Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1898-09-29
A SCENE OF HORROR,
SlAuGHTERING A CRIMINAL BY THE
GUlLLOTlNE IN PARIS.


the Outcasts Of the French Capital.
After the Fearful Knife Has Fallen.
In these rushing times we might take
for our motto Something New, Al.
ways Something New" Consequently,
I imagine that the impressions of
woman at the foot of the guillotine
would not be commonplace. Twas pres
ent at one performance in the Place de
la Roquette, where M. de Paris and his
assistants officiated in the name of so
called justice. The horrible spectacle
haunts and racks the mind and tends
rather to REINFORCE the partisans of the
abolition of capital punishment The
horror of the punishment imposed rem
ders guilty man almost worthy of
pity. The sight of a human being,
dragged like beast to the slaughter
house, up even to the sinister seesaw,
is terrible.
know many people may be astonish
ed that anybody could be moved to pity
for the ferocious brute, Carrara, who
transformed his mushroom establish
ment into crematory and had no mer-
cy for the unfortunate young man, La
MARIA, whom he threw into the fire
after having murdered him for the pur-
pose of robbery. know all that, and l
do not dispute the fact that the Italian
was a monster, but that is no reason
why we should not be disguised at the
spectacle which was presented to our
eyes and which will now endeavor to
describe with the impartiality Of sim
pie spectator, without resentment or
prejudice, but with heart that revolts
against a scene that has neither the
grandeur nor the majesty of q punish
pent inflicted, but rather exhibits the
cowardice and baseness of a vengeance
which hides itself from the light of day.
The execution was fixed for o'clock
in the morning, but from the hour of
midnight the neighborhood of the
Grande Roquette was swarming with
an undulating and hooking crowd.
Jailbirds, murderers, footpads and wom-
en- of the streets assembled there to see
as they said, "the Italian animal short
ened."
Journalists were admitted into the
narrow space so often described, with
its five sinister stones and its legendary
gas jet which is never lighted except on
the evening before an execution.
There in the rain we watched the set
ting up of that horrible machine which,
according to the legend, Cagliostro
showed in a glass of clear water to the
terrified Marie Antoinette. In the yell
low and spectral light of the gas jet
that f1iokered in the wind these prepa-
rations were hideous to witness. AL
most on level with the ground stands
the scaffold with it's two arms in the
air brandishing the sparkling knife.
And I, woman, in the presence of
these preparations, could not help think
ing of the family of the wretch whose
head was soon to fall into the basket. /
thought of his little children, who were
at that moment sleeping soundly some
where, and of his wife, equally guilty
with him, and who, as it were, pushed
her husband into the arms of the execu-
toner as last resort to save herself.
What remorse will be hers when they
tell her abruptly: "Carrara has suffered
his punishment. You are widow!'
But the day was dawning, and the
lamps were going out. At the windows
and even on the roofs numbers Of spec
tators were gathered as if to witness
some carnival. The sight was heart
rending. Mounted gendarmes and SOL
diers gradually came out of the dark.
ness, and one might be inclined to rail
at such display Of force at the execu-
ton of q wretch paralyzed by fear, who
in few moments would appear upon
the scene tied hand and foot.
There was some little commotion
among the crowd when people began to
point at O thin, old man who hobbled
about with the gestures of dancing
jack to see if the knife in the brass run
ners was in good working order. This
was Deibler, the executioner, a ghost
with O white beard, who adjusted the
instrument with the indifference of q
grocer weighing his goods. Suddenly
there was profound silence; the rain
was over, heads were uncovered and
motionless. Breathless and almost in
agony the crowd followed with staring
eyes the movement of the doors of the
prison, which at last opened wide.
A suppressed "AhH came from many
contracted chests, while with pale faces
all gazed upon the assassin, whose
crime the mountebanks of the fairs pop
ularized. He was simply frightful to
look at, bowed down as he was with
terror. He did not look like human
being. He looked like beast His in
telligence was already dead and his
heart had lost all feeling. The instinct
Of the animal still remained. The sight
was dreadfully sad.
What followed beggars description.
The executioner and his aids seemed nc
longer to be men employed to carry out
the ends of Justice; they looked like
butchers. They seized the condemned
man, some by the ears, some by thu
legs, while others held down the center
of the body and kept holding him up tt
the very moment when, with a sudder
rumble, the knife fell, the head re
bounded into the basket and the abomi
nation was at ar end.