Saccard continued to buy as long as he was able; but the end came,
the price broke, and he, as well as the Bank, which was now one of
its own largest shareholders, was ruined. Since his previous failure,
Saccard had not been on friendly terms with his brother Eugene Rougon,
and, some time before the collapse of the Bank, had made violent attacks
upon him in his newspaper. Consequently Rougon did nothing to assist him
in the criminal proceedings which followed the final catastrophe; he did
not, however, wish to have a brother in jail, and arranged matters
so that an appeal was allowed. Next day Saccard escaped to Belgium.
L'Argent.
After the fall of the Second Empire, he returned to Paris, despite the
sentence he had incurred. Some complicated intrigue must have been at
work, for not only did he obtain a pardon, but once more took part in
promoting large undertakings, with a finger in every pie and a share of
every bribe. In 1872 he was actively engaged in journalism, having been
appointed Director of the _Epoque_, a Republican journal which made a
great success by publishing the papers found in the Tuileries.
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