Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1914-05-16
AS IN MIDDLE AGES
German Executions Conducted
as in Ancient Times.
AK and Block, Long Superseded Else
where, Still Used in Prussia-Oe-
scriptions of Oecapitations Are
Not Published.

widespread agitation is now being
started in Germany TO abolish the use
OF the AK and the block in the eXecu-
ton of criminals, a New York Trib-
une's Berlin correspondent writes. AS
Is well known, Germany Is the only
civilized country which has retained
this barbarous form of executing the
death sentence of the law The hui
man butcher block has been sup
pressed In France. in England and
even In Russia, while in other cOun-
tries, like Belgium. the death penalty.
though still written in the law. is
never turned into fact. and always
means lifelong hard labor.
In Germany the Law provides that
the sentence of death must be exc
cuted through decapitation. Moreover,
advocates of the present system con
tend that the glistening ak and the
black draped block are greater and
more efficient symbol of the terrible
final act of the law than any OF the
apparatus used in other countries.
Still number of the German states
have abolished the ak and the block.
Its use is now confined principally to
Prussia and the old Prussian prov
inces of Brandenburg. including Der
lin. Silesia Pomerania, Posen, SaXony
and East Prussia. Hesse, Hanover and
Westphalia. the later Prussian prov
tnces. use the French guillotine. In
bavaria hnnopGn Af he ~
the late Prince-Regent Luitpold and
his son, King Ludwig. to capital pun
ishment, a death sentence was seldom
passed. When judges did impose II
the prfnce-regent almost invariably
committed the sentence to life impris-
onment
Prussians OF the aggressive, ruth
less type, who made Prussia the main
factor in the empire. oppose the aboli-
ton Of the medieval executions. They
claim that the German ak and block
method is no more gruesome or in
human than the form of executions in
other countries. They assert that
things have been known to go wrong
with mechanical appliances such as
used In guillotining. hanging and cleo
trocution, while an accident is prac-
ucally impossible with an ak In the
hands Of a public executioner who
knows his business. 1t is actually con-
tended by some that the AK Is more
humane than the rope.
In German beheadings the con-
demned has little opportunity to see
anything of his executioner or of the
means employed. In Berlin the execu-
tons take place In the courtyard OF
the Ploetzensee penitentiary. A large.
fat flagstone, on which the headsman
stands in order to have a firm footing.
marks the spot. When the hour ar
rives warders enter the cell OF the
condemned man and quickly cut away
the collar of his shirt. in order TO
leave the neck bare. He is led outside.
AS he enters the courtyard through a
small door he is quickly wheeled
about, so that his back Is toward the
fatal spot, and faces two officials. who
read to him that the sentence of the
law is about to be executed.
Immediately and quickly he is seized
by two strong warders. who half carry.
half drag him backward several yards
to the block" This latter, at least in
Berlin, differs from the old English
headsman's BLOCK. Instead of being
forced to kneel down in front of 1t. the
condemned man is thrown face down
on a long. heavy log. benchike
block" to which he is strapped. His
chin and head fit into a semiciruclar
hole in the end of the block" The
headsman. Immediately clad in black
evening suit, who until now has been
invisible, suddenly steps forward with
a huge ak in his hands. He does not
swing" the ak to his shoulders with
wood chopping motion-the ak is al
most too heavy for that-but walks
quickly to the victim. poises the in
strument for a moment about two and
a half feet above the end of the log
block and with unerring aim drops it
upon the neck. 1t is over. The AK is
of such razorlike sharpness and is so
heavy that its edge sinks deep into
the log block with a crunching sound.
The execution consumes less time
than is necessary to read this descrip-
ton of It.
Perhaps one reason that there has
been no movement before toward the
abolition of the ak and block lies in
the fact that "details of executions are
never printed in the German press.
Usually an execution is told in two or
three lines. reading: "So-and-So was
executed today for the murder OF So
and-So."