Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-10-19

LORD, 1913, and the thirty-fifth of the
reign OF that Louis whom men called
Great" And nowhere was the sun
light fairer than in the capital city,
where the presence of a %conquering and
pleasure-loving monarch and his be-
wildering court attracted the bravest
and gayest Of all Europe.
The streets of Paris resounded on
the self-same day to the prancing and
paving OF war horses, the gay fanfare
OF trumpets announcing the return of
a victorious general from the Neither
lands, or the rumbling of the great
coach OF state as the king himself
hurried on to take part in some fam
tastic dance or ballet at the palace,
stopping, perchance, at the cathedral
door to offer thanks with all true
loyal subjects and join in some great
"Te. Deum' sung in honor of another
battle won.
Amidst such confusion the ordinary
affairs of life and state went on as
though naught but the humdrum
plans of a peaceful nation were afoot.
People lived and died a natural death
occasionally; they ate, drank, and
slept through it all. The dead were
buried and the living blest, much the
same as they had been since first the
church spire and the d%ark-robed priest
had superseded the old savage faiths.
Even the millstones of justice Chat is
to say, the king) ground silently and
with their accustomed fineness, while
the AK, the rope, and the wheel did
their kind work in sending prisoners
of state to a country where lettres de
cachet were unknown.
His most christian majesty believed
in the deterrent effect the sight of the
final act in the drama of a criminals
life had upon all good citizens. He
likewise wished at times that his peo--
pie, even those of the lower classes,
should be amused. Accordingly he
achieved these two ends by frequent
public executions in the Place de la
Greve. This, being a commodious
square hard by the Pont Notre Dame,
Woo well udPlC " d ldl &C duulGllCC,
while the balcony of the Hotel de
Vile at its southern end afforded an
excellent PEDESTAL on which the king
and the beauties and ~gallants Of his
court could show themselves when
ever an execution of especial impor-
lance took place.
On the day with which this nara
tive opens the morning had worn away
until the sun with vertical rays beat
down upon the heads Of the spectators.
There had been three instructive and
successful executions thus far. The
first wretch was broken on the wheel,
the second hanged, and the third torn
to pieces by horses. The king and
court party in the gallery had departed
after repeated ha~lf-suppressed x
p%ressions of ennui at the end of this
third act, and there remained but one
poor devil of a nameless fellow to be
dispatched by the knife.
A raised platform occupied the CEN
ter of the square. About it was drawn
up a double line of soldiers, some
armed with halberds, others with
muskets, who kept the people from
crowding too lear. From the scaffold
a narrow lane was kept open by a
company of archers to a cart. on
which the condemned had ridden to
the scene of their execution, and on
which they awaited in silence their
turn. Every other available inch was
occupied by a dense mass of perspiring,
jostling humanity, who good-humor-
edly enjoyed the scene, despite the
heat and press.
1t was to be noticed by a careful
observer that neither pity nor con-
Germ was anywhere manifested for the
three already executed, even though
one was of comparatively high rank
He had, in the collection of the taxes,
made the fatal mistake of trying to
cheat the king as well as the COM
mons. But as the preparations went
on for the dispatch Of the fourth and
last, an uneasy feeling spread about
among the throng. Although few
knew accurately his crime or even
name, yet many felt him entitled to
their sympathy because he vas not a
noble whom they could admire for his
magnificence and hate for his selfish
arrogance, but one of themselves, a
man of the people, who for some I'M
known cause had incurred the dis
pleasure of the king or n of his
creatures.
On the outskirts of the crowd, not
far from the cart IN which the re-
naming unfortunate sat, stood a small
group Of spectators conversing in tones
SO low that the nearby soldiers could
not hear them.
What think you, friend Picon,"
said a muscular fish-wife to a swarthy
butcher fresh from the neighboring
shambles, has 1t come about that M.
lie Ministre Colbert can arrest, con
denim, and behead whom he pleases?"
The man addressed scowled at the
armed men guarding the prisoner, and
muttered: Devil take them!" Then
turning, he replied in a low cultural
voice: They say yon fellow is no
criminal, but has been bounded to the
galleys and the Bastille, and from the
Bastille to the block by the hate of
my Lord Colbert"
While this conversation had been
going on and the condemned man was
being helped down from the cart, the
suns brightness gradually lessened,
and more than one spectator involun-
tarily looked up to see what cloud OBJ
scured the light. But there was moth
ing visible in the clear sky. Yet little
by little did the noon-time brilliancy
fade away, as though the eternal fires