In the interval which elapsed before eleven o'clock, the four
accused shot themselves with pistols and stabbed themselves with
blows from a poinard in prison. Lepretre and Guyon, according
to public rumor, were dead; Hyvert fatally wounded and dying;
Amiet fatally wounded, but still conscious. All four, in this
state, were conveyed to the scaffold, and, living or dead, were
guillotined. At half after eleven, the sheriff, Colin, handed in
the report of their execution to the Municipality for registration
upon the death roll:

The captain of gendarmerie remitted to the Justice of the Peace
a report of what had occurred in the prison, of which he was a
witness. I, who was not present, do certify to what I have learned
by hearsay only.

(Signed) DUBOST, _Clerk_.

Bourg, 23d Vendemiaire of the year IX.

Ah! so it was the poet who was right and not the historian! The
captain of gendarmerie, who remitted the report of the proceedings
in the prison to the Justice of the Peace, at which he was present,
was Nodier's uncle. This report handed to the Justice of the
Peace was the story which, graven upon the young man's mind, saw
the light some forty years later unaltered, in that masterpiece
entitled "Souvenirs de la Revolution." The entire series of papers
was in the record office. M. Martin offered to have them copied
for me; inquiry, trial and judgment.

I had a copy of Nodier's "Souvenirs of the Revolution" in my pocket.