Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-07-15
THE TIDAL WAVE IS SWEEPING THE LAND

by troops, who were to escort M. Foure
to the reviewing stand Before the We
hicle had proceeded far a tall. fair and
correctly dressed man of about So years
of age stepped slightly in advance of the
crowd and drew revolver, which some
eye witnesses declare he discharged
point blank at the president. Immedi-
ately there was a scene of the greatest
excitement and undoubtedly 1t would
have gone hard with the man had he
not been at once seized by the gendarmeS
who were standing by. He was at once
conducted to the temporary police quar-
ters that had been established near the
Grande Escade, within the grounds. The
man resisted arrest, declaring that he
had done nothing to cause his being
taken into custody. He claimed that he
had not fired the revolver with any inten-
tion of injuring the president and that
in fact the weapon had only been loaded
with blank cartridges. He claimed that
he had discharged the revolver in ex-
uberance of spirits. Some of those who
stood close by him when the president
entered the grounds declare that two
shots were fired. An examination of the
revolver that was made by the police
appears to bear out the prisoners state
ment that blank cartridges were used,
for in four of the chambers cartridges
with no bullets were found. Attempts at
the police station to learn anything fur
ther from the prisoner were of no avail.
He stated that his name was Francois
and refused to say anything further. The
prisoner appeared to be insane.
In the meantime the news of the affair
had spread like wild fire, and the most
exaggerated reports gained credence
The crowd of spectators surged towards
the presidents carriage and the troops
had a difficult task in keeping the ex-
cited people back. 1t took only little
time, however, for it to be learned that
M. Faure was unharmed, whereupon the
crowd cheered the president again and
again.
M. Faure appeared to be entirely I'M
moved by the incident. He had paid no
attention to the shot and calmly con-
yersed with his companions in the car
rage until the shouts and cheers of the
multitude drowned his voice. Then
directing his coachman to proceed, the
carriage which had been temporarily
stopped went to the stand, where the
president reviewed the troops, after
which he was driven back to the palace
of the Elysee.
The police informed a reporter of La
Presse that Francois is the same lunatic
who recently threw bundle of petitions
from the gallery of the chamber of dep
uties into the body of the house, thereby
causing semi-panic among the MEM
bers, who imagined that the bundle was
a bomb.
Late this afternoon Francois was ex-
amined by Prefect Lepine. He was then
more communicative and told the prefect
that In discharging the revolver he mere
ly wished to attract attention. He re-
iterated his statements that ne nao nau
no wish to injure anybody and that the
weapon was loaded with only blank
cartridges.
Francois was formerly a street sur
yeyor employed by the municipal council
of Paris, but was discharged on account
of his presumed anarchistic tendencies.
: The special offense which led to his
tionary verses. He lives at No. 46 Rue
Clery. His residence was searched py
the police but nothing of suspicious
nature was found. The officials believe
that he is insane.
During the commotion which followed
the firing a reputed anarchist named
Boulant was arrested for saying:
"Thats the sort of fellow for me. He
has done the proper thing"
This approval of the outrage Is a penal
offense and Boulant stands good
chance of spending few of the coming
years in prison.
The feeling of the crowd at the review
ing stand was illustrated by its treat
ment of waiter at cafe at the Grano
Cascade In some way this man was
mistaken by the crowd for FRANCOIS ana
a savage attack was made upon MIN.
One of his eyes was torn from its socket
and he was almost lynched before the
police were able to rescue him.
The news of the shooting had preceded
the president to the city and as he was
recognized by the people on the streets
through which he passed on his return
he was greeted with cheers and congrat-
ulations. This evening the diplomats
and large number of prominent
men called at the palace of the Elysee
and congratulated M. Faure. Several
sovereigns sent telegraphic messages of
congratulation.