The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1857-03-12
then hollow space kept by strong detachment
OF policemen who had in special charge the crowd.


front door of the prison, on four permanent blocks
of stone in the centre of the roadway leading from
the prison to the street. The square is planted
with trees. On both sides of the roadway stood
double file of soldiers with presented arms. When
Verger issued from the gate, supported by the ex-
cutioner and the chaplain, and saw standing before
him the fatal instrument, his force forsook him and
he sank down 1t was this passage of eighty feet
that was terrible for the criminal for he knew
that the moment he ascended the steps before
him bis head would fall. 1t is not like an execu-
tion by hanging for there the condemned man has
distraction in the speech he is going to make to
the crowd in the parable of the scaffold, in the
emotions of the audience, in the preparations for
the final act. 1t is singular phenomenon of the
mind that mans egotism goes with him to the
last moment of his life and especially is this true
of sssassins. But there is room for distractions
of this kind in presence of French guilOtine, and
in the hands of French executioners.
Vergcr was hurried along to the fatal steps On
the way he did not cease to repeat Lamb of God
who takest away the sins of the world have pity
on ME " He cried also Vive Jesus Christ" The
scaffold at elevation of about five feet from
the ground. Arrived on next TO the last step, he
fell on his knees on the floor of the scaffold pro-
nounced few words of prayer and then, address
sing the chaplain, said: My brother, charge
you to make amende honorable in my name to all
my superior ecclesiastics whom have offended or
made Sorry tell them that demand pardon of them
as pardon them myself | offer my life in expia-
ton of my faults. He then kissed the curcifx and
turned and gave hasty embrace to the chaplain
but he never rose to his feet As he attempted to
do so, the execntoner, who stood behind hm,push-
ell him forward on the slab which carries his head
under he knife This slab, which is so placed as
to receive the body as the criminal rises from his
knees the last step floor of the scaffold is
new invention used now only for the third time It
receives the body from the knees to the upper part
of the chest of necessity leaving the neck and head
, projecting beyond. As the criminal falls upon it.
| instead of being obliged to tie him there as was
r formerly the custom. aopcration that was some-
times difficult it the prisoner fit to struggle.
D springs now suddenly seize the body and hold it
firm. This slab slides easily in groves, and slight
A pressure on the person Of the criminal pushes it
i forward, and places his neck in the notch into
realv to scza his heal as it passes, in order to
f steady twhile anotherstands ready pull the rope
: which lets the knife fall
y The knife is, in form, ike the linf1 OF straw
cutting box only nmcl, heavier. 1t is placed d.
/" agounlly in the two upnghts along the side Of
r which it gides Ikea saw-mill gate its diagonal
:. position gives it saving motion in cutting through
the neck It falls about twelve feet, ali so nicely
isits weight adapted TO the force required that it
not much more than cuts off the heal without su-
= perfuOus noise. The moment the knife falls, the
k springs relax by quick movement the body is
o rolled of on TO a BAscULE at the side which, in
J. turn, tumbles the body on board, at the end o
which stands two men ready TO seize it, and slide
S it into close carriage which stands ready, back
e ed up for the purpose. In like manner, the man
i who is charged with the holding of the head, lets
1t it drop into basket at his feet seizes the baske
d and hands it to man off the scffold who immcdi
d ately places it in a wagon with the body the
c door of the wagon is closed precipitately, and a
o once moves off the ground. Ali this is but the
| work of an instant.
When Vergcr was pushed forward on the board
D. he raised up his shoulders if to try to release
c. himself from the clamps His head WIS bare anC
ID he did so, he turned his face upwards sufficient
IL ly to take last hurried look to the side where
4 stood shall never forge, this last glance of th
IS criminal. His face was then injected, no dcub
ID from being pushed so sudden on the board A
ID he made this movement, the executioner pushe
IS his shoulders hardly down on the board, and thi
ty movement served the double purpose of bringing
t. the body hatand of sliding the head under the axe
D. The little wheel at the top of the upright turne
k half round, and the knife fell.
he The whole affair was accomplished with sucl
rapidity that great majority of the audience d
i'd not know that it had occurred. Indeed its rapid
II. ty was its most frghtful feature. From the mo
O. ment the condemned man issued from the gate til
IL his body left the ground, was but one minute b
rs the watch The assassination was not less magn
nd fcently performed than the expiation!
a. LENr.-The word Lent signifies Spring, an
ne thus the 40 days fast observed by the Protestan
Episcopal and Roman Catholic Churches is Gale
10 the Lent season merely because it occurs in tn
" spring Lent begins on Ash-Wednesday da
~ deriving its name from the ancient custom-s:il
- observed partially at least in the Roman Catholi
- Churches of putting ashes on the head as a syn
Dol of humble repentance for sin. A cross
" ashes upon the forehead is the usual method i
this country of observing this ceremony. The 4
~ days are in imitation of the fast of our Savior
~ The Carnival in Rome, when the population
~ wholly given up to all manner of amusement
succeeded by Lent and the close of Lent is cell
u brated with great rejoicing. the ham, susage, me
'H' and egg shops being Illuminated and ornamone
so as to attract buyers Eggs are heaped up
's' endless quantities and multiplied by rejecting mi
= rors snd ayan hnttar eta of the