The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-07-11
A CRANK IN PETTICoATs.
Louise M;ehePs Trial and Sentence-PersOnal
Appearance of the Prisoner.
Paris Letter in Chicago Tribune.

body crowded forward to shake hands with a
large woman who sat on a dais about twenty
feet in front of me-. Her | recognized as
Louise Michel, the chief prisoner at the bar.
Inquiring if the court was in session, L
was answered yes; but the trial was over
and the jury had retired from the room
to consult and the judges to take lunch.
The crowd surged to and fro in
the freest of humors-evidently a
country. Men cried: Mitchell Michel!' and
there was an uproar; women laughed ex-
cltedly, stood on the tops of benches and
sang, here and there, little snatches OF song.
Every now and then somebody raped on a
high desk at the other end of the room, but
nobody paid the least attention to it. Be-
yond that desk, on the wall of the room, was
suspended a great picture of the cruciixioe,
unnecessarily repulsive in its details, and on
the left of the desk, in a high niche, stood an
ideal bust of Liberty, superseding n bust of
Louis Napoleon that was there twelve years
ago.
The woman in front of me was a study.
Dress her in a mans clothes, and she might
pass anywhere as a man. Tall, strong, fear
less-looking-a woman of tfty-odd. Eyes
that quite contradict the ~mouth-eyes a quiet
gray, gentle, smiling, almost pathetic-mouth
large, irregular, obtrusive, carried by an in
flexible jaw that a clumsy blacksmith might
have put in recently. Black hair, streaked
with gray, combed severely back, every FEM
mime ripple relentlessly subdued. cut short
behind and falling square upon her Shout
ders. She is dressed in plainest black serge,
with a little knot of it at her throat, but no
bow or ribbon anywhere. She looks serious
even when she smiles. She sits between two
young men who share with her the attention
of the audience-common-place looking fell
lows, who might pass for her sons if they
seemed more earnest. These are her "fellow-
| OO ncnirofo - - r+hA ,aorobo1 OF bnr cilo
Pouget and Mareuil. When she sits they sit,
when she stands they stand beside her.
This is the woman who, being a%rraigned for
trial and being offered a lawyer, said scorn-
fully, mo! | will have none of your hireling
lawyers. l will plead my own case. Il know
it better than they do, besides which, Judge,
you have not summoned me here to do me
justice, but to sacrifice me-" So she has de-
Tended herself in the trial.
TIT crowd is obviously tired waiting.
Some shout, "Fetch in the jury!'' at which
there is much laughter. At my right a
griset stands ON a bench square against the
wall, and hirts desperately with two fellows
standing at her side and one sitting at her
feet, and she seems to succeed in entertaining
them all. Her lips are red with vermillion;
her waist is of a waspish pattern, like those
of most well-dressed ladies here. One of the
men at her side is gay with red and yellow
an officer of the gen d'armes, or home guards.
l should think; the two Others are lawyers,
each wearing a square black silk hat and a
silk toga falling around the shoulders and
apparently fastened by a cloth button as big
as a pancake on the left shoulder. And
everywhere the uproarious noise continues.
Suddenly there is a movementat the other
end of the hall, and additional excitement,
and a door opens beneath the painted cruci-
fix and admits thirteen citizens-the jury
and under the bust of Liberty another door
opens and admits the weil-fed judges, in
| kloaI- hot, ~,1 onrlot ,aho, N;olo.+ 49,
ping on the desk, responded to by the audi
ence, who UNANIMOUSLY climb still higher
Upon their chairs and benches and I'M
%animously demand, in loud voices, that
everybody else shall sit right down and sit
still. Clamor, confusion, rapping, a break
ing bench, laughter, and a general "Hshi
hsh! hsh! hist! histl' The police and soldiers,
of whom there are a hundred or so present,
take no more part than if they were
dummies. 1t reminds me of a caucus l once
attended in the Fourth ward of New York
city, and of the tumult when the committee
on nominations retired.
Finally the clerk began to read the verdict
of the jury, sending Louise Michel into sOli-
tary confinement for six years, and the
Others for various terms. Then there were
renewed cries of OH OH" and opposition.
we are with you always, Louise Michel"
shouted a female voice in a high key, where
at there was another uproar of responses.
Rochefort sat near Michel, looking at her,
but taking no part in the demonstrations.
An odd face is his-long, thin, eager, cranky;
no beard except a light mustache and goa
tee; an eye like the headlight of a locomo-
tive, the white showing all around; a high
brow, and turbulent greyish hair, tumbling
in cataracts over his ears and rising in a gey-
ser on top.
Accused said the Judge, rising ana
looking at Louise Michel, "have you any
thing to say why l should not now sentence
your
"Only this" she answered, standing up
and speaking in a voice without a tremor,
"that | have been convicted for political rea-
sons. l have said and do say that this is a
sham republic, full of misery. Revolution
is my only hope; my constant demand, revo-
luton! Revolution, the happiness of the
people! For this am | sacrificed"
Cheers and cries of Louise Michel! Mi
chell' broke out again.
Then she was sentenced, the judge add
ing: 81 give you three days in which to APP
peal to another court
'Never!' she said; "never!' Pointing her
bony fingers at the Judge and smiling one of
her bony smiles, she continued: you have
served so faithfully the Emperor that made
you that it would be a pity To-"
They would not hear her out. Cries of adj
miration and denunciation arose. A ser
geant seized her, while n tremendous uproar
swelled through the hall. She had made her
point in abiding to the fact that her judge
was actually appointed by Louis Napoleon,
and had never been superseded by the re-
public.
There were cries of "Michel!' Mitchell
GA la basl" "A la bas!''
"Vive la commune!'
"Vive la revolutionl"
"Vive la republique!'
"a la bas!"
The two men were now sentenced amid
considerable confusion, and the three prison
ers were taken through a side door, Michel
in the rear smiling, and waving her hand to
her friends, who were vehemently shouting
her name.
The court seemed to have adjourned itself.
or perhaps Michel adjourned it with tina
farewell hutter of the hand, for everybody
cried what they would and surged out lust