"He then forced me to go round the town looking for more oats. I was again insulted and roughly used in a shop where the officer kicked those who were there. 'If, within an hour,' he told me, 'you have not found more oats, you will be shot.'
"After a fresh search, I returned to the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville, to be again insulted by the same officer, with whom was another, tall, pale, and bareheaded, with a monocle in his right eye, who said mockingly: 'You are responsible for this; it is all your fault.'
THE MORIN
"The first officer then complained that the gas gave a bad light, and it was in vain that I explained to him that all the men from the gasworks had left us. He continued: 'We know that the town is rich, we could ask for one million or even two million francs here, but if at eight o'clock to-morrow morning you have not found 100,000 francs, you will be shot, and the town bombarded and set on fire' I replied: 'You can do what you like with me, but I cannot possibly find you this sum, all the inhabitants having left and taken their money with them.' I was then arrested, hungry and dinnerless.
M. CHATRY, PROCUREUR DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE
"Shortly after, the mayor, M. Delsol, and the town-clerk, M. Bard, came to join me. Armed soldiers then conducted the three of us to the Rue de la Pêcherie, to the house (No. 7) of a druggist named Couesnon. This house had been broken into by the Germans, and served them as a lock-up. We were led into the dressing room.
"During the night I overheard the following conversation which took place in German between the soldiers guarding us. I repeat it word for word: 'The Procureur de la République will be shot; the "gay brothers" of the Company have been fetched to kill him; and the street has been swept to look nice.' Another soldier replied: 'Be careful, he understands German and is listening to all you say, for he is awake.'