The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-12-06
4 CURIOUS CUSTOM
PUNISHMENT or ANIMALS THAT WAS
FORMERLY IN VOGUE IN EUROPE

FORMERLY IN VOGUE IN EUROPE
They Were Sometimes Put to the Rack In
Order 20 E1tor: Coufession-In Other In
stances They Vvere Buried Alive-Pigs
Hanged or Eurnod for Murder.
Beasts were often condemned to be
burned alive, and, strangely enough, II
was in the latter half Of the seven
teenth century, an age OF comparative
enlightenment, that this cruel penalty
was most frequently inflicted. Occasl-
onally a merciful judge adhered to the
letter of the law by sentencing the Gull
prit to be slightly singed, and then to
be strangled before being burned.
netimes they were condemned to De
buried alive. Such was the tate SUI,
fered by two pigs IN 1856, ION the vigil
of the holy virgin" at Oppenhelm-on-
the-Rhine, for killing child. Animals
We're even put to the rack In ORDER 10
extort confession. 1t is not to be sup
posed that the Judge had the
slightest expectation that any con.
fession would be made; he WISHED
simply to observe all forms pre-
scr:bed by the law, and to set ID
motion the whole machinery Of justice
before pronouncing Judgment Ihe
question" which In suck cases Woulo
seem to be only Il wantco and s''per-
f1uous act Of cruelty, was nevsrthaiess
an important element in Determining
the final decision, since the death SEN
tence could be committed into Danish
ment provided the criminal had not
confessed under torture. The use OF
the rack was therefore a means OF es-
Gaping the gallows. Appeals were
sometimes made to higher tribunals,
and the judments Of the lower courts
annulled or modified. In one instance
SOW and 4 She-ass were condemned
to be hanged; on appeal and after q
new trial they were sentenced to be
simply knocked on the head. In an
other instance an appeal led to the ac-
Quittal Of the accused
In 1906, at Fontenay-auX-Roses, near
Paris, pig, convicted Of having eaten
a child, was publicly burned by order
Of the monks Of Sainte-Genevieve. In
1885 the tribunal Of Falaise sentenced
& sow to be mangled and manned IN
the head and leg, and then to be hang
ed, for having torn the face and arm
Of a child and caused its death. Here
we have a strict application of the lex
tallonis. The SOW was dressed in mans
clothes and executed in the public
square, near the city hall, at the e1-
pense to the state Of ten sous and ten
deniers, besides pair Of gloves to the
hangman.
The eyecutioner 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
q common butcher Of swine, but pub
lie functionary, master Of high
works" (maitre des hautes oeuvresp
as he was officially styled. In 1894 a
pig was found guilty Of having killed
and murdered q child in the parish Of
Roumaygne. in the county Of Mortaipg,
for which deed said pig was condem-
ned to be drawn and hanged by Jehan
Petit, lieutenant Of the bailif."
There IS also extant an order Issued
BY the magistracy Of Gisors in 1905,
commanding payment to be made to
the carpenter who had erected the
scaffold on which an OK had been exc
cuted "for its dement's"
On the 9th Of June, 1876. at Schwein-
furt, in Franconia, sow which had
bitten off the ear and torn the hand Of
a child was given in custody to the
hangmar, who, without further author
ity. took it to the gallows green and
there hanged it publicly, to the dis
grace and detriment Of the city,
On the 10th Of January, 1857, a sow
was convicted Of murder, committed
on the person Of IN infant name Jehan
Martin Of Savigny, and sentenced to be
hanged Her six sucklings were also
included in the indictment as accompli-
ces, but in default Of positive proof
that they had assisted in manSling the
deceased, they were restored to their
owner, on condition that he should
give bail for their appearance should
further evidence be forthcoming to
prove their completely in their mothers
crime"
The Knowing Shark
A painful moment on board ship at
Sea is that when some poor mortal,
who has died on the voyage. has to be
laid away in the bosom Of the deep
with the simple ceremonies Of an ocean
burial
A vessel carrying a dead body and
passing through waters frequented by
sharks is almost sure to be followed by
one or more Of those fishes if it does
not out-speed them.
Rather than bury a corpse While
sharks are following the vessel the
captain will sometimes have body
placed in the ice chamber and full
steam put on the engines until the
hungry fishes have dropped astern
completely
In one case at Least body was actu-
ally cremated on board by the cap
tains orders because Of the sharks.
But sharks are not often obstacles to
prompt burial, and. generally speaking,
when death occurs at sea the body is
slipped into the water at night with
none to witness the proceeding but
couple Of the crew and the captain,
who reads an abridgment Of the serT-
Ice from the Prayer Book.