The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-08-09
PUBLIC OPINION { BACKS CURTAIN ] ON GU|LLOT|NE
Press of Paris Indorses Decree.Law Ending
 Spectacles

paris. Aug. Q = (UP)-After 150 years the French legal theory that held the sight of an execution would deter other possible murderers has been discarded. The cabinet has taken the view that the sight of a man being beheaded merely excites the baser instincts latent in any crowd.
 The result is that French for- eign newspaper men and the "elite" of Paris society no longer will walt on the cobblestones until the gray French dawn to see the guillotine blade fall on a mans neck. The decree-law was favorably received throughout the country.
 The Daladier cabinet abolished published executions with decree law, altering Article 26 of the Penal Code which provides that con- demned men be guillotined "in a public place."
 For years groups of French law yers have tried to abolish the grue- some spectacle. They could not, but q photographer has done 1t for them. On June IT, at 4:32 A. M. when Eugene Weidmann, German- born strangler of Jean de Koven of Brooklyn, died on the Versailles guillotine, an anonymous camera man, hidden behind chimney pots of . neighboring cafe, got a clear shot of the still-living man on the machine.
 Pictures Appear in Magazine
 The picture was published m sMatch," = nce's picture maga- zine. That--and the carnival con- duet of the crowd-brought revul- sion, and the new decree.
 The new technique Of private nuiiIoting ,ame amid the France wide celebration of the l5oth anni- yersary of the French Revolution. which prompted the invention of the swift machine. It was in l789 that Dr. Guillotin pl opposed In the Constituent Assembly that use oi the sword be abolished and that a machine t ereafter lop off the thouands of heads that were due to roll. Dr. Antoine Louis designed the machine, called for a time the sLouisette," and its construction has not been altered much since then.
 The new decree-law has been re- ceived with praise from the Paris press. and Weidmann's chief att torney, the famous Corsican, Vim. certe de Noro- -Giafferi. declared thst the law is the first step toward complete abolition of capital pun- isiiment in France.
 Weldminn Heard Crowd
 The fiery little orator, who also defended and lost the head of the "fsiuebeard" Landru at Versailles in 1922, said that the ugly cries of the waiting crowd in the street ceuld be clearly heard by Weid- mann as he knelt in the prison chapel, arms bound and neck shaved. Never has France seen such q large and morbid crowd includ- ing women and children) as turned out to see Weidmann die.
 The public execution" is reall, rafblic only for officials and news. paper reporters, who stand in senai.circle close to the machine Cordons of police block off the cur ious, usually about 50 yards away and while they may see the victim come out the prison door, they caI1' not see him on the guillotine. ..
 As dawn arrived on June II Weidmann was writing a letter to the parents of Jean de Koven, sol emniy swearing to their daughters virtue. This delayed affairs, so that 1t was broad day when he emerged giving the hidden photographer their chance. It was their last chance, perhaps, in French history
 Hereafter only few, inside the prison court, will see the steel wedge fall. These will be the presiding fudge of the court, an officer desig. mated by the prosecutor. the de. fense lawyers, the clerk of court the prison director, police comms- sioner, the prison doctor and priest or pastor. Furthermore, un. der threat of fine, the press car publish nothing concerning an exc. cution save the cryptic officia yenticA