Wichita eagle., 1888-11-16
FRANCES HEADSMAN.
A CHAT WITH THE MAN WHO
WORKS THE GUlLLOTlNE.
Retiring Disposition Of the Public Execu-
tiooer-How He Does His Work-The
Fatal Knife-A Method Superior TO
Hanging or Electricity.


tioner-How He Does His work-The
Fatal Knife-A Method Superior TO
Hanging or Electricity.
Few people have ever seen the public exc
cutioner Of France, and it is no easy matter
TO find him, for the police refuse to give his
address, and his name is carefully omitted
from the directory. The dreaded Monsieur
| de Paris" as he Is called by the lower classes,
is, however, d. Deibler, and he rents a fat
on the second floor in O squalid little street,
| half an hours walk away from the Roquette
prison. This man, who conducts the cere-
monies in which the guillotine plays the
most important part, is a very quiet person,
of retiring disposition, who breads notoriety,
and avoids contact with his neighbors as
| much as possible There is nothing IN the
headsman's appearance nor in his home to
denote his ghastly Office.
After some difficulty your correspondent
secured the address Of II. Deibler, and found
that the headsnan was not indisposed to tell
the details of his unenviable profession. He
could not, however, be induced to exhibit,
even privately, the guillotine, which he re-
ferred to as ''the machine" He said:
THE TERRIBLE ''MACHINE"
"The machine is ready mounted for use,
and may be summoned off at any moment.
l usually get twenty-four hours notice in
/ Paris, and more than double that time for
the departments, but | must hold myself con-
stantly in readiness to start off at moments
notice. As rule. | have to spend at La
| Roquette the whole night preceding an exc
cution. A great deal has to be done in very
short time. Soon as the two black vans ar
| rive-one containing tho woods of Justice
and the other destined to convey the body Of
| the culprit to Ivry cemetery have to su-
perintend the installation of the machine,
which takes upward Of an hour. The fixing
of the knife and of the apparatus itself is an
intricate job. There must be no hitch at the
last moment The instrument is invariably
placed on five stones just outside the central
door of the Roquette prison. l accepted the
post [ now hold OF the resignation of NJ.
Heindrich, whose valet had been for several
years Until my appointment was tailor
by trade, and many a workingman in the
Roquette quarter where live has had his
clothes mended by me. But, you see, have
| risen in the world From {. member of old
clothes on my own hook 1 have got to be
first class cutter in the government establish
ment," and NJ. Deibler smiled at his rather
CHASTITY joke.
While l am fixing the machine" con-
tinued the headsman, 1.-THE Able Faure
arrives. The Able Faure enters La Ro-
quette and gives spiritual comfort to the
doomed man. After being left alone with
the chaplain for short time the culprit is
handed over to my assistant, who brings him
from his cell down the stone stairway which
TO fha no y,,.;co To-
on earth before reaching the machine
where he is seated on wooden stool, and his
toilet begins. This doesn't take much time,
for his hair and beard were clipped on enter
ing the prison.
THE FATAL KNIFE
"The man is pinioned, his shirt stripped of
its collar, and he then goes forth to his death
by the central door, when he is strapped to
the fatal plank, which, topping over, brings
his neck into the half circular portion of
ring that secure before springing the knife.
Soon as | touch a button in one of the up
right posts the knife falls and the head Is re-
ceived in a tin vessel containing sawdust.
The body is unstrapped, put into coffin,
with the culprit's head between his legs, and
the remains are then driven of to Ivry ceme-
terry, where they are buried"
Does Life endure any time after the head
is severedl
NO, | think not" the executioner replied,
refectively. "The great loss Of blood pro-
duces syncope Besides'-
Hero NJ. Deibler went out of the room and
brought in large black leather box, which
he placed on the table. On raising the lid
there appeared the bright steel knife of
oblique shape which is fixed to the cross
beam of the guillotine at each execution, and
which NJ Deibler carefully watches over and
cleans at home. He took it out of its soft
red lining the other afternoon, strcked it
with his hand as if to brush the dust off its
highly polished surface, and, turning it over,
said:
There; look at the back Of this knife 1t
is heavily weighted, you gee, to make it fall
swiftly and with tremendous force when I
touch the spring Nov, this is the reason
why | think that all consciousness departs
from the brain OF man after the fall of the
head 1.-THE same instant that the neck is
severed by the blade, the weighty portion
strikes SO fearful a blow ON the occiput that
the cheek is often bruised from the fall of the
head into the tin vessel containing the saw
dust. Yet the head is only raised few inches
above the tin vessel which receives it. Such
a blow Is, in my opinion, sufficient to drive
out any ray Of memory, reflection or real
sensibility that may linger, after the decapi-
tation, in the brain of the most obdurate,
bull headed criminal"
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
Are you in favor Of capital punishmentr'
''Such q question should not be put to me
My business is to carry out the sentence Of
the law, without inquiring whether the law
is right or wrong. Custom has not hard
ened me to such an extent that am unable
to distinguish, however, between one cT'ini-
nal and another. | feel the responsibility Of
shedding the blood Of fellow creature Us
acutely now as did the first time, when the
Paris journalists said l had lost my head as
well as the man had executed. l feel that
responsibility especially in cases with prison
ers like MORGAN, the herbalist Of Saint Denis,