The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-09-17 00:00:00

AN EXECUTION AT ATHENS.

Monday, the sth of August, being the day fixed for the
execution of two men, condemned to be guillotined for a pre-
meditated murder, it had been decided to substitute the
French system of guillotining for the decapitation by the
sword, which was previously the custom. A week before
the fatal day, I witnessed the arrival at Athens of the exe-
cutioner, the only one who performs this office throughout
Greece. He came from Lamia, and made his entry into the
capital on horsback, surrounded by a detachment of gen-
darmes, who had been ordered at his request to protect him.
not only on the rciad, but during his stay at Athens, as his
two predecessors had been assassinated in that city. His
fate, however, was not more fortunate than theirs, for one
morning, on going to the Pireus, still guarded by a few gen-
darmes, he entered a tavern; on leaving the house, he pro-
ceeded a few paces beyond his escort, and had scarcely left
the door when a pistol-ball struck him in the heart, and he
fell dead on the spot. The perpetrator of this murder has
not yet been discovered.

After various efforts, the authorities succeeded in finding a
young man, who consented to undertake the sad functions of
executioner, on condition of being paid an exorbitant fee,
which they were compelled to give, in order to have the exe-
cution performed on the appointedday.
At day-break the crowd already assembled caught a glimpse
of the guillotine, which had been erected during the night on
an open space to the right of the high road from Athens to
the Pierus, and guarded even at that early hour by a strong
detachment of infantry. By four o'clock, a.m., the crowd
became densely augmented by numerous spectators pouring
in from Athens and the surrounding places, all anxious to
behold the tragic scene in preparation ; the roads, fields, and
footpaths were thronged in every direction.
After a delay of three hours, the footsteps of horsemen
were heard at a distance, and in a short time a half squadron
of hussars were seen escorting the two convicts, each of whom
was conveyed in a cart, and accompanied by an ecclesiastic
holding a crucifix in his hand. At the moment that the two
carts entered the place of execution, the convicts repeated,
one after the other, in a loud and audible voice, " Forgive
us, as we forgive you!" to which the multitude answered,
" May God forgive you, and immediately a profound si-
lence ensued.

The two carts drew up at the foot of the scaffold. After a
long pause, a police-officer ordered one of the condemned
men to descend from the vehicle. As soon as he put his
foot on the ground, they tried to take off his irons, but not
having the keys, they commenced breaking the fetters with
a stone; this operation lasted at least half an hour ; two
men then fastened in a very active manner cords round the
convict's body and his feet and hands, after which they made
him mount the scaffold, holding the ends of the cords in
their hands.

The executioner, pale as death, and trembling as if he was
to be the victim, betrayed, by his countenance and manner,
that he did not know how to go about the work he had un-
dertaken, and seemed in a terrible predicament. After re-
maining in total inaction for several minutes, be fell upon his
knees and recited a long prayer : he. then got up, seized the
convict by the collar, and commenced binding him to the fa-
tal plank. The convict, apparently a man of great energy,
exclaimed, " What are you about ? You are to cut my head
off; make haste ; let it be finished at once !" The execu-
tioner, in a feeble planner, and with a piteous look, replied,
" I shall never be able to get this cursed machine into or-
der." This intimation excited a cry of horror and amongst
the crowd, but silence was soon restored.
The executioner, having reflectedfor some minutes, pointed
with his finger to the hole in the guillotine, telling the con-
vict to put his head in it-; the latter refused, and commenced
walking up and down the scaffold, as the ropes by which he
was held left him sufficient liberty for that purpose. In the
mean time the executioner, with► his arms crossed, stood ab-
sorbed in thought. On a sudden the unfortunate convict
stopped short, and turning towards the troops, exclaimed,
" Soldiers, have pity on me ; shoot me at once, and put an
end to this long and dreadful agony!" These words struck
the executioner with amazement, and he declared that he did
not understand the use of the guillotine, and descended
hastily from the scaffold.

The other convict, who remained all this time in his cart,
watched attentively •all that passed upon the scaffold, and
a bitter smile was more than once remarked upon his lips.
As there was none of the superior authorities present, the
police agents, to whose charge the execution had been com-
mitted, despatched a messenger to the minister of justice,
with a succinct account of what had taken place. At the
expiration of an hour and a half, a cloud of dust was per-
ceived in the direction of Athens, and in a few minutes one
of the King's aides-de-camp was seen approaching at full
gallop, and waving a white handkerchief. He had scarcely
arrived within a few paces of the scaffold when the crowd
and the soldiers made the air resound with the cries of " A
pardon !,' " Long live the King !" The aide-de-camp was,
in fact, the bearer of a commutation of punishment in favour
of the two convicts, who, on hearing the joyful news, em-
braced their confessors, and thanked God for his mercy, ex-
claiming at the same time, " May God grant a long life and
happy reign to our liberator, King Otho." The two convicts
were taken back to Athens in the same carts, and the in-
habitants testified in various ways their satisfaction at the
royal clemency, as a sort of compensation for the shocking
agony which those unfortunate men had undergone during
six hours.

PUBLIC EXPERIMENTS ON THE DADUERREO,

TYPE.

At 12 o'clock on Friday week, M. Daguerre commenced a
series of public experiments on his process for fixing images
received by the camera obscura. The meeting was held at
the Grand Hotel on the Quai d'Orsay, in which the minister
of the interior had given orders to prepare a room for the
purpose. About 123 persons were present, amongst whom
were several distinguished literati artists, &c.
The object of the meeting was not to enter into all the de-
tails and scientific demonstrations connected with the Da-
guerreo -type, but solely for the purpose of making a public
experiment, and showing to each individual the exact man-
ner of using the different parts of the appparatus, so as to
arrive at the result already announced.
M. Daguerre, upon whom the eyes of an anxious auditoty
were rivetted, took, in the first instance, a plate of copper
plated with solid silver (not merely silvered), he rubbed it
lightly with a little olive oil, and finely powdered pumice-
stone, by means of small tufts of cotton. It is necessary to
rub the plate, in the first instance, in a circular direction,
and then in a straight line, so as to clean and polish the plate
perfectly. This operation is to be recommenced with one
part of nitric acid diluted with sixteen parts of distilled'wa-
ter' and repeated after slightly warming the plate (the pla-
ted surface upwards) by means of a lamp or a small heater
placed underneath. The plate having gone through this
process, is fit for receiving a load of iodine, which layer is
so peculiarly acted on by light that it will retain the image of
objects subsequently striking upon it.
The plate fixed in a small board, and protected from the
light, by closing the windows, was then placed (the plated
part downwards) in the lid of a box, the bottom of which
contained some iodine; the evaporation of the iodine to-
wards the upper part of the box produced in the course of
20 minutes a layer, the colour of which resembles that of
yellow copper.

The experimentalist next took the plate so prepared and
fixed it in the camera obscura placed on the balcony of the
room on the Quai d'Orsay. Alluding to the period of the
season and he state of the sky he considered that it would
require 20 minutes, so that the objects reflected upon the
plate should become fixed to a sufficient degree. At other
seasons of the year, when the sun was at a higher elevation,
and possed more force, from seven to eight minutes would
suffice for producing the same result.
The plate was withdrawn without exhibiting any alteration,
or any traces of a drawing or image whatsoever. The action
of mercury, however, would in an instant bring into view the
image which the assembly so anxiously looked for.
The plate was then placed in an inclined direction (of 45
degrees) in a new apparatus, the botton of which contained
about 21bs of mercury, heated by means of a lamp to about
63 degrees of the centigrade thermometer. This temperature
caused the particles of mercury to rise to the upper part of
the appartus, and these particles uniting on the plate, in a
few minutes the drawing became apparent, as seen through a
glass placed at the front of the box, a process which gave the
spectator an opportunity of following, as if step by step, the
formation of the drawing.
Thus the experiment was completed, to the great satisfac-
tion of the assembly, and a unanimous burst of congratula-
tion convinced the eminent inventor of the high sense enter-
tained of this important discovery.'
The only remaining part of the operation was to wash the
plate with distilled water, saturated with salt or hypo-sul-
phate, and at a high temperature, but not boiling ; after which
this beautiful drawing, now unalterable by light, was handed
round, and the company were enabled to admire a _view,
drawn with incredible precision, and representing the quay,
the Seine, and the terrace and palace of the Tuileries.
The above splendid result was obtained in an hour and
some minutes, and it was clearly demonstrated that the opera-
tion relative to the layer of iodine, and that of fixing the image
in the camera obscura, might be effected with much more ra-
pidity under certain conditions.

- It was evident to all present that any person familiar with
the arts, and with physical and chemical experiments, might
easily obtain the result expected from the Daguerreotype,
which, moreover, requires but little skill and dexterity.
The satisfaction experienced by the assembly was enhanced
by the assurance given by M. Daguerre—namely, that with
respect to obtaining in the country the different apparatus
connected with the above discovery, the plate could be pre-
pared at home, and even the layer of iodine could be pre-
served in a closed box, protect6d from the light, for an hour,
so that it would be possible to make use of it at a certain dis-
tance, merely by carrying the camera obscura. Four hours
might thus be passed, without any trouble, previously to the
operation of forming the layer of mercury, which might be
deferred until the operator returned from his excursion. This
assertion proves that the apparatus does not give so much
trouble as was at first supposed.

Emports.

AFRICA.

Le Zephir, (92) M Cauvin, from St. Louuis, 1260 sacks gum, R
Zwilchenbart and co—G D

UNITED STATES.

Inglewood, (527) J G Wickman, from New Orleans, 290 bales
cotton, order-600 do, Reid, Irving and co-3 do, S R Healy-170
do, Orford, Ramsden and co-5 do, Collmann, Stolterfoht and co-
-311 do, Todd, Jackson and co and Humphreys and Biddle-1 case
returned goods, Sadler, Fenton and co-2 do, R Curren and co—
PD

Walter, (459) G Faulk, from Charleston, 388 bales cotton, Brown,
Shipley and co-431 do, Reid, Irving and co-26 do, H Mure and co
—g do, D Lamb-26 do, T Simpson-325 do, J Calder-361 do, 2
trunks contents unknown, order—W D

EUROPE.
Sofia, (148) C Lagana, from Catania, about 50 tons brimstone,
order.—From Messina, 1 bale wool, J Hall-1 cask capers, Ross
Brother S-2 pipes 36 hhds brandy, 19 pipes 10 tees wine, about
30 tons pumice stones, order.—From Palermo, 400 bags shumac,
order-240 do, 5 octaves wine, C Lagana—Q D
Jane Avery, (258) J Robinson, from St. Petersburg, 658 casks tal-
low, 5 fms lathwood, R C Morgan and co-200 deals, Carne and
Telo-2 spars, 3c oakum, exportation—K D

Superb: (107) H Mowat, from Cronstadt, 1020 bars iron, Bailey
Brothers and co-64 bundles 26 bales hemp, W Fletcher and Son—
K D

Queen Victoria, (95) J Griffin, from Riga, 80 packages flax, W
Winn-9.3 bundles hemp, order-5 spars, for exportatiou—G D
Amelia, (137) J Gutheridge, from Danzic, 620 qrs peas, 210 qrs
barley, order-4 fms lathwood, 18 deals, the master—G D
President Rotcher, (334) J Zieletch, from Danzic, 1200 brls flour,
455 sacks 737 bags wheat, 530 qrs rye, Imer, Paulet and co-520
qrs wheat, order-4 fms lathwood, the master—Q D