Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/255

 Towards ten o'clock in the morning, the fort being dumb and having the appearance of being evacuated, the chef de batallion, Barillon, wishing to know the cause of this strange silence, followed by several sappers of engineers, advanced towards the gate. The drawbridge was down, he entered; the fort was evacuated.

The batteries having ceased to fire, the 38th regiment of the line ran to take possession of the defences which had been so horribly battered for the last eight days, and Lieutenant Biadelli received the recompense due to Commandant Barillon. Contrary to their expectations, the soldiers found in the abandoned fort a considerable quantity of provisions, ammunition, and a large quantity of spirituous liquors. In the greater quantity of the barrels was a strong mixture of tobacco and spirits. This decoction had the effect of exciting the courage and rendering the men what would be called in slang terms "fighting drunk," but producing also most fatal results caused by the nicotine. Every man wounded was a man dead. The members of the Committee of Public Safety had but little care for these inevitable accidents, for they professed for human life but a very moderate respect.

The firing from Chatillon and Val Fleury was extremely heavy on Fort Vanves throughout the day, and the shells fell incessantly there and on the ramparts of Vaugirard. About eight in the evening a fire broke out in one of the buildings of the fort, and was blazing till midnight. The cannonade of the Versailles batteries did not, however, cease, and the shells exploded in the midst of the burning mass, raising up clouds of sparks like a firework.

During the day an engagement occurred near the Moulin-Saquet. The insurgents still held the mill, but the regulars occupied some houses near, which a detachment of Communists attempted to take. The combat lasted nearly an hour; the soldiers shot from the