3-034-565 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene on the Boulevard Montmartre, Paris: Une Folle, 1871. 'Pictures without number of the troubled life of Parisians during the previous months have been sent to this Journal since the restoration of order in the French capital. One incident is of so peculiar a nature that we engrave it. The centre figure in our Illustration of "La Folle" [The Madwoman] is the wife of a journalist, rendered insane by the news of her husband's death in one of the disastrous encounters which threw the gayest of cities into mourning. Patrons of the Cafe des Princes, in the Boulevard Montmartre, were familiar with the sad story. As the gallant officer turns from the deadly absinthe his glass holds, he is enabled to provoke the ready "Mon Dieu" of his half-world companion by a whispered account of "La Folle's" tale. Two poor souls have lost their bread-winner by the fatal shot which sealed the fate of the luckless journalist. Wandering in mind, his widow wanders among his favourite haunts in the hope of finding him, accompanied for protection by her daughter'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.