The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-de-Siecle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror (21 page)

Left: Élisa Gauthey, the object of Émile Henry's unrequited love.

Right: Ravachol, presented as a heroic martyr framed by the guillotine.

The Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta, in exile in London.

Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris, with the Grand Opera in the distance. The offices of the Carmaux Mining Company stood at number n, three blocks up on the left.

The Villa Faucheur in Paris. The woman is pointing to Émile Henry's room.
Collection Roger-Viollet

The explosion of the bomb at the Café Terminus, February 12, 1894.
Collection Roger-Viollet

The capture of Émile Henry.
Collection Roger-Viollet

Émile Henry.
Collection Roger-Viollet

The basilica of Sacré-Coeur, then still under construction.

Police drawings of Émile Henry.

The Palais de Justice, where Émile Henry went on trial, and the Conciergerie, the prison in which he was held.

Loius Deibler, "Monsieur de Pairs," the city's chief executioner.

A guillotine operation.

On about February 7, one of the Bourdin brothers—French anarchists who had found refuge in London—was back in Paris and had seen Émile on a street in Belleville. There Émile could easily disappear among the machinery and ironsmith workshops and the bars. He was shrewd and careful. He would probably try to see his friend Martin, who had been spotted several times in the afternoon, apparently hurrying to meet someone near rue Cadet or place Cadet. In London, Émile Pouget had told someone that he had news of his young friend but revealed nothing specific. Yet on February 11, the undercover policeman "Léon" reported that Émile had left Paris three or four days earlier for the provinces. The policeman thought that he might have gone to Brévannes, or even to Normandy, where he was believed to have friends.

The holy grail of those anarchists inclined to violence was the assassination of President Sadi Carnot, who had refused to pardon Vaillant. But the Palais de l'Élysée was too heavily guarded and the iron gate too high, making an attack impossible. So Émile came up with a less ambitious plan: he would target the Opera or a fancy restaurant or café. For a short period, Matha had met with Émile virtually every day, attempting to talk him out of the plan. On February 11, Émile had become irritated, telling Matha "your friendship bothers me." The next day, February 12, Émile did not show up to meet him. That morning, he had told the concierge at the Villa Faucheur that he would be gone "for quite a while."