Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/77



"A large number of revolvers and sword-sticks were picked up in the Rue de la Paix and taken to the Etat-Major.

"Doctor Rambow, formerly surgeon at the camp of Toulouse, living 32 Rue de la Victoire, and a number of other medical men, hastened to attend the wounded and sign the official reports.

The valuables found on the rioters were placed in sealed packets and deposited at the Etat-Major.

"Owing to the coolness and firmness of General Bergeret, who was able to restrain the just indignation of the National Guards, more serious accidents were avoided."

Most of the men killed and wounded, judging from their appearance, were men of respectability, and not likely to take part in an ordinary street row. Nearly all had been struck in the upper parts of the body, about the heart or head, and in the back, as if they were turning to escape. A great deal of the firing had evidently been aimed at the windows, as many of the panes of glass in the Rue de la Paix and Place Vendome had been shivered by bullets.

General Bergeret, who figured later as a conspicuous member of the Commune, gave the following account of the affair:

"For some days we were endeavoring to overthrow the illegal government of Paris, and establish one founded on universal suffrage. This effected, the elections will approve everything we have done. We intend to ratify the peace made with the Prussians, and heal the wounds of France. The mad population are ready to take advantage of the situation to rob and murder. On Tuesday a large crowd approached the Place Vendome, shouting and hissing the government of the Central Committee,