Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-26

Lnoiue, the murderer or Charles the
righteous, was crucifed. Jews and
heretlcs were the chief victims of the
cross. Burning at the stake was not
abolished IN France till the seventeenth
century. Quartering was last inflicted
on Damiens, the would-be assassin of
Louis XIV, in 1857. It consisted in
tying the convict by the arms and legs
to four horses, which were then driven
In different directions until the victim
was torn apart at the joints.
Breaking at the wheel was tying tie
culprit on wheel, breaking his limbs,
and leaving him on the wheel until he
expired. But it often happened that the
Judges ordered by retentum that he
should be strangled before his limbs
were broken. The punishment was
most frequent in France, and many inno-
cent men suffered by it; among others
the unfortunate CALAIS. The wheel was
abolished in 1889. Drowning was meted
out to witches and sorcerers. Philippe
Augustus extended it to untitled people
who swore, and Charles vi. to those
guilty of sedition. After the reign of
Louis X(. it was abolished.
Playing alive was resorted to freely
for treason. The Constable of Armagnac
was thus put to death when he was cap
tured. Implement and stoning to
death was also in vogue in the early
days. Under Francis l. the punish
ment of estrapade, which consisted in
letting the culprit fall from such height
as to break his limbs, was invented.
Boiling coiners in oil or water was not
abolished till 1871. The punishment of
Ia Gale consisted in hosting the victim
by a pulley and letting him suddenly
fall.
1t is worth noticing that the Middle
Ages provided supreme protection
against death, even at the foot of the
scaifold. The culprit might, if he succeed
ed IN slipping through the hands of his
keepers, seek refuge in a church, and
his person was sacred so long as
he abided there. The church was
very jealous of this privilege of holy
sanctuary. He could be still more eff
GENTLY preserved if woman consented
to marry him, and belief in the con-
tinuance of that form of salvation still
exists among many Of the lower order
abroad.
There were almost numberIess punish
ments not followed by death. F1agel-
lation in public was not abolished till
1889. The pillory was post set up in
a public place, where the offender was
exposed, chained, to the fusilade of the
stone-throwing mob. Some pillories
were wooden cages, which revolved
upon pivot. Very heinous offenders
were fastened to the pillory by an iron
collar. Bankruptcy, forgery, bigamy,
fraud, robbery of fruit, cheating at
cards, blasphemy and a hundred other
homogeneous offenses entitled q man to
be pilloried. The amende honorable
consisted of parading the victim in q
cart through the streets, and was fire.
quently the prelude to severe punish
ment. In the Middle Ages husband
who suffered his wife to beat him was
made to ride about the streets on
donkey, with his head toward the tail.
Cutting the table-clotn before whoever
had committed an act of cowardice was
another usage of the same kind. This
was done to William of Hainault at the
King of Frances own table, because he
had not avenged the murder of his grand
uncle.
Degradation was penalty which al
ways preceded the ceremony of death.
BY degradation the victim was ignomin-
lousy stripped Of all earthly honors.
Thus, when Marshal de Biron was on
the sca1fold the Chancellor Of France
deprived him of his insignia of the
Order of the Holy Ghost.
Tho 1,t e -
always attended with much solemnity.
Thirty Knights of proved courage met in
council, and summoned to their pres
ence the nobleman charged with felony.
A King or herald-at-arms pronounced
the accusation of treason, of broken
faith, and ii the charge was not met
degradation took place. Two scaffolds
We're erected i'll public; on one the
Judges were assembled, surrounded by
heralds and men-at-arms on the other
stood the culprit, fully armed with his
shield stuck on spike before him. He
was then stripped of all his weapons,
beginning with the helmet his shield
was broken in three pieces; his spurs
broken on a dung-hill the King-at-
Arms poured basin of hot water on his
head, and priests sang the service of the
dead. The Judges, clad in mourning,
then went to church, whether the cul-
prit was borne on litter. After de pro-
funds he was given up to the Royal
Judge to be dealt with by High Justice.
On some occasions he was allowed to
outlive his infamy, as in the case OF
Capt. FRANCE, a Gascon gentleman, who
had treacherously surrendered Fonta-
robia to the Spaniards. He was de.
graded at Lyons in 1928 in the manner
described. aud afterward set free.
Subsequently degradation was aban-
doned, because the sentence in itself was
understood to imply the stigma. It was
resumed in 1871 under the name of civil
degradation. The clause was thus word
ed: ''The culprit shall be led to the
public place, where sit the tribunal that
passed sentence upon him. The clerk of
the court shall address him in these
words: Your country has found you
guilty of an Infamous act; the law and
the court strip, you of your title of
In olden times culprit, no matter
what his crime. was branded with