Classics Illustrated 113 The Forty-five Guardsmen

On the 26th day of October, 1585, the barriers of the Porte Saint Antoine, one of the gates to Paris, were still closed at half past ten in the morning. Thousands of Parisians poured in from every quarter to witness the execution of Salcede, a Spaniard who had been found guilty of attemted assassination against the royal family. Rumours of plots, counter-plots, and threatened revolt filled the air as the people waited patiently for the gates to open.