The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-30
PUNISHMENT OP ANIMALS.
Curious Custom That Was Formerly
in Vogue in Europe---Pigs Fre-
quently Hanged or Burned for
Murder---Execution of an OK.
From the Green Bag.

quently Hanged or Burned for
Murder---Execution of an OK.
From the Green Bag.
Beasts were often condemned to be
burned alive, and, strangely enough
II was In the latter half of the sew
enteenth century, an age Of compare
tive enlightenment, that this cruel pen"
atty was most frequently inflicted. Oc-
casionally a merciful judge adhered to
the letter of the law by sentencing the
culprit to be slightly singed. and then
to be strangied before being burned.
Sometimes they were condemned to be
buried alive. Such was the fate suf-
fered by two pigs in 1856, con the vigil
of the holy virgin" at Oppenheim-on-
Rhine, for killing a child. Animals
We're even put to the rack in order to
eXtort confession. 1t is not to be sup
posed that the judge had the slightest
expectation that any confession would
be made; he wished simply to observe
all forms prescribed by the law, and
To set in motion the whole machinery
of justice before pronouncng judg-
ment "The question" which in such
cases would seem to be only a wanton
and superfiuous act Of cruelty. was
nevertheless an important element In
determining the final decision. since
the death sentence could be cOmmuted
into banishment provided the criminal
had not confessed under torture. The
use Of the rack was Therefore p means
of escaping the gallows. Appeals were
sometimes made to higher tribunals,
and the judgments of the lower courts
annulled or modified. In one instance
SOW and n she-ass were condemned
to be hanged; on appeal and after
new trial they were sentenced to be
simply Knocked on the head. In an
other instance an appeal led TO the
acGuittal of the accused.
BURNED FOR MURDER.
In 1865, at FOntenay-aux-R Roses. near
Paris, pig, convicted of having eaten
child, was publicly burned by order
of the monks of Sainte- -GeneVieVe In
1886 the tribunal of Falaise sentenced
SOW to be mangled and MANNED in
the head and leg, and then to he
hanged, for having torn the face AMI
arm Of child and caused it's death.
Here we have a strict application of
the lex talionis. The SOW was dressed
in mans clothes and executed in the
public square, near the city hall At the
expense to the state Of ten sous and
ten denlers besides a pair of gloves to
the hangman.
The eXecutiOner was provided with
new gloves In order that he might
come from the discharge of his duty
with clean hands, thus indicating that
as a minister OF justice he incurred no
guilt in shedding blood. He was not
a common butcher of swine, but a pub
lie functionary, a master of high
works" (maitre des hautes oeuvres), as
he was officially styled. In 1894 a pig
was found guilty of having killed and
murdered a child in the parish of ROu-
maygne, in the country of Mortaing,
for which deed the said pig was con-
demned to be drawn and hanged by
Jehan Petit, lieutenant Of the bailif."
EXECUTION OF AN OK.
There is also eXtant an order issued
by the magistracy of Gisors in l405.
commanding payment to be made to
the carpenter who had erected the scat
fold on which an OK had been executed
"for it's demerits." Brute and human
criminals were confined in the same
prison and subjected To the same treat
ment. Thus "TOustain Pincheon, keeper
of the prisons of our lord the king in
the town of Pont de Larche," acknoWl-
edges the receipt Of nineteen sous six
deniers tournois for having found the
kings bread for the prisoners detained,
by reason Of crime, in the said prison.
The jailer gives the names of the per-
sons in custody. and concludes the list
with the item" OF "One pig, kept from
the cath of June, l40S, inclusive, till the
18th OF July" when il was executed
for the crime OF having murdered and
killed a little child" For the pigs
board he charges two deniers tournois
a day. the same as for boarding a
man. He also puts into account ten
deniers tournois for rope found and
delivered for the purpose Of tying the
said pig that it might not escape"
In the case of a mule condemned to
be burned alive at Montpelier in 1865,
as the animal was vicious ana kicky,
the eXecutioner cut off his feet before
consigning 1t 10 the flames. The mutil-
alton was an arbitrary and ra-judi-
cial act, dictated solely by considGra-
tions OF personal convenience. Hang
men We're often guilty of supereroga-
tory cruelty i'm the exercise of their
bloody functions. Writers on criminal
Jurisprudence repeatedly complain Of
this evil and call for reform. Thus
Damhouder in his "Rerum CTiminalium
Praxs" urges magistrates to be more
careful in selecting persons for this
important office, and not to choose no
torious violators of the law as Vindica-
tors of justice. Indeed, these hardened
wretches sometimes took the law into
their own hands. Thus, on the 9th of
June, 1876, at Schweinfurt in Fran
coma, SOW which had bitten off the
ear and torn the hand of child was
given in custody to the hangman, who,
without further authority, took It TO
the gallows green ana there hanged it
publicly, to the disgrace and datrimenC
of the CITY" EOr this in1nru1ent usur-