The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-07-14
| CURIOUS CUSTOM.
ENLISTMENT OF ANIMALS THAT WAS
FORMERLY IN VOGUE IN EUROPE.

They We're Sometimes Put to the Rack in
order to Extort Confession-In Other In
,,.noes They Were Buried Alive-Pigs
Hanged or burned for Murder
Reasts were often condemned to be
turned alive, and, strangely enough, it
Los In the latter half of the seven
toontb century, an age of comparative
onlirhtenment, that this cruel penalty
mas most frequently inflicted. Occasi-
onally a merciful judge adhered to the
letter of the law by sentencing the cul-
nrt TO be slightly singed, and then to
ba strangled before being burned.
Sometimes they were condemned to be
hurled alive. Such was the fate suf-
fered by two pigs in 1885, ION the vigil
If the holy virgin" at Oppenheim-on-
tbe.Rhine, for killing child. Animals
we're even put to vhe rack in order to
oytort 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-
scribed by the law, and to set in
motion the whole machinery of justice
before pronouncing judgment. 1.-The
question:" which in such cases would
seem to be only n wanton and super
auous act of cruelty, was nevertheless
an important element in determining
the final decision, since the death SEN
fence could be coIAmuted 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 20 higher tribunals,
and the judments of the lower courts
annulled or modified. In one instance
sow and she-ass were condemned
to be hanged; on appeal and after
new trial they We're sentenced to be
simply knocked on the head. In an
. other instance an appeal led to the ac-
4 outtal of the accused.
In 1865, at NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., near
Paris, a pig, convicted of having eaten
child, was publicly burned by order
of the monks of Sainte-Genevieve. In
( 1856 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 child and caused it's death. Here
we have a strict application of the lex
4 tallonis. The SOW was dressed in mans
clothes and executed in the public
square, near the city hall, at the ex-
pense to the state of ten sous and ten
deniers besides 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 minister of justice he incurred no
guilt in shedding blood. He was not
b common butcher of swine, but pub
bic functionary, a master Of high
works" (maitre des hautes oeuvres1
as he was officially styled. In 1894 a
pig was found guilty of "having killed
and murdered child in the parish Of
Roumaygne, in the county of Mortaing,
For which deed said pig was condem-
ned to be drawn and hanged by Jehan
Petit, lieutenant of the bailiff."
There is also eXtant an order issued
by the magistracy of Gisors in 1405,
commanding payment to be made to
he carpenter who had erected the
scaffold ON which an OK had been exc
.cuted "for its demerits."
On the 9th of June, 1879, 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
|hangman, who, without further author-
ity, took 1t to the gallows green and
\ there hanged it publicly, to the dis
.grace and detriment of the city,"
On the 10th of January, 1857. n sow
was convicted Of murder committed
on the person of an infant name Jehan
Martin of Savigny, and sentenced to be
Banged. Her six sucklings We're also
INCLUDED in the Indictment as accompli-
GEES, but in default of positive proof
that they had assisted in mangling 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
Prime"
The Knowing shark.
A painful moment on board ship at
pea is that when some poor mortal,
Who has died on the voyage has to be
3aid away in the bosom of the deep
with the simple ceremonies of an ocean
burial
vessel carrying dead body and
passing through waters frequented by
gharks is almost sure to be followed by
pne or more of those fishes if it does
pot out-speed them.
Rather than bury a corpse while
marks are following the vessel the
captain will sometimes have a body
placed in the ice chamber and full
team put on the engines until the
hungry fishes have dropped astern
completely
In one case at least body was actu-
PLY cremated on board by the cap
aims orders because of the sharks.
put sharks are not often obstacles to
Prompt burial, and, generally speaking,
Ehen death occurs at sea the body is
Tipped into the water at night with
zone to witness the proceeding but a
couple of the crew and the captain,
no reads an abridgment of the serv-
ee from the Prayer Book.