The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-02-09
INSTRUMENTS OF DEATH.
Varied Methods of Taking Human
Life Past and Present.
Executions by Means of Electricity the
Most Humane of Many Curious Inven-
e.. tombstone of the Inhuman Tor
turcB of Past Ages.

The employment of the electric cur
rent for inflicting the death penalty
upon condemned murderers marks
another step of progress In the refine
ment of the methods of capital punish
ment. And yet, if twenty condemned
criminals were asked to-day what
mode of death they would prefer, it is
not too much to say that all would vote
in favor of the past system of hanging,
because the dread OF death by electric
ity, which is so mysterious in its work.
is terrible in anticipatiOn-and il is in
anticipation of death that the punish
ment of criminals is mysteriously en-
phasized.
Death by electricity will probably
prove entirely painless. Thus the con-
demned felon of to-day finds far less
terrible revenge awaiting him at the
hands of the law than did the criminal
Of past generations. The story of the
fortunes undergone by convicted men
in olden times is almost revolving to
contemplate, and yet the barbaric in
genuity displayed by the official tor
mentors is interesting in view of the
recent change in the method Of infict-
ing the death penalty.
For the most inhuman and cruel
deaths we have to go to-day to Central
Asia, where the victim is bnried in the
earth up to his shoulders and there
left miserably to die. Still more bar
barrie in cruelty were the executions of
the past, done in the torture-rooms Of
the prisons, where judges sought to
press avowals by the most inhuman
means. One of the best known of the
medieval methods OF execution, per-
haps is the so-called Iron Virgin, a
model OF which may still be seen in the
great museum of Nuremberg. There
were many forms of this dreadful in
vention. One was figure of the Vir-
gin which ciasped its victims in arms
furnished with poignards and then
opening them dropped the body down
u trap on sort of cradle of swords,
arranged 80 as to cut it to pieces, a
running stream below clearing all
traces OF it away.
The model now preserved in Nurem-
berg represents a Nuremberg maiden
of the sixteeeth century in the long
mantel generally worn. The front OF
the figure is provided with opening
doors. and then it is seen that the in
side Of the Internal thing is provided
with sharp iron spikes, which, when
the victim was placed within. pierced
every portion of the wretch's body.
The machine is said to have been in
PRODUCED into Nuremberg in 1888 and
believed to have originated in Spain,
and to have been transplanted into
Germany during the reign of Charles
", who was monarch of both countries.
Verestchagin, the Russian artist, has
three striking pictures of ancient and
modern methods of executions. These
are the shooting of mutineers in India
by the British from the mouth Of the
cannon, the hanging OF Nihilists in
Russia and crucifXion among the Jews.
In regard to the latter, it may be noted
that the crucifXion applied to Christ
was one of the similar modes of putting
to death by the Romans. There were
crucifxions in all possible imaginings.
In some cases the victim was suspended
head downward, and in others the cross
was made in the shape of the letter y,
and on this the wretches were stretched
out till death released them from their
agony.
The Romans displayed, indeed. a
surprising degree of inventive genius
in their machines for the iniliction OIL
torture, though the rope, the lever,
the crank and the pulley were the
great motors in all cases. One of their
refnements of cruelty was to faster
the victim firmly by his hands to the
ground, and then, by means of wind.
lass worked by long arms and strong
men, pull the wretch's limbs out Of
joint by attaching rope to his feet
and lengthening him out gradually
till something gave way. Another
method, for political criminals was tC
hml them from the Tarpeiean Rock