278 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP, in" where they were; and with regard to the XIV. . . '— spectators farther west, there was nothing that tended to cause them alarm, for they could see no one who was in antagonism with the troops. So along the whole Boulevard, from the Madeleine to near the Hue du Sentier, the foot- pavements, the windows, and the balconies still remained crowded with men and women and children, and from near the Rue du Sentier to the little barri- cade at the Gymnase, spectators still lined the foot- pavement ; but in that last part of the Boulevard the windows were closed.* The mas- According to some, a shot was fired from a Boulevard. window or a house-top near the Rue du Sentier. This is denied by others, and one witness declares that the first shot came from a soldier near the centre of one of the battalions, who fired straight up into the air; but what followed was this: the troops at the head of the column faced about to the south and opened fire. Some of the soldiery fired point-blank into the mass of spectators who stood gazing upon them from the foot-pavement, and the rest of the troops fired up at the gay crowded windows and balconies.t The officers in general did not order the firing, but seemingly they were agitated in the same way as the men of the rank and file, for such of them as could be seen from a balcony at the corner of the Eue Mont-
- What I say as to the state of the Boulevard at this time is
taken from many concurrent authorities, but Captain Jesse's statement (see post) is the most clear and satisfactory so far as concerns what he saw. t Captain Jesse, uhi post.
