The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-04

off. That Is the true torture" he reit-
Grated, land of that We have nothing in
France
1T is not my province" ne explained.
but 1 can assure you that nothing APP
proaches the humanity of the Frenchl
From the moment the death sentence is
pronounced until the very hour of execu-
ton the wretch as not allowed to abandon
hope. Did l say the hour of execution
He has not ten minutes to face death
and then oblivionr'
The system, according to NJ. Deibler,
consists in mercifully deceiving the con-
demned man up to the last possible mo-
Inent. The hope-the certainty-that his
sentence will be commuted TO imprisOn-
ment for life is ever held up to him.
Italy, Russia, Roumania, Greece, Por-
tugal Holland and twelve of the Swiss
cantons have altogether abolished capital
punishment. Belgium no longer enforces
II. And the prisoner knows to what an
extent the resent French Presidents have
exercised the pardoning power. The pris-
oner's advocate as beaming with hope.
He wrings the prisoners hand joyfully.
He visits him continually with the news
of the appeal for clemecy. The priest
and pastor encourage him. The jaiiors
encourage him. The appeal is getting on
all right. Now, when he gets to New Cal
eoonia, he must bear up, resign himself
and be content to lead the calm and
pSdCSlOi t4lS Oh lie prisoner. buI tHSIS
are worse things, quoi Will he not have
his little garden? Is not the climate
superb? viii he not be continually in
the open air? Are there not, in fact,
colony at New Caledonia, working and
living together? Why, it is not like a
prison.
And So" explained NJ. Dlebler 1.-The
man spends many hopeful hours in the
condemned cell planning out a future.
For this is the quality of hope, as your
poet has said, to spring eternal in the
human breast. He is encouraged to dis
tract himself. When not getting informa-
lion about New Caledonia he Is playing
cards, smoking good tobacco, chatting
with a prisoner brought in TO see him,
drinking good wine with his meals! And
should be still remain nervous and sus-
picious, have they not a still more subtle
device? Stop off his wine, his tobacco
and his privileges! 1t is simple! 1t Is
superb Because he Immediately con-
cludes that his sentence has been com
muted and that he is to be treated as
common convict!'
This jollying of the condemned is kept
up until he falls asleep the last night of
his life. The guillotining always takes
place in the gray of the early morning,
just after dawn. The guillotine is quickly
erected in the open place outside the
prison. The prisoner still sleeps. The
priest is ready, the barber is ready, the
governor of the prison is ready-and NJ.
Deiber is ready! The condemned man
wakes as his door is opened. They tell
him to be brave. And out they rush
him
ut comes on him all so suddenly" said
M. Deibler, that he is lost in wonder
ment. Still dazed with his nights sleep,
his hasty toilet, and the exhortations of
those around him, he scarcely realizes
what is happening. They give him bran
dy. They give him coffee. The priest is
consoling him while the barber clips the
hair around his neck. 1t does not take
ten minutes
"And are you sure that the guillotine
is painless?" 1 asked NJ. Deibler.
Absolutely sure" he answered. I'm
doubleday the man has a bad moment
when he is fastened to the board and
stretched out on his stomach with the
blade hanging over his neck and the bas-
ket under his chin. But it is for mo-
ment And the instant the knife falls he
has no consciousness, no pain.
ut happens frequently" continued the
executioner thoughtfully, that the sew
cred head, for two or three minutes. pre-
sents certain commissions of the eyelids,
few vague movements of the lips and jaws,
but these acts, it appears, are purely re-
flex. unconscious. Now they pretend that
certain heads have bitten. They cite that
sailor of Brest that in a clinic an hour
afterward bit a pencil in half And they
tell the story of DR.. De la Pommerals,
who, just before his execution, was asked
by the prison doctor to lend himself-or,
rather, his head-to an experiment. I'M
mediately the head fell DR.. Vedpeau took
il and said distinctly in its ear: M County
de la Pommerals, in souvenir of our con-
versation this morning, can you at this
moment open and shut your left eye three
times while maintaining your right eye
open?"
"WeH?"
"Weu they pretend the left eye w!nked
three times But it cannot be true
1.-THE psychologists know that oblivion
comes instantly" NJ. Deibler insisted,
land how could it be otherwise? Under
the influence of the terrible shock, all
the functions of the brain are immediate
ly suspended there is an absolute syncope,
complete intellectual death, an Interrupt
ton of all relation between the heart and
the brain. If the shock were not accom-
panied by the cutting of the head from
the body, one might fear, perhaps, a wax
ing up of the cerebral activity conscious
ness, thought, torture. But as nearly all
the blood has left the head, there only re-
mains enough liquid nourishment in con-
tact with the nervous substance to make
possible a few reflex movements, a
few twitchings, terrifying, doubtless but
terrifying only to the spectators. That
Is ALL"
"Only terrifying to the spectators?" I
repeated.
Nor to them, in fact" he added. For
who sees the head? II is in the basket
The body twitches, too; but 1t is strapped
to the board. Only those Immediately
around the guillotine see any of the de-
tails. The public of loafers and criminals
that bowls and curses between lines of
police and soldiers sees little, 1 assure
you. And I shall be glad when they see
nothing"
Then. you do not believe in public ex-
ecutions?"
NO" replied the public executioner of
France; public executions have no moral
effect. They cause only disorder and scan
dali"
Mr.. Deibler," 1 asked finally, do you
believe in capital punishment"
The little old man was silent for a mo-
ment, and then answered, with apparent
hesitation. 1T is a hard question: hard
question. Come with me a moment"
He led the Way TO a small ca hinet or