Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/375



Paris on the morning of the 24th—Incendiary orders—Proclamation to the soldiers—M. Thiers' speech in the Assembly—Porte St. Denis—The Theatre of the Porte St. Martin set on fire—Massacre of women and children—The hostages transferred to La Roquette—Massacre of the Archbishop and five other persons—Monseigneur Darboy—M. Duguerry—President Bonjean—Visit to the Archbishop—Progress on the right bank—Saint Eustache—The Palais Royal in flames—Occupation of the Faubourg Saint Germain—The Pantheon taken—Explosion of a powder magazine—Arrest and execution of Raoul Rigault—His character—His extravagance—Cannonade from Montmartre—Night of the 24th—Conflagration of the Palace of Justice—The prisoners of the Conciergerie.

On the morning of the 24th, the districts delivered by the army on the previous day had the appearance usual on some grand fête. Tricolored flags floated from almost every house, while the streets were filled with the curious, anxious to see the results of the terrible struggle which had kept them prisoners so long.

The Boulevards des Capucines and Malesherbes were particularly frequented. The latter, from the church Saint Augustin to the Madeleine, gave strong evidence of the desperation with which the struggle had been here conducted. The shops had particularly suffered. The heavy iron shutters of one had been pushed up, and projected outward at least two feet by the force of a shell. The windows of most of the houses were broken. The pretty little newspaper kiosques that line, here and there, the boulevard, had been broken to fragments; while branches of trees strewed the ground, dipping and staining their bright green foliage in a dark liquid, recognized with a shudder to be human blood.