The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-02-05
NEN MIN AI THE ASE
Ex-Premier RoSebery Watches
Old DeibIer'S Son
HANDLE THE GUILL0TlNE
Which Is Soon TO be Removed
From It's Historic Site.

Paris, Feb. 4.-The first duty which the
son and successor of the famous execu-
toner NJ. Desbler, now retired, has been
{ called upon 10 perform was the execution
! Of two remarl.a bic criminals.
Young NJ Deibler had hardly returned
from Troyes. where he guillotined yester-
dav Francis Pierre Damoiseau, former
mayor of Rouilly Saint Loup. when today
he publicly put to death in Paris young
man named Albert Peugnez, on the Place
de la Roquette.
On account of the peculiar character Of
the condemned and in order to witness the
first official acts of the young executioner,
Their were vast crowds on hand TO wit
ness both executions.
The one in Paris drew a great multitude
of people, many of them Of fashionable
society. Lord Rosebery, former premier
Of England, was a witness of the execu-
ton. Curiosity to see the guiHotine, says
La Patrique, took Lord Rosebery TO the
Place de Ia ROquette.
Peugnez was the last criminal to be ex-
ecuted there, as the public guiHotining in
that place win be abandoned. His execu-
ton attracted attention, therefore, in addi-
ton to its own exceptional features.
Peugnez was a youth of twenty years
He murdered his benefactress, Madame
Bertrand, and her infant nephew, batter
ing their brains out with a hammer. He
stole Sl2O Of the widows savings to spend
In dissipation.
On the scaffold the youthful murderer
was cool and unmoved. He refused to con-
fess and seemed indifferent to his fate.
The case of ex-Mayor Damoiseau was
directly opposite to that of Peugnez. Da-
moiseau was an old man, who had ruled
his town with an iron hand for more
than score of years. The only man who
dared to oppose his tyrannical regime was
his son-in-law, Cordier.
Because the latter, an the death Of Nine.
Damoiseau demanded his wife's share of
the fortune Damoiseau shot him and
trampled the infant grandson to death.
For hours he fortified himself in a barn
against the police of his town, whom he
had himself appointed to Office, He was
captured finally by stratagem.
Damoiseau's execution was also wit
messed by prominent persons who had
come from the surrounding country. The
condemned man, without a tremor in his
voice, delivered a long speech. He pro-
claimed that he did not believe in the ex-
istence of God, that he had never done a
dishonest deed in his life, and that his
victim deserved the fate dealt out to him.
Damoiseau maintained his sangfroid to
the last. Calling his counsel, NJ. Magnin,
to his side, he said: I'VE had no chance
This is the finest day of my life
To the Encouragement, NJ. Marviilet,
he remarked: well, now it is you who
triumph; but there are still ominous days
in store for rascaIs."
''I do not need a stimulant,'' he told the
warden, who offered him a glass of BRAN
dy. And to the priest, the Able Georget:
az do not need your counsel"
Boo ehtref: erDbe observation-disclosures
Before the knife dropped he exclaimed:
give Ia repubhque! A bas les Cordier!'
NJ. Diebler Jr., it is said, did his work
fully as wei as his famous father. He re-
turned to Paris and hastily prepared for
his metropolitan debut today.
Dressed in frock coat and top hat he
conducted the execution of Peugnez with
out a flaw, and the crowd in the Place de
Ia Roquette pronounced him a worthy sue
cessOr Of his father, though lamenting the
end Of public executions there.
On May q, 1871. during the Communist
reign of terror the prison of La Roquette
was the scene of the murder of the arch
bishop of Paris, Mgr. Darboy, and other
priests who had been seized by the Com
munards as hostages. On May % and q
of the same year thirty-seven persons i'm
prisoned there by the Commune under
various pretexts, and during the night of
May % twenty-eight egndarmes were TAX
en- from the prison of La Roquette to the
cemetery of Pere-Lachaise, where they
were shot.
All the convicts confined in the prison
of La Roquette were liberated on the af-
ternoon of May q, 1871, arms were placed
in their hands and they at once proceeded
10 massacre the persons eimprisoned by
the Commune. including seventy gen
dames. The approach Of the troops from
Versailles. however saved many who
would otherwise have fallen victims TO
the spirit Of revenge.
The Place de Ia RoGuette is situated be-
tween the prison Of La Roquette and the
prison for young offenders. on the Rue de
Ia Roquette.
FEELS SURE OF THE SAILOR