Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-02-25
THE CONTRIBUTION.


concluded had not stipulated for the
south. A wreck of the French army
still held possession of a small bit of ter
ritory on the Swiss border, and the
depredations of the Franconians terrified
the department of Jura. Long stretches
of forest and mountain gorges formed
secret hiding places for single assass1ns
as well as bands melted by national
hatred, and scarcely day went by in
which news was not brought to the gen.
eral in command of the murder on the
march of some poor sick fellow struggling
In the rear, the overthrow of some rider,
the robbery Of an outpost or something
OF the kind The iron general. who had
in command the German division In the
department. of Jura had ordered the
severest reprisals to check the outrages
In order to awaken the interest of the
province to suppress these bands.
Among others, he issued the following
order: -
Yesterday corporal of X regiment
was murdered on the road from Pontar-
her to Lous lie Sa1lnier. As punish
ment for this assassination every city
must pay twenty five francs per capita of
her inhabitants contribution; every vii
lage, fifteen francs per capita. This con-
tribution must be raised ON the east side
of the province by the K brigade, on the
west side by the brigade"
A district was assigned by the brig
AIDES to each regiment, the regiments
divided the districts among the battal-
ions, and in our battalion the disagreed
BILE commission fell upon Lieutenant
Wendt. Wendt was very much out
of humor at the order. Himself raised
among farmers he knew how hard it
would be to collect such an insignificant
sum in such times, especially in the vii
lagos, and how dreadfully severe it
would come upon the poor people to
seize their cattle He resolved, there
fore, to present himself before the COM
mander of his battalion. Having done
SO he declared that he did not think him.
self adapted to rightly enforce such a
command; that if the execution of
it were carried out to the letter
he positively could not stand the weep
ing and lamentation among the poor
women and children that it would cause
The major laughed heartily, ana assured
him that the order was intended to take
strongest hold on the French In order
to check their sneaking outrages; the
lieutenant need not carry it out to the
letter and he could levy the amount
of the contribution according to what he
Judged the circumstances of the villages
, to be. Wendt was rather better satisfied
with this, and in the afternoon marched
along the road toward Lous lie Saunier
with seventy infantry and ten dragons
IN order to turn into one of those beati-
full little roads for which nearly all the
l. L Il
abused Napoleon ILL.,
A few statistical hints from the lines
of the command regarding the villages to
be fined were given to the young officer,
and the first town he came to, which
made quite an appearance, had been
reckoned on as containing about six hun
dred inhabitants. The lieutenant placed
guards at all the roads leading from the
village, left the detachment under arms
IN the large square before the court
house, and had the bailiff of the village
called out. He ordered the rather dis
tingaished man who appeared, looking
suspicious and gloomy, to call together
the councillors of the town. Directly
several children ran in different direc-
tions over the village, and in few mo-
inents old and young began to assemble
before the court house, giving express
sion to their anxious anticipation by
whispered questions among themselves.
At length the corpulent carate appeared
which did not better matters much in
theheutenants eyes-and the assemblage
was completed.
Wendt stepped in the midst of the
peasants and stated briefly that he had
received orders to raise contribution
H. e. Il
that he would allow the bailiff a half
hour to collect it; that IN case of failure
to give the amount demanded he would
seize their cattle; that such fines were
being levied all over the province as pun
ishment for the murder of Prussian
soldier the day before Then he turned
quickly on b heel and commanded:
"Out with your cartridges If this
battalion charges it charges with loaded
musketsi"
Breech-plugs snapped back and cart
ridges dropped in al along the line.
s'Order armsi" and he coolly Lit a
cigar.
There was one moment of breathless
amazement on the part of the French
men, then they broke into groups and
held whispered converse. Every here
and there a party would grow very vio-
lent, but the curate would step between
them and imperatively quen the excite
ment. At length he turned to the officer.
1t was found best for the comprehen-
sibility of both parties that German
should be spoken, although the peasants
understood not word of our mother
tongue.
'Sir," said the curate, "in the very
best of times this village could barely
raise the sum of your demand; now it is
simply impossible to get tenth of it.
Every centime we can possibly raise will
only amount to five hundred francs.''
ssAhl" said Wendt, very much pro-
yoked, ''that is indeed q difference. /