A musket-shot was fired from the midst of the troops, and it was easy to see that it had been fired in the air, from the smoke which rose perpendicularly.

This was the signal for firing on the people and charging them with the bayonet without warning.

This is a significant fact, and proves that the military wanted the pretence of a motive for beginning the massacre which followed.' "Another witness tells the following tale:-- "'The cannon, loaded with grape-shot, cut up all the shop-fronts from the shop _Le Prophete_ to Rue Montmartre.

From Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle they must have fired also on the Maison Billecoq, for it was struck at the corner of the wall on the Aubusson side, and the ball, having traversed the wall, penetrated the interior of the house.' "Another witness, one of those who deny the shot, says:-- "'People have endeavoured to excuse this fusillade and these murders, by pretending that the troops had been fired on from the windows of some of the houses.

Not only does General Magnan's official report seem to deny this rumour, but I assert that the discharge was instantaneous from Porte Saint-Denis to Porte Montmartre, and that there was not, previously to the general discharge, a single shot fired separately, either from the windows or by the soldiers, from Faubourg Saint-Denis to Boulevard des Italiens.' "Another witness, who is also one of those who did not hear the shot, says:-- "'The troops were marching past the veranda of the Cafe Tortoni, where I had been about twenty minutes, when, before any report of fire-arms had reached us, they quickened their pace; the cavalry went off at a gallop, the infantry at double-quick.