2 July 1789
The Bastille - Paris
The Marquis De Sade was in the stone fortress on charges of perversion.
In the afternoon a prisoner cried from his window.
"Ils tuent les prisonniers."
The guards subdued the inmate, but his words sparked a smoldering rumor and the rumor spread through the poor neighborhood awaiting a match.
For his safety the Marquis de Sade was transferred to the insane asylum at Charenton.
Cut to:
14 July 1789.
A wine wagon overturned on the Rue de La Roquette.
The wine flooded the gutter. The people drank their full.
The Bastille loomed in the near distance, symbolizing the oppressive Ancien Regime of the Bourbon Dynasty.
Fortified by cheap wine the mob stormed the prison. Nearly 100 attackers were slain in the assault versus one defender before the deluge flooded through the gates to massacre nine soldiers and free seven prisoners; four counterfeiters, two madmen and a perverse nobleman, the Comte de Solages, jailed on charges of incest.
The Comte, 32 years a prisoner, returned to his homeland a stranger. He died in poverty and sleeps in anonymity, while the Marquis de Sade lives in our memory.
A bas la Bastille.
A bas le Ancien Regime.
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