The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-07-22
Tnr Tnrr IIIsronY on rnr Grn1or1Nr

]
ecution of the French prisoner La
/ Pommerais, the Paris correspondent Of
the London Times gives the following
history of the guillotine, claiming to
correct former versions:
"Of the origin and history of this
famous instrument of punishment an
4 erroneous idea generally prevails The
popular version is, that it was invented
in 1855 by Joseph Ignatius Guillotin,
m eminent physician, and deputy for
Paris in the Constituent Assembly
This is not correct An instrument
differing from the guillotine only in it's
heavy and cumbrous construction al
ready existed in Italy. 1t was known
III Genoa by the name Of Hanuga,
and it was by the nenuga that Bea-
triee Cenci was beheadcd at Rome in
1905. The maiden. an instrument not
unlike the guillotine, was long known
in Scotland, and it was employed on
the Regent Morton, who is said to have
introduced it. 1t was used, also, in
Halifax, Yorkshire, in the reign of
4 Queen Elizabeth. The Duke of Mont
morency was bcheaded at Tolouse, in
1852, with the maauqja.
All that DR.. Guillotin, who was n
man we'll known for his humanity, had
o do with the matter, was preparing
the draught of law in the Constitu-
ent Assembly in 1889, to the effect
that the mode OF inAicting death on
criminals should be the same for all
alike, without any distinction of mobiles
or plebeians; in fact, that it should be
uniform Before the revolution Of
1889 the inequality that existed during
life was maintained in death; the no.
bic was beheadcd, the ralqm hung from
the gallows. But the inequality was
a tritiing grievance in comparison with
the cruelty which accompanied the ex-
ecution. There was the stake and fag-
got for those convicted OF sacrilege or
hercsy; the tearing Of limb from limb
by horses for regicide; the breaking
ON the wheel with the additional re-
iinements of barbarity for crimes Of
other descriptions.
The bill proposed by Guillotin was
voted, and the Assembly enacted ON
the Dist january, 1890, that sin al
cases where the. law pronounced the
penalty of death punishment should
be the same, whatever might be the
nature OF the crime and, moreover,
that the criminal should be beheadcd
by means Of IA simple machine. The
same Assembly also introduced in the
Penal Code October, 1791 this clause:
The penalty of death shall consist in
the simple taking away Of life, without
the accompaniment of any sort what
ever of torture; and the convict so
condemned shall be beheaded" The
clause stands the same at the present
day
Decapitation being thus declared the
only legal mode of inhicting death, the
next step was to invent the simplest
mechanism and the least painful for
that purpose. The Committee Of Leg
islation directed Dr. Louis, who was
then perpetual Secretary of the Acade-
my of Surgery, to draw up a report on
the best mode of decapitation to be APP
piled to criminals. The report was
presented to the committee on the It'll
Of March, 1892, and on the beth Of the
same month the Assembly passed Il
/ law, which was sanctioned on the 25th
by the king, declaring that the penalty
of death should be carried out IN the
manner recommended in the Report
of the Perpetual Secretary Of the Acad-
envy of Surgery. In this paper DR..
Louis did no more than suggest the
plan on which the instrument should
be constructed; but he was enjoined TO
get one constructed according to his
plan.
A German named Schmitt, a maker
of harpsichords, was employed for the
purpose, and on the 18th Of April, 1892,
DR.. Louis informed Roland, then Min
lister of the Interior, "that experiments
j had been made with Schmitt's instru-
ment at the Bicetre on three dead
bodies, and that the heads were cut off
with such precision that he was aston
ished at the strength and celebrity of
its action 1t was at once introduced,
and the experiments made with it
soon after the date of the latter, and
for a long time afterwards, were not of
the harmless nature of those at the
Bicetre In the memoirs of Samson,
the famous headsman, recently pub
lished, a full account is given Of the in
/ strument. The first execution for
which it was used was that of high
way robber, which took place on the
9th of May, and the first political ex-
ecution was that of Collenot bangle
mont, on the DIST Of August following.
/ The machine was at first popularity
known by the name of Louison, or
Louisette, from the inventors name.
BY some maceountahle change Of pub
lie opinion, or caprice, it soon got the
name of guillotine, which it keeps to
this day, and viii probably do so as
long as it is in use, though DR. Guillo-
tin had nothing whatever to do with
its invention or construction, and had
merely proposed the measure of uni
formity in the mode of execution.
There is another error also very gen
orally spread, that GuIlotin himself
died on the scaffold during the reyolu-
ton by the instrument of which the
invention was falsely attributed to him.
nr Guillotin lono survived the rayO-