In vain do the municipal officers appeal to it, in vain do the gendarmes interpose themselves between it and the prisoner; it rushes in upon them and disperses them.

Meanwhile, volleys of stones smash in the windows, and the entrance door yields to the blows of axes; about thirty of the villains scale the windows, and pass the priest down like a bale of goods.

A few yards off, "struck down with clubs and other instruments," he draws his last breath, his head "crushed" by twenty mortal wounds .-- Farther up, towards Orleans, Roland reads the following dispatches, taken from the file for Loiret:[3258] "Anarchy is at its height," writes one of the districts to the Directory of the department; "there is no longer recognition of any authority; the administrators of the district and of the municipalities are insulted, and are powerless to enforce respect....

Threats of slaughter, of destroying houses and giving them up to pillage prevail; plans are made to tear down all the chateaux.

The municipal authorities of Acheres, along with many of the inhabitants, have gone to Oison and Chaussy, where everything is smashed, broken up and carried off On the 16th of September six armed men went to the house of M.de Vaudeuil and obliged him to return the sum of 300 francs, for penalties pretended to have been paid by them.