Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/532

 *leryman of the 20th regiment, which was formed during the Prussian siege, and consisted entirely of Parisians. It had never been a good corps, but always troublesome and insubordinate. The enfants de Paris, it is well known in the French army, take long to discipline. On the 18th of March, this regiment was at Vincennes; it seized General Guibour, who commanded there, and threatened to shoot him.

"There was a pompier, or fireman, who had received a sabre-cut over the head for insubordination after he had been taken prisoner. The well-known corps of pompiers is composed of picked men, generally soldiers who have served in the artillery or engineers, and they receive large pay. This man had commanded an insurgent battery on the heights of Montmartre, which sent petroleum shells into Paris. 'Son affaire est claire,' said our conductor, thereby meaning that he was certainly to be shot. Indeed, it is surprising he was not killed as soon as taken; but having once been brought to the Satory depôt, he will go through the usual formal examination and trial.

"Of the soldiers who had been captured among the insurgents, many were insolent and defiant. Perhaps, half drunk, they boasted of their deeds, and gasconaded about their past exploits and military qualities. Not a few of these heroes were shot after capture by their exasperated escorts. 'Accidents' happened to them on the way from Paris to Satory. We observed a few of the military prisoners, who, in clean uniforms, and with washed faces, would have passed muster well enough as smart, good-looking soldiers. Also there was a fair sprinkling of young men of gentle aspect, apparently recruits who had been forced to serve by the insurgents As a general rule, the prisoners at Satory cared not to speak, even when accosted, but turned away or put on a sullen, disheartened smile. The stench and filth in their