FERR, CHARLES-THOPHILE

born 1845, Paris, France died Nov. 28, 1871, Bois de Satory, near Versailles French revolutionary figure, a follower of the ideology of Auguste Blanqui, who served as director of police during the Paris Commune revolt (1871). The record of Ferr's early years is rather obscure, although it seems likely that he was a law clerk. In July 1870 he was implicated in a plot to assassinate Napoleon III but was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence. During the German siege of Paris, Ferr was elected to the Montmartre Committee of Vigilance and then joined the Commune leadership (March 26, 1871). He served on the Committee of Public Safety and for a brief period directed the revolutionary police force. It seems likely that it was Ferr who ordered the execution of the archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, and four other clerical hostages when Adolphe Thiers, the leader of the new government, refused to release Blanqui from prison. Ferr was captured on Aug. 7, 1871, and duly condemned and executed.