The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-03-04
SAYAGERY OF LAWS
6AR5ARIC PUNIsi1MENTs THAT
ONCE WERE COMMON.
Quality Of Mercy Evidently Unknown
in the Coed Gid Timss'-Thrce
Samples of Flsn5jsh Ingenuity Of
assertions Msi6eu.

in all savage countries which have
organized q moo2rcly Of considerable
extent the cTcr Of public exccutioncr
is one Of The most important Even
ia some European state within less
than century ago surviving traces
Of this dignity were very recognizable.
When the state execuboner of the
duchy Of Wurtemberg had completed
a certain number of hsnsings, decspi-
tatiouS. ings-onthe,wheel, burn
ings-at-the-stake, rackings thumb
screenings. fioggings, etc, he always
received an honary degree of doctor
of medicine" from the national uniyer-
sity.
Toward the end of the first quarter
of the nineteenth century Karl Lud-
wig Sand was beheaded in Heidelberg
by Doctor" Wiedemann of that city
for the assassination of Kotzebue,
about a year before. The resources
Of the more purely fiendish ingenuity
sometimes displayed by homo sspiens
would appear TO have been exhausted
in the details Of the execution OF the
weakarmed and weak-minded Dami-
ems for a pcnknfe scratch inflicted on
the cutaneous surface of the worth
less sensualist Louis XIV, Of France.
The right hand and forearm of the
culprit were roasted in a slow fire, his
flesh was nipped off in pieces with
red-hot pincers, boiling pitch resin,
wsx, etc, were poured into the wounds
SO made and finally, when the last
remnants of vitality we're obviously
evanesciug, his arms and legs were
dashed to four wild horses, which we're
then vigorously whipped in different
directions Il Is very noteworthy
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 az
gravated forms of crime in France was
by breaking on the wheel" Thiu
instrument had four spokes, placed in
the form of an X, or ST. Andrews
cross. to which the arms and legs of
the doomed man was firmly bound
Opposite the middle OF each arm fore
arm, leg and thigh was 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--kno
as the coup de grace. Il was over the
pit Of the stomach. II the culprit had
been recommended for 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 C'JuGgfrau") 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,
Icing hinged on the opposite The
interior was cavity of size to re-
ceive the human body From the
movable side Of this maiden doll
projected a half dozen spikes of some
six or spven inches in length The
two uppermust were intended for the
eyes, there was one meant for the
heart, and the others for the princi
pal abdominal yiscera. When per
ron was legally prepared for the sen
te1ce OF the maiden bis feet were
placed on the stand and the door was
fofcibly closed and boted. The Jung.
frau was placed over pit covered by
a trapdoor through which his body
was dropped after sojourn of twenty
four hours in her embrace.