The Tupelo journal., 1917-02-09

n commune were hays. This woman
was not nor than twenty years old.
She looked up at lie Moyne with a pair
Of large dark eyes. They expressed a
spirit Of partyrdom.
It was all plain to lie Moyne. The
commune was breaking down. The
barricade had been deserted except by
this Maid Of Orleans, who constituted
herself it's sole defender.
lie Moyne turned, called on a lieuten-
ant to bring the men to a rest, then
went down the barricade to the wo-
man.
Are you badly wounded" he asked.
mo; have a broken Leg
"Who are your
ELISE F0urchet."
What are you doing here alone be-
hind this bartender
Il could not get the men to stay.
They heard that our defenses are bro
ken down in other parts. and they
dared not remain"
And your
Il would not desert
By this time the soldiers had climbed
the barricade and were waving the
tricOlor of France from its crest. LIE
Moyne called upon them to carry it's
defender into a house beside it, going
with them as they did so. There was
only one person besides the captain
and his men, an old woman, who min
istered to the wounded girl. A surgeon
accompanied the soldiers, and he was
called in to set and bandage the bro
ken limb.
Had the damage done by the COM
u ended with its loss of control
perhaps the wholesale slaughter of its
votaries which followed would not
have taken place. When its leaders
found that they were beaten, adopting
the motto of rule or ruin, since they
could not rule they resolved to ruin.
They murdered the archbishop of Paris
and other distinguished persons whom
they held rs hostages. Not content
with this, they undertook to destroy
the city. Paris was then full of beau
tiful buildings. Many Of these were
destroyed, including the most interest
ing, historically considered, the palace
of the Tuileries. the ancient abode of
the kings of France.
1t was these acts of vandalism that
led the government to get rid. SO far as
possible, of so dangerous a portion of
the population Of Paris. The captured
communists were marched out to the
yards of the prisons in which they
were confined. stood up with their
faces to the walls and shot down by
scores. Doubtless many of these be-
lieved that they were dying in a sacred
cause.
Captain LIE Moyne could he have
foreseen< these horrors would undoubt-
eddy have continued to save his pris-
oner from the universal sacrifice.
though he had but little time, and
Elise Fourchet was not in a condition
to avail herself Of a permitted fight.
The only thing the captain could do
for her was to leave her with the wo-
man who was caring for her. He
marched his men away. but the ma
tional troops were pouring into the
city, and when Mile. Fourchet was
found wounded and confessed that she
had received a bullet while defending
a barricade @she was removed to a
prison.
If the communists received a trial
they We're tried in large numbers to-
gether. When Elise Fourchet was
brought before a judge for one of these
wholesale sentences, noticing she was
Of a different class from most of the
others, he asked her why she had en-
gagged in such nefarious work.
Il fought to build, not to destroy"
was her reply. Il did not know that
we were led by bad men. One of our
leaders. Cluseret, fought with the
Union armies In the late wal between
the states of North America, and / sup
posed that a man who had risked his
life in the cause of civil liberty must
be representing the same In
France"
The judge was touched by this ap-
peal and remanded the prisoner to
prison for further evidence. But the
Parisians soon tired Of the wholesale
slaughter Of the communists, and Mile.
Fourchet was never again brought to
trial. In time, when all danger Of a
recurrence of the outbreak had passed.
the prison doors of all communists
who had not been . executed were
thrown open, and among those who
walked out free was Elise Fonrchet.
She ever afterward had a horror OF
the men who had led so many innocent
persons into crime. Not all of them
were punished unless by their own
consciences. A few escaped, others per-
ished in the havoc they had made,
while others were banished from
France. Probably no body of men y