The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-19
cept on the evening before an exeeu-

cept on the evening before an exeeu-
ton.
There in the rain we watched the
setting up of that horrible machine
which, according to the legend, Gag
liostro showed in glass of clear water
TO the terrified Marie Antoinette. In
the yellow and spectral light of the gas
Jet that fiickered in the wind these pre-
parations 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, a woman, in the presence of
these preparations, could not help
thinking of the family of the wretch
whose head was soon to fall into the
basket 1 thought of his little chill
dren. who were at that moment sleep
ing soundly somewhere, and or his
wife, equally guilty with him, and who,
as it were, pushed her husband INTO
the arms of the eXecutioner as last
resort to save herself. What remorse
will be hers when they tell her abrupt
ly: "Carrara has suffered ms PUNISH
ment; you are a 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 II to witness
some carnival. The
SIGHT WAS HEARTRENDING-
Mounted gendarmes and soldiers grad
ualIy came out of the darkness, and one
might be inclined to rail at such dis
play of force at the execution or
wretch paralyzed with fear, who IN a
few moments would appear upon the
scene tied hand and foot.
There was some little commotlon
among the crowd when people began TO
point at a thin, old man, who hobDled
of n
lack to see If the knife in the brass
runners YVES in good working order.
This was Dfebler, the eXecutioner,
ghost with a white beard, who adj
1usted the instrument with the lndl1-
ference Of a grocer weighing his goods
Suddenly there was profound silence;
the rain was over, heads were uncov-
cred and motionless; GREATNESS ana al
most in agony the crowd followed with
staring eyes the movement of the doors
of the prison. which at last opened
wide. A suppressed 'Ah!" came from
many contracted chests, while with
pale faces all gaZed upon the ASSASSIN,
whose crime the mountebankS or the
fairs popularized. He was simply
frightful to look at, bowed down as he
was with terror. He did not look like
a human being. He looked like beast.
His intelligence was already dead and
his heart had lost all feeling. The In
stinct of the animal still remained The
sight was dreadfully sad. What fol-
lowed beggars description. The exeeu-
toner and his aids seemed no longer
to be men employed to carry out the
ends of Justice: they looked like but
chers They seized the condemned
man, some by the ears, some by the
legs. while others held down the CEN
ter of the body and kept holding up TO
the very moment when, with sudden
rumble, the knife fell, the head re-
bounded into the basket and the abom-
ination was at an end
But one should be present and see the
pavenents covered with blood, the cory
knife. the blood squirting from the de-
capitated trunk, the ignominious wash
ing at the nearby fountain, and the
cutters rolling to the sewer a purple
colored mud. in order to be able to
comprehend all the horrors of an exc
cution in Paris.