Collapse; Mar. -31.
A village tragedy that took place in the early days of the war and remained secret until quite recently has just had its denouement at the Oise Assizes. It was an. act of savagery committed under the combined influence of fear and the agriculturist's fierce hatred of those ho would rob him of the fruits of his toil. It was known to many men and women, who combined to keep it secret, and it was only brought to light by accident. The drama was played in the course of a few hours at Vandélicourt, not far from Compiégne, on September 5, 1914, while the German armies were advancing on Paris and had already invaded the department of the Cise.
The central figure was a lad of 18 named Camille—Caron, neither physically nor mentally normal. He was suspected of having set fire toa barn belonging to the mayor, M. Bullet, out of revenge for having been dismissed. There being no gendarmes or authorities of any kind in the place, the village worthies constituted a tribunal of their own and decided to administer justice for themselves. they fetched Caron from a neighbouring village, and brought him to Vandélicourt, where the fire was still raging, and he is said to have confessed that the arson was his work, Then came the question of what was to be done with him. Girard Bullet, head of the village fire brigade and a cousin of the mayor, a labourer named Axel and another named Lefort, went off to consult an el] retired magistrate who lived not far away, leaving their _prisoner shut up in the fire engine station, with ropes handy, so that he could have hanged himself had he felt so inclined, and thus got them out of the difficulty. The old magistrate, after several evasive answers, is said to have told them that as they could not keep Caron prisoner for any length of time, the best thing they could do was to let him go, without troubling themselves as to what the inhabitants might do to him. Ruminating over this idea, the three men trudged back to Vandélicourt, but apparently they were not convinced that the crowd would lynch Caron effectively. They took him out of his improvised prison, as he had had the bad taste not to hang himself, and led him to the still blazing barn. Axel produced a sack, which he tied over Caron's head. Girard Bullet then whirled him suddenly round, so as to make him dizzy, and tried to throw him into the flames but Caron jumped back. Axel, who had taken up a, pitchfork, struck him a violent blow with it and pushed him into the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.