Rosalie Soubère or Soubert, nicknamed 'Mariette', born on 21 September 1868 in Saint-Étienne, was a ribbon folder, activist and individualist illegalist anarchist terrorist. Soubère actively participated in the Saint-Germain bombing and the Clichy bombing, two attacks that plunged France and Europe into the Era of Attacks (1892–1894). Arrested with her accomplices Ravachol, Jas-Béala and Charles Simon, she was acquitted by the jury. She was repeatedly brought to trial by the state, facing a new trial after each acquittal. Soubère was acquitted three times in total before being sentenced to six months in prison during her fourth trial, this time for harboring Ravachol.

The activist was briefly suspected by the police of having been the person responsible for planting the bomb during the Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing, but she was quickly released. She may have continued her activism until at least the 1930s.

Rosalie Mariette Soubère was born in Saint-Étienne on 21 September 1868.^[1][2] Her mother, Victoire Gimbert, was a reseller, while her father, Toussaint Soubère, was a foundry worker.^[1] In a relationship with the anarchist militant Joseph Jas-Béala,^[1][2][3] she sheltered Ravachol at their home in Saint-Étienne before joining him in Paris, where the group was hosted by Charles Chaumentin.^[4] According to Jean Vigouroux, it is plausible to consider that this move to the capital was undertaken with the intention of carrying out anarchist attacks there.^[4]

Indeed, the group composed of Soubère (Mariette), Koënigstein (Ravachol), Jas-Béala (Béala) and Charles Simon (Biscuit) were radicalized following the Clichy affair,^[5] during which the police beat and mistreated imprisoned anarchist militants.^[6] After the prosecutor in charge of the case, Bulot, requested the death penalty for the incarcerated anarchists, and the judge, Benoît, handed down harsh sentences, the group began preparing an attack aimed at assassinating Benoît.^[6]

On the night of 14–15 February 1892, Ravachol and other anarchists, including Soubère, according to the police,^[7] managed to seize thirty kilograms of dynamite by stealing it from the Soisy-sur-Seine quarry, giving them the possibility to use this significant arsenal in the preparation of attacks.^[6] Ravachol and Simon constructed the bomb, Simon carried out initial reconnaissance of the judge's residence and then the group of four took the tram to carry out the attack on 11 March 1892.^[6] Soubère positioned herself between Simon and Béala and transported the bomb, which she concealed under her skirt.^[6] She remained nearby with Jas-Béala, keeping watch,^[8] and while the other militants left the scene, she stayed behind to observe what happened next.^[9] The militants missed their target, as the bomb exploded without killing or injuring Benoît.^[6]

On 27 March 1892, the group carried out the Clichy bombing, this time targeting the prosecutor Bulot. Although a number of anarchists, such as Simon, were arrested following the denunciation by Chaumentin,^[6] Soubère appears to have once again kept watch during this attempt.^[8] Ravachol placed his bomb in the building where prosecutor Bulot resided and then left the scene.^[6] The bomb exploded, injuring seven people but not affecting Bulot who was not present in the building.^[6] Ravachol was arrested a few days later, having been denounced by Very, the very owner of the café Le Very where he dined.^[6]

The four were arrested in the following days by the police and appeared before the Court d'assises of Paris.^[1][2] Defended by a lawyer named Crémieux, Soubère maintained her innocence and declared that she had never been aware of what the pot she carried under her skirt during the Boulevard Saint-Germain bombing contained. This defense was made possible by the fact that Ravachol sought to exonerate her during the trial; in that capacity, he stated, for example:^[11]

Hell yeah, sir, she hadn't a clue, this gal, that she was hiding a bomb under her skirts. She couldn't tell the difference. It was wrapped in tar paper.

To a witness who had seen her and claimed to identiy her by recalling that she was missing a tooth,^[12] Soubère replied:^[13]

Look at that nerve ! Oh, you noticed I was missing a tooth ? You must have looked the wrong way, my friend; I am missing three.

She was acquitted by the jury along with Béala, while Ravachol and Simon were found guilty but with mitigating circumstances.^[14]

However, the authorities attempted to incarcerate Soubère and Béala, kept them in detention, and first accused them of aiding Ravachol in the murder of two women in Montbrisson.^[15] After the acquittal of the three accused, they accused them again, this time of complicity in concealing the goods from a murder committed by Ravachol.^[15] The couple was acquitted once again for the third time. Soubère was convicted for the first time during her fourth consecutive trial, this time for harboring Ravachol.^[15] After this conviction, she exclaimed:^[15]

This is shameful! This is disgraceful! I will have my revenge at the risk of my life!

The anarchist received an additional month for this statement, which the judge considered an outrage.^[15] Béala, for his part, was sentenced to one year in prison on 5 July 1892.^[1] She appealed, and her sentence was reduced by one month.^[1][2]

After the Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing, in which Émile Henry and other anarchists attacked the headquarters of the Carmaux Mining Company, Soubère was suspected and arrested.^[3] Indeed, during the attack, an unknown brown-haired woman wearing a black shawl was alleged to have been the person who planted the bomb.^[16] She was therefore arrested, but the judge quickly concluded that she did not know Henry and would not be linked to the case.^[3] Despite numerous investigations on the matter, this person was never found; it could have been an incorrect testimony, another militant, her or even Henry in disguise—a possibility considered by the authorities.^[3]

In February 1894, an anarchist arrested in Saint-Étienne for a common law crime presented her portrait to the police who had apprehended him and declared that he was inspired by her.^[17]

According to anarchist historians Rolf Dupuy and Thierry Bernard, the militant may have still been active in the 1930s and might possibly be 'comrade Mariette', treasurer of Terre Libre ('Free Land') at that time.^[1]

• Accoce, Pierre (1998). "« Ils ont eu Sadi Carnot ! »" [They got Sadi Carnot!]. Ces assassins qui ont voulu changer l'Histoire. Paris: Plon. ISBN 978-2259189873.
• Bouchardon, Pierre (1931). Ravachol et compagnie [Ravachol and company]. Paris: Hachette.
• Merriman, John M. (2016). The dynamite club: how a bombing in fin-de-siècle Paris ignited the age of modern terror. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-21792-6.