FRENCH MOTOR BANDITS

Otago Witness, Issue 3033, 1 May 1912, Page 25

FRENCH MOTOR BANDITS

ANARCHIST OUTRAGE IN FRANC'S. A SENSATIONAL AFFAIR. BONNOT KILLED. PARIS, April 24. When M. Jouin, Deputy Chief Dettctime, accompanied by M. Colmar, Chief Inspector, was searching some Anarchists’ premises at Ivry in connection with the Rue Ordener outrage, Bonnot (the motor bandit) shot and killed Jouin and severely wounded Colmar. He then escaped. April 25. j Through a trapdoor in the ceiling 1 Bonnot heard the detectives conversing with Gouzy, an Anarchist, who is the owner of the premises. Gouzy denied that there was anyone upstairs, and told the police officials that they could go and see if they liked. ! Three detectives, utterly unsuspecting the presence of Bonnot, walked to his . room. | After the shifting Bonnot feigned death while the third detective carried M. Colmar downstairs, j Bonnot then ran to the kitchen of a neighbouring flat and threatened to shoot a woman if she raised the alarm. He jumped on the roofs of some outhouses and escaped. A trail of blood enabled the police to trace him for some distance. The populace attempted to lynch Gouzy, who was rescued with difficulty. The police have surrounded a wood at Vincennes, where it is believed that Bonnot and his confederates are hiding. Three Anarchists and a woman, agents of the Bonnot band, have been arrested. April 26. I Bonnot, dressed in a corporal’s imiform, had an arm bandaged in this city. The chemist who attended him afterwards recognised him, and advised the authorities, j The detectives have been ordered to shoot on sight. April 28. ’ The police surrounded an isolated house at Chosyleros, to which the bandits were driven. The latter fired continuously, I wounding several persons. Sappers then shelled the house, and subsequently the police entered. | They found Bonnot seriously wounded j and Dubois (the owner of the house) dead. The author of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the man who is supposed to have informed against Carouy is believed to have been Bonnot. Bonnot is dead. April 29. When the bandits were surrounded in a motor garage at 8 o’clock in the morning they opened a eharp fusillade, and kept the police at bay. In the early stages of the siege two members of the police force were seriously wounded. Hundreds of shots were exchanged. A straw-laden cart, with mattresses attached, was utilised as a shelter and was backed towards the house, strong armed forces being behind it. Meanwhile the police were sheltering behind treee and other cover and dropj ping fire on the bandits. Lieutenant Fontan, of the Republican I Guard, under the protection of the cart, j placed some bombs. They missed fire at the first attempt, but the second was successful, and the back wall of the house fell. After the explosion shots were heard in the house, and Lieutenant Fontan dashed to the first floor, and the police follovred. Dubois was found dead, and Bonnot had received a dozen wounds, two of which were mortal. He tried to swallow poison when the police seized him. The house was burnt. The crowd tried to'lynch Bonnot, but the guard used the butts of their rifle;* Several members of the public were injured. Bonnot died in the hospital. Dubois was a notorious Russian Anarchist. The mob trampled on his body.

There were 150,000 spectators on tlia banks of the Seine for four hours. Bonnot left a document declaring that the five men who were arrested were innocent, including Gouay. Dubqis’s garage belonged to Froraentin, an Anarchist millionaire, who was a close friend of Ferrer, who was executed at Barcelona. Fromentin devoted the bulk of his fortune to the propagation of Anarchist doctrines.