The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-01-29 00:00:00

PARTICULARS OF THE EXECUTION
OF TROPPMAN.

The 141,,ts gives the following account of the ewe.
cut iou of this notorioue criminal
Troppman was executed no Wednesday morning while
the clock of La Roquette was striking seven. Ile probably
In. longer entertained limy deubt as to his approaehing mate,
smce for the last two u ghts he had lain upon his bed com-
pletely dressed, as thongh he desired to be ready for the
fatal moment. At half-past six the chaplain, the director of
the detective police, the director of the depOt of condemned
convicts, the police commissary of the 11th arronehesernent,
and the regiatrar of the Ccdir Init.Omiale, preceded by two
warders, proceeded towards the cell wh-re Troppmen had
spent his last nicht When they entered the cell they found
Irni standing. Upon perceiving this group of persons, whose
presence indicated that his hour had art ived, he became very
red, sad the veins of his neck visibly swelled. Ile was
leaning against the table motionless with downcast
eyes and that hypocritical and gloomy demeanour
which he &ways aneurnell when he was glued at.
M. teande, the eminent chief of the detective police, spoke
to him mibily and considerately, and Informed him that
his appeal had been rep cted, that his application for
mercy had not been granted, and adjurd him in that
s 'lento moment to state the truth concerning the online.
which he had committed. With a kiwi of imps le. manner
Troptiman retailed, '1 hove told the truth.' Then he twice
repeated, "I did sot strike; I did not strike.' He was re-
minded of those imaginary necomplicts whom he hail in-
vented (after having made chairs the preliminary examina-
tions coulessions as complete as possible), in order to d.
ceive Justice and to gain time, and he was urged to came
them. He appeared to have some hesitation, hung down
his head, and replied in an almost indistinct voice, 'Plo I
cannot' The strait.waistcoat was theo removes! and the
prison shirt taken off. Then e ere sees the Isede muscles of
his breaat and shoulders, Ids solid arms, his slender forearms,
hie long and powerful bands. Ilia shim t was put on htm, end
shinty, with that methodical calmness with which he did all
things, he buttoned the collar and the wri.tbands. The strait
waistcoat was replaced and all retire I, leaning him alone
with the chaplain. When he was next seen he walked up-
right or re' her stiffly, making an evident effort to ree terve a
firm exterior. Without assistance, and with an active step,
he ascended the 26 stale. Ile traversed the I •ng lobby,
descended the smircase le.idtng to the front regist-r office,
marly fell at the last stair, and entered the small office,
still keeping his eyes CAA do. n and not utterleg a weed.
One of the executioner's assistants, ail old man, with
trembling Minds, slowly unfastened, boggling in the dim
!Wit afforded by two lamps, the cords et the smelt-waistcoat,
and then pro,xeded to buckle the straps round the wrist
and arm., his weak and trembling hands heenating at every
moment, Rollo; with diniculty tho holes of the buctles.
Troppnete, e ending, endured with sittlictent calmness
these dreadful preparations, but at times his head wavered,
opts, ale aye lowered, seemed swops., gird the ridges of
IIIIII.CIO in his back agitated his shoulders. Ile WWI made to
sit down weffle his hair wae cut eff. the priest in • waft voice
reciting the prayers. At this moment the prisoner broke
down ; he appeared to sick within himself, he became weak,
and his whole frame wan agitated. Ile kept his lips closed.
Who can tell what thoughts ill that moment immediately
preceding the hour when eternit y commences were working
in his perverse !MI diseased realistl Ile raised his et. ; his
glance fell upon the medical dispenser of the prison, and
suddenly f r a moment became ferocious. The previous day
he had written to the officer asking for prussic acid, and
stattug that he wished to kill himself to spare his family
from shame, and offering scum of 1,0001. for that service.
till the mote cloy he wrote to his brother to tell hIM
. that he should be nb:e to make his escape ; that with
the prussic acid sir chloroform n hich he knew how to procure
he could dispose of the warder mid the soldier who watched
him; that he would assume the dress of the latter, and thus
disaulsed he could easily make his way out of the prison.
This wretched dream-r lived up to the last day in the same
senseless reveries which led him into emit.. The moment
was at hand. Si. i Wide asked Min whether he persisted to
his declarations. Keeping his eyes cost down he replied, ins
low voice, 'I persist.' The lost journey was then cononeeced.
lie walked uusteadily, doubtless owing to the bonds which
fastened his arms. It was scarcely daybreak, the grey and
lowering sky c ist as yet no indistinct • light that it would
have been Impossible to have read a letter. When the two
wiims of the great gate of La Roquette, beyond which
appeared the sichter instrument of peel., were open e 1, the
condemned man recoiled atid shook all inner. Supported by
the assistants, encouraged by the chaplain, he crossed the
threshold and arrived at the foot of the scaffold. There he
twice ensbrared the priest, and said to hint in a very loud
voice, 'toll M. Claude that I persist.' At the first stair he
stopped, turned round, and exclaimed again, • Tell him that I
persist' The chaplain who was retiring, also turmoil 811,1
replied, emy ; I will tell him.' Painfully he ascended
the ten steps, closely supported and pu.heil for ward by the
executioner, and was placea before the fatal plank At this
moment the feroclinie animal which dwelt in this human
form mule Itself enable. Ills reeiguation disappeared and
. he would not die. Ile threw himself towaids the right, and,
finding himself thrust back to the centre by the executioner,
he dieplayed with an extraordinary eiiergy that Wine,
suppleness' and strength which had made him so forrnitial de.
Lying with his stomach /resinrt the plank, he drew himself
up 101.1 thrust Ii melted iris head end shoulders beyond the
! hemisph.lcal opening Its which his head shotild have been
confined. The amistant executioner in front seized him by
, the hair and thenst him back; the executlener took him by
, the neck to draw him into the proper position, when Tropp-
' man, quickly lorserdg his head. Inflicted a bite on his
forefinger. The coo:intoner, who poetesses prodigious
strength and dexterity, succeeded in placing the crimmalk
head within the opening; the knife fell like lightning,
I and the basket closed upon the body of the dead man.
All that we have related occurred In no longer a period
. than twenty seconds. Very minute precautions had been
taken by the authorities. From midnight tha approaches
' to the Place de la Roquette had been guarded by strieig
squads ot sergented.ville, detachment+ of the Garde de
Paris, horse and font and bps body of the gendarmerie of
the Seine. The crowd hail been kept back as far am possible
to beyond the Rues de laVacquerie and Garbler. The crowd
was, as on all such occasions it has ever been, disgraceful.
Cries, jeste, 1,6111,5, recalled the days of the desceiVe de in
C.urtille. If public execuPons are intended to have • moral
effect upon the roughs, male and female, who were gathered
there in the narrow streets, where darkesse protected In-
teger of which it le needless to see., they are great !nis-
ta... Nothing is more profouti,ly ininioral than the
assemblages of which inch solemnities are the pretext. Is
it not time to abandon these obi customs Will t./ remit to
those barbarous epochs whence we have derived them these
opemair executions, the effect of which is diametrically
opposed to that which is intended Thia 14 a time of refornis.
, There is one which is demanded by eur state of civilisation.
France ought not to remain behind England and Germany,
and henceforth all exectitions should be inflicted within the
prison walls, that we may he spared these bloody exhibitions,
which are always full of danger, and that the scsffold,
always grevious to behold, may be concealed. A proper
sentiment of humanity also requires that the dreadful pre-
parations should be abbreviated, and that the fatal proces-
aloe to the scaffold should be relieved from all the obstacles
which Induce delay."

The following particulars rtspecting Troppran,
are from the Gazette de Trihunaux :
" There were days when he laughed, joked, and displayed
his muscular force and skill ; he kited two heavy chairs be-
tween the thumb mod forennger of his IS hand. 'I am
stronger with my left hand than with my he said. Ile
wrestled with a keeper or with a sololer ; last Sunday he
darced ! Numerous letters were addressed to him, some
signed, others y mous ; none were lull of consolation,,
ai.d 10-veral contained flowers- ott Monday mte at rived contain.
thg afield delay: others were allusive an I brutal. Three or fonr
hundred of these. two daft' crent of lett., reached La Ito-
ametteduringthe prisoner's stay there. We.y not/lingo( those,
oil anonymous, of which the writers declared themselves
Tromusao's accomplices, adding that they were in a place of
safety. A Protestant minister insisted very much, it
appears, bat in vain, for permission to v:sit the condemned
man. Ile received daily visite from Abl t Crone, the almoner
of the Grande Roquette, for whom he had conceived a great
friendship, and to whom he showed much deference.
Another priest asked to see Lim, the furnace vicar oi the
parish of Creamy, the priest from whom he had fleet received
the sacrament, and who had travelled 150 leagues to RiVO a
last blessin„,e to the child who had become an assassin. Ile was
admitted into the cell, anti their interview win !nest touch-
leg. . . . On the morning it his ereeution he woke at
four o'clock, but went to bleep again. At (;.:0 the Abbt Crose,
id. Claude, chief of the police, the Governor of the prison, and
a number of other persona, went into his cell. They found
him sitting at a little table, a turnkey and aaoidier with him.
He had aw akened at ten minutes paid six. The following
dialogue ensued. • Troppruau,' said M. Claude, 'your appeal
and ;edition for pardon have been rejected. The moment
has tome: courage !' 'Oh, I am not afraid.' 'Tts well,'
replied M. Clande, appealing to the wretch's vanity ; you
have shown no weakness at the first news: you will conduct
yourself well, I warrant. But come, have you nothing to
tell nob a, you confess to have committed the crimes for
which you have been condeinted Na; I did not strike '
'Why, then, assume the whole responsibility? Speak ! name
your acc unplices.' 'I cannot name them.' And nothing
else could be got out of him?

The time that elapsed between Troppman's coming
out of the prison and the fall of his head was only 20
sec nde, so rapidly was everything done.
The Tritnenaux says that as the knife fell two or three
men, whence hr ceedirg no one cc n!,) discern, dashe.l
under the sc,ffold to dtp handkerai,fs in the dowl.
A p lineman sprang forward, but the most had already
escaped,

It is stated that as much a+ 500 f. were paid for
places at the neighbouring windows.
The family ot the prisoner had requested that his
body should be delitered up to them after bin death.
Immediately after his execution the remain' of tte
culprit were uinveved to the Cimeta,re Is Clamart.
The body WM exhumed a few day+ after, and was
given up to the family after the neceseary formalities
had been completed.

The following statinies, given by a Paris corre-
rp indent, are zurious : There are on an average
thirty.seven executions a year. The three executioners
receive between them £2OO each time, which HIM,
with the expenses of the trhtle, raises the cost of each
execution to nearly £SCO.

BEQUEST TO-A-BOLISH Mtn XXISCUTIONS.
In Friday's sittirm of the French Legislative Body,
M. Chevandier de VahirOme the Minister of the In-
terior, gave some explanations relative to the execution
of TroAnnan, and added that the demand made the
previous day by M. Stemackert, Count Lehon, and
the Marquiade Fire, that execu•ions in future thould
be coudin.ted kt the interior of the prison, would he
taken into consideration by the Cabinet, and that the
decision arrived at by the Government would be laid
before tue Chamber at a relatively early date,