The Yazoo sentinel. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 1878-1916, 1891-08-13
EUROPEAN HEADSMEN.
THE swoRDsMAN OF GERMANY
AND SPANS sTRANeLER.

Cruelty in Austria.
The German exocutioneE Reindel, is
the leader OF headsmen on the continent.
He is not mere engineer Of the gnillo-
tine. but strikes oil With his own hand
and trusty sword the head Of the victim,
after the fashion Of hundreds OF years
ago. Beheading Is the highest penalty
for crime in Germany, and the headsman
is kept fairly busy, going from one State
to another on his hideous round. An
execution in Germany to-day. is in no
essential particular different from those
that we read about in English aud
French history. as TO the common fate
OF political suspects.
The German criminal is handled more
rudely, perhaps, than was King Charles
or Lord Hastings, but in all essentials
the modern German executioner's work
is like the old German.
Reindels most exciting experience was
at Buckeburg, the Capital Of Schaum-
berg. Lippe, when he decapitated the
notorious murderer, Heerwart. The case
aroused a great sensation at the time.
Heerwart was refined ruilian, belonging
70 a good family, and in the habit Of
running in debt People to whom he
owed large amounts developed different
habit, that Of dying suddenly where
upon their administrators would fpd
Heerwart in possession of a receipt re-
Gently signed, for the sum supposed
to be due. At last detection came and
Heerwart was convicted and sentenced
to death.
< adel, who is a six-footer and a
vett an soldier, arrived at the prison,
accompanied by his three sous, who
always act as his assistants. The court
yard Of the prison was fitted up in the
usual style, every thing but the block
draped in black, the block being covered
with bright scarlet cloth. Reindel
never binds his victims. He depends
upon his stalwart sons to hold them, and
he had no reason to anticipate any resis-
lance on the part Of Heerwart, 8 middle
sized man, not apparently strong and
whose conduct in prison had been ex-
cellent
At the stroke of eight the prisoner was
/ led out, locked arm in arm with prison
officer. Heerwart's eyes appeared to
! light on the book, and wandered from
| that to table few feet away, on which
1 lay three broad-swords, sharp and un-
I sheathed, for the use Of the headsman.
/ With leap, Heerwart was at the table,
and Selling one of the swords, he backed
resolutely against the wall, In an atti-
tude of defiance Two of the sons OF
Rendel rushed upon him, and before he
could use the weapon he was helpless IN
their grasp. 1t is hardly necessary to
say that the formality Of reading the
death warrant was much abbreviated,
and that the rest Of the ceremony was
brief The three sons bore the prisoner
to the block, two held him by the body,
the other grasped his head. Reindels
sword was for an instant poised in the
air, then down it came, and the head
rolled away, severed at one stroke
While crime. of course, varies, Reindel
performs about thirty executions .
year
In Austria criminals are put to death
by strangling or shooting, according tc
the sentence Of the Court. The glbbet
is used at executions OF the former kind,
and Prof Sterneck, as he is called, the
most noted of Austrian executioners, has
been detected in practices very much re-
sembling cruelty.
A few years ago he used to put an lror
gag in the mouths of prisoners, to pre-
vent them from utterance. The practice
had for a long time passed unobserved
until at length it was discovered by thu
slow-going German newspapers. Tn,
HProfessori' excused himself upor
the ground of necessity, but hC
did not do it again. The
shooting Of criminals would have beer
altogether substituted for stranghng, but
for the objection on the part of soldier
to be detailed for any such purpose
This fact, and the reluctance to use tn,
gibbet, have tended to bring about til,
virtual abolition of capital punishment
in Austria, except in the worst cases.
1t may seem incredible, but it is true
nevertheless, that retired executions
is living in Belarade to-day, who, as lat,
as 1875, broke criminals on the wheel
The name of the man is Paulo Jovano
witch, and the executions took place or
the grassy slopes of the ramparts of Bel
grade.
lAC HOoN noACA NANSuptVh Va thN eAAA
was in 1872, when two men, one Turl
and the other Hebrew, were put t.
death for numbering whole family. Tn
Hebrew was executed first, and fifteer
minutes elapsed before the executioneI
gave him the coupe de grace.
The Turk made "a violent resistance
and had to be stunned into subsection
although the stunning was, perhaps, un
intentional. This medieval punishment
was abolished about 1878, when Servii
asserted complete Independence. Strang
ling in prison is the usual capital pen
atty.
In Norway an expert executioner II
requisite, although his services are sci
dom needed. August Gleason is now
an old man, and has held the oficI
twenty-four years. with occasional as
sisSance. The laws Of Norway are stll
harsh in terms, and were harsh in prac
tice not many years ago. Old maj
Claeson can remember that at Trond
HEN about twelve years ago a preacher
named Jansen, convicted of numbering
his child, stood in the pillory all daI
with his right hand cut of, and had hi
head cut of at shutdown. Now, how.
ever, the punishment is decapitation
without the barbarous exhibition tina
used TO precede it. The death penalty
is so seldom resorted to In Sweden anC
f = Z.