Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-05-28
A CURIOUS CUSTOM.
PUNISHMENT OF ANIMALS THAT WAS
 FORMERLY IN VOGUE IN EUROPE.

NAAANSoA@AA
 stances They Were Buried AIiys-Pigs
 Hanged OF Burned for Murder.
 Beasts were often condemned to be burned alive, and, strangely enough, it was in the latter half of the seven teenth century, an age of comparative enlightenment, that this cruel penalty was most frequently inflicted. Occasi- onally a merciful judge adhered to the letter of the law by sentencing the cuI- prit to be slightly singed, and then to be strangled before being burned. Sometimes they were condemned to be buried alive. Such was the fate suf- fered by two pigs i'll 1456, lon the vigil of the holy virgin" at Oppenheim- the-Rhine, for killing child. Animals were even put to the rack in order to eXtort confession. It is not to be SUD- posed that the judge had the slightest expectation that any con fession would be made; he wished simply to observe all forms pre- seribed by the law, and to set in motion the whole machinery of justice before pronouneing judgment. 'eThe question:" which in such cases would seem to be only wanton and super fuous act of cruelty, was nevertheless an important element ill determining the final decision, since the death sen tence could be commuted into banish' ment provided the criminal had not confessed under torture. The use of the rack was therefore a means of es- caping the gallows. Appeals were sometimes made to higher tribunals, and the judments of the lower courts annulled or modified. In one instance a sow and a she-ass were condemned to be hanged; on appeal and after a new trial they We're sentenced to. be simply knocked on the head. In an- other instance an appeal led to the ac quittal of the accused.
 In f266, at Fontenay- Roses, near Paris. a pig. cohvicied of having eaten of the monks of Sainte-G -Geneyieye. Iu 1886 the tribunal of Falaise sentenced SOW to be mangled and maimed 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 tallonis. The SOW was dressed in man S 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 q 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 d minister of justice he incurred no guilt i'll shedding blood. He was not q common butcher of swine, but a pub- lie funetionary, d master of high works" (maitre des hautes oeuvresl as he was officially styled. In 1394 a pig was found guilty of having killed and murdered a 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 magistraey of Gisors in 1405, commanding. payment to be made to the carpenter who had erected the scaffold on which an OK had been exc cuted flor it's demerits."
 ] On the 9th of June, 1576, at Schwein- furt, in Franconia, q 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 it to fhe gallows green and there changed it publicly, to the dis grace and detriment of the city"
 On the 10th of January, 1457, a sow was convicted of murder committed on the person of an infant name Jehan Martin of Sayigny, and sentenced to be hanged Her six stockings were also included in the indictment as accompli- ees, "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 bair for their appearance should further evidence be forthcoming to prove their compliclty in their mother i crime"
 The Knowing shark
 l 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 1 one or more of those fishes if it does not out-speed them.
 Rather than bury corpse while sharks are following the vessel the captain will sometimes have a body placed in the ice chamber and full steam put on the engines until the hungry fishes have dropped astern completely
 i In one case at least body was actu- ally cremated on board by the cap i tain's 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