Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-28
BLUEBEARD PAYS
DEATH PENALTY

VERSAILLES, Feb. 27.-(By the
Associated Press.eHenri Desire
Landru, "Blubeard of Gamaisa,"
convicted of the murder of ten
women and one youth, gave his life
this morning in exchange for the
eleven he had taken. The triangu-
lar knife of the guillotine fell at
sos O'Clock, twenty-five minutes
after the time originally set for the
execution, the delay causing many
to express the erroneous opinion
that Landru was making a confes-
sion. Mysterious until death, Lam
dru resented Father Leisselles'
query as to whether he had any con-
fession to make.
lit is an. insult to a man like
me-" was his reply. Had any
confession to make, I would Aave
made it long ago." but never did he
utter the, word innocent" as he
had failed to utter during his thirty.
four months of Imprisonment and
the twenty-one days of his trial.
He refused the sacrament, but con-
versed a few moments with the
priest. 81 shall be brave. never
fear" he told the clergyman.
Although plans for the execution
had been kept in the utmost secrecy,
crowds began to gather about the
old Versailles little after midnight.
The clatter of cavalry horses along
Georges Clemenceau street, in which
the exuction took place, was plainly
audible in Landru's cell, and when
he awoke he heard the sound, OF
hammers as workmen erected tim
bers of justice" by. the Pickering
light of two square, old-fashioned
| candle lanterns. 458s s. IA
| The gui,iotine was erected only a
| few feet from the main entrance OF
| the Jail. At o'clock, the doors of
the prison opened slowly, revealing
in the court yard the procurator
general, sthe warden of the, prison,
and Landru's two lawyers, M. Moro
Giafferi, anG M. Dutreuil.
Then Landru appeared clad in
| dark trousers and white shirt. His
beard, which, was one of his most
striking characteristics and which
was one of his most striking char
acteristics and which had become
familiar to thousands through pub
1ication of his portrait during the
| trial., had been trimmed; his head
was shaved, and his neck and face
were deati1l. pale. He walked ex-
actly FIVE steps before the execu-
toner's assistant caught him around
the waist and ,leveled him on the ta-
BILE, which was Immediately up
ended; the heavily weighted knife
slid down, and the whole affair was
over in less than 20 seconds. Ian
dru never faltered from the time he
appeared in the door; he gave the
guillotine one look, squared his
shoulders and walked erect, uttering
not word.
The crowd, which had been kept
at such distance that it saw moth
ing of the details, uttered no cry,
and the silence was only broken by
the bugles sounding reveille in the
nearby barracks, and the. angelus
bells. The platoon of cavalry with
sabrca barred saluted as the "mys-
terry man" went to his death.
Then the hundred or so newspa-
per correspondents and the few Of
ficials who had witnessed the exc
cution left the scene, while outside
the lines of cavalry the citizens OF
Versailles and many. from Paris
were asking:
"Is it all over?"
There seemed to be more pity than
bitterness, and never a word OF in
vective against the man who had
lust paid the penalty for a series of
the foulest murders in the criminal
history of France.