The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-02
THE MURDERER OF MONACO.
THE KINGLET AND HIS LITTLE
KINGDOM.


Guillotine and Executioner-Over-
lures to France and Italy, and the
Prohibitive Prices They Quoted.
Final Collapse of the Governments
PenOioEy-The Criminal in Glover.
ParaboIic Presentation by Count
Leo Tolstoy.
There is a little kingdom on the shore
Of the Mediterranean Sea, between France
and Italy. The name of this kingdom is
Monaco. Its population is smaller than
that OF a big village, amounting to
about 1000 people, and there is not even
as much as an acre OF land to a soul.
But there is a real Kinglet in this little
kingdom by the sea; and the kinglet has
everything-a palace. court, ministers,
archblshops, generals, and also an army.
Not big army. Just sixty men, but an
army, nevertheless. The Kinglet's in
come is very insignificant. To be sure.
there is a tax on tobacco. on Wine and
on brandy, as everywhere else, and the
people there drink and smoke, vet their
number is so small that the Kinglet
would not have enough to support him
self, his court, and his officials, II he
did not have special source of income
The special income Is from the gamb-
ling establishment in his kingdom-from
roulette. People gamble, lose or win,
and the proprietor gains all the time.
And out of these gains the proprietor pays
the Kinglet big sums of money. He pays
big sums of money, because this is the
only gambling establishment that re-
mains in Europe. Before, there used to
be such gambling establishments In the
domain of each of the German princes,
but they were prohibited some time ago
The reason why they were prohibited
was they used to bring about many dis
agreeable consequences. Some one would
come there to gamble would lose every
thing-his own and sometimes other peo-
pies money as well-and then he would
either drown or shoot himself for grief
The Germans prohibited this in the do
main of their princes, but there way
nobody to prohibit 1t in Monaco. So it
remains there.
The Little Gear Must Live.
And since then all those bent upon
gambling go there, There they lose their
money, and in the meantime the Kinglet
gains. You cannot easily make marble
palaces out of honest labor. The little
Gar of Monaco knows wen that this
is a wicked business, but what shall
he do? He must live. To live on the in
come from brandy and wine is not much
better, he thinks. So the Kinglet lives,
reigns. grabs money, and conducts affairs
in his palace just as the real, great kings
do
There is the same pomp at the corona
ton; the Kinglet awards medals, reviews
parades, has councils and laws and
courts of justice, the same as real kings,
only on small scale.
One day, about five years ago, a muir
der took place in the land of this King
let. The people of that kingdom are
peaceful lot, and such a thing never
happened there before. The judges as
sembled, investigated. and tried the case
There were judges, and prosecutors. and
jurymen and lawyers They tried the
case, and condemned the man to capital
punishment-to death by the guillloune.
Very well. The decree was presented to
the Kinglet The Kinglet read the SEN
tence and confirmed it. The murderer
should be put to death. But there was
one trouble-the kingdom had neither the
guillotine nor the executioner to behead
the criminal.
The ministers began TO think what TO
do, and they soon decided to inquire
of the French Government whether it
COuiu 1uiHlSh Aot ItilhtH tlihG INV
necessary machine and executioner to be-
head criminal. and how much the
thing would cost letter was forwarded
to the French Government. In a week
they received an answer, saying that the
machine and the executioner could be
had for the sum of 5000 francs This
was reported to the Kinglet. The King
let thought the matter over, considered
II carefully. Sixteen thousand francs
much!' Could it not be done more cheap
ly? Sixteen thousand francs! This meant
to burden each Inhabitant with a tax
Of a little over two francs. 1t was too
much. They might rebel. A meeting was
called to decide what to do.
Hope i'm the Fellow Feeling of m
King.
At the meeting It was decided to write
to the King of Italy. The French
Government was a republic; 1t had no
respect for kings; but the King Of Italy
was, after all one of their own. He
might, therefore, quote lower rate.
The letter was forwarded, and an ans
wer came Immediately. The Italian Gov
eminent wrote that 1t would send both
the machine and the executioner with
pleasure, and that IL would cost in all
1900 francs. Cheaper but dear, never
theleSS! Inc rascal was 0OL WOILn even
as much as 1900 francs. This would
again mean to assess the people a little
less than two francs each.
Again a session was held. The ministers
though, considered the matter carefully.
Perhaps 1t could be done in a less ex-
pensive way. Perhaps some OF the SOL
diers would undertake to behead the
murderer A general was summoned.
lent there a soldier In your army who
would cut a rascars head off?' he was
asked Anyway, they are supposed to
kill people in time Of war! That's what
a soldier is trained forH
The General spoke to the soldiers but
none of them would undertake to do It,
NO" they said; I'VE can't do this, nor
were we taught to do it,
What was to be done? Again they
thought and thought. called special ses-
sions, committees. commissions Then
they changed their minds, and decided
TO substitute life-imprisonment for capl-
tai punishment. The King would thus
show his mercy. and at the same time
the expense would not be so large. The
King was satisfied, and the matter was
settled But here was another trouble
there was no permanent prison in the
land. where the prisoner might be kept
for a lifetime. There were some small
rooms where prisoners were held for
short while. but there was no solid
prison to keep one forever. A place was
found In the end. The fellow was i'm
prisoned. A guard was stationed 70
him