The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-10-02
PUNISHMENT OF
CRIMINAL CLASS
Some Curious Methods Of
Treating Criminals in
Various Countries.
MOROCCO USES THE LASH
FLoociNc 70 DEATH 70 STILL IN
Usg AMONG THE MooRs-sPAiN
AND AvsTAIA sTRANoLE THE
coNogMNGo.

tas. ~ ~
There are many curious methods Of
innictins capital punishment In the
various countries of the old world
some Of fhern tinsed With tho cruelty
Of the DAN iscs
Morocco II perhaps the most mediae-
val country in existence. Flogging to
death In still In vogue. II is not 50
very long ago that Mulai IInnd had
the eherecf Kittnin executed In this
horrible fashion.
The smesr Of AfRha nistan has pc-
culisr methods Of making tho punish.
ment 6t the crime. A baker. for sell
ing short weight. was roasted In his
own oven. and q man who had started
q scarS that the Russians were nd.
vancing on Kabul was placed on q
stool fastened on top of a tall pole
and kept there on sentry 20 Till he died
Of sieeplessness and exhaustion.
Political crimes are not uncommon
In Persia and the revolutionists, when
caught. are dealt with summarily.
-Four conspirators who were recently
caught In the act Of throwing q bomb
IN the crowded baxar at Teheran were
hanged and quartercd In the same
fashion that prevailed In England up
20 tho seventeenth century. The re-
mains Of the wrctchcd men were hung
ct tho city gates rs a horrible warning.
An Austrian officer convicted Of pol
soning his superior odicers In the at.
tempt 10 win promotion was sentenced
60 BE- stranGled.
Austria In the only country which
employs this particular method of cx.
ecution. but spain's Karrotc In very
similar. The original method Of gar
roting was. In fact. nothing but stran.
Cling. The criminal was seated on .
chair nxed to post, q loop Of rope
was placed encircling his neck and
the past. and by means Of stick or
cudgel tspantsh 'gnrrote''D inserted be-
tween the post and the condemned
man's neck the cord was tightened
until strangulation ensued. w,N
The modern gnrrote. cppsists Of q
brass collar containing . sharp pointed
screw. The cxecutionsr. turns the
screw. and It's point .pcnetrates tho
spinal marrow. causing instant death.
Every civilized country does its best
nowadays 10 make tho, dreadful task
Of execution as rapid aud painless 40
possible. Hanging ns NJ present per-
formed II a very different matter from
what Il used 10 bc In England.
Till nearly the end of the eighteenth
a
60 stand In cart with rope around
hie neck, cnl the cart was driven
away from under him. In 1883 parlia.
mont abolished this practice ns being
too barbarous. nnd platform was
substituted for the cart. In. 1874 this
method was i;.iprovcsl by proportioninp
the length nj the drop To the weight OF
the body.
The state of New York inauguratetl
the electric chnir many years ago, but
Its only advantage over hanging IL
that tho Eian who switches on the cur.
rent h cut Of sight Ut the death cham
ber aud sO escapes the grewsomc title
OF public cxecutIoner
Formerly all criminals In England
died by the nS. and undoubtedly thu
AZ In the hands of n sktllful heads
man was ns nicrciful an Instrument OF
death nv any which exist today. II
Prussia dccnpilation by the ax II still
tho recognized method Of execution
but the rest of Germany follows tn,
example Of France AMI uses the guillo
tine.
Exccuticn had almost become obso
lete In france until public sentimen
was so aroused by the ever increasin,
number OF brutal murders that In Jan
us:y. moo. 1.-The widow" as the rrencl
term the instrument. was dragged on
OF It's retirement and four miscreauti
were publicly executed at Bcthune. I,
the north Of Frnncc.
The guiliotinc was invented by ,
doctor named Guillotin more than ,
century ago. but Il IL not true that tn,
Inventor fell victim to his own de
vice. He died quietly In his bed. TIL,
gui!lotinc consists Of two upright post,
eroovcd ON the inside. An immensel,
heavy AMI sharp steel blade Is fixed {,
slide In these grooves. and the execu
tioner has nothing to do but pull
rope. when the blade drops and decap
itateo the victim instantly.
There are few countries whcr,
capital punishment has been abolished
notably Switzerland. In Italy ais,
th:re have been no executions for civil
cReuses for many years past.-St. Lou
= Peat. Dispatch