The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-01-28
TWICE HANGED.

The date of the tale is the year 1418,
and two men, one cider than the other and
both peasants, are going along the road,
mounted on donkeys.
"Do you think we shall get there in
timer said tho son.
ssOh, yes; it is only a quarter past 10
by the sun, and the affair doesn't come off
till 2 O'Clock"
"It will be a curious sight"
"I believe you"
''And so the man is to be hanged In the
suit of armor which ne ~stole?'
Yes"
"And he was caught as he was carrying
1t off?''
"Yes. You see, this armor made a ter
rible row while it was being carried off.
Apparently it wanted to remain with its
rightful owner"
"And they arrested the man2''
"Not at first. They began by being
frightened out of their wits. These people
didn't believe that they had a thief to deal
with"
"And what them"
"a ghost. This scoundrel, being a pow
erful fellow, carried the armor before him,
lifting it high above his head, SO that as
he passed along the corridor he looked
like an enormous giant. Besides that
the villain made O terrible noise; SO you
can imagine the fright of the servants.
Unfortunately for him, however, the noise
woke up their master, the Seigneur de la
Piroche, who, fearing neither the living
nor the dead, caught hold of the robber
and gave him over, half strangled, to the
arm of the law"
"And the arm of the law?"
"Was his own. He condemned the man
to be hanged, dressed in the suit of arm
or"
"Why did he insert that clause in the
s~entence?''
because the Seigneur de la Piroche is
not only q brave soldier and leader of
men, but a sensible fellow who wished to
turn the sentence into an example for
others and profit for himself. Don't you
know that the last thing that touches the
body of a man who is hanged brings good
luck to the person who possesses it? So
the Seigneur de 10 Piroche ordered the
criminal to be dressed in his armor in
order to take it back again after the ex-
ecution as a talisman in war"
"That was a clever idea.
81 believe you, my boy"
The father and son continued their way,
chatting thus, and half an hour after
wards they arrived at Piroche. An i'm
mense crowd of people had assembled on
the great square opposite the castle, for
there the gallows had been set up. The
two companions drew as near to the gal
lows as they could, SO as to lose nothing
of the show, and waited for the others.
They had not long to wait. At a quarter
to 2 o'clock the gate of the castle opened,
and the culprit appeared, preceded by
guards and followed by the hangman.
The robber was ~accoutered in the stolen
armor and mounted on a barebacked dom
key, with his face to the tail. His hands
were tied behind his back. The culprit
was brought to the scaffold.
The hangman put the ladder against the
gallows, and the chaplain OF the castle,
mounting upon a platform prepared for
him, read the warrant of execution.
The cuIprit remained immoyable, as if
he were going to play a trick on the spec
tators by dying before he WAS hanged.
The people yelled, ordering him to come
down from his donkey and give himself
up to the hangman. He didn't stir an
inch. Then the hangman took him round
the waist, lifted him from the donkey's
back and placed him erect upon the
ground.
BY this time the chaplain had finished
reading the sentence.
ssHave you any request to maker" he
asked the victim.
Yes" replied the wretched man in a
sad voice, made hollow and dull by the
helmet.
ssWhat is YOUR reuuest?n