The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-23
DEATH BY THE 0ARRoTE.
capital Punishment in Cuba, Where the
 ExeOutioner Loves His Art.

ExeOutioner Loves His Art.
 New York Sun.
 Cuba retains from the long Spanish oc- ouPation the sarrote as the instrument of quick acting affair is the garrote in the carcel in Havana. that prison building which occupies the choicest site in the whole city The Carcei looks out to the ocean at the harbor mouth. and after the Morro and canabas is the most prominent old structure of the city.
 They keep the Earrote in a dark room not more than dozen feet square. 1t ap- pears; on the ground floor of the carceL Alongside the execution room is cell where the executioner lives
 He is a red haired Cuban, political prisoner who Is there for life. It isn't a popular job. that of being executioner. and because of the lively passions of the Gu bans perhaps it's just as well that the ex- excutioner is permanently detained with in four solid stone walls
 The incumbent of the job takes work mans pride in smoothly operated piece of mechanism Apparently it never occurs to him that there is anything tragic or melodramatic in an execution.
 Without qualms he sees a stumbling un- willing, cringing human being dragged rather than conducted into that dismal room. Seemingly he never is touched with the thought that what is a man when he enters the room never will step alive out of 1t. Far from any feeling of emotion. he slides the mechanism back and forth to show how beautifully it works, and then with a maliciuos grin invites who will to sit down in the chair and try it.
 The garrote is a thing that man of nervous temperament should look at. Once seen it never can be forgotten. Just to think of it months afterward brings up a choking sensation which makes one long to tear away his collar and breathe the free air as deeply as he can.
 It rests upon a raised platform, an or dinary straight backed chair. with thin iron clasps on the elbows and legs of the chair These are for the arms and ankles of the condemned criminal.
 At the top of the back of the chair is a band of iron. one end of which swings out to admit of a neck being insert all is ready. twirl of a crank in back and as the band crushes the neck back a pin pierces the medulla oblongata.
 The executioner explains all this with A bright smile. It is nothing new to him
 He tells as a great joke how one time one of those vaudeville performers who free themselves from handcuffs and chains came to the Carcei to look over the gar rote with idea of making a wager that he could free himself of it. The execution CT worked the pin a couple of times and the wizard declined to try the machine.
 The garrote man laughs uproariously al he tells this. That's his idea of a joke. The executioner's fee Is SIT. The execu- tioner expends this generally for tobacoc and other creature comforts.
 One time he stood out for money in ad, vance. What earthly hurry there might bs for e man who has all his time to spend in jail to get his money in advance the av. craze person cannot we'll see. but he said | if he didn't get his money he'd refuse to dc the iob Eventually he got it. This executioner too has ideas on tn, | subject of comparative capital punishment He thinks that the garrote is the best oi all-more effective and more humane thar | the electric chair and hanging and inf. nitely better than the gulillotine and tho axe.
 See for yourself" he says. twirling the | crank, could anything be better?" And as expert opinion perhaps 1t deserves | respect.