public street urinal
“Comme il sortait de chez lui ce matin-là, en voiture non blindée — il n’avait jamais voulu consentir dans Paris à cette élémentaire précaution — un individu, qui le guettait depuis quelques jours, bondit de derrière une vespasienne au coin de la rue Franklin et du boulevard Delessert et tira plusieurs balles dans sa direction.” — As he was leaving his house that morning, in a non-armoured car – he had never wanted to take that basic precaution in Paris – an individual, who had been watching him for several days, leapt out from behind a public urinal on the corner of Rue Franklin and Boulevard Delessert and fired multiple shots in his direction.
Ellipsis of colonne vespasienne (“Vespasian column”), named after Vespasian (9 CE–79 CE), the Roman emperor who introduced a tax on public lavatories.