The Worthington advance., 1882-03-23
JOKING WITH DEATH.

JOKING WITH DEATH.
The Condemned Men who Played ut Being
Acknowledgement Blron's Last Breakfast
-Heroines OF the Scaf1oi<l-Tho Actress
who Made Up her Debut on the G"iliotine
The GOODNESS with which the doomed ones
during the French Revolution awaited and
met their fate is historic. 1t was matter
OF pride with most Of them TO 60 to their
doom ~ to pleasure party. Montjour-
dain, commander Of the st. l.azarre Battal-
ion, when informed that his time was come,
| composed = song and went to the scaffold
| laughing and joking with fellow:victim.
One day Samson was at the concierge, wait
ing in the prison parlor. when two prison.
ers whe were about to be interro.
gated, passed through the room.
One Of these, Boisguyon, All old
soldier, approached him, aud with great
demonstrations OF po'itoness, said:
rs it to the citizsn executioner l have
the honor Of speaking? Is not your scatfoid
knife, like tie violins, begin operations in
such way as not TO leave time for two
words?'
and. turning toward his companion. Bois-
guyOn said to him:
"iou sec, Dupre, that was right; aud
| thai you acted your part very badly. We
| must ask Fouqnier- Tinvitle to allow the
| citizen executoner to come and superin-
| tend our rehearsals'
The gendarmes leatilen, away, laughing
| The speaker alluded to parody Of capital
punishment which had become the chief
| amusement Of tho prisoners.
Three days later Boisguyou calue up for
execution. When he was brought ont, he
| said to SAMSON:
"fou arc in earnest to- day. You will be
| astonished to see how Well | CAN play my
| part"
4 forger Of assi8nats. Colombier, WAS to
| tried t. prove to citizen Eoiseuyoh that he
Was not guilty. The latter attempted to
console him, and said:
1T my dying twice, Instead OF once,
:ould save you. would willingly submit to
! the experiment. for death is Of very little
| consequence to me; but, since this is i'm
! oossib!e, keep your reasons for tbs Lord,
in whose presence We shall be two hours
| hence.
Eoisguyon died, As lnigat have been e1-
| 2ectsd. without h tremor.
General, the Duke de Blron WAS another
| .ool Ole. When Sansou went to lead him
[ o execution he Was il the head tnrnl1ey's
| roOn1, aud vas eating oysters with much
| appetite.
On seeiug the healsmau he said:
Allow ine to eat this last dozen of oy-
| stersl"
! Samson answered that Lo was 1t his or
! iers. which made him laugh; and he said
NO, morOleu! it is just the otaer way;
| ALL at yourst'
He finished his repast with wonderful
tranquility, joking with his doomsman, and
world in time to wish happy Nsw Year 10
his friends He was root to the end. On
the way a soldier called ont to him:
! Farewell, general"
I Eiron answered:
| "Good-by my oomrnl!'
Eiron had been general OF tho French
| guards, but had been removed by the king,
who put in his place one of the great lords
! the Duc du Chatnlet This man did more
h>.rn, to tbs monarchy than its most inyet-
t:rate enemies. Uu Cliatelet treated the
| guards @ severely that he facilitated the
work Of those Who We're trying to disatl'ect
the soldiers. and 30 brought about the
mntiny which robbed him Of the comInan 4
| he was not tit to fight
The night before his execution he at
tempted to destroy himself. Having nei-
| ther knife nor dagger, he tried to Ei]l linn
glass broke, and only made a slight wonnl
then thinking, that he could die bg losing
al his blood. He cut his breast several
times with the piece which still remained
in his pos= ession, bnt he only succeeded
i'll weakening himself SO that bis Isgs
conld not carry him. Nevertheless, bis
heart was firm. The attendeDts proposed
in the death cart 10 bind his wonnds, slid
| thereby prevent the blood from
! flowing, but he ans" erod:
'Nr7er mand; It's ou!y saving you
| work."
! lie recovered Some strength in the Place
lc Ia Revolution, and cried "Vive !e * il"
| These words Of loyalty were his last.
The execution Of Anacha.sis Clootz was
characteristic Of tho man. Clootz vas a
s;n;:ere Crank" who deserved g shower
bath rather than One IN his own blood; }n,
ron4nlor T'invile regarded him as dan ger
ottu, and had hi condemned as an enemy
of !as nation. This, too, in spite OF the
fact that Clootz had written II pamphlet,
entitled, "The Universal Republic, " in
| which hs said that he was the personal Ell :
w. VIZ NtbARt hotA tuttt tlo WVit& TOuW | Ia
| Fr:lncr, and adopt republican institutions.
| As he said in defending himself:
"I can not be suspected Of heiug q par.i
z.n Of kings; it would indeed be extraor-
t!lnAry if II man who would he burned in
Rome. hanged in England, and quartered
| in Vienna we're gnillotinel in Paris"
The extraordinary thing came to pass,
| however. He was one Of a batch Of eieh-
teen who were turned off that day. (lootz
was quite cool and in no way disturbed: he
! preached TO his companions, asking them
not 10 Eelie their principles, assuring them
that the guillotine was the ultimate end Of
their tribulat;on: that
| THE GUILLoT1NE WAS THE END
Or everything, begging them to give to The
world the sight OF republican death.
| foniuler, out OF compassion for Clootz had
ordered that be should be executed first.
Clootz. however, refused. He wished, he
said. to fortify himself in his disbelief in
second life, and to nrge to the last upon bis
companions to do the same: and he added
that the privilege given him WAS one whicn
Que always had the right to decline.
Herbert WAS the seventeenth man OF
the list by this arrangement instead Of the
eighteenth. When only CIootx and Her-
bert remained, the latter exclaimed in a
weak voice:
Not yeti"
| Clootz heard liul. and rushed forward,
crying:
"Hurrah for the fraternity Of nations!
! Long live the Republic of the world" And
his head dropped almost before his lips
! ceased moving with this glorious atmos-
| phere upon them.
| Lemoignon de Malegherbos was arrested
at his. country house, With all his family.
His daughter and granddaughter were exc.
! cuted with him. After his arrest he was
| incarcarated in the Porte Libre: On ar
| irving there he met one OF bis former clerks
who exclaimed: