The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-04-11

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 to
hurl them from the Tarpeiean Rock
But even in their methods the old
Saxons could give them pointer in
wholesale butchery. One of the favor
ite methods of our dear old barbaric
forefathers in disposing of their
prisoners of war was to sacrifice them
to their gods in the Wicker Image,
| which is described as "a statue or
image of man in a vast proportion,
whose limbs consisted of twigs weayed
! together in the nature of basket-ware;
these were filed with live men and
after that set on fire, and so the poor
creatures were destroyed in ye smoak
and flames"
| The cruelties of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries were terrible, and
in the torture chambers the instru-
ments used were surely the devices of
hell. The torture instruments in the
Tower of London form loathsome col
lection. There is the trough in which
the victim was wracked to confession,
the iron necklace, the ''Scavenger's
daughter, which consisted of irons
for the neck, hands and feet, thumb
screws, an axe and hook for the tear
ing away of flesh; then the execution
er's block and hatchet and mask in use
at the final ceremonies.
In forty years, from 1920 to 1866, the
judges of the city of Leipsic condemned
at least twenty thousand people to tor
ture and death. A refinement of cruelty
was that committed by the Dutch on
the English in Amboyna, where the
victims arms were nailed to the upper
beam of doorway, his feet tied to the
sides, underneath his soles were placed
lighted candles, torches were applied
to his arm-pits, and then after band
age had been placed about his chin,
beer was poured into his mouth and he
was compelled to swallow it until he
was as full-bodied as an ordinary Dutch
burgomaster. The idea that the poor
wretch was filed with beer may be
secuted, unless it were stale and un-
drinkable. Anyway, it was q terrible
punishment for any Briton who had
not been a Heidelberg student
The French method of executing
criminals is by means of the guillotine,
the invention of certain DIR. Guillotin.
The doctors invention has been made
the subject of a painting by Canot, a
, pupil of David, who in his master S
studio had become acquainted with
Talma, Danton, Robespierre, Marat
and Guillotin himself The picture
represents Guillotin showing the mode
of his death-dealing machine to the
| Convention, which adopted it in place
! of beheading by the axe. The first tria'
. was given to it on April %. 1892, wheT
. a dead body was decapitated success
: fully. The French excutioner is styled
+ Monsieur de Paris" who, when hi:
+ attendants fasten the wretch to the
, fatal board of the guillotine, whispers
i, in the suavest manner: Courage, my
a friend, it will not hurt you much,"
: The fate of some regicides is no
a pleasant to contemplate Respecting
e the death of Damiens, who attempted
e the life of Louis XIV, of France, an ole
+ chronicler says: 81 can scarce guide my
: pen to tell you what that insane ant
s wretched mortal endured before a:
n | well as on the day of the execution.
n will pass over the triiing tortures ht
. was put to in private and come to the
a day of his public sufferings, first desir
| ing the reader to lay down this paper
| if he be not well prepared to hear re
: lated the sa1dest tale of truth that ever
\ pen or press produced" 1t can bt
, imagined that the horrors were some
t thing frightful, when it is said thai
, even four wild horses driven to -four
contrary points did not free the victim
! from his sufferings. The old chroniclel
4 says of this execution: at was OBJ
| served that during that last and terri
flying operation all the mems head:
: were turned away from the horrid
l sight, but all the women's immovably
fixed on the criminal. Louis XIV. was
0 a man of perfect good temper, there
5 fore 1 hope and believe the suffering,
|. of the assassin arose from the love O
s his subjects, otherwise would prefer
1 being the departed shade of Damien.
Q to that of King of France"
a And the story OF horrors is not ye
e fully described; in fact. much of i
n would be too horrifying for perusa
. nowadays. Some popular ancient meth
DDS ofslaying criminals were the crush
It ing of their bones by having spiked
g roller dragged over them by horses O
e by means of sharp spiked harrow
J. dragged by spirited steeds. the placin,
d of thorns upon the victims body ant
s then letting a huge stone fall upol
:, them. A favorite method practiced il
d India up to a recent date was the EN-
r ployment of elephants as execationers
either by trampling the victims to deatl
q or by having the huge creature do 1t a