The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-11-03
HER REIGN Of TERROR
France Turned Fiend Once a
Century Ago.
AND SHE is STILL FRANCE
Treatment of Dreyfus and
ZoIa Is PortentOUS.

New York, Nov. France Is IN state
or Torment and dangerous unrest I"eney-
eight years without a revolution nave per-
haps exhausted the nations scanty funo
of stability. At beast, in several quarters
there appear omlnous signs OF threaten
ing ,IpbeavaL The Brisson ministry has
fallen after a brief out stormy and SEN
sauonal period of power. A single III
considered act can at any moment pre-
cdpitate q great war with England over
the Nile question The people OF Paris
are in restless and rioting mood. And
under and through all the other elements
of trouble there creeps the poison of the
Dreyfus case
There are those who believe that an
other revolution Of some kind Is due, II
not over due in France. In view OF tnat
fact the horrors OF the great French revo-
luton take on a sort Of present-day III
ierest How much has tns mass Of the
Trench nation changed since 17S2? 10
what degree would the Paris mob OF TO-
day be capable of repeating the atroci-
ties and butcherfes that took place under
Robespierre, Danton, and Marat
in the light Of these questions one feels
a new interest in such work as that
which the Lippincott company mas
brought out in this country under the
e.tle. THE Reign of Terror" Il consists
of two volumes of authentic narratives
Of eye witnesses of the a.orrible massa-
cres Of the revolution-especialiy those Of
September 1892 by which the murderous
- L.. Tod - ed
prisons under a bloody mockery of judi
cial methods. i IS a book Of almost I'M
diluted horror, many Of the details being
unit for general perusal, and in its en-
tirety It IS the record OF a mass of crime
which stands without a parallel in the
annals Of the world.
MASSACRES UNDER ROBESPIERRE.
\ brief extract from the preface VII
give a fair idea Of the general subject
of which the personal narratives of VIC
Tins form a part:
who has not heard Of the massacres
In the prisons of the I'd and Sd Of Septem-
Der. where upwards of L. 900 innocent vic
tins, for the most part persons of the
highest responsibility were inhumanly
butchered by orders of the committees
which were then at the head of affairs?
Yet these slorrors were. If possible, sur
passed in the provinces, where the ma
tives rivaled in zeal the sans-culottes of
Paris.
THE period from May 81, 1892, to the
9th Thsrmldor. or 27the of July, 1924. dur
ing which Robespierre and Marat usurped
more than sovereign power, was aptly
designated the Reign of Terror. At that
period virtue and nobility were certain
titles TO prescription or the guillotine;
debtors paid their debts by denouncing
their creditors; criminals punished by the
law denounced their prosecutors and
Judges; those VINO had not places de-
nounced those who had; heirs denounced
those whose fortunes would descend to
them; husbands found It a commodious
way Of getting rid of wives, and children
denounced their parents. One crime and
one crime only is wanting in this dark
cataIogue-no parent denounced his child.
A Paris newspaper writer named St.
Meard was arrested towards the end Of
August, and though he finally escaped
the fury OF the executioners by an unus-
ually eloquent and tactfu defense. ne
went through the most fearful scenes of
the September massacres. After his re-
lease he wrote a pamphlet describing his
experiences under the title, MY Agony
Of Thirty Eight Hours" and so eager was
the public FOR details of those incredible
horrors. that more than 200 900 copies of
ST Meard's brochure were sold.
St Meard was imprisoned at the Alb
baye. and here are few glimpses of what
he saw when the massacres began on
Sept. .:
AT 2:S0 o'clock the dreadful noise which
the people made was terribly increased
by that OF the drums. which We're beat
tng the general alarm, by the three alarm
guns. and by the tocsin, which was ring
ting on all sides. In these moments OF
terror We saw three carriages pass, es-
corted by an inumerable crowd OF furious
men and women, who were crying aloud,
A la Force, A Ia Forcer We knew not
yet that these words were the formula
by which the tyrants were sending all
victims to death