Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1910-12-09


who were to go forth to execution.
Among them was Henri Chateaubrun.
They all walked out to the carts, some
of them dragging themselves, some
erect all of them showing In their pale
and haggard features the mark Of
death. Standing In the carts, they were
driven toward the Seine and crossed
1t by bridge entering the Place de
Ia Revolution, since called the Place dc
la Concorde. There stood the guillo-
tine with persons to work It ready to
lop Off twenty-one heads, and there
stood a crowd, kept back by soldiers.
to witness the grewsome sight. Tho
carts stopped beside the machine, and
the victims descended from the carts.
And now began work that even an
implement so well adapted to the pur-
pose found It difficult to perform. Each
one OF the prisoners, hntless and with
his hands tied behind his back, in turn
stepped up to 1t, was laid upon 1t,
strapped to It; the knife fell, his head
rolled into the basket. and his body
was removed to make room for the
next victim. Fifteen of the twenty
one had been executed when the
guillotine refused to work. Whether
the knife got wedged IN the grooves
or whether the machinery that raised
the ak or that which detached It after
1t had been raised got out Of order
doesn't matter. Something had gone
wrong, and those in charge of the exc
cutions were unable to fix II.
The proceedings were stopped, and a
messenger was sent for mechanics to
put the gullIotine in order. This re-
qulred time Waiting is not conducive
to discipline. The soldiers who were
there to keep the crowd back grew lax,
and by the time workmen had arrived
people had elbowed their way close
upon the remaining six men standing
in line waiting for the repairs on the
machine that was to make corpses of
them.
Get backp' cried the guards, SHOW
Ing the crowd with the butts of their
muskets.
This was repeated so often and was
disobeyed so often that at last very
little attention was paid to 1t. Chateau
brun presently found himself In the
first line OF spectators. Then, instead
of being In the line next the guillotine
he found himself in the second. In the
pushing that continued he was wedged
back into the third line and at last was
at the back Of the crowd that was there
to see his head cut OF.
There was something radically
wrong with the guillotins. The men
fixing II hammered and pulled and
pushed and screwed and unscrewed.
Meanwhile the day was ended, and 1t
was growing dark. Chateaubrun, con
sldering the sight OF his execution not
worth so long walt, quietly walked
away.
The Place de la ConcOrde is at the
beginning of the Champs d'Eysees.
Chateaubrun, every moment expecting
to DO missed, concealing as well as he
could his tied hands, his heart beat
ing wildly, passed into the Champs
d'Elysees eager to run, but forcing
himself TO walk lelsurely. There he
made his way onward In the shadow
Of the trees. Finally, when he had
gone far enough from the scene Of his
intended execution, meeting a man
coming toward him, he said
"M'sieur. friend Of mine just now,
who is a great wag, tied my hands be-
hind my back and ran AWAY with my
hat. Kindly unlOosen me"
Certainly, m'sleur; IL will give me
great pleasure to do So"
Thanking the man who had relieved
him Of the last mark OF being an in
tended guillotlne victim, Chateaubrun
went into a side street and was lost
The guillotine was fixed. but there
were twenty instead Of twenty-ono
persons executed.
No word Of Chateaubruns escape
reached his wife during tho day OF ex-
ecution, nor the next, nor the next
Indeed, 1t is questionable II his alb
sence from the number OF the con
demned was noticed by the authori
ties. Nine. Chateaubrun was In the
condition Of ono stunned. Boyer call.
ed to SEQ her and found her heart
broken. She told him she wished TO
die. He begged her to live for his
sake, confessing the love ho had long
felt for her. She was too paralyEed
mentally and physically to even CON
slider what he said. Not till some time
aftcrward did she realize that he might
have had her husband put out OF his
way.
But within short time a woman
stopped at Mime. Chateaubrun's home
and told her that her husband was
alive in the Netherlands and desired
her to come 10 him. He had not
dared write her fearing to implicate
her as correspondent with an emigre.
without waiting even TO announce her
happiness 10 Boyer she set out for tho
place Of her husbands exile, and In a
few days he who was supposed TO have
gone TO his long home and the wife
who had mourned him were clasped In
each others arms.
Chateaubrun never had any evidence
that his old friend had betrayed him
except that his wife told him that
Boyer had declared his love for her.
lie believed then that Boyer had caus-
ed his downfall. But he never met
Boyer again. Subsequent changes
placed the Jacobin under another fac
ton, and Boyer met his death by the
gufFlotIne he had intended for Cha.