Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/536

 "What is the matter?" they cried; "explain yourself."

The gendarme then informed them that the pretended quartermaster was no other than a chief of a battalion of the National Guard, and that on Wednesday morning, May 24th, he had ordered the execution of forty-five gendarmes and several other hostages.

"It is false!" replied the individual; "I am a member of the regular army, and as such I assisted at the capture of Montmartre. I a Communist! Allons donc!"

"I swear," replied the gendarme, "that you are an insurgent chief. I am not mistaken. I saw you under circumstances which I can never forget, and I demand your immediate arrest."

"Very well," said the commander; "the gentleman shall be conducted to the military bureau in the Rue de Satory, and there he can establish his identity."

He was then placed in the hands of four men, escorted by the gendarme.

Arrived in presence of the General, the individual acknowledged that he had, in fact, served under the Commune, and that he had been charged with the execution of a portion of the hostages. "I could have saved myself," he added, "but my paternal sentiments were too strong, and I wished also to deliver my son."

Needless to say that the quartermaster was forthwith transferred to prison.

Besides the chiefs and members of the Commune who perished fighting behind the barricades, or who were shot by the soldiers immediately after arrest, many are now in prison at Versailles; others, however, such as Felix Pyat and General Bergeret, have succeeded so far in eluding the vigilance of the police, and have probably gained the frontier.

The deaths of Dombrowski, Delescluze, Millière, Rigault,