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

[Falastur]

Wow. Apologies for the late reply, but I didn't catch your updates to this thread. I really love what you've written so far. This forum sorely lacks actual prose TLs and this one is great - very well-written indeed. I'm very curious as to your plans, because with the POD I'm truly not sure where you are planning to go exactly - I have only the vaguest ideas (this period isn't my strongest, however). I'm fascinated to see what will happen when the plot gets to the actual implications of this theft, and to the stuff you alluded to in the first post, mentioning the Scramble for Africa being changed. Eagerly following this.

Incidentally, this thread is 100 times more readable now it has line spacings. Thanks very much

[joho6411]

Originally Posted by Falastur

Wow. Apologies for the late reply, but I didn't catch your updates to this thread. I really love what you've written so far. This forum sorely lacks actual prose TLs and this one is great - very well-written indeed. I'm very curious as to your plans, because with the POD I'm truly not sure where you are planning to go exactly - I have only the vaguest ideas (this period isn't my strongest, however). I'm fascinated to see what will happen when the plot gets to the actual implications of this theft, and to the stuff you alluded to in the first post, mentioning the Scramble for Africa being changed. Eagerly following this.

Incidentally, this thread is 100 times more readable now it has line spacings. Thanks very much

Hello Falastur, no need for any apologies. I am thankful that you have enjoyed my story so far. I'm thinking that prose, means it is written in story form?

Well, I thought it would be easier for people to both read & understand a story format better than a timeline or a plain old boring description. I chose this period of French History since, like you as well, it's not an area that I am familiar with & it gives me a chance to learn as I go along & change history.

Also, those of us in the English speaking World, don't really learn that much about French Hist. unless it greatly involves either the U.K. or the U.S.A. So I thought it would be interesting to do this type of AH instead of the 158th: "Hitler & Germany win again and here's how they did it this time........" type of story.

No offense towards anybody who has done a 3rd Reich AH. I kinda got my fill of Germany Uber Alles back in the 1990's when I read the book "FATHERLAND" & later saw a movie of the same title. Been there, done that, btw, anybody who is interested in what would happen if Germany had been victorious in WW2, look at North Korea with its "Juche" philosophy. That's where they would have ended up.

Back to Falasturs comments; as to the implications of the theft of the Treasury, in about 2 chapters or so from where we are, President Thiers will be having an important Cabinet level meeting with his staff & military leadership, I am intending on having Thiers to state what will be happening as a result of this & their (the Republicans) response.

Perhaps as an indicator, I will have his statement of what is going to be happening written in color & in bold instead of black and normal size fonts so this way readers will have a clue of the bloody mess that awaits France. Give me your opinion if you want that or not.

Also, to any reader, do you want me to keep having the "German" characters occasionally say something in German or not. Also for the French characters, should I continue with occasional lines in French or not? I thought it might add some flavor but I understand German so it's not a problem for me but many of the readers may not so, I will leave it up to you all to decide on that one.

Now as to my plans, I don't want to give away too much Falastur since it may take a way from the interest of reading it yet, I would say it's sort of like building a bridge over a river. I know where I'm starting and I know where I want to end up (I already have the ending set up in detail in the late 1970's), yet its the suspension part of the bridge in the center.

I know what I want to build there yet I have connect from one side of the river to the other. I know what my center/middle part of the story is yet I have to connect it with supporting steel girders & buttresses if you follow me.

But I will give you a hint of whats to come during the 1870's in this alternate France. Louis A Blanqui is a moderate socialist. Think Sweden of the 1960's or possibly Britain of the late 1960's early 1970's. So he is Socialist-Lite. He wont have a long term as the leader of France, but he will leave when he wants to & he will be one of the few who actually survive into the 1880's & die a natural peaceful death in his sleep.

Now then, to keep you interested, the Communards are going to get radical, they are going to become left-wing radicals. They will eventually go beyond OTL's: Marxism, beyond Leninism, beyond Stalinism, and even beyond Maoism.

The Communards will evolve into a 19th Century European form of: The Khmer Rouge. A leader will rise up from the ranks of the Communards & will become a 19th Century French version of Pol Pot. As for Africa, I don't want to get too far ahead into the 1880's, but let me tell you this much.

In our timeline, when we think of the "Big White Hunter" in Africa, we generally think of a man who wears khaki shorts, hiking boots, wears a big hat, carries an elephant gun,usually has two native bearers who call him "Bwana" and he usually has a noticeable British accent. Think of the velociraptor wrangler in the Original Jurassic Park movie who wants them all dead.

In this AH timeline, people will have the exact same stereotype of the "Big White Hunter" except: He will more than likely be speaking: Portuguese, Flemish/Wallonien, maybe French or,.....wait for it,....wait for it......Italian! Yes! Things will be different in Africa. The Boers will remain "boers". The Afrikaners will remain largely cattle ranchers, sheep ranchers & simple farmers in the 19th Cent; until, they start digging in the earth in the early 20th Cent., then the "golden butterflies" will emerge for them.

The British will still have, Sierra Leone, the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes will be around as well, just not in Africa instead, he'll be ''down undah, Mate!"......the Germans will have their places in the hot tropical Sun as well. 1 final hint for now. The French will conquer, gain, & hold their very own "India".

Not going to say where, but it won't be nearly as successful as the Crown Jewel of the British Empire, but it will be a place for them to send "hot-headed" revanchist types and young men with "jingoistic" philosophies; & it will be a place for them to get "distracted" in. That's all for now; I will be looking forward to your replies & suggestions. joho

[joho6411]

Major Lemoyne shook his head & looked at the tall man. He caught his breath & said to him; "Sir are you ready to see the interior of the depot?"
The tall man nodded affirmatively then the 3 men began to walk down the large corridor to the right.

The exterior outer walls of the depot were hexagonal in shape, the interior second set of walls were shaped like a large capital "D". Where Lemoyne, the tall man & his short assistant were standing was in the lower left corner of the "D" shaped building. As they walked down the corridor, Major Lemoyne pointed to the the two stairways on either side of the lower left corner of the "D".

These stairs led to the upstairs floor. He also mentioned that the corridor would begin to curve to the left, eventually making a semi-circle, then straightening out again before coming to a corner. At the corner, the corridor would make a sharp left and continue down a long way until it ended up at the point where they had not only started but where the gate leading out was.

The tall man noticed that the corridors were very wide. Wide enough in fact for his horse drawn wagons to drive down 3 abreast. This was crucial since they could empty the depot much quicker than he had earlier envisaged. Major Lemoyne then mentioned that it was only the first 8 cages & vaults on the left that would be of any interest to them since all the others were empty.

As they looked at the cages, the tall man was taken by the fact that these cages appeared to be like large holding cells in a jail or prison. Yet these cages held far more valuable things than prisoners. When they approached the 7th & 8th cages, the tall man was impressed by the sight he saw. From floor to ceiling, crates of paper cartridges and crates of rounds, this is why they came here.

The previous 6 cages had contained a mixture of cartridges, rounds, and of course, rifles, Chassepot rifles to be exact. With these modern tools of war, the Commune would be able to stand up against the forces of reaction and in due time overcome them as well.

As the tall man was deep in thought, a voice came out; "Sir, sir...?" It was the Major speaking to him. He looked at him and said; "Yes, Major, what were you just saying?" Major Lemoyne continued, "..I was asking you Sir, if you & your assistant wanted to continue on to see all the other cages & vaults? They are all empty, but you can see for yourselves & not just take my word for it."

The tall man quickly answered; "No Major, it is not necessary to walk the entire circuit. We will inspect the remnant of the depot at our leisure if it is convenient for us." The Major smiled and replied to him; "But of course, you will see that all the other cages on this side of the building are empty, but I invite you & your men to inspect them to alleviate any questions or doubts that you may in fact have."

The tall man then said; "Thank you Major..." as they began to retrace their steps back to where they started from the tall man continued, "....I do have a question about the interior of this building, that is, what is in the inside if I may ask?" The Major quickly answered; "In the center is an open parade ground where our men practice their maneuvers also, along the the long corridor there is an awning which covers our stables. If you & your men want to inspect that part you are more than welcome."

The tall man indicated that it wasn't necessary. What was necessary & what he did ask for was the manifest of all the equipment & ammunition that was stored here. The Major said he would get it at once. As they returned to where they started, the short frog faced monkey finally spoke.

"Pardon, Major, but what is on the second level?" The Major was at first stunned by the frog faced monkeys nasal high pitched voice but he politely answered to him. "On that floor there is the soldiers quarters,3 medium sized barracks rooms for about 200 men, 6 private quarters for officers, 12 small offices, 4 large offices, a Chapel, 2 mess halls, 1 for enlisted & 1 for Officers, the kitchen is there & there are 4 additional rooms which are used as classrooms and as temporary storage. You may of course inspect the entire upper floor as you wish."

As the 3 men turned the corner to the right and proceeded up the very long straight corridor, the tall man inquired about the rooms & cages to the right side. "Those..." began Major Lemoyne "..are the saddlers shops, the armorers repair shop, the equine officers veterinarian office and 6 supply rooms; you can of course inspect them as well."

[joho6411]

The tall mans attention was now focused on the cages & vaults that they were approaching. Major Lemoyne indicated that the only vaults & cages for them were once again on the left. He also mentioned that there were 14 of them in this corridor.

His tall guest then said; "So, you have 22 cages & vaults for us, is that correct Major?" To which Major Lemoyne nodded affirmatively. After they had reached the last available cages on the left, the 3 men turned around and began heading to their starting point once again.

As they began the walk back, the tall man & his short assistant noticed that the Major was starting to struggle with his heavy "gift box". The tall man pretended not to see the Major struggling
but he kept a mental note of it, just as he kept mental notes of everything he saw & heard. His assistant, also seemed not to pay much attention to it either.

As the 3 men exited the "D" shaped building, Major Lemoyne was dumbstruck by what was now happening in the open area between the "D" shaped building & the hexagonal walls of his depot. The other 2 men who had been waving the batons, had brought in dozens of wagons.


They had lined up the wagons in 2 uniform lines. As the Major & the 2 other men came out, the last few wagons were getting into lines in the rear. Major Lemoyne attempted to count them all. All he could say was; "Chers ciel, 50 wagons!" The tall man looked at him & replied; '' Yes Major, dear heaven, dear heaven indeed."

In fact, there were 58 wagons in total; the good Major had miscounted. The Major also quickly noticed that there were about 200 or so men walking in and around the opening of the depot. All of a sudden, the Frog croaked again; "Pardon, Major, but what are those buildings over there?" Major Lemoyne turned & looked to see what the frog faced monkey was pointing to.

He could see that he was pointing to the buildings that were lying between the inner & outer walls of his depot. The Major then answered; "From the rear & towards us, the farthest buildings are 2 supply & 2 storage buildings; the next building coming towards us is the blacksmiths shop & the exterior stable, next is the carpenters shop, then the Infirmary, after that, is the hay loft. The next building, the small one, is the latrine."

Then he motioned with his shoulder; "The brick building behind me is the Office of the Commandant, that is my office." He said with a proud grin. The tall man kept his own counsel and absorbed all this extra information given freely & unwittingly by the Major; he also sensed something else about the Major, hubris & an exaggerated sense of self pride. Of course, this was endemic among the petty bourgeoise. He motioned to his short assistant. The smaller man began to move expeditiously towards the waiting wagon trains.

The Major then said out loud; "You are free to inspect all of the outer buildings however, I cannot be held responsible for the stench emanating from the latrine." He brayed laughter at his own joke. The tall man then reminded the Major about the weapon & ammo manifest lists. Major Lemoyne nodded & said; "Come this way Sir, come this way."

As they re-entered the "D" shaped building, they entered into a small guard room. The Major put his heavy box down on a wooden table & sighed out loud in relief. He then looked to the tall man and said; "If this box did not contain what it contains..." he smiled, "..I would gladly dispose of it since it is so bulky & difficult to carry."

The tall man smiled & thought to himself; "Soft." He continued to think that he was ashamed that this man was a soldier of France; an officer no less. With his attitude it was no wonder the Prussians were able to conquer France so easily. Perhaps if France was a box that contained gold that he could take for himself, he would defend it, but since it was not, it was easier to: "gladly dispose of it."



The Major went through a few drawers & quickly produced 3 clipboards each with 4-5 pages on each clipboard. He handed them to the tall man who then thanked him for them. Major Lemoyne then looked at his pocket watch. He then said to his counterpart, "Sir it is now 9:30, I need you & your men to be gone from here no later than 3:30 PM today. My troops will be returning before sundown so you have no more than 6 hours to complete your extraction of the equipment here."

The tall man assured him that they would proceed at once to complete the mission. Relief shown all over the Majors face at that. He began to grin at the the tall man & then said to him; "I am so happy right now, I feel like celebrating my good fortune. I have a bottle of Cognac in my office, would you care to have a celebratory drink with me Sir?" The tall man beamed at the Majors invitation.

As he smiled broadly, his smile masked his true thoughts. He thought to himself; "Soft, petit, bourgeoise, how typical! Prancing about in military uniform with shiny little buttons, putting on airs of superiority; yet still your petty little habits & greed still show through, like manure in a white stocking."

He instantly thought of Marx. Marx himself wrote that the greed of the Capitalists & the bourgeoise was so encompassing, that they would happily sell the weapons & ammunition to the proletarians & peasants with which they would overthrow the Capitalistic order & set up the order of the Proletariat. Here was a true life example, the tall man was pleased to see Marx's theories proven correct. It strengthened his resolve & conviction in the righteousness of his cause.

He then answered the Major; "I greatly thank you sir for the hospitable invitation, however, I think perhaps, it may be safer for all of us if I complete my mission first so that your troopers don't surprise us pre-maturely. In addition, I would heartily accept so long as you have enough for my assistant. I would not see him denied something that I enjoy."

Major Lemoyne smiled broadly now, he picked up his heavy box & replied; "But of course! Certainly! I will set up 3 glasses for us to celebrate our endeavor together. My office is in the brick building, on the second floor, last door on the left at the end of the hallway, I will be looking forward to entertaining you both!" With that, Major Lemoyne left the guard room and headed for his office.

The tall man had made a solemn vow to himself several weeks earlier; he would not celebrate until the Commune was in full control & in power in France, and he promised himself that he would not partake of spiritous drink until,...until, he tried to think of something really worthy & important. Until, until Karl Marx himself made a speech before the Commune of France! Yes! That's when he promised himself a celebratory drink. He would drink with Marx but never with a "petit bourgeoise!"

[Falastur]

Originally Posted by joho6411

Hello Falastur, no need for any apologies. I am thankful that you have enjoyed my story so far. I'm thinking that prose, means it is written in story form?

Actually, prose was entirely the wrong word. Prose just means flowing text. What I really meant to say was a character-based TL, as opposed to one that centres on events happening in the long-term to entire countries.

Originally Posted by joho6411

Perhaps as an indicator, I will have his statement of what is going to be happening written in color & in bold instead of black and normal size fonts so this way readers will have a clue of the bloody mess that awaits France. Give me your opinion if you want that or not.

That would work well, especially in a TL that is long on text. Indicators to draw readers in work well in such cases.

Originally Posted by joho6411

Also, to any reader, do you want me to keep having the "German" characters occasionally say something in German or not. Also for the French characters, should I continue with occasional lines in French or not?

I like that style personally, but do what you think is best.

Originally Posted by joho6411

Now as to my plans, I don't want to give away too much Falastur since it may take a way from the interest of reading it yet, I would say it's sort of like building a bridge over a river. I know where I'm starting and I know where I want to end up (I already have the ending set up in detail in the late 1970's), yet its the suspension part of the bridge in the center.

You shouldn't give away too much of your plot just because I got enquisitive Just the story you have written so far is enough to entice me, at least, and probably a few readers who haven't commented, too. I like to entertain my own ideas anyway by speculating as to what will happen. TLs where I can't guess just make it that bit more interesting as it is guaranteed to surprise me.

Originally Posted by joho6411

The British will still have, Sierra Leone, the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes will be around as well, just not in Africa instead, he'll be ''down undah, Mate!"......the Germans will have their places in the hot tropical Sun as well. 1 final hint for now. The French will conquer, gain, & hold their very own "India".

Now that's interesting. Not Indochina I guess, as they had that OTL. I've got a few ideas, but I'll keep my hands close to my chest for a while.

As for the British Empire having far less of Africa, I guess that will have the side-product of making the Empire far more profitable, without the money-drain African territories...although your original post suggested to me that your idea was that Britain was going to be "not well suited to hold large pieces of territory" because of their own failings as opposed to simple logistical problems - i.e. proving themselves inept, or failing to hold the territories militarily (possibly against a resurgent France). I wonder whether this will all prove beneficial or problematic for the Empire.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[joho6411]

As for the British Empire having far less of Africa, I guess that will have the side-product of making the Empire far more profitable, without the money-drain African territories...although your original post suggested to me that your idea was that Britain was going to be "not well suited to hold large pieces of territory" because of their own failings as opposed to simple logistical problems - i.e. proving themselves inept, or failing to hold the territories militarily (possibly against a resurgent France). I wonder whether this will all prove beneficial or problematic for the Empire.

You are correct about the money drain of Africa Falastur, & it will make the Empire more profitable but it won't be due to ineptness, actually it's more of a political decision made by, well lets let the Queen tell it her way: "Mr. Gladstone is such a charming and capable man. We are so fortunate to have such a man of his caliber and talents as the Head of My Government. He is so much more of a gentleman than that scheming, opportunistic, social climber, Mr. Disraeli. I find him, Mr. Disraeli, so dis.....reputable. Disreputable, disgusting, Disraeli, I do so amuse myself at times. Dear Albert agrees with that assessment as well. He is such a good judge of mens' character; we would be at a grave disadvantage if my Dear Albert were not here for me." Also, to answer your last query, 3 words: beneficial, beneficial, & beneficial.

[Falastur]

haha, sounds good. Looking forward to it all.

[joho6411]

Time: 12:00 Noon, Guards Office, Interior of "D" Shaped Building, Military Storage Depot #17.


The tall man took notice as the wagons exited the building & headed out to the marshaling fields about a half mile away. He looked down the short corridor straight ahead of him. All wagons in that corridor were now gone, soldiers were doing a "sweep" to see if anything had been overlooked. He looked to his left down the long corridor, about 6-7 wagons still being loaded; that meant over 50 wagons gone already! He saw that there was still some activity going on down there; they would still be a while before completing their mission.

He decided to walk down there to see how much longer they would be. He looked at the manifests he had in his hands. So far, over 300,000 paper cartridges & rounds had been "liberated" from the reactionaries along with some, he checked again, 9,648 Chassepot rifles. A good days work indeed for he & his men. He went over in his head what had gone on so far.

He had earlier instructed his assistant to organize the unloading of the depot and the marshaling of the wagons. That had gone smoothly & without incident. He had ordered 1 platoon of men to perform a recon of the entire upstairs & report back if anything was out of order, nothing was. He then ordered 4 men from that platoon to remain & guard each stairwell so nobody could go upstairs again. The remaining 21 soldiers began at once to assist the teamsters in loading their wagons.

A second platoon was ordered to go out & North of the Depot about 1 mile to scout & keep a lookout for any early returning garrison troops. So far, he had heard nothing back from them nor had he heard of any gunfire from that direction, a very good sign.

The third platoon was broken in half; 1 half was put up as sentry & skirmishers around the depot in case the 2nd platoon came back with bad news. The other 2 squads were sent to reconnoiter the buildings inside the depots perimeter. They noted nothing special or out of order in any of the structures, after completing their scouting, they also went to assist in loading the wagons. Of his remaining 3 platoons, 1 platoon went back to the marshaling area with the first wagons to stand as guards.

The other 2 platoons were put on fatigue details in loading the ammo & weapons into the awaiting wagons. Things were indeed, going smoothly and rapidly. As he approached the wagons in the long corridor, he noted that they only had 1 more cage to empty & still had 4 wagons still awaiting their first load. He glanced down at his assistant and inquired of him; "How much longer Comrade?"

His short stocky assistant turned & replied; " Ah, Comrade.." he stopped, he remembered the strict order: "Do Not Use Names Under Any Circumstances!" He then continued, "...comrade, I would say about another hour & a half maybe two at the most. This vault is nearly empty & as you can see, & the last cage only has about 20 or so boxes of rifles & about 100-150 crates of ammunition."

The tall man smiled to hear that. He then decided to speak to the men who were working quite diligently. "Very good, very good, we are are ahead of schedule Comrades! All of you soldiers, comrades all, are a testament to the spirit of the Proletariat! You work together toward a worthy goal & as a result, the survival and success of the Commune is made a reality! You all learn that it is by your communal labors & actions that that is how things are created. And not by the prayers of a frightened, superstitious flock to an anthropomorphic deity led by a cynical, selfish, corrupt, & lazy clergy!"

The men all began to chant rhythmically; "Comrade, Comrade, Comrade, Comrade!" The tall man felt strong as a result of his speech & the resulting adulation from the men. Still, he felt a bit uneasy, since they sounded somewhat like a Christian choir in a cathedral. The echos in the corridor made it impossible to not notice the similarity. He was sure his assistant took notice of the incongruity. As usual, he made it a point not to point out the obvious.


He turned on his heel & began walking back to the guard post, he took out the pocket watch given to him by Comrade Pleiseau, the architect of this mission, & read the face of the watch. It read 12:22. He reckoned about in another hour or so he would order the scouting platoon that was a mile North from here to return; then, he would then order the evacuation of the depot. He wanted to be far away well before the garrison troops returned back.

As he reached the guard post he walked towards the 4 guards at the closest stairwell. He inquired of them; "Any changes while I was absent?" The man in charge replied in the negative & said nobody had entered or left the building in the last 20 minutes. He then walked over to the other 4 men at the adjacent stairwell & asked the same question.

The soldiers there also reported to him that there was no changes. He then spoke aloud so that all 8 men could hear him. "Comrades,.." he said, "..Comrades remember if any of you need to relieve yourselves there is a latrine outside, just be certain to keep 2 men here at all times & let nobody up or down the stairs without my explicit approval."

One of the soldiers, a bold & brash lad about 30 years old spoke up: "Comrade you should be made aware that here, there is a latrine on the upper floor as well, including a bathing room complete with running water." The tall man looked at him incredulously and said; "Is there? Well I will remember that in case I have need to relieve myself. Thank you, Comrade for that extra information." The brash man quickly added; "Comrade I would like to have the opportunity to go to the Infirmary & examine what, if any medicines they may have there, we could use all we can get."

The tall man was taken with this mans' straight forwardness & motivation. He motioned for him to come speak to him privately in the guard room. Once the two men were in the room, the bold young man, who was actually older than the tall commander of the mission, informed him that he had been trained as a physician.

The tall man then quietly inquired the mans name. The brash man replied; "My name is Clemenceau, Georges, & I have been to medical school Comrade Commander." The tall man thought for a moment & then said to Comrade Clemenceau; "Comrade, take 1 man with you & if you find anything of medicinal value, you have my permission to confiscate it. Work quickly Comrade, & be mindful of the time, we expect to be leaving within 1 hour." Comrade Clemenceau nodded & quickly left the building along with one other soldier.

The tall man thought to himself; "It is a good thing we have a physician among the ranks, it clearly illustrates Marx's theories that even the educated bourgeoise, properly enlightened that is, can work towards the goal of a Proletarian community." The tall man also reluctantly thought that he might have to use the services of Comrade Doctor Clemenceau before the mission was completed this very day. He and his short, stocky, assistant had one more part of the mission to complete before they left the depot. He was not looking forward to it, not one bit.

[joho6411]

Time: 12:00 Noon; 2nd Floor, Commandants Office. Military Storage Depot #17


Major Lemoyne, was besides himself with glee. And why not? With 36,000 francs a man could go far. He had counted it again now twice. Both times, same amount, 36,000 francs.

Over 12,000 francs in silver coins, 8,000 francs in gold coins & he giggled to himself, 16,000, 16,000! 16,000 francs in banknotes. How fortunate he was! It was so good to be alive!

It was, he thought, good to be alive & be rich as well. That was even better! He had his three glasses lined up on his desk along with a bottle of unopened cognac. He also found 2 bottles of wine as well. He looked at the bottle of cognac. It would be a grand celebration. He looked forward to the 2 men who would be coming up to his office to help him celebrate. His eyes gazed at the bottle of cognac.

He wanted them to see how happy he was. He also wanted to see the expressions on their faces when they arrived. He glanced at the bottle of cognac. He then thought, how would the little frog faced monkey look after he had drunk a few glasses of cognac & some wine too! Probably just as ugly, but no matter. He smiled at the bottle of cognac. He laughed giddily to himself. He was so full of joy & nervous anticipation. And why not? After all, with 36,000 francs a man could go far. He stared at the bottle of cognac.

His face beaming with a joyful smile, he decided to open the bottle & pour himself a small bit of cognac. He convinced himself, after all, that, just 1 little drink wouldn't affect him at all; how could it possibly? He sniffed its aroma, took a small sip & instantly felt relaxed. He thought then of how his 2 guests would be spending their evening tonight, most likely thinking of him, the Major of the depot.

He also thought of how, where, & with whom he would spending his evening tonight with as well. The two separate thoughts made him smile broadly again. He was besides himself in happiness. He poured more cognac, most of it splashed onto his desk and flowed onto the floor.

He heard wagons rolling again, so he glanced out of his window down onto the roadway. He counted them, 5 more wagons heading out. So far, he reckoned they had only removed about 30 wagons, unless he had miscounted! They were more than half done now. He looked at the clock on the wall, it read 12:15. He still had plenty of time before his guests would arrive. He poured some more cognac.

He closed the heavy wooden box making sure to lock it securely with the small key the ugly little man had given him. He then put the small key in his left breast pocket & securely buttoned the pocket closed.

He finished his glass of cognac & stood up. He had to prepare for his party with these men. He did not want to disappoint them & of course, he did not want to disappoint himself either. He wanted the tall man & the ugly little frog faced monkey to remember him as not only a generous host but, as an intelligent man as well.

He picked up one of the bottles of wine and began to head out of his office. He glanced back, and lovingly gazed at the heavy wooden box sitting on his desk which contained his fortune. "Do not worry Cheri," he cooed to the box, "....I will not leave you unattended for long, but I must get you some appropriate clothing to wear, a man cannot have his love standing in front of other men so exposed."

[joho6411]

Time: 2:00 PM Outside of Main Gate Military Storage Depot #17


The tall man watched as the last 4 wagons along with a detail of guards behind them headed towards the marshaling area. To his left, in the distance, the platoon he had sent to keep watch for the garrison troops were hurriedly walking back in route step. A final last sweep of the inner building along with the inner parade ground was being undertaken right now by the remaining troops. His short, stocky assistant was seeing to that. Everything was going according to plan & he noted confidently, with time to spare before the deadline.

He realized that he would now have enough time to get the entire wagon convoy heading back to Paris before night fell. He watched a platoon of his men return from their sweep of the entire interior perimeter between the hexagonal outer wall & the "D" shaped building. He noted among them number, Comrade Doctor Clemenceau. He called out to him; "Comrade Doctor! Comrade Doctor!" The tall man began to trot over to him.

"Yes Comrade Commander", he replied. "Did you find any thing of medicinal value Comrade Doctor?" The doctor answered him; "No, I'm afraid Comrade Commander, it seems the medical staff here must have brought all of their supplies with them, so we returned empty handed, sorry Comrade Commander."

The tall man replied to him; "Nothing to be sorry for comrade, at least you had the initiative to think of the welfare of your comrades & to render them medical services if the need should have arisen. The communal spirits of Socialism & Fraternity are recognized to be in abundance in your thoughts comrade."

Comrade Clemenceau, nodded his head & quickly returned to his platoon. At that moment, the Frog croaked again; "Comrade, are you ready?" The tall man took a deep breath, nodded & began to walk back inside the depot. He then ordered the Lieutenant of the platoon still in the area to put 2 of his squads in a perimeter around the outside of the brick building & not to let anyone exit the building.

He then instructed the platoon leader to have 1 squad accompany himself & his short assistant into the building. The last squad was to remain outside on standby. His short assistant then handed him a pistol, a LeMat. He noticed that his assistant had armed himself with a revolver. He swallowed & then said to the squad leader; "Leave 2 of your men at the door & have them keep watch, the remainder are to follow us up the stairs." The young man replied; "Oui, Comrade Commander!"

As they began climbing the stairs, the Frog pointed to pieces of broken glass scattered on the steps. The tall man noticed the broken bottom of a wine bottle on one of the steps. As they made it to the top landing, they saw more broken glass. As they peered down the hallway, they noticed 3 doors on the left & 1 on the right.

He looked to the squad leader & indicated to him through hand & arm signals to search the 2 rooms to the left & the 1 on the right. He looked over to his short assistant, the short man nodded to him to proceed forward. As he began walking towards the 3rd door on the left, he noticed more broken glass.

"A Cognac bottle, comrade," hissed the Frog. He looked down & saw the cognac bottle was broken into around 6 pieces. He made his way to the door & to his small surprise it was ajar. He slowly pushed the door open & stepped inside. He saw papers all over the floor, books had fallen off of a shelf, a uniform jacket was lying on the floor and, the Majors chair was turned away from him. Also, another broken wine bottle as well as the remains of 2 broken drinking glasses were strewn all over the carpet.

He turned to his short assistant & they both smirked at each other. "He's as drunk as a nobleman." sneered the smiling Frog. The tall man smiled & nodded in agreement, then he walked over to "solve" all of the Majors problems.




The Lieutenant awaiting outside the Commandants building cleaned out his tobacco pipe. He wished he had some tobacco now, it was a good time for a smoke. After all, the Comrade Commander & his short Adjutant would be a while. He knew that some of the "true believers", as he silently referred to them, strongly disapproved of the use of tobacco. Goodness! They even disapproved of Wine!

They reminded him of those English..., what were they called? Those English sects what were they called; "Rottens", "poor" something. He thought & thought, "Rotten" something, "rotten'', what was it? Poor somethings, then he remembered. "Poor rottens!" Yes! That's it! The English "Poor-rottens". The "Poor-rottens" disapproved of both drink & gaiety. What a wretched life they must have led, to not know the pleasures of dancing or, he shuddered, of the grape! Well, he reasoned, that meant more wine for him & more wine for France, "Vive le France, vive le vin!"

He looked at his pocket watch, it read 2:19. He was waiting for the gunshot, what were they doing? Negotiating with him? All of a sudden, a window on the 2nd floor opened up. At once someone began shouting; "Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!" He told his squads on the outside of the building to watch the windows. As he raced to the front door of the building, he was met by both the tall commander & his short adjutant.

He said, "What is it Comrade Commander?" His tall commander said to him; "Lieutenant Brouchard, have your last squad search the first floor of this building at once! Have them tear open every closet look under furniture, see if there is a cellar & search it! I have already directed your first squad to search the entire second floor & even to see if there is an attic. I want this building torn apart! We don't have much time."

Lt. Brouchard looked at his tall Commander & said to him; "Comrade Commander, what are we looking for exactly?" His commander turned to him and bellowed; "We are searching for a drunken Major who has stolen property belonging to the citizens of France!"

At the sound of the verbal "Alarm", 2 platoons worth of Communard soldiers, nearly, 60 soldiers, began converging at the 2 storey brick building. Their tall, enraged Commander began ordering their platoon leaders & platoon sergeants to begin a search of man in a military uniform, rank of Major, he was medium height & build, mustache & goatee, dark hair, possibly wearing glasses, and above all, he was probably very drunk.

The short stocky man, also indicated that there was a good possibility that he could be passed out lying on the ground anywhere so they should check the tall grass outside of the depot as well as under beds, in short they should check everywhere a man could go. He reminded them to pay special attention in the Infirmary, the supply buildings & storage rooms and especially the veterinarians office. Since these were all places where someone could stash more than a few bottles of wine. The Commander then quickly gave out 1 additional order.

"Under no circumstances at all is this man to be shot at or harmed! If anyone shoots at this man or renders him unable to speak I will personally see to your execution Comrades! Do you all understand that! This Major has important information regarding this depot that we only just discovered minutes ago. If he dies, then we will never find this crucial, I say again, CRUCIAL information that may in fact bring about the destruction of the Commune before it even begins!" He then bellowed; "Move out, find him, & bring him back to me!"

Immediately, the platoons began to search the depot & all of its adjacent area. The Frog walked up to the tall man & said to him; "Comrade, he had enough difficulty walking with the box earlier today before he was under the influence, now, he would undoubtedly drop the box before long. With a box that size, he can't go far."

The tall man nodded & said; "Exactly, Charles that is the problem! He could have dropped it anywhere & not know where it is! It is up to us to find it now! And now, we haven't much time, the garrison troops could be on their way back at this moment & we only have skirmishers out there. We could never stop them long enough to make our escape." He then stated out loud & in disdainful disgust; "This is why we do not approve of alcohol! It creates unintended consequences that cannot be planned ahead for in advance! Damn him & his cognac! Damn him & his greed! Capitalistic, bourgeois pig!"

His adjutant looked at him & said; "Comrade, what was our mission here today?" The tall man answered; "Our mission here today Comrade Le Porche,'' he made a conscientious effort to pronounce his name as [Lay-Por-shay] for he knew that if he mispronounced his short adjutants name it could cause severe problems for him later, since if it is was mispronounced, his name meant "Pig"; he did not want to call his adjutant Comrade "Pig" the results would be too much to risk; he continued, "..our mission was to secure, first all the ammunition, second, all weapons & if possible, secure & return all the money given as an inducement to this petit bourgeois Major."

Le Porche then replied; "Well Comrade, we have succeeded in most of the mission, although it is not a total success, we do have possession of all the weapons & ammunition. These items are a far greater import to the Commune than this money, no?" The tall man nodded slowly.

The short man reminded his comrade of the special order; "Comrade, may I remind you that you not only referred to me by my first name, but you called me by my surname as well. We were not to use names if you recall." The tall man then replied; ''Comrade Le Porche, that was when the Major was present so that he could not identify any of us & perhaps write down our names to be found & used against us at a later time, so you may now use any & all names from this moment onwards." The short man nodded & replied; "That is all you needed to tell me Comrade Fishkin, that's all I needed to hear."

"Lets continue supervising this search shall we Comrade Le Porche?" said Fishkin. "Yes, Comrade Fishkin, I will go & see if anything has been discovered yet." With that, Le Porche walked into the "D" building with the intent of going directly to the veterinarians office & all the supply rooms in that area. Fishkin then went to the Commandants office to see what if anything was found in there.

After some time had passed without any good news, Fishkin asked 1 of his soldiers for the time. "It is now 3:05 Comrade Commander." Fishkin frowned, "That's it, time to bring it in." He began to call in all the troops & began to prepare for the order to march back to the marshaling area. He ordered a sergeant to get the skirmishers to return at once.

In less than 25 minutes, all of Fishkins remaining men, around 120 or so, were assembled in front of the Commandants office; the remainder were already at the marshaling area guarding the wagons. He had Comrade Le Porche lead them out & down to the marshaling area. As he walked down the road himself some 15 minutes later, he turned back to look at the depot. He shook his head and said to himself; "Damned petit, bourgeois! Your own greed & selfishness saved you....this time! We will meet again & next time, you, you, fat lazy swine! You won't get away from me!" He looked down at the ground, turned, then looked up & began to follow behind his men.

[joho6411]

Numbre 17 entrepot Militaire: 6:30 PM

He looked out of the hole. All he saw was darkness. He listened, nothing but the wind blew. He sat & contemplated for a moment. He made his decision he would venture out, now was the time to act.

The first thing to rise out of the dark foetid opening was a hand. Then the arm attached to the hand rose up behind it. Slowly a shoulder emerged out of the dank, dark, blackness. He then raised his head up. He looked around. It was a nearly a totally dark night.

The Moon was obscured behind heavy clouds. He struggled to pull his other shoulder out now. It was a tight fit but he got it out. The ropes were digging into his shoulders now. It was uncomfortable but there would be no way, no way he would loosen those bonds.

Attached to those ropes was his fortune & he was not about to abandon it now especially after the great lengths he had gone to obtaining it. And, he wasn't going to leave it in here of all places.

He struggled to pull himself up. It was not easy. He let out a gasp of air. He breathed deeply. He tried again. This time his feet slipped. He did not want to fall back in the hole. He thought that if he fell, he might be trapped in here & eventually they would find his corpse, he stopped thinking & determined to extricate himself now!

He positioned both hands at the holes opening & began to slowly push downward. He tried to get his leg out & put his knee on the outer part of the hole. He pulled & pulled up while the heavy wooden box inexorably pulled downward. He wished he had brought a ladder with him, ah, live & learn.

He finally got his right knee on the lip of the opening. Success! He was almost out. He pulled his other knee up & sat back on the opening of this hole exhausted from the exertion.

He held in an exhausted gasp of laughter. This was a story to tell his children when they were grown. Provided of course he made it back home. No time to think about far off places yet or tales he would spin in coming years. He still had to get home, he still had to leave the depot.

He pulled on the rope & the heavy, valuable object it surrounded slowly came out of the hole. He placed it beside him & felt a small sense of achievement. He came out on top, so he thought, he came out smelling like a rose.

He laughed to himself; smelling like a rose indeed! He smelled much more like human feces! After all, what would one expect to smell like after they had spent an entire afternoon hiding in the underground cesspit of a stinking latrine!

__________

[joho6411]

He stood up. It was good to finally be able to stand after all that time down there. He did not know how long he was down there or even what time it was now. All he knew was that it was nighttime & the Communards had left his depot.

He was lucky that while he was down there in the bowels of the latrine that it was only knee deep in human waste. He thought himself even more more fortunate that there was a wooden beam that he could sit upon & use as a,..........stool? It was, he recollected a hard stool. Nonetheless, he let it pass, it was all behind him now. He laughed hard at that thought.

He peered out the door & began at once to hurriedly walk to the supply building where he had made his preparations yesterday after the last of his garrison troops had left to go on patrol. As he headed to the supply building, he reflected on how easy it was to "disappear" into the latrine earlier that day.

He smiled as he thought of his earlier actions that day. He took the wine & cognac bottles & purposely dropped them on the floor & kicked some of the glass down the stairs. He then went downstairs & retrieved the 12 foot section of rope to cover the heavy box.

On return to his office, he knocked some books off a shelf, scattered some worthless papers around the office, threw down an officers tunic, (not his own though), & then tossed the drinking glasses up in the air. He also retrieved a folder with important documents, his own personal files & placed them in his treasure box.

He then put on an ordinary privates uniform, tied up his box with the rope, put his glasses in his top pocket & then quickly took out one of those brand new English manufactured "Sheffield Safety Razors" & shaved off his mustache & goatee. With that, he grabbed his rope encased box & exited his former office & made his way to the latrine.

He walked directly behind about 6 Communard soldiers, keeping about 10 paces behind them. He had, in fact, escaped in plain sight. As he neared the latrine, he simply walked right in, made sure nobody was in there, sat on the rear of the hole & slowly lowered himself in. It was the safest place to hide. Nobody would think to look there; in fact, nobody did, the place reeked so bad, hardly anymore than 5 men even relieved themselves while he was sitting "on duty" there.

[joho6411]

As he entered the supply building, Major Lemoyne walked cautiously & slowly, it was extremely dark in there. He wouldn't chance lighting a lantern, too dangerous. He walked towards the supply office. He gambled that his his Supply Sgt., Sergeant Du Bois, would have a bottle or 2 still in his office & that he would not have had time to bring them along on the hastily assembled patrol.

He made it into Sgt. Du Bois office & looked into the deep shelf behind his manuals. Sure enough, there were 2 bottles of Kentucky bourbon, American made whiskey. Disgusting stuff to be sure but he had no intention of imbibing it. He was going to use it to wash himself off.

He reached around in the dark & found a burlap bag. He would take all his filthy clothes off & drop them in the burlap sack. He opened up the bottle of bourbon and began to clean himself. He found a cloth & then dried himself off. He went over to another shelf & found the civilian clothes that he had placed there the day before.

He took the key of his treasure box and put in his pocket of the new shirt he had put on. New socks, gray pants, new undergarments, heavy woolen hat, scarf, pair of gloves, warm winter boots, gray overcoat, he had a complete civilian wardrobe now.

He went & got the saddle bag that he had placed on the shelf the night before as well. He opened the heavy wooden box & began to transfer all of its contents into the leather saddle bags. His ensemble was nearly complete. He had one more item to secure.

He went over to the trash bin by Sgt. Du Bois' desk. He reached down into it & he found what he was searching for. In the bottom of the trash can, a piece of cloth which was rolled into a neat ball. He brought it out and opened it up. He could feel from its weight that it was still completely intact.

As he opened up the ball of rags, he gently held up what it contained. "Good evening, Claudine," he said, "I am happy to have you accompany me on my flight from poverty to wealth." Claudine was in fact, his LeMat pistol.

He put the LeMat in his belt, picked up the saddle bags, (they were much more easier than the bulky box was.) and the burlap sack. He then exited the supply building & headed directly for the latrine.

[Falastur]

The things a man will do in the line of duty...

[joho6411]

As soon as Major Lemoyne entered the latrine, he began to empty the contents of the burlap sack into the cesspit. As soon as he had gotten the last boot into the pit, he tossed in the wooden box & burlap bag for good measure.

He exited the latrine & began to briskly walk to the main gate. After he exited his former post, he started to the North. He had a rendevous scheduled in a barn on an abandoned farm about 2 miles from the depots location.

He had left the barn early that morning in order to be back in time for the Communards when they arrived. When he left, he left Josephine waiting there; she was probably nervously anticipating his return so he had to hurry back. He held his pocket watch up to the fading moonlight & read it. It was around 8:15 pm.

He finally made his way back to the barn just after 10:00 pm. He peered through the boards of the walls. Josephine was there! He saw her, her long blond hair against her naked body. He slowly approached her & spoke to her; "I brought back a small present for you." She tossed her head back & looked at him as to if to say; "You are late!"

He handed her the present, it was a juicy red apple. She looked at it & then took a bite. He smiled & stared at her. She was beautiful indeed. And so young! She was a 3 year old filly. She would carry him home, back to Desvres. Once he returned home, he would collect his wife & 2 children, then, in a few weeks perhaps, they would go to Boulogne-Sur-Mer. Once there, they would hire a fisherman to bring them to Great Britain. That was the plan.

He went to sleep. He awoke about 3:30 am. He got dressed, put the saddle on Josephine as well the very valuable saddle-bags & then began to set out for home. He wanted to leave while it was still dark. He wanted to be well beyond the town of Beauvais before 7 am. He had a long journey ahead of him and he was looking forward to starting a new life for himself & his family. He smiled to himself and why shouldn't he? After all, with 36,000 francs a man could go far.

[joho6411]

Chapter 4

March 14, 1871: The Palace of Versailles


President Thiers waited anxiously for his first visitor of the day. He had an important meeting scheduled for the afternoon as well.

He heard a knock on the door, "Entrez." His secretary Jules Barthelemy-St.-Hillaire entered the room. "Mr. President, General Louis Jules Trochu to see you." "Send him in at once, Jules." replied Thiers. General Trochu entered President Thiers office & walked straight to his desk & saluted the President. President Thiers returned the salute & said, "Do sit down General, I have much to ask of you."

General Trochu replied, "How may I be of assistance to you Mr. President?" Thiers got to the point immediately. He told General Trochu of the seizure of the Treasury, & also, of all of the contents of the secret sub-basement. Trochu gasped at the news and remarked that, ''Less than 20 men even knew of the existence of the sub-basement!"

Thiers nodded his head & then continued, "General Trochu, what I need to know is all of the information you may have in regards to who exactly & perhaps most importantly where would the keys to the sub-basement & the 4 vaults therein be found? I need to know what you may know General about this since I am trying to find out who may have had access to them & how they were able to obtain them."

General Trochu smiled & answered President Thiers. "I would say Mr. President, that they were able to either find a list of the places where the keys are stored or, they took the keys from those few individuals who actually have personal possession of them. So either they stole them & made copies of them, which, would not be easy, or they bribed the holders of the keys & then gained them that way."

President Thiers then said to him, "General, where I may I find one of these lists?" General Trochu grinned, "Mr. President I will tell you 2 things that will surprise you. First, your secretary has one list with all names & locations as of December 3, 1870. Second," he stood up, "May I show you something Mr. President?" Thiers nodded. General Trochu walked to Thiers side of the desk & pulled out the bottom drawer.

He placed the drawer on President Thiers desk & took out all of its contents. Thiers looked at him suspiciously. General Trochu turned the drawer over to expose its bottom. As he looked at the bottom of the drawer, Thiers saw two heavy, bulky looking pieces of metal. They were unusually shaped cast iron keys set into a recess in the wood of the drawer. President Thiers then said; "If these were here then," he thought for a moment, "then they made duplicates of not only these keys then perhaps all of them!"

General Trochu then said; "Mr. President, I would venture to say that the Communards must have opened the sub-basement vaults as well as the entrance way with duplicate keys. There is no other way since this desk was only transported to Versailles the week before Christmas & prior to that, it was locked & sealed in a secure location."

Thiers looked at him quizzically. Trochu continued, ''However, Mr. President, any time before the 30th of November last, anyone could have had access to this desk & taken the keys & made duplicates. Since this desk was then located in the Tuilleries in the recently deposed Emperors study. For all we know Mr. President, these may be the duplicate keys." Thiers nodded soberly at that idea.

"Mr. President, forgive me for saying this but I feel I must." Thiers said, "Go ahead General, please speak freely." Trochu continued, "Mr. President, I think it is time & energy wasted on trying to find out who stole these keys, it is how you may say, water under the bridge, so to speak. Why concern yourself with who & when the keys were stolen, what matters now is trying to stop the Communards now; however, once after we have defeated them, we can....question them in any manner we feel necessary on who, when & how they received these keys."

President Thiers nodded in agreement. "General Trochu, I must say that I agree with that line of reasoning. I was focusing too much on the theft of the keys & losing focus on the more important goal of stopping this ''Commune'', it was my own ego getting in the way, thank you for re-directing my thoughts on this subject."

Thiers thought for a moment, "General, you said my secretary has the list of the men & locations where the keys were stored?" General Trochu replied, "Yes Mr. President, but don't blame Mr. St. Hillaire, he would not have known; you see there is a dossier in his files that is in a code of sorts, not in everyday French, so if he or anyone else glanced upon it, it wouldn't make sense. It would appear as a simple mundane report of agricultural production from the Region of Brittany."

Thiers looked at him, "General, who would know? Who would come & direct me or Mr. St. Hillaire, or even young Robert, if he was here at the time, &, not only that, but tell me of the keys hidden in my own desk?" General Trochu said to him, " It would be 1 of 2 ministers, either Minister of Finance, Mr. Louis Buffet or Minister of War, General Le Flo. The files would be the purview of General Le Flo since he has the cipher to decode the various numerical codes contained in that book & the keys in your desk would be Mr. Buffets' knowledge."

President Thiers sat quiet for a minute then he instructed General Trochu to keep the knowledge of the theft of the Treasury absolutely secret, the fewer who knew the better. He then asked General Trochu if he would be present at his meeting this afternoon. General Trochu agreed to stay for the meeting. President Thiers then told him that only a few of his ministers knew of the theft and more importantly, none of the members of the National Assembly down in Bordeaux were made aware it. If they found out, there were would be even more panic, more than France could bear.

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[joho6411]

March 17, 1871: The Palace of Versailles

President Thiers sat at his desk going over reports. Few contained good news. He glanced at the clock on the wall, it read 4:35. He smiled, young Robert would be coming on duty soon & Mr. St. Hillaire would be leaving shortly.

There was a loud knock on the door, it had to be Mr. St. Hillaire. "Entrez," replied Thiers. Mr. St. Hillaire entered & said; "Mr. President a report was delivered here, it is from General Auguste."

"Merci, Jules, I will read this in private." Mr. St. Hillaire then turned & exited the room. Thiers opened the envelope and began to look at the report. It was the report of what had happened at the Treasury the previous month before.

Mr. President a comprehensive report with eyewitness testimony on the days prior to the discovery of the theft of the Treasury of France.

According to several survivors who were acting as guards of the Treasury:

On approximately 13, February 1871, the Command under the leadership of Captain Eugene Bonnet was approached by a General Staff Officer, a General Rougerie along with four adjutants. He had ordered Captain Bonnet to transfer his entire Company to the 11e Arrondissement to assist in fighting the anarchists & other rioters. Capt. Bonnet informed the General that his orders were to guard the Treasury building & its compound, he was told not to leave this area except under direct orders from the area commander and those orders must be signed by both the Minister of War and General Trochu. The General had one of his staff officers produce a document that had orders with both of those signatures written upon it. At this juncture, Capt. Bonnet began to gather his Lieutenants: Lt. Fauvan, Henri & myself Lt. Brunette, Jerome. We were ordered to assemble our platoons & march to the 11e Arrondissement to confront the rioters & contain them in that area. We remained in this area combating rioters for the 10 days. We returned to our post at the Treasury on February 23, 1871. I became acting commander in the wake of the deaths of both Captain Bonnet & Lt. Fauvan. On our return, we found the main doors to the Treasury Building were still locked and sealed as when we had left them on the 13th. We were shocked when the Treasury staff alerted us on the 27th, that the Treasury had been ransacked. I SWEAR MY TESTIMONY IS TRUE AND CONTAINS NO OMISSIONS OR DELETIONS: LT. Jerome A. Brunette.


*****

On February 13, 1871 my Company was in charge of guarding the National Treasury Building of France. Approximately at 3:00pm, my Commander, Captain Bonnet informed me that under orders from a ranking General, Gen. Rougerie, we were to leave our post & go assist in putting down the riots in an adjacent arrondissement. I began to call all the soldiers to fall in for formation & instructed my Platoon Sgts. to make necessary arrangements for the company to move to a new location & for the men to bring all their gear since we would be gone for a few days. Lieutenant Brunette was left to organize the evacuation of the stables which was being used as a temporary barracks for the men. Around 3:45pm, Capt. Bonnet ,myself, Lt. Fauvan, Sgt. Houllion, and General Rougerie along with with his staff entered the Treasury Building. We went into the basement of the building in order to tell the 2 soldiers in the sealed guardpost there, that they would have to evacuate their post, since with our leaving the building, there would be no one to relieve them or let them out of the sealed guard room. One of the guards, a Master Sergeant Lemieux was willing to leave, yet the other soldier was a Major Joule & he refused stating that they fell under special orders. Captain Bonnet tried to explain to the Major that they would be locked in this building for an unspecified amount of time without food & no relief since the building was to be sealed & locked. General Rougerie then approached the guard post & ordered the Major to leave the post & assist in combating the Communards. At this juncture, Master Sergeant Lemieux opened the door to the guard post & stated that he did not want to be trapped in here. Major Joule insisted that a special report be made & signed by Gen. Rougerie. Gen. Rougerie agreed to this demand. Before leaving the basement, Master Sergeant Lemieux pushed a heavy wooden table between the guard post door and the wall so that the room would be accessible upon return since the door was designed to be opened only from the inside,without this, the door would have to have been chiseled or hammered off to reopen it. Major Joule also demanded that Gen. Rougerie indicate in his special report that he ordered the door to be kept open in this manner. The General stated he would put that in his written order. This seemed to placate Major Joule. When we reached the 11e Arrondissement, we were faced with rioters & armed resistance. I recall something unusual at this time. Master Sgt. Lemieux claimed to know of an alley between several buildings that could lead us around & then behind some of the rioters & keep us from being fired upon. He claimed to have lived here for most of his life. I thought it a bit unusual since Master Sgt. Lemieux spoke with a Provencal accent which would be unusual for a man claiming to have lived in Paris most of his life. It only struck me later that it was Master Sgt. Lemieux who led the way with Lt. Fauvans Platoon, Captain Bonnet and Major Joule. I was with Lt. Brunettes platoon and our remnant of 3rd Platoon which only had 11 soldiers. When the rioters finally left the area on the 16th of February we went into the buildings to recover the dead. We lost 26 of 31 men of 1st Platoon along with the Commander as well as Major Joule & Lt. Fauvan. We never found Master Sergeant Lemieux's remains. Additionally, General Rougerie dismissed us on the 23rd & told us to return to our post. It was not until a few days later that Lt. Brunette told me that the Treasury had been looted during our absence. I SWEAR THIS TESTIMONY IS TRUE AND CONTAINS NO OMISSIONS OR DELETIONS: FIRST SERGEANT HENRI P. OULETTE

Thiers put the report down & sighed, "Merde, now they are impersonating officers as well, have access to military stationery & can forge signatures with great expertise, Merde!" Thiers wondered when he would get to open a letter that had good news.

[joho6411]

Chapter 5

March 18, 1871: Hotel Arbre Vert 11e Arrondissement Paris


Blanqui looked at the files & reports coming across his desk in his temporary office. It was comfortable, roomy & had good lighting. He reflected that he ought not get too comfortable here.

Comrade Pleiseau insisted upon having him staying no more than 1 night in the same place. Too dangerous, Pleiseau had told him, better to find a new abode every night. Harder for them to capture him. Blanqui knew that Thiers had agents who were on the lookout for him & would try to capture him, so he followed what Emil Pleiseau told him to do.

It was after all, for the safety of the Commune that he not be captured. He continued working on his speech to be made in only a few hours before members of the Peoples Assembly. He had about 3 hours before he was to be taken to the hall where he would address the assembly.

He let his mind wander for a few minutes. He wondered, as he looked at his comfortable surroundings, how much more comfortable he would be in if he was right now in one of those brand new hotels being built in London. They were magnificent structures, some nearing 10 floors! Amazing, dizzying heights!

He imagined being taken up in one of those amazing safety lifts! A small movable room of sorts that moved up & down from floor to floor. Absolutely incredible! Not only that, he imagined having in his room, one or maybe even two of Mr. Smythes' amazing electric lamps that gave off bright light & turned night into day! He wouldn't have to spend as much time writing during the daylight hours.

The gas lamps were sufficient of course, but the new electrical light bulbs gave off much more light. The only negative thing he had heard, from several people, was that Mr. Smythes' light-bulbs gave off tremendous heat & could cause fires if placed too close to flammables such as drapes & curtains.

Those English! They were so inventive, they had so many great things that made life easier & better. If only France could have a tithe of what they had! He felt a bit of jealousy towards them. He quickly re-focused his attention on the papers on his desk.

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[joho6411]

As he looked through the reports, Blanqui came to one of the ones he knew was of great import. Its' information would have great significance for what he would be proposing in front of the assembly later toady.

So far, through the aid & ingenuity of Comrade Pleiseau and many other Comrades, they had achieved great victories in only the past few weeks. They, the Commune that is, had successfully confiscated & secreted away over 34 billion francs from the Treasury.

That was a strategic victory against the reactionaries who fancy themselves "Republicans", had they not, in their last election voted in a majority of men who were unabashedly in favor of returning France to a Monarchy?

In only the last 2 1/2 weeks, Blanqui noted happily, his forces had also spirited away just over 75,000 rifles. He looked to his notes, some 18,000 or so were the Tabatiere Rifle, but the remaining 57,000 were Chassepots. In addition, his forces had also liberated around 20,000 pistols of various makes & designs. His forces also had at their disposal some 300 muzzle loading cannon.

The greatest feat of all was in the amount of ammunition his comrades had taken from the Reactionaries' corrupt & lazy custodians. The forces of the People now had over 9,500,000 rounds of ammunition & paper cartridges along with some 2,350,000 rounds of pistol ammunition. This was of course according to the records of the armorers from whence these weapons were confiscated from.

Moreover, his people were still in the process, and would be for some time, of "liberating" more weapons & munitions from depots & armories throughout France.

This was perhaps the greatest event because, for every round or rifle that the forces of the Commune had, was 1 less that could be used against them. Without appropriate funding, the "Versailles" Government would be hard pressed to acquire sufficient supplies of any kind for their forces.

[joho6411]

As Blanqui sat there reading these reports, he had a moment of genius. He would mention in his speech today to the Peoples Assembly the recent acquisition of the necessary sinews of war taken from the forces of the reactionaries. He would not tell them the exact amount of weapons or munitions that were confiscated due to no wanting to let his opponent know what cards he held in his hands.

Better for old Adolphe to find out from his Generals when they find out from the Ordnance officers that: "offensive operations cannot be conducted due to the fact that.....". He smiled broadly at the thought. The real masterstroke of Political genius was different though. He would tell the assembled before him today of the seizure of the Treasury of France.

In the audience today, no doubt, would be reporters from many foreign newspapers. The most important would be those men representing British newspapers & possibly more important would be those men representing the dailies that get read everyday in Zurich! Once the bankers in London & Zurich find out that the Versailles government is broke, they won't be as likely to grant any more loans to it.


Blanqui tried to predict what would happen beyond Thiers' government denying the "rumor" of missing treasure from the Treasury. Undoubtedly, Thiers, his fool of a Foreign Minister, Jules Favre, & likely his Finance Minister, Louis Buffet would beg, cajole, & assure the international bankers in both Switzerland & Great Britain that the banks & treasury are full. The International Bankers then would want to do an audit or an in person inspection of the French Treasury.

Once they see for themselves that the vaults are indeed empty......Thiers will have an apoplexy! That was it then, he would tell the World about the seizure of the French Treasury. This revelation would have another positive aspect for the Commune. Once the Prussians heard of the "Versailles cliques" financial insolvency, it would make the Thiers government extremely vulnerable in the peace negotiations that were to begin in about a week or so.

The implications of this were grave for Thiers' government & great for The Commune. Since the "Thiers' Gang" is unable to dislodge the "Boche" from France by force due to the recently signed Armistice, their only alternative was the negotiating table. The brutal "Boche" would exact an expensive indemnity from the "Versailles Clique". Since the "Boche" will be aware that their demands cannot be paid by Thiers' government it will show to all of France how impotent the Versailles government truly is.

Moreover, if Thiers' government cannot make peace with the "Boche" it could cause even more people to riot all over France. Some of those people could come under the Red Banner of the Commune even if at first they disagreed with its principles. If the "Boche" attempt to break off negotiations with Thiers' representatives perhaps then they would negotiate with those who have, access to "some......money"?

*****