The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-31
The GuiIIOIine.
.ndon Suburban Reris,n.

pleasantest mode of being executed. Is hang |
ing, or beheading, or poisoning, the least dis !
agreeable2 How long time should elapse |
between the sentence and the inhiction of |
the penalty? When the time comes, would |
we rather suffer before breakfast or at mid |
day, in public or in private. The good old |
plan was to get as much amusement out of a |
prisoner as possible he was soon relieved
from suspense, that the public impati-
ence might not have time to cool;
he made long procession through the
streets at the hour when his friends could
attend with the greatest convenience; he had
full liberty TO make dying speech for the
amusement of n numerous audience; and
sometimes il was found so hard to part from
the pleasing object that his body was hung
in chains to afford an instructive spectacle
after his death The French managed to
extract some additional satisfaction from
the proceeding by using slow methods
for the infliction Of death; and case is
recorded where q wretched criminal sur
yiVed for twenty-five hours the wheel.
In short, our thick-skinned ancestors tho
roughly enjoyed the whole proceeding, and
regarded it as kind of dramatic entertain
ment combining, as the advertisements ex-
press it, instruction with amusement. We
have grown so tender-hearted or SO squeamish
nowadays that we try to keep the whole
affair as much as possible in the dark. If
capital punishment is still q necessity, we
seek to withdraw it in every way from public
attention. The present system would reach
its ultimate perfection if q plan we're
adopted which we have sometimes
heard advocated, and criminals were
entirely withdrawn from public notice on the
instant of their condemnation. After sem
tence had been pronounced, and the doors
of the court had closed upon them, they
would never again be visible to human eyes,
except to the two or three persons entrusted
with the duty of ushering them out of the
world. The mystery which would rest over
all the details of their fate would perhaps be
more impressive than the most elaborate dis
play, and even criminals might feel greater
horror at sinking, as it were suddenly into
ntter darkness than at once more appearing
to play conspicuous part before the eyes OF
their fellow caeatures.
This pitch of perfection has not yet been
attained and NJ Maxine Du Camp gives
curious account, in the last number of the
.Regu0 des DeuD MOndes, of the mode in
which they do these things in France We
will endeavor to give short summary of his
paper by way of illustrating the present stage
of the art of execution. We will first con-
slider the treatment of the criminal during
the last days of his life. Directly after his
condemnation he is stripped naked, every
fragment of his clothing being carefully re-
moved for fear of his anticipating the action
of the law. He is then dressed in
exception of a handkerchief and a
cravat, which might be convenient for
suicidal purposes. Finally he is put into a
strait-waistcoat, which makes him totally in
capable of using deadly instruments, even if
he wished it, or of helping himself in any
way. He is constantly in presence of guard,
and of q ellow-prisoner ready to act as a spy.
The criminal thus treated is, as we are not
surprised to hear, generally reduced to state
of profound depression. He generally re-
fuses, at first, even to give the necessary
powers for the appeal admitted by French law,
and almost invariably gives way afterwards
by the advice of his counsel and the director
of the prison. Meanwhile he is allowed to
amuse himself according to his fancy sc
far as that expression is applicable to man
in O condemned cell, confined with strait
waistcoat, and with no company but spy
and his gaolers. The period of suspense
generally breaks down the courage of the
most brutal criminals They listen to the
exhortations of venerable priest whose duty
it is to attend upon such cases. They Otter
try to read, and, according to M. Du Camp
the favorite author Of these unhappy wretche
is Fenimore Cooper. The reason suggested
by him is that Cooper leads them into
world of adventure, far removed fl N Euro
pean law, where killing is considered t.
some doubts as to the sound
ness of this hypothesis; the iterar
taste of murderers is not likely, as a rule, t.
be highly cultivated; and we should imagin
that Cooper is probably suggested by tn
priest or the prison authorities as tole
rably amusing novelist who has not singl
passage which could do any human being an
harm even if he was in the immediate expeC
tation of death. However, we are not sui
prised to hear that murderers generally fail
become absorbed in the adventures of th
Leather Stocking and his companions. Th
guardians, we are told, are kind enough
Try to distract their attention; but the poe
wretch whose day of execution is not fxe
is naturally a prey to nervous irritation
trembles when any one enters his room, an
is often haunted by an imaginary sound lii
the knocking of q hammer. This, it is saiC
frequently amounts to physical suffering
The position must be unpleasant enoug
under all circumstances, but the uncertain
as to the day of execution seems to add O
unnecessary pang. If the court decide
against the appeal, memorial is sent to Il
Emperor; and, should he see no reason fl
committing the penalty, orders are at ont
sent to the various officials concerned to pr
ceed instantly to execution.
And here we must say few words upC
the guillotine itself, whose inventor, by Il
way, did not Gas has often been asserted) d
by his own creation, but expired peaceably
1914, at the age of seventy three. Nj. i
Camp dwell deliberately upon all the detail
of the machinery, which require more caref
adaptation and more skilful managemel
than we had imagined. 1t is by no meal
simple q thlnV IL gaeTnS at first Sipht