Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1910-10-07
CAPITAL PENALTY
Some Curious Methods Of Exc.
cutting Criminals.
MOROCCO USES THE LASH.

FIoaaina to Death Is Still In Vogue
Among the Moors-Stransulation 10
Employed In Austria, and Spain
clinss TO the Garrote.
There are many curious methods Of
infiicting capital punishment in the
various countries of the - world.
some of them tinged with the cruelty
Of the dark ages.
Morocco is perhaps the most mediae-
val country In existence. Flogging TO
death is still in vogue. 1t is not so
very long ago that Mulal Hafid had
the Shereef Kittain executed In this
horrible fashion.
The ameer Of Afghanistan has pc
culiar methods Of making the punish,
ment at the crime. A baker. for sell.
ing short weight, was roasted in his
own oven, and man who had started
a scare that the Russians we're ad-
vancing on Kabul was placed on a
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 consplrators who were recently
caught in the act of throwing a bomb
in the crowded bazar at Teheran were
hanged and quartercd 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 horrible warming
An Austrian officer convicted Of pol.
soning his superior officers In the at.
tempt to win promotion was sentenced
to be strangled
Austria is the only country which
employs this particular method OF ex.
ecuton, but Spain's garrote is very
similar. The original method Of gar
roting was. In fact, nothing but stran
Cling. The criminal was seated on 9
chair fixed to a post, loop Of rope
was placed encircling his neck and
the post, and by means of q stick OF
cudgel (Spanish ''garrote'D inserted be
tween the post and the condemned
mans neck the cord was tightened
until strangulation ensued.
The modern garrote consists Of 9
brass collar containing a sharp pointed
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 very different matter from
what 1t used TO be in England.
TIL nearly the end Of the eighteenth
century the condemned man was made
to stand in a cart with a rope around
his neck, and the cart was then driven
away from under him In 1888 parlla
ment abolished this practice as being
too barbarous, and a platform was
substituted for the cart. In 1874 thi.
method was improved by proportioninl
the length Of the drop to the weight OF
the body.
The state of New York inaugurated
the electric chair many years ago. but
It's only advantage over hanging Il
that the man who switches on the cur
rent is out Of sight of the death cham
Der and so escapes the grewsome title
Of public executioner.
Formerly all criminals In England
died by the AK, and undoubtedly the
ak In the hands of skillful heads
man was as merciful an instrument o.
| death as any which exist today. lr
Prussia decapltation by the ak is still
the recognized method of execution
but the rest of Germany follows tn,
example Of France and uses the guillo
tine.
Execution had almost become obso
lete in France until public sentimen
was so aroused by the ever increasing
number of brutal murders that in Jan
uary, 1909. the widow" as the Frencl
term the instrument, was dragged ou
| of its retirement and four miscreant!
were publicly executed at Bethune, Ii
the north of France.
The guilotine was invented by
doctor named Guillotin more than {
century ago, but it is not true that th'
inventor fell victim to his own de
vice. He died quietly in his bed. Th
guillotine consists of two upright post
grooved on the inside. An immensel.
heavy and 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
itates the victim instantly.
There are few countries wher
capital punishment has been abolished
notably Switzerland. In Italy ais
there have been no executions for civi
offenses for many years past.-St. Lou
is Post-Dispatch.
Forced to Leave Home.