, 1888-05-17
DEATH ON THE GARROTE.
A DREADFUL PICTURE OF CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT IN SPAIN.

Suddenly the crowd halts and great
silence nails. A close carriage, with
blinds down, escorted by n picket Of civil
guards, slowly passes through the press
We can follow 1t without hurrying our
selves.
In little while the place Of execution
| appears before me, thronged with n null
titude swaying like tide, and up from
the sea Of heads energies the white mast
| Of the scaffold.
approach.
Lying upon stool, covered with q snow
| white cloth, Is the garrote itself-shim-
mering like crown of STEEL In n little
while the executioner will attach 1t to
post against which tho criminal Is to be
fastened. The final preparations con-
sumed considerable time, so that was
well able to make n leisurely examination
OF the sinister locality whittier curiosity
had drawn me for the purpose Of studying
the physiognomy Of the great pushing or
squeezing crowd As always and in all
places the women were the most numer-
Gus.
Now there Is n great movement around
the scntfold. The soldiers close their
ranks ana three men approach the scat
fold. One of them ascends IL. II is the
executloncr He is thin, low sized and
looks about 40 years old. White waiting
!or his victim he keeps walking nervously
10 and fro with his hands behind his back
snd his head down. From time to time
he stops and looks at the argolla (the
"garrotc') with II suspicious expression
OF countenance. Perhaps he is afraid of
the power of resistance possessed by the
cervical vertcbrp of Alvarez, and is there
fore afraid of losing his bounty.
THE DISMAL sCArFoLD.
Noisy as it was little while ago, the
crowd now Suddenly becomes silent.
Some women are turning pale and one
can feel that u nervous excitement weighs
upon the crowd. A low rumbling Is
heard. 1t Is the black carriage that bears
the condemned man. 1t stops at the foot
of the scaffold; and the criminal is soon
painfully climbing the twelve high steps
Of the dismal scaffold, leaning on the arm
sf priest. Another priest prccedes him,
lifting very high an immense crucifx,
coward which the condemned man strives
10 turn his terror stricken face. Alvarez
Olivia is not yet 25 years old and 1t was
believed that the savage energy he had
displayed In committing his crime, to-
gether with his vigorous youth, would
give him strength to face death. But
nothing Of the kind Is now shown by him;
and really it was too much to expect of
man who knew his fate forty eight hours
ago, and who, while listening to the fu-
! neral chants in the prison chapel, must
have beheld all kinds Of hideous visions
passing before him.
This rule Of obliging the condemned to
listen during the two nights preceding his
execution to an intermnable series Of
prayers, requiems, De Profundis chants,
altered for the repose of his soul by his
fellow criminals seems to me something
strocious; and | can see in it the last
yestige of the ferocious medi@val mysti-
cism of Spain, with all its unconscious
cruelty. AS stood on an elevation over
looking the scaffold, was able to observe
all the details of the last scene Of the
tragedy. The condemned man mechan-
icaxy yielded himself up to the executioner.
The latter sat down at the foot Of the
post, with his back to it and'then tied his
hands and feet hard and fast. He did all
this without hurrying himself in the least,
and with all the dignifed Indifference
which characterizes the Spanish function
ary in the discharge of his duty. If the
preparations had lasted even few seconds
longer | believe I should have lost my
own self control. / could hear my heart
humping in my breast, and every mo-
nient or two something like veil came
oefore my eyes.
THE IRON COLLAR.
You could not even hear whisper in
the crowd. While one of the priests
pressed crucifix to the colorlcss lips OF
the sufferer, another was murmurinL
words of consolation and hope into his
ear. But the wretched man was not
listening. His exprcssionless face had Il
Raxcn pallor, and his eyes, as they wan
lered over the ocean Of faces before him.
already seemed dim with the dullness OF
death
He started considerably when the exc
cutioner placed the iron collar about his
| neck, and | observed his mouth contract.
Then, however, II white covering thrown
( over his features hid them from further
| observation. The executioner then gave
! two or three turns of the screws connect
| ed with the instrument OF death. The
bones of the neck cracked, n long trem-
| bling ran through the whole body, the
| arms twisted outward, the legs inward.
| Alvarez Olivia was dead.
| The priests took Off their square caps, rs
| IL to salute the soul passing by, and the
exccutioncr concealed the covering that
concealed the dead mans face. That face,
| which had been so pallid IL moment before,
was now purple. The tumifled tongue
prOtruded from the mouth and the bloody
eyes had spurted out Of their sockets. The
head had fallen slightly toward the right
shoulder, and the black inter, with white
cross, that had been placed upon it, seemed
/ about to tall or.
The crowd ebbed away silently, evil
IDENTIFY much affected, while two gen
darmcs with rifles mounted guard ut the
foot OF the scaffold, where the corpse was
to remain until evening, when the corpo-
ration of female mourners would escort 1t
to the cemetery of executed criminals,
with long, piercing cries Of lancntation,
like the Yu! yul yu! of Arab women. -
New York Star.