" Under the
arcade of Saint-Jean he was already "severely wounded." Around him,
some said, "his head ought to be struck off;" others, "let him be
hung;" and others, "he ought to be tied to a horse's tail." Then, in
despair, and wishing to put an end to his torments, he cried out,
"Kill me," and, in struggling, kicked one of the men who held him in
the lower abdomen. On the instant he is pierced with bayonets,
dragged in the gutter, and, striking his corpse, they exclaim, "He's
a scurvy wretch (galeux) and a monster who has betrayed us; the
nation demands his head to exhibit to the public," and the man who
was kicked is asked to cut it off. -- This man, an unemployed
cook, a simpleton who "went to the Bastille to see what was going
on," thinks that as it is the general opinion, the act is patriotic,
and even believes that he "deserves a medal for destroying a
monster." Taking a saber which is lent to him, he strikes the bare
neck, but the dull saber not doing its work, he takes a small black-
handled knife from his pocket, and, "as in his capacity of cook he
knows how to cut meat," he finishes the operation successfully.
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