Women played an important role in both the initiation and the governance of the Commune, though women could not vote in the Commune elections and there were no elected women members of the Commune itself. Their participation included building barricades and caring for wounded fighters. Joséphine Marchias, a washer woman, picked up a gun during the battles of May 22-23rd and said, "You cowardly crew! Go and Fight! If I'm killed it will be because I've done some killing first!" She was arrested as an incendiary, but there is no documentation that she was a (female incendiary). She worked as a with the Enfants Perdus. While carrying back the laundry she was given by the guardsmen, she carried away the body of her lover, Jean Guy, who was a butcher's apprentice. There were reports in various newspapers of but evidence remains weak. The "Paris Journal" reported that soldiers arrested 13 women who allegedly threw petrol into houses. There were rumours that were paid 10 francs per house. While clear that Communards set some of the fires, the reports of women participating in it was overly exaggerated at the time.