Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/277



the ramparts, abandoned successively all the parts of the village which they still held, again leaving in our hands a large number of prisoners.

"The occupation of the college of Vânves, effected last night, brings our troops to within a few hundred metres from the fortifications.

"Thus, on all sides, we are approaching the final term of our operations and the deliverance of Paris.

""

The demolition of M. Thiers' residence was commenced on the 13th; by the evening the roof was off, and the workmen had attacked the tops of the walls with their pickaxes.

The house originally belonged to Madame Dosne, mother-in-law of M. Thiers, and now deceased. It was left in equal shares to her two daughters, Madame Thiers and Mademoiselle Félicie Dosne, and was therefore the property of two women, eminently respectable, and entirely strangers to political affairs. Moreover, Madame Thiers has no children, and Mademoiselle Dosne employs a handsome fortune in works of charity; so that the poor would have been the greatest losers by this unjustifiable act, had not the National Assembly decreed to replace the mansion.

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 14th, the Minister of the Interior received at Versailles a telegram announcing that the fort of Vânves had been captured at half-past twelve. Since the morning the investment had been complete, but the operation had been attended with serious loss. Amongst others, Captains Rosheim and Durand de Villers had been killed. The insurgents evacuated the fort through the quarries and underground passages which communicated with the Porte de Montrouge and the military road inside the fortifications, between the