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Jules Bonnot

Jules Bonnot (14 October 1876 – 28 April 1912) was a French anarchist and crime boss who led the Bonnot Gang in early 20th-century Paris.

Biography[]

Jules Bonnot was born in Pont-de-Roide-Vermondans, Burgundy, France in 1876, and he dropped out of school after acquiring a reputation as a lazy, undisciplined, and insolent student. In 1891, he was arrested for fishing with prohibited gear, and in 1895 following a fight at a ball. After hitting his stepsister, he was thrown out of his family, taking refuge in Nancy and running into trouble with the police for vagrancy and being in the company of a prostitute.

In 1897, he was sentenced to three months in prison, and he was called up for service in the French Army that same year. He acquired a marksman's license and was discharged with a certificate of good conduct, and he became a mechanical fitter and was later fired from the Bellegarde railways for his union and anarchist involvement. He and his wife then moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where Bonnot continued to work as a mechanic. His wife died a few days after giving birth, and Bonnot was expelled from Switzerland for his anarchist agitation.

However, he was soon employed as a car mechanic in Lyon, and he attracted the wrath of his bosses for leading strikes. He then left Lyon for Saint-Etienne, and the police knew him to be "very violent and mean". He continued to live in destitution before committing several burglaries from 1906 to 1907, partnering with Joseph Platano. He opened two mechanical workshops in Lyon after robbing safes, and, in 1910, he reportedly served as Arthur Conan Doyle's driver during his time in London, where he planned to meet with other anarchist cells. Upon returning to Lyon, Bonnot revolutionized crime by using cars as getaway vehicles, while the police pursued on horses and bicycles. He moved his operations to Paris, while Platano died during the journey. In November 1911, he established the Bonnot Gang with the help of the personnel behind the L'Anarchie newspaper. On 21 December 1911, he committed the first robbery employing the use of an automobile, and the police grew concerned at the links between anarchism and milieu crime.

Bonnot's body being carried out of the house

Bonnot's body being carried out of the house.

The police's mobile "Tiger Brigades", established by Georges Clemenceau, were sent after the Bonnot Gang, and, in the spring of 1912, the police killed or captured much of Bonnot's gang. On 24 April 1912, he shot a policeman dead during a police raid on his hideout in Ivry-sur-Seine, and he fled to Choisy-le-Roi. On 27 April 1912, the police tracked him down to the Nid Rouge pavilion in Choisy, where he and Jean Dubois were hiding. Bonnot barricaded the house, and the police awaited reinforcements from the Republican Guard and the French Army (including a regiment of Zouaves). During the long siege, Bonnot accepted his mortality and wrote out his will, and he was injured when the police dynamited the house. He was shot six times as police stormed the house, and he died of his wounds shortly after reaching Paris.

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