Western cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Kan.) 1886-1887, 1886-12-23
ReRnier. the Spy.

One of the very strangest features OF
the Franco-German war was the part
played by Regnier, whose death at st:
Lawrence, near Ramsgate, is announced
in the Paris papers, writes correspond
ent of the London Telegraph. He was
generally supposed to have expired long
since, and l certainly remember to have
seen his decease mentioned some years
ago. He was commonly spoken OF as
Regnier, the spy, and he was condemn
ed by default as SUCH but for my own
part / have always had considerable
doubts on the subject. often met Reg
neir during the progress of the famous
trial of Bazaine at the Trianon, and he
left on my mind the impression of be-
ing vain buSy-body who had got into
trouble by attempting to perform task
which he had neither the authority to
undertake nor the brain to execute. 1t
is quite possible that he may have been
actuated simply by the desire to bring
about peace, and that he may have mis-
taken the wish to make himself import
ant for the capabilIty of becoming a
hero. If he really acted as spy to the
German forces he must have been scurvi-
ly treated by those for whom he is sup
posed to have worked, for he was 4
rich man before the war and almost
penniless afterward. While the Bazaine
trial was going on he did not attempt
to hide his whereabouts, and up to the
last moment he loudly expressed his
determination to come forward as
witness. The day before that on which
he was to appear, however, his courage
failed him. He strolled out with his
gun on his shoulder, as though he were
going to shoot some pheaSants, and he
never went home again. When he was
found guilty by default be had already
crossed the frontier. Yet his running
away is by no means conclusive proof
of his guilt. Party feeling was then
still very high, and everybody who had
been in communication with the imper-
ial family was looked upon with sus-
picion. Regnier may we'll have doubt
ed the result of a public investigation.
Be this at it may, the mystery of his
case has never been cleared up. He
once gave me q collection of the pamph-
lets he had written on the subject, and
he begged me most earnestly to have
them bound in order to insure their be-
ing preserved. l remember having been
amused at the time by the great anxiety
he manifested that his writings should
be saved from oblivion. 1t betrayed
the excessive and inordlnate vanity of
his character, and this vanity is enough
l think to account for much that other
wise would be inexplicable in his con-
duct.
So strange was Regnier's career that
l may we'll remind your readers of some
episodes of it. Giving himself out as
diplomatic envoy to Bazaine, he made
his way into Metz toward the end of
September, 1870. He had long con-
versation with Bazaine, and was then
driven back to the German line. I'm
fortunately, he had reckoned without
his host. 1t was night when he return
ed, and he was fired upon, and narrow
~ escaped with his life. Taken back to
Metz, he had another interview with
Bazaine on the following day. after
which he was successful in returning to
his original starting point without fur
Their mIshap. Many at the time be-
lieved him 10 have been specially en-
powered by the Empress Eugene to con-
fer with Bazaine; it is far more probable
that he had no mission at all. Original
ly wealthy, he had been utterly ruined
by the war, and laundry near Rams
gate, where he died, furnished him in
bis declining years with his sole means
of subsistence.