Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-04
THE LAST OF EYRAUD
THE DEATH BY THE ouiLLoTINE OF
THE MURDERER or GOuFFE.
Scenes and Incidents Of the Execution
Refused Brandy and Refused TO
Pray or BE Prayed For.
Inr Anrlo.Amnricnn c.bls o the plspa.ch.l

[By Anglo-American cable 20 the Dispaich.l
PARs, February 3.-Michael Eyraud, the
murderer of Goufe, was executed at
o'clock this morning on the Piece de La
Bouquette. Eyraud met his fate with
fortitude or sullen resignation. There were
but few witnesses of the execution owing
to the fact that il was not generally known
until too late for the papers to announce
it yesterday evening that the famous
criminal was to meet death to-day.
When the governor of the prison La
Bouquette and the prison chaplain were
ushered into Eyraud's cell, short time
previous to the hour fixed for the con-
demned mans execution, they found that
he was already up and dressed, evidently
forewarned. though contrary to the rules,
by some kind-hearted prison Official.
DECLINED BRANDY.
Eyraud declined glass Of cognac, which
was rendered him by one OF the wardens,
and in spite of the earnest solicitations OF
liable Faure the murderer positively,
even angrily, refused to listen TO the good
priests prayers, to pray himself, or TO have
any religious rites performed in MS be-
half.
DRAMATIC INCIDENT.
The Abbe's pleading with the criminal in
that dark cell, while within and without
the prison all the preparations were made
TO usher the sullen prisoner into anothet
world. was probably the most solemn and
dramatic incident of the execution. But
pyramids iron Will was not to DC shaken,
even in the presence of death, and he con-
timed impatiently TO refuse religious con-
ISOLATION while on the death march to the
gullotine, which had been erected during
the night.
WITH GABRIELLE TONIGHT.
After being pinioned Eyraud, gazing at
the faces around him, angrlly exclaimed:
COustans, Minister of Interior, was
right, He has won his case, now his
prize. He will be tonight with Gabrielle.
What grand parsonage is gong TO decorate
Gabrielle Bompard?" Arrived at the foot
of the guillotine and when within a few
feet of the block Eyraud eluded the exc
cutioners for moment and Loudly ana
angrily shouted to the assembled crowds; !
"Constans is the murderer: he is more Of
murderer than / am. Constans Is -
THE FLASHING BLADE.
Before he could complete the sentence
the executioners seized the murderer,
threw him upon the inclined plank OF the
gulllotine. pressed the fatal knob, and the
flashing blade suspended over Eyraud' 8
neck fell with sharp sliding sound, and
the head of Gouffe's assassin rolled into
! the basket below. Eyraud's body was then
lifted into a wagon and driven OF at run
gallop 20 the cemetery, escorted by de-
tachment Of mounted Rendarmes.
BURIAL SERVICE.
liable Faure followed the body in a
cab, and after reading the burial service
over the remains at the cemetery they were
turned over to the dead mans relatives.
Immediately after the execution the mob
made wild rush towards the .gulllotine
and were with difficulty repulsed by a
strong force Of mounted gardes repuoh-
| Gaines.
| MICHAEL RYRAUD's CBIsiE.
The crime for which Michael Eyraud
suffered death by the guillotine consisted
in his having in Paris IN July, 1889, and
with the assistance of his mistress, Ga
brielle Bompard. strangled to death q
| notary of Paris named Toussalnt Gouffe.
! After the commission of the crime
the body of the victim was con.
veyed in trunk to blillery, in the
| Department of the Rhone. and de-
posted in a thicket, where, on August -
| 1889. il was discovered in state or de
composition. In January of the following
year Gabrielle Bompard made the contes-
sion TO the Partisan police which led to hel
arrest. Imprisonment, and to the capture
! in Havana of the stranger Eyraud, who
was brought back to Paris for trial. The
most remarkable feature in the sensational
legal proceedings, which eliminated IN the
sentencing TO death of Eyraud and tC
twenty years Imprisonment at hard labol
of Gabrielle, was the unsuccessful attempt
of the counsel for the Bompard woman e
prove that in the murder she acted her par
while under control of a hypnotic inhu
| anca ayorcised bv Eyraud