The Courts-martial at Versailles will try the prisoners exclusively for
offences against the common law, and will not consider them as political
offenders.
JUNE 11th.
The close inspection which has been made of the sewers in Paris has
already led to the discovery of large quantities of weapons and
ammunition, and also of many ex-Federalist combatants, who, despairing
of escape from the regular troops, sought refuge in the subterranean
passages with whatever provisions they could secure. The greater part of
these miserable creatures are in a most deplorable condition from hunger
and the poisonous atmosphere of their hiding places. On Friday, at the
angle of the Rue Vavin and the outer Boulevard, the scavengers found
five bodies in the sewer, one that of an officer, and all mutilated by
rats. The bodies were brought out by means of ropes, and after search
for papers and documents, were interred in the Mont Parnasse Cemetery.
JUNE 12th.
On Wednesday the Commissary of Police for the Quartier Saint Victor
received information that the ex-General of the Commune, Rossel, was in
concealment at the Hotel Montebello, upon the Boulevard St. Germain. The
Commissary proceeded to the hotel, and upon searching the place found in
a room on the third floor a person dressed in the uniform of the Eastern
Railway service. Upon being questioned this person stated that his name
was Tirobois, that he was an engineer living at Metz, but had been
summoned to Paris by the railway managers on account of the pressure of
traffic on the line. 'Are you sure of that?' asked the Commissary.
'Parbleu.' 'Well, in the name of the law I arrest you. You are Rossel.'
'I? not at all.' The prisoner was taken to the Prefecture de Police
established at the Barracks of the Cite, and thence in a boat to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the head-quarters of the municipal
police are established. During the whole of the journey thither, being
closely pressed with questions by the Commissary, the pretended Tirobois
continued his denials. Upon being further interrogated at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, he replied, 'I have told you all I know about
myself. Do not ask me any more.' Tirobois was then conveyed to the
Ministry of War, where he was confronted with a number of persons who
were detained in custody. Some of these declared that he was Rossel, but
others, the majority, denied that he was the Communist ex-General. About
10 o'clock at night the prisoner was formally questioned as to his
history. When the customary question, 'What is the name of your mother?'
was put, he became confused, turned red, and, suddenly springing up,
exclaimed, 'Why carry on this pretence any longer. Of what good is this
acting and these lies. Yes, I am Colonel Rossel.' After this avowal the
prisoner was removed under escort to the depot of the Prefecture. Upon
being searched there was found 225f. in notes, a political article, and
a longitudinal section of the different public monuments in Paris.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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