The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-12-29
DRAMATIC FRENcHMEN.
Even In the Heat Of Battle They Dc
Things with . Flourish.

Even In the Heat or Battle They DC
Things with . Flourish.
For another hour or more my neigh
bors, the communists, who had been
reinforced, gave pause to the Versail-
list effort to descend the boulevard
Haussman, and were holding their own
against the Versaillist fire from the
church of the Trinity and the barricade
on the rise of the Rue Lafayette,
writes Archibald Forbes in the Century.
The house at the right hand corner OF
the Rue de la Chaussee d'Antin aud the
Rue Lafayette--the house whose pro-
jecting gable was my shelter-had
caught fire, to my disquietude and dis
comfort; but before the fire should seri-
ously trouble mo the impending crisis
would probably be over. Furious and
more furious waxed the firing all
around. About the opera house it was
especially fierce. / had glimpses of
fighting at close quarters in the open
space before its rear front, and could
discern men shuffling along behind the
low parapet of its roof. They carried
packs, but could not see their
breeches, and was not therefore wholly
certain that they were Versaillists. A
woman had joined me in my position
behind the gable - woman who
seemed TO have charmed life. Over
and over again she walked out into the
fire, looked deliberately about her, and
came back to recount to me with ex-
cited volubility the particulars of what
she had seen. She was convinced the
soldiers on the roof were Versaillists;
yet, as pointed out TO her, the drapeau
rouge still waved above the statue on
the summit of the lofty building. The
people of the hotel in our rear clearly
shared her belief Gathered timidlv in
the porte cochere, they were crying
Bravo and clapping their hands, be-
cause they hoped and believed the Ver-
saillists were winning.
The woman was right; they were
versaillist linesmen whom we saw on
the parapet of the opera house. There
was cheer; the people Of the hotel ran
out into the fire, waving handherchiefs
and clapping their hands. The tri-
color was waving above the hither
portico. The red flag waved still on
the farther elevation. "A ladder! a
ladder to reach it.' was the excited cry
from the group behind me; but for the
moment no ladder was procurable. AS
we waited, there darted down the
boulevard TO the corner of the Rue
Halevy a little grig of fellow in red
breeches-one of the old French ]ines-
men breed. He was all alone, and ap.
peared to enjoy the loneliness as he
took up his post behind a tree and fired
his first shot at a communard dodging
about the intersection of the Rue TAFT.
bout. When is Frenchman not
dramatic? He fired with an air; he
fired again with flourish, and was
greeted with cheering and hand-clap-
ping from the gallery" behind me, to
which the little fellow was playing.
Then he beclxoned us back dramatically
for his next shot was TO be sped up the
Rue Lafayette at little knot of com
munists who, from fragment of shell
ter at the intersection of the Rue La
fitte, were taking him for their target
Then he faced about and waved biz
comrades on with exaggerated gestures
which recalled those one sees in I
Observation-Disclosures melodrama, the com
munist bullets all the while cutting ths
bark and branches of the tree which
was his cover. Ali he was down
Well, he had enjoyed his flash OF reck
lessness. The woman by my side and
darted across and carried him IN. W.
might have spared ourselves the trouble
and risk; he was dead, with bulle
through his head.