The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-09-16

has ham known Ara used sfnco befdro tlle
middle ages. Il i supposed to b Of 0iental
origin and Persian invention
There Is a third shapter 70 the dispa itching
of q criminal by public execution in France.
which cannot be very wen illustrated. After
the head falls into the basket the law re-
ouires that it and the body shall be put to-
gether and buried. That means q mock
burial The form is gone through merely.
and the bodies are instantly returned to the
Paris school of medicine for experimental
purposes. But the doctors are anxious to
get hold of the bodies at the earliest possible
moment, so they will be as near to life as
possible There Is good deal of husfling
about the burying so that the return to the
dissecting tables of that medical school
takes place sometimes before the bodies are
cold. Such form of law is very absurd. II
would be best to hand over the subjects
directly to the doctors Queer stories are
told of the medical experimentingz The
heads are stuck upon the bodies ere yet they
are cold, and the whole is electrified into a
CHASTITY semblance of life. For years the
learned have been trying whether it is not
possible really to bring dead man back tc
life Science alas can only learn the Sc
crets of life from the bodies of the dead
This last August Paris witnessed a scene
which was a surprise even for her. There
was double execution.
Two murderers in one morning were
brought to the Place de la Rouquette, out
side the prison of the condemned, and gull
lotined In Paris it Is said that criminals
are kept in ignorance of the day and hour OF
execution till the moment itself arrives.
The execution takes place between midnight
and daylight
The hole into which the condemned man
head is fastened is called the lunette or little
moon. A striking account of the recent ex-
ecutions is given in The London Telegraph
1t shows that even the French guillotine
bungles quite as much as our hangman'
rope, occasionally: Gaspard was the frs'
of the felons led to death Tall and muscu
lar, he walked firmly between two priests
whose minfstrations he had rejected until
the approach of his term
His face was pale, and his features con
tracted convulsivelv as he neared the gull
lotine. Here he stopped toward the prison
chaplain, the Able Faure. and embraced
first the priest and then a crucifx held by
the latter in his hand He was now seized
| by the executioners. his head was placed il
the lunette, and after an awkward pause
| during which Diebler seemed to have los
momentary control of his instrument, tbs
knife descended, and the headless trunk o
the criminal fell away from the bascule
The head was then put into the basket.
The guillotine was now washed, and
| everything set in order for the next execu.
ton After an interval of seventeen min
utes, during which the clamorous crow
seemed to lave lost its grotesque gayety
the doors of the prison again opened, anC
Marchandon, looking like pale boy Of II
tottered feebly out, supported by the Abb
Faure, and the other priest who had assiste,
| Gaspard.
The criminal was evidently more deac
than alive. He still wore the patent leathe
boots with pointed toe caps which he had o.
when arrested in his country house at Com
| piegne. After having convulsively EN-
braced the priests he was caught sharply b
! Diebler and thrust into the lunette. IT.
| knife again refused to work, and nearl
four seconds elapsed before it fell on th
| criminals neck. When it did so doubl
jet of blood spurted out for nearly tw
| yards, and sprinkled the adjacent ground