Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-07-12
THE NEW GUfLLOTINE.
How ft W0rks-A Public Murder in
fui ~ France. tf

How ft W0rks-A Public Murder in
lfu M France t-f
Boston Globe Paris Letter. f
| The executioner was dressed in black
from head TO foot, his feet encased in
| fine bottines with patent leather tips.
His complexion is colorless, and has
cold eyes of a light steel gray. Such is
Roch, Monsieur de Paris.
At little after four o'clock-the
death scene was fixed for five precisely
i-the Able Crozes, almoner of the
prison, had an interview with Moreux in
his cell. The latter was already up and
dressed, walking the narrow cage with a
firm step, and sucking a pipe. The in
terview was secret and sacred, but after
ward, publicly, Moreux expressed him
self penitent and said, among other
things, this is what vice has brought
me to.
When the fatal hour approached, the
criminals hands were bound behind him.
A small glass of brandy was offered him,
as customary, but he declined to drink
it. gs ~ Ill s.a W
At FIVE o'clock, the door Of the prison
was flung open. The prisoner appeared
attended by the almoner, and the exc
cutioner with his five attendants, all clad
in black. Moreux was not tall man, as
some of the papers have described him,
but Of medium size, very stout, with an
enormous head and short neck. His
firmness did not desert him until he first
caught sight OF the black frame Of the
guiliotine with the fatal knife, the plank
on which he was to be extended, and the
receptacle designed for his severed head.
Then his lips even turned white, his
knees gave way under him, and but for
the arm Of the priest he must have
collapsed like rag. But he instantly
recovered his nerve and marched like
soldier toward the balanced plank. What
followed was done rapidly. The execu-
toner pressed his hand on the back Of
the criminal, the plank lay fair under
the knife, it came down with strange,
fearful sound, like the hiss of serpent
You could hear the dull thump of the
body as it rolled into its receptacle, and
the four thuds made by the head as it
struck the sides of a sort of sheet-iron
pail which has been substituted for the
basket, must have been heard all over
the Place de la Roquette, such was the
ghastly, awful silence. One or two wo-
men gave an audible groah, and a
drunkea loafer, who had been sleeping
in the gutter through the whole dreadful
scene, woke up and rubbed his eyes.
The head and body were removed
the scafold was washed of the few
drops of blood it received; the entire
machine was taken to pieces and packed
in huge black baggage wagon, and in
half an hour the street was deserted,
all traces of the execution gone--guil-
letine, exeeutioners, guards, spectators,
the women aud child and the drunkard
There were murmurs among the peo- |
pie as they skulked away to the wine
shops in the neighborhood to get their
morning dram of claret, brandy or abb |
sinthe, butthey we're not protests against |
the death-penalty, they were criticisms
on the Hew system, by which the guillo-
tine is set up on the level of the soil,
so that the spectators get but an imper-
feet view OF the exhibition over the
head of the guards. 1t is just as if
the stage of theater was sunk to the
level Of the pit" said stout mason in
a blouse. Il hate these new-fangled
notions Give me the good old-fashion-
ed guillotinela ...~t