Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-05
Executions of Louis XVI and
Marie Anoinette Were Not
More Correct Than That
Planned for BIuebeard

PARIS, Dec. 10.-When the time
comes for Henri Landru, the blue
| beard of Gambais,'' to repay the
state with his own life for those OF
| the ten women who disappeared
from his villa, he will walk to the
guillotine in the footprints Of a king
and a queen, of princes, Of states
men and of great and alluring cour'
| tesanS.
But, singularly enough, the cere
mony that surrounds the looping off
of his head will be conducted with
a punctiliousness, a grueSome pomp
far more impressive than that which
marked the end of even Louis AI
and his brilliantly frivolous lie,
beheaded while the knitting women
sat by and counted their stitches,
not even dropping one as the blade
fell. 1t was, truly, all in the days
work with them.
On the other hand, when Landru' S
time comes he will be surrounded
by functionaries in most proper
frock coats and top hats. There will
be a strong guard of troops about
the place. This is part of the for
mality of the occasion. The whole
thing will be carried out according
to Hoyle," one might say, with
studied adherence to FORM The
only thing Landru will share with
the king and the queen will be that
thrilling instant that measures the
difference between life and death,
the instant when his acute ears will
catch the click of the button as
Monsieur de Paris" presses it and
the sigh of the weighted blade as it
comes down the guides, a touch at
the back of the neck and then
nothing.
Monsieur de Paris"
Landru probably knows all about
this. last bit of ceremoniousness that
is in store for him. He, in common
with all other Frenchmen, has heard
or Monsieur de Paris ever since
he was a child because this official,
this state headsman, is as much of a
tradition as he is a reality. He has
been known as Monsieur de Paris
for innumerable years, no matter
what his name might be. 1t comes
or the fact that his headquarters
there's something apt about the
Word-are in Paris. But it is his
task to journey throughout the Re
| public, to any city, even to Algiers
IN Africa, in which there is a capital
crime to be expiated, set up his
deadly apparatus-La veuve de Mon
sleur de Paris his "widow'-press
the button, see that the thing gets q
good scrubbing afterward and ther
go home again until another is lee
forth to pay the state what has beer
decreed is owing to it.
The headsman Paris will never for
get is Deibler, the old "Bourreau,
as he was known, who for thirty.fivt
years guillotined the prisoners tina
France sentenced to death. He wa,
a benevolent-looking old gentleman
with decorous,. snow-white sid,
Whisllers. He retired from his unen
viable post after cutting off NOR
than $50 heads, four Of his victims
being women.
AS he had been an assistant execu
| toner in his youth, and as he haC
| married the daughter of a head ex
ecutloner, a preceding Monsieur d.
Paris" it seemed only fitting tina,
his son should succeed him at hi
post beside the upright of the guile
tine where, in frock coat and sill
hat, he. too, would press the little
button that meant one less life il
the world.
Perhaps a headsman cannot b
said to have very cheering reminis
cences-certainly there is nothing t.
endear him to his work-and thi
may be the reason that when h
turned the task over to his son, oIc
Deibler tried to kill himself, to Gu
his own throat as he had seen score
of others served. But the razor h
used was dull or his hand was to-
feeble, and the effort failed. 1t lef
him still more hours to spend will
the haunting faces Of those TO
whom he had pressed the deadly lit
tie button.
The GuilIotine's History
The instrument over which he s.