The age-herald., 1900-04-10
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

ly and ask favors in the afternoon; but
 avoid women.
 Thou wilt have an unsettled year in thy
 business and family circle, disappointment
 or affliction. Keep myself quiet and thy
 health good.
 A child born on this day will have to
 work hard to make headway in life, and
 will meet many troubles in its domestic
 life.
 "The garrote, by which five criminals
 were executed in Porto Rico last Saturday,
 is the ordinary instrument used in Spain
 and in all so-called Spanish countries or
 colonies for legally inhicting the death
 penalty as provided by regular courts
 of law said man in the Morris lobby
 who has travelled in Spain and other lands.
 ''The word garrote. pronounced ga-rote, is
 Spanish, though in English it is identical;
 and it means literally 8 stick, the means
 of nhicting death in ancient times having
 been a cord about the neck frightened by
 the use of q stick so as to produce strangu-
 lation. This still is a method of commit
 ting murder in Spain The garrote now
 in use is a metal band not broader than three fingers of a woman's hand. In the
 band is a sharp-pointed screw. At the moment of execution the garrote, which is loose at either end is fitted closely about the neck of the criminal, very much as a man adjusts closely fitting linen
 collar, the screw resting against the spinal cord. A twist of the eXecutioners wrist drives the point of the screw into the vital line and death is instantaneous. The execution takes place on a raised plat form in view of the public; the condemned person being securely bound to an upright posa reaching to the level of the shoulders. This simple exposition of garroting sug- gests the contrast between that method or death and the gallows, and people VIII form their own opinions Whatever may be said of garroting, there is after the ! twisting of the fatal screw no dangling nor w.rthing, nor slipping of a knot or breaking of rope, no slow strangulation, the which so often result in the use ol 'iie vulgarest and most hdcous of all forms
 Of capital punishment, the Anglo-Saxoh i gailows."
 ! "Capital punishment, and the methods Of ] inGicting the death penalty in such couh- : tics as impose it are full of historic ana 1 social interest" said the traveller at the 1 hotel "Such history is very voluminous 1 and instructive. In this country where the | callows is of little consequence as com
 pared with the means employed by public and private murderers, there are three ] states which have abolished capital pun | ishment in so far as their writs can run,
 namely. Maine. Rhode Island, and Wiscon-
 sin New York state executes its criminals
 by means of electricity, sometimes prac-
 ticaIly cooking them in that way. Tn all | md tarTitDripS of the nOiOn
 on the mainland of this continent the gal
 lows is provided. This applies in effect also
 to all other Anglo-Saxon governed terri
 tory in the world. Generally throughout
 the English-speaking world the chief of-
 lenses that may call for the death penalty 1 are treason, murder. rape, arson, and cer- tain forms of robbery. In North Carolina i horse-stealing remains a capital offense | In Italy, Holland, Portugal, and Srazil | there is no capital punishment as we 1 Americans understand the term; that is, | there is no death penalty for crimes 1 against persons In all countries military l criminals of the first degree are shot. l Traitors arc put to death in various forms, 1 according to the customs of different coun- tries. In France a condemned mans head | is cut off by the guillotine, machine con- 1 sisting chiefly of two upright beams of wood, between which is worked heavy
 axe that is made to drop on the victims | neck. In Germany, Austria, and Russia or | lenders are shot, as they are in nearly all 1 the smaller nations. In heather countries
 various methods, some of them most dia- | bolical, are employed in executions. As to l executions in different nations, some are
 professional and others incidental. In l America, as all of Us are aware, criminals outside the army and navy are executed 1 by sheriffs or their deputies, or United 1 States marshals or deputies. For England, | Scotland and Ireland there is a profess l sional hangman who lives in London and l is sent wherever his gruesome services are | required. In France there is a professional ! executioner and his office is hereditary.An ! executions take place in public just out . s,de the hazas prison in Paris. None of | the general public knows the eXecutioner 1 name, nor desires to know it; but he Is
 usually called "Monseiur Paris" The pop
 ular story, by the way, that Dr. Guillotine,
 the inventor of the dreaded machine that
 bears his name, was executed by II Is no longer accepted by students of history. In
 the other Christian countries mentioned
 the executioners are soldiers or police | men"
 | Amongst the occupants of a South High l lands dwelling house which was burned | the other day, there was a young man | much devoted to society. Having been up
 late the night previous, he was abed sleep | ing as soundly as the Seven Sleepers when | the fire began to rage. In fairly good time | he was awakened, and, being a young man l of education and culture, he did not be- | come panicky; but proceeded leisurely to
 dress himself, and then to gather his be-
 longings. Having secured his more cher | ished effects, such his dress suit and | the appurtenances thereunto belonging, he walked down stairs and outdoors where he l placed the things he carried. He then re- turned to his room for other things. Be- l fore he got back out of the house the fire | had cut him off from his evening raiment,
 and all was lost, notwithstanding the fran