Vicksburg weekly herald., 1877-10-19
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A PARIsIAS MossTER 6UILLoTISED--
ucKEsISG SCENE OF TERROR.

sICKENIYG SCENE OF TERROR.
PANS. September l4.--Pierre Jean
Welker. the odiOus assassin Of q little
Rirl n he Rae NationAlt--she was
SiRhl, and he strangled her With her
skipping.rOpe, outraged her dead body
and went to sleep, using her corpse as
hls pilloW--has been guillotined. The
warrant designated as the hour about
$50 am and somewhat after mid.
night the machine arrived, and was
nOiselessly set up with wooden screws,
only about one hundred and fifty per.
sons being attracted 10 the scene besides
the military aud police. One Of them
was o woman. 1t was 4 As when N.
Roch had everything in working order
and tried the fall of the axe; then he
and bis 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. las, is as much q
part Of the procession as N. Roch's
van, entered the prison. Welker was .
fearful coward, who had wept and
moaned and torn his hair when sen.
tence was passed, and when be was
placed in the condemned cell, but he
believed the merciful fasehood that
forty days must elapse before the car
rying out OF sentence, which jail at
tendants always tell 10 confding
prisoners; and, thinking be had still
some time left 10 him, and also having
faith that bis petition for mercy would
be heard, be had gotten over his terror,
ate freely and slept soundly. So sound.
~ was he sleeping this morning that
neither the opening of his cell door
nor the light ofthe lanterns disturbed
him. Jacob shook him by the sboul.
der aud the clerk said loudly, wake
up, Welker, your petition has been
rejected you must prepare 10 die" A
horrible sound, half the cry Of wild
beast, half o deRth-rattle, Issued from
the miserable mans throat, and he fell
back on his bed, conVulsively biting
the coverlet. "Have you anything 10
sGY2 Do you want some brandyP
asked Jacob; but Welker did not hear
him, and lay racked by convul,ive
shudders. He was lifted out OF bed
and made vain effort 10 draw on his
trowsers, but he could not stand. and
tumbled again upon his couch. The
veins Of his forehead aud temples stood
out like knotted cordage, his eyes
were flmy, bis jaw had allen and a
cold sweat was pouring down Ills ashy
face. The Able Crczes spoke 10 him
earnestly Roch asked, ado | hurt you p
90 he bound his hands, but Welker
made no answer, heard nothing, was
as one dead. Indeed, the attendants
were urged 10 make haste or he would
die of fright in their hands. Two oi
them had TO carry him out with bis
arms around their necks, his head
hanging on the right shoulder, an d hi
legs trailing on the stones behind them
The priest walked backwards before
him to shut out the sight Of the ma
chine Of death, but the merciful pre-
caution was needless. Welker knew
nothing. His body fell upon the plank
like O bag of sand, and a moment later
the az fell. Owing TO the difficulty oi
placing the inert body in position, the
Ak shored away the head diagonally
taking of part Of one shoulder, and
leaving q piece of the jaw attached tC
the other. So large was the murderert
skull that 1t got iammed In the buckle
into which II fell and could only bt
shaken out by pounding on the inverted
vessel. 1t was 4:4S when tho officer
entered the prison to take out theil
man; 1t was ;06 when the Ak fell, the
time occupied being three minutes les;
than was taken In the case OF Billoir
Roch thinks that with ell circumstance
favoring him he can reduce the time tt
twelve minutes-that is to say, there
will be for The criminal an interval o.
less than ten minutes between sleeT
and death. But how many ages o
agony In those ten minutes!