The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-19
ToUReUENEFF Ar AN ExEuuTIoN.
Graphic Description of Scenes Incident TO
the .GuilIotinina of Trnnpmann.


Translation in Boston Herald.
We hastened along the second corridor and
| found ourselves IN the room, whore the only
furniture was single stool. 1t was on this seat
| that the last toilet of the condemned mangwasto
| be made. AS we entered by one .deorya man in
a dress coat and white necktie came out of an
j other and advanced to meet us with o grave and
measured step. He looked like a diplomator q
/ clergyman, but he was the executioner. He
was followed by little old man in q black fraek
coat, the first assistant of nj. de Paris the exc
eutiener Of lBeauvais. This old man held in his
| hand a leather bag. Troppmann stood motion
less IN front of the stool; we had stopped at the
same time and formed Ia group around him.
| The executioner and his assistant were standing
on the right; next TO themwas the priest The
l'commandant and Claude were on the left Of the
prisoner Thesold man opened his bag with a
/ key and drew out several white straps with
buckles hesknelt down with some difficulty be-
hind Troppmannandb egan tofastenhisf The
condemned man had inxoluntafiy placed his
foot on one of the straps; the old man tried to
remove it and sthen said: Pardon me, sir,
touching Froppman on the,calf TO attract his at
tention. The prisoner turned around and with
polite nod raised his foot and let the strap 60
During this time the priest was reading in "a low
tone from prayer book in the French language.
The two other assistants of the execntionef hur-
riedly removed the sstrait-jacla took hold of
Troppmanns arms and fastened them, with the
hands crossed behind his back, and surrounded
his whole body with straps. NJ de Paris giving
4
! leftto right
AT last when this operation---during which, Il
/ confess my face was bathed in a cold perspiFa-
tlo1l--FTas completed, "a new one began. Tropp-
mann was requested to take'a seat on the stool,
and the equity old man began to cut his hair.
de first took out small pair of scissors, and,
! with many grimaces of the mouth, carefully cut
away the collar ofsthe condemned mans Shirt,
| OF that same shirt which he had just put on
with so much care and which it would have.
been SO easy to have cut previously;l
the material was thick and resisted the cutting
instrument. NJ de Paris was watching these
preparations, and he did not appear pleased the
opening WAS not large enough; he wanted the
width of his hand. The equity old1nan began
again, and cut away a aarge piece of the shirt.
The tepaofsthe back was now bare, and we could
see the shoulder blades Troppmann moved
them up and down; the room was cold. The,old
man then turned his attention to the hair. He
placed one swollen hand on the head of the
| young man, who bent forward submlssively and
cut with the other The tufts Of dark hair slip
1 ped over the shoulders and fell to the ground
one curl rolled to my feet Troppmann kept his
head bent forward resignedly. and the priest
said his prayers still mereslowly. / could not
| take my eyes off the hands of the condemned
| man; hands Redeemed with blood, and now lying
one on the other powertess Ny eyes wandered
| to the white and delicate neck, neck like that
i OF q child, and inyolupt3rlly my imagination
drew transverse line on it. There
] thought j, there in a few minutes the
heavy axe will pass tearing theyertebr;p. cutting
the muscles and nerves. This body did not seem
to wait its destiny it white, sofull of life,
and, in spite of myself, wondered what that
bent head was thinking about at that moment
] Was it thinking, with iclnched teeth mo;
will not show any weakness Perhaps it was
watching awtiflwind of insignificant souvenirs
pass through it. Perhaps it saw the eonvulsive
agony of some of the victims of the murder
about to be expiated. Perhaps that head was
saying to itself: ~This is nothing towhat we
shall see presently And it will repeat that
until death seizes upon it. The old man still
cut away; the scissors could be heard se1eripg
/ the hair; presently the old man finished, and
/ Troppmann got up and shook his head Gener-
ally at this moment the condemned men, who
are still strong enough to speak, make their last
requests to the governor of the prison give him
4 any money they may have left, asking him to
4 pay their debts; they thank their keepers, and
! request some one present to send letter or
! lock of their hair TO their families Troppmann
did not belong to this class; he disdaiAed all
such asentimentalities;7 he did not say
a word and waited witll quiet ealmness A short
jacket was thrown over his shoulders, and the
executioner took hold of the rope. Come,
Troppman," said N. Claude, in the midst of
sePulchfal silence, 1.-THE last moment has come;
in few minutes all will be finished. Do You
stil persist ia asserting that you had accom-
pliees2" EYES, sir, j persist answered Tropp-
man, and his pleasant baritone voice had not al
tered. The condemned man accompanied these
words with slight nod, as III it was with regret
thathe did not answer differently in order to
please his questioneF. We'll, let US co. said
Claude.
We went out into the large courtyard of the
prison. 1twas 6:45 o'clock; the sky was hardly
lit up a fog filed the air and veiled everything.
ThehewIing of the mob deafened as: it was an
interminable, noisy and indispensable hooting,
which fell upon rs before we had hardly crossed
the threshold. Our party had again grown
ward the gate, some remained be-
hind. l. myself as walked with the Others
felt strong inclination to do the same. Tropp-
mann advanced rapidly, dragging his feet for
the straps impeded his steps. How small lie
seemed to me, how young-almost child. All
at once, slowly, like throat spreading its jaws,
the gate opened IN front of us; cry of satisfac-
ton burst from the crowd, and the monster
which was waiting for its prey presented itself
to our sight with its two uprights and its knife
in the air. "A glacial cold penetrated us-a cold
which made me feel sick at heart-and felt my
legs giving way under me. However, / watched
TFeppmann he drew back threw back his head,
his knees gave WAY, as though he had received a
blow on the chest. He is going to faint said a
voice near me- But he at once recovered him
self and walked forward with firm step
Those who wished to see how the head would
fall preceded him, running. ] had not the
courage; my heart gave way i
stopped near the gate. / saw the ex-
ecptioner suddenly appear on the left side of
the gnillotine. i saw how 'Eroppmann, separating
from the group of invited spectators whom he
left below, went up the steps there We're ter. of
them saw how he stopped and cast a glance
backward i heard him pronounce these words:
Tell NJ. Claude saw him on the PLATFORM;
saw how Two men seized him on the right and
left as spiders seize a fly; saw how he advanced,
head foremost and how his feet moved But
then i turned away and waited; the ground
swan under me Itseelned as though had to
wait whole eternity. had had the time to
notice that ON the appearance of Troppmann the
shsut Of the crowd had burst forth Ike a bomb
then breathless silence followed. In trent of
me,stood q sentinel, a young fellow with rosy
cheeks and robust figure. ! saw that he was
staring at me with frightonad and stupid per-
plexity. and I said to myself Here is
soldier, born in some distant village, the
child of an honest family What are
they showing him hePea' At last