Year: 1864

Paris Correspondence Boston Post.l
The emotion caused by the execution of
Count de la Pommerais has not subsidized


even vet. 1t is felt to be the last expert


ment of the kind which can ever be VEN
tured upon i'm Paris. The crowd of more
than hunded thousand persons-nOt all
of the lowest degree, as in London, but ia


ken from every class of society-were i'm


pressed, more than is ever remembered,


with the horror and utter want Of respect,


not for the culprit, for he was unworthy the


smallest mark ofsympathy, but for the dig
nity of human nature which the filthy spec


tacle presented. The return from the place
of execution, along the Rue de la Roquette,


was, perhaps, unique in the annals ofcrim-
inal condemnation. There was no passion


against the criminal, and yet there was an


almost ferocious triumph at his death. The


vast concourse of gaping idiots whose


dull ewes were upturned to behold the dy-
ing struggle OF the miserable wretch, who
on his side was gazing earnestly on what he
alone could see, after having teasted on the
deadly sight, skunk away from the place
like the conscience-stricken criminals they
were; and, after having rushed thither flush


ed with wine and indecent mirth, glided


back pale and wan, like ghosts hurrying
from Pere la Chaise, whose gates swing


open for the day just as the multitude was


retiring from the spot. They say that the


whole of the demi monde of Paris was there,


and that the fair tyrant who lords it so
sternly over her fellows, the belle an
olaise, in short, was there in her
wicker-basket; and that for the first
time in her life her hand was observed to
tremble as she jerked the reins, when the
crowd assailed her with the cry of "Panier
a Saladel Panier Sdlddei" in allusion to
the similarity existing between the vehicle
she drives and the wicker-basket called by
that slang name, in which the head falls
when separated from the body? The sub
iect of capital punishment will not be aban-
uoned. The death of La Pommerais has
satisfied the rude sense of justice expert
enced by the workmen of Paris, and even
they will be content with the execution of
an individual of la hdute. A meeting was
held OF the School of Medicine, to debate
the possibility of the prolongation of pain
by decapitatiOn by the guillotine. Several
examples had been prepared, aud the Incl
dent quoted by one of the professors
caused an emotion of terror to run through
the assembly. "When a young student
myself" said the professor, III Iiwasmuch
impressed with certain experiments II had
Witnessed made upon the nervous system
of the patients in the Hotel Dieu, and be-
came SO cOuNlnCeu tuhb piystVth scnslDlllIy
could not abandon the frame Immediately
after violence committed upon itiwhen in
the midst of youth and health, and that
death was eombatted by the strong will to
live, that upon the announcement Of an
execution about to take place at Caen hur-
ried thither, determined to pursue the in
vestigation as far as perfect conviction. /
had concealed a marine speaking trumpet
beneath my coat and stood close behind
the municipal guard at the foot Of the scaf-
fold, and never once took my eyes from the
criminal from the moment that he mounted


the platform. i beheld the whole process


of the execution and was perfectly self


possessed, as every one of the puerile and


disgusting ceremonies was accomplished


When the head rolled into the basket,


drew tho speaking trumpet forth, and,