Morris tribune., 1881-12-22
A PROTOTYPE OF GUITEAU.

/
Awful Punishment of Ravillac.
! George Alfred Leonard in Gin. Enquirer.
Being in group of experts on insanity
last night, the conversation ran upon the
degree of responsibility Of assassins for
such crimes US killing President Garfield.
| Several curious instances were adduced of
the murderers of rulers. The chief of a
| lunatic ASYLUM, who has q national reputa-
ton, said to me: You can make an inter-
esting letter if you will revive some of those
rescmblances. Find the case of Ravillac,
| FELTON,, Gerard" and certain others he
mentioned.
The case of the Ravillac ecclesiastical
| crank of three centuries ago, correspondent
to the political tramp of the present day,
who thinks he understands the genius of
government, and may kill and carry out the
policy of some disappointed senatorial up
start.
On May 4, 1910 the King of Navarro, who
| had become King of France, and had won
his crown over all opposition, was assassin
ated in the streets of Paris by fanatic
named Ravillac. Navarro, when killed, was
tifty-two years old, and had reigned twen-
ty-two years. To allay the passions of his
people he changed his religion at the age
of forty, but this did not save his life. He
stood in that age very much like Abraham
Lincoln at the close of our civil war, having
achieved the greatest victories in Europe,
and obtained the confidence of nearly all
his people.
The night before the murder the king was
uneasy. In the morning he went to hear
mass at a convent, and there, Guiteau- like,
Ravillac followed him with the intention of
killing him right in the chapel, but YOU
| dome, the kings natural son, stepped un-
expectedly between them. After dinner
| the king agrin tried to sleep, but failed. At
| four o'clock he arose, and was advised by a
servant to 60 out and take the air. Very
well" said the king, order my coach and
viii go to the arsenal" 1t is said that the
assassin heard him inquire at the palace
| door if the coach was ready, and muttered
! to himself: Il have thee; thou art lost
When the king entered the coach he refused
| to have any guards. He said 10 the coach
man: "Al want is to carry me away from
here, meaning the palace and its commo-
tions. As the carriage passed out
Ravillac was sitting on some stones at the
palace gate. where the hackmen waited for
! their riders. 1t was his intention to step
right up and stab the king at the palace
! gate in the low carriage, but gentleman
was on that side, sitting with the king. 1t
was fine weather, and the king had all the
! curtains drawn up so that he might look
! out. 1t must have been a large carriage,
! because there were eight persons in it. It
was sort of stage, indeed. Some guards
| followed tie carr age, and when it turned
! intoa narrow street of Paris it was embar-
assed by some carts, one filed with wine,
and the guards cut across through an alley.
! ha~ who a Il
| lowing the coach from the palace, and see
ing that it was stopped and had no
person around it, crept in the style Of Gui-
! teau to that side where the King sat. His
cloak was wrapped around his left arm,
concealing the knife he held in that hand.
| He slid between the carts and the coach, as
| If he were trying merely to get by, but sud-
denly he wheeled, put his foot on one of
the spoke5 of the wheel and the other on a
| stone, and, drawing the knife, which was
| double edged, struck the king between the
! third and fourth ribs, II little above the
| heart. The king was glancipg at a letter
| when he felt the knife, and cried out: "I
am wounded" Then Ravillac perceived
that rib had stopped the point of the
knife, and with the quickness of frenzy he
struck another blow, and at that moment
! the king raising his arm gave free course to
the knife, which went to the heart.
| The blood gushed out of his mouth
and f1om his wound at the same time, and
with faint sigh the king expired. A third
blow aimed by Ravillac one of the gentle
men received in his sleeve. Speaking about
it afterward the assassin said: My knife
went into his body as into bundle of hay. u
It is not believed that Ravillac had any as
sociates, or even instigators, except the
! Viii iob faI he
king in the minds of certain stalwart
church party. 1t is believed that Ravillac,
ike Guiteau. thought he was doing popu
lar thing when he killed the king, and when
he came to the place where he was to be
| torn to pieces by the wild horses he saw q
man get off his horse and put in place of
another one which had got tired of drag
ging at him. ALAS" said Ravillac, Il
thought my action would be pleasing
to the people, but they themselves furnish
horses to tear me in peIces." Raviilac was
about thirty-on years old and unmarried,
and had been shyster lawyer like GuIteau
He gave as his reason for the murder that
the King had not, as he was able to do
brought back the followers of the pretended
Reformation to the Apostolic church; that
he had came to Paris to impress this neces.
sity on the King, but was repulsed by the
Kings surrounding people. Thereupon he
had visions, some OF which he described
He Lad seen in his sleep fire, sulphur and
incense; and had felt desire to sing the
Psalms of David lnvoluntarily, ani had
felt trumpet come into his mouth making
a load sound. Living in poor lodgings, he
one morning arose to build fire of twigs
and out of the fire he saw arise nosts
like those which were used in the
communion. One of the priests told him
that his head was disordered to see all these
things, bnt he determined to address him.
self to some great man to speak to the
king. Repeatedly repulsed from the pal.
ace, he cried out to the king as he was
riding along: Sire. speak TO you in the
name of our Lord Jesus" but the king
pushed him off with stick. Thereupon ht
concluded to murder the king. He was re-
pulsed from several lodgings in Parll
on account Of his poverty, and at the las
lodging he stole knife, and kept it fo
some days or weeks. He sharpened tn,
knife with q stone. and consoled himsel
with the idea that the king intended to
make war on the pope and transfer the cit,
of the holy see to Paris, and that the kins
was making trouble for the country by hi
course. Asked where he got the
idea that the king was in the wa,
of his party, he said that he had got
from the common soldiers, who said the.
would not fight tie Pope, if they wer
ordered to. A good deal of lying was de
tected on RaVillac's Cross examination. H
remarked that neither his father nor hi
mother ever loved him. He believed tina
our all powerful Lord would not make hin
suffer for it. On being convicted he wa
put to the torture, the first Of the boot,
wooden box just big enough to contain botl
his legs, and wooden malet is then drive,
between the knees until tits forced through
and then larger wedge is driven. III
cried out: My God, receive this penanc
as an expiation. Oh, God! do not drive m
soul to despair. At the driving of th
third wedge he tainted away. The prison
ers in the Jail with him cried out Traitor,
wretch" monster" william, and trie
to strike Kim. When he arrived at tn
place of execution, he was asked to confes
his accomplices. but he had none. Fir
was to his right hand, whie
held the knife with whic
\ he stabbed the King, and he cried ou
I-4Oh GodI' 4Oh Jesusl" Oh Mary
Then his breast and limbs were torn wit