Vernay, coachman of the king's eldest brother (afterwards
Louis XVIII) was not known to the section before the 10th of August. He was a patriot from necessity, cruel by
nature, and was appointed commissary of the Revolutionary Committee, in which
capacity he exercised all the vexatious hardships which audacity could authorise; and more particularly towards those who had known him as a coachman, and who
had assisted him in his poverty.
[Etienne Vernay, aged 40 years, native of the Commune of Bel-Air, formerly Saint-Christophe, in the department of Saone et Loire. Former a lemonade-seller, living in the rue de Sèvres. Condemned by the Criminal Tribunal]
Rein, without trade or known residence before the 10th of
August, formerly seller of lottery- tickets, was sent to For-l'Évêque by his own
confession, for having made false lottery-lists, and was discharged from the
service of the Revolutionary Committee for dishonest practices, in removing the
seals in the house of one of the proscribed.
Luthun, of Rue du Bac, messenger at the corner of the Rue de
la Planche, and formerly a coal-carrier, was discharged by several masters on
account of his dishonesty, and had been lodged by the Carmelite friars, to whom
his wife was errand-woman. He was by habit a drunkard, without morals or principles,
and was absolutely unknown to the section before the 10th of August.
[Philibert Luthun, journeyman wheelwright (?"compagnon charron"); 327 rue de Grenelle; 54 years old. Condemned by the Criminal Tribunal.]
Olivier, a locksmith, living in Rue du Bac, only appeared in
his section to be made a revolutionary commissary. He was a bad husband, a
worse father, embraced any party to promote his fortune, and was a patriot from
circumstances.
[François Olivier, locksmith; rue du Bac; 46 years old. Condemned by the Criminal Tribunal. Member of the cercle constitutionnel of the 10th arrondissement in the Year VI. Listed in Year IX as "homme sanguinaire".]
Piccini, by birth an Italian, did not become an inhabitant
of the section till after the month of November, 1793, and was before then
unknown. By profession he was a musician
; and was as false as the generality of his fellow-countrymen.
[Joseph-Marie Piccini, "homme de lettres"; 209 rue Rousselet; 36 years. Listed as "a native of Marseille". Acquitted by the Criminal Tribunal.]
Joseph Marie Piccini (1758-1826) was the son of the composer Niccolò Piccini. He is credited with several comedies and in 1802 edited Voltaire's posthumous Pensées, remarques et observations. It would be interesting to know how he escaped imprisonment in 1795.
Renaud, living in Rue de Sèvres, at the late Abbaye-aux-Bois,
was a cobbler at the corners of the streets, and was unknown to the section before
the 10th of August, having no fixed abode previously to that period. He was
wicked, cruel, and sanguinary; a patriot from necessity; and ready to lend
himself to any project for the sake of money.
[Renaud, former cobbler. Was denounced on 30 vendémaire Year III as a member of the former revolutionary committee, but was already under arrest at that date.]
Thaer, dealer in vinegar, in the Rue St. Plaeide, known
throughout the revolution as a man without character; who did evil without
being conscious of it. He enriched himself by the petty lottery, which be made
a trade of for a length of time.
Ledru, saltpetre-manufacturer, living in the Rue Barouillère,
was unknown in the section before the 10th of August, and did nothing for the
revolution. He was deceitful, cruel, and without any morals, doing all that his
colleagues dictated, more particularly when the order was to tyrannize over the
prisoners.
Pigeot [Pijeau] de Villiers, residing in the Rue de Sèvres, near the
committee, a notary, expelled from the body to which he belonged for bankruptcy;
was unknown in the section before May, 1793. He became a modern patriot in order to procure
a place, he was accused by his creditors, bankers, of dishonesty, in requiring
from them a receipt of a thousand livres for only five hundred, which he had
paid to them.
[Nicolas, Charles Pijeau, also known as "Villiers", former lawyer;1082 rue de Sèvres. 49 years. Born in Paris. Treasurer to the Committee of General Security. Condemned by the Revolutionary Tribunal.According to the denunciation of 16 vendémiare, he was unknown in the section before May 1793; named president of the general assembly of the section and revolutionary commissary. Condemned by the Criminal Tribunal and later transferred to Bicêtre. Denounced in Year IX.
Lebrun, without any fixed habitation, was expelled from the
gendarmerie, or company of the centre, and afterwards from the situation of
adjutant of the section to which he had been appointed. He was habitually a drunkard, base, cruel, and
cowardly; patiently suffering insults, and always refusing to give reasons for
those he bestowed upon others. As a
husband he was brutal, and quarrelsome ; in his quality of member of the
committee , he alone was the cause of almost all the arrests which took place by its orders, that he might
be revenged upon those who had been the means of depriving him of his
adjutancy. He was a great friend of
Vincent, Hébert, Ronsin, and Henriot; and always concealed his share in every
notorious act which originated with him and his colleagues.
Joseph Étienne Antoine Lebrun, 1039 rue de Sèvres, aged 63 years. Lebrun was one of the driving forces of the section. See Soboul (p.468): Born in Perpignan, Lebrun came from a family of carpetmakers, and had lived in Paris since 1750. He had been active in the Revolution from the beginning: volunteer in the National Guard battalion of the Prémontrés. vice-president of the district then of the section, elector in 1790 and 1792, justice of the peace after 10 August, member of the Revolutionary Committee. He was arrested on 19 vendémiaire Year III, accused of having intimidated good citizens and deprived patriots of '89. In Year IV he was accused of stirring up hatred against "weathy people, merchants, honest and enlightened men". He is last recorded as having been banished from Paris in Year IX. He was author of a set of Mémoires justicatifs.
Parrault, a Swiss, doorkeeper of Madame Narbonne Pelet, Rue
de la Planche, unknown to the section
before the 10th of August, not having appeared until his nomination as
commissary of the revolutionary committee, which situation he quitted for that
of adjutant. So much was he addicted to drunkenness, that he once disappeared
for two days, and was thought to be dead.
Baillière, coachman of a Swiss officer, was without a settled
habitation, and was absolutely unknown to the section before his nomination.
[Guillaume Ballière, former domestic coachman, rentier; 990 rue de Sèvres; 43 years old. Condemned by the Criminal Tribunal]
Such were the men who disposed of the liberty of more than three hundred fathers of
families, and who made them sigh in fetters for more than a year, without
having committed any other crime than that of resisting the tyrants in their
persecutions.
References
translated into English as:
"Historical sketch of the prison of Saint-Lazare...containing Anecdotes of each of the Members of the Revolutionary Committee of the Bonnet Rouge (Red Cap), and of the Prison of the Rue de Sèvres. BY *** PRISONER IN BOTH PLACES". In
The Reign of Terror: collection of authentic narratives of the horrors committed by the revolutionary government of France under Marat and Robespierre. London, W. Simpkin and R. Marshall (1826), p.349-
https://archive.org/details/reignterroracol04unkngoog/page/n366/mode/2upSee also:
"Précis historique sur la maison d'arrêt de la rue de Sèvres" Mémoires sur les prisons, vol. 2(1823) p.187-201.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=HFxZfvKDr54C&pg=RA1-PA187#v=onepage&q&f=false
In English: https://archive.org/details/reignofterrorcol02londuoft/page/28/mode/2up
Guy Périer de Féral, "La maison d’arrêt des Oiseaux, d’après les souvenirs de captivité du président de Dompierre d’Hornoy"
Mémoires de la Fédération des Sociétés historiques et archéologiques de l'Ile-de-France, vol. 4, 1952