Yesterday afternoon, as a funeral cortege was making its way along Rue de Flandre to Pantin cemetery, an individual who had been sitting at the terrace of a bar approached the hearse, grabbed one of the wreaths, and fled in the direction of Rue de Crimée; he could not be caught.

An hour later, the same man mingled with another funeral procession making its way along Rue du Pont-de-Flandre and attempted to steal a wreath of fresh flowers which had been placed on the horse-drawn hearse.

This time, he was seized and handed over to the police.

As the officers led him to the station he struck and bit them in a fit of extreme fury.

The individual had to be restrained, before being taken to the special police infirmary.

He has been named as Louis Martinod, forty years old, of no fixed abode.

L’Aurore, 23 August 1910