The record-union., 1891-11-27
EXECUTION OF DAHIENS.
Fate of the Man Who Attempted
to Kill Louis XIV.
Four Strong Horses Try to Tear Him
Apart for an Hour Before the King
Allowed the Muscles at the Joints
to be Cut.
to be Cut.

carnage q stout man, dressed III DldcA,
pushed aside the officar in attendance,
came up to the King, put his hand on his
shoulder and gave him a stab IN the side
with pocket-knife. The man made no
attempt to escape. The King, feeling
himself wounded, cried out:
81 am assassinated! There is the man;
arrest him and do him no harm"
The man was Immediately taken, and
made no resistance. The King walked
up stairs to room and the wound, which
was exceedingly slight, was Immediately
dressed. In the pockets of the prisoner
We're found thirty louis-d; ;ors some silver
money and a well-bound copy of the
Bible.
The CONSERVATION and horror which
this event excited in France it is difficult
to describe. All the princes and mobiles
hurried to the palace, as the memoir tells
as. 'in tears.' The King himself was
thoroughly panic-stricken. lie twice
confessed himself that night, appointed
his son to govern the kingdom and made
a discourse to his family which, we are
informed, was very touching" No one
was allowed to leave the city, and, in
Short the whole kingdom was in fer
ment.
Meanwhile the assassin, as he was
called, was undergoing examination. He
was taken into the room of the palace APP
propriated to the Kings body guard,
where he was made to drink mixture
to counteract the poison which, 1t was
thought, he might have taken. The
soldiers then stripped him naked and
took an inventory of all he had upon
him. An officer Of high rank ordered
the soldiers to heat the tongs red hot and
burn the legs OF the poor wretch, which
was done to the great satisfaction of all
beholders. He was so severely burned
that he was sufferer thenceforth as long
as he was permitted to live. 1t was even
proposed in the guardroom to heat the
fireplace with tagotS and burn him upon
the spot: and this would certainly have
been attempted but for the interposition
OF civilian who was present. He was
dressed at length and conveyed to prison,
where he was guarded by fifty grena-
dierS, four SergeantS remaining in his
room, day and night. he expressed a
desire to write letter to the King, and,
writing materials being furnished him,
he produced the following letter:
Sire: I am sorry to have had the misfor-
tune 10 approach you; but II you do not take
the part of your people, before many years
have passed away you and your son and some
others VIII perish. 1t would be pity that SO
good Il prince, by an exc SSlVe regard for the
! Eests, to whom he gives all confidence,
,
not the goodness to remedy that speed ly very
great miSfortunes will happen, ana yC ur
kingdo n i,Sef will no. be ne. N oetura'ely
for yoI your subjects nave discard you, for
thus affair i wholly q their dOins; and if you
VIII not be 50 good, fJr your people SAKE, TO
order the p i6s,s to give the Sacran6 ntS TO the
diving, wuIcl nave been refused Ie emily by
yolr orders, l repeat TO You that your lie is
not safe. and this l tell you upon trustworthy
authority, and l send you the information by
the bearer OF this letter, in whom L have the
utmost confidence.
The Archbishop Of Paris is the cause of all
the trouble, by I'll; retus al of amen,s t.
tue dying ter The cruel crime which have
Committed against your sacred person, the
sic IRE avowal which take the liberty to OF
fer you makes me Eooe Tor clemency from
your maiestyis goodness. DAMiENS.
L. 81 forgot t. have the honor of repre-
sent ne to AOIr majesty that. nOtWithStand-
ing tae orders you gave Chat no harm 81 o i'd
be cone 10 me- Monsigneur, the Guard Of the
Seals, madea pair OF tongs hot n the guard
room, held ne himself an1 ordered two sol
diers 10 bl rh my legs, which W. done, and
he prom S ID to reWi,ft them. lie fGrther or
dered the guard 10 bring some tagots I'd to
put hem On the file in order to burn me N il;
and b 1T for Monsieur lie Cerc. who hin0ered
them from executing their design, / should
not have been able To have the honor to give
you this account of it. DAMIENS.
The reader might infer from this letter
alone that this poor Robert Peter Dami-
ems was half-witted fanatic. but his sub
sequent examination demonstrated the
years agitated by the controversy to
which Damiens alludes in his letter.
Supported by the royal authority, the
Archbishop of Paris went so far as to
deny absolution and the last Offices of the
church to dying persons unless they had
previously declared their adherence to
that side of the dispute which the court
and church adopted. .Damiens, who had
been for many years a servant in noble
families, was extremely religious, and
the idea of the last sacrament being re-
fused to the dying excited IN his mind so
profound horror that it deprived him of
the little sense nature had given him. 1t
is highly probable, what he constantly
asserted, that his intention had not been
10 kill, but to warn the King, and, in
deed the instrument he had used could
hardly have given fatal stroke except
in the hands of a surgeon. The man was
an object of compassion, and should have
been put in an insane asylum and hu-
namely cared for. Let us see how the
France of 1857 treated him.
In the first place they arrested all his
relations who could be found in France
his wife, who was cook; his daughter,
who was apprenticed to a seamstress; his
brother. who was also q servant; his
brothers. wife. cook in another house: his
brothers daughter, a pretty sewing-girl
of l6. These were all examined and re-
examined, but they knew nothing of his
crime.
After a long trial, in which nothing of
importance was discovered, the 2Sth of
March was appointed as the day for his
torture and execution. The princes of
the blood and the dukes of the kingdom
demanded to be present when the torture
was applied. This, however, was refused
on the morning of the day named, he
was taken to the torture chamber and
subjected TO the greatest amount of
danger of dying. AS a writer observes ::
The wedges used in compressing his
legs We're inserted at intervals, so as not
TO fatigue him; and, if he appeared on the
point of swooning, the wedge was re-
moved and reinserted after time.''
Damiens constantly asserted that he
had no accomphces.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, escorted
by several regiments of guards, he was
conveyed toward the scaffold. but by
ways so circuitous and with so many
pauses that he was an hour and a half in
reaching 1t. When at length he did ar
rive there was another delay OF half an
hour, during which he sat in full view OF
the preparations for his execution. At 5
O'Clock, in the presence OF a countless
multitude. many of whom were women,
and some of high rank, he was bound
upon a solid table. First, his right
hand, with which he had struck
the King. was burned off; next
masses of flesh were torn from him by
red-hot pineers, and melted lead and
rosin poured into the wounds: lastly, q
strong horse was attached to each of his
four limbs, and an attempt was made in
this way to tear him to pieces. After a
considerable period it was found impos-
Slble to do this, and a message was sent
for permission to cut the muscles of the
joints, to facilitate the execution of this
part of the sentence. This was refused.
and the attempt was renewed, and was
again unsuccessful. A second time word