The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-11-02

| 'uHuCSL SOntACt WIN lne grOunQ merely
caused numbness, succeeded only subse-
quently by sense OF suffering. After
coming TO tho conclusion that was not
dead anyhow, usually began testing my
limbs to determine how many were bro
ken; and l seemed often 10 have curiosi.
" quite impersonal In the matter.
IL one lRll from an extraordinary eleya.
ton, as from an Alpine precipice down q
mountain ccrevasse, or from balloon, he
loses consciousness and sensibillty long be.
lore striking any solid substance. Descent
through o certain space destroys ANNA.
ton, so that death BY slipping from a
great height, while II addresses itself to
tho imagination 40 something terrible, Ia
corporeally painless.
Freezing to death, which would convey
the impression Of distress, Il In It's later
stages, as we all know, not only free from
anguish, but positively pleasant. Tho
preliminary state, as most Of US have ex-
perlenced, Is palnfnl; but while the pain
continues the danger Is distant. Drowsl.
ness Is the advance guard Of real peril,
and tho drowsiness deepens into iuxu.
rlous stupor, which, once tell, no one de.
stres 10 shake of. Soiander, the Swedish
naturalist, the companion Of Captain Cook
and Sir Joseph Banks In their expedi.
lions, was constantly warning his asso-
clates OF the insidious and dangerous Of.
tects OF extreme cold in high northern
lahtudes. And yet he was among the first
10 yield to the seductions Of the snow
slumber from which hc was with the
greatest difficulty aroused. Solanders
servant excelled his master in imprudence
making his couch under the Arctic sky,
and answering, when told he would die Il
he slept, that nothing would please him
better.
Hanging-thatrellc Of barbarism which
We still permit to disgrace the statute
books Of many ofour Ststes-Would strike
any one who has witnessed an execution
as q torturous mode Of death. But, re-
pcllant and ignominious as Is this torn Of
legal murder, 1t Is considered almost pang.
less. Thecord produces suffocation, un-
less the neck he dlslocated by the fall,
and sutfocation begets insensibility TO
pain. Tho instances are numerous of
persons who have hanged themselves and
been resuscitated. They have declared
that, after brief discomfort they had de.
llghtlul sensations, enjoying charming
panoramas Of light and color, and behold.
ing such blissful visions as never were on
sea or land. Criminals who have escap-
cd by the breaking OF rope have de-
scribed marvellous phantasmagoria, such
as flash through the fervid dreams OF O
poet. Henry ", oil France, once offered
a pardon to criminal who had escaped
complete strangling by the fracture of a
cord; but the condemned man had found
hanging so agreeable that he declared
pardon had become matter Of inditier.
cnce.
Stories are told of F-enchmen who
have so much enjoyed the sensation oil
hanging that they suspended themselves
frequently, having previous understand.
ing with their servants as to the exact
moment when they should be cut down;
the strictest punctuality being required
TO prevent the extinction OF the vita!
spark. have read OF q careless valet in
Paris, who, after tying up his master to
the bed post, according to the prescribed
regulations, stepped into an adjoining
wine shop, and forgot all about the de.
pendent gentlemen until 1t was too late
for the repetition Of the peculiar expert.
ment.
The garrote, tho form Of capital punish.
ment in Spanish countries, and the gull
lotine, which has done such bloody work
IN France, were invented as a merciful
mode OF execution. l have seen them
tested, and should think that their man.
ner OF intlIcting death, revolving as it
seems, might be as humane, II may use
the adjective, as any such savAgerY will
admit. The garrote appears to me the
least Oarbarous fashion OF statutory man
slaughter, since It preserves human beings
from an airy and grotesquely awful dance
Of death, and prevents the hideOus and
bloody spectacle of headless trunk. The
theory, based upon the movement OF the
eyes and lips, and the contraction OF the
muscles OF the body after deCapitatiOn,
that the victims Of the guillOtine suffer
intensely, is not sustained by scientific
investigation, Such action is spasmodic,
and must take place after insensibility has
been established by the severing OF the
spinal cord, and Of the communication of
the whole nervous system of the brain.
One OF the most dreadful and appalling
deaths is by fire; and hence the autos dG
te Of the lnquisition still shine with bSle-
full glare amid the numberless atrocities
Of the Middle Ages. Still the destruction
Of life by burning is far less terrible 10
fact than It is 10 the fancy, and comdem.
nation to the stake is a rhetorical horror
not answered by careful examination.
Excrutiating and lingering as such
death seems, 1t Is really brief, and COM
tparatively exempt from bodily anguish.
He who is exposed 10 the fire necessarily
inhalcs tho flame, putting an end to sen.
sibilIty and the principle Of vitality at
once. Persons rescued from burning
buildings have been found lifeless, though
their bodies had barely been singed;
proving that the slow consuming of flesh,
which appears to us so awful and so
agonizing, takes place too late to produce
pain. The victim we imagine to be
Iwrithing in untold torture, Is at that mo.
ment beyond the reach Of physical harm,
beyond the capacity to suffer further.
i It has so happened that / have seen
many men and women die Without de.
sign or disposition on my part, l have
very many times been present when sick
: persons were cbbing 10 eternity. have
seen men and women, young and old, cul.
tiyated and ignorant, orthodox and heter.
odox, in their last moments, and, as a
rule, all Of them passed away, II not with
out regret, at least with entire resignation.
None Of them showed dread Of the FL.
ture. Their thoughts were fixed on what
they were quitting, not on what they
were going to. l observed that some Of
them were troubled, perhaps distressed,
when they first thought they could not
recover, but that, the nearer their end
came, the less apprehenslve and the calm;