Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1894-02-17


Terror. Every American visitor to Paris
has seen La Roquette, which is chiefly
knownas the place outside which the
guillotine is erected whenever there
is an execution in the French capital
1t was in the street IN front of La
Roquette that Pranzini. the murderer.
had his head cut off in 1887. The fol-
lowing year witnessed the execution of
Prado, the infamous assassin of women.
Eyraud, the strangler. was a recent
victim of the guillotine in the Place de
La Roquette.
1t rests with the public prosecutor.
and not with the judges. in France to
determine in what prison delinquent
sentenced by the courts shall be con-
fined. Prisoners condemned for crimes
of comparatively minor Importance
often obtain permission TO pass the
time of their sentence in La Roquette
on condition of paying Il cents a day
to the state. The discipline of the
prison is not rigorous.
At the end of one of the long corri-
doris is the narrow prison which served
as a place of confinement for Mgr.
Darboy, the archbishop of Paris, who
was shot with the rest of the hostages
by the communists in 1871. Since that
august prisoner was Enclosed within
the four narrow walls the cell has
never been entered by any criminal II
I has remained intact. The bed is just
" it was when the great prelate was
| called to meet his fate. The same
| sheets have been left, and the iron
cross which closes the spyhole into the
cell is still surmounted by the Latin
words, vitae rober, mentis salus, =
written in pencil by the archbishop,
who occupied some of his weary mo-
ments in slxetching the scourge. the
sponge dipped in hyssop and other in
struments of the Passion ON the door
of his prison.
The small winding staircase may
still be seen by which the host
ages went down when they were
summoned to meet the firing
party in the yard of La Ro
| quette, where the feeble old prelate
who had overtaxed his strength, wa,
compelled to cling to the arm of his
companion, NJ. Bonjean, to avoid fall
ing. The spot is still pointed out
where the five hostages fell; where
Mgr. Darboy called down forgiveness
/ for his murderers. who knew not whai
they did. The mark of the bullets car
still be seen around the white marble
slab. which records one of the mos
/ sanguinary acts of the Paris rabble
Evergreens mark the place where tn,
men fell who died victims of its blind
fury.
There is an old prisoner in La Ro-
quette who remembers sitting in the
| cell of Billoir, the noted murderer
when the venerable Able Crozes, the
chaplain. and Beauquesne, the gov
ernor of La Roquette. entered and in
formed him that Marshal McAIaho
had rejected his appeal for mercy, and
that the sentence of death passed on hin
for the murder of Marie La Manech wa,
about to be carried into execu
ton. The murderer, who EaC
been playing cards all the even
ing and who had expressed hi
confidence in the clemency of his
former general, was terror-strieken
His chest heaved systematically. and ;
strong dose of cordial had TO be giveI
to him before he could summon NJ
courage to remember that he haC
been soldier and had won the mill
tary medal.
Another old prisoner tells an Incl
dent connected with the Commune
which is recorded by Able Faure, tn,