The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1883-11-28
7l0NBS7A, Pa, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1885,

dust. That Of Montfaucon, which is so
famous in history, stood on an eminence
/ by the high road leading to Germany. 1t
consisted of mass of masonry composed
Of ten or twelve layers Of rough stones,
and formed an inclosure of forty by
twenty-five or thirty feet. At the upper
part was platform, reached by a stone
staircase. In the center Of the inclosure
was a deep pit, where, pell-mell, the
skeletons were thrown. Crows, carrion
and buzzards flew about and fed upon the
corpses, and the stencil was horrible As
many as fifty-two were sometimes hang
ing at once. Sometimes the remains hung
in wicker baskets or iron caskets. The
victim rode in cart to the gibbet, andwhen
the cart arrived at the foot the executioner
ascended the ladder backward, drawing
the culprit after him by means of ropes,
and on arriving at the top he quickly fast
ened two ropes the size of the little
finger, each having slip knot, around
his neck, to the arm of the gibbet, and
by jerk of the knee he turned the eul-
prit off the ladder. He still held in his
hand small rope called get, used to
pull the victim off the ladder. lie then
placed his feet on the hands of the con-
demned, and, suspending himself by his
hands to the gibbet, he finished his vic
tim by repeated jerks which completed
strangulation. Flogging was admins
tered in two ways-frst in prison, by the
hands of the jailer, and second in pub
lie. In the latter case the criminal was
stripped to the waist, and at each cross
road he received a certain number of
blows over his shoulders and back with
a cane or knotted rope. The latter was
composed of several ropes attached to
handle, and at intervals ofa few inches on
the ropes were knots which were armed
with iron prongs.
The pillory was the punishment
adopted to make criminals infamous. 1t
consisted of a scaifold or covered shed,
and was provided with chains and iron
collars. In Paris the pillory used to con-
sist of round stone tower sixty feet
high, which stood in the market place.
The tower had large openings in its
thick walls, and a horizontal wheel was
provided which could be turned on q
pivot. The wheel was filled with holes
large enough to admit of the head of
the prisoner, who on passing and repass-
ing before the crowd could be seen by
all, and was subject to their hootings,
howls and blackguardisms.
Beside these punishments some crimi-
nails were t1ayed alive, and some put into
sack and drowned by immersion.
Counterfeiters were sometimes hurled
into kettles of boiling oil or water, and
Others were branded by passing red
hot brazier before the eyes of the crimi-
nal until the scorching heat blinded
them. Thus it will be seen that the
punishments of the nineteenth century
compared with those that our ancestors
endured are mere child's play. Torture
which figured so prominently as a means
of punishment in the middle ages is now
virtually done away with. Death by the
the gallows is rarely prolonged over three
quarters of minute. In fact, in punish
ment, as in everything else, civilization
and refined sentiment have combined to
make death for the malefactor as painless
as possible. - Cincinnati Enquirer.