The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-03-30 00:00:00

AN EXECUTION AT SATORY.

The Special Correspondent of The Times, writing
from Ver,ailles, gives the following graphic account
of the terrible execution which took place at Satory
last week:—

_
Vous m'aimiez on pen, mon tel ange,
Et tenths que vous havardiez,
Pans cette pluie of cette fange VERSAILLES, March 19.
Se mouillaient cos chers petits pieds. Preau-de-Wedel, convicted of the muriler of pour Gustave
Luncheon was a happy idea. A wag asked whether Chasaley, the first victim of the Commune was executed at
we would have the champagne iced; and we thought Satory this morning, shortly after Mx o'clock. He died so
of throwing him into the river. "Please, .1 can't Ibild bcifm.% ait'dwirtirirv"e°ruy'lUritsrg lit7i'denepeeTeir
the glass," said the belle of the party; and the young that enough patine sympathy may possibly be felt for him to
I ellows had nearly thrown the wine over her dress hi streegthen the hands of the party who clamour fiercely at
their anxiety to hold it for her. Never was any liquid the execution of any Communist. It is, therefore, but right,
no cold. It set med to catch the teeth like the
pincer, perhaps, to remied those who may have forgotten the cir-
of a dentist. We were afraid that the frozen plates cumstances of Chaudy's murder, that it is not as a Com-
munist, but as a enminal guilty of the most heinous crime
would crack if we touched them ; and as for the known to the law, that Prau-de-Wedel hits been put to
knives and forks, they made one ehiver to look at them. death, and that, therefore. those only have it right to protest
A fluke of snow floating in to settle on a slice of against his pubishment who protest against all capital
tongue—cold tongue, it was called, as if that were punishment, on whatsoever grounds. Prthu.de-Wedel began
a recommendation—was 110 uncommon visitor, lire at seventeen as a convicted thief, and subsequently corn-
We spent as much time as we could over this fortuitous
:Ted teLoffheltig:, for then:rot oofwwerhiclitez:itutizßrtwils,,teuiln
meal. We hoped we should forget our sorrows; and mamblen can very Psingular change.
sometimes the snow and the sleet did really cease, and minlin•ristient a
Rigault released him, took a fancy to him, and, probably
the mnbrellass of the crowd were lowered. As for any finding that lie was the sore of nein to be relied upon when a
small passages of flirtation, Which had doubtless been specially ugly or dangerous piece of work had to be done,
darkly anticipated lavorne of our young folks, nobody made him 01:e of his aides-de.camp, and before long intrusted
but a microcephalous idiot could have dreamed of such to him the assassination of Chandey, aehalost whom ltigault
had a persolial gnidgo.. For this crime o was tried before a
a thin', " Wittat gars ye tremble sae, Annie?" the
ts' court-martial at Versailles, and, though I was not myself
lover might have asked, quite confident that her present at the tidal, lots. assured by an English friend who
agitation was not caused by any stolen glance or watt there that tine evidence against the accused was 4.ver-
sumggled letter. . whebuteg—amply sittlit lent to have procured his conviction
But hero a great commotion became visible among 1,, any English roust. Prettualc-Wedel watt elearly prove Its
the crowd. Every one pulled out his watch. "They have brought
c s the talt, aroseparty to the prisoutii whieb Cha ',icy
ty,a,ts , I ils, lelaself 8/VC:: ,Jth il,
in it be ulling,' want cry. Plates atid glasses ti • eati;.•dconfined
o-nrciee tto
ne IllUr odered m an. Tie re wasUWik 1,M4
also evi-
won hastily removed, so that the ladies might deuce to shi'ext that on the same occasion be presided et the
stand up, and then they were helped to mount murder of two gensdansiez, and himself shed down one of
into the loftiest perches. The excitement was intense. them, who at tempted to escape. Under these circumstancea
The Light Blues were seen to shoot through the no one uopreJudieed by party feelings can blame the authori-
ties for having inflicted the sentence of execution. On the
railway bridge, while a great hoarse cheer arose from other band, it is only just to the dead Man's niemory to
the banks ; and then the Dark Blues-- that we used state that, despite the repeated entreaties of the priest who
in former days, from this very point, to see attended him that he would confess his crime, and ultimately
easily leading away from their opponents—faille his own conscionthess that nothing he might say could save
gallantly but hopelessly up behind. The cheering con- him, he persistently asseverated his innocence from first to
tinned, then it was succeeded by an extraordinary last, null OH lint even shrink from going into eternity with
rustle in the crowd—as if evitry one were nu,wMg and thge,
ceovueration
never on hie lips.
rage , mdeed, seeme th have left him far a
talking after the strain of watching the boats—a gun moment. a csording to the lethal, but somewhat straege
was fired, and we knew that Cambridge had won. Now , custom, it was not till three o'clock this tuorniw that lie
the rosettes worn by our postilions were light blue. received the trot intimation that he must prepare to meet
Suck small traceries of blue as appeared in the death in a few hones. He was sleeping peacefully is his cell
costumes of the girls were pale in colour. Had we not at the Prime de Noailles when he was awoke and told that
he W3B gone, to he taken to the Prison de St. Piene lie
the right, then, to drive home in triumph, our , knew perfectly well what thin meant, and said so with.eorn-
I plete sang "'void. Like Perth, his chief anxiety seemed his
postilions testifying to the accuracy of our juogment ?
At dinner in the evening all our sorrows in that ' toilet : he caretulle packed up a change of clothes, and oil
his arrival at St. Pierre his first question was if there was a
break were recounted. With • laughter, if not with
barber there to shave him. His death warnent was formally
weeping, all the story was told again. And now that rewi to him, and after he had been searched to aee that lie
the girls had recovered their natural colour, they were had no poison or other means of self-destruction about his
proud of having gone out oil such a deterrent day, person, he was asked if he had any last wishes he would like
observed. He wrote several letters, among them 000 to tLe
widow of Cietudey, and another to the Via:shield of tie Re-
public, lie then dressed himself with elaborate care,
chatting away cheerfully all the time about his trial and
various other topics to the two gaolers whose duty it was
never to leave him for a moment alone. They a ithdrmy,
honorer, when the Abbe Fella arrived to wine:, titerithuer
confessed himself, oes:hiring that he died a good caristian.
It is uot often that the is, at of men prepare to face death
with sells extraerdinary calmness and nerve, and when the
criminal, after shaking hamis a ills his a :tatters and tita eking
them tor their considerate treatment, passed through the
prison gate, and in as easy, jaunty a manner as if he had
been going on a pleasure trip, and polling away at his
cigarette, mounteut the step of tie carrimie a tilting for him,
something very like a murmur of sympathy and admiration
broke from the hitherto silent crowd. "it ma blen brave-
meat ef la inert," I beard a man say to his neighbours. Per. 1
hays his slight youthful figure and good looks combined with 1
his courageous bearing to conciliate pity—l mean momentary
pity; for from the previous remarks I bad hoard among the
crowd 1 don t think they felt arty real sympathy with the
prisouer, or at all doubted his guilt. They were compused I
chiefly of soldiers in uudreaa and men in hiotths ou Weil !
way to their moming's work, sal I Arab =Lis struck by their .
quiet and orderly behaviour They were nit very LUIIIOTOIII, I
however, partly, perhaps, owing to the early hoer, par thy to
the overwhelming manifestation of police which would have ,
speedily checked any large gathering. The whole length Oi 1
road from the prison to Satory, a distance of two minis, was
lined with pollee who had been posted there all night, as a
p,:eaution, I prstalMe, against a barely possible attempt at
rescue.
Two gendarmes and the abial entered the earrings with
the prisms:' if .irriage it Collie' be called, it was more
strictly a rough sort of ammunition waggon drawn by lour
white horses. Placed in the middle of a strong escort of
cuirassiers, it eel off at a slow solemn trot for the place of
execution.
I took a roundabout route in order to get ahead, and,
driving quickly, arrived at Satory some time before the pro-
cession. The place of execution was the ground used for
practice-firing, at the upper end near the butts, slightly to
the lett. A large feces 'Mich I have BUM heard estimated

Anoth,r Correspondent gives a sketch of the face from
names Bridge; and he does not, appear to have had apleasant
time of ii:—
It mu-1 be admitted that in bad weather, out of all
the cold, raw, miserable stations on the course, an er-
n, sod railway bridge is the coldest, rawest, and moat
miserable. The wind and snow and sleet have their own
way with you entirely. On Saturday a few prudent
people had brought camp-stools, and tbeee cowered
under the iron-work, and tried to shelter them-
,,tiVCB from the piercing blasts ; but the majority
Ini.d no such resource, and stood it out bravely,
or miserably, according to temperament ; the
ladies, who were most inappropriately attired, de-
claring they "didn't mind the wet a bit," or
"rather liked a good blow than otherwise," with ells
pieions asserveration. It was a terribly trying day.
The snow worn not fiakey or feathery, but came down
in huge. half-frozen lumps, like iced half-crowns.
The wnvi like steaclil7 from Putney, and for a full
hour those looking out were pelted and battered by the
sleet. The broad pathway in front of the houses by the
riser was so crammed with umbrellas that it seemed as
if a crop of sig,antic black toadstools had sprung up in
the night. The double line of cabs and carriages was
stationary, and those who filled them were hiding them-
selves under tarpanlins. shawls, iuul waterproofs. Under
ordinary circumstances the vehicles arid horses here
are kept moving by tile police, and preserve their
rotation as they move in an 'slices round, now div.
\appearing up a back thoroughfare, and now coming
again to the river front in endless succession. There
was nothing of this on Saturday. No one asked any
one else to make way or to move on. All were
jammed together in a narrow line for shelter, just as
poultry may be seen clustering under a-wall on a
pelting day, There were few pretencee/t hilarity

at over 5000 men of all arms, composed of detachinente
furnished by different regiments, was already posted there, ,
drawn up along the sides of the *aping-ground, and thus
forming, as it were, a huge hollow trilateral. Its wide in-
terMr was kept rigidly clear of trespassers, an outer belt of ,
cavalry not allowing them, at most pants, even to approach I
the main body of the force. In the morning air, clear,
btight, and fresh, though cold, with a keen March wind, the
whole scene looked much more like the preliminanett of a
brilliant review than of a solemn tragedy, and the crowd .
outside the ring almost seemed so to had it. for, though on
the whole they were well-behaved, they did not preserve
anything like the same attitude of silent reverence by which
I had been struck in the crowd outside the prison. They
were composed aimed exclusively of military ,nen from the
camp close by, and there were a few women, with whom the
soldiers cracked jests, no slight diversion being occasioned
by the t fforts of the more eager spectators to clamber up in
sonic trees, from which a good view of the forthcoming
spectacle waa Is be had. A large sloping mound which rose
just outside the ranks, almost in a line with the spot
destined for the execution, was as thickly c •vered with
human beings as the Grand Stand on a Derby Day. Below
It, scarcely a hundred yards off, was a plain rough pieta, of
wood. It was the post in front of which the criminal was
5005 to take his last stand. Near it were the dozen soldiers
who formed the -yetioton d'execation." commanded by an
officer, and as they formed the one solitary group, in grim
lactation, within the lined, their movements as they primed
or examined their arms could be distinctly seen, and were
watched with the keenest interest. It wits noticed that they
loaded and bet apart four spare rifles side by eide on the
ground, staff intended for the coup de grace. All'this time
every eye was being constantly strained in the direction
from which the prisoner and his escort were to appear, and
and soon after six o'clock a loud beating of drums and blow-
ing of trunwets told that they were in sight. It is one of
the stranmst and most discordant features in these execu-
tion. that the approach of the poor wretch 110011104 i to as
Ignominious death Is announced by a quick double beat of
drums, rattling out the same stirring nieasitre as welconies
the advance of a victorious general, and as the doomed man
slowly draws nearer the rattle is caught up from drum to
drum, jarring horrioly us unattcustomed nerves. To-day it
did uot cease till he bad been driven up close to the execu-
tion post. lie then got out of the van, courteously saluted,
as he passed them, a group of officers, and stalked to the
post with a perfectly steady step, and bold, upright hearing
There the formality of reading out this death-warrant was
again gone throwgh itapublique Franaioe,—Ao 71014 do
people FranNise It sixietne conoil de poem natnt a lee.
6aillcs a rendo fe ingement +entrant. Preen: de IVedel ext
eondatona et Is 111,014 pour coroplicita door assassinat de Goo
lace Chaudey." A soldier approached to bandage his eyes,
but Preau waved hint off, and obtained the commanding
officer's permission to remain untilinded, declining that he
was not aftaid to look on death. Meantime, the firing party
had drawn up to within slew paces, and were getting their
rifles really. The Abbe Pullet had barely time to receive the
last, ahunst convulsive, embrace the prisoner gave him,
betiding forward to throw Ida arias round his confessor's
neck. As the abbe stepped back. Preau de Wedel quickly
recovered hia erect position, and drawing himself up to his
full height, waved his cap with the right hand, pressed the
left upou his heart, and exclaimed in loud tones, so clear and
ringing that they might almost have reached the farthest
lines, "Soldats, je moaned innocent ; citor droit as mar.
Feu." Simultaneously with the utterance of the words, the
officer raised his sword, and with it rose the rifles of his men.
Before the echoes hail died away, the sword and rifles fell
together: two volleys flashed in such quick succession that
neither eye nor ear distinctly caught the pause between
therm and a riddled mass of flesh and blood dropped heavily,
like a straight-falling clod, to the ground. ills death must
have been inatantatieous, for the firing was so good that out
of twelve bullets ten struck him, eight iu the vital parts.
Nevertheless, after the medical examination of the body, the
usual coop de grace was given, as a matter of form, by a
soldier with one of the spore rifles. The body was then
stretched out, and left entirely alone, in order that the
troops might file past it in quick marching order, with
drums heating a lively air, and it is hard to imagine a
ghastlier contrast than that between the jovial bands, full of
movement and lusty life, and the pale upturned face of the
motionless, deserted corpse. The marching past over, the
whole painful ceremony was at an end, and nothing was left
but to take the dead nian's body to the cemetery, thence to
be coneigned to his relatives and friends. I cannot cap that
the ceremony struck Inc as, on the whole, morally very im-
pressive, or exactly calculated to deter others from imitating
the aufferera criminal career. The form of death was at
once too imposing, not to say grand, awl too painless to In-
spire mucll terror. Possibly, however, it was partly robbed
of its terrors by the courageous and dignified bearing with
which it was undergone. Whatever Preau de Wedela faults,
he had at least the merit of being brave.