DESPERATION OF THE INSURGENTS.            121
having been struck by the shells fired at the Porte Dau-
phine."
The explosion of cartouches in the Avenue Rapp cut
a great figure at the time, and was a dreadful affair.
It seems that on the afternoon of May 17th I sent my
faithful messenger, Antoine, to whom reference has here-
tofore been made, on a certain mission for one of my
compatriots. He was a native of Luxembourg, and
spoke German and French very well, but he was not
very well up in English. In performing this duty, An-
toine was unfortunately caught in the vicinity of the
Avenue Rapp at the time of the explosion and, at my re-
quest, he afterward wrote out an account of it, putting
it into rather bad English. I copy it exactly as he wrote
it, and present it here as one of the most interesting ac-
counts of that affair that I have seen :—
At five o'clock p.m. this day, the 17th of May, 1871, I went by in-
struction of Mr. Washburne, the Minister of the United States, in
France, on the search of Mrs. Seymour's furniture. As the addresses
wishe she has given are on at the école Militaire, the other Port d'or I
did not stop but went directly at the école Militaire where I inquired
for the Port d'or. went to the several officers de services, but no one
could tell me where the port d'or was. from there I decided to go to
an other pleace to see and had to walk all trough the Champ de Mars,
when I was about the 3de quarter of the way near the corner of the
Avenue Rapp, an explosion took pleace, by the 1st comotion I was
trown on to ground. I was willing to stand up and run out of the dan-
ger of the fire, where pieces of wood wish were still burning and pieces
of iron stones and all sort of material were flying all around with such a
fury mixsed up of the boullet wish the explosion of the pouder trow
away, the second time I tryed to stand up an other explosion took
place, and rushed me over the cround like a ballon ; could not stand by
the commotion of the pouder exploding and could not rounn away, a
momment I heard and saw four horses belonging to the Compnie of
the Omnubus I saw them callopping on my direction, then I assembled
all my force and ron about ten metres before I could stand up again to