The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-04
HOW MEN have DIED
Ancient Aethods Of Putting Criminals to
Death.
Burning at the Stake, Breaking on
the Wheel. Boiling In Lard
and Other Cheerful
Methods.

venge. And revenge Is older than love
il il as old as the instinct OF self preserva-
lion.
One Of the first signs of growing c~iviliza-
ton In when the government arrogates to
itself the right Of venge and proclaims
that II alone shall have the right To punish
the criminal. The second stage In govern
mental civilization is cached when the
government punished. not In the spirit Of
evenRe, but To prevent further crime.
Horace discovered hat this would be the
true principle Of punishment, hut, to
be sure, il has been forgotten man. times
since then.
There is another point a tra~nscendental
one-at which the government strives To
prevent crime by other means than pun
ishment. That point has not yet been
cached by the United States.
Perhaps Edward Bellamy knows how il
might be reached.
II In not likely that the public will know
from well authenticated sources whether
or not the first state execution by cleo
tricity In the history Of the world was
| painless or not. The idea has been in
perfecting this machine of death, that in
electric executions will he found the most
humane, scientific, thorough and secmly
method Of capital punishment.
II Is better than being dragged AT the
tail OF a horse till life is extinct, as was
done by ancient Germans II il better than
crucifying- for crucifixion, which was
practiced by several OF the ancient Orien-
tai nations, did not produce death for
several hours, and strong men have been
known to live so long that in mercy their
executioners fastened their end.
The method Of killing by skinning alive,
by boiling in hot lard or oil. by disjoint-
ing the body on the rack, or driving
spikes into the brain, or crushing i'm an
iron frame punctured with spikes are in
ventions principally OF the church and
belong to the middle ages. So does the
hab of hanging on n limb of a tree in
vel a n as To let death occur
naturally from starvation or by letting
the crows pick out the eyes and tear the
flesh. This was a punishment not in
frequently inflicted in Spain FOR highway
robbers. In England-since il ceased To
he Britain hanging has been the favor
tie mode for exercising capital punish
ment, but il has not been the habit there.
as here, 20 reserve hanging as the punish
ment for murder. On the contrary the
stealing Of a sheep has been considered
Ivy 100 laws Of England as deserving of
hanging. Even In England the manner
of furnishing for high treason has been:
First. dragging at n horses tail along the
street from the prison to the place
of execution; second, hanging by the
neck, yet not as to entirely destroy life;
| tiiit sItuNn out anu VI tti' Ut
trails while the patient is yet alive; fourth,
b~eheading; fifth, quartcring: sixth, tx
posurc of the head and quarters in such
places as the king directs. by degrees,
however, beheading was substituted for
this elongated and ramificd punishment
in the cases Of nobly born offenders, and
hanging In the case of men Of low degree.
In short, ''simple" capital punishment
has aiken the place of 'afiiictive" punish
ment. These are the divisions made by
hat distinguished writer on human sub
jects, Jeremy Bentham. BY simple capt.
tai punishment he means that which IL
inflicted merely tn cause death, and which
does not involve any suffering beyond
that necessary to cause dissolution. by
affective capital punishment he refers Ia
penalties which are prolonged.
Perhaps the more horrible illustration
of the affective punishment is that which
has been often practiced in the West
! India Islands, aud which, Will suliicieu,
~provocation, might still he used there
/. against a person who was a slave. This
is performed by hanging the delinquent
. from "a post by means 1T n hook inserted
under his breast bone. In this manner
!, the sufferer Is prevented from doing any
, thing To assist himself. and all person.
are prohibited from relieving him, under
sever penalties. In the climate ~ IA,
| Indies his sniferings are intensified pas
expression by the frightful heat of the SUI
II, and 10y the myriads of insects which fee,
upon his lacerated flesh. Men have beer
: found OF such remarkable endurance tina
/. they have suffered this uttcrablc torment
for twelve days before death finally gave
!. relief.
. IL was at one time the habit Of the Bur
%gundians 10 smother unfaithful wives IL
, mud. from which the guess is hazardc,
y that the mud marshes Of Burgundy wer'
more extensive than those 81 this coun
Try, or else that the penalties were no
/. ts... a 4 A. MI sl.ra.ll.. ln....t..- 1911
: The Anglo-Saxon had all women win
were convicted Of stealing drowned, and
. King Richard. the Lion Hearted, mad,
+, that the legal punishment for any soldier
] who killed a fellow crusader. Criminal
e were drowned in England until the earl,
part of the seventeenth century. and IL
r Edinburgh, Scotland. II man was browne,
as late as 1911 for the STEALING of &
a lamb In other parts Of Scotland thl
custom was prevalent until 1855.
II is claimed that death by drowning !
one of the easiest, but w doubt il tn
n idea Of being sewed up in a sack am,
n thrown into the water would be agreeable
To any one, yet such was at one time tlp
nnm"rited doom OF p%aricidcs, but still
!, more revolving Is the idea Of being put un
. der hurdles into bog or ferns, which wa
= the fate reserved for the meanc- Grim
= nal AT one period IN Germany, while 4
: Ia ia" greater malcfactors was reserve,
the infinitely preferable death Of hang
ing.
y Americans have n way of looking o
such atrocities as belonging To the olde
countries exclusively. yet mo later thai
n liz four men were burned in New lor
K for murder, and sorne of the punishment
y To which the slaves Of the South wer
a subjected are equal to anything that III
r dark ages "A produce.
Y The habit. so popular among tbos
K agreeable folk the Romans, of putin
= men and women among wild beasts
one which decaycn SOONER than IL othe
D. wise would, because il grew shocking
q the feelings OF the masses. IL ceased,
n shori, To give pleasure or entertainment
u and bcsides, IL was expensive. There
is our peculiarly which can he noticed
n tile Puritan executions, aud indeed in Il
II executions Of America universally. An
that Is that while the punishment intiic