Rubber, Revolutionaries, Republicans, and a young man named Bonaparte, Oh my!

[joho6411]

Louis A. Blanqui & his comrades decide to withdraw all funds from the French Treasury to secreted locations throughout Paris...the result...The Commune does not fall!

This AH is a tale of a world where Modern French history takes a few bloody turns & major fractures that did not happened in our world. The POD for this is that the Communards decide to empty the French treasury of billions of francs. Thereby denying the cash reserves that the Republican Gov't would/did use to finance its' military in destroying the Paris Commune along with other Socialist uprisings in 1871.

By confiscating this money, the Commune now had sufficient means to pay its troops & finance its' revolutionary government & programs. Other aspects of this timeline: In 1859, Glasgow, Scotland two businessmen; (I'm calling them the Fraser brothers because....Fraser sounds like it may be a Scottish surname that doesn't have 'Mac' or 'Mc' in front of it; sorry if I'm wrong but I'm an American ) Walter & Daniel Fraser have a rubber belt manufactory & they discover a process & invent a machine to mass produce pneumatic tires and more importantly, they invent an air valve for putting air into a tire they name it the: Fraser Valve. IOTL it is called the "Schrader Valve". I am not sure if it was in fact invented prior to my AH timeline, if it was c'est la vie.

In any case, in 1862 the Fraser Brothers Rubber Company move their operations to Nottingham, England. Second divergence: The Penny Farthing bicycle is invented in 1850, by 1859 improvements and further refinements lead to the 1860 invention of the Safety Bicycle.

Third divergence: Fraser Brothers Rubber Co. become Fraser Tire Company in 1863, and as a result the bicycle mania begins in Great Britain in 1864-65 & lasts until late 1890's with intro of the Automobile.

Fourth Divergence (A BIG one) The Brazilian Rubber Boom begins in 1866-67 & because of this, Brazilian coffee, sugar, & tobacco planters transfer tens of thousands of their slaves to the Amazon to tap wild rubber trees to satisfy the demands of the Rubber Barons of Nottingham.

Fifth Divergence (Another HUGE one) Prince Albert recovers from his bout of typhoid fever, (I've also read where he may have been suffering from cancer yet it was diagnosed as typhoid by the physicians of the day, in this AH of mine it will be typhoid not cancer) and not only lives a long life, he will also outlive Queen Victoria by 4-5 yrs, she will continue as normal OTL until 1901.

Sixth divergence: Since Prince Albert lives; expect to see HUGE changes in the division of Africa at the Berlin Conference. Small hint: Island nations with big navies are not well suited to hold large pieces of territory even though they believe they can as per India.


Better that they hold onto coastal islands and small fortified ports; even better still, it's far better to let traditional land based powers who've recently had their "feelings hurt" and have been humiliated & embarrassed in a recent war to let them get distracted in large overseas territories that they can barely afford or administer


That concludes (so far) all the smallish PODs prior to the seizure of the French treasury by the Communards. The Austro-Prussian War, The American Civil War, death of Maximillian etc are unchanged as are all other historical events throughout the 1860's & up until 1871.

Although I have mentioned things about Great Britain, Brazil, slavery, the future of Africa etc, this is mostly involving France from 1871 up until possibly (if I get that far) the 1970's? I welcome all comments & critiques if I make an ahistorical mistake, please let me know so I can make changes to this story.

[Deckhand]

A bit better layout in terms of paragraphs would make this easier to read. Other than that sounds interesting

[joho6411]

Ahoy Deckhand! Thank you for being the first person to make a comment on my timeline story. I made that one large paragraph only to explain to any who read what to expect. I was not going to write it in one large paragraph. Many times, I've begun reading someone else's time-line only to see they have a gigantic 75,000 word single paragraph & quickly exited from reading it, gives me a headache so I won't do it to other people. Thanks again for reading & giving me good advice. If I make more mistakes please feel free to let me know so that I may correct them in a timely manner. joho

[joho6411]

Chapter 1



February 18, 1871: Paris, France

The Chairman sat and waited nervously. How long has it been? They should have returned by now. He glanced at his pocket watch, 3:13 am. More than 9 hours, it should not have taken this long.

What could have happened he wondered? Were they stopped? Are they under arrest? Did they flee with the "packages"? He looked at the clock on the far wall. 3:21 am. He put his hands to his forehead and closed his eyes. When he lifted his head out of his hands he glanced at the clock on his desk: 3:39 am; the tension was almost too unbearable for him now.

He took a deep breath and then began to smile. He mused silently to himself: "How difficult can it be to rob a bank when you have the all the keys to the bank and access to all of the vaults therein"? The Chairman looked pensively, longingly out the window for any sign of them. "3:57 am, nearly ten hours, something must have gone wrong, terribly wrong". All he could do is sit back down and wait and wait and wait.

[joho6411]

He awoke abruptly to the sound of the heavy footfalls crashing down in rapid succession on the oak floorboards in the hallway. He instinctively knew it was the tall, heavyset young man with the heavy Alsatian accent. What was his name? Henri? Armand? Well it didn't matter, what mattered was what news he brought.

He focused on the clock on the wall, it read 4:10 am. The door flew open and in an instant the Chairman remembered his name at once. "Alfred! What news do you have for me"? The young Alsatian was all at once startled, surprised, and delighted that the Chairman of the Commune should remember his name.

"Comrade Chairman, I am pleased to be the first to inform you that it is done! We have emptied the 'bakery' without leaving as much as a bagette crumb behind for any of the Capitalist rats to even sniff at." Chairman Blanqui looked at him quizzically and then inquired: "Where are the ah, "bread wagons" now"? Alfred then replied; "Comrade Chairman, they are all down in the courtyard and in the rear of the hotel".

Blanqui looked at him & said "Lets go to them then." As they walked down the hallway, Blanqui asked the young man what had taken so long. "Ahh, Comrade Chairman, when we left earlier this evening we had 33 wagons....."Yes I know that go on!" Blanqui impatiently replied.

"Well Comrade Chairman, we found to our surprise that there was far more bread in the bakery than we had anticipated". Surprised now himself, Blanqui asked him directly; "What do you mean Comrade?" "Well, Comrade Chairman, we had to find more wagons and more teams of horses & get them without arousing too much attention."

At this, Blanqui stopped and grabbed young Alfred by the elbow and exclaimed. "How many more wagons?" "14 Comrade Chairman!" the young man proudly replied. Blanqui looked at him in near awe. "47 wagons!" "47 wagons! All full?" "Oui! Comrade Chairman, 47 full wagons". Blanqui let this fortunate news wash over him as they continued down the stairs and to the exit.

He thought to himself; "47 wagons,.....full of francs!" There had to be billions of francs in coin, specie, and paper less than 200 yards from where he now stood. A big broad smile arose on his face and he absentmindedly spoke aloud when he thought he was thinking to himself: "Le republique est morte." He was stunned & surprised when he heard his young stocky comrades voice agreeing out loud with him; "Ja, Genosse Vorsitzender, die Republik ist tot!"

[joho6411]

As the Chairman stepped outside, he saw the hastily assembled wagons before him. Four rows with eight wagons in each line. "Where are the other 15 wagons?" asked the Chairman out loud to no one in particular.

"Comrade Chairman,..." a familiar voice sounded out in the near darkness; Blanqui recognized it at once. " Well Emil, it appears you have a special delivery for me." Emil Pleiseau approached Chairman Blanqui and replied to the Chairman. " Oui, Comrade Chairman indeed we have a delivery with many extras as well."

"As for the other wagons Comrade Chairman, they are in the front of the hotel in the courtyard." Blanqui approached the line of wagons & looked into the back of one to see its contents. As far as he could ascertain, there appeared to be around 30 money sacks piled up 3 feet high.

On the sides of the wagons interior walls, he saw small wooden crates all along the interior sides of the wagon. In the faint moonlight, he could see on the floorboard of the wagon a metallic glint. As he got closer, he could see the reflection of the Moon in bars of silver which appeared to cover the floorboard.....

[joho6411]

.....Blanqui was pleased & happy. With this potential amount of cash & bullion on hand in each of these wagons, the success of the Commune was much more likely than without it.

Moreover, without access to all of this treasure, the Republican forces would be hard pressed to finance their government or any of its' potential endeavors. "Comrade Pleiseau," called out Blanqui, "Yes, Comrade Chairman what is it?"

"Comrade Pleiseau what I am wondering is did you manage to locate the ledgers?" "Most certainly Comrade Chairman, I kept them with me at all times." replied Pleiseau. With that Pleiseau motioned to two of his deputies. The two deputies began walking toward both Pleiseau & Blanqui, each man carrying a heavy leather valise.

Several yards away, Alfred Fishkin stood watching & realizing that not only was he an eyewitness to history, but he was an active participant in changing the World. He began to reflect soberly on what he learned in the past few years.

All of the lectures, his reading of Marx, the all night discussions, they finally began to make sense. Nations throughout history have many things that make them exist yet it always comes down to financial resources. Without access to money, governments simply grind to a halt. More importantly, without money, armies cease to function.

He felt somewhat omniscient. The theories of Marx were so enlightening & liberating. At the same time, Fishkin allowed himself a prideful indulgence. He felt a small sense of kinship with Karl Marx. After all, they were both Germans who did not live in a German state, they were both Socialists, and coincidentally, they were both agnostic Jews.

Yet Alfred thought of himself more as a Communard & an Internationalist more than he considered himself as either a German, a Frenchman, or even as a Jew. He stood there then quite satisfied with himself.

As Fishkin stood there deep in his thoughts, Chairman Blanqui received the two valises from Pleiseau's deputies. He opened the valises at once & began to search for one ledger in particular. He held each volume up in the moonlight in order to read its cover.

Finally, he located the ledger he was searching for. He began to look through it holding it up into the dimming moonlight. "Incroyable, absolument incroyable" gasped Blanqui. After a few minutes he said out loud: "Excellent, most excellent, this is just what we needed Emil, I believe these ledgers are perhaps more valuable in their own way than the contents of all those wagons; for these ledgers have," he paused. "....ah, true.....gold....within their covers."

At this, Alfred Fishkin could not help himself and blurted out: "Comrade Chairman, are you saying that there are gold certificates within those ledgers?" Blanqui & Pleiseau looked over at the young Alsatian and began to quietly laugh at the young mans' ignorance.

The Chairman thought & then replied to Fishkin: "The intrinsic value in these ledgers young Comrade Fishkin is that they will save us the most valuable resource of all: Time. For time is the one thing that cannot be repossessed."

Blanqui could see Fishkins confusion. He continued; "..you see Comrade Fishkin, without these ledgers, it could take us 5 years to count the contents of all of those wagons; with these ledgers, we will know within the week of how much money we now have in our possession. You understand?" "Ja, ich verstehe Genosse Vorsitzende", replied Fishkin.

Blanqui then turned his full attention to Pleiseau. "Comrade Pleiseau we need to implement phase 2 of this operation, we need, & I demand, in the name of the Commune, that all of these wagons be driven to their destinations, I want them to move out immediately so they can get to their destinations before the sun comes up. We can't afford to lose any of those wagons, is that clear Comrade?"

"Absolutely Comrade Chairman, it will be done at once; yet Comrade Chairman I do have 1 question in regards to the 14 additional wagons and that is, where will these extra wagons be taken to?" Blanqui instantly replied to Pleiseau, "Have the extra 14 wagons pair up with 1 of another wagons, so that 14 of our storage sites will simply have two wagons instead of just 1, that is all I can think of since we are not going to abandon them or..." Blanqui grinned, "...return them to the Treasury."

Pleiseau laughed at that and began the evacuation of the treasure wagons. Blanqui then looked towards the young Alsatian. "Comrade Fishkin!" Alfred Fishkin ran up towards the Chairman & before he could speak the Chairman simply pointed to the two oversize valises and stated to him; "Put these in my carriage."

As soon as he said it, Blanqui turned on his heel and climbed into his waiting carriage. After Fishkin loaded the two valises he went to the carriage door as he had rehearsed during the past 4 days. As he looked into the carriage, Chairman Blanqui handed him a folded piece of paper and then he said to him:

"You do remember the route don't you Alfred?" Alfred quickly nodded in agreement. The Chairman then added; "You think you can remember the route even in the dark Alfred?" "Ja, ja, Genosse Vorsitzender, Ich Habe nicht vergessen." Blanqui smiled and then remarked to the young Alsatian:

"Really Alfred, you must learn to speak the French at all times, not in that barbarian tongue of yours." Embarrassed, Fishkin looked down and nodded, "Oui, oui, I will be working on it Comrade Chairman." Blanqui looked at him with a devilish grin and said: "Sehr gut, lets go mein Fahrer."

[joho6411]

Chapter 2




March 11, 1871: The Palace of Versailles



The President sat and waited impatiently. How long had it been? They should have been back by now. He took out his pocket watch and saw that it read 6:25 PM.
Over five hours had passed since they left; it should not have taken this long. Were the rumors true he wondered?

Were his men afraid to return with bad news?
He paced around the drawing room, he looked over at the clock on the far wall, it read 6:40 PM. The tension was becoming hard to bear. If the rumors were true, what would he do?
What would he tell the members of the National Assembly? What would he say to his generals? By God! What would he say to the Prussians?!

He paced harder and breathed heavily, he walked over to the window & looked out pensively, longingly, & hopefully for any sign of his men.
In frustration he walked over to the clock on the far wall & looking up saw that the time was now only 6:55 PM.

At that moment a young aide slowly entered the room. "Pardon Mr. President would you care for some coffee?" The President looked over at him and smiled: "That would be most welcome at this time, thank you Robert." The young man quickly exited the room.

As he sat down at his desk, Adolphe Thiers wondered to himself how difficult could it be for 30 heavily armed men to travel to the Treasury Building and back to Versailles. He quickly reminded himself that now, Paris was a very dangerous place to be even for 30 heavily armed men.

A gentle knock on the door; "Entre" replied Thiers. Robert, his aide wheeled in a small cart with a coffee pot, a small pitcher of milk, sugar bowl, several cups, and utensils. "Merci, Robert, that will be all for now." said Thiers; after pouring a cup for the President, Robert quickly & silently exited the room.

Thiers slowly took a sip from the hot cup of coffee. He glanced at the small clock on his desk, it read 7:25 PM. As he sat slowly sipping his coffee Thiers slowly drifted into a light sleep, his last glance at the clock before he slipped into a deeper sleep told him it was now 7:50 PM; and still, no sign of his men.

[Grey Wolf]

The first post was very interesting - not had time to read the rest yet.

When it was suggested you use a better layout in terms of paragraphs, it was meant that you use double line-breaks (as above, that put empty space between paragraphs).

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

[joho6411]

Hello Grey Wolf. Thank you for reading my timeline. I appreciate you telling me what corrections to make since I want people to be comfortable reading this story without getting a headache. As this is my first attempt at writing a post, I am still learning how to type this thing out properly. If I understand you correctly you say that I should double space my lines. I'm not sure how to do that; I have enough difficulty keeping the sizes at "3" because every now & then it returns back to a "1", so I am still learning. If you can explain to me how to make this double spaced Grey Wolf, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. By the way, are you a moderator? I know I have seen your name on other timelines I have read. Thanks in advance Grey Wolf, joho.

[Falastur]

Originally Posted by joho6411

Hello Grey Wolf. Thank you for reading my timeline. I appreciate you telling me what corrections to make since I want people to be comfortable reading this story without getting a headache. As this is my first attempt at writing a post, I am still learning how to type this thing out properly. If I understand you correctly you say that I should double space my lines. I'm not sure how to do that; I have enough difficulty keeping the sizes at "3" because every now & then it returns back to a "1", so I am still learning. If you can explain to me how to make this double spaced Grey Wolf, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. By the way, are you a moderator? I know I have seen your name on other timelines I have read. Thanks in advance Grey Wolf, joho.

What Grey Wolf means is not changing the size of your font. He means inserting an empty line between blocks of text so that it's easier to read in general. His "double-line space means this gap:

...between these lines of text. IMO you could do with breaking down all your previous posts into different paragraphs for each section. So for example, where you've written:

As the Chairman stepped outside, he saw the hastily assembled wagons before him. Four rows with eight wagons in each line. "Where are the other 15 wagons?" asked the Chairman out loud to no one in particular. "Comrade Chairman,..." a familiar voice sounded out in the near darkness; Blanqui recognized it at once. " Well Emil, it appears you have a special delivery for me." Emil Pleiseau approached Chairman Blanqui and replied to the Chairman. " Oui, Comrade Chairman indeed we have a delivery with many extras as well." "As for the other wagons Comrade Chairman, they are in the front of the hotel in the courtyard." Blanqui approached the line of wagons & looked into the back of one to see its contents. As far as he could ascertain, there appeared to be around 30 money sacks piled up 3 feet high. On the sides of the wagons interior walls, he saw small wooden crates all along the interior sides of the wagon. In the faint moonlight, he could see on the floorboard of the wagon a metallic glint. As he got closer, he could see the reflection of the Moon in bars of silver which appeared to cover the floorboard.....

It might look better presented thusly:

As the Chairman stepped outside, he saw the hastily assembled wagons before him. Four rows with eight wagons in each line. "Where are the other 15 wagons?" asked the Chairman out loud to no one in particular. "Comrade Chairman,..." a familiar voice sounded out in the near darkness; Blanqui recognized it at once.

" Well Emil, it appears you have a special delivery for me." Emil Pleiseau approached Chairman Blanqui and replied to the Chairman. " Oui, Comrade Chairman indeed we have a delivery with many extras as well." "As for the other wagons Comrade Chairman, they are in the front of the hotel in the courtyard."

Blanqui approached the line of wagons & looked into the back of one to see its contents. As far as he could ascertain, there appeared to be around 30 money sacks piled up 3 feet high. On the sides of the wagons interior walls, he saw small wooden crates all along the interior sides of the wagon. In the faint moonlight, he could see on the floorboard of the wagon a metallic glint. As he got closer, he could see the reflection of the Moon in bars of silver which appeared to cover the floorboard.....

As you yourself identified, it just makes it a bit easier to read, and makes the block of text less intimidating to casual readers.

[joho6411]

Thanks Falastur, I will get on that and attempt to fix it when I get home later tonight. Now I think I understand what Grey Wolf was saying & I thank you for showing me an example of what to do. Joho

[joho6411]

He awoke abruptly to the sound of hooves on the cobblestones outside. Adolphe Thiers stood quickly & walked toward the window.

Looking outside in the dark night he could see 30 "centaur" like creatures. He counted them quickly. "Thank goodness they've all returned." He turned and began to walk toward the door to go downstairs to meet them.

At once, he froze. "No, no it would not be appropriate for him to go to them he thought." He did not want too look to anxious, better for his officers to come to him. He instead went over to a wash basin & cleaned his face. He then sat back down at his desk and noted the time, it was 9:25 PM.


He didn't have to wait long. Thiers could hear the muffled sound of footsteps on the carpet outside his office. A light, gentle knock on the door indicated to Thiers that it must be his young aide Robert; any of his generals would have knocked hard & loud on the door. Thiers sat up straight and said: "Entrez, s'il vous plait". Robert entered the room and said; "Mr. President, General Gaston Alexandre Auguste, the Marquis de Galliffet to see you sir." President Thiers then said; "Send him in Robert, send him in."

General Gaston A. Auguste, the Marquis de Galliffet was a tall thin man, about 40 years old with a thin handle-bar moustache. He entered the room, walked quickly to the Presidents desk and executed a quick, sharp salute. President Thiers returned the salute. The President spoke first: "Well, General Auguste, what news do you have for me?"

General Auguste cleared his throat. "Mr. President..." he cleared his throat again, "...Mr President let me begin by stating to you that I have no doubts that the Republic will overcome any difficulty in the days to come since we now have a steady, experienced, and seasoned hand at the helm of our ship of state and furthermore let me also state that...." Thiers quickly put up his hand to stop General Auguste in mid sentence. "General Auguste, please spare me the dramatics and tell me the situation without all the excess verbiage."

General Auguste took a deep breath and then spoke. "Mr. President, the anarchists have looted & ransacked the Treasury. Every vault has been emptied. They overturned desks, opened every drawer, went through every closet and even stole writing paper and all of the bottles of ink." Thiers drew a heavy breath and turned away from General Auguste and looked out the window into the cold black night, made even blacker by the catastrophic news conveyed by General Auguste.

[joho6411]

Thiers stood, staring out the window. His mind was racing now. Things looked truly black by what General Auguste had just said.

Yet, there was still one small, shining glimmer of hope that could, in effect, make this catastrophe less bleak than it actually was.

As Thiers turned back to look at General Auguste, he was clinging with all his hope & might that this small glimmer of light may in fact become a beacon of hope for the Republic rather than just a weak figment of his hopeful imagination. As Thiers approached General Auguste he motioned for him to sit down.

After the General sat down, Thiers looked him directly in the eyes & said to him: "General, did you & your men search the entire building?"

"Oui, Mr. President most certainly we did." Thiers continued, "Did you encounter any resistance? Any guards or, for that matter, any corpses? Any signs of a struggle? Any, broken glass, shell casings lying about?" General Auguste then replied; "No Mr. President, we encountered no resistance at all, and there were no bodies, no shattered glass or even any dried blood anywhere at all."

Thiers bored into him, "General, you say that you & your men searched the entire building...anyplace else?" Auguste thought for a moment & then slowly answered, "Oui, Mr. President we also searched the stables as well as the armory. There was no sign of any fighting, no persons living or dead and in the stable, there were no horses or any of their harnesses either."

He continued, "As for the Armory, Mr. President, we searched it & noted that all weapons had been removed yet it seemed that the anarchists did not enter there at all & if they did Mr. President, they must have scrupiously cleaned up after themselves for nothing was out of place in the Armory."

Thiers thought on that for a moment. He knew that the weapons and ammunition stored at the armory was removed back in November to help in fighting the Prussians, so that did not surprise him. What made him wonder was, how did the anarchists know not to bother with the Armory?

Surely, they would have at least tried to enter it in hopes of finding weapons. Unless, of course, they knew beforehand that there was nothing of value in the Armory building. Someone or some group was giving them inside information.

[joho6411]

President Thiers looked hard at General Auguste. He then said to him; "General, what I need to know is of a great importance, the survival of the Republic may be at stake. Do you understand me General?" General Auguste looked directly at Thiers, "Most definitely, Mr. President, what do you need to know?"

Thiers looked at him & took a deep heavy breath, for he did not know if General Auguste was one of the small circle of Generals who would know of this information; after all, General Auguste had only recently escaped from Prussian captivity & he may not have been privy to certain knowledge.

Thiers took the chance. "General Auguste," began Thiers, "..General Auguste, you said that you & your men searched the entire Treasury Building, is that correct?" "Oui! Mr. President!" answered Auguste. Thiers continued on '...you mean you searched the entire building,...including....?"

General Auguste looked non-pulsed and replied: "...Including....what are you driving at Mr. President?" Thiers began to lose his patience, "General! You know what I am talking about! I ask you again! Did your men, or did they not, search the entire building? Stop playing this cat & mouse game with me!"

General Auguste took a long deep breath and said; "Mr. President, my men and I did search the entire Treasury building,..including...." Thiers angrily interjected "Including what, General!" General Auguste then knew that President Thiers had in fact been informed. He then resolved to answer his President.

"Including, Mr. President, the secret sub-basement and the 4 oversize vaults therein; the anarchists were there Mr. President & they emptied them of all their contents. They did not leave as much as a single bread crumb for a mouse to find Mr. President."

[joho6411]

President Thiers felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer right in his abdomen. He immediately spun away from General Auguste, looked at the ceiling and shouted; "MERDE, Merde, Merde! N'est pas possible!" Thiers shook his head and exclaimed; "This cannot be! It's just not......POSSIBLE!"

This was just not a catastrophe, it was the beginning of a tragedy, and Thiers knew it. Thiers mind was now racing in 5 different directions. He knew that less than 16 men even knew of the existence of the sub-basement.

He tried to think of which of them, if any, would acknowledge the existence of the secret basement and give orders to let it be emptied. Of his 7 Generals who knew of the sub-basement, 4 of them were at the moment, "guests'' of the King of Prussia now, the German Kaiser. Of his other 3 generals, 1 was sitting in his office right now & the other 2 were & had been in contact with the enemy forces for several weeks.

That left 8 politicians, he couldn't fathom that anyone of them would commit treason no, they all had too much to lose if the Republic fell. Moreover, 6 of those 8 men were still in Bordeaux.

That left 1 man. A posturing; Thiers thought of a good description, an old fool, actually, a posturing, sick, old fool. Thiers thought perhaps the old fool could be capable of it. Yet, this posturing, sick, old fool was also a temporary "guest" of the Kaiser of the brand new German Empire.

As foolish as he was, even he would not want to see the rise of this thing called the "Commune". On the other hand, Thiers swallowed hard, the posturing old fools calculating, scheming, and often unpredictable wife was capable of doing anything,...anything. Thiers even managed to make a small grin as he thought that she was probably worse than the even the Prussians were.

As he stood there shaking in anger & frustration, Thiers reflected that he only found out about the existence of the sub-basement during his Presidential briefing a week after his inauguration. Also, he recalled, there were the guards in the basement, they were always at the rank of Colonel but, they did not have keys to the door that was carefully hidden from view in the arms storage room in their guard post.

As he thought, he began to recall the briefing given to him. There were 5 sets of keys, 1 set for the door in the arms room, then there were 4 sets of keys, 1 set for every door leading down to the secret vaults. Then each vault had its own specially designed dual keys. A grand total of 18 keys, two men had to simultaneously turn their keys in order for the doors & vaults to open. He was never briefed on either where or whom, had those keys.

But he knew, if he could find out who had access to all of those keys & was able to hand them over to the Communards, he would then know who the traitor(s) were to the French Republic. Perhaps the one man who may know who or whom could have had access to those keys was his predecessor General Louis Jules Trochu. He resolved to speak to him as soon as possible.

[joho6411]

Thiers looked back at General Auguste and inquired of him: "General, when you found the vaults, all of them, in both the basement & sub-basement, were the, doors to the vaults, that is, were the key holes damaged in any way?"

General Auguste promptly replied; "No Mr. President, all of the vaults as well as the doors leading down to into the sub-basement appeared to have no damage to them, they appeared to have been opened by keys & not by any sort of force whatsoever."

Thiers walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. He continued to think to himself & to consider the implications of this theft of the Treasury.

He recalled that the contents of the vault included between 985-990 million francs in gold & silver bullion, additionally there was also approximately 60-70 million francs in banknotes. This was the emergency fund to continue the Government of France in times of crisis and more importantly, to pay his armies. If ever there was a crisis for France, this was it

Now without these funds...things would be...difficult. Worse still, a group of self-styled revolutionaries now had total possession of all this money plus all the cash that was in the normal vaults in the basement. They had to have, billions or even tens of billions of francs in their hands.

Even worse still, thought Thiers, was the documents contained in the vault. State secrets, things that should remain secret, things that probably should have been burned years ago. Thiers thought deeply about the ramifications if the Communards decided to release these secrets of French History to the World at large. He recalled from his briefing the important & interesting documents that it reportedly contained.

There were the somewhat, "messy'' details about the events back in '48 & the July Monarchy some of which could implicate himself, he winced at the thought. He thought about the documents relating to the rather untimely & unexpected death of Napoleon II. He himself was extremely interested in the supposedly 26 page report relating to what really happened to Marshal Ney. And to who was really buried in Marshal Neys grave at Pere Lachaise Cemetery. He was looking forward to reading that report, now.........

There were the papers going back to the time of The Directory and to the time of the "Terror". There were the documents from the days of the Ancien Regime as well. Reports of actions taken to solve, "problems", in St. Dominigue & the repercussions of those actions. Unbelievable reports of strange sightings in Quebec.

There were things relating to the days of the "Sun King'' himself, to Richelieu, Mazarin, even, supposedly back to Hugh Capet himself & how he really got himself elected King. Truly, things that the Communards could showcase to the people of France in order to discredit all that came before & all those who supported the old ways; and to make themselves look better in the eyes of the people.

He cursed the thought of that stupid, posturing, sick, old fool for having had the sub-basement built back in the late 50's but even more for placing every single document & report in the same place! Didn't the old fool ever hear of the danger of having all of ones eggs in one basket! Now that basket had been overturned & Thiers was the one who had to clean up the mess.

Thiers looked over to General Auguste and said to him; "General, I need some time to collect my thoughts on the information you have brought me. I thank you for confirming the rumors of the disposition of the Treasury." "Of course, Mr. President." replied General Auguste. Thiers continued, "What I will need General, is a comprehensive report on how long & above all, why the Treasury was left unattended. We need to know the parties responsible for this & also, to find out how these anarchists were able to get duplicate sets of these vault & door keys."

General Auguste nodded & then asked the President; "Mr. President, how do you know they used duplicate keys & not originals?" Thiers looked at him & simply replied that he knew for a fact that some of these keys were in specific areas of the country right now & the men physically responsible for them had not been in Paris for several weeks or even months. Duplicates had to have been made & the originals returned to their holders without, (or possibly with!) them even knowing that they had been taken from them. Thiers stood up from his chair & General Auguste immediately rose up & saluted the President.

"General Auguste," said Thiers, "I need that report within the week, I have 16 days before I meet with the Prussian represenatives; I need...I have,..." he stopped for a moment, ...."I bid you good night General." General Auguste bowed & nodded and quickly exited the room. Thiers picked up the small bell on his desk & rang it. In less than 30 seconds, Robert entered the office. "Robert, I need you to send a messenger to General Trochu's office, I need to confer with him as soon as possible." "Yes Mr. President, I will send it out at once." replied Robert. Thiers smiled and said; "Excellent, excellent, Robert and good night to you." Robert then wished him a good night, then bowed & left the room. Thiers wondered if he would ever have a good night ever again, he truly, wondered.

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Chapter 3


March 12, 1871: Numbre 17 entrepot militaire* (Near the Bois De La Tour Du Lay)


Time: 8:49 AM

The Major was expecting them. He had been contacted over a week ago & the offer was hard to resist. 36,000 francs would go a long way. He knew it was treason, yet, for himself & his family, with 36,000 francs they could have a brand new life.

They could go to Great Britain; London the Greatest City in the World, perhaps of all time. Or perhaps somewhere within the British Empire. He and his family could have a brand new beginning in America. With 36,000 francs, a man could go far.

From the window on the second floor of his office, Major Lemoyne saw 4 figures approaching from the distance. 4 men, only 4 men! How could they pull it off?

He began to worry and sweat. Was he set up? Was it just 4 locals wandering the back roads of Ile de-France? No, today was the appointment & it was near the appointed hour. He decided to go downstairs and out to the gate & wait for them.

* Number 17 Military Storage Depot

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The 4 men walked towards the storage depot. The tall man was the leader, the short squat man his adjutant, he carried the small wooden box about the size of a hatbox. The other two men each carried two separate batons, each baton either had a green flag or a red flag attached to it.

As per the agreement they carried no firearms. The short man looked to the taller man & said: "What if they still have not evacuated the garrison troops here?"

The tall man answered: "If that is the case, the man at the gate will tell us he has no food to spare & to be on our way; but for 36,000 francs, I am certain he has convinced the men of his garrison to go far and.... make themselves useful elsewhere." The short mans only reply was; "I hope so, I surely do."

Major Lemoyne took notice as the men approached. He quickly took special notice of one of the men, the short fat one who seemed to have the face of a frog & a monkey mixed together, he appeared to be carrying what appeared to be a ladies hatbox.

He noted the tall man as well as the other 2 men. He put on his spectacles and opened the the small identification slot in the heavy gate to speak to them. He had to be extremely careful as he was the only man inside the depot at this time.

He had sent his entire garrison of 184 men & officers about 6 miles to the North the day before yesterday to keep watch on any potential..."enemies", they would not be returning until tomorrow afternoon. His officers would not question him, after all, he was the Commandant of the Depot. And his orders were issued from the Area Commander, they wouldn't question a thing.

[joho6411]

The 4 men approached the gate of the depot. The tall man could see the small slot opened and a mans face looking out at them. The man behind the gate said simply; "What do you want?" The tall man answered; "Sir we have been walking for quite a while, do you have any food that you can spare?"

The man behind the gate replied; "Of course! I have plenty for you & your...''fellow travelers''; however, I fear that there is much more food here than you four men could possibly take with you." The tall man quickly replied; "Do not fear Sir, we will take any & all food that you may have." The man behind the gate looked at him knowingly & then added; "Did someone give you a key to open the gate? Since I have no such key to open it up with."

The tall man looked to his short, squat subaltern. The short man walked up to the small opening in the gate & took out a small key and opened up the heavy wooden box he was holding. As he opened the hinged lid, he could see a golden light glowing upon the gatekeepers face. He could also see the reflection of gold coins and banknotes in the gatekeepers glasses.

Major Lemoyne looked into the the wooden box being held by the ugly, frog faced monkey looking man & was delighted by what he saw. He could hardly believe it or his good fortune. After all, with 36,000 francs, a man could go far.

As the man behind the gate gazed into the box, the tall man knew he was pleased. The man finally said; "Very good, very good, it appears that you have been furnished with the correct key, one moment gentlemen." They listened as the gate began to slowly move and the hinges squeaked & groaned and then it opened.

The four men walked inside & saw the man behind the gate. He was, the tall man noted, a man about 45 years old, medium height, dark hair,glasses, and a mustache & goatee. He fit the description of the man he had been briefed about. The man bid them all welcome and waited for the tall man to make his next move.

The tall man motioned to the short, fat man. On cue, he handed the heavy wooden box to the waiting arms of the Depot Commander. The Major felt the heaviness of the box & knew it had to be the full amount. He would count it all later to make sure. The Major then began to say; "Gentlemen, let me explain to you the floor plan of my...."

All at once, the two other men each pulled out a baton, unfurled a small green flag from their respective batons & immediately began running down the road away from the depot. They began to frantically wave the batons in the air. Major Lemoyne was flabbergasted & alarmed. He looked at the tall man with his mouth agape. The tall man smiled at him & said; "One moment Major, one moment."

In a matter of seconds, Major Lemoyne saw about 100 or so men, a company sized formation, walk out of the tree line about 60 yards down the road. About, 6 seconds after that, he saw, in the distance, around 200 yards or so, horse drawn wagons, dozens of them, coming out of the forest & onto the road. The tall man smiled at the Major & said; "You see Major, we have more than enough hands to carry away all of your food from here."