The Indianapolis journal., 1894-01-08
SPIRIT OF ANARCHY
Interview with Valiant, Hero of
the Paris Sensation.
Seizing of Anarchists Correspondence
Brings Out the History of the
Famous Reclus Brothers.

daring outrages perpetrated in Paris since
the days of the Commune. Valiant him.
self was wounded by a nail from his own
bomb, which penetrated his thigh. After his
arrest valiant said TO the juge d'instruc-
ton VINO examined him, that he obtained
the sum OF 1O0f from a prosperous and
militant Anarchist. The money, il was un-
derstood was TO be expended in making ar
rangements for grand coup. He deter
mined that the coup should be made in the
Chamber of Deputies, and at once set about
procuring the materials to make a bomb.
He purchased the chemicals in small quanti-
ties at various shops, pretending that he was
a dyer and wanted them for use in his
business. 1t took two weeks to procure ma
terial enough for his purpose
The arrangement of the tube that was in
the bomb he had found especially trouble
some. 1t was necessary that the middle of
the tube should be narrowed. To do this he
warmed the tube over a candle, and when
II was sufficiently heated he twisted it so
much to make the opening the proper size
that it broke in the middle. He destroyed
fourteen tubes before he succeeded in getting
one fixed TO his satisfaction. Then he put
the tube in saucepan, first filling one end
with picric acid. A cotton plug in the
middle of the tube and green powder in the
other end. The closed end surrounded
with powder. The remaining space in the
saucepan he filled with three pounds of
nails. The bomb was finished on Friday
night and ne fastened the cover tightly
with iron wire
on the Saturday the day the explosion
occurred, he placed the bomb on his stomach
between his trousers waistband and flannel
belt that was twisted several times around
his body. He then boarded a tramcar at
Mount Rouge and proceeded to the Cham
Der of Deputies. When asked if he did not
fear that the bomb would explode on the
journey. valiant replied:
"'Well, what about it? My tripes would
have been blown out. that's ALL"
Continuing, he said that at quarter past
IL in the morning he took place in the
line of people outside the chamber He had
q card of admission, which ne did not use.
Inside he was made To remove his over
coat, but to this he was Indifferent as his
Jacket hid the machine
You meant to escape after the explo-
siong' Queried the juge d'instruction.
NO" replied valiant, Il wanted to
benches and afterward mount the rostrum
and explain the act. Unfortunately wOm-
ans arm touched mine. and this made the
bomb explode too soon.
He then answered, in reply to other
questions, that nail nit him on the nose.
n.
others from the gallery.
The juge dinstruction asked him: "Since
you did not wish TO flee, why did you not
valiant replied: Il wanted TO see the eff
feet bombs would produce 1t made me
grin to hear the ladies explain to the mag
istrate that the bomb had a fuse a foot
long. which they saw lighted. Everybody
was maddened and dazed. My neighbors in
the same gallery passed me several times
without recognizing me- 1 grinned when /
saw people who were merely scratched act
as though they believed they were bound
TO succumb to their INJURIES The prison
er said ne noticed that the wife of a deputy
the doctor was bathing it she screamed,
'Oh. you are killing me-
DO you know that the Able Lemaire. a
deputy, was gravely wounded?' asked the
Juge d'inStruction.
TT served him right" answered Valiant:
''the place of priests is not in the chamber
But General .Billot was also wounded"
said the Judge, tentatively.
All" valiant laughingly said, "he might
have drawn his sabre and shouted
'Auvergne.' as a battle cry"
But many innocent persons were
Valiant replied: This affair was only a
warning. II / had used balls in the bomb
instead OF nails many people would have
When asked why he had committed the
crime the prisoner replied,
society forced me TO do 1T. / was in
miserable circumstances. 1 only regret los
ing one thing-my. daughter. All the same
j am glad. You had better guillotine me-
for if 1 am acquitted / must be released.
This bomb affair may seem a Joke. but II
Is one that l would commence again within
THE RECIUS FAMILY.
The police have found among the docu-
ments seized at the residence of Elisee
Reclus sixty compromising letters from
French, Swiss and German Anarchists The
name of Reclus has been frequently in
the Paris press since Vailant's outrage in
the French Chamber. Paul Reclus. another
brother of the Jaques Elisee Reclus, was
said to be as deep in anarchy as Valiant
himself, and that after the affair of Dec
Paul went TO England to secure certain i'm
portant papers belonging to the bomb
thrower.
This family and its history are well
known Their father was a Protestant min
lister. who brought ND his five sons and
seven daughters at Orthez, in the Basque
country. He tried TO instil into them re-
Ig1ous principles Their mother was an ar
dent religious devotee, who conducted for
forty-ive years a preparatory school for
young ladies. In spite OF their early sur
roundings the sons, with the exception of
Armand, grew up TO be free thinkers. They
became out and ont Socialists All the sons
are clever. but their peculiar opinions. not
10 say fanaticism. have cost them dear
from a worldly point of view.
The father was for long time pastor at
Sainte-Foy y-la-Grande in the Department of
the Glronde One fine day, finding that he
did not agree with the majority of his flock
Some friends Of his took pity on the chill
uref ana nad them educated. EliSee be-
came a resident in London and subsequently,
left for America, where he found employ
ment In the house of a rich cotton grower
Here commences the romance part The
cotton grower had an only daughter who
one fine day told her father that she was
determined to marry Elisee Reclus The
young man accepted on condition that the
1ather should at once emanciDate all the
slaves in his service. The cotton grower
naturally enough refused to do So and
Recius out of spite married n negress
RecluS mad two daughters and then lost
his wife. He married a second time. sun
brating only the civil marriage This sec
ond wife died and then Reclus married q
third time, suDpreSSng both the religious
and civil ceremony.
Jacques Ellsee Reclus is known through
out the world for his magnificent and
scholarly work, "Nouvelle Geogranbie
JTniversele" which he began in 1S75 and
which last year obtained the gold medal
from the Geographical Society of Paris
He was born in 1880, and is the second
son. He graduated at the University of
Berlin.
ELISEE'S GREAT WORK.
Elisee's scientific work is a monument
OF geographical learning. and. though in
tended for the people and written in a
popular style, II is thoroughly scientific in
spirit and treatment. 1t is interesting
fact that If 1t had not been for the inter
vention OF Darwin and other great scien-
tifc Of England this greatest of all