Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-08-20


 press. It is so deeply fastened in my breast, that cannot lay it upon my paper; nor can l turn my thoughts from it. It is still obtrud- ing itself upon my imagination. You know how you feel after reading a horrible TO- nance; that may give you a faint idea of my state-one painful thought suggests a worse When think on Calas, l think of his gray hairs-then of his words-then of his groaiis but truce to sentiment-l will describe. Obliged to join my troop, which were at tending the execution, l mounted Fontabras more tardily than should have done for, a charge, hoping all might be over when l reached the square; but, alas! the genius oil cruelty is too subtle planner to be overreach- ed by plain thinking, too skilled an epidure to devour her food; she loves by mumbling it to prolong her pleasure, yet is she not to be satisfied by "a bare taste! but, enough! She may be said without metaphor, to gnaw the very bones: she was this time too cunning for me; she had but just lifted the curtain when l took my seat. When l reached the square, I found it blockadcd by persons of all ranks, for this trial had excited universal admira- ton. The great majority, however, were of the lower order, and of them the plurality were women, for have always remarked the fair sex, though averse perhaps to acting q I My uniform, however, was my passport, ard, making way on all sides, they suffered me tq canter to my post at the head of the squad+ ron, that lined the scaffold. Fronting mt stood the instrum ent of torture; but as sucli thing l am sure never yet met the eyes oi the pastor of Rullingen, description may bt necessary. Imagine wheel of iron aboul two feet in diameter, so broad that man could lie on it, and yet not broad enough fo1 him to lie easily, the circumference grooved cross-wise at regular intervals, so that tho blow from the crow-bar of the eXecutionef might be more certain to break the limb or splinterit more effectually; this wheel raised above the level of the scaffoldng half foot by means of chains made fast from the axis at either side, to iron posts at the interval of six feet. The wheel is of hammered iron, and so weighty that though elevated as mention- ed, it requires no inconsiderable force td swing it. It is elevated in order to enable tho criminals body to perform the circuit of tho machine, and an apparatus is provided for stretching the human body to the comple1 ton of the circle. This engine was further defaced by the gouts of blood and moulder- ing flesh which the last occupant had left as his memorial on it's circumference. In the back ground two inferior artists in death held between them the manacled culprit. A chub- by-faced mayor, in whom custom and obesity seemed to have stihed all painful feelings, sat erect in his chair to the right, with watch in hand, awaiting the moment to begin the tor ture. On the other side, tall monk of the order of La Trappe, whose stern but Contem- plative countenance formed powerful con trast to the city magistrate, was silently sur veyng the preparations, sometimes casting searching look to the criminal, sometimes muttering an inarticulate prayer from the missal which he held in his bony hand. The cxecutioner,a horrid fellow, with face veri- tably hangman's, was busted in his appal- ling preparations. His dress, his make, his physiognomy. all were in unison with his character. His dress, like his bloody trade, was scarlet, closely fitted to his trunk, and setting in the fullest light, the gigantic pro- portions of his frame-his heavy and unwiel- dy feet, his tremendous arms, and brawny shoulders. His country, understand, is Ger many, and, indeed, his face presented the beau ideal of German given by mostl ibel- lers of the nation. 1nsensibility and brut- ish stupidity vied in his countenance with a ferocious admiration of sottish enjoyment; such man as would break you on a wheel for his amusement, and drink himself into insensibility for his pleasure. His face, | which seems to have been supernaturally en- larged at the lower extremity for the recep- tion of hideous mouth, was roughly shaved for this occasion, save under the chin, from which the hair luxuriantly hung in filthy curls so as to conceal completely his bull-lke neck. Gradually narrowing to the top, what should have been his forehead formed the peak of a cone, in which two closely set eyes rolled palely and leeringly on their sunken ak is with an unfeeling glare and celerity of evo- lution, which formed striking contrast with the unwieldiness of his other motions. His very name, Hans Boucher, was in character, and must excite an association even in man not given to punning. He was occupied in binding his victim with no gentle grip to the hellish machinery have been describing, and binding his legs above the ancles to the iron, with such pressure that the blood stood back in the extremites of his feet; he returned to his stool waiting for the next signal of the magistrate to bind his hands. There was a mighty feeling in the crowd against the con demned man; "The murderer of his son, '' resounded from all sides, and the gamut of exultaton broke sullenly in varied cadence from the mass of the beholders, at tke pros- pect of his approaching punishment. l was anxious to observe the behaviour of the crm- inal; it was not that of a man conscious of an unpardonable crime. He turned his swim ming eyes and hoary locks to the crowds and blessed them. The magistrate gave the sig nal, and the unhappy sufferer was made fast to the engine by his dreadful attendant, and so stretched that his body, his hands and feet meeting, described the circumference of the wheel. The man of death then stood beside him awaiting the signal to begin his horrible chastisement. The monk, who had been for some time engaged in prayer, rose from his knees, and thinking this fit time to address the criminal, when death had made sure of him, ere it began its operations, slowly ap- preached and Coldly bade him think upon