Morris tribune., 1901-08-03
The DQIhe0PeTe. -ClQiSe
A STORY OF THB
PARIS COMMUNE.
By Alphonse Daudet.

l&-@-@-@-@-es~ y - es-@- @-@e
A battle here7 But there never was
any battle. It's an invention Of the
newspapers.
+ Here's all that actually did happen
On the evening Of the 22d, which was
ESunday, we saw some 30 federal ar
Etillerymen come up with battery OF
Ia FOUNDERS and a miltrailleuse Of the
new kind. .-.....f-,-...,-.,
They took position right above the
cemetery, and as, that part. was in my
beat it was I who had to meet them.
Their mitrailleuse was there ut that
corner Of the path near my box, their
guns little lower on the level.
| AS soon as they came they made me
open several chapels. 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 a little
speech: "The first hog that touches
anything, I'll smash his jaw for him!
Break ranksp' :,
He 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 1t as settled. and
I will do them the justice to say that
they did not take thing from the
monuments, not even the Duke of Nor
ny's cruciix, which they say is worth
1900 francs by itself.
For all that, they were a lot of ras-
Gals, these gunners Of the commune.
Second rate artil1erymen, they did not
I 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
Favronne, where the emperors nurse
Is buried.
They put their wine to cool down in
the Champeaux vault, where there is
spring. Then they had their women
come. The whole night they drank
and boozed. 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: "Fire at the Louvre! Fire at
the Palais Royaly' 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
selves about that. It did not seem pos
sible that the Versailles troops could
advance under the cross fires from
Chaumont, Montmartre and Pere-la-
Chaise. What brought them to their
senses was the first shell the sailors
sent us when they reached the Mont
martre hill. They expected it SO 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, I Just
had time to throw myself fat on the
ground. At first our artillerymen be
heved that it was a mistake in aim or
some comrade on a spree.
But that was just the beginning! At
the end of five minutes there was
Montmartre blazing out again and an
other big bombshell coming down upon
us just as straight as the first This
time my DULLES let their guns and nil
trailleuse 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!' 80
The old fellow, left there alone under
the shells, stood like brave devil in
the middle Of his battery and cried
with rage to see his gunners had de-
serted him. 43%vs
All the same, toward evening, at pay
time. some Of them came back to him.
Hold on, sir; look at my proofs. There
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 as they came along:
"Sidaine, present; Chomleyras.a pres
ent; Billot, Vollon." a3if
AS you see, they were not more than
four or five, but they brought their wo-
men with them. All, shall never for
get that pay night! Down there Paris
was blazing, the Hotel de Vile, the ar
senal, the warehouses, full Of goods.
In Pere-le-C haise you could see as in
broad daylight. The Federals tried to
settle down to their guns again. but
they were not enough, and then Mont
nartre made them afraid. Then they
went down into a vault and set to
and singing with their wench-t
es. The old man had seated himself
between these two big stone figures at
the door OF the Favronne tomb and
was staring at burning Paris with a
terrible look. You might have said
that he suspected It was his last night. I.