Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-12-09

Il Il
"No. Shooting, 'as it is performed
at military executions, is the most un-
certain. and, therefore. most cruel
mode Of execution. Instances are not
wanting of men livingeven after three
vollcys had been fired at them"
What of the guillOtine?"
He shrugged his shoulder. 1T is,
perhaps. little safer than the axe in
the eXccutioner's hands, inasmueh as
the eXecutioner may become nervous.
But l do not think it will ever be
adopted i'm Prussia. 1t makes an exc
cution too simple an operation. In
blOodthirsty times, itmakes wholesale
executions easy
You said YOU preferred hanging TO
the axe and the blocker
Decidedly, sir. 1 do not think it
is very painful mode of death, and
culprits would not look upon il with
so much horror"
This led me to inquire what he
| thought of the assertions made by
some savants that sensibility remain
ed in the criminals head for some
time after il had been severed from
the trunk. and what his own expert
ence was on that subject.
This question seemed to startle the
eNecutiOner. He fixed his eyes on
the ground and said, after n brief
pause, he had read OF such things,
but he did not know anything about
it. He hoped it was not true. He
| himself had never examined a bead
Immediately after it had been cut off,
for he was always exceedingly glad
Is,f
il to bis assistants to remove the re-
mains of the persons he had executed.
| then boldly asked him if he did
not think it would he best for all
persons concerned that capital punish
ment should be abolished. On this
point he refused to commit himself,
and he said he thought the opposition
To the inflictiOn of the death-penalty
might be considerably lesSened if
much that was still barbarous were
omitted or changed at the execution
.Of criminals. L inquired what he
meant.
''You see" he replied, "more dred-
ful to the criminal about 10 be
executed than the execution itself, is
the anguish and suspense inwhich he
passes the time intervening between
the reading of the death-warrant and
the execution itself. If l had my way
in such matters, the criminals destin-
ed to die. and who, owing TO the
atrOcity of their crimes, had no pros
pect of being pardoned, should be
executed within an hour after sentence
of death had been passed on them.
1t is all very well for men TO say that
these doomed men should have time
10 prepare for death, My experience
and observations lead me to believe
that these preparations never amount
to anything. An execution following
close upon the heels of the sentence
is a mercy 10 the doomed person.
But that is not all. At the execution
itself there should be as little delay
as possible. Many criminal func-
tiOnaries still seem to believe that
certain slowness of proceeding Oh
such occasions is demanded by the
dignity of justice. Ii is nothing but
cruelty, sir; downright cruelty.
Every second which the culprit passes
at the place where his life is to be
taken is 4 long agony for him. l
generally cut short the arrangements
made by the dignified functiOnaries
Of the law by diSpatching the cul-
prit in the quickest time possible. l
have often had trouble on this ac-
count, with certain judges. But l do
not care for their frowns and censure.n
"What of public and private exc !
cutions ="
"Tbey should be private, by ali !
means. There are many objections to !
public executions. among which one, |
and highly important one, has seldom !
been mentioned. 1t is, that public |
executions are calculated to make the |
axecutioner nervous. And tell you |
he has need of much steadiness at
The decisive moment. Nor should /
.he place of execution be situated at /
any considerable distance from the |
prison where the culprit il confined. |
In Prussia the executions are perform
ed in the prison yards, and the
criminals have to walk but 4 short
distance from their cell to the block.
In the other German States, in which
executions are intrusted to me, L
have the block set up i'm
under or in front Of the
convict 5 cell, if that can be done, and
,aUSe an outside door to be fixed in
he wall, so that, at the hour of death,
ne may step directly from his prison
o the spot where he Is 10 lose his
Iead.n
After some further conversation on
ess important points, Mr.. Reindel
lsked me to accompany him to the
room, where he said he
would show me something that might
interest me. Ii was a large, long i
'oOm, containing several huge bed
teads and an enormous clOthes-press,
o which my host conducted me.
Here Is my cabinet of curiOsities,"
Ie said to me, with IL sOmbre smile.
He opened the clOthes-press, and l
aw a number of strange looking
n medium-sized wheel,
&c.
He took out the wheel, which / saw,
lad heavy iron spokes, and on one
ide of its rim 4 brass pTOtuberance,
bout three inches wide and eighteen
uches long.
Il bought this wheel during a
in Austria, where it had
Ormerly been used for breaking Grim
mails on the wheel. We have made
much progresS since that time, sir.
eighty years ago this instrument was
lseG at nearly every execution"
I looked at the wheel which he
leld up before me, and asked him 10
ell me how il was used.
.'ln some countries" he replied,
were broken on the wheel
With an iTOnbar, in Others the execution
vas performed with an iron club; butin
-ertain provinces of Austria they used
or that purpose such a wheel as this.
The eNecutiOner, after stretching the
on small pieces of planks,
to the scaffOld at intervals of
eighteen inches, took this wheel and
'rought this brass protuberance down
N the joints of his arms and legs"
at must have been intensely pain
ul,' | said, with a shudder.
''Yes, sir; / cannot think OF any
hing more cruel, when we bear in
mind that the culprits, upon reaching
he scafiold, have their nerves almost
unstrung. As a general
hing their hands are as cold rs ice,
md their breath is short and rapid,
md no matter how warm the weather
nay be, they shiver with cold. y
blow on the knee Joint, in
with the nervous state of the body, is
painful. What, then,
must be the sensation of such a thing
Is this wheel, mashing all the joints
If the arms and legs TO jelly?"
He then took from a large case the
of his own dreadful trade
the axe which he used at the eXecu-
ions II XyaS a very heavy ono with