Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1899-01-19
"a SCENE OF HORROR.
6LAueHTERlNG A CRIMINAL BY THE
GulLLOTlNE IN PARIS.

n Woman's Description of the shock
h Outcasts OF the French Capital.
After the Fearful Knife Has Fallen.
In these rushing times we might take
1br our motto Something New, Al
ways Something New" Consequently,
imagine that the impressions of a
woman at the foot Of the guillotine
would not be commonplace. was pres
emit at one performance in the Place de
Ia Roquette, where NJ de Paris and his
assistants oficiated in the name of so
called justice. The horrible spectacle
Aaunts and racks the mind and tends
rather Il REINFORCE the partisans of the
abolition of capital punishment. The
horror Of the punishment imposed rem
ders q guilty man almost worthy Of
pity. The sight Of a human being,
dragged like u beast to the slaughter
house, up ever to the sinister seesaw,
Is terrible.
/ know many people may be astonish-
ID that anybody could be moved TO pity
for the ferocious brute, Carrara, who
transformed his mushroom establish
ment into a crematory and had no MGR
cy for the unfortunate young man, La
MARIA, whom he threw into the fire
after having murdered him for tho pur-
pose of robbery. l know all that, and !
do not dispute tho fact that the Italian
was q monster, but that is no reason
why we should not be disguised at the
spectacle which was presented to our
eyes and which I will now endeavor to
describe with the impartiality of a sim
pie spectator, without resentment or
prejudice, but with q heart that revolts
against a scene that has neither the
grandeur nor the majesty of a punish
ment inflicted. tut rather exhibits the
cowardice and basencss Of a vengeance
which hides itself from the light of day.
The execution was fixed for A o'clock
In the morning. but from the hour Of
midnight the neighborhood Of the
Grande Roquette was swarming with
an undulating and mocking crowd.
Jailbirds, murderers, footpads and wom-
en- of the streets assembled there to see,
AZ they said. ''the Italian animal short
ened."
Journalists were admitted into the
narrow space so often described, with
it, five sinister tones and its legendary
gss jet which is never lighted except on
the evening before mn execution.
There In the rain we watched the set
ting up Of that horrible machine WHICH,
according to the legend, Cag!iostro
Showed III a glass Of clear wafer to the
terrified Marie Antoinette. In the yell
low and spectral light of the gas Jet
that flickered in the wind these prepa-
rations were hideous to witness. AL
most or : LEVEL with the ground stands
tho scaffold with it's two arms in the
air brandishing the sparkling knife.
\. And I, a woman, in the presence Of
these preparations, could not help think
ing Of the family of the wretch whose
lead was soon to fall into the basket. !
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 1t were, pushed
her husband into the arms of the execu.
tioner as a last resort to save herself.
What remorse will be hers when they
tell her abruptly "Carrara has suffered
his punishment. You arc a widowr
But the day was dawning, and the
lamps were going ont At the windows
and even on the roofs numbers OF spec
tato-s were gathered as il 60 witness
some carnival Tho sighs was hears-
-endiag. Mounted eendarmes and sol
diers gradually came ont OF the dark.
ness, and "a might he inclined TO rail
at such a display Of force 1t tho czccu
tion Of q wretch para.yzci hy fear, who
in o fow moments would appear upon
the scene tied baud ard foot.
There vas some litgla CONJUNCTION
among the crowd when people began 10
point at a thin, old man who ho3bled
about with the gestures OF q dancing
jock to ser ii the knife ia the brass rum
ners was in good working order This
was Deihler, the czecutiouar, u ghos;
with o white heard, who adjusted the
instrument with tie indifference Of a
grocer weighing his goods. Suddenly
there was profound silence; the rain
was over, heads were uncovered and
motionless. Bsoathless and almost in
agony the crowd followed with staring
eyes the movement ~ the doors Of ~
prison, which at last opened wide.
A suppressed "Ahy' came from many
contracted chests. while with pale faces
all gazed upon the assassin. whose
crime the mountebanks of the fairs pop
ularized. He was simply frightful 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
tell 5ence was already dead aud his
heart had lost all feeling. The instinct
Of the animal still remained. The sight
was draadfully sad.
What followed beggars description.
The execntioner and his aids seemed no
longer to be men employed to carry out
the ends Of justice; they looked like
6utchera They seized the condemned
man. somo by tho ears, some by the
legs. while others held down the oenter
OF the body and kept holding him up to
the very moment when. with q sudden
rumble, tho knife foil. the head re-
bounded into the basket and the abomi.
nation was A. an end.
But NJ should be present and see the
pavemcnts covered with blood, the CORY
knife, tho blood squirting from the de.
nnnifnkod krv.,k tha