" Those whose names are known
among the new guides of the crowd are almost all escaped convicts
whose previous habits have accustomed them to blows, violence,
frequently to murder, and always to contempt for the law. At
Brunoy,[19] the leaders of the outbreak are "two deserters of the
18th regiment, sentenced and unpunished, who, in company with the
vilest and most desperate of the parish, always go about armed and
threatening." At ?tampes, "the two principal assassins of the mayor
are a poacher repeatedly condemned for poaching, and an old
carabiniere dismissed from his regiment with a bad record against
him."[20] Around these are artisans "without a known residence,"
wandering workmen, journeymen and apprentices, vagrants and highway
rovers, who flock into the towns on market-days and are always -
ready for mischief when an opportunity occurs. Vagabonds, indeed,
now roam about the country everywhere, all restrictions against them
having ceased.
"For a year past," write several parishes in the neighborhood of
Versailles, "we have seen no gendarmes except those who come with
decrees," and hence the multiplication of "murders and brigandage "
between ?tampes and Versailles, on the highways and in the country.
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