Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-01-05

given be Leo Melllet, two battaliOns OF Fed
eral soldiers entered the school at Arcueil,
violated seals, broke open doors, and carried
off every object of value, including ever
Fifteen thousand francs in railway shares
the savings of the servants attached TO the
establishment. These were impOunded as
national property and passed by kind of
communistc legerdeman into pockets
which were never known to disgorge their
contents. A dozen ammunitiOn-wagon
and eight hired vehicles were needed to
carry off the spoil.
The school only escaped being burnt to
the ground by reason of its weli-flled cell
lars. Once having descended to these lower
depths, the Federals had no desire 10 return
TO the surface, until they had done justice
to the Dominican wines. They drank and
walowed there side by side, like swine in
the mire, till the hour for burning was past,
and thus the school OF Albert the Great
escaped the flames
On the following day Leo Meillet and the
officers began to feel themselves in danger
at the Fort of Bicetre. The army was draw.
ing near. They resolved to eyacuate the
fort and fall back upon Paris, where numer.
Gus barbados, we'll provided with artillery,
made resistance possible, and where the
steep and narrow streets, the labyrlnthlna
windings and twisting Of courts and alleys,
in the old quarter of the city made flight
and cOncealment easy.
Carriages, carts wagons, were hurriedly
reQuisitioned on every hand, and then came
flight so eager that the prisoners in their
easement were forgotten.
Thank Godw cried CASTOR, with wild
thro5bing at his heart forgetting, for the
moment, that he was an intidel. The Yer.
saillaiS will be here in time to save us"
And the good Dominicans, the men who
had turned their house into an ambulance
during the siege and the Commune, and who
had nursed the wounded Fcderals without
question as to their beliefor theirimpiety,
began to offer up their thanl1sgivings, and
murmLr psalms of triumph and rejoicing
those versicles which jew sh captives Of
old had sung by the waters Of Babylon.
Alas for those pious hearts uplifted in
gratitude to the great Delivercr! not thus,
not by Versailles, was their deliyerance to
come. They were to pass 10 paradise by a
rougheT road. Their joy had been prema-
ture, for they had reckoned without Seri-
zier.
And yet this Serizier was one of the mas.
tcr-inds In the Partisan pandemonium. A
hood the tyrant and The terror of a great
curriers' factory at Bellevile, and in the
revolution of IS he had been leader OF the
mob which hanged the proprietor of the
factory ut his own door. lie had been con-
demncd for some political offence during
the Empire, and had taken refuge in Bel
GUM. He reappeared in Paris soon after
the 4th of September, and played an impOr-
tant part in the siege.
After March 18Th he became secretary to
Leo Meillet and later chief of the 18TH
legion. lie commanded twelve battaliOns,
which fought We'll at Issy, at ChatillOn, and
at the Hautes-Braycres. Amongst these
battaionS there was one which lie favored
above all the Others, the 10l-t his own par.
ticular battalion, composed of his friends
and companions.
A man Of fiery temperament, great talk
er, deep Grinker, a workman without in
dus'ry, living uTOn money cXtorted from
the pablo assistance, SrZier exercised a
strong influences upon the ignorant and
bruta il IS who surrounded him. lie was
feared and obeyed by all the 18Th arrondis-
sement, which trembled before him. Ills
hatred against the priests vas a passion
that almost touched on lunacy. lie had
prOfaned the churches by his foul orgies
and it was only the entry of the troops from
Versailles which stopped him from selling
sanity relics and sacramental plate by auc.
ton. Assassin and incendiary it was his
hand which fred the famous mandatory
of Gobelins tapestry.