15 - Celebrated Crimes - The Massacres of the South by Alexandre Dumas

Dumass Celebrated Crimes isnt a series designed for the faint-hearted. The novelist pulls no punches in his graphic depiction of a tumultuous era, sometimes distorting facts and levelling unfounded accusations. Its a riveting read intended for discerning, seasoned readers who can appreciate and account for the authors dramatic liberties. As per the publishers note.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter nine of Celebrated Crimes, Volume two, The Massacres of
the South. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by John vanstan Savannah, Georgia.
Celebrated Crimes, Volume two, The Massacres of the South by

(00:22):
Alexander Dumas. It was on Saturday that the white flag
was hoisted at Nimes. The next day a crowd of
Catholic peasants from the environs marched into the city to
await the arrival of the Royalist army from Beaucaire. Excitement
was at fever heat. The desire of revenge filled every breast.
The hereditary hatred which had slumbered during the Empire again

(00:45):
awoke stronger than ever. Here I may pause to say
that in the account which follows of the events which
took place about this time, I can only guarantee the
facts and not the dates. I relate everything as it happened,
But the day on which it had happened may sometimes have
escaped my memory. For it is easier to recollect a
murder to which one has been an eye witness than

(01:07):
to recall the exact date on which it happened. The
garrison of Nemes was composed of one battalion of the
thirteenth Regiment of the Line and another battalion of the
seventy ninth Regiment, which, not being up to its full
war strength, had been sent to Nemes to complete its
numbers by enlistment. But after the Battle of Waterloo, the
citizens had tried to induce the soldiers to dessert, so

(01:30):
that of the two battalions, even counting the officers, only
about two hundred men remained. When the news of the
proclamation of Napoleon the Second reached Nimes, Brigadier General Maumont,
commandant of the department, had him proclaimed in the city
without any disturbance being caused thereby. It was not until
some days later that a report began to be circulated

(01:52):
that a royal army was gathering at Beaucaire, and that
the Populace would take advantage of its arrival to indulge
in excesses. In the face of this twofold danger, General
Malmond had ordered the regular troops and a part of
the National Guard of the Hundred Days to be drawn
up under arms in the rear of the barracks upon
an eminence on which he had mounted five pieces of ordnance.

(02:15):
This disposition was maintained for two days and a night,
but as the populace remained quiet, the troops returned to
the barracks and the guards to their homes. But on Monday,
a concourse of people, who had heard that the army
from Beaucaire would arrive the next day, made a hostile
demonstration before the barracks, demanding with shouts and threats, that
the five cannons should be handed over to them. The

(02:39):
general and the officers, who were quartered in the town,
hearing of the tumult, repaired at once to the barracks,
but soon came out again, and, approaching the crowd, tried
to persuade it to disperse, to which the only answer
they received was a shower of bullets. Convinced by this,
as he was well acquainted with the character of the
people with whom he had to deal, that the struggle

(02:59):
had been gun in earnest and must be fought out
to the bitter end, the general retreated with his officers
step by step to the barracks, and, having got inside
the gates closed and bolted them. He then decided that
it was his duty to repulse force by force, for
everyone was determined to defend, and no matter what the cost,
a position which from the first moment of revolt was

(03:20):
fraught with such peril. So, without waiting for orders, the soldiers,
seeing that some of their windows had been broken by
shots from without, returned the fire, and, being better marksmen
than the townspeople, soon laid many low. Upon this, the
alarmed crowd retired out of musket range and entrenched themselves
in some neighboring houses. About nine o'clock in the evening,

(03:43):
a man bearing something resembling a white flag approached the
walls and asked to speak to the general. He brought
a message inquiring on what terms the troops would consent
to evacuate memes. The general sent back word that the
conditions were that the troops should be allowed to march
out fully armed and win with all their baggage. The
five guns alone would be left behind. When the forces

(04:05):
reached a certain valley outside the city, they would halt
that the men might be supplied with means sufficient to
enable them either to rejoin the regiments to which they belonged,
or to return to their homes. At two o'clock a
m the same envoy returned and announced to the general
that the conditions had been accepted, with one alteration, which

(04:25):
was that the troops, before marching out, should lay down
their arms. The messenger also intimated that if the offer
he had brought were not quickly accepted, say within two hours,
the time for capitulation would have gone by, and that
he would not be answerable for what the people might
then do in their fury. The general accepted the conditions

(04:45):
as amended, and the envoy disappeared. When the troops heard
of the agreement that they should be disarmed before being
allowed to leave the town, their first impulse was to
refuse to lay down their weapons before a rabble which
had run away a few musket shots. But the generals
succeeded in soothing their sense of humiliation and winning their

(05:06):
consent by representing to them that there could be nothing
dishonorable in an action which prevented the children of a
common fatherland from shedding each other's blood. The gendarmerie, according
to one article of the treaty, were to close in
at the rear of the evacuating column and thus hinder
the populace from molesting the troops of which it was composed.

(05:27):
This was the only concession obtained in return for the
abandoned arms, and the farce in question was already drawn
up in field order, apparently waiting to escort the troops
out of the city. At four o'clock p m. The
troops got ready, each company stacking its arms in the
courtyard before marching out, but hardly had forty or fifty
men past the gates. Then fire was opened on them

(05:50):
at such close range that half of them were killed
or disabled at the first volley. Upon this, those who
were still within the walls closed the courtyard gates, thus
cutting off all chants of retreat from their comrades. In
the event, however, it turned out that several of the
latter contrived to escape with their lives, and that they
lost nothing through being prevented from returning. For as soon

(06:11):
as the mobs saw that ten or twelve of their
victims had slipped through their hands, they made a furious
attack on the barracks, burst in the gates, and scaled
the walls with such rapidity that the soldiers had no
time to repossess themselves of their muskets, and even had
they succeeded in seizing them, they would have been of
little use, as ammunition was totally wanting. The barracks being

(06:32):
thus carried by assault, a horrible massacre ensued, which lasted
for three hours. Some of the wretched men, being hunted
from room to room, jumped out of the first window
they could reach without stopping to measure its height from
the ground, and were either impaled on the bayonets held
in readiness below, or falling on the pavement, broke their
limbs and were pitilessly dispatched. The gendarmes, who had really

(06:56):
been called out to protect the retreat of the garrison,
seemed to imagine they were there to witness a judicial execution,
and stood immovable and impassive while these horrid deeds went
on before their eyes. But the penalty of this indifference
was swiftly exacted, for as soon as the soldiers were
all done with the mob, finding their thirst for blood

(07:16):
still unslacked, turned on the gendarmes, the greater number of
whom were wounded. While all lost their horses and some
their lives, The populace was still engaged at its bloody
task when the news came that the army from Beaucaire
was within sight of the town, and the murderers, hastening
to dispatch. Some of the wounded, who still showed signs
of life, went forth to meet the long expected reinforcements.

(07:40):
Only those who saw the advancing army with their own
eyes can form any idea of its condition and appearance.
The first Corps accepted. This corps was commanded by Monsieur
de Barra, who had put himself at its head with
the noble purpose of preventing, as far as he could,
massacre and pillage. In this he was seconded by the
office under him, who were actuated by the same philanthropic

(08:03):
motives as their general in identifying themselves with the corps.
Owing to their exertions, the men advanced in fairly regular order,
and good discipline was maintained. All the men carried muskets.
But the first Corps was only a kind of vanguard
to the second, which was the real army, and a
wonderful thing to see and hear. Never were brought together

(08:24):
before or since. So many different kinds of howl, so
many threats of death, so many rags, so many odd weapons,
from the matchlock of the time of the Michelada to
the steel tipped goad of the bullcock drovers of La Camargue,
so that when the Nimes mob, which in all conscience
was howling and ragged enough, rushed out to offer a

(08:45):
brotherly welcome to the strangers, its first feeling was one
of astonishment and dismay as it caught sight of the
Motley crew, which held out to it the right hand
of fellowship. The newcomers soon showed that it was through
necessity and not joy, that their outer man presented such
a disreputable appearance, for they were hardly well within the gates,

(09:05):
before demanding that the houses of the members of the
old Protestant National Guard should be pointed out to them.
This being done, they promptly proceeded to exact from each
household a musket, a coat, a complete kit, or a
sum of money, according to their humor, so that before
evening those who had arrived naked and penniless were provided
with complete uniforms and had money in their pockets. These

(09:29):
exactions were levied under the name of a contribution, but
before the day was ended, naked and undisguised pillage began.
Someone asserted that during the assault on the barracks, a
certain individual had fired out of a certain house on
the assailants. The indignant people now rushed to the house indicated,
and soon left nothing of it in existence but its walls.

(09:50):
A little later it was clearly proved that the individual
accused was quite innocent of the crime laid to his charge.
The house of a rich merchant lay in the path
the advancing army. A cry arose that the owner was
a bonapartist, and nothing more was needed. The house was
broken into and pillaged, and the furniture thrown out of
the windows. Two days later it turned out that not

(10:12):
only was the merchant no bonapartist, but that his son
had been one of those who had accompanied the Duc
dan Guelemma to set when he left the country. The
pillagers excused themselves by saying they had been misled by
a resemblance between two names, and this excuse, as far
as appears, was accepted as valid by the authorities. It

(10:33):
was not long before the populace of Names began to
think they might as well follow the example set them
by their brothers from Beaucaire. In twenty four hours, free
companies were formed, headed by Trestaillon, Troophony, Grafon and Moronai.
These bands arrogated to themselves the title of National Guard.
And then what took place at Marseilles, in the excitement

(10:54):
of the moment was repeated at Nimes with deliberation and method.
Inspired by hate and the desire of vengeance, a revolt
broke out which followed the ordinary course. First pillage, then fire,
then murder, laid waste the city. Monsieur Vie's house, which
stood in the middle of the town, was sacked and
then burnt to the ground, without a hand being raised

(11:15):
to prevent the crime. Monsheur Te's house, on the road
to Montpellier was sacked and wrecked, and a bonfire made
of the furniture, round which the crowd danced as if
it had been an occasion of public rejoicing. Then cries
were raised for the proprietor, that he might be killed,
and as he could not be found, the baffled fury
of the mob vented itself on the dead. A child

(11:38):
three months buried, was dragged from its grave, drawn by
the feet through the sewers and wayside puddles, and then
flung on a dung heap and strange to say while
incendiarism and sacrilege. Thus ran riot, the mayor of the place,
slept so sound that when he awoke he was quite
astonished to use his own expression to hear what had

(12:00):
taken place during the night. This expedition completed. The same
company which had brought this expedition to a successful issue
next turned their attention to a small country house occupied
by a widow whom I had often begged to take
refuge with us, but secure in her insignificance, she had
always declined our offers, preferring to live solitary and retired

(12:22):
in her own home. But the freebooters sought her out,
burst in her doors, drove her away with blows and insults,
destroyed her house, and burnt her furniture. They then proceeded
to the vault in which lay the remains of her family,
dragged them out of their coffins, and scattered them about
the fields. The next day, the poor woman ventured back,

(12:45):
collected the desecrated remains with pious care, and replaced them
in the vault, but this was counted to her as
a crime. The company returned once more cast forth the
contents of the coffins and threatened to kill her should
she dare to touch them again. She was often seen
in the days that followed, shedding bitter tears and watching

(13:06):
over the sacred relics as they lay exposed on the ground.
The name of this widow was Pepin, and the scene
of the sacrilege was a small enclosure on the hill
of the Mulan event. Meantime, the people in the Faubourg
des Borgada had invented a new sort of game, or
rather had resolved to vary the serious business of the

(13:27):
drama that was being enacted by the introduction of comic scenes.
They had possessed themselves of a number of beetles, such
as washerwomen use and hammered in long nails, the points
of which projected an inch on the other side in
the form of a fleur de lys. Every Protestant who
fell into their hands, no matter what his age or rank,
was stamped with the bloody emblem, serious wounds being inflicted.

(13:51):
In many cases. Murders were now becoming common. Amongst other
names of victims mentioned were Loriol, Bigau, Dumasime Heretier, Domaison, Comba, Claren, Pegomet,
poujas Imbert, Vigal Pourchet Vignola. Details more or less shocking

(14:11):
came to light as to the manner in which the
murderers went to work. A man called Dalbox was in
the custody of two armed men. Some others came to
consult with them. Dalboux appealed for mercy to the newcomers.
It was granted, but as he turned to go he
was shot dead. Another of the name of Rambert tried
to escape by disguising himself as a woman, but was

(14:33):
recognized and shot down a few yards outside his own door.
A gunner called Saucina was walking in all security along
the road to Uza Pipe in Mouth when he was
met by five men belonging to Trestaillon's company, who surrounded
him and stabbed him to the heart with their knives.
The elder of two brothers named Shiva ran across some

(14:55):
fields to take shelter in a country house called Rouviere, which,
unknown to him, had been occupied by some of the
new National Guard. These met him on the threshold and
shot him dead. Rant was seized in his own house
and shot. Claw was met by a company and seeing Trestaillon,
with whom he had always been friends in its ranks.

(15:15):
He went up to him and held out his hand,
whereupon Trestaillon drew a pistol from his belt and blew
his brains out. Calandra, being chased down the Rue des
Sieur Grise, sought shelter in a tavern, but was forced
to come out and was killed with sabers. Corbet was
sent to prison under the escort of some men, but
these changed their mind on the way as to his punishment,

(15:37):
halted and shot him dead in the middle of the street.
A wine merchant called Cabanaut, who was flying from Trestaillon,
ran into a house in which there was a venerable
priest called kier A Bonoma. When the cutthroat rushed in,
all covered with blood, the priest advanced and stopped him, crying,
what will happen, unhappy man, when you come to the

(15:57):
confessional with blood stained hands? Pooh, replied, Chastaillon, you must
put on your wide gown. The sleeves are large enough
to let everything pass. To the short account given above
of so many murders, I will add the narrative of
one to which I was an eye witness, and which
made the most terrible impression on me of anything in

(16:17):
my experience. It was midnight. I was working beside my
wife's bed. She was just becoming drowsy, when a noise
in the distance caught our attention. It gradually became more distinct,
and drums began to beat the generally in every direction.
Hiding my own alarm for fear of increasing hers, I
answered my wife, who was asking what new thing was
about to happen, that it was probably troops marching in

(16:40):
or out of garrison. But soon reports of fire arms,
accompanied by an uproar with which we were so familiar
that we could no longer mistake its meaning, were heard outside.
Opening my window, I heard blood curdling imprecations, mixed with
cries of long live the King going on. Not being
able to remain any longer in this uncertainty, I woke

(17:03):
a captain who lived in the same house. He rose,
took his arms, and we went out together, directing our
course towards the point whence the shouts seemed to come.
The moon shone so bright that we could see everything
almost as distinctly as in broad daylight. A concourse of
people was hurrying towards the core, yelling like madmen, the
greater number of them half naked, armed with muskets, swords,

(17:25):
knives and clubs, and swearing to exterminate everything, wave their
weapons above the heads of men who had evidently been
torn from their houses and brought to the square to
be put to death. The rest of the crowd had,
like ourselves, been drawn thither by curiosity and were asking
what was going on. Murder is abroad, was the answer.

(17:46):
Several people have been killed in the environs, and the
patrol has been fired on. While this questioning was going on,
the noise continued to increase. As I had really no
business to be on a spot where such things were
going on, and feeling that my place was at my
wife's side, to reassure her for the present and to
watch over her should the rioters come our way, I

(18:07):
said good bye to the captain, who went on to
the barracks, and took the road back to the suburb
in which I lived. I was not more than fifty
steps from our house when I heard loud talking behind me,
and turning saw gun barrels glittering in the moonlight. As
the speakers seemed to be rapidly approaching me. I kept
close in the shadow of the houses till I reached

(18:28):
my own door, which I laid softly to behind me,
leaving myself a chink by which I could peep out
and watch the movements of the group which was drawing near.
Suddenly I felt something touch my hand. It was a
great Corsican dog, which was turned loose at night, and
was so fierce that it was a great protection to
our house. I felt glad to have it at my side,

(18:50):
for in case of a struggle, it would be no despicable. Ally,
those approaching turned out to be three armed men leading
afourth disarmed and a prisoner. They all stopped just opposite
my door, which I gently closed and locked. But as
I still wished to see what they were about, I
slipped into the garden which lay towards the street, still
followed by my dog. Contrary to his habit, and as

(19:13):
if he understood the danger, he gave a low wine
instead of his usual savage growl. I climbed into a
fig tree, the branches of which overhung the street and
hidden by the leaves, and resting my hands on the
top of the wall, I leaned far enough forward to
see what the men were about. They were still on
the same spot, but there was a change in their positions.

(19:34):
The prisoner was now kneeling with clasped hands before the cutthroats,
begging for his life for the sake of his wife
and children in heartrending accents, to which his executioners replied
in mocking tones, we have got you at last into
our hands, have we, you, dog of a bonapartis? Why
do you not call on your emperor to come and
help you out of this scrape? The unfortunate man's entreaties

(19:58):
became more pitiful in their mocking replies, more pity less.
They leveled their muskets at him several times, and then
lowered them, saying, devil take it. We won't shoot yet.
Let us give him time to see death coming till
at last the poor wretch, seeing there was no hope
of mercy, begged to be put out of his misery.

(20:19):
Drops of sweat stood on my forehead. I felt my
pockets to see if I had nothing on me which
I could use as a weapon, but I had not
even a knife. I looked at my dog. He was
lying flat at the foot of the tree and appeared
to be a prey to the most abject terror. The
prisoner continued his supplications, and the assassins their threats and mockery.

(20:39):
I climbed quietly down out of the fig tree, intending
to fetch my pistols. My dog followed me with his eyes,
which seemed to be the only living things about him.
Just as my foot touched the ground, a double report
rang out, and my dog gave a plaintive and prolonged howl.
Feeling that all was over and that no weapons could

(21:00):
be of any use, I climbed up again into my
perch and looked out. The poor wretch was lying face downwards,
writhing in his blood. The assassins were reloading their muskets
as they walked away. Being anxious to see if it
was too late to help the man whom I had
not been able to save, I went out into the
street and bent over him. He was bloody, disfigured, dying,

(21:23):
but was yet alive, uttering dismal groans. I tried to
lift him up, but soon saw that the wounds which
he had received from bullets fire at close range were
both mortal, one being in the head and the other
in the loins. Just then a patrol of the National
Guard turned round the corner of the street. This, instead
of being a relief, awoke me to any sense of

(21:45):
my danger and feeling. I could do nothing for the
wounded man, for the death rattle had already begun. I
entered my house, half shut the door, and listened. Crevive,
asked the corporal. Idiot, said someone else to ask Quivive
of a dead man. He is not dead, said a
third voice listened to him, singing, And indeed the poor fellow,

(22:08):
in his agony, was giving utterance to dreadful groans. Someone
has tickled him, well, said a fourth, But what does
it matter. We had better finish the job. Five or
six musket shots followed, and the groans ceased. The name
of the man who had just expired was Louis Lechaire.
It was not against him, but against his nephew that

(22:29):
the assassins had had a grudge. But finding the nephew
out when they burst into the house, and a victim
being indispensable, they had torn the uncle from the arms
of his wife, and dragging him towards the citadel, had
killed him. As I have just related, very early next
morning I sent to three commissioners of police, one after
the other, for permission to have the corpse carried to

(22:50):
the hospital. But these gentlemen were either not up or
had already gone out, so that it was not until
eleven o'clock, and after repeated applications, that they condescended to
give me the needed authorization. Thanks to this delay, the
whole town came to see the body of the unfortunate man. Indeed,
the day which holiday massacre was always kept as a holiday,

(23:11):
everyone leaving his work undone and coming out to stare
at the slaughtered victims. In this case, a man, wishing
to amuse the crowd, took his pipe out of his
mouth and put it between the teeth of the corpse,
a joke which had a marvelous success, those present shrieking
with laughter. Many murders had been committed during the night.

(23:31):
The companies had scoured the streets singing some doggerel, which
one of the bloody wretches, being in poetic vain, had
composed the chorus of which was our work's well done,
We spare none. Seventeen fatal outrages were committed, and yet
neither the reports of the firearms, nor the cries of
the victims broke the peaceful slumbers of Monsieur la Prefet

(23:53):
and Monsieur la Commissaire general de la police. But if
the civil authorities slept, General Legard, who had shortly before
come to town to take command of the city in the
name of the King, was awake. He had sprung from
his bed at the first shot, dressed himself and made
a round of the posts. Then sure that everything was
in order, he had formed patrols of chasseurs and had

(24:15):
himself accompanied by two officers, only gone wherever he heard
cries for help. But in spite of the strictness of
his orders, the small number of troops at his disposition
delayed the success of his efforts, and it was not
until three o'clock in the morning that he succeeded in
securing Trestaillon. When this man was taken, he was dressed
as usual in the uniform of the National Guard, with

(24:36):
a cocked hat and captain's epaulets. General lagarda ordered the
gendarmes who made the capture to deprive him of his
sword and carbine, but it was only after a long
struggle that they could carry out this order, for Trestaillon
protested that he would only give up his carbine with
his life. However, he was at last obliged to yield
to numbers, and, when disarmed, was removed to the barracks.

(25:00):
But as there could be no peace in the town
as long as he was in it, the general sent
him to the citadel of Montpellier next morning before it
was light. The disorders did not, however, cease. At once
at eight o'clock a m they were still going on,
the mobs, seeming to be animated by the spirit of Trestaillon.
For while the soldiers were occupied in a distant quarter

(25:20):
of the town, a score of men broke into the
house of a certain Scipion Chebret, who had remained hidden
from his enemies for a long time, but who had
lately returned home on the strength of the proclamations published
by General Lagarde when he assumed the position of commandant
of the town. He had indeed been sure that the
disturbances and names were over when they burst out with

(25:41):
redoubled fury on the sixteenth of October. On the morning
of the seventeenth, he was working quietly at home at
his trade of a silk weaver. When alarmed by the
shouts of a parcel of cutthroats outside his house, he
tried to escape. He succeeded in reaching the coupe door,
but the Ruffians followed him, and the first who came
up thrust him through the thigh with his bayonet. In

(26:03):
consequence of this wound, he fell from top to bottom
of the staircase, was seized and dragged to the stables,
where the assassins left him for dead with seven wounds
in his body. This was, however, the only murder committed
that day in the town, thanks to the vigilance and
courage of General Lagarde. The next day, a considerable crowd
gathered in a noisy deputation, went to General Lagarda's quarters

(26:25):
and insolently demanded that trest ion should be set at liberty.
The general ordered them to disperse, but no attention was
paid to this command, whereupon he ordered his soldiers to charge,
and in a moment force accomplished what long continued persuasion
had failed to effect. Several of the ringleaders were arrested
and taken to prison. Thus, as we shall see, the

(26:46):
struggle assumed a new phase. Resistance to the royal power
was made in the name of the royal power, and
both those who broke or those who tried to maintain
the public peace used the same cry, long Live the King.
The firm attitude assumed by General Legarda restored Names to
a state of superficial peace, beneath which, however, the old

(27:07):
enmities were fermenting an occult power, which betrayed itself by
a kind of passive resistance, neutralized the effect of the
measures taken by the military commandant. He soon became cognizant
of the fact that the essence of this sanguinary political
strife was in hereditary religious animosity, and in order to
strike a last blow at this, he resolved, after having

(27:30):
received permission from the King, to grant the general request
of the Protestants by reopening their places of worship, which
had been closed for more than four months, and allowing
the public exercise of the Protestant religion, which had been
entirely suspended in the city for the same length of time. Formerly,
there had been six Protestant pastors resident in Names, but

(27:51):
four of them had fled. The two who remained were
Monsurs Juliarrat and Olivier Desment, the first a young man
tenty eight years of age, the second an old man
of seventy. The entire weight of the ministry had fallen
during this period of proscription on Monsieur Julie Rat, who
had accepted the task and religiously fulfilled it. It seemed

(28:14):
as if a special providence had miraculously protected him in
the midst of the many perils which beset his path.
Although the other pastor, Monsieur Desmond, was president of the Consistory,
his life was in much less danger. For first he
had reached an age which almost everywhere commands respect. And
then he had a son, who was a lieutenant in
one of the royal corps levied at Beaucaire, who protected

(28:36):
him by his name when he could not do so
by his presence. Monsieur Desmon had therefore little cause for
anxiety as to his safety, either in the streets of
Nimes or on the road between that and his country house.
But as we have said, it was not so. With
Monsieur Julie Rat, being young and active and having an
unfaltering trust in God, on him alone devolved all the

(28:58):
sacred duties of his office. From the visitation of the
sick and dying to the baptism of the newly born.
These latter were often brought to him at night to
be baptized, and he consented, though unwillingly, to make this concession,
feeling that if he insisted on the performance of the
rite by day, he would compromise not only his own
safety but that of others. In all that concerned him personally,

(29:20):
such as consoling the dying or caring for the wounded.
He acted quite openly, and no danger that he encountered
on his way ever caused him to flinch from the
path of duty. One day, as Monsieur Julirat was passing
through the Rue de Bargette on his way to the
prefecture to transact some business connected with his ministry, he
saw several men lying in wait in a blind alley

(29:42):
by which he had to pass. They had their guns
pointed at him. He continued his way with tranquil step
and such an air of resignation that the assassins were
overawed and lowered their weapons as he approached, without firing
a single shot. When Monsieur Julirat reached the prefect, thinking
that the prefect ought to be aware of everything, connected

(30:03):
with the public order. He related this incident to Monsieur
d'arbau Jacques, but the latter did not think the affair
of enough importance to require any investigation. It was, as
will be seen, a difficult enterprise to open once again
the Protestant places of worship, which had been so long
closed in present circumstances, and in face of the fact
that civil authorities regarded such a step with disfavor. But

(30:27):
General Legarda was one of those determined characters who always
act up to their convictions. Moreover, to prepare people's minds
for this stroke of religious policy, he relied on the
help of the Duc D'anguelemma, who, in the course of
a tour through the south, was almost immediately expected at Nimes.
On the fifth of November, the prince made his entry

(30:47):
into the city, and, having read the reports of the
General to the King Louis the eighteenth, and having received
positive injunctions from his uncle to pacify the unhappy provinces
which he was about to visit, he arrived full of
the desire to display, whether he felt it or not,
a perfect impartiality, so that when the delegates from the
consistory were presented to him. Not only did he receive

(31:09):
them most graciously, but he was the first to speak
of the interests of their faith, assuring them that it
was only a few days since he had learned with
much regret, that their religious services had been suspended since
the sixteenth of July. The delegates replied that in such
a time of agitation, the closing of their places of
worship was a measure of prudence which they had felt

(31:32):
ought to be born, and which had been born with resignation.
The Prince expressed his approval of this attitude with regard
to the past, but said that his presence was a
guarantee for the future, and that on Thursday the ninth,
the two meeting houses should be reopened and restored to
their proper use. The Protestants were alarmed at having a favor,
according to them, which was much more than they would

(31:54):
have dared to ask, and for which they were hardly prepared,
But the Prince reassured them by saying saying that all
needful measures would be taken to provide against any breach
of the public peace, and at the same time invited
Monsieur des Mont President and Monteur Roland lacaste member of
the consistory to dine with him. The next deputation to

(32:16):
arrive was a Catholic one, and its object was to
ask that Treseillon might be set at liberty. The Prince
was so indignant at this request that his only answer
was to turn his back on those who proffered it.
The next day, the Duke, accompanied by General Legarda, left
for Montpellier, and as it was on the ladder that
the Protestants placed their sole reliance for the maintenance of

(32:37):
those rights guaranteed for the future by the word of
the Prince, they hesitated to take any new step in
his absence, and let the ninth of November go by
without attempting to resume public worship, preferring to wait for
the return of their protector, which took place on Saturday
evening the eleventh of November. When the General got back,
his first thought was to ask if the commands of

(32:59):
the Prince had been carried out. When he heard that
they had not, without waiting to hear a word on
justification of the delay, he sent a positive order to
the President of the Consistory to open both places of
worship the next morning. Upon this, the President, carrying self
abnegation and prudence to their extreme limits, went to the

(33:20):
General's quarters, and, having warmly thanked him, laid before him
the dangers to which he would expose himself by running
counter to the opinions of those who had had their
own way in the city for the last four months.
But General Legarda brushed all these considerations aside. He had
received an order from the Prince, and to a man
of his military caste of mind, no course was open

(33:43):
but to carry that order out. Nevertheless, the President again
expressed his doubts and fears. I will answer with my head,
said the General, that nothing happens. Still, the President counseled prudence,
asking that only one place of worship at first be opened,
and to this the General gave his consent. This continued

(34:04):
resistance to the re establishment of public worship on the
part of those who most eagerly desired it enabled the
General at last to realize the extent of the danger
which would be incurred by the carrying out of this measure,
and he at once took all possible precautions. Under the
pretext that he was going to have a general review.
He brought the entire civil and military forces of names

(34:26):
under his authority determined, if necessary, to use the one
to suppress the other. As early as eight o'clock in
the morning, a guard of gendarmes was stationed at the
doors of the meetinghouse, while other members of the same
force took up their positions in the adjacent streets. On
the other hand, the consistory had decided that the doors
were to be opened an hour sooner than usual, that

(34:48):
the bells were not to be rung, and that the
organ should be silent. These precautions had both a good
and a bad side. The gendarmes at the door of
the meeting house gave, if not a promise of sec security,
at least a promise of support. But they showed to
the citizens of the other party what was about to
be done. So before nine o'clock groups of Catholics began

(35:09):
to form, and, as it happened to be Sunday, the
inhabitants of the neighboring villages, arriving constantly by twos and threes,
soon united these groups into a little army. Thus the
streets leading to the church being thronged. The Protestants who
pushed their way through were greeted with insulting remarks, and
even the president of the consistory, whose white hair and

(35:30):
dignified expression had no effect upon the mob, heard the
people round him saying, these brigands of Protestants are going
again to their temple, but we shall soon give them
enough of it. The anger of the populace soon grows hot.
Between the first bubble and the boiling point, the interval
is short. Threats spoken in a low voice were soon

(35:52):
succeeded by noisy objurgations. Women, children and men break out
into yells. Down with the Broilers, for this was one
of the names by which the Protestants were designated. Down
with the broilers. We do not want to see them
using our churches. Let them give us back our churches.
Let them give us back our churches, and go into
the desert. Out with them, Out with them, to the desert,

(36:13):
To the desert. As the crowd did not go beyond words,
however insulting, and as the Protestants were long inured to
much worse things, they plodded along to their meetinghouse, humble
and silent, and went in undeterred by the displeasure they arose,
whereupon the service commenced, but some Catholics went in with them,

(36:34):
and soon the same shouts which had been heard without
were heard also within. The general, however, was on the alert,
and as soon as the shouts arose inside, the gendarmes
entered the church and arrested those who had caused the disturbance.
The crowds tried to rescue them on their way to prison,
but the General appeared at the head of imposing forces
at the sight of which they desisted. An apparent cam

(36:57):
succeeded the tumult, and the public worship went on without
further interruption. The General, misled by appearances, went off himself
to attend a military mass, and at eleven o'clock returned
to his quarters for lunch. His absence was immediately perceived
and taken advantage of. In the twinkling of an eye,
the crowds, which had dispersed, gathered together in even greater numbers,

(37:18):
and the Protestants, seeing themselves once more in danger, shut
the doors from within while the gendarmes guarded them. Without.
The populace pressed so closely round the gendarmes and assumed
such a threatening attitude that, fearing he and his men
would not be able to hold their own in such
a throng. The captain ordered Monsieur Delboce, one of his officers,

(37:39):
to ride off and warn the general. He forced his
way through the crowd with great trouble and went off
at a gallop. On seeing this, the people felt there
was no time to be lost. They knew of what
kind the general was, and that he would be on
the spot in a quarter of an hour. A large
crowd is invincible through its numbers. It has only to
press forward, and everything gives way. Men would iron. At

(38:01):
this moment, the crowd, swayed by a common impulse, swept forward.
The gendarmes and their horses were crushed against the wall.
Doors gave way, and instantly, with a tremendous roar, a
living wave flooded the church. Cries of terror and frightful
imprecations were heard on all sides. Everyone made a weapon
of whatever came to hand. Chairs and benches were hurled about.

(38:22):
The disorder was at its height. It seemed as if
the days of the Michelada and the Bagara were about
to return. When suddenly the news of a terrible event
was spread abroad, and assailants and assailed. Paused in horror,
General Legarda had just been assassinated, as the crowd had foreseen.
No sooner did the messenger deliver his message than the

(38:45):
General sprang on his horse, and, being too brave or
perhaps too scornful to fear such foes, he waited for
no escort, but, accompanied by two or three officers, set
off at full gallop towards the scene of the tumult.
He had passed through the air arrow streets which led
to the meeting house by pushing the crowd aside with
his horse's chest, when just as he got out into

(39:06):
the open square, a young man named Wassan, a sergeant
in the Nimes National Guard, came up and seemed to
wish to speak to him. The General, seeing a man
in uniform, bent down, without a thought of danger, to
listen to what he had to say, whereupon Boissan drew
a pistol out and fired at him. The ball broke
the collar bone and lodged in the neck behind the

(39:27):
carotid artery, and the General fell from his horse. The
news of this crime had a strange and unexpected effect, however,
excited and frenzied the crowd, was it was instantly realized
the consequences of this act. It was no longer like
the murder of Marshal Brune at Avignon or General Ramel
at Talouse, an act of vengeance on a favorite of Napoleon,

(39:48):
but open an armed rebellion against the king. It was
not a simple murder, it was high treason. A feeling
of the utmost terror spread through the town. Only a
few fanatics went on in the church, which the Protestants,
fearing still greater disasters, had by this time, resolved to abandon.
The first to come out was President Olivier Desmont, accompanied

(40:10):
by Monsieur Vallongue, who had only just arrived in the city,
but who had immediately hurried to the spot at the
call of duty. Monsieur Julie Rots, his two children in
his arms, walked behind them, followed by all the other worshippers.
At first the crowd, threatening an ireful hooted and threw
stones at them, but that the voice of the mayor

(40:30):
and the dignified aspect of the President, they allowed them
to pass. During this strange retreat, over eighty Protestants were wounded,
but not fatally, except a young girl called Jeanette Cornelier,
who had been so beaten and ill used that she
died of her injuries a few days later. In spite
of the momentary slackening of energy which followed the assassination

(40:51):
of General Lagarde, the Catholics did not remain long in
a state of total inaction. During the rest of the day,
the excited populace seemed as if shaken by an earthquake.
About six o'clock in the evening, some of the most
desperate characters in the town possessed themselves of a hatchet, and,
taking their way to the Protestant church, smashed the doors,
tore the pastor's gowns, rifled the poor box, and pulled

(41:15):
the books to pieces. A detachment of troops arrived just
in time to prevent their setting the building on fire.
The next day passed more quietly. This time the disorders
were of too important a nature for the prefect to ignore,
as he had ignored so many bloody acts in the past,
so in due time a full report was laid before
the king. It became known the same evening that General

(41:38):
Legardo was still living, and that those around him hoped
that the wound would not prove mortal doctor Dalpech, who
had been summoned from Montpellier, had succeeded in extracting the bullet,
and though he spoke no word of hope, he did
not expressly declare that the case was hopeless. Two days later,
everything in the town had assumed its ordinary aspect, and

(41:59):
on the twenty first of November, the King issued the
following edict. Lewis, by the grace of God, King of
France and of Nevarre, to all those to whom these
presents shall come greeting an abominable crime has cast a
stain on our city of names. A seditious mob has
dared to oppose the opening of the Protestant place of worship,

(42:20):
in contempt of the Constitutional Charter, which, while it recognizes
the Catholic religion as the religion of the State, guarantees
to the other religious bodies protection and freedom of worship.
Our military commandant, whilst trying to disperse these crowds by
gentle means, before having resort to force, was shot down,

(42:40):
and its assassin has till now successfully evaded the arm
of the law. If such an outrage were to remain unpunished,
the maintenance of good government and public order would be impossible,
and our ministers would be guilty of neglecting the law.
Wherefore we have ordered and due order as follows. Article one,

(43:00):
Proceedings shall be commenced without delay by our Attorney and
the Attorney General against the perpetrator of the murderous attack
on the person of Sieur le Garde, and against the authors,
instigators and accomplices of the insurrection which took place in
the City of Names on the twelfth of the present month.
Article two. A sufficient number of troops shall be quartered

(43:22):
in the said city, and shall remain there at the
cost of the inhabitants, until the assassin and his accomplices
have been produced before a court of law. Article three.
All those citizens whose names are not entitled to be
on the role of the National Guard shall be disarmed.
Our Keeper of the Seals, our Minister of War, our

(43:43):
Minister of the Interior, and our Minister of Police are
entrusted with the execution of this edict, given at Paris
at our castle of the Tulieris on the twenty first
of November, in the year of Grace eighteen fifteen and
of our reign. The twenty first signed Louis was acquitted.
This was the last crime committed in the South and

(44:04):
it led fortunately to no reprisals. Three months after the
murderous attempt to which he had so nearly fallen a victim,
General Lagarda left the names with the rank of Ambassador
and was succeeded as prefect by Monsieur Darjent. During the firm,
just and independent administration of the latter the disarming of
the citizens decreed by the royal edict was carried out

(44:26):
without bloodshed. Through his influence, Monsieurs Chabolatour, Saint Alair and
Lascor were elected to the Chamber of Deputies in place
of Moncheur's de Calviere, de Vague and de Trinquelada, and
down to the present time the name of Monsieur Dargent
is held in veneration at names, as if he had

(44:47):
only quitted the city yesterday. End of chapter nine recording
by John van Stand Savannah, Georgia. End of Celebrated Crimes,
Volume two, The Massacres of the South by Alexander Dumas