The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-05-02
MONSIEUR DE PARIS.
A TALK WITH The WORLDS MOST
NOTED exEcuTloNER.


ability Most Acuteiy.
Comparatively few Frenchmen ara ac.
.quainted-that Is, personally acquainted
with their dreaded and mysterious com
patriot Monsieur de Paris, and Il IL M
easy matter to come across him, for his
name Is omitted from tho Paris directory
and the police absolutely refuse to have
anything to say as to his whereabouts.
However, being In Paris not so very
long since and having some perhaps par
donable curiosity concerning a ceremony
in which the guillotine plays the most
prominent part, obtained letter of in
PRODUCTION to Monsieur dc Paris, who "a
the public executioner of France, known
I'm private life as M Deibler, and who, this
acquaintance of mine said, though of a
most retiring disposition, with a perfect
dread of nctoriety and avoiding contact
with inquisitive strangers, more especial
" journalists, as much as possible, would
not DO found indisposed to give Just few
details of his by no means enyiable pro.
fession.
"Just Al years ago." said he, 81 sue
-ceeded M. Roche, who had been valet to
the famous or notorious NJ. Heindrich.
and with whom / served my apprentice
shin In turn in 1855. / assisted him alto
gether in 80 executions before / COM
menced business OH my own account so I
was no novice. Yet my first Independents
performance was not an easy matter can
assure you, for the criminal a youth
named Laprade, who had murdered his
father mother and grandmother, resisted
go strenuously that was compelled TO re-
sort to methods the reverse of gentle.
However, the story Of that execution got
noised abroad, and, though the Paris Jour-
nalists were very severe with me and de-
clared that lost my head as well as did the
wretch ! executed, since then l have
found my clients less reoalcitrant. Until
my appointment followed the trade of a
tailor, and so from maker Of garments
In second class emporiums have worked
my way up, as you see TO be first class
cutter In the government establishment"
And M. Deibler laughed heartily at his
own rather CHASTITY joke.
next ventured to ask II could be al
lowed private view of the guillotine,
which It's manipulation referred to as "la
machine"
M. Deibler shook his head most decisive
ly. "Impossiblel Quite impossible! But
here is model which will show you how
1t Is worked. IL Is all very simple The
culprit Is strapped on to this seesaw plank,
which, topping over, brings his neck into
this semicircular ring, called la lunette,
where 1t is secured thus. Then touch
this button, the knife which is heavily
weighted to make 1t fall swiftly, descends
with tremendous force, and the head is
received in tin pan partially filed with
sawdust. Is it not simple now9 may
tell you that l always keep la machine
ready for use, as / am liable to be sum-
moned at moments notice i am sup
posed to receive full days notice in Paris
and two days for the departments, but 1
always hold myself In readiness to start at
any moment, as SO soon as the day and
hour of an execution are fixed by the au-
thorities there is great deal to BIO done in
very short time.
"In Paris make it rule to pass the
night preceding an execution at the Ro-
quette prison so as to be on the spot when
the two black vans-one containing the
woods of Justice and the other destined |
to convey the body of the culprit to Ivry |
commemorative at daybreak. Then
personally superintend the installation OF
la machine and give dress rehearsal, as |
1t were, of the performance with the gen. |
tleman who Is to take the leading role left |
out BY this means have always, with |
one solitary exception, avoided any hitch |
at the last critical moment. AS soon as |
the hour decided upon strikes the culprit |
Is handed over to my assistant, who, to-
gether with the prison chaplain, escorts /
him to the depot-his last station on earth /
before reaching la machne-where his
toilet Is performed. This does not take
long, for his hair and beard have been kept ,
close cropped since his condemnation. He !
Is pinioned, his shirt collar cut away, and
he goes forth to his death. AS soon as the /
body Is unstrapped from the plank 1t Is
put into a coffin, with the head between
the feet, driven off to the cemetery and
buried"
"And now, M. Deibler, said, what
Is your opinion as to the theory that life
actually endures in the head for some lit
tie time after il is severed from the bodyY'
"Well," was the reply, given reflective
ly, II have certainly on more than one oc-
casion seen the eyes in a decapitated head
open and close and the lips twitch con-
vulsively for quite ten minutes and even
longer after the fatal stroke has been
given. But though this may give oil the
semblance of lingering life, do not fancy
that 1t IL life, and for this reason You
see, the knife is so heavily weighted that
at the same instant that the neck Is sever
ed the occiput receives q blow that fire.
quently cracks the skull, and would, In
my opinion, be quite sufficient to drive out
any ray of memory, reflection or real sem
sibility that might otherwise linger In the
brain. Then, again, the great loss OF
blood would produce syncope. Still, after
all, there may be exceptional cases
should not like to assert positively thai
there are not
And with regard to the proposed uni
versal abolition of capital punishment, are
you favorable toward 1t or otherwiseY
M. Deibler gave most expressive snrug
of bis shoulders, as he said: Zone must
not quarrel with ones bread and butter,
you know. As I am paid to carry OUT the
sentence of the law do not feel justified
In expressing an opinion as to whether the
law Is right or wrong. Still. by that you
must not imagine that feel no RESPONSE.
bility In shedding the blood OF feilow
creature, for do feel 1t most acutely, anu
custom has not hardened me to 1t In the
least "-philadelphia Press.