Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/461



organized against you among your colleagues, and even among those whom you think your friends. If steel cannot act, poison will be employed. Above all, distrust Vermorel.

""

Among the other letters were several orders for the service, which prove the desperation of the situation of the insurgents.

The following is a sample:

" Cabinet of the Minister.

", May 21,1871.

":—Send immediately, artillerymen, wagons, and harness for the transport of munitions. The ramparts are no longer tenable if I do not receive artillerymen. It is impossible for me, with the National Guards and free-shooters furnished by the volunteers, to perform the service of the artillery. I cannot hold out any longer.

""

At the Magasins Réunis more than two thousand insurgents were taken prisoners.

In the Rue du Temple, where a barricade had just been carried by the troops, a large number of prisoners were also taken, and led to the Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth, opposite the Café Dodar. Among them was a child about fifteen.

The contest had been violent, and the soldiers were in all the exaltation which follows an action so important. The prisoners had not capitulated; they had been taken with arms in their hands, and ought to die according to the laws of war, especially the law accorded to insurgents.

The turn of the child arrived.

He was pushed against the wall to be quickly dispatched. He asked to speak to the captain, who advanced and demanded what he wanted.