The Washington times., 1922-02-25
INNOCENT,
HI CIR les
AS BLADE
DESCENDS
Bearded Deceiyer Led to Gull
lotins as Fashionable cTowd
Strains to See Him 0is.
By WILLIAM COOK,
International News Service.

VERSAILLES. France. Feb. 25.
In the raw. misty dawn. Henri
Landru. Frances arch murderer,
was beheaded on the guillotine
before the gate of st. Pierre
prison today.
He had been found guilty on
November 80 of the murder of
ten women, to whom he had made
love and offered Hlarx4Age, and
boy. the son of one Of his femi-
nine victims.
Brave to the End.
Landru protested his innocence to
the very end.
II will be brave" were the last
words he uttered just before the
knife fell.
1t was eight minutes after 8 when
Landru's head rolled from the exc
cution block. He carried with him
into the Great Beyond his secret of
the missing women he was convicted
Of killing for their savings.
A crowd Of morbidly curious per.
sons. including numerous women,
had gathered before the guillotine
before daybreak.
Promptly at o'clock the bugier
In the neighboripg barracks began
to blow the revellle--a tune known
to the American doughboy by the
words, Il can't get 'em up" The
sharp notes Of the bugle officially
proclaimed II daybreak. The crowd
stirred expectantly, knowing that
Landru would soon be led forth to
his doom.
His Wife Is Absent.
Landru had been awake in the
prison since 4 o'clock. When he was
led before the gate he stared into the
crowd, but II he was looking for his
real wife and his children, he was
disappointed. They were not present.
Two small glasses Of rum formed
the last breakfast Of "Bluebeard."
Landru refused to take any solid
food, saying he was beyond all need
of sustenance.
Al Is minutes after s a little
group Of prison officials entered
Landru's cell and told him to pre-
pare for the end. The condemned
mans hands were tied behind his
back and his feet were loosely hob.
bled, permitting him to shuttle down
the stairs from the third cell row.
Once Landru remarked to the ex.
ecutioner and his assistants who
were leading him to the guillotine:
Please don't hold my arms SO
tight"
The doomed man spoke cheerfuily
and pleasantly.
Landru Checks Out.
As Is customary in France. I,sndr,
signed the prison register on his way
out.
To expedite the work Of the ex-
ecutioner. high power arc light was
burning In the prison court, flooding
the guillotine with its rays. Landru
stopped short for a moment and his
body threw heavy shadow across
the foot Of the death scaffold.
Landru was pale, but stood erect
and appeared cool. His beard had
been shaved off under the chin, no
that the hair would not Interfere
with the knife. For perhaps ten sec.
onds Landru stood still and silent,
facing the guillotine.
Forced under Knife.
While he hesitated, the chief ex.
ecutioner and his assistants forced
Landru forward, bending his head
upon the sliding board" The instans
the doomed maI.'s head slid into the
fateful aperture, the knife dropped
and Landru's head rolled into a
backet partly filled with sawdust.
The whole thing took less than s
minutes time.
The alert assistants stood beside
the guillotine with outstretched
hands, Hardly had the murderers
head fallen into the decapitation
basket than they had grabbed H.
Hardly had the echoes of the knife's
thud died away before the body had
been placed In a coffin with the
head Joined to the neck.
The coffin had stood in q closed
wagon beside the guillotine.
The men In the crowd barred the'r