :—Fernot pour
calom d'inadte a la France Perm,' jusgte,i to price de
Berlin ; Fenn.' pour Union.. A meet le, Pragrien ; the
Summary translation of which phrase Is that the mob had
closed an Important commercial establishment on account
of an insult to France; that it was not to be re'pened till
Denbo should be taken I and that all Prussians were worthy
of death—subaudetur, no matter by what means.
On Inquiry I found that at the moment when the Wessel,
burg newa appeared somebody in MM. Leon and 'holier'.
house, which has two otten titers, abuttieg on the str, et, had
been heard to say "2V etc we are avenged for Saarbrnek."
Some say this expression was used by a partner in the house,
bat that the flrm positively denies i others, that a clerk said
it, am-, others that the gully words were utterel by a
stranger who went in to change a note. flow Ilia relay have
been matters little. It is plain enough that whom r en
pressed the sentiment did not mean to address the public in
the street, but was overheard by somebody who thought it
expedient t, make a row.

At the same time al. llirseh's banking hong° close by, at
No. hO, Rue de Richelieu, was attacked by ano b. The it -
scrlptions on his window shutters were more num, roils and
more ferociona than on the others I read—" Shut up the
him, or tre will pull it donut in fiVe " Art 77.
elk to , xportee,, of Ape:ie to the enemy," "Shut up ti,l
Berlin is taken," "Closed till the end of the tear," "Death to
Proshions"

Numbers of people were looking on from the windows and
balconies ef the Rue de Richelieu, to see the lon, If the
spectacle of a J,,w banker's teeth being drawn had been ex.
Minted, they would probably have enjoyed it all the more. I
never before reall,ed to myeelf the Let that I ant living in
the Faris of 1703 In he present tetnper of this people lean
fancy them guilty of any eremites ; and if the Emperor's arms
should meet with a serious reverse I fully expect to lee acts
of wild violence. All this while the bankers, attacked
by the mob with the connivance of the police, are
the most Innocent men in the world. Id Si. Leon
and Prelim. are Frenchmen and have subserihed
1,000 francs to the fund for the wounded. This morning
the police covered their broken windows with an
enormous placard of white Men, burin these words:
This it a Frent4 not d Prussian house." Theme words of

protection disgracefully imply that any Presiders house may
be ensiled with impunity. M. Paul de Cassagnaeli
threatened "reprioais " for alleged ill-treatmeat of French
subjects Imre come very soon. M. Hirson is no more • Prus-
sian than MM. Leon and Dreher. Mete a Belgian, a natural-
hied Frenchtean, and has a French wife. The suspicion
his mending bullion to the enemy, which pointed him out as •
proper object for mob law, is now admitted by the Govern-
ment to be unfounded. Tao days ago hii house was Invaded
by the policeand seals were maim his books and strong boxes.
But the direct so of the Batik of France to whom he ap-
t ailed, at once cane forward and proved that he had been
giving them gold, which they wanted in exchange for Giver,
and that Lolling could he more legitimate and hal:nivel than
his operations. Iho Government admitted its ermr, and
removed the embargo on M. Illrech's property. Neverthe-
less, his large t stabilshment has been closed all day to his
very great detriment. It Is shocking, indeed, to think that
the Government either cannot or will not preserve order and
protect private property.