Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1901-05-10
| The bQIHeOI PeTe-|0-ChQSe
} A STORY OF THE3
; PARIS COMMUNE.
by AlpliOnse Daudet.

9-">-o-.-s-s-Is
A battle here2 But there never was
any battle. It's an invention of the
Here's all that actually did happen
On the evening of the 22d, which was
Sunday, we saw some 30 federal ar
tillerymcn come up with II battery of
Z Founders and miltrailleuse of the
new kind
They took position right above the
cemetery, and as that part WAS In my
beat II was ! who had to meet them,
Their mitrailleuse was there at that
corner OF the path near my box. their
guns n little lower on the level.
As soon as they came they made me
open several chapcls, thought they
were going to smash and plumber ev-
erything down there, but the officer
kept good order and, putting himself
right In the middle, made them u little
speech: "The first hog that touches
anything, I'll smash his jaw Tor him!
Break ranks"
lie was an old man, all gray. with
the Crimean and Italian medals, and
didn't have an easy going way about
him. The men took II AZ settled, and
will do them the justice To say that
they did not take thing from the
monuments, not even the Duke Of Nor
ny's cruclhx, which they say IL worth
1000 francs by itself.
For all that, they were a lot of raa-
Gals, these gunners of the commune.
Second rate artillcrymen. they did not
dream Of anything except TO swallow
down their big pay, three francs fifty.
You ought to have seen the life they
led here In the cemetery. They slept
In heaps In the vaults In Morny's. In
Favronne's, that beautiful tomb OF
Favr0nne, where the emperor's nurse
Is buried.
They put their wine to cool down In
the Champeaux vault. where there Is
a spring. Then they Ind their women
come. The whole night they drank
and boozcd All. you'd have thought
the dead people would have heard their
jokes!
All the same, In spite Of their clumsi.
ness these robbers did Paris great
deal of damage Their position was so
fine. From time to time would come
an order: "l1lre ut the Louvrel Fire at
the Palnls Royalw Then the old sol
der would aim the guns, and the petrO-
leum shells would fall into the city at
every discharge.
What was going on down below no
body knew exactly. We heard the fir
Ing coming nearer. little by little, but
the communists did not disturb them
selves about that II did not scem pos.
slble that the Versailles troops could
advance under the cross fires from
ChaumOnt, MOntmartre and Pcre-la.
Chaise. What brought them to their
senses was the first shell the sailors
sent us when they reached the Mont
martrc hill They expected It 30 little!
As for me, was right IN the middle
Of them all, leaning against the Morny
monument. busy smoking my pipe.
When | heard the shells coming. ! Just
had time to throw myself Hat on the
ground At first our artlllcrymen be-
lieved that II was II mistake IN aim or
some comrade on n spree.
But that was just the beginning! At
the end Of five minutes there was
MOntmartrc blazing out again and an
other big bombshell coming down upon
us just M straight NJ the first This
time my bullics let their guns and NIL
trallleuse lie where they were and
stretched their legs to save themselves.
The cemetery wasn't big enough for
them. They kept crying out: 1--WE are
betrayed! We are betrayed"
The old rllow. left there alone under
the shells, stood like n brave devil In
the middle OF his battery and cried
with rnge 10 see his gtIInors had de-
serted him.
All the same. toward evening. ut pay.
time, some Of them came back 10 him.
are still the names Of those who came
to draw their pay that evening. The
old man called out their names and
wrote them down AZ they came along:
"Sidalne. present: ChOmlcyras. pres
ent; IIlllot, Vollon."
AS you see. they were not more than
four or five, but they brought their wo
men with them. All. shall never for
get thnt pay night! Down there Paris
was blazing. the Hotel dc vile, the ar
scnal, the warehouses, fun Of goods.
In Pcrc-lc-Chaise you could SEE as In
Lea oil al l. nj asI In
settle down TO their guns again. but
they were not enough. and then Mont.
martre mudc them afraid. Then they
went down into n vault and get TO
drinking and singing with their wench-
es. The old man had seated himself
between these two big stone figures at
the door Of the Favronnc tomb and
was staring ", burning Paris with
terrible look You might hnve said
that he suspected II was his last night.
From this time on do not know
very well what harp"ucd. had gone
to our place tlrn little hut you SEQ
down there hid In the branches. | was
very tired I hay down. all dressed. on
my bed. keeping my lamp lighted ms II
II were n stormy night. Al Of sud
den there WINS n rough knocking at the
door. My wife, all In a tremble. wen
TO open II. We believed we were going
10 see more Federals. II was the navy
"a captain, ensigns, u surgeon. They
said to me: Get upl Make W. some
coffee"
got up. made the coffee for them.
You could hear In the cemetery a MUIR
mur, a confused movement, as II all
the dead people were rousing them
selves for the last judgment. The OIL
GERS drank very quickly, standing up;
then they took me outside with them.
The place was full Of soldiers aud
sailors. Then they put me at the head