Some of the rabble in the cellars stave in casks of precious wine; fifteen thousand measures of it are lost, making a pool five feet deep in which several are drowned.

Others, loaded with booty, go away under the eyes of the soldiers without being arrested.

The havoc continues for three days; a number of houses belonging to some of the magistrates "are sacked from garret to cellar." When the honest citizens at last obtain arms and restore order, they are content with the hanging of one of the robbers; although, in order to please the people, the magistrates are changed and the price of bread and meat is reduced .-- It is not surprising that after such tactics, and with such rewards, the riot should spread through the neighborhood far and near: in fact, starting from Strasbourg it overruns Alsace, while in the country as in the city, there are always drunkards and rascals found to head it.
No matter where, be it in the East, in the West, or in the North, the instigators are always of this stamp.

At Cherbourg, on the 21st of July,[1316] the two leaders of the riot are "highway robbers," who place themselves at the head of women of the suburbs, foreign sailors, the populace of the harbor, and it includes soldiers in workmen's smocks.
They force the delivery of the keys of the grain warehouses, and wreck the dwellings of the three richest merchants, also that of M.de Garantot, the sub-delegate: "All records and papers are burnt; at M.de Garantot's alone the loss is estimated at more than 100,000 crowns at least."-- The same instinct of destruction prevails everywhere, a sort of envious fury against all who possess, command, or enjoy anything.
At Maubeuge, on the 27th of July, at the very assembly of the representatives of the commune,[1317] the rabble interferes directly in its usual fashion.

A band of nail and gun-makers takes possession of the town-hall, and obliges the mayor to reduce the price of bread.