Translation:Report on Ravachol (27 June 1891)

In the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, on the twenty-seventh day of June.

We, the undersigned, Therle, Lucet & Nicolas, in the service of the sûreté, report the following: Mr. Bénad, head of the sûreté, placed us under surveillance at Villebœuf le Haut, Gilly house, to arrest a band of criminals, and more particularly an individual and his concubine, who perfectly matched the description of the perpetrator of the assassination of Brunel, known as l'Ermite, from Val-de-Grace, in Chambles, and who resided in the said Gilly house.

Around 9 P.M., Mr. the Police Commissaire of the 2nd district joined us, accompanied by two agents from his office and the guard of the Jardin des Plantes. The Commissaire asked us for information regarding the composition of this band, and once informed of the situation, he sent back one of the agents and the guard. Mr. the Commissaire and the other agent remained with us to lend assistance if needed. We were therefore five, including Mr. the Police Commissaire. After making our arrangements in a room near the one occupied by the criminals, which allowed us to monitor all persons entering the house.

Around a quarter past midnight, we suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs and the jingle of keys, as someone tried to open a door. We immediately rushed towards the staircase to apprehend the individual, who, upon seeing us, tried to flee. Although it was completely dark, with no light, we seized this individual and dragged him into the owner's kitchen. There, after lighting a candle, we recognized him as Mr. Konisten, a very dangerous anarchist and malefactor. He struggled in our hands like a desperate man, shouting at the top of his lungs, "To me, my friends, help me!" He then immediately addressed us, threatening us by saying, "You are all lost, not one of you will escape, because I don't give a damn, I sacrifice my life, but I will be avenged."

As he continued to offer strong resistance, kicking us to get away, we tried to gag him to prevent him from shouting. The Police Commissaire then told us not to brutalize him, stating that he was arrested and in the presence of a magistrate. Agent Lucet, who was carrying a pair of chains, handed them to the Commissaire to shackle our prisoner, but unable to put them on him himself, being too agitated by the recent events, he passed the chains to Agent Nicolas. Nicolas secured the prisoner's wrists with the chains, tying them tightly behind his back. Once thus restrained and calmer, we searched him and found him carrying approximately 60 francs, partly composed of 50-cent and one-franc pieces, as well as a set of keys. Following the Police Commissaire's instructions, we went up to his room and, in his presence, conducted a summary search with the Commissaire. Among the items found there, we noted that most of them originated from the robbery committed at Mr. Loy's on the hill, which had been reported to us.

Once these formalities were completed, we escorted our prisoner, who walked between the five of us. As we approached the bottom of the hill, a few meters from the Seytre café, an individual we hadn't noticed emerged from a path alongside a wall, carrying a package, and came straight towards us. We immediately stopped with our prisoner to question him. Konisten was then in the middle of us. The Commissaire asked the individual we had just encountered where he was going and what he was carrying. He replied in a very arrogant tone that it was none of our business and that he was going home. This individual, who was feigning drunkenness but appeared to be part of Konisten's gang and an accomplice, was about to be arrested when our prisoner, lowering his head, shoved Agent Lucet aside with a shoulder bump to clear a path, and fled at full speed in the direction of Patroa. At that moment, the darkness was complete. We immediately all set off in pursuit, chasing him for nearly 2 kilometers.

However, upon reaching a crossroads above the cottage of Beaulieu, on the path leading to Patroa, where there are several farms surrounded by trees, tall hedges and bushes, as well as wheat fields and very dense meadows, which made the darkness even more intense, we lost sight of our prisoner. It was impossible for us to find him again, despite our most meticulous searches throughout the rest of the night and day.

The individual who caused our prisoner's escape had by then fled in another direction. We were unable to ascertain his identity or what he was carrying, but everything suggests that he was an accomplice, who came there expressly to divert our attention and facilitate Konisten's escape.

The arrest, escort, and escape of the prisoner took place under the direction   of Mr. Eychenet, Police Commissaire of the 2nd district, who was present, along with Agent Fraquin, orderly at the 2nd district, and security agents Therles, Nicolas, and Lucet.