The St. Charles herald., 1917-01-13
The maiden was the ancestor of the

! The maiden was the ancestor OF the
guillotine. The inventor OF the latter
whose name has become immortal
was q mere plagiarist. Every salient
! feature of his machine was embodied
| in the maiden. This admirable con-
triyance was introduced in Scotland
! by the regent Morton, who encouraged
/ labor-saving devices of every KIND
Morton, who was the most unpopular
man in his kingdom, had the satisfac-
tion of being beheaded by the machine
he so greatly admired.
The maiden consisted of two up
rights with grooves down the inside
In these grooves there slid a heavy
ak, weighted with lead. There was
cross-bar four feet from the ground,
and upon this the patient laid his head
at the direction Of the executioner.
Then another crosSbar descended
upon his head and held it down. Ev-
erything being in readiness for the Op-
Grafton, the executioner requested the
patient to look pleasant, please, pulled
a cord, and the ak descended. There
never was any botched work with this
machine, as often happened when the
headsman swung an ak by hand. The
maiden was largely used in the agri-
cultural districts, where the stealing
of live stock was a popular diversion.
When the thieves were convicted and
brought to execution, a touch OF po-
etic justice made their end seem more
pleasant. If the condemned had stol-
en- horse, the cord which released
the AK was pulled by that animal; If
a cow or a sheep, a cow or a sheep
sent him into eternity.
1t was upon this CHASTITY machine
that Alexander Balfour was looking
when the sun went down, and there
was despair in his face when he
turned away from the windOw-and-
confronted his sister Jennie. She had
her finger on her lips, warning him to
be silent. She whispered that she had
come to save him. They were much
Of a size, and in little while Alexan-
der was wearing his sisters dress and
bonnet, and she was blushing in his
unaccustomed raiment. The Burleigh
pull was of no avail in AleXander's
emergency, but it seems probable
that the Burleigh money was not so
futile. For everything moved like
creased clockwork. The sister re-
mained in the dungeon, and the BROTH
er walked out of the prison, turkeys
and jailors paying no attention to him
whatever. In bosky dell not far
away he found fleet horse, all sad
died and bridled, with money and
weapons convenient to his hand. So
he sped away, and gained foreign
shore.
Even at this distance Of time one
must sympathize with the unfortunate
executioner when he arrived on the
knoll next morning and found there
forward to this affair as the crowning
of his career. Perhaps
he figured ON taking the lecture plat
form. or making tour of the Chau-
tsuquas, and all his hopes were shat
tered at one blow. So he had to take
his little old maiden away and maybe
he used it for slicing turnips for the
cows.
Lord Burleigh and the various dukes
and lairds and other great relatives
of the escaped murderer never wear
led Of working for a pardon for Alex
ander, and when Queen Anne came
to the throne she was induced to ex-
tend clemency to him, and he returned
to his ancestral halls and lived there
in opulence and honor for 80 years.
His story is familiar tale throughout
Scotland, but nobody seems to know
what became Of poor widowed Anne
Syme.