Atmosphere of The Trial and Conviction
The case aroused quite a lot of media attention, particularly around two texts: the Means of Emancipation and The Anarchist Feast at The Opera – the latter was a detailed account of how to cause the maximum amount of carnage in an opera house by rupturing the gas supply and leaving incendiary devices in the seats, while the miscreant could make their escape. Following three bombings in Paris, the correspondent for The Times made the connection: 'Anarchists should not be regarded as members of a political party, and it should not be possible for an Anarchist to hurry away from Paris to find an asylum in Brussels, in Geneva or in London.' Ravachol was arrested for two of these bombings, and promptly made a confession.
The climate of the trial was not conducive to a sober consideration of the facts – The Anarchist Feast at The Opera was read out as if it were the views of the defendants. The defense did not argue that it was a police plot. Charles, Cails and Battola were found guilty; Deakin guilty but with a recommendation for mercy; and Westley and Ditchfield not guilty. Those found guilty were allowed to make a statement, whereupon the first three stated they thought it was a police plot. Charles, Battola and Cails were given ten years each, and Deakin five. Although the judge denied he was punishing them for being anarchists, The Times was more to the point:
- The offence with which the prisoners were charged is one of the most dastardly and wicked which it is possible to conceive. Like treason it is aimed at the very heart of the State, but it is not designed to destroy the existing Government alone. It strikes at all Governments, and behind all Governments it strikes at those elementary social rights for the defence of which all forms and methods of civil rules exist. The crime of which the Walsall prisoners have been found guilty was no isolated act ( ... ) Hate, envy, the lust of plunder, and the lust of bloodshed are stamped on every line of the Anarchist literature read at Walsall and on every word of the confessions made by RAVACHOL.
'Alas ! Alas ! Ten years for Charles, it is too bad. An evil conscience makes them cowards.' wrote Edward Carpenter following the trial.
Read more about this topic: Walsall Anarchists
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