Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-07-26
Incidents of the Paris Revolt.

An English medical student, who
had an appointment as surgeon under
the Commune, had, in consequence,
rare opportunities for seeing behind
the scenes, and into the secret work
ings of the recent movement He says
that the disadvantages under which the
fought was truly marvel
ons. When the peace negotiations of
the Freemasons failed, 'sthe gates were
shut, and the cannon of the Commune
were turned upon their own men,"
Had any attempted to escape, they
would have been inevitably shot down
by order of Dombrowski Drunk
enness was common. Many
of the wounded that he treated smelled
strong of brandy But g there were
many proofs of the logged adherence
of these people to the cause they had
espoused." One man, about forty
years of age, was brought in shot
through the lungs. He was sinking
fast, but raised himself on one elbow,
and said: Citizens, [ am a soldier
of the universal republic. I fought in
'48, and am now dying in III. Tell my
friends that [ died crying V5ue la Com
naatae.' The fellow gasped, struggled,
and rolled over dead. A young Pole
on Dombrowski's staff received ball
in the abdomen His brother, ga tall
handsome fellow" bent over him and
the last words were &C tell Dombrowski
that shall be back presently it is not
from cowardice [ am here. [ shall be
back presently"
As to the attitude of the people, they
received both the reign of the Com
mune and the return of the Theirs
regime with the same exultation. On
the day of the entry of the Versaillists
multitudes of civilians, however, old
and young and very young women
we'll dressed and i'll dressed, joined IN
the barricade movement, and barri-
cades sprung up as if by magic. "Men
in blouse, gentlemen in frock coats,
women in battered clothes, and ladies
in silk dresses, all worked like mad
things in putting up stones or bags of
sand or mud. Little boys worked hard
with spades and pickaxes, as big as
themselves, singing all the time the
Chant du Depart and the Marseillaise. "
X
Then came battalion of women, armed
with the Snider rifle and firing admira-
bly,, and crying ViUe la Commune.
There were many pretty young girls
among them. They fought like devils,
better than the men, indeed, and died
with splendid bravery. He saw fifty
two women shot at one time after they
were taken prisoners and d1sarmed.
The Versailles troops were stung with
modification to think they should be
baffled by women who were far superior
to them in numbers. Some of the
incidents in these women fights were
thrilling in the extreme Our medical
student offered one who was greatly
exhausted some bread and wine.
She declined them, saying: "Fo1
the short time left me [ shall not need
them" Immediately after, the COM
handing officer of the Versailles troops
was heard addressing the women :
"You are brave you have killed two
of my men" The woman burst into a
fierce laughter, and exclaimed: May
the curse of the Almighty rest upon my
soul for not killing more I had two
sons killed at Issy, and two at Neuilly.
Ny husband died at this barricade.
Now do with me as you will" Then
there was the word "Fire," and the
woman fell dead
A lieutenant colonel of the Com
mune, who was a Pole by the name OF
Potokenki, said he had but one priv
lege to ask of his executioners when he
found that all prisoners were shot. He
asked to die in his uniform. Melin
one of the members of the Commune,
ives tied to post to be shot, and his
last words were: eve have lost the
game this time, but our children vii
begin it again some day and succeed. ,
A very common last cry was, especially
of fine looking young women, "Shoot
shoot at once" Some who were about
to be conveyed off, as it was pretended
| for examination, took their stand and
exclaimed: 'tNo, we perish here, save
us the fatigue of that journey"
An English eyewitness says, "Thou
sands were sacrificed without their ex
ecutioners taking the trouble to ascer
tain their identity. The clamor of the
mob was held to be sufficient proof O
guilt" It is calculated that about five
thousand perfectly innocent persons
men, women, and children-have beer
shot,