List Of Contents | Contents of Massacres of the South, by Dumas, Pere
< < Previous Page     Next Page > >


Catinat was placed in a cell apart, and could be, heard cursing and
complaining all night through.  Ravanel, Villas, and Jonquet were
confined together, and passed the night singing and praying.

The next day, the 22nd April, 1705, they were taken from the prison
and drawn to the place of execution in two carts, being unable to
walk, on account of the severe torture to which they had been
subjected, and which had crushed the bones of their legs.  A single
pile of wood had been prepared for Catinat and Ravanel, who were to
be burnt together; they were in one cart, and Villas and Jonquet, for
whom two wheels had been prepared, were in the other.

The first operation was to bind Catinat and Ravanel back to back to
the same stake, care being taken to place Catinat with his face to
windward, so that his agony might last longer, and then the pile was
lit under Ravanel.

As had been foreseen, this precaution gave great pleasure to those
people who took delight in witnessing executions.  The wind being
rather high, blew the flames away from Catinat, so that at first the
fire burnt his legs only--a circumstance which, the author of the
History of the Camisards tells us, aroused Catinat's impatience.
Ravanel, however, bore everything to the end with the greatest
heroism, only pausing in his singing to address words of
encouragement to his companion in suffering, whom he could not see,
but whose groans and curses he could hear; he would then return to
his psalms, which he continued to sing until his voice was stifled in
the flames.  Just as he expired, Jonquet was removed from the wheel,
and carried, his broken limbs dangling, to the burning pile, on which
he was thrown.  From the midst of the flames his voice was heard
saying, "Courage, Catinat; we shall soon meet in heaven."  A few
moments later, the stake, being burnt through at the base, broke, and
Catinat falling into the flames, was quickly suffocated.  That this
accident had not been forseen and prevented by proper precautions
caused great displeasure to spectators who found that the
three-quarter of an hour which the spectacle had lasted was much too
brief a time.

Villas lived three hours longer on his wheel, and expired without
having uttered a single complaint.

Two days later, there was another trial, at which six persons were
condemned to death and one to the galleys; these were the two
Alisons, in whose house Villas, Ravanel, and Jonquet had been found;
Alegre, who was accused of having concealed Catinat, and of having
been the Camisard treasurer; Rougier, an armourer who was found
guilty of having repaired the muskets of the rebels; Jean Lauze, an
innkeeper who had prepared meals for Ravanel; La Jeunesse, a
preacher, convicted of having preached sermons and sung psalms; and
young Delacroix, brother-in-law to one of the Alisons.  The first
three were condemned to be broken on the wheel, their houses
demolished, and their goods confiscated.  The next three were to be
hanged.  Jean Delacroix, partly because of his youth, but more
because of the revelations he made, was only sent to the galleys.
Several years later he was liberated and returned to Arles, and was
carried off by the plague in 1720.

All these sentences were carried out with the utmost rigour.

Thus, as may be seen, the suppression of the revolt proceeded apace;
only two young Camisard chiefs were still at large, both of whom had
formerly served under Cavalier and Catinat.  The name of the one was
Brun and of the other Francezet.  Although neither of them possessed
the genius and influence of Catinat and Ravanel, yet they were both
men to be feared, the one on account of his personal strength, the
other for his skill and agility.  Indeed, it was said of him that he
never missed a shot, and that one day being pursued by dragoons he
had escaped by jumping over the Gardon at a spot where it was
twenty-two feet wide.

For a long time all search was in vain, but one day the wife of a
miller named Semenil came into town ostensibly to buy provisions, but
really to denounce them as being concealed, with two other Camisards,
in her husband's house.

This information was received with an eager gratitude, which showed
the importance which the governor of Nimes attached to their capture.
The woman was promised a reward of fifty Louis if they were taken,
and the Chevalier de la Valla, Grandidier, and fifty Swiss, the major
of the Saint-Sernin regiment, a captain, and thirty dragoons, were
sent off to make the capture.  When they were within a quarter of a
league of the mill, La Valla, who was in command of the expedition,
made the woman give him all the necessary topographical information.

Having learned that besides the door by which they hoped to effect an
entrance, the mill possessed only one other, which opened on a bridge
over the Vistre, he despatched ten dragoons and five Swiss to occupy
this bridge, whilst he and the rest of the troops bore down on the
main entrance.  As soon as the four Camisards perceived the approach
of the soldiers, their first thought was to escape by the bridge, but
one of them having gone up to the roof to make sure that the way was
clear, came down exclaiming that the bridge was occupied.  On hearing
this, the four felt that they were lost, but nevertheless resolved to
defend themselves as valiantly and to sell their lives as dearly as
possible.  As soon as the royals were within musket range of the
mill, four shots were fired, and two dragoons, one Swiss, and one
horse, fell.  M. de Valla thereupon ordered the troops to charge at
full gallop, but before the mill door was reached three other shots
were heard, and two more men killed.  Nevertheless, seeing they could
not long hold out against such numbers, Francezet gave the signal for
retreat, calling out, "Sauve qui petit!" at the same instant he
jumped out of a lattice window twenty feet from the ground, followed
by Brun.  Neither of them being hurt, both set off across country,
one trusting to his strength and the other to his fleetness of foot.
The two other Camisards, who had tried to escape by the door, were
captured.

The soldiers, horse and foot, being now free to give all their
attention to Brun and Francezet, a wonderful race began; for the two
fugitives, being strong and active, seemed to play with their
pursuers, stopping every now and then, when they had gained
sufficient headway, to shoot at the nearest soldiers; when Francezet,
proving worthy of his reputation, never missed a single shot.  Then,
resuming their flight and loading their weapons as they ran, they
leaped rivers and ditches, taking advantage of the less direct road
which the troops were obliged to follow, to stop and take breath,
instead of making for some cover where they might have found safety.
Two or three times Brun was on the point of being caught, but each
time the dragoon or Swiss who had got up to him fell, struck by
Francezet's unerring bullet.  The chase lasted four hours, during
which time five officers, thirty dragoons, and fifty Swiss were
baffled by two men, one of whom Francezet was almost a boy, being
only twenty years old!  Then the two Camisards, having exhausted
their ammunition, gave each other the name of a village as a
rendezvous, and each taking a different direction, bounded away with
the lightness of a stag.  Francezet ran in the direction of Milhaud
with such rapidity that he gained on the dragoons, although they put
their horses at full speed.  He was within an inch of safety, when a
peasant named La Bastide, who was hoeing in a field, whence he had
watched the contest with interest from the moment he had first caught
sight of it, seeing the fugitive make for an opening in a wall, ran
along at the foot of the wall on the other side, and, just as
Francezet dashed through the opening like a flash of lightning,
struck him such a heavy blow on the head with his hoe that the skull
was laid open, and he fell bathed in blood.

The dragoons, who had seen in the distance what had happened, now
came up, and rescued Francezet from the hands of his assailant, who
had continued to rain blows upon him, desiring to put an end to him.
The unconscious Camisard was carried to Milhaud, where his wounds
were bandaged, and himself revived by means of strong spirits forced
into mouth and nostrils.

We now return to Brun.  At first it seemed as if he were more
fortunate than his comrade; for, meeting with no obstacle, he was
soon not only out of reach, but out of sight of his enemies.  He now,
however, felt broken by fatigue, and taught caution by the treachery
to which he had almost fallen a victim, he dared not ask for an
asylum, so, throwing himself down in a ditch, he was soon fast
asleep.  The dragoons, who had not given up the search, presently
came upon him, and falling on him as he lay, overpowered him before
he was well awake.

When both Camisards met before the governor, Francezet replied to all
interrogations that since the death of brother Catinat his sole
desire had been to die a martyr's death like him; while Brun said
that he was proud and happy to die in the cause of the Lord along
with such a brave comrade as Francezet.  This manner of defence led
to the application of the question both ordinary and extraordinary,
and to the stake; and our readers already know what such a double
sentence meant.  Francezet and Brun paid both penalties on the 30th
of April, betraying no secrets and uttering no complaints.

Boeton, who had been denounced by Villas when under torture (and who
thereby abridged his agony) as the person in whose house the plot to
carry off the Duke of Berwick and de Baville had been arranged, still
remained to be dealt with.

He was moderate in his religious views, but firm and full of faith;
his principles resembled those of the Quakers in that he refused to
carry arms; he was, however, willing to aid the good cause by all
other means within his reach.  He was at home waiting, with that calm
which perfect trust in God gives, for the day to come which had been
appointed for the execution of the plan, when suddenly his house was

< < Previous Page     Next Page > >



Other sites:

db3nf.com screen-capture.net floresca.net simonova.net flora-source.com flora-source.com sourcecentral.com sourcecentral.com geocities.com