The Portland daily press., 1872-02-03
PR ESS.
SATURDAY MORNING, FEB. 8, 1872.
A Dramatic Trial.

Another of those remarkable dramatic
episodes with which the Communist trials
have made us familiar, has lately been n,a.
sented at Paris. Early in the month was ar
raigned the party, twenty-three in number
accused of having shot the hostages. As
usual, the culprits embraced every age and
almost every condition of life. Men, women
and children stood shoulder to shoulder at
the bar, as they had stood before at the barri-
cades, and to struggle for their lives. One of
the prisoners, Herault, was a representative
of that precocious ferocity which the Com
mune seems to have developed. He was
! boy of seventeen, "whose fair hair, round
features and pale face" says an eyewitness,
would have beifitted a schoolboy better than
the member of terrible band of assassins.
Yet he did not deny having served as sol
| dler OF the Commune; he is said to have
boasted of having been one of the firing
party that shot the hostages, and witness
OF the massacre testifies that il was perpe-
trated by just such smOOth-faced young lads
as Herault.
Another of the accused was a ''bright,
handsome, proud-looking young fellow"
paper-cutter, named Forteri. He told the
somewhat improbable story that during all
the reign of the Commune he had remained
quietly working at his trade. The "two most
forbidding-looking" rascals of the lot, indeed
made out the most plausible cases, a fact
which may distress disciples of Lavater. But
the crowning sensation was the examination
OF Pigerre, who is alleged to have command
ed the firing-party. His appearance seems
not to have been prepossessing. Indeed, the
correspondent of the London Standard
thinks his face must raise up a terrible
prejudice against him, elf it were not
sufficient to hang him." ''Pale, with
hollow cheeks, sharp nose, sunken eyes,
narrow, retreating forehead, thin, lank,
black hair, thrown behind his ears, he is
evidently Of the true type of fanatic. Yet,
standing there like a wolf at bay, he ex-
torts the admiration of his enemies by
his wonderful nerve and audacty. His
eyes, deep sunk and intense, fastened on
the face of adverse witness, con-
fuse him, and make his truth seem like
falsehood. "They seem like pistol Shots"
says spectator. A dozen witnesses have
identified him as the chief of the firing party,
yet he confronts and contradicts them all.
He even invites the scrutiny of those who are
to pick him out from among his fellow pris-
oners. Mr.. Chevilot, the Mayor of Paris
ian reimbursement, who had been one of the
hostages, was called ON to identify the chief
of the firing party.
In order to get closer survey he went down
from the witness-railing and slowly glanced
along the three rows of captives, until, amid
the breathless suspense of the audience, he lift
ed his finger and pointed to Pigerre 'Voilap
exclaimed Pigerre, starting to his feet and
looking him straight in the face, his frame drawn
up into soldier-hke erectness of attitude, his
CHASTITY pale face rigid with nervous tension.
Instead of avoiding the scrutiny, Pgerre invit-
ed it by stepping from his own seat into the
row before him, and looking at NJ. Chevillot
face to face. The men were little more than q
yard from each other; they looked full into
each others eyes, and at last the witness broke
the suspense of the audience by saying that he
believed Pigerre to be the man.
The same scene was repeated with every
other witness, Pigerre in each case coming
half way to meet his accuser, and almost baf-
fling him with his basilisk glance.
Add to this extraordinary resolution that
Pigerre, though only acabinet-maker, ''speaks
with great force and precision of rhetoric"
and has the ''stern, pitiless, terribly impassive
look of one born to command" and we may
agree with the correspondent that he is no
common man. He will probably be shot, if
he has not already been. And yet, however
much we may execrate the crimes for which
he suffers, it is hard to avoid the reflection
that with many such Frenchmen as this, Sc
dan would have been impossible.-N. Y.
Ty,npa