BATTLE IN A TUNNEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 13, 3 June 1914, Page 6

BATTLE IN A TUNNEL.

I UsOTOCS SCENES IN THE ST;:i.:-/i'S j OF PARIS. j Paris, Mare;-, :...; I A fierce brief riot marked tin- funeral (this afternoon of M. Gaston ..'.limeiU', the editor of Figaro, who was ihut dead ' I'. Ahdamc Caiilaux. the wife of the c; L '....-.Ur of Finance. I for half and hour or l.icre the Avcnu-. 'de Cliehy was the c-cne of a ],itc:;eo i bailie between police and public. Many : were injured and thirt;■• arrest* wo jj.iado. M. Hennioa himself, the Prefect id' Police, ordered the mounted police to l.h.trgo the mob. I The riot was caused by t!v:sc pro-jfci-ional demonstrators, the "Cametots of the King." It was purely local, am l Eiijiish,readers <uf the Express need not !put eft" their Easter visits believing that : Paris is a dangerous place. >. I 1 had just come from the graveside, 1 whither, with hundrels of others, I had followed the coffin, heavy with iiowers from the Church of St. Francis do Safes. 1 The dignity and majesty of death had {not been marred. Under the Byzant.iie larches of the white church the coffin or I Gaston Calmette has rested, righ on its j bier, with a hundred candles twinkling I like star points round the black ami [silver pall. I All that was best in the social, political, and artistic life of Paris crowded into the church to pay homage to the dead |man. The President of the Republic, in this private capacity as M. Raymond iPoincairc, had sent a special message lof sympathy. There was an ex-Prcsi-j dent in M.*Emile Loubet. Members of jibe Diplomatic Corps, M. Paul Bourget, |M. Henri Lavedan, M. Jean Richepin, i&nd other famous academicians were I there, senators and civic authorities, ibi other editors, and deputies. I had a ;elimpse of Madame Sarah Bernhardt, , deeply veiled in black. [ As the funeral. ended, and wo can-..' 1 , -.i;it on the Avenue de Cliehy, there \\v( \ 'multitudes waiting. A car came by containing M. Briand and M. Barthou. The crowd recognised them and cheered. i Suddenly there was a cry of "A baa Caiilaux! Caiilaux, assassin!" I saw an army of men marching down the avenue hundreds strong. These were the students and followers of tho Royalist .groups, in whoso newspaper an appeal |hiid been made to riot.

The army of demonstrators marched to the end of the avenue, yelling their war-cry. Then from the crowd oountercrys of ''Vive Caiilaux!" arose . The two political factions caused a turmoil. They fell on each Other with .sticks and umbrellas as weapons. Women shrieked in panic. The terror was added to by revolver ahois. These increased the confusion. A mad stampede followed. j There were lights all the way up the avenue, and the police used their naked swords. Here and there a man staggered with bleeding face, and others tell, and were trampled in the mud in the crazy tumult. - In the midst of this there were cries of "Here conic the cavalry," and the Pcrf-ct of Police, mounted, appeared, and ordered'a charge of the mounted !police. They swept on the crowd that I! -d, yelling and screaming, before them. i Men, finding themselves pinned in with the rush turned and lashed blindly at the horses with sticks. They reared and kicked with the blows. Two poiiee- , men were thrown from their maddened horses.

A3 frequently as the mob was dispersed it formed again. Many arrests were made, including M. Maurice Pujo, the leader of the demonstrators.-

Meanwhile, many had been taken to neighboring chemists' shops. Among these was the man who fired the first revolver shot. The mob had turned on him and half killed him. "I was afraid;' he said, "and let off my revolver in the air." A lawyer, M. Autremont, was gravely .ounded by a bullet, and a child received srvcre injuries. A second group of Royalists, under M. Leon Daudct, tried to reach the prison where Mme. Caiilaux is kept. All the roads to it »■:- held by cordons of police, while in i\: ■ prison itself a force of municipal guard- a:el police was in reserve. Mrne. Cail'aux continues to express her horror at laving killed M. Calmette, and M. Lab-,i, her counsel, will attempt to obtain her acquittal on the ground that she was not responsible for her actions at the time of the crime.

The inquiry into the Pochette scandals revealed by the Figaro, and brought into tragic prominence by Mme. Caiilaux, began its proceedings to-ilav M. Caiilaux, M. Mollis, and M. Fabre and other witnesses were called, -and gave contradk-torv evidence.