The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-04-28

| lOTfnS.
l will not give the details of this
bloody drama, in which MacGahan and
myself were called upon, from our pecu-
liar duties and associations, to act rather
conspicuous and unwelcome parts, beyond
| saying that we were in the secrets of the
| communists from the moment they
took possession of the city until the last
of them--the leaders-were either sum
marily shot on capture. subsequently ex-
ecuted after trial by drum-head court
martial, or become forced exiles or de-
ported convicts in the South Pacific
colonies of France. Mounted on horse
back, we rode daily along the lines of the
commune forces, which at their max
imum, reached as high as 200, 900 men,
and were constantly under fire during the
day time, watching the slow progress of
the troops of MacMahon advancing by
barricade toward the ramparts, with the
aid of seige guns and the other expedi-
ents of approach toward a walled city.
During this kind of activity life in Paris
was not without its charms The April
and May weather was delightful in the
city, and the boulevards and cafes were
sufficiently deserted to give an air of
novelty to the lightest- people in
Europe.
1t is mistake to suppose that the
general life of the city was disorderly
du9ng the reign of the communal body
In4act their ephemeral and subsequently
bloody council did some very curious
things. 1t shut up by stern decree all
dram-shops. Gambling was an aristo-
cratic crime, subiecting the offender to
imprisonment, while spelling was de-
clared badge of the privileged orders
and hence relegated to the old notions of
the past. Everybody could spell as they
might choose, and it is a curious fact
that, while the French academy was dis.
cussing the question whether the word
''hypothenusen should be spelled with
or without the ''h the decree abolish
ing spelling,,was bulletined at the Hotel de
Vile. War and promoters of war were
to be considered as assassins and outlaws,
and at the very moment when this was
announced as the law of Paris, the body
of Legislators promulgating it were de-
manding money from the bank of France
and the leading railway corporations
centreing in Paris wherewith to
purchase munition, pay their SOL
diers thirty cents day and
otherwise defray the expenses of their
civil and military carnage. During this
period MacGahan and myself were
quartered in the Place Vendome, with
our horses and messengers, and daily
appeared publicly on horseback or in the
cafes with prominent leaders of the re-
volt, and thus, of course, became marked
men by the mOuchards of the regular
| government. 1t was part of our business
/ to be friendly with them, and many a
/ fine breakfast did have with Bergeret
and his wife and family in the Palais de
/ Bourbon, in the very salon, too, that was
/ previously reserved for the kings, en-
perors and presidents of France; and
suspect it would have been a harder fate
for me if it were known subsequently,
when arrested, how much of the rare old
imperial vintages we despoiled at the
matutinal feastS, when we drank, of
course, to the success of our hosts, with
howsoever a hypocritical smile. After
the long and bitter struggle which the
Commune made to retain possession of
the city, the Versailles or regular army
of MacMahon entered by the Porte
Maillot on the morning of the 22d of
NAV, this gate having been betrayed by
n treacherOus Communist for immunity
and the gift of 500, 900 francs. Thence
forth and until the 1st of June, when a
state of peace was proclaimed and posted
on the walls of Paris, announcing the
triumph of the regular troops, there
transpired the boodiest week in the his
tory of the city since the days when
Caesar was there with his Roman legions.
On the morning of the 23d, all of the
important palaces and public buildings
were fired by decree of the committee of
public safety: the archbishop and sixty
and more priests were summarily shot as
hostages in the prison yard of La Ro-
quet te, and it seemed as if that imperial
and beautiful capital would burn down to
an utter ruin. Explosions were of mo-
meutary occurrence; the cutters were lit
orally running with blood, and in all of
the great and celebrated quarters of Paris,
corpses and wounded were lying as they
fell. In the midst Of this carnage the
bombardment was fierce, and monument
al buildings, like the Tuileries the Lou
vre, the Madeleine and the Triumphal
Arch were being bruised and battered,
while the facades of historical structures
were falling amid flame and smoke. Such
wldness, devastation and destruction
were never surpassed. 1t was at this mo-
ment, and while MacGahan and l were
seated at dinner in an American pension
in the Rue Coumartin, that troop of sol
diers entered the dining room aud rude
ly seized US, together with two American
ladies who were under our protection, and
told us we were under arrest for being
implicated with the communal leaders,
for firing on the troops and in many
ways aiding and abetting the insurrec-
tion. Both of us had on our persons a
score or more of communal and bloody
passes signed by such chiefs as Bergeret
Cluseret Dombrowski, Delacldze, Rossel
and Raoul Rigslut, the prince of tiends
of the entire revolt. BY a clever eX-
pedient we managed to leave these
behind us; otherwise we would have
been shot in the street below, as the