San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-03-16
A HEADLESS WALKER.
Remarkable Incidents at Executions Re
lated by DR.. Loye.

lated by DIR. Loye.
In the second part of his interesting vol
ume, which treats of the decapitation of hui
man beings, DR.. Loye says: "What passes in
the head of a decapitated human beingl Is
there any fact in the oft repeated story that
the head lives for some moments after it has
been separated from the bodyT" And in con
nectiOn with this belief DIR. Loye quotes
terrible story told by NJ. Petitgand about an
Anamite who was beheaded by the sword in
1885, at Saigon.
The place Of execution was the Plain of
the TOmbs, vast sandy tract serving as Gem
etery to the Anamites and the Chinese. Four
Anamite pirates, taken with their arms in
their hands, were to be beheaded. The chief
of the band, man in the prime Of life-en-
ergetic, muscular, brave without boasting,
and firm to the last, had attracted my spe-
cial attention, and | decided to make my OBJ
servations on him only.
His head fell down at the distance of about
a yard and quarter from where | stood 1t
did not roll in the usual way, but stood with
the surface of the wound resting on the sand
"a position by which the hemorrhage was
accidentally reduced to minimum. At this
moment | was terror struck at seeing the
eyes of the doomed man fixed frankly on my
eyes. Not daring to believe in a conscious
manifestation, went quickly to one side of
the head lying at my feet, and | found that
the eyes followed me Then returned to my
first position, still the eyes went with me for
a short distance, and then quilted me quite
suddenly. The face expressed at that mo-
ment a conscious agony, they agony of a
person in a state of acute asphyxia The
mouth opened violently as if to take in a
breath of air, and the head, thrown off its
equilibrium by the motion, rolled over. This
contraction of the maxillary muscles was the
last sign of life. Since the moment of de-
capitation from fifteen to twenty seconds had
passed.
DR.. Loye also relates the following strange
story, taken from the archives of the Aus
trIan police Office, and relating to an execu-
ton said to have taken place in Vienna in
1850: A well known bandit named Schaven-
burg was caught, together with four of his
associates, and they were all condemned to
death. They were already on their knees,
ready to submit to their fate, when Schaven.
burg addressed the judge, asking that his
four companions might be ranged in single
file in front of him at distance of eight feet
from each other. If" he said, latter am
beheaded, get up and walk to the first of
my comrades, will you pardon hing The
judge thought he was pretty safe in comply
ing with the request. But if | walk up to
the second, the third and the fourth, will you
pardon those alsor' The judge replied that
he would obtain their pardon from the en-
perOr. The partisan was satisfied, bent his
head, received the mortal blow, and his head
rolled down; but to the great surprise of the
judge and the spectators, the body got up,
walked alone, passed the first, second, third
and fourth of the condemned men and fell
down. The occurrence was told to the en-
peror, who pardoned the four criminals
Pail Mall Gazette.