The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-19
ryECUTION OF DAMIENS.
uv7L END OF TIE MAN VIVID
raIED TO KILL A KING.

be Cut.
From, the Net0 York Ledger.
Nm Wednesday afternoon. Jan. 5, 1857.
ris XIV. King Of France, descended to
,orriave st Versailles palace, aad as he
- sbout to ges into his carriage a stout
- dressed in black, pushed aside the Of
| 80 in attendance. came up to the king,
y, his hand on his shoulder and gave him
.,oh in the side with a pocket~knife. The
AN made no attempt to escape. The king.
4 ling himself wounded. cried out:
81 am assassinatedl There is the man;
.-rsst him and do him no harmr
Tlh man was Immediately taken. and
-.ds no resistance. The king walked up
..sirs to a room, and the wound, which was
"~ooed,nely slight, was Immediately dressed.
e The pocket OF the prisoner were found
~ iouls-d'ors, some sl- or money and a we'll
hound copy Of the Bible.
The CONSERVATION and horror which this
want excited in France it is difficult to de-
errihe. All the princes and mobiles hurried
- The palace, as the memoir tells us, "in
,ssrsn The king himself was thoroughly
rsnic stricken. He twice confessed himself
hat night, appointed his son to govern the
Sjngdom, and made discourse to his fam
AZ Hhich. we are informed, was Every touch
;ngn No one was allowed to leave the city,
and in short, the whole kingdom was in a
fsrment.
Meanwhile the assassin, as he was called,
uss undergoing examination. He was taken
into the room of the palace appropriated to
the kings body guard. where he was made
todrlnk mixture to counteract the poison,
which. it was thought, he might have taken.
The soldiers then stripped him naked and
took an inventory Of all that 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
10 the great satisfaction of all beholders
He was so severely burned that he was a
sufferer thenceforth as long as he was per-
nitted to live.
1t was even proposed in the guard room
10 heat the fireplace with faggots and burn
him on the spot; and this would certainly
have been attempted but for the interposi-
ton Of Il civilian who was present. He was
dressed at length and conveyed to prison,
where he was guarded by fifty grenadiers,
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 fol-
lowing letter:
"SIRE-I am very sorry TO have had the
misfortune to approach you, but If you do
not take the part OF your people, before
many years have passed away you and your
son and some others will perish. 1t would
be pity that so good prince, by an ex-
cessive regard for the priests, to whom he
gives all his confidence should not be sure
Of bis life aud If you have not the goodness
TO remedy that speedily very great misfort-
une will happen, and your kingdom itself
IN L. TT~E II. f.
your subjects have discarded you, for this
affair is wholly OF their doing, and il you
will not be so good, for your peoples sake
to order the priests TO give the sacraments
to the dying, which have been refused
recently bv your orders, repeat to you
that your life Is not safe, and this tell you
upon trustworthy authority, aud l send
you the information by the bearer Of this
letter, in whom l have the utmost con-
fdence.
The Archbishop of Paris is the cause of
all the trouble, by his refusal Of the sacra-
ments to the dying. After the cruel crime
person, the sincere avowal which take the
liberty to offer you, makes me hope for
clemency for your naajesty's goodness.
DAMIENS."
"P. ST. forgot to have the honor of rep
resenting to your majesty that, notwith-
standing the orders which you gave that
no harm should be done me, Monseigneur,
the guard Of the seals, made pair of tongs
hot Ia the guard room, held me himself,
and ordered two soldiers to burn my legs,
which was done, and he promised to reward
them. He further ordered the guaros to
bring some faggots and put them on the
fire, in order to burn me in it, and but for
Monster LIE Clerk, who hindered them from
executing their design. should not have
been able 10 have the honor to give you this
account of it. DANIENS.n
The reader might infer from this letter
alone that this poor Robert Peter Damiens
was a balf-witted fanatic, but his subse-
quent examination demonstrated the fact.
Religious France had been for some years
ngitated by the controversy to which Da-
miens alluded 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 per-
soys unless they had previously declared
their adherence to that side of the dispute
which the court and church adopted. Da~
mlens, who had been for many years SER
want in noble families, was extremely re-
igious, and the idea of the last sacrament
being refused to the dying excited in his
mind so profound horror that it deprived
MIN OF the little sense nature had given
him.
1t is highly probable, what he constantly
asserted, that his intention had been. not to
kill, but to warn the king; and, indeed, the
instrument he had used could hardly have
given fatal stroke except in the hands of a
surgeon. The man vas an object of compass
SloL, and should have been put in an insane
asylum and humanely cared for. Let US see
now the France of 1857 treated him.
i, IN the first place, they arrested all his re-
latlons who could be found in France-his
WIFE, who was cook his daughter, appren-
uced to seamstress; his brother, who was
also a servant; his brothers wife, cook in
another house; his brothers daughter, a
pretty sewing-girl OF 16. These were all ex-
ahmed and re-examined, but they knew
nothing of his crime.
. AFTER long trial, In which nothing Of
Importance was discovered, March 20 was
appointed as the day for his torture and
execution. The princes Of the blood and
tne dukes OF the kingdom demanded to be
present when the torture was applied.
i thlS, however, was refused. On the morn
ing OF the day named he was taken to the
s oIVure chamber and subjected to the great
SsV amount anguish " hich he could en-
oSre without danger of dying. AS writer
The wedges used in COMPRISING his legs
Yer, ~ere inserted at intervals so as not to fa-
~ sue MIN, and if he appeared on the point
raiS"ooning the wedge was removed and
teiHSerted after time"
40 Damiens constantly asserted that he had
NJ accomplces.
a. AZ o'clock in the afternoon, escorted by
ERA regiments of guards, he was con-
oeyeo toward the scaffold. but by ways 50
0Toultous and with az voanv paueas that he