Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-05-29
A SCENE OF HORROR.
6LAUGHTERING A CRIMINAL BY THE
GUILLOTINE IN PARIS.

After the Fearful Knife Has Fallen.
| In these rushing times we might take
| for our motto Something New, Al
ways Something New Consequently,
/ I imagine that the impressions of a
| woman at the foot of the guillotine
| would not be commonplace. l was pres
| ent at one performance III the Place de
| la Roquette, where NJ. de Paris and his
assistants oficiated in the name of so
called justice. The horrible spectacle
| haunts and racks the mind and tends
rather to reinforce the partisans of the
abolition of capital punishment. The
| horror of the punishment imposed rem
ders a guilty man almost worthy of
pity. The sight of a human being,
dragged like beast to the slaughter
house, up even to the sinister seesaw,
is terrible.
know many people may be astonish
ed that any body could be moved to pity
for the ferocious brute, Carrara, who
transformed his mushroom establish
ment into q crematory and had no mer-
cy for the unfortunate young man, La
MARIA, whom he threw into the fire
after having murdered him for the pur
pose of robbery. 1 know all that, and I
do not dispute the fact that the Italian
was a monster, but that is no reason
why we should not be disguised at the
spectacle which was presented to our
eyes and which L will now endeavor TO
describe with the impartiality of a sim
pie spectator, without resentment or
prejudice, but with heart that revolts
against a scene that has neither the
grandeur nor the majesty of punish
ment inflicted, hut rather exhibits the
cowardice and baseness of a vengeance
which hides itself from the light of day.
The execution was fixed for 4 o'clock
in the morning, but from the hour of
midnight the neighborhood of the
Grande Roquette was swarming with
an undulating and knocking crowd.
Jailbirds, murderers, footpads and wom-
en- of the streets assembled there to see,
as they said, 1.-The Italian animal short
ened.
Journalists were admitted into the
narrow space so often described, with
its five sinister stones and it's legendary
gas jet which is never lighted except on
the evening before an execution.
There in the rain we watched the set
ting up of that horrible machine which,
according to the legend, Cagliostro
showed in glass of clear water to the
terrified Marie Antoinette. In the yell
low and spectral light of the gas jet
that fickered in the wind these prepa-
rations were hideous to witness. AL
most ON level with the ground stands
the scaffold with its two arms in the
air brandishing the sparkling knife.
And 1, a woman, in the presence of
these preparations, could not help think
ing of the family of the wretch whose |
head was soon to fall into the basket. 1
thought of his little children, who were
at that moment sleeping soundly some |
where, and of his wife, equally guilty |
with him, and who, as it were, pushed |
her husband into the arms of the eXecu |
toner as a last resort to save herself. |
What remorse will be hers when they |
tell her abruptly: "Carrara has suffered /
his punishment. You are q widow"
But the day was dawning, and the |
lamps were going out. At the windows |
and even ON the roofs numbers of spec |
tators were gathered as if to witness |
some carnival. The sight was heart
Mounted gendarmes and SOL |
diers gradually came out of the dark
ness, and one might be inclined to rail /
at such a display of force at the execu-
ton of a wretch paralyzed by fear, who
in few moments would appear upon
the scene tied hand and foot.
There was some little commotion
among the crowd when people began to
point at a thin, old man who hobbled
about with the gestures of a dancing
jack to see if the knife in the brass run
ners was in good working order. This
was Deibler, the executioner, ghost
with n white beard, who adjusted the |
instrument with the indifference of a
grocer weighing his goods. Suddenly
there was profound silence; the rain
was over, heads We're uncovered and
Breathless and almost in
agony the crowd followed with staring
eyes the movement of the doors of the
prison, which at last opened wide.
y suppressed "Ahr came from many
contracted chests, while with pale faces
all gazed upon the assassin, whose
crime the mountebanks of the fairs pop
nlarized. He was simply frigbtful TO
look at, bowed down as he was with
terror. He did not look like a human
being. He looked like a beast. His in
-elligence was already dead and his
heart had lost all feeling. The instinct
IF the animal still remained. The sight
was dreadfully sad. |.
What followed beggars description.
The executioner and his aids seemed no
longer TO be men employed TO carry out
he ends of justice; they looked like
They seized the condemned
nan, some by the ears, some by the
egs. while others held down the center
II the body and kept holding him up TO
he very moment when, with a sudden |
'umble, the knife fell, the head re- | ]
pounded into the basket and the abomi-
ration was at an end.
But one should be present and see the {
'avements covered with blood, the CORY !
lnife. the blood squirting from the de-
apitated trunk, the ignominious wash {