Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-18
CAPITAL PENALTY.
Some Curious Methods Of Executing
Criminals.

SOm6 CuTlOuS mcIHOOo VI 1NSSSN'S
Criminals.
There are many curious methods OF
inflicting capital punishment In the
various countries Of the old world
some Of them tinged with the cruelty
Of the dark ages.
Morocco is perhaps the most me-
diaeval country in existence. Flog-
eing to death Is still in vogue. 1t Is
not so very long ago that Mulai Hafid
had the Shereef Kittain executed In
this horrible fashion.
The ameer Of Afghanistan has pc
culiar methods Of making the punish
ment fit the crime. A baker, for SELL
ing short weight, was roasted In his
own oven. and a man who had started
scare that the Russians were ad-
vancing on Kabul was placed on
stool fastened on top Of a tall pole
and kept there on sentry go till he
died Of sleeplessness 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 bomb
in the crowded bazar at Teheran were
hanged and quartered in the same
fashion that prevailed in England up
to the seventeenth century. The re-
mains of the wretched men were hung
at the city gates as a horrible warn
ing.
An Austrian officer convicted Of poi
soning his superior officers in the at
tempt to win promotion was SEN
fenced to be strangled.
Austria is the only country which
employs this particular method of ex-
ecution, but Spain's garrote is very
similar The original method Of gar.
roting was, in fact, nothing but strang-
Cling. The criminal was seated on a
chair fixed to post, loop OF rope
was placed encircling his neck and
the post, and by means Of stick or
cudgel (Spanish "garrote") inserted
between the post and the condemned
mans neck the cord was tightened
until strangulation ensued.
The modern garrote consists or
brass collar containing a sharp point
ed screw. The executioner turns the
screw, and its point penetrates the
spinal marrow, causing instant death.
Every civilized country does its best
nowadays to make the dreadful task
of execution as rapid and painless as
possible. Hanging as at present per-
formed Is a very different matter from
what it used to be in England.
Till nearly the end Of the eighteenth
century the condemned man was made
to stand in a cart with rope around
his neck. and the cart was then driven
away from under him. In 1888 par
Lament abolished this practice as De-
ing too barbarOus, and a platform
was substituted for the cart. In 1874
this method was improved by propor-
tioning the length Of the drop TO the
weight Of the body. .,
The state of New York inaugurated
the electric chair many years ago, but
its only advantage over hanging Is
that the man who switches on the cur
rent Is out of sight Of the death
chamber and so escapes the grew
some title of public eXecutioner.
Formerly all criminals in England
died by the axe, and undoubtedly the
axe i'm the hands of a skillful heads
man was as merciful an instrument
of death as any which exists today.
In Prussia decapitation by the axe IS
still the recognized method or eXecu-
ton. but the rest of Germany follows
the example of France and uses the
guillotine.
Execution had almost become OBJ
sOlete in France until public senti-
ment was so aroused by the ever in
creasing number of brutal murders
that in January. 1909, "the widow,
as the French term the instrument.
was dragged out of its retirement and
four miscreants were publicly exc
cuted at Bethune, in the north OF
France.
The gullotine was invented by
doctor named Guillotin more than a
century ago. but it Is not true that
the inventor fell a victim to his own
device. He died quietly in his bed.
The guillOtine consists Of two upright
posts groOved on the inside. An i'm
mensely heavy and sharp steel blade
is fixed to slide in these grooves, and
the executioner has nothing to do but
pull a rope, when the blade drops
and decapitates the victim instantly.
There are few countries where
capital punishment has been abolished.
notably Switzerland. In Italy also
there have been no executions for
civil offenses for many years past
st. Louis Post t-Dispatch.