Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-05-03

1'eHcerb' Neck WrlnGers, skull Crackers
and Asphyxiators.
washington Correspondent Charleston
News and Courier.)
Uncle Sam will see to it that the
horrible garrote OF Porto Rico is speed
lily replaced by some humane instru-
ment of capital punishment.
Americans had quite forgotten that
this chastity relic OF SPANS cruel ad-
ministration still remained as the legal
means of execution until reminded by
tho sickening dispatches describing the
slow death tortures of the FIVE muir
derers at Ponce recently.
The Porto Ricans themselves had al
most forgotten this grim engine. which
had been rusting and warping with
seven years of disuse.
The garrote Is a relic of the Spanish
inquisition. Before that time the word
implied simple strangulation. Later an
instrument, known thereby, consisted
primarily of an iron collar, which was
gradually frightened until strangulation
became complete. Later Improve
ments" have made its work more
prompt, but none the less cruel In
Spain the ceremony of garroting begins
with the saying of mass and the read
Ing or the death warrant in the cell Of
the condemned, who is next mounted
upon the back of small donkey and
led to the place of execution by a pro-
cession of soldiers, priests and jeering
citizens. The hauling of the murderers
in procession of open carts over q
mile of public thoroughfare mingled a
taste of the French reign of terror with
that of the Spanish inquisition.
THE MODERN GARROTE.
The garrote itself now consists of a.
high platform, or scaffold, from the
centre of which rises a tall post At a
convenient height above the floor
serves us a seat. A black cap and
plack robe are adjusted by the execu-
toner before the condemned Is bound
to the seat, with; his back against the
post, to which Is attached the terrible
iron collar. After the latter has been
secured around It's victims throat the
executioner takes his position behind
the post. He grasps a T-shaped ham
die and by giving 1t several sudden
twists revolveS a screw protruding
through the post and the clasp Of the
collar. The end of the screw Is thus
bored through the spinal marrow at
the base OF the culprits brain. The still
main for several hours in plain view of
the morbidly curious crowd. given a
holiday that they may view the grue-
some spectacle. Such legal slaughter
is always public. 1t was the former
custom to garrote criminals in the
early morning.
A REVOLVING SPECTACLE.
In some instances the sting of the
garrote's fatal screw has been so deep
as to sever the victims head from his
body. The Spaniards claim 1t to be
more prompt instrument of capital
punishment than the gallows. While
the simple action of the screw may
cause instant death the tortures pre-
ceding Its inniction appear to he made
as cruelty trying for the condemned as
possible. The prolongation Of the pro-
cesslon OF death over a mile of terri
tory has no other purpose than abject
cruelty. while the idea of making such
a CHASTITY process of law holiday spec
tacle Is revolving to enlightened natures
of this age. Most to be condemned Of
all the bloody details of such an exc
cution is the terrible knowledge of the
criminal that his body is to be hideous-
ly disfgured. Indeed, the garroting
operation is invariably such Il sicken-
ing sight that the most cold hearted of
eXecutioners shrink from it and bungle
their work through sheer nervousness.
| 1t was due TO such a feeling that the
public eXecutioner of Ponce refused to
bore out the lives OF the five rnurderers
garroted last week. He could be re-
placed only by two convicts, promised
| the remission of nine OF their fifteen
| years In prison.
HUMANE EXECUTIONS.
Before another such spectacle is per-
mitted in our colonies acquired from
Spain the most modern of proposed
| methods OF capital punishment will be
carefully looked into by the proper au-
| thorities. This investigation will
doubtless result in the establishment in
Porto Rico. the Philippines and prob
| ably In Cuba of the most humane sys-
! tenn OF execution in the world. So
opines an official in an excellent posi-
ton to judge. Among the medico-
legal authorities and criminologists in
all parts of the enlightened world there
Is now being waged powerful crusade
| against existing methods of legally dis
patching murderers.
| Were there an attempt to substitute
the gallows for the garrote n cry would
De raised by many eminent specialists
In this grim lore. The modern tenden-
cies among our States is to replace the
old-fashioned engine OF death with an
electric chair or to eliminate capital
punishment altogether. There has been
q recent controversy as to whether the
| Tightening OF n moose about n mans
neck produces immediate unconscious-
ness by ruDturing the thus strained
blood vessels OF the brain, or whether
the modern long DROP" which infIicts
q Dlow upon the medulla. does not for