The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-11-02
Running the Gauntlet.

Running the Gauntlet.
The terrible chastisement known as
running the gauntlet" was abolished
in Austria in 1854 For years it had
been favorite mode of punishment,
and was "A cruel and barbarous rem
Hant of those dark and dismal times
called the middle ages The charac-
ter of the punishment may be inferred
from the following description by an
eye witness, Of the last execution of
the kind:
On an autumn morning, in the year
1851, the garrison of the fortress of
Theresenstadt, on the Egar river, in
Bohemia, was formed in large square
on the spacious place before the resi-
dence of the commandant In the
middle of the square, drawn up in file,
stood a company of rifle battalion,
to which the delinquent belonged. 1t
was unarmed, each private, (there
were three hundred, being provided
with switch, and placed at small
distance from the next man. At the
tenth stroke Of the clock, the drums
were beaten, and, amidst silence,
deep and oppressive, the prisoner was
marched into the square.
He was as fine looking a man as ev-
er have set eyes upon; tall, power
ful and well formed his handsome
features, to which black moustache
gave bold and martial expression,
shone forth in the fall glow and yigor
of manhood, only hey were of deadly
paleness.
He was a nom commissioned officer,
and during the campaign in Italy in
1910 he had distinguished himself IN
such manner that his superior OH
GERS had recommended BIN for promo
ton. Austria Is more generous than
England towards those that shed their
blood IN her service, and he would have
been made IA commissioned officer
long since in spite Of his humble or
IGN and his poverty-if it had not
been for fatal impeachment This i'm.
pediment was his own passionate tenn
per; he was a very choleric man, harsh
and brutal to his interiors, morose and
stubborn towards his superiors when
ever they deemed it necessary TO check
or rebuke him. He was hated by the
men TO the utmost. There was not u
private in the whole battalion that had
not vowed him revenge. He had new
er made one friend, nor did he care to
have one. Strict in the performance
I of his military service-the most mi
nor duties of which he discharged
with the utmost exactness--he went
/ his own way, proud, reserved, solitary
Innumerable were the. punishments
which he had brought upon the men
I for, however slight the offence might
be, he was snre not to pass 1T over IL
4 silence.
His superior officers respected him
for his usefulness, his ability, and his
exactitude; but they did not like him
The evident lack of humanity in the
man made him an object of doubt
rather than love. Moreover there was
a vague rumor about his having once
struck at his own officer in the midst
of pell nell, caused 10y hand to- hano
encounter with the enemy. The re
port never took clear shape, the off
Ger having been killed.
The engagement, and gossipping o
a few wounded soldiers, had been mucl
too incoherent and contradictory t.
lead to formal investigation of tn,
matter; besides it was at The victory o
Navarro He had greatly distinguish
ed himself, and the old Field Mar
shall, Radezky, had with his own hands
affixed the golden medal on his breast
The rumor, however, together with tn,
knowledge of his harsh and violen
temper, caused his name to be eraset
from the list of those who were re
commended for higher promotion.
When this incident was made known
to him he became even more sullen
more rigid, more cruel than ever, bu
always, as it was we'll understood, fol
the benefit of the service, the sllghtes
demands of which he performed witt
the same immutable strictness as h'
enforced them to be done by others.
A few weeks previous to the dread
, full punishment which he had now /,
undergo he was mounting guard IL
the outworks with some twenty o.
TWENTY-FIVE men of his own company
r 1t was a chilly, rainy night, and whei
the sentries were relieved, they wer'
Glad to stretch themselves, wet as the,