Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-03-27
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
VARIOUS METHODS OF EXECUTION
PRACTICEO IN THE WORLD.

PRACTlCEO IN THE WORLD.
A SERIOUS Matter OF Consideration for
Lrwgivers--The Cuiilotine, the GarrOte.
tho GnIIows and the Gun--siIent Death
by Electricity.
The execution of malefactors has been Il
| serious matter of consideration for lawgfvers
| In ali nations and in all times. The more
| barharous the people the more barharous the
method Torture was considered a wise ad.
| junct to capital punishment for centuries.
| The rack, the caullron, the gridiron, the
scavcnscrs daughter, the pincers, iron mask
| ard scOurgo were employed. Breaking one
| OF. the wheel was popular for long time
| the fclon being fastened, with his arms and
| lees apart, to n huge wheel, his bones were
| broken by blows from an iron bar Male
| factors wcrc torn asunder by teams of horses,
| they wore burned at the stake, hanged, drawn
| and quartcred, fllyed alive, boiled, broiled
aud roasted, served up to death in a thousand
ways, each Us revolving and terrible as
skilled ingenuity could devise,
Torture is no longer employed, but a means
which shall be swift and as nearly as possible
painless, is employed. In Franco the guillo-
tlic, III Illt III
the United States the gallows-t allitera-
tions menace the malefactor. A fourth,
| the gun, is used in military executions.
| The guillotine was designed as labor
saving machine during the Reign of Terror
| by Dr. Guillotine, who was n member of the
| Constituent assembly in 1883. There We're
too many heads to be removed by the over
worked public executioner, and this device
/ resulted.
| The apparatus is very simple Between
| two uprights slides n triangular knife,
| weighted at the upper edge. 1t is held in
position by a catch. The victim is laid upon
a sliding or tilting board, securely strapped
and placed face downward, with his neck in
line with the groove. a narrow board, with
a semi-circular notch, slides down and secures
| him, then the trigger is sprung and the
| descending knife does the work. Death is
| necessarily instantaneous.
| | saw an execution by the guillotine in
| Marseilles some years ago. The victim was a
young Italian, IL wife murderer was sum
| moned to be at the Jail at daybreak In
| France the condemned fclon does not know
the day nor the hour appointed. This man
was aroused from sleep, pinioned, half
dragged, half pushed shreking and moan
| ing, into the yard, bound to the fitting plank
thrust forward and killed-all in four min
little tremor of the limbs, one ccnvulsive
| movement of the eyelids In ten minutes
| from tho time the man had been aroused
| from his sleep the executioner was taking
| the apparatus of death apart.
Behcading by the sword has been favorite
| method in almost all countries. | saw a
| head struck OF by the two handed sword in a
| village near Nagasnki, Japan. Both the exc
| cutionCr and his victim were deliberate and
| cool. The latter inelt and bowed his head
| Tho former drew his long and glitteIng
| weapon, keen as II razor, wiped it with q hit
OF guudy silk, took his stand raised the
sword, and with quick drawing stroke
severed the head, giving vent to a loud,
| kissing aspirate as he did So The point of
the weapon did not reach the ground The
eXecutioner then removed the stains with
some pieces of tissue paper wiped the blsdo
again with the silk, sheathed it and strobe
proudly away, followed By yenvious eyes The
oifonicr had, 1 believe testified falsely in an
examination by the tax collector.
Tho gaIrote is worse to my notion than
the guillotine, though but little blood is shed.
The ielon sits in a chair To stout post be-
hind him are affixed two clasps of iron,
which when joined encrcle his neck
Through the post and the back of the collar
passes "A screw. When this is turned by the
eXecutioncr the collar is frightened, and an
iron wedge enters the neck at the base of the
brain, dislocating the axis, piercing the spi-
nal cord and producing instant death. / saw
brigand thus killed at Valcenia There was
no cap over the face. When the fatal mo
ment came heard, or fancied | heard, tho
snap of tho bone, and the contortion of the
face was ghastly. The head fell forward and
the criminal was dead, but the grisly horror
of the manner of his taking off haunted me
for years
Elactricity is the swiftest and most certain
of all possible means by which death may be
Inflicted. Ninety five feet second is the es-
Nmated speed of nerve sensbility. Electric
ity travels 10000 miles in like space Of
time The brain is paralyzed before it can
feel the shock, the victim of the current
passes from life to death without knowing
the blow Obviously, there is a twofold gain
in this method. First, it entirely prevents a
mishap. The current passes when the fatal
joining of the wires occurs, and death is
given. The distant dynamo gives no sound
the condemned man may hear. He is led to
chair and seated One metallic conductor
is placed against the nape of the neck, salt
water being applied to the hair to enable it
10 transmit the current. The other conduc-
tor is placed on top of tho head, the hair
being wet, or on either temple or both. The
connection is then made, and the man is dead
on the instant.
To send the current from head to foot, as
proposed, is obviously bad method. A pow
erful convulsion would inevitably result; the
muscles would still be in action after death
Passed through the brain, the full effect on
the life centers would be felt and no convul-
sion would follow To have this occur at the
state prison is an eminently good feature.
There it fifty belongs, and the rigid discipline
of such institutions would prevent the influx
of visitors common to city prisons Besides,
the moral effect upon the other convicts would
be good.
To have the day and the hour concealed
frcm the dead man would rob his last days
of the melodramatic interest they possess for
his fellows in crime and make the fate more
terrible There would he no halo about the
head of felon who journeys to state prison
merely to be hurled Oh some unspeciied day
and unknown hour by a swift and silent agent
out from the world he has offended No
boasts of dying game" no incidents of his
last day and lnst hOurs-nothing but his
being swallowed up living by the grim walls
Of the penitentiary and cast forth again,
some day dead. New York World.
GOtham's Hebrew Clubmen.
The Hebrew clubmen of New York city
are as distinct in their club life from Ameri-
cnu or English clubmen as New ENGLAND