The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-06-10
THE MYOSOTLS.
An AneedOte Of the French Empire

In 1909 the twelfth regiment of tho
line was garrisOned ut Strasburg.-
| Among the noncOmmissiOned officers
was a sergeant, by name Pierre Pit
ois, a native of that demiciv-
ilized portion of burgundy called
! MOrvan. Brave as liOn-eVcr tho
! first TO advance, and the last to re-
| treat, Pierre's comrades were accus-
toned TO say that he loved but two
things in the world; the smell Of
powder ana the kissing of bullets
| Those who had seen him on the field
of battle, his eyes flashing fire, his
! teeth set, his nostrils dilated, and his
mOustachc bristling like the whiskers
of n hungry catamOunt, were of opin-
ion that carnage was pastime TO
Pierre PitOis, so much so that after a
while his real name was dropped, and
he was known to the regiment by the
sO6riqlLet, "AU0Le-tOut-cru"
One day Pierre asked leave of alb
sence to attend on his mother, who
was lying dangerously i'll, with no
one to attend upon her. He prOmis
ed TO return as soon as she should
have recovered.
The reply to this petition was that
the regiment was in daily expectation
of receiving orders to march, and that
furlOughs, for whatever reason, were
out of the question.
Pierre submitted and said moth
ing.
Two weeks went by, and the colo
mel received another letter, wherein
Pierre announced that his mother had
died without the comfort of his pres
ence. He renewed his petition for
furlOugh of Tour weeks. He could not
specify the reason of his second re-
quest-it was a family secret-but
visit to his home was imperative, and
he earnestly implOred the colonel not
to refuse him this one favor, the first
he had ever asked.
The same answer /! But this time
the refusal was sOftened by verbal
message through the Captain.
"Pierre," said he to the poor fellow,
t'the Colonel is very, very sorry not
grant your petition but you will see
the impossibility of the thing when l
tell you that marching orders have
been received, and tomorrow we quit
Strasburg"
"Ah! We quit Strasburg? Whittier
do we march.
ITO Austria, my brave Pierre, to
Vienna. We are about to have an en-
gagement with the enemy, and that,
to you, is better than a dozen fur
loughs. Hey, Pierre?"
To this enthusiastic appeal Pierre
made no answer. He seemed buried
in his own reflections. Thereupon
the Captain caught him by the hand,
and shaking it vigorously, eXclaim-
ed: "Why, Pierre, are you deaf, my
boy? l tell you, that before the
week is over, you will have brush
with the Austrians, and you look at
me as if you had not heard word /
have been sayingv' ~ a NJ
'I hear you, Captain" replied
Pierre, wearily, "and thank you for
the information"
al thought so, | thought So"
"And so there is no hope of a fur
Tough, Captain ?"
"Why, man, you must have lost |
your senses, to dream of such q thing.
A furlOugh on the eve of a campaign I
The very request smacks of insubord-
nation"
"Ah! Does il? Well, then, [ with
draw my petition"
''You are right"
On the morrow of the twelfth |
. marched into Austria, |
but Pierre remained behind. He
had deserted.
The battle of Wagram was fought, |
and three months later the regiment |
Suasburg in triumph |
while poor Pierre was being conveyed |
to the barracks a,prisoner-a captured |
deserter. H-. .er7g-. ar- |
A counsel of war was called, and it |
was proved that AUdLe-tOUt-cTu had |
deserted at the very time when his |
regiment was about TO face the enc
my.
The trial was very singular one. |
The prosecution made the following |
address to the prisoner:
t'Pierre PtOis You, one of the |
bravest soldiers that ever fought for |
France who wear the legion of hon
or; you, who have never infringed |
the most trifiing regulation of the
cannot have deserted your /
cOlors on the eve of battle without |
some motive so imperative that your
desertion must be attended by extern
uating circumstances. What these |
are, the council would |
gladly learn. They have 10 power to
acqEit you, but they would be happy T
to recommend you 10 the clemency |
of the Emperor, and make an attempt |
to obtain some mitigation of your
The prisoners only reply was this /:
II deserted without any motive |
that would recommend me to the
mercy of the Emperor. Were it to |
do again, would do it; therefore l |
deserve death, and am here 20 receive |
my sentence" Fe4fg. -erst
Everybody was astounded: but a /
of Pierre's comrades believ-
ed him to be insane, and said that he |
ought to be treated as a lunatic and |
sent to the hospital. And Pierre's de- |
sertiOn was so inexplicable to all that
knew hint so completely set at |
defiance all calculations based upon |
of the mans character, |
that the idea of his lunacy gained |
ground, and the propriety of c0mmu-
ting his sentence to cOntinemet in I
hospital for the insane, was seriously !
When re-eXamined, how /
ever, the accused was so positive in
asserting his guilt, and in proclaim
ing his impenitence that it was i'm
possible to put in any plea whatever
Tor mercy, and he was condemned to /
be shot.
He heard his sentence with unruf-
ned eomposure, and, though strongly |
urged to make an appeal for pardon,