FRENCH PASSION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 46, 19 February 1912, Page 3

FRENCH PASSION.

ANGRY PASSENGERS WRECK DELAYED TRAIN.

Although ordinarily the most polite of men, the Frenchman when angered is by no means a pleasant person, as was demonstrated at St. Harare railway station, Paris, in December, when a desperate riot was created by railway passengers infuriated over an interruption of traffic which caused at least 10,000 suburban season ticket holders to walk from Asj. ieros to the city in order to attend to their daily duties in offices, shops, and factories.

A coal truck on the Western Railtray derailed near the Batignolles goods station, obstructed three of the railway lines, and was the cause of the disturbance. The passengers had to walk.along the railway track, and many women and children stumbled on the rails or got entangled in the wires' and fell, sustaining cuts and bruises. . ~

While the city bound trains could not reath their destinations, crowds of' passengers who were anxious to go to towns or villages outside Paris were fuming and fretting on the St. Lazare station, whence trains had ceased to be despatched. Finally one or two trains were sent olf from the station. When, however, they entered the Batignolles funnel they came to a sudden halt.

Losing patience entirely, the passengers ultimately wrecked the carriages, smashing the windows, breaking down the seats and doors, and demolishing the alarm signals. The restaurant cars were also sacked. Then the hapless passengers made their exit from the gloomy tunnel as best they could. Some got out at the Batignolles end of the tunnel, others returned to the Paris end and ultimately arrived once more at the St. Lazars station, which was in state of pandemonium. The State railway officials and the minor employees were swept away by the seething mass of humanity.

Revolutionary refrains were sung and angry vociferations resounded from the protesting passengers, who advanced' in serried bodies upon the managerial office. The policemen on duty at the railway station had been reinforced by fifty men from the nearest police barracks soon after trouble began.

But they were powerless to stem the human tide, and soon there was a general melee, in which eight policemen were hurt.