Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/354

 Several attempts were made by the soldiers to shoot it down with their chassepots; but this, though repeated many times, proved a failure. One man, more daring than the rest, began the ascent of the gigantic figure, and climbing from limb to limb, reached the top in safety. He tore down with his two hands the blood-red banner, while bullets whistled round him, striking every moment the pedestal of the statue, but leaving him untouched.

The Opera House being taken, the position was fast becoming untenable for the insurgents, when a column of the line debouched along the boulevard from the Rue Drouot, and advanced in the direction of the Place de l'Opera, thus taking the barricade in the rear.

The insurgents hastened to make good their retreat by the neighboring streets. Two officers of the 117th battalion, not wishing to leave their cannon and ammunition in the possession of the army, harnessed themselves, with several of their men, to the gun and the artillery caisson, and dragged them away, notwithstanding a perfect shower of bullets and shells. One of the officers carried in one hand the red flag, while with the other he helped to draw the cannon.

Meanwhile a neighboring street, the Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, had also been the scene of a long conflict.

Early in the morning of Tuesday, the troops, who had become masters of the Dépôt St. Lazare the night before, advanced to the assault of the Church of the Trinity, feebly defended by barricades at the foot of the Rues Blanche and Clichy.

Two or three hundred insurgents had established themselves in the church, and were not dislodged without a violent effort. Cannon were brought to bear upon them, and after a valiant assault on the part of the soldiers, they