The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-15
FIRED ABLANK SHOT AT FAURE
THE LONG CHAMPS REVIEWING
GROUND THE SCENE.

The Crowd Cheers ON AscertaIntuE
That the President l. Not wound
ed-NO Trace of Bullet Found
Anywhere and the Prisoners story
That the Cartridge Was Blank
Believed.
Paris July 4-What Is claimed In some
quarters as an attempt to assasslnate
President Felix Faure was made al 2.5O
o'clock this afternoon al the parade
ground at Long Champs. The day was
the l07th anniversary OF the fan Of the
Bastle and was celebrated in the usual
manner, including a review Of the troops
at Long Champs. which drew a very large
concourse of people. Among those pres
ent was some Of the members of the An-
cient and Honorable Artillery company OF
Boston, who were yesterday elected hon
orary members Of the Cercle Mihtaire.
President Faure. accompanied by Prime
Minister Meiine, Gen. Lemoutan de Bois-
denire. chief of stan Of the army. anu
Gen, Tournler. chief of the presidents
military household. left the palace OF the
Elysee in an open carriage and drove to
Long Champs It having been arranged
that the president should review the
troops As the carriage passed through
the Port du Moulin entrance to the parade
ground 10 was surrounded by troops who
were to escort NJ Faure TO the review
ing stand.
Before the vehicle had proceeded far a
tall fair and correctly dressed man, about
S5 years Of age, stepped slightly in ad-
vance Of the crowd and drew a revolver
which, some eye-witnesses declare he
discharged point blank at the president.
Immediately there was a scene of the
greatest excitement, and 10 would UNI
douotedly have gone hard with the man
mad he not at once been seized by the
gendarmes who ware standing by He
was at once conducted to the temporary
police quarters that had been established
near the Grande Cascade, within the
grounds. The man resisted arrest, declar-
ing that he had done nothing 10 cause his
being taken into custody. He claimed
that he had not fired the revolver with
any intention of injuring the president,
and that I'm fact the weapon had only
been loaded with blank cartridges. He
claimed that he had discharged the re-
volver in eXhuberance 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
iuenl tndl Dlhnk cartridges were uNeut IOf
in four of the chambers cartridges with no
bullets were found. The attempts Of the
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 af-
| fair had spread like wildhre, and the
most exaggerated reports gained cred
enee. The crowds Of spectators surged
| towards the presidents carriage, and the
| troops had difficult task In keeping the
| excited people back. II took only a little
time, however, for It to be learned that
NJ. Faure was unharmed, whereupon the
crowd cheered the president again and
| again
NJ. Faure appeared to be entirely un-
moved by the excitement. He had paid
no attention 10 the shot, and calmly con-
! Versed with his companions in the car
! riage until the shouts and cheers Of the
multitude drowned his voice Then di-
| recting his coachman to proceed, the car
| riage, which had been temporarily stop
ped. went on 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 a bundle of petitions
| from the gallery of the Chamber of Dep
uties into the body Of the house. thereby
| causing a semi-panic among the mem
a bomb.
Late this afternoon Francois was exam
| ined by Prefect Lepine. He was then
more communicative, and told the prefect
| that in discharging the revolver he mere
| ~ wished to attract attention, and had
| no wish to injure any one.
Francois was formerly a street survey
| or employed by the municipal council of
| Paris but was discharged on account of
| his presumed anarchistic tendencies.
The special offense which led to his dis
| charge was the publication of revolutions
airy verses He lives at 46 Rue Clery. His
] residence was searched by the police, but
| nothing of any suspicious nature was
| found. The officials believe that he Is in
| sane.
During the commotion which followed
| the firing, a reputed anarchist named
! Boulant was arrested for saying "Thata a
| the sort of fellow for me. He has done
! the proper thing" This approval Of out
! rage is a penal offense under NJ Dupuy &
ant!-anarchist laws, and Boulant stands a
! good chance of spending a few of the
| coming years in prison.
The feeling of the crowd at the review
ing grounds was illustrated by its treat
ment of a waiter at a cafe at the Grand
| Cascade. In some way this man was mis-
! taken by the crowd for Francois and a
savage attack was made upon him. One OF
his eyes was torn from it's 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 op his return, he
was greeted with cheers and congratula-
tlons This evening the diplomats and a
large number of prominent men called at
the Palace of the Elysee and congratulated
NJ Faure. Several sovereigns sent tele-
graphic messages Of congratulations.