The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1871-05-04
An Extraordinary Incident in
+ - " Paris. #9i h'i g

-
Paris. Z" a'f s.
The Paris correspondent of the
London Daily Ne,cs writes, under
date Of. April s.: i3
!, I was on the Boulevard Montmar-
tire at II o'clock, and passing by the
group of brilliantly lighted cafes, Of
which the best known are the Cafe
Madrid and the Cafe du Cerclc, a lad
twitched my coat and said il low
voice: 81 have copy Of tho Liberte
to sell for fifteen sons--I myself paid
ten sons for it-not word; here it
is" The .Liberte, let me remind You,
is suppressed, and yesterday it was
partly printed when the order Of
suppression arrived. bought tho
surrephtious copy, took a chair in
front of one Of the cafes q forget the
nancy, ordered some refreshment,
end began to read. In little while
a lady, who was sitting near, tapped
me on the shoulder and said: "Par-
don me; am sure you will excuse
me for what nm q going to say
You are reading the LibeYte. My
companion here is q National Guard,
although he is not in uniform, and he
tells me that you will be arrested if
you are not careful" / thanked the
unknown fair, put up tho newspaper,
and turned round to talk to the
strangers who wore so kind.
In doing SO I saw in the open door.
way of the cafe, which was all q
blaze OF light, q Captain of National
Guards talking to Q lady quietly
Whatever words passed between
them seemed to be void Of emotion
and yet, amid all the quietncss of
feature, gesture, and voice, what did
| SEQ? The Captain lifted his hand
and gave tho woman q tremendous
slap in the face. The woman scream.
cd and staggered back, with the
strangcst expression of DO wildermcnt.
There are few things in human life
more pathetic than this look Of DO
wilderment, which is the first express
sion of "a woman's heart when she is
insulted without reason. had only
ono glance to notice this, and 1 saw
no moro of hcr. My attention was
fixed on tho Captain. He was man
to look at--not ungainly OF form
young and strcng, and with u consid.
crable amount of decision marked in
his features, though his manner, af-
ter the slap, was full of furry. L
gazed upon him, because here at
last 1 found that wonder--a brave
National Guard. 1 have heard and
written SO much of cowardice that
for q change l like to contemplate
real bravery. The people collected
around, and called him coward,
and admiS that from some points
OF view the act Of slapping woman
is very cowardly. Tho man was q
rutfian to do what he did but when
we come to talk of courage and COW.
ardice, do think it required an i'm
mense amount Of courage to slap
woman, amid q blaze of light, in an
assemblage Of Frencbmen.
They did not dare to touch him,
because he wore the three silver
braids Of a Captain in the National
Guards; and the proprietor did not
dare to turn him out for the same
reason. Paris is thoroughly cowed,
and afraid to speak what she thinks.
1t is even moro afraid to-day than it
was yesterday; for, after tho decree
of which have spoken, people are
afraid of being arrested and shot.
Once arrested, what is to prevent
you being shot, whom your condem-
nation to this fate depends not on
your guilt, but on the guilt, or sup
posed guilt, of the government at
Versailles? Innocent victims are 10
be shot; and how can we foresee by
what caprice they may not DO So
lectcd?