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


hangman resorted to the same means by
which he had forced the culprit to come
down off his donkey. He took him by the
middle of the body, put his feet on the
third rung of the ladder and began to push
him up from behind.
There was no help for it; he had to
climb. Then the hangman adroitly put
the slipknot that ornamented the end of
the rope about the neck of his victim, and,
giving the latter a vigorous kick in the
lower part of the spine, he launched him
into space and into eternity. An immense
shout greeted this anticipated ending, and
q shudder ran through the crowd.
For two or three minutes the victim
waVered at the end of the rope. He turned
and twisted, and then remained stiff and
quiet. The people gazed a few moments at
the body clad In arInor, which shone in
the IN, and then separated into groups,
taking the way to their homes and chat
ting gayly over the event.
Next morning at break of day two men
at arms came out of the castle to cut down
the corpse and to strip it Of the armor.
But they found something they did not
at all expect, for, though the gallows and
the rope were there, the body was gone,
together with the armor, and, what was
very strange, the rope was neither broke
nor cut, but just as it was before it was
put round the culprit's neck. The two sol
diers ran to tell this news to their master.
He wouldn't believe them and insisted
upon assuring himself of the truth of the
report.
What had become of the dead mani? For
all the village had seen him die the even
ing before. Could another robber have
carried him away for the sake of the
armor?
Had the friends or relatives of the de-
| ceased taken him away to give him Chris
tian burial?
The Seigneur de la Piroche was trou-
bled. He didn't like to lose the armor.
He offered q reward of ten golden crowns
to any one who would deliver up the Gull
prit accoutered as he was at the time OF
his death. All the houses in the village
were rummaged, but nothing was found
Nobody claimed the reward.
The Seigneur de la Piroche continued
to lament his lost armor before men, gods
and demons. He was beginning to TAKE
his loss ph~ilosophically, when one morning
on waking he heard a great noise on the
| place where the execution had taken place.
He was just going to ask what it was all
about, when his chaplain came into the
room.
.sMy lord, ]" said he, "do you know what
has happened?"
"No, but I'm going to find out"
81 can tell you"
''What is it?"
ga miracle"
"You don't say SOP"
"The mar who was hanged"-
GWal1 what of him9b
"He's here.
"Where?"
SAT the gallows."
"Hanged?"
"Yes, my lord"
SIN his armor?"
Gin your armor."
"Quite right, tits my property. And
he is dead?'
sQuite dead. Only
"Only WHAT"
"Had he spurs on when he was hanged?"
"No."
"Well, then, he has them on now, and
instead of having his helmet on his head
it is carefully placed at the foot of the gal
lows, and he is hanging bareheaded."
'sQuick, let us go and see it,"
The Seigneur de la Piroehe ran through
the crowded square. The neck of the cul-
prit had been replaced in the slipknot, his
body was at the end of the rope. and the
armor was on his corpse. 1t was wonder
full. Everybody cried out that it was a
miracle.
"He repented," said one, and came
back to hang himself again"
stHe was there all the time," said an
other, "only We did not see him."
"But why has he got spurs on?" asked
a third.
Doubtless because he had a long way
to come and was in a hurry"
II know one ~thing-that, far OR near, /
shouldn't have had any need of spurs, for
I shouldn't have come back"
Everybody laughed and looked at the
horrible face of the corpse. AS for the
lord of Piroche, he only troubled himself
to make sure that the robber was indeed
dead and to take back his armor.
They took down the body, stripped it of
the armor and hung it up again. The
crows went to work SO vigorously that at
the end of two days the body was all torn
in pieces. After eight days it looked like
a scarecrow, and in a fortnight it looked
like nothing at all.
But how came it that, being hanged, he
had escaped. and that, having escaped, he
nau come DaCk anu uaugou ulluseAl aSaih9
At last it was said that our two peas
ants, on their way home, passed by the
gibbet and had heard groans and sighs
thai sounded like a prayer. They had
crossed themselves devoutly and had ask
ed what was the matter. Nobody answer
ing, and the groans continuing, they had
fancied that the sounds came from the
corpse, and had taken the executioner's
ladder, leaned it against the arm of tho
gibbet, and, on mounting to a level with
the body, had asked:
"Is it you who are groaning, my poor
MANI"
The culprit had called up all his strength
and had answered:
Yes"
"You are still alive, thena"
Eyes"
80 You repent Of your crimes"
Yes"