The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-05-01
NIHILIsTs AND FREE JUDGES.
secret sociosle. i'm 1887 and 1859.

secret Societies i'm 1897 and 1859.
A London paper, the Illustrated Times,
of June, 1857, published highly
dramatic account of the doings of
secret society which was then existing
in Paris, and forty-six members Of which
had been arrested and tried by the Inn
perial Courts. The Nihilists of our
times spread terror in Russia more and
more every day, as shown by dispatches,
which report the murder of the Chief of
Police Of Arkangel. the arrest of the
Chief of Police of Yalta as being re-
yoluntionist, the proclamation of martial
law at Odessa. the resignation of the
Prefect of st. Petersburg, because of
threats to assassinate him, etc. 1t is
curious to see how the Police of Napoleon
Ill watched and destroyed a secret
society which, though having specially
Anti-Bonapartist object, seems to have
been organized somewhat as the Nihilists
are now.
From the Illustrated Times Ct London June 1857
SECRET SOCIETIES IN FRANCE.
The members of the secret society of
the Francs JUICES Free Judges), who
were tried and condemned at Paris last
week, were not trapped by the police
without trouble The perseverance,
address, and boldness which the agents
displayed in this little piece of man
stalking are not whit inferior to what
Cooper relates of the North American
Indians following the trail, or to the
exploits which Balzac attributes to his
Contesson, Pevrade, and Corentin.
For instance, one December night,
the secret members were to meet behind
the cemetery Of Pere la Chaise, for the
purpose of admitting some novitiates.
Two agents contrived to dog them by
crawling on all fours, with naked feet,
along the bitches. full of ice by the
roadside. To get to their place OF meet
ing the conspirators left the high road
and took their way across the fields.
The trackers did not give up the pursuit;
they crawled as before in the mud, like
two lizards, and got, without being per-
ceiyed, within four PAGES of forty men
armed with knives, aud of course not
disposed to give any quarter to informers;
In this way these two men were enabled
to collect from the lips of the speakers
some valuable facts wherewith to draw
up the Indictment. The secret members,
on their side, had their scouts likewise.
They were in the habit of sending on
beforehand to the place of meeting two
or three sentries who were to receive the
words of command from the parties as
they arrived. This last year the words
of command were Allbaud Pianori." !"
and last year they were "Courage-the
hour is approaching" There was more
over a password which served as the
sign of recognition. 1t was "Polycracy."
On meeting they used to make private
SIGNS to each other. He who fancied he
had met brother pretended to draw a
sword by carrying his right hand towards
his left hip, uttering at the same time
the syllable Po; the other answered
with quick gesture Of his hand round
his throat, signifying decapitation, utter.
ing at the same time the syllable Ly,
whereupon both in chorus pronounced
the whole sacred word, and held out
their hands for the INTERVENING of the
fingers in the way agreed on amongst
the initiated. The members came to
the meetings with their heads wrapped
up in handkerchief, and their faces
covered with masks. This compelled
the agents to follow through Paris the
individual whose identity they wished
to prove. On most occasions, the mem
bers met solely for receiving other;
into their confraternity. or formally
acknowledging some new dlgnitaries
The receptions were accompanied with
the formalities of initiation, bringing
into play all that phantasmagoria oi
trials-the bandaged eyes, the dagger a
the breast-which is requisite for work
ing on the Imagination Of the neophytes
Each of these, presented by godfather
took an oath in these words: "I sweal
to prefer the democratic, social, anC
universal republic before myself, friends
family, fortune, liberty, and life; nevel
to reveal to any one whomsoever th'
existence Of the society, the places of it
meeting, the word of command, th,
password, and the signs of recognition
and to strike if he were pointed out II
me the traitor who should denounce tn,
Society" Each member was bound t.
yield passive obedience to his immediat
superior. At the lowest degree of tn
hierarchy was the quinturion, or chic
Of five men; above these came the chief
of twenty-five, of fifty, and then tn
centurions. An assemblage cf thre
hundred formed tribe. Each trib
bore, or was to bear, the name of one o
the twelve tribes of Israel. The mem
bers arrested belonged every one of ther
to the tribe of Reuben. The member
did not know all their fellows. Th
simple member was only acquainte
with his quinturion, and this latter onl
with his five men and the chiefs of th
twenty-five besides. The same organic,
ton ran through the decuries, or band
of ten, the centuries or hundreds, an
the degrees yet higher. Lastly, owe
; the chiefs of tribes and the chiefs {
cohorts there was supreme assembl,
: called the Consistory. The investlgi
tions made by the police have failed {
yet to discover the names of the il
dividuals composing it.