Pétroleuses

During May, when Paris was being recaptured by loyalist Versaillais troops, rumours circulated that lower-class women were committing arson against private property and public buildings, using bottles full of petroleum or paraffin (similar to modern-day Molotov cocktails) which they threw into cellar windows, in a deliberate act of spite against the government.

[1] During the Bloody Week at the end of the Commune, many Paris landmarks were set on fire by the Communards, most notably the Hotel de Ville, the Palais de Justice, the Tuileries Palace, the Palais d'Orsay, and other government buildings, as well as the commercial docks along the Seine and some private homes, including the residence of the writer Prosper Mérimée, who had died before the Commune, but was accused of supporting Napoleon III.

[4] Five women were accused of various crimes, including having been involved in the fires along the Rue de Lille and at the Légion d'Honneur: Élizabeth Rétiffe, Joséphine Marchais, Léontine Suétens, Eulalie Papavoine, and Lucie Bocquin.

[4] Despite a complete lack of evidence that any of them participated in the fires, Rétiffe, Marchais, and Suétens were sentenced to death, Papavoine to deportation to a walled fortress, and Bocquin to ten years of solitary confinement.

[6] According to Édith Thomas, of the many women who were accused of being pétroleuses in the aftermath of the Commune, Anne-Marie Ménand and Florence Van de Walle were the only two who may actually have participated in any arson.

Regarding the pétroleuses themselves, the negative connotation applied to the name was a prime result of the fear many men in higher ranks felt during the Paris Commune.