, 1912-06-15

tack from the outside. The house itself can
only by courtesy be described as q villa. 1t
is a one-storied building which in better
days is SAID to have formed part of a popular
riverside restaurant much frequented by
anglers. 1t stands in an enclosed garden
now overerown with struggling bushes and
a few small trees. The house forms one Of
q group of similar cottages that cluster at
the foot of the Eastern Railway Company's
Vladuct, from which it is divided by a mar
row lane, the Rue du Viaduc, leading down
to the river Marine. TIL bandits had laid in
a large stock of mmunition-som say 1000
cartridges, of which they fired over 600
and had pierced .loopholes in the blind walls
of the house. A considerable quantity of
timed provisions was also found on the
premises.
The Attack by Troops and Police.
When NJ. Guichard and bis inspectors,
AIMED with reyolyers and the patent steel
body-shields which the inventor of these
appliances had induced the police to test,
were compelled, after making their fist
summons, TO retire before the bandits fire,
it was at once recognized that it was out Of
the question to rush the place. At first
blocks of stone were hurled down from the
vi&dnct on to the roof of the house and then
dynnluite cartridges were tried. Neither of
these methods of attack, however, produced
much effect upon the building. In the mean
time u brisk fusillade was kept up by the
ZOuaves and gendarmes with their rifles,
and by the police with their reyolvers. Tho
bandits replied with Mauser pistols.
After dark the situation became exceed
ing1y dangerous, as it was impossible to con-
troll the fire Of the besiegers, and many shots
which went wide narrowly missed members
of the police fol ce and the crowd. Lanterns
of all kinds were collected or improvised,
and motor-car headlights were brought into
the firing line to illuminate the scene, until
the Paris fire brigade arrived with acetylene
flares and a large searchlight. The flares
and other torches served their purpose, but
the searchlight, which was to have been
trained on to the house FROM the yiaduct,
could not be got to work.
A Melinite Charge.
At 2 O'Clock this morning the police au-
thorities decided to end the suspense, which
was becoming intolerable, and to employ q
melinite charge in order to blow up the
house. Melinite petards were accordingly
procured from the military depot at Vim
cennee and were successfully inserted by
two young officers of Dragons into one of
the breaches made in the wall by the dyna-
mite cartridges. The formidable explosion
which followed shattered the windows Of
the adjoining houses and even of several
motor-cars which were drawn up in the lane.
AS the smoke cleared it was seen that The
house, although badly damaged, was still
Standing, and shots rang out from the cellar,
in which the bandits had apparently taken
refuge.
Death of the Bandits.
Even those who were nearest to the spot
were unable to follow the incidents of the
closing scene in their sharp and rapid Sc
quence. Some say that after the final vol
ltys which followed the explosion the police
dogs which had been brought down to No
gent by their keepers were let loose into the
ruined building and that they drove the ban
dts from the cellar to the upper rooms.
Oilers declare tAat the dogs refused to en-
ter the garden without their keepers. Sin
gle sLo's were still being fired from the
iiouse, and the crowd, which after the last
explosion had cheered frGntically, now vent
ed its anger and disappointment in cries of
"A mort A mort y Instinctively a rush
forward was made by the troops and police
led by NJ. Guichard, a tall black-coated,
dust-grimed figure with his Tricolor sash of
office straDOad rOund his whist. A notice.