El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-09
BY PhuI ViIIiers.

1T WAS a cold, gloomy day towards
the end of November, 1870. The
i siege of Paris was in full swing.
The German enemy had surrounded the
CITY with a ring of bayonets and guns
and the air was heavy with he pow
On the corner of Boulevard Magas
and Rue de Bercy Victor Rameaus
wine room was full of motley crowd
mostly soldiers. At a small table near
the wall two men were sitting and al
another table close by sat another
alone OF the first two one was
Jacques earlier. sergeant of the Ma
tfonal guard. The man with him was
a small. heavily built, middleaged fell
low. with dark hair and a full beard
His hair was coarse and unkempt
his face black and dirty, where It was
not hidden by his big beard and his
clothes were worn ragged and stained
with mud He had given his name as
Pierre Dubois and said that his home
was in Ardennes- The third person
sitting at the small side table was Col.
de Breze, of the National guard.
Pierre Dubois had dark lines under
his eyes. his face had hungry eX-
body was shaken by violent attack
Il would join the army on the spot.
he said, 'if they would only put me IN
a place where it was not too cold and
You surely don't look as you could
stand very mucn, Salu the sergeant
but why do you want so much to be a
'sTn tell you. want to be I soldier
to get revenge I fought at Soudan,
where I was made a prisoner by the
Germans. They treated me badly and
I swore then that If I ever had chance
I would revenge myself on German
prisoners. I suppose you have quite a
lot of them nova?
Yes, quite a lot
Then please give me a job guarding
them. will watch them night and
day."
Col. de Breze turned around
Sergeant" he said, I'VE need that
fellow; I can use him at La Force"
At the words of the colonel a CLEAN
OF joy came into Pierre Duboiss race.
The colonel addressed him directly.
Are you used to military service?
Yes, colonel, I entered the army as
q. volunteer when was 20, served Tor
four years and then enlisted again. /
should probably have been at Trochu
now If the Germans had not captured
me and held me a prisoner until gave
them the Slip
But how did you escape and how
did you get through their lines into
the besieged city?'
Il slipped through on dark, stormy
night"
German prisoners"
Yes, have no higher wish"
All right, your wish shall be full
.
at La Force and I can make use of
you there"
On the same day a prisoner was sit
ting in one of the darkest cells of La
Force. In most cells several prisoners
were in together, but this man was
sentenced to death and was sitting
alone. He was young man, not over
80, blond and handsome. He was a
German by birth, though he was
dressed now as a French workingman.
He was a cultured man and his name
was Otto MaXimillian.
Poor Miximillian, In an excess OF
military zeal and patriotism he had vol
unteered to 90 into Paris and return
with sketches of the interior fortifi-
cations and information about the posi-
ton of French troops But he had
been caught as spy and sentenced to
death.
He was not to die the death Of q
soldier, nor was he even to be guillo-
tined, but he was to die disg-racefully
on the galloWs, and the thought of this
was torture
The sad day was drawing to an end,
and towards evening, when the warden
brought him his supper he begged for
the last time to be given pen and ink
that he might write a short farewell
letter to his wife. He met with a curt
refusal.
At II o'clock he threw himself on
his hard mattress, and tried to sleep.
He heard the clock striking IL and
few moments later the warden peeped
through the little hole in the door.
If the prisoner had been able to look
strange sight. The sentry outside