Henry’s dedication to the anarchist movement was clear. When he was eventually caught by the police, an arsenal of bomb-making material was discovered in his apartment. Without pause, Henry confessed to the bombing and added that Café Terminus was not his first act of terror. He added he was the mastermind behind several other bombings throughout Paris, including the Carmaux Mining Company, where a bomb exploded after police found it and were busily taking it apart. Henry’s contempt toward the bourgeoisie was fierce, but it alone was not the motive for the various bombings.
In 1893, fellow anarchist Auguste Vaillant was sentenced to be executed after bombing a police station. Vaillant was an editor of an anarchist journal. He grew up poor and believed he was trapped by a system that kept him impoverished; he was someone with whom Henry deeply shared his anarchist convictions. Vaillant and Henry both saw the police as thoroughly corrupt. Henry’s bombings were partly in reaction to Vaillant’s death sentence.
A week after Vaillant’s death sentence was carried out, Henry loaded his revolver with bullets that were rigged to cause the most damage possible, he armed himself with a poisoned knife and placed a homemade bomb made from tiny a tin kettle in the pocket of his overcoat. He made the long journey from the unimpressive Paris outskirts until arriving in the wealthy area concentrated around the Opera Garnier, which was his desired target. Henry discovered the building was too hard for him to enter, as it was heavily guarded. With that, Henry reconsidered his plans.
He walked around the streets of Paris in search of a busy location where wealthy patrons were known to enjoy themselves. He tried Bignon, the Café de la Paix, and the American. None of them had big enough crowds. Finally, he ventured to the Terminus Café and waited an hour for more people to arrive. When they did, he tossed away his cigar. He took the bomb from his coat pocket, lit the fuse, and when he reached the café door, he threw it toward the orchestra that had been playing music for the duration of his stay. The bomb hit a lamp and exploded; it destroyed the café, shattering most if its mirrors and tables.
Henry’s plan after tossing the bomb was to buy a ticket at Saint-Lazare station and use the train to make his escape, but he was stopped almost immediately by a waiter. He took out a revolver and shot at the waiter and a hairdresser who also tried to stop him. By this time, Henry noticed a crowd had gathered. He decided to wait for the policeman now chasing him, and he was able to fire off three more shots. With that, the crowd attacked Émile Henry. By May of 1894, he became the third anarchist sentenced to execution by guillotine.