The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-01-20
PUNISHING BEASTS.

!
Custom-A Literal Application of the
Lex Talionis--All the Legal Forms
Observed.
Beasts We're often condemned to be
burned alive, and, strangely enough, 1t
was in the latter half Of the seven
tenth century, an age of comparative
enlightenment, that this cruel penalty
was most frequently inflicted. Occa-
sionally morciful judge adhered to the
letter of the law by sentencing the
culprit 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 in 1456, ION the vigil
of the Holy Virgin" at oppenheim-
/ the-Rhine, for killing a child. Animals
We're even put to the rack in order to
eXtort confession. 1t is not to be sup
posed that the judge had the slightest
expectation that any confession would
be made; he wished simply to observe
all forms prescribed 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 wanton and
superhuous act of cruelty, was never
| theess an important element in deter
mining the final decision, since the
! death sentence could be committed into
Punishment provided the criminal had
not confessed under torture. The use
of the rack was therefore a cans of es-
escaping the gallows Appeals were
sometimes made to higher tribunals,
and the judgments 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 were sentenced to be simply
knocked on the head. In another in
stance an appeal led to the acquittal OF
the accused.
In 1866, at Fontenay- aux Roses, near
Paris, a pig convicted of having eaten
child, was publicly burned by order
of the monks OF Sainte-Genevieve. In
1886 the tribunal of Falase sentenced a
SOW to be mangled and manned in the
head and leg, and then to be hanged,
for having torn the face and arm or
child and caused it's death. Here we
have a strict application of the lex tai
ionls. The SOW was dressed in mans
clothes and executed in the public
square, near the city hall, at the ex-
nense to the state of ten sous and ten
deners. besides pair of gloves to the
hangman.
NV
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 quit
in shedding blood. He was a common
butcher of swine, but public func-
tionary. a master of high works
(maitre des hautes oeuvres), as he was
officially styled. In 1894, pig was
found guilty of having killed and muir
dered a child in the parish Of Rou-
maygne, in the county of Mortaing, for
which deed the said pig was condemned
to be drawn and hanged by Jehan Pet
tit, lieutenant of the bailiH.
There is also extant an order issued
by the magistracy of Gisors In 1405,
commanding payment to be made to the
carpenter who had erected the caffold
on which an OK had been executed for
its demerits" Brute and human GRIM
inals were confined in the same prison
and subjected to the same treatment.
Thus "Toustain Plncheon, keeper of the
prisons of our lord the King in the town
Of Pont de Larche," acknowledges the
receipt of nineteen sous six deniers
tournois for having found the kings
bread for the prisoners detained, by
reason of crime, in the said prison"
The jailer gives the names of the per-
sons in custody, and concludes the list
with the "item' of lone pig, kept from
the Gath Of June, 1908. inclusive, till the
18th of July" when it was executed for
"the crime of having murdered and
killed a little child" For the pigs
board he charges two deniers tournois a
day, the same as for boarding man. |
He also puts into account "ten deniers
tournois for a rope found and delivered |
for the purpose of tying the said pig !
that it might not escape"
peculiar custom is referred to in the /
process verbal Of the prosecution of an |
porker, dated May 20, 1872. |
The murder was committed within the I
Of the monastery of Moyen-
where the case was tried and |
the accused was sentenced to be !
hanged and strangled on gibbet."
The prisoner was then bound with
cord and conducted to cross near the
cemetery, where it was formally given |
over to an executioner from Nancy.
From time immemorial," we are told,
''the justiciary of the Lord Abbot of
Monitor has been accustomed to
consign to the provost of Saint-Diez,
near this cross, condemned criminals,
wholly Naked that they may be execu-
ted; but inasmuch as this pig Is a
brute beast he has delivered the same |