Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-04-20

don with nlS royal WOru bilc Saiu MhrqulS
de Giac, and to grant his life, SO shall the
sentence pronounced upon him be commu
ted and changed 10 penance, which COM
mutation, However, can only be obtained
by the condemned declaring in his own
handwriting that he is wiling to undergo
the sentence of death. andto renounce the
favor of the royal pardon offered him."
"And what is the penaDce which am
to prefer to death--in what does it con-
sist?p asked the prisoner, turning pale.
cit is as follows, " SAID the mayor, read
ing farther,z1ts That thtlt Ehhbns
/ Charles, Marquis de Giac, shall bind him
selfto put TO death with the sword to-mor-
row morning, before sunrise, in the open
market-place of Bourges, one of the GRIM
inas at present convicted of murder"
Uttering cryof rage and horror, the
prisoner sank on the bench of his cell, and
the door Immediately closed upon the re-
tiring mayor and his attendants.
When we consider the degradation at
tached to the Office of public executioner
in the middle ages, the contempt in which
the man who filed it was held, and his
low position in civil community, we shall
be able to form some idea of the refined
cruelty contained in the so-called penance
inflicted on the Marquis de Giac. To
come in contact, even in the remotest de-
gree, with that administrator Of criminal
justice, was held to be disgrace which
not even the royal authority was suffi-
cient entirely to obliterate; and the mean
est citizen would have preferred death to
that act which the authorities of Bourges,
had imposed, under the name of pen
ance, upon man of ancient and honora-
BILE race, and one who had long stood high
in the favor of crowned head.
At the dawn of day, on the 5th Of June,
1856, an agitation began in the market
place of Bourges, which announced that
something unusual as it was important,
was about to lake place. Out of all the
houses, streets and alleys streamed men
and women of all ages, who assembled
around circle marked out with posts in
the middle of the market-place, the en-
trance to which was strongly guarded by
, well.armed soldiers. Although the morn
ing twilight did not afford clear spot,
still there was general idea what was to
follow; and those who stood nearest could
discern lightly-ereeted stage, the sight
of which left no doubt as to it's object. II
was scaffold, which awaited its victim
The expectation and the interest depicted
on the countenances of the constantly in.
creasing mass, was very decidedly differ.
ent from that which was usually observed
on like occasions. The difference had its
rise in the circumstance that the present
occasion was not one of common execu-
ton, but, as was already known to the in
habitants of Bourges, an example of the
administration of justice. hitherto alto.
gether without precedent. Beside this
the unusual time of day, as we'll as the
place, contributed much to lend solemnity
to the whole; for gallows had never be
fore been known to be erected within the
precincts of the dwelling houses of the cti
zens of Bourges; and added to this, the
sword of Justice was now to be seen in the
hand of man who, although he had mo-
been particularly beloved by the people
had at least always been looked up to by
them with respect.
: AS at length, during the continuation o
that rustling and confused noise which i:
inseparable even by silent multitude, the
daylight increased by degrees, and an
nounced the approaching rising of the SUI
in the east, a deep and awful stiffness sud
denly prevailed. Through a passagt
formed by the crowd, picket of soldiers
approached the fatal ring; surrounded by
these soldiers was a miserable cart il
which sat the executioner, and by his sidt
a haggard-looking man, who was evidently
about to suffer the death of a malefactor
Alta little distance from the cart, followed
a clergyman, accompanied by mar
whose face was perfectly pale, but whose
carriage was firm and proud, and his as
spect imposing. His dress, richly EN-
broidered with gold. but to which the ar
mortal ornaments we're nevertheless want
ing, showed him to be of high rank. l
was the Marquis de Giac. When he ap
peared, suppressed exclamation of sym
pathy ran through the crowd.
In the meantime five members of the
judicial body of Bourges had approached
the scaffold from an opposite direction, anc
after laying several rolls of paper dowr
upon table, awaited earnestly and silently
the approach of the condemned. A few
moments after, the victim appeared upor
the place of execution. The clergyman
: drew near to the culprit who had beer
convicted of murder, prayed with him fo
a short time, after which, anil the breath
less stiffness which prevailed, the senio
of the FIVE judicial officers proceeded t.
read aloud, irst the sentence of the mur
. derer, and that of the Marquis d.
Giac, to whom he turned at the conclu
sion with these words:
81 demand of you, Arthur Phoebu
Charles, Marquis de Giac, whether yol
are willing, under your own handwriting
, and signature, to give yourself up to tn,
royal mercy, and thus escape the sentence
of death which hangs over you?"
"No," anawered the marquis in firm
voice.
, "Then, continued the officer of justice
) ''you will have to perform the penance i'm
: posed on you, and do the part of execu
7 toner to the delinquent who has been ad