Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-11-15

were allowed to pass, ''the door.keeper
little dreaming, Says Alexandra the Great,
that he was admitting the Revolution"
They went straight to the house of
Hutin's mother, where their first business
was the manufacture Of huge tricolor
flag She contributed her blue and red
curtains, With table-cloth, and all the
women of the household were set to work
to sew the pieces together. BY daybreak
the task was completed. The pole, of
course, gave no trouble, as the one from
which the Bourbon white flag was float
ing would answer. "The flag staff" as
Dumas says, "had no political opinions"
The plan they had arranged was really
Quixotlc In Its extTavagance, and indeed
seems almost Incredible. Making all al
lowance for Dumas bombast, II will be
seen that al the most he has only been
guilty Of the novelist's exaggeration and
though at the time the story Of the ad.
venture was all but secuted, 1t could not
be disproved In Its facts, which are given
with the most minute details Of datea,
names and places. 1t was settled that
Bard and Hutin were to take the flag and
oontrive to get into the cathedral under
pretense of seeing the sun rise from the
tower. II the sacristan made any resist
ance he was to be flung over the parapet
Then, having dragged down the white
flag, and set the tricolor floating from the
tower, Bard was to hurry on to lend his
aid to Dumas, who would be engaged at
the powder magazine. Such was the
dashing plan of these three men
They started at daybreak, and Dumas
made his way to the Fort st. Jean, where
small pavilion, close to the gateway,
was used as the magazine. He dared not
attempt the gate, but, stealing around,
climbed up the wall cautiously, and took
a peep into the fort He saw two sol.
diers busy h0eing in little garden at the
corner. He let himself down again, look.
ed over at the distant cathedral. He saw
distinctly against the sky dark outline
of some figures; then the white flag, after
being tossed about in an extraordinary
fashion that could not have been owing
to the wind, finally disappeared, and the
tricolor took its place. Now was the mo-
ment; his companions had done their part.
He slung his double barreled gun about
him, and began to climb the wall. When
he got to the top he saw the two soldiers
staring with wonder at the strange flag
ON the cathedral; then, cooking both bar.
rels of his gun, he leaped down and stood
before them. One was named Captain
Mollard; the other Sergeant RagOu. He
advanced on them, presenting his piece,
and made them a courteous but hurried
speech, explaining who he was, and his
errand He was Monsieur Alexander
Dumas, son of General Dumas, etc. He
came in the name of General Gerard to
demand the surrender of the powder, and
there was his order, signed by the Gen
eral, which he presented with one hand,
holding his cooked gun in the other. The
pair were much taken back and knew not
4 Al T.I-
who was in command, was seen approach
ing. The matter was explained to him,
and after many courteous phrases treaty
was arranged, by which the three officers
promised their neutrality, and engaged to
keep within doors. Thus the powder
| magazine would seem to have been cap
| tured by Dumas single-handed. 1t has
the air of very brilliant achievement,
and the picture of the hero alone in the
! fort, his finger on the trigger of his gun,
courteously but firmly controlling his
three opponents, is a most dramatic
scene. When writing the account of his
adventure, from which we take these par
| ticulars, however, Dumas forgets that in
the Off ial report furnished to the Mont
teur twenty. three years before, he had
stated that three of his friends were wait
| ing at the gate.
Thus successful, he opened the gate and
! found his friend Bard. To him he hand
ed over the charge of the magazine, and
went away to deal with the Commandant
of the fort, LINERS. He found this officer
| just rising and discussing the news of the
sudden appearance of the flag on the
| cathedral. Dumas laid down his gun at
the door, introduced himself, and made
his demand for an order to remove the
powder. The other declined to acknowl-
! edge General Gerard's order, and said
! that there was scarcely any powder in
| the magazine. The Commandant seemed,
| in fact, rather amused, and smiled scorn-
| fully when Dumas answered that the
| party at the magazine were his prisoners.
Alexandra replying that he would go back
at once and bring proof under their hand
that the powder was there, made his bow,
and retired. He flew back, found that he
was right, and returned presently with
| satisfactory proof that a large quantity
| of powder was in the magazine. But
when he reached the cOmmandant's Office
he found that the party had been increas-
| ed during his absence, and that Lenferna,
| an officer of gendarmes, and Bonvilliers,
| Colonel of the Engineers, were there in
full uniform, and armed. The Comman-
| dant addressed him in a sort of bantering
| tone, telling him that he had sent for
these officers, who, With him, were in
| command of the town, in order that they
might have the pleasure of hearing NJ
Dumas explain his mission. The young
man saw that boldness was his only re-
source, and cOolly told him that he had
been engaged by Lafayette to bring the
powder to Paris, or to lose his life, and
that he insisted on the Commandant hand
| ing over that powder to him. The officers
| passed on Gerard's order from one to
the other with a sort of smiling con-
! tempt
"And so," said the Commandant, in
| the same tone, $50, single-handed, Mon
sieur Dumls-1 think you said that was
| your name-you propose to force me to
do this. You see that we are four"
The young man saw that matters were
coming TO crisis, and took prompt res
olution. He stepped back, pulled his
double barreled pistols from his pockets,
and presented them at the startled party.
"You are four" he said, gentlemen
But we are five. If that order be not
signed in five seconds, l give you my
word of honor | will blow your brains
out, beginning with the Commandments,
therer
He owned he felt little nervous, but
he was determined.
| say. am going to count Ons-two-
three"
At this critical moment side door was
flung open, and alady flung herself among
them in a paroxysm of alarm.
"Agree agreel" she cried. "Oh, this
is another revolt of the negroesl Think
of my poor father and mother, whom they
murdered in ST. DOmiDgoW
Alexandra owned that the lady's mis-
take was excusable, considering his own
natural tint (deepened by violent brown.
ing from the sun), and the peculiar char.
acter of hair and voice. But we may Won
der at the insensibility to ridicule which
could prompt him to set down such a jest
at his own expense. The truth was, he
was so filled with vanity, that all the
Hicer senses became blunted, and he was
even unconscious of the roars of laughter
these foolish condolences produced. The
COmmandant could not resist the entrea.