Creating Fiction From History: 10/12/2022

On a ridge between the rivers, Haine and Trouille stand the 7th-century city of Mons. In late May of 1889, the man pictured below, possibly the Belgian novelist Henri-Charles Boussuet, was on trial in this capital city of the province of Hainaut as an agent provocateur of the Parti Socialiste Republicain.

Posing as a long-lost friend of the group's founder, Alfred Defuissaux, Bousseut had gotten Defuissaux expelled for inciting violence, something the group was trying to steer clear of. The resulting scandal, known as 'le Grand Complot' spelled the end of the PSR and Boussuet, who was actually...