| Show F MASSACRES 0 OI HISTORY r Fearful Tragedies Blot the Records of Man Nations Notable Nations Notable t t i Slaughter of Unarmed and Peaceful Citizens of Paris by Troops Under the Command of La Fa Fayette ette J Mas Massacres acres of d defenseless people are L F recorded In the history of many nations nay na na- y tione I ns but there are only few such occurrences oc- oc c affording anything like a areal areal real parallel to the slaughter of Russian Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian workingmen by the troops of the x czar czar at St St. Petersburg Jan 22 In the Fren French h revolution of 1848 1848 the first great uprising of wage earn ers erS' and hence described In history a as as the first revolution brought about by economics a a large crowd of R i workingmen were fired upon In midsummer mid mid- r I summer summer In the streets of Paris by troops under the command of Gen r fr It was a fearful slaughter and the strikers and their sympathizers r ers were terrorized and for the time subdued The commander of the troops c the bloody was named for president of the republic but was overwhelmingly defeated by Louis Napoleon the man whom a coup coup afterward made the emperor emperor emperor em em- of France i Among the bloody deeds perpetrated ed ed d in France in the days of the commune como com corn o t nune mune following the great revolution of t 1789 a foremost foremost- place in history is u given to the massacre in the fields I of Mars Sunday July 17 1791 II J That day a petition was to be signed r asking the national convention to arY arraign ar ar- i Y for trial the craven king Louis rr ff j i XVI who had fled fied in terror from t V Paris Rumors of riot and carnage at ato atthe the place where the petition was being be be- J i o 1 f ing ping signed the Field of Mars reached 1 i Danton Marat and the theother theother other revolutionary ry leaders and La LaFayette LaFayette 1 Fayette was sent with troops to quell the disturbance Stones and mud were t thrown rown at the soldiers and they fired I Into the h dense unarmed mass killing I and wounding The slaughter was great the Ule panic r 0 complete says Thomas E. E Watson In t. t his fascinating work The Story of France Men women and children I were killed Not a soldier was hurt I it certainly The crowd had no arms was was not expecting a fight There may have bave been guilty men on the scene but most of th the victims were surely x Innocent There were men and women women wom wom- en en n dressed in their Sunday clothes who had no weapons whatever on their persons And there were children children chil chil- dren among the slain to whom it ft had been a Sabbath outing The petition was scattered but its Ita leaves were gathered up and they are now to be seen among the archives of France FranceIn In the reign of terror following this great revolution in France occurred the so-called so September massacres the victims being prisoners confined confined confined con con- fined in the dungeons of Paris by the revolutionists They comprised nobles nobles no no- nobles bles priests anti revolutionists anti and victims of private malice The commune commune commune com com- mune reported that the Prussians were marching on Paris were at the city's gates and Danton secured the passage of or an order for the hoisting of the black flag of death upon the towers of the city hall Even as the voice of Danton had bad echoed and re echoed re-echoed through the great hall of the assembly says Historian Historian Historian His His- torian Watson the shriek of doomed prisoners rang wildly through the streets The September massacres had begun Some butchers were let loose upon the helpless men and women huddled in the prisons and told to wreak vengeance upon them Commissions signed by municipal officers officers cers author authorized zed suitable agents to hold courts In the prisons to deliver instant instant in in- stant judgment and to have immediate immediate imme Imme- diate execution done The prisoners are dragged from their cells are halted halted halt halt- halt halt- ed for a moment before this sham tribunal are examined with brevity and are delivered over to the murderers murder murder- ers who stand ready at the door Death before the dishonor of swearing swearing swear swear- ing allegiance to the terrorists was the answer of all heroic souls Conduct Conduct Conduct Con duct madam out says the Judge and madam adam is led to the door is struck is stabbed Is brutally beaten till life is gone is hewn asunder her head fixed on a pike her Iler dripping heart held up to th the hooting mob and the rest is too sickening to be told For three days this massacre went wenton on A mere handful of wretches did the work tolerated by the silence of the people encouraged by py the commune com com- mune nune and not checked by the government government govern govern- ment of the terrorists After the bloody worl worl- was ended in Pads and Tallien had made his announcement to the assembly that The prisons are now empty Marat and Billaud issued in the name of the municipality of Paris a circular letter to other municipal bodies urging them to imitate what had been done in in- Paris In some som cities the advice advice- was upon the prisoners murdered In August 1793 the commune of aris sent an army of men i rebellious Lyons The city fter fler a prolonged siege and the en- en urance urance of Innumerable woes noes was The convention decreed hat it should be utterly destroyed and That nd that over its ruins should be eared a monument with the plon p- p ion lon Lyons made war upon liberty nd behold Lyons is no morel Six housand thousand of the citizens of Lyons perIshed perished perished per- per in the massacre following the capture of the city I 1 4 1 ti f r IT i d dk k L. L P F i t H ty K t s s r 1 j lifE OF 7 3 P |
