The bee., 1883-05-26
A CHASTITY OFFICE.
Facts OF Interest About The French HtaIs.
man.

nllus
NJ. Deib,er, the Paris eyecutioner
enjoys a sinecura. Since VI. Grew
Wa, cal ed to the presid ,ncy o, the re-
public the id sas of Victor Hugo hav
been allowed to prevail, and no exc
cutioni have taken place. NJ. Deibler
Is quiet man, impre ;sed with the
functions int.usted to him. He is of
r>tiring dispo itiUn, as if aware that
the office he holds PAGES him beyond
the pale OF ordinary men and causes
hin to be looked d,wn on by the rest
Of his fellow rsatures. No one would
think, while visiting him in his quie
home, tina; he has been the means of
hurrying hundreds into eternity, or
would re.nember how Troppman, the
mn d4rer of the Kinck family, had
bitten him to the bone VIII. n he was
assisting at the execution of one of
the most cold-blooded assassinS of
modern times The apartment he oc-
cupi is over the stable where the
guillotine i kept, packed away until il
is wanted for use, i'd those who de-
scribe their visits to the eXecutioner
and relate how he cut a truss
Of straw in two to show the
working of his instrument,
have every reason to be thank
full for well-developed imagination.
NJ. Deibler Is "a tailor by trade. and
more than one workingman in the
quarter of La Roluette has had his
clothes repaired by him. He is not a
co umunicative mai, and the id that
b ma ne will appear in print makes
him nervous, for on one or two occa-
sions he has b en- taken to task by the
Partisan journalists. who have accused
him of unnecass roughness. His
looks hardly bear out such a charge,
for there is nothing of the bully about
him, and those who meet him of a
Sunday afternoon, when he takes his
wife out for walk with him along
the bouleyards, would take him to be
al ordinary workingmal bent on en-
joyment.
There is nothing picturesque about
him. The tights and the red leather
jerkin of his predecessor are quite un-
known to him. He thinks it due to
the solemnity Of the occasion when
his services are required to wear
suit of black clothes and a stove pipe
hat. He is plain, matter-of-fact
man, none too brave. if what his wife
says is true. Custom has not hard
ened him. He Sc ms to feel the re-
sponSibility of shedding the blood of a
fellow crea. ure, more especially in
cases with prisoners like Moreau, the
herbalist of st. Dennis. who declared
at the foot of the guillotine that he
died Juno cent.
Most of those who have passed
through the hands of the present exc
cutioner have admitted their guilt. but
even so he remains gloomy and siltnt
for several days after~ ard. The gov
ernment pays him about $500 per
annum. Out of this sum he has to
provi le his assistants, and no perqui-
sites are attached to his Office. The
condemned man is brought out of La
ROquette with his coat thr ,wn over his
shoulders to hi 10 the vest and shirt,
which have been cut away, s. as not
to imp de the downward stroke of the
Enife. The ccat is removed when tn
prisoner is pushed against the plank
>which throws him forward on the
gui ,lotine, and this garment is the oily
gderdon of the elecutioner. The pris
oner Under sentence of d ath is allowed
to dispose of his prope,tf, and the body
is buried in the cl Dthes Worn on the
scaffold.-PdTij Le'ttr.