Jules Bonnot
Jules Joseph Bonnot (14 October 1876 – 28 April 1912) was a French soldier, anarchist, bank robber, and murderer.
He is notorious for his role in the French anarchist band "The Bonnot Gang" that committed many crimes in early 20th-century Paris.
After leaving the army, Bonnot adopted anarchist ideas in response to his frustration with the bourgeois society and followed a philosophy called illegalism.
Bonnot's early life took a turn for the worse when his brother Justin drowned himself in the waters of a nearby river due to heartbreak.
Like his father, he also worked in a local factory but was promptly let go after robbing from the worksite, so he left for the town of Nancy, France in search of employment.
Later in 1903, when Bonnot contracted a case of tuberculosis, his wife Sophie left him to live in Dijon, France with a lover.
[2] During this time, he joined the local anarchist and individualist meetings and partook in counterfeiting, which he learned from several members of the group.
[1] With another member of the anarchist group named Platano, Bonnot began burglarizing local companies and houses with the usage of his driver's license.
In one particular occasion, Bonnot stole upwards of thirty-five thousand francs by utilizing the motor vehicle to great effect.
Bonnot felt he had no other choice but to continue his life of crime because of his standing in society and the warrants for his arrest.
The group consisted of Edouard Carouy, André Soudy, Stephen Monier, René Valet, Raymond Callemin, Octave Garnier, and others, all whom were local anarchists of French and Belgian descent.
[4] When Bonnot's frustration with capitalistic society grew to a breaking point, he decided that bank robberies were the most suitable expression of the sentiments of the Illegalists.
The Bonnot Gang began by robbing a rare luxury car, a Delaunay-Belleville, to serve as the getaway vehicle for their crimes.
With this crime, several newspapers put up notices of a reward for the capture of the members of "The Bonnot Gang," and they were notorious among the general public of Paris as car bandits, an unprecedented new form of crime as motor vehicles had not been fully integrated into society at that point.
[1] In light of their attacks against the capitalist society, the gang was able to garner support from some of the general public that sympathized with their hatred of the bourgeois.
[2] In late February, the duo traveled to a wealthy neighborhood of Paris and robbed another Delaunay-Belleville and changed the plates.
With Bonnot at the wheel, the gang's vehicle ran over and severely injured a young woman while in a haste to leave the scene.
[2] After this event, French police were placed on high alert and armed with revolvers in order to capture the gang once and for all.
He quickly drew his weapon and killed a policeman, wounded another, and evaded capture; however, four days later, the police caught him hiding in a residence in Choisy-le-Roi.
In the days after Bonnot's death, many anarchists in Paris attempted their own robberies on bourgeois vehicles and proclaimed their Illegalist views in support of the gang.
