Several other crimes were committed by the band in the next few days,
but perhaps the most daring was that of March 25. In the forest of
Senart, at eight o'clock in the morning, a band of five men stopped a
chauffeur driving a powerful new motor car. They shot the chauffeur and
injured his companion. The five men then took the car, and proceeded at
great speed to the famous racing center of Chantilly. They went directly
to a bank, descended from the car, and shot down the three men in charge
of the bank. They then seized from the safe $10,000. A crowd which had
gathered was kept back by one of the bandits with a rifle. The others
came out, opened fire on the spectators, started the car at its utmost
speed, and disappeared.
Not long after, Monsieur Jouin, deputy chief of the Surete, and Chief
Inspector Colmar were making a domiciliary search in a house near Paris.
Instead of finding what they thought, a man crouching beneath a bed
sprang upon them, and in the fight Jouin was killed and Colmar severely
injured. Bonnot, although injured, escaped by almost miraculous means.
At last, on April 29, the band, which had defied the police force of
Paris for four months, was discovered concealed in a garage said to
belong to a wealthy anarchist. A body of police besieged the place, and
after two police officers were killed a dynamite cartridge was exploded
that destroyed the garage. Bonnot was then captured, fighting to the
last. The police reported the finding of Bonnot's will, in which he
says: "I am a celebrated man.... Ought I to regret what I have done?
Yes, perhaps; but I must live my life. So much the worse for idiotic and
imbecile society.... I am not more guilty," he continues, "than the
sweaters who exploit poor devils."[12] His final thought, it is said,
was for his accomplices, both of whom were women, one his mistress, the
other the manager of the _Journal Anarchie_.
CHAPTER VI
SEEKING THE CAUSES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account