page_title: Abel Pollet
section_title: Execution
hierarchical_section_title: Abel Pollet / Execution
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Artikel in L'Ouest-Eclair (Rennes) vom Dienstag, 12. Januar 1909, über die tags zuvor erfolgte Vierfachhinrichtung von Béthune. English: Article in the L'Ouest-Eclair newspaper (Rennes) from Thursday, 12 January 1909, about the quadruple execution in Béthune the day before. Français&#160;: Article dans L'Ouest-Eclair (Rennes) du mardi, 12 janvier 1909, sur la quadruple exécution de Béthune la veille.
context_page_description: Abel Pollet was a French gangster and murderer. The leader, with his brother Auguste, of the Pollet gang, four of whose members, including Abel and Auguste, were beheaded in January 1909, as convicted murderers, thus reinstituting the death penalty in France.
context_section_description: The Advertiser in Adelaide ran about the quadruple execution on February 20, 1909:
  THE GUILLOTINE AT WORK
  FOUR EXECUTIONS.
  A telegram from Bethune, in North France, dated January 11, says:—This morning at dawn the guillotine appeared again in France, after a lapse of more than three years, and the four men whose death warrants were signed by President Fallieres on Saturday were led out to execution. It was a gloomy morning, but a crowd of some 30,000 people had assembled in the square outside the gaol where the execution took place. The law of France prescribes public executions. All night long the people had been gathering. At midnight there were 2,000 watchers in the square, and the main street of the town was crowded, as on the eve of a fete. Soon after midnight, men brought ladders and benches to the square and mounted them to obtain an uninterrupted view. Others climbed into the branches of trees, where their presence was revealed by the glow of cigarettes and pipes in the dark among the branches.
  As the hours went by the crowd increased steadily. Trains bringing spectators arrived from all the large towns in the neighborhood, and even from Paris. All the hotels were crowded, and in the cafes people passed the night drinking and discussing the exploits of the four doomed men, the leaders of "the bandits of the north." At 4 o'clock in the morning Deibler, the public executioner, and his four assistants erected the guillotine on the prearranged site. The troops had trouble keeping back the crowd, who wished to examine the instrument at close quarters. Meanwhile the four victims, Abel Pollet and his three accomplices, Auguste Pollet (his brother), Canut-Vroman, and Théophile Deroo, were still ignorant of their approaching end. Each man had been found guilty of three murders. Abel Pollet had confessed of his own accord to participation in no fewer than 250 crimes, including several murders. His accomplices, to judge from their confessions, were scarcely his inferiors in crime.
  At 25 minutes to 6 the Public Prosecutor entered the condemned men's cells and said, to them in the traditional formula, "I regret to have to inform you that the President of the Republic has rejected your appeal for mercy. You must prepare for the extreme penalty. Have courage." "Courage I have always had," replied Abel Pollet. He and his brother accepted the ministrations of a priest, their two comrades having previously received religious consolation. In bidding farewell to the priest who officiated Abel Pollet thanked him and begged him to take care of his wife and children. "If I had listened to my wife's advice," he said, "I should not be here now." This was the only indication of remorse that he displayed. The prison barber was then summoned, and in accordance with Deibler's instructions, shaved the prisoners' necks and ripped off their collars. Canut-Vroman asked for a cordial, but was given a large glass of brandy. On the whole, all four men maintained their courage.
  At 25 minutes past 7 Deroo was led out to execution. He was dressed only in shirt and trousers, and was bareheaded. As Deroo appeared his face was livid, and he walked feebly with short steps, being shackled round the ankles. There was a painful silence, and then an outbreak of hoots and curses from the crowd. For a moment Deroo hesitated, but he was quickly hurried forward and flung face downwards on the plank of the guillotine. Deibler released the knife, there was a flash, a sudden jarring sound, and all was over. The head fell into a basket in front of the knife, while the trunk was hastily flung into another basket at the side.
  All the savage instincts of the crowd appeared to be aroused. There were frantic shouts of "Death!" "Death!" mingled with curses. The officers of the troops shouted to their men to stand firm against the threatened rush. The guillotine was quickly cleaned, and Canut-Vroman was brought forward. He showed no sign of flinching. A moment later his head lay in the sawdust and the crowd was giving vent to fierce cries of exultation. Auguste Pollet came 
caption: Article in L'Ouest-Eclair (Rennes) from Thursday, 12 January 1909, about the quadruple execution from Béthune the day before.
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