At half-past nine on the morning of the 18th of March Ferré was at No.
6, Rue des Rosiers, opposing the departure of the prisoners of the
Republican Guard, by obtaining from the Commander Bardelle the
revocation of the order for their dismissal, which was known to have
been issued. He went to the council of the Château Rouge, whither
General Lecomte was about to be taken, and made himself conspicuous by
the persistency with which he called for the death of that general. On
the morning of Monday, the 24th May, a witness residing at the
Prefecture of Police saw Ferré and five others going up the stairs of
the Prefecture of Police. Ferré said to him, “Be off as quick as you
can. We are going to set fire to the place. In a quarter of an hour it
will be in flames.” Half an hear afterwards the witness saw the flames
burst forth from two windows of the office of the Procureur-Général.
When Raoul Rigault was installed during the insurrection, a woman saw
some persons washing the walls of the Prefecture of Police with
petroleum. Seeing them going out by the court of the St. Chapelle, she
noticed among them one smaller than the rest, wearing a grey paletot
with a black velvet collar, and black striped trousers. On the same day
a police agent went to La Roquette to order the shooting of Mgr. Darboy
and the other prisoners—the President Bonjean, the Abbé Allard, the
Père Ducoudray, and the Abbé Deguerry. On Saturday, the 27th, Ferré
installed himself in the clerk’s office of the prison, and ordered the
release of certain of the criminals and gave them arms and ammunition.
Upon this they proceeded to massacre a great number of the prisoners,
among whom were 66 gendarmes. Several witnesses saw Ferré that day at
the prison.