Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-02-07
EXECUTION OF EDWARDS.

Are They HypnOtized by Sight of the GallOw!
When They Seem to Meet Death Bravely?
! The composure of Prado, who was
guIlotined in Paris a few days ago fol
murder, was so complete thai the state
ment was made that "the sight of the
guiliotine seemed TO hypnOtize him." This
is a suggestion which the st. Louis Re
public thinks may account for occurrences
that have been attributed to other infiu-
ences, or for which the cause could not be
ascertained.
Why is it that nearly all murderers
meet death with apparent tranquility
IL Is not because they want to die or
even become reconciled to death, for as
long as there is any Ioophole or chance of
law through which they might escape
they never want to give up tho fight in
the courts. Nor do they ever, until the
last moment, give up the hope of pardon,
or reprIeve. To meet a violent death
calmly is esteemed the bravest act of a
| hero. But the hero who thus dies does
not develop sudden fortitude; he sum
moLs the fOrtitude that has always dis
| tinguished him. Murat, standing before
| the ready guns of the detachment of
| soldiers, and Andre with the rope around
his neck, exhibited courage and coolp ess
| that had always marked their character.
The ambition that made them risk their
lives might make them wish to die in a
manner to sustain their reputation for
| bravery.
But base assassin, who has no good
or glorious name to leave behind him,
who, IN life, is a sneakiDg coward with
not sufficient pride TO conceal his cow
ardlce even from his associates, who
tremoles when arrested, blanches and
reels when sentenced, and cringingiy
pleas for pardon, and at the last begs
Cor only few days more of life; how
comes it that he generally walks TO the
| gallows and swings off without sign of
! fear. It is not hravado, for the braggart
always Hinches when an ordeal comes.
1t Is not spirit of resignation, for he is
| never resigned to his fate until he faces
| the scafold. 1t it not despair, for that
always shows itself through the window
of the face. It is not an application to
self of the brutality that inspired the
! crime, for they are all DESTROYS that the
rope shall be properly adjusted and the
death quick, with as little pain as pos
! sibIe.
May it not be that, when the generally
low intelligence and dull comprehension
Of the murderer does grasp the Thoughts
of certainty of death, all voluntary
| thought is excluded and the one idea has
supreme control? May it not be in this
condition, with the impelling aggregate
force of all the thought of all the speota-
tors urging him on, that he feels himself
irresistibly drawn forward by the terrible
| sight of the scaffold, and, so hypnotized,
| is no longer himself, but only the yield
ing subject of transmitted mental i'm
pulse. The hypnotized subject on the
lecr Gre platform will eat salt, thinking it
| is sugar, and fan himself while he sits
upon block of ice. Possibly the eager
and brutal JOY of the spectators over the
opportunity to soc fellow man suffer a
violent death finds lodgment in this hyp-
Noticed subject, and urges him on in a
sort of transmitted ecstacy that, through
the absence OF emotion has the semblance
of courage. The ignorant and brutal
murderer, who SO often has the reputa-
ton of having 'oied game" possibly has
no more consciousness of exhibiting
game qualities than blind man has inten
ton of showing his recklessness when he
accidentally stumbles down an open cellar
door,