Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-10-05
CAPITAL PENALTY
Some Curious Methods of Exc
cutting Criminals.
MOROCCO USES THE LASH.
FIogsing to Death Is Still In Vogue
Among the Moors-StranguIation 10
Employed In Austria, and Spain
Clings to the Garrote.

There are many curious methods of
inficting 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 mediae-
val country In existence. Flogging to
death is still in vogue. 1t is not so
very long ago that Mulai Hafd 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 tail pole
and kept there on sentry go iill he died
of sleeplesSness and exhau~' q
; Political crimes are moi Ia uEli.iun
in Persia and the revoluiiuniS,S. when
caught, are dealt with Summarily.
Four conspirators who were recently
caught in the act of throwing a bomb
in the crowded bazar at Teheran were
hanged and quartereo 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 warning.
An Austrian officer convicted Of poi
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-
ecution. but SPANS garrote is very
similar The original method Of gar
roting was. in fact. nothing but stran-
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'O inserted be-
tween the post and the condemned
mans neck the cord was frightened
until strangulation ensued.
The modern garrote consists Of a
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 Il very different matter from
what 1t used TO be in England
Till nearly the end of the eighteenth
century the condemned man was made
10 stand in Il cart with a rope around
his neck. and the cart was then driven
away from under him In 1883 parlia
ment abolished this practice as being
too barbarous. and a platform was
substituted for the cart. In 1874 this
method was improved by proportioning
the length Of the drop to the weight of
the body.
The state of New York mauguratcd
the electric chair many years ago. hut
its only advantage over hanging is
that the man who switches on the cur
rent is out Of sight of the death cha m
Der and 50 escapes the grewSome title
Of public executioner.
l Formerly all criminals in England
died by the TX. aud undoubtedly the
AK in the hands of Il skillful heads
[ man was ais mcrciful an Instrument oi
death rs any which exist today II
Prussia decapitation 10y the AK is still
: the recognized method OF execution
q but the rest of Germany follows tn,
: example OF France and uses the guillo
q tine.
a Execution had almost become obso
/, lete in France until public sentimcn
/ was so aroused by the ever increaSin:
= number of brutal murders that in Jan
q uary. 1909. the widow" as the Frencl
a term the instrument. was dragged on
4 Of its retirement and four miscreant
o were publicly executed at Bethune. il
g the north of France.
9 The guillotine was invented by
:. doctor named Gullotin more than
n century ago. but II is not true that III
4 inventor fell q victim to his own de
n vice. He died quietly in his bed TIL
guillotine consists of two upright post
grooved on the inside An immensel
heavy and sharp steel blade is fixed t
slide in these grooves. and the eXecu
u toner has nothing 10 do but pull
II rope. when the blade drops and decaT
W itates the victim instantly.
If There are Il few countries wher
Y. capital punishment has been abolished
70 notably Switzerland. In Italy ais
:. there have been no executions for civ
h. offenses for many years past.-St. Lot
n. is Post-Dispatch.
ly Vegetation In Japan.
t. 1t is estimated that in Japan thel
I'd are no less than 1850 different speci,
of vegetation.