The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-08-27
LAST CARTRIDGES.
''ORr OF THE INCIDENT DEPICTED
IN A CELEBRATED PAINTING.
The Magnificent H. every OF "A Handful OF
French Marines soldiers Whose Brav-
cry Was Recos niAed by Their Conquer

Who has not SEGA print of the IA
nous picture, 1.-THE Last Cartridges, :"
by Alphonse de Melville? The original
is in the gallery of one of New York S
citizens. Well, in that picture the
wounded major leaning against the old
chest and watching through the win
dow the effect of the Turcos last shot
is Lambert, the hero of Bazeilles.
The story Of that picture is brief
enough, and yet il has never been printed
in full in any American paper. 1t is as
follows:
On Sept. /, 1870, the German artil-
lery was thsndoring around Sedan. The
French army was shattered. Its cavalry
had made that last and desperate charge
which brought from the lips Of old King
William the exclamation so often quoted
IN Fronch papers, "Oh, les braves
gensV' At Ba2eillcs, where the French
infantry in scattered groups continued
to fight furiously and hopelessly, dis
putting every inc Of ground with the
enemy, the German losses were severe
On the northern outskirts Of the town a
small number of French marines, barri-
caded in hoasc known as La Maison
| Bourgerie, kept up prolonged resist
ance, actually holding in check almost
an army corps. This handful Of heroes
was composed of Lambert and his men.
The Fifteenth Bavarian regiment in
| vested tho house, firing at the windows,
without attempting TO take the place by
storm. Major Lambert and Captains
Ortus and Aubert directed the fire.
They transformed all the openings of
the house into loopholes, from which
| they poured II deadly fire into the ranks
| of the Bavarians, who were Obliged to
fall back repeatedly. Re-enforcements
after re-enforcements arrived, but re-
pulse followed repulse. The marines
kept up perfect hail Of bullets, against
| which ii seemed impossible to advance.
The Bavarians were moved down
| mercilessly. But the besieged, too had
a hard time of it. The bullets tore into
shreds the mattresses with which they
had barricaded the windows, and the
woodwork was shattered into splinters.
But from the two rooms of the first story
of the building the Fr5Echmcn handled
their chassepots with deadly effect
Lambert, with pale cheeks and flashing
eyes, constantly shouted i'll "A hoarse
voice: 'Stick TO it. boys! Stick to itr'
Captains Ortus and Aubert. each with
a chassepot III his hand, blazcd away
with the rest. The odor of powder was
almost sitting, but the Frenchmen
coolly continued TO use up their last
cartridges. The little troop was gradu-
ally becoming smaller and smaller. The
wounded and the dead lay in heaps upon
the floors. The Bavarian general out
of patience with the extraordinary re-
sistance of that handful Of Frenchmen,
ordered an attack by the artillery. A
shell fell upon the roof, tearing big
hole Ill it, and also in the ceiling just
above the heads of Lambert and his
men. But, fortunately for them, it
burst above, and, strange enough, did
comparatively little damage. A few
men were wounded by the flying pieces
of timber. But the smoke with which |
il filled the place was suffocating and |
almost binding. "Stick to ii, boys.' |
shouted Lambert. And they stuck to is |
AT last the ammunition was becoming |
exhausted. The cartridge boxes of the |
dead and wounded were picked up and |
their supply eagerly grabbed. But it
did not last long. Each one was fired,
the last by Captain Aubert
Then Lambert opened the door and
with n white handkerchief in his hand |
limped out IL front of the enemy. The
Bavarian soldiers We're furious at their |
losses. A crowd of them at the sight of
the Frenchman made dash at him
with their bayonets. but just then brave
Captain Lessignold of the Fifteenth |
Bavarian infantry dashed forward, COW
cred the Frenchman with his body and
sword III hand drove back the men who
were about to butcher him.
So Lambert and all that remained of
his men became prisoners of war. They
numbered about 40, all more or less
wounded. That evening Major Lambert
and Captains Ortus and Aubert were
brought before the crown prince of
Prussia, aftcrward Emperor Frederick
Ill. They offered him their swords.
"Keep your swords, gentlemen, z" said
the crown prince. 'We don't disarm
brave soldiers like you.
On the LIST of September, 1895, Gen
eral Lambert made u pilgrimage TO the
crypt where lie the remains of his COM
panions of that memorable day. Then
he went to sec the Maison Bourgerie.
That establishment is transformed into
"a national museum-that Is TO say, il
is covered and sheltered by another
building, and the original house stands
inside, Just rs il was when Lambert left
il.
But there is one unfortunate mistake
in De Neuville's picture. There was no
Turco in Lambert's band, and the man
who fired the last cartridge was Cap
tain Aubert. The captain must have
smiled when he saw the strange portrait
which the famous artist made of him.
General Lambert is now in the re-
serve forces, having passed the legal
limit for general in the regular army.
Some years ago the badauds of Paris
used To ask each other the solemnly stu
pid question, "Have you seen Lambert?" !
And at that time nobody had seen him.
and nobody had any expectation of ever
seeing him.
But now all Paris has seen him. The
French army glories in him. The Ger
man army honors him, and every one
who has visited a picture gallery or
stopped in front of picture store Ia
any city II the civilized world has seen
his portrait. Le Journal Ofiiciel reports
that he has been promoted TO the dig.
nifty of grand officer in the Legion of
IIo.,o. Noxx, Nnxl S,,a L