The Dynamite Boys of the 1890s Terrorized Paris

Ravachol was executed on July 11, 1892, not long before Vaillant followed in his footsteps. Ravachol, like Vaillant, had come from a fragmented family background. His father abandoned him and his mother, brother, and sister when Ravachol was only eight-years-old. As the eldest of the siblings, he filled the role his father did not want and worked to support the whole family.

Familiarity with unsavory working conditions led Ravachol to become politically active in fighting for better work environments. At the same time, his anarchist ambitions began to take shape possibly as a result of physical altercations with police that turned violent during a demonstration for better working conditions. On May Day in 1891, Ravachol and other demonstrators were in the village of Fourmies, in the north of France. The police opened fire on the peaceful crowd, killing several people and wounding many more. Elsewhere in France on the same day, police behaved in a military fashion, arresting, beating, and shooting protesters.

The injustice inspired Ravachol to take action. He brazenly placed bombs in the homes of two city officials. General Léon Bulot (executive of the Public Ministry), and Edmond Benoît had both taken part in the court cases against those arrested during the May Day events. Ravachol is thought to be responsible for additional bombings, including at the Restaurant Véry. Nevertheless, to many Ravachol was a heroic figure. He stood trial, was executed and mythologized just as fast. The French workers could not help but admire him. Artists found inspiration in him. Songs were written in his name as were more acts of terror, including the bombing, carried out by Vaillant.

The rising popularity of anarchists alarmed the French government. Directly after Vaillant’s execution, a controversial law was issued that had two purposes. It was intended to demonize anarchists, restrict the press and free assembly, and it made anti-military sentiment a criminal activity. The law made support of any crime a crime in itself. The blanketed wording precluded that all anarchist literature and propaganda would be effectively suppressed, and those who broke the law would be imprisoned…but the band played on.

It was nearly 8 p.m. on February 12, 1894; an orchestra was playing music. Emile Henry lit a cigar and waited. He claimed during his trial that his intention that night was to kill as many bourgeoisie as possible. To him, they represented everything that was wrong with society. Henry was part of the tapestry of young men who were unable to advance socially. Henry, however, was not like Vaillant and Ravachol; he had been offered ample opportunity from French society. From a young age, France offered him a scholarship that endowed him with access to an excellent education. With it came opportunities to engage on a broad social spectrum. His intellectual dexterity landed him in an elite French university. It could be that Henry found himself being pulled by polarized ends of the universe: he was invited into a social sphere wholly incompatible with his upbringing.

Henry was born to a revolutionary line of ancestors; his father and brother were both members of radical fringe groups. His brother, in particular, was an anarchist. Henry’s brother was a spokesperson for the cause. To be a part of that, Henry had only two assets at his disposal; his keen chemistry skills and his life. He lost most of his jobs – one of the last was lost after his boss found a translated Italian newspaper at his work desk called, “Long live theft, long live dynamite!” The 20-year-old had been reading about how to make nitroglycerin during his work shifts.

During his court trial, he echoed Vaillant’s words: it was always the more malevolent characters advancing the most, and with ease. Anyone with a sinister or subservient disposition willing to follow along on the trail of degradation and deceit would be rewarded. Factory owners disproportionately kept massive profits and underpaid their workers, politicians took bribes, police upheld the corrupt system; the injustice riled Henry, which is why he devoted himself to bringing down the system. Henry’s dedication to the anarchist movement was apparent. When he was eventually caught by the police, an arsenal of bomb-making material was discovered in his apartment.

Without pause, Henry confessed to the bombing and added that Café Terminus was not his first act of terror. He added he was the mastermind behind several other bombings throughout Paris, including the Carmaux Mining Company, where a bomb exploded after police found it and were busily taking it apart. Henry’s contempt toward the bourgeoisie was fierce, but it alone was not the motive for the various bombings.

A week after Vaillant’s death sentence was carried out; Henry loaded his revolver with bullets that were rigged to cause the most damage possible, he armed himself with a poisoned knife and placed a homemade bomb in the pocket of his overcoat. He made the long journey from the unimpressive Paris outskirts until he arrived in the wealthy area concentrated around the Opera Garnier, which was his desired target.

Henry discovered the building was too hard for him to enter, as it was heavily guarded. With that, Henry reconsidered his plans. That night in Cafe Terminus, he pulled the bomb from his coat pocket and lit the fuse. The explosion killed one person and left twenty injured. Henry’s escape plan was thwarted when he was stopped, first by a waiter, then by a patron. He never saw his 22nd birthday, was found guilty executed at the age of 21.