The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-11-07
Wakened to Die.

| fleTTe jean WelRer, Lue OuouS US
sassin of little girl in the Rue Nation.
ale, Paris-she was eight, and he
strangled her with her skipping-rope
and went to sleep, using her corpse as
his pillow-has been guillotined. The
warrant designated as the hour "about
$50 A. NJ" and somewhat after midnight
thepachine arrived and was noiselessly
set up with wooden screws, only about
$50 persons being attracted to the scene
beside the military and police. One OF
them was a woman. It was 4:48 when
Mr.. Roch had everything in working
order and tried the fall of the ak; then
he and his assistants, Jacob, the chief OF
the detective service, and the Able
Crozes, who has accompanied so many
scores of murderers to the guillotine,
and whose hack, No. 148, is as much a
part of the procession as NJ. Roch's van,
entered the prison. Welker was fear
full coward, who had wept and moaned
and torn his hair when sentence was
passed and when he was placed in the
condemned cell, but he believed the
merciful falsehood that forty days must
elapse before carrying out of sentence,
which Jail attendants always tell to con-
fding prisoners; and thinking he had
still some time left to him, and also
having faith that his petition for mercy
would be heard, he had gotten over his
terror, ate freely and slept soundly. So
soundly was he sleeping this morning
that neither the opening of his cell door
nor the light of the lanterns disturbed
him. Jacob shook him by the shoulder,
and the clerk said loudly: "Wake up,
Welker, your petition has been rejected;
you must prepare to die." A horrible
sound, half the cry of wild beast, halt
death-rattle, issued from the mans
throat, and he fell back on his bed, con-
vulsively biting the coverlet. "Have
you anything to say? Do You want
some brandy?" asked Jacob; but Wei
ker did not hear him, and lay racked by
convulsive shudders. He was lifted out
of bed and made vain effort to draw on
his trowsers, but he could not stand and
tumbled again upon his couch. The
veins of his forehead and temples stood
out like knotted cordage, his eyes were
flmy, his jaw had fallen and g cold
sweat was pouring down his ashy face.
The Abbe Crozes spoke to him earnest
ly; Roch asked: do hurt you?" as
he bound his hands, but Welker made
no answer, heard nothing, was as one
dead. Indeed the attendants were
urged to make haste or he would die of
fright in their hands. Two of;them had
to carry him out with his arms around
their necks, his head hanging on the
right shoulder, and his legs trailing on
the stones behind him. The priest
walked backwards before him to shut
ont the sight of the machine Of death,
but the merciful preeaution was need
less. Welker knew nothing. His body
fell upon the plank Ikea bag of sand,
and moment later the OK fell. Owing
to the difficulty of placing the inert body
in position, the Ak shored away the head
diagonally, taking off part OF one
shoulder, and leaving part Of the jaw
attached to the other. So large was the
murderer's skull that it got iammed in
the bucket into which it fell and could
only be shaken out by pounding on the
inverted vessel. It was 4:4S when the
officers entered the prison to take out
their man; It was sos when the az fell,
the time occupied being three minutes
less than was taken in the case of Billoir.
Roch thinks that with all circumstances
favoring him he can reduce the time to
twelve minutes-that is to say, there will
be for the criminal an interval Of les
than ten minutes between sleep and
death. But how many ages of mental
agony in those ten minutes ..H!il ~