Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1904-03-17
oLD-TIME EXECUTIONS.
No Effort Was Made to Spare the Con-
demned the Most ExcFuciat-
Ing Agony.

If capital punishment to-day was at
tended with one-half the horrors that
marked the enforcement OF the extreme
penalty Of the law In olden times thG
advocates Of its adjustment would
have much better grounds for demand
Ing its abolition than they now have,
says 4 London paper. However deplo-
rable may be the fact Of the survival
Of the practice into the twentieth cen
fury, there remains an item Of conso-
lation in the contrast Of the modes OF
infection employed In the civilized
nations Of the present day with those
Of the miscallsd good old times" II
all savage countries which have organ
ICED = monarchy Of considerable extent
the Office of public eIecutioner Is one
Of the most important. Even in some
European STAKES within less than a CEN
fury ago surviving traces OF this dig
nifty were very recognizable. When the
state executioner of Wurtemberg had
completed u certain number OF nang-
ings, decapitations, brealings- on-the-
wheel, burnings-at-the-stak rackings,
thumbscrsvinSs, hoggings, etc, he al
ways received an honorary degree Of
doctor Of medicine" from the national
university.
Toward the end Of the last quarter OF
the nineteenth century Karl Ludwig
Sand was beheadee in Heidelberg by
Doctor" Wiedemann OF that city for
the assassination of Kotzebue about
year before. The resources Of the more
purely fendish ingenuity appear to
have been exhausted in the details OF
the execution Of the weak-armed and
weak-minded Dapiens for penknife
scratch inflicted on the cutanecus sur
face OF the worthless sensualist Louis
XIV. Of France. The right hand and
foTearm of the culprit were roasted in
a slow fire, his flesh was nipped on
in pieces with red hot pincers, boiling
pitch, resin, wax, ETC., were poured into
the wounds so made, and, finally, when
the last remnants Of vitality were OBJ
viously evanescing, his arms and legs
were dashed to four wild horses,
which were vigorously whipped in diff
ferent directions. 1t Is very note
worthy anatomic fact that the attempt
so made to have the wretched culprit
torn to pieces proved an absolute fail
ure, so that the body of the doomed
man was actually carved on the scat
fold By the executioners!
A comparatively frequent mode OF
execution for political and other aggra-
waited forms Of crime in France was by
"breaking-on-the-wheel" This instru-
ment had four spokes. placed in form
Of an x, or ST. Andrews cross, to which
the arms and legs Of the doomed man
were firmly bound. Opposite the mid
die Of each arm, forearm, leg and thigh
was a hollow-eight in all. Over each
of these places the executioner smashed
the limb with stroke Of heavy iron
bar A ninth blow was administered,
known as the coup de grace. 1t was
over the pit Of the stomach. If the cul-
prit had been recommended to mercy
this stroke ended his sufferings, If not
it was a mere touch, and the victim
sometimes fingered in agony for 4S
hours.
The Maiden ("Jungfrau") Of Nurem-
berg is another Of the horrors Of the
history of criminal law. A gigantic
wood and iron doll, Of feminine out
lines, opened vertically on one side,
being hinged on the opposite. The in
terror was a cavity Of size to receive
the human body. From the movable
side of this maiden" doll projected
half a dozen spikes of some six or sew
en- inches in length. The two upper
most were intended for the eyes; there
was one meant for the heart, and the
others for the principal abdominal Wis
cera. When a person was legally pre-
pared for the sentence Of the maiden"
his feet were placed on the stand and
the door was forcibly closed and bolt
ed. The Jungfrau was placed over a
pit covered by a trapdoor, through
which his body was dropped after so
iourn of "a hours in her embraces.
Rotary SnOw-PlOw.
Eastern railroads do not know, or
need. the rotary snow pillow, whose spec
+oo,Ior oneratione are hest witnessed