The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-12-07
TERRIFIC ToRTuRES.


Talk about the severity of the punishment
nowadays. They are nothing, says the Gin
cinnati Enquirer, to what they were in the
middle ages, when there were, according to
the learned writer on criminal cases, Josse
DamhOndere, thirteen different ways 4
which the executioner could infllct punish
ment. They were fire, the sword, mechani.
cal force, quartering, the wheel, the fork, the
gibbet, drawing, spiking, cutting of the ears
dismembering, fogging, or beating, and the
pzlory. N-- .r. --.-.-- a
THE TORTURE BY FIRE
was horrible, and was managed by the exc.
cutloners with devilshness and malgnity
that was as comprehensive as 1t was pointed
The victim to be burned was dressed In q
shirt smeared with sulphur, having been
stripped of all his other clothes. A stake
was driven into the spot where the burning
was to take place, and alternate layers OF
straw and wood were piled up to about the
height ofa man. There was narrow open.
ing leading TO the stake, to which the victim
was led, and then this passage way was filled
up with straw, so that the victim, securely
bound to the stake by chains, was COM
pletely surrounded by the combustibles.
The living we're not always burned to death,
but frequently the party was first strangled,
and at other times large iron pike or bar
was so arranged as to fall upon and kill him
before the burning began. The bodies OF
those who died natural death were burned,
and if after persons burial his guilt was
proved, his bones were disinterred and car
ried to the stake for burning. Fire was
the punishment in cases of heresy or bias
phemy.
DEATH BY pECAPITATIoN
used to be performed by eithera two-handed
sword or all AK. The victim was allowed to
choose whether he would have his eyes
biudfolded or not, and the skill of the exc
cutioner was usually so great that the head
came off at a single blow. Not always,
bungling body. chopper whacked away II
times at the head Of the unfortunate victim.
The party sometimes knelt, placing his head
on the block, and at other times knelt in an
upright position. An old cut representing
the decapitation of Guillaume de Pommiers
and his confessor, at Bordeaux, in 1877, as
recorded in Frossart's chronicles, represents
headless body lying beneath the scaffold,
the head a few feet off, while on the scafiold
is the executioner, with a long sword grasped
by both hands uplifted, about to descend ON
the neck of kneeling victim, on whose face
was depicted pain and anguish, while about
the scaffold are gaping, grievIng crowd of
spectators and dogs. The executioner was
not always held IN the odium that attaches
to the Marwoods, Jack Ketches and Calcrafts
of modern times. In France, Italy and
Spsf.s certain amount of odium attaches
TO them, but In Germany successfully carry
ing out q number Of sentences was rewarded
by titles and the privileges of nobility. In
Franconia the last councillor to get married
was executioner. In France he possessed
certain privileges, such as the right to have
all the grain he could take hold of and hold
In his hands, besides the right to collect toll
of foreign traders and boats arriving with
fish. Under the head of mechanical force
the "malden" may be described. 1t existed
in Scotland as early as the 10Th century, and
Eoglish historians relate that Lord Morton,
regent of Scotland during the minority of
James VI, had 1t constructed after model
of Yorkshire machine. This machine was
much like the guillotine, yet 1t preceded 1t
by several centuries. IL was, perhaps, In.
vented to facilitate executions, and possibly
alleviate the sufferings of the victims. But
sentiments of this sort could not have actua-
ted the judges of the middle ages to any
great extent, for their regard for deoency
was entirely limited, as we read of a woman
named Peretto, in 14OO, accused of theft and
receiving stolen goods, being buried alive.
QUARTERING
was probably The most horrible death penalty
ever concocted by the cevilish ingenuity of
the judges. It is of very ancient origin,
though in modern times it has only been in
ficted on regicides, who are looked upon as
committing the worst Of crimes. As sort
of salad for this punishment the victim un-
derwent preliminary tortures, such as having
bis right hand cut off and the mutilated
stump burned In a pot of sulphur. Then
again, his ar, Z, thighs or breast were lacera-
ted with red-hot pincers, and hot oil, pitch
or moulten lead poured into the wounds.
After these prelminaries a rope was at
tached to each limb of the criminal, one
being bound around each leg from the foot
to the knee, and around each arm from the
wrist to the elbow. These ropes were then
attached 10 four bars, to each of which a
stout horse was harnessed. The horses first
gave short jerks, and when the unfortunate
man shouted in agony, feeling his limbs dis
located without being broken, the four
horses we're suddenly whipped up and urged
In different directions. If the tendoHs, mus
cles and ligaments still resisted the power of
the horses, the executioner cut the joints
with q hatchet. This performance some.
times lasted several hours, aud when the
limbs were all pulled apart they were col
lected and placed near the trunk and burned.
Sometimes the sentence read that the limbs
should be rent to the four quarters of the
In which case each was separately
labeled and dispatched.
THE WHEEL,
which does not date back further than the
days Of Francis T., is thus described: The
victim was first tied on his back to two
joists, forming st. Andrews cross, each Of
bis limbs being stretched out. Two places
were followed out under each limb about
foot apart, In order that the joints alone
might not touch the wood. The executioner
then dealt heavy blow over each hollow
with a square iron bar about two inches
broad and round at the handle, thus break
Ing each limb In two places. To the eighth
blow required for this the executioner gen.
orally added two or three on the chest, which
was calle the coupe de grace, and which
ended this horrible torture. Amer death the
broken body was placed on wheel which
revolved on pivot. Sometimes the victim
was strangled first, In which case i. was
called garroting. The nobility Of Spain are
.hus executed. The criminal sits on chair,
bis neck In an iron collar, and his head
agaiusta beam. The executioner turns .
'crew and the spinal columa Is dislocated,
md death Is speedy.
The modern gallows Is BY no manner Of