Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Wayne County, Ind.) 1831-1837, 1836-08-06
,eiNTED AND PUBLISHED
~ JOHN FINLEY,
EDMOND. WAYNE COUNTY. IND.
MISCELLANEOUS.
~ur Death OF A DESEkTER.
nv THOMAS CAMPBELL.
VOLUME vi.

-. ,err,,ory.) are sadly oil for pub
nv .,nusements. There is not an
.a,,houa1e above twice in Il centu-
60 nv have no theatre, and very
,.w baus; but in lieu Of gayer specta;
I'M. rbey hav" about once month
military execution. You must not
,h;nI me unfeeling for having spoken
nth Ievity Of the last shat occurred
N. sufTerer was as horrible wretch
:, Burke or Bishop, and at his death
Le olayed the craven.-Another pun
.hment. however, has taken place.
vhich has left on my mind Il very
dderent impression; the criminal was
=, deserter; he had fled to an Arab
ube, but their hospitality consisted
npinioning him with ropes and bring
= him back to the garrison for the
uSaI reward Of thirty francs that is
nsen to the natives for such serv.-
s,s. | am aware that the French
cannot help furnishing desertion, and
certainly shooting men for it is the
mos, potent example they can hold
cut: vet, at the same time, ones com
uassion is not SO much shut against
a deserter as an assassin, and l pit
led this poor creature when heard
ofhis doom. His case haunted me so
much, that | consulted Captain La
gondie about the possibility o. apply
ug to General Trezel for mitigation
Of the sentence, and told Linn that l
had drawn up an appeal 20 his mercy
for the poor man. ''it will be worse
than useless" said i.agondie, ''for
YOU viii only add unfairly TO the dis
uess which the General has suffered
from signing the death warrant. Yes
erday evening he was for hours in a
state Of melancholy agitation, revol-
wing the question whether it was pos
sble To save the culprit; the veins of
his temples were swollen with anxi-
ETY.. but as there was conspiracy
combined with deseriion in this case,
he was compelled to decide that there
could be no pardon" OF Course l
suppressed my petition; but the i'm
pending execution so engrossed my
thoughts that at the risk of your blam-
ing my curiosity, will own to you
resolved.to see it. At the time APP
pointed joined Captain Lagondie,
and we set out on foot to the spot of
this real,ragedy. Troops ofcavalry
cane down from the kasbah. with
trumpets blowing as caiIy as If it had
been military triumph, and reSi-
ment OF infantry marched beside us
out Of the city gate. We passed the
prison where the victim was contin-
Cd. and Lagondie pointed on, TO me
the grated window OF his apartment
through which be was listening 10
iheiasi music that he was ever to near
IN this world. Shortly we reached
me ground where his fate was to be
enacted. We took our stand on the
'opoi ihelime rocks. whilst the troops
one thousand in number. formed
@ree-fourths Of a square on the plain
0eneaih. At last, from the prison
gaze came forth company-tiieir
u'ums mnffied with Grape. and the
'Esm IN the centre on foot, follow
60 oy the horse and cart that were
carry back his dead body. He
vas quite unclaimed. and had no
pnes' with HIM. At first they beat
!. SOW march. but we saw him wave
us hand 10 the drummers. and under
ZOO that IT was Il signal for them
'Ioeat quick time. which they did,
NMst. dare say. more hearts than
u; ,r own quickened their p,.lsation.
"nen they halted on the fatal spot.
~s com ding officer pulled out pa
~, which was the sentence of death.
.ua ne read it with loud and stern
.J'ee. Every syllable that he utter,
vas audible. though we stood at a
miserable distance. Meanwhile
e sufferer took his station with his
49,, 80 10 the lime-rocks, and with!
s.''e musketeers. who were to be
u executicners. in front of hun.
-. w. " vas free and reso.ute, and his
~ vas manly. as | remarked il ,ol
,sse been all the way down from the
IN, lie threw away the cicarl
!. NAG been smoking, and could see
af.aend fading into blackness like I
Sgo'ng symbol of his life's ex.I
1n. he ihen made his la.,l
~ With voice that was certain
- g sodiass 9 tha, Of his SEN