Litchfield enquirer., 1870-02-17
EXECUTION OF MARY QUEEN OF
 SCOTTS.

She laid her cruci6x on her chair. The chief executioner took it as g perquisite, but was ordered instantly to lay it down. l The lawn veil was lifted carefully of, not to disturb the hair, and was hung upon the rail. The black robe was next removed. Below it was petticoat of crimson velvet. The black jacket followed, and under the jacket was body of crimson satin. One of her ladies banded her pair of crimson sleeves, with which she hastily covered her arms; and thus she stood on the black scaf- fold with the black figures all around her. blood red from head to foot. ........ Her reasons for adopting so extraordi- nary 8 costume must be left to conjecture. It is only certain that it must have been carefully studied, and that the pictorial ef- feet must have been appalling.
 The women, whose frmnsss had hither- to borne the trial, began now to give way, spasmodic sobs bursting from them which they could not check. Ne criez Yous, she said; Hay promis pour vous.' Struggling bravely, they crossed their breasts again and again, she crossing them in turn and bidding them pray for her. Then she knelt on the cushion. Barbary Mowbray bound her eyes with 8 handkerchief 'Adieu, she said, smiling for the last time and waving her hand to them. 'Adieu, au revoir.' They stepped back from her off the scaffold and left her alone. On her knees she repeated the psalm, ln te, Dons- ine, confdo-'In thee, O Lord, have put my trust Her shoulders being exposed, two scars became visible, one on either side, and the Earls being now little be- | hind her, Kent pointed to them with his white wand and looked enquiringly at his companion. Shrewsbury whispered that they were the remains of two abscesses from which she had suffered while living with him at Sheffield.
 When the psalm was finished she felt for the block, and laying down her head nut tered: ''In manus Domino tuas, commen do animam meam." The hard wood seem ed to hurt her, for she placed her hands under her neck. The executioners gently removed them lest they should deaden the blow, and then one of them holding her slightly, the othar raised the axe and struck. The scene had been too trying even for the practiced headsman of the tower. His arm wandered. The blow fell on the knot of the handkerchief and scarcely broke the skin. She neither spoke nor moved. He struck again, this time effectively. The head hung by g shred of skin, which he divided without withdrawing the axe, and at once meta morphosis was witnessed, strange as was ever wrought by wand of fabled enchanter. The coif fell off and the false plaits. The labored illusions vanished. The lady who had knelt before the block was in the ma maturity of grace and loveliness. The ex- ecutioner, when he raised the head, as us- ual, to show it to the crowd, exposed the wlthered features of grizzled, wrinkled old woman.
 "So perish all enemies of the Queen" said the Dean of Peterborough. A loud amen rose over the hall. ''Such end," said the Earl of Kent, rising and standing over the body, ito the Queens and the gospels en- emies."
 Orders had been given that everything which she had worn should be immediate ly destroyed, that no relics should be car ried of to work imaginary miracles. Sen tinels stood at the doors. who allowed no. one to pass without permission; and after the first pause, the body was stripped. It then appeared that favorite lapdog had followed it's mistress unperceived, and was