The Monmouth Inquirer

Heroine of the Telegraph.

In the Franco-German war of 1870 the Uhlans in particular played havoc with the French wires. On arriving at a village they would ride up to the telegraph office, cut the connections, and carry off the apparatus, or else employ it to deceive the enemy. They were outwitted, however, on one occasion, and by a woman. Mlle. Juliette Dodu, a girl of eighteen, was director of the telegraph station at Pithiviers, where she lived with her mother, when the Prussians entered the town. They took possession of the station, and, turning out the two women, confined them to their dwellings on a higher floor. It happened that the wire from the office in running to the pole on the roof passed by the door of the girl's room, and she conceived the idea of tapping the Prussian messages. She had contrived to keep a telegraph instrument, and by means of a derivation from the wire was able to carry out her purpose. Important telegrams were thus obtained and secretly communicated to the sub-prefect of the town, who conveyed them across the Prussian lines to the French commander.

Mlle. Dodu and her mother were both arrested, and the proofs of their guilt were soon discovered. They were brought before a court martial and speedily condemned to death, but the sentence had to be confirmed by the commander of the corps d'armee, Prince Frederick Charles, who, having spoken with Mlle. Dodu on several occasions, desired her to be produced. He inquired her motive in committing so grave a breach of what are called the "laws of war." The girl replied, "Je suis Française" ("I am a Frenchwoman").

The Prince confirmed the sentence, but, happily, before it was executed the news of the armistice arrived and saved her life. In 1878 this telegraphic heroine was in charge of the post office at Montreuil, near Vincennes, and on the 13th of August she was decorated with the Legion of Honor by Marshal MacMahon, President of the Republic.