Year: 1878

Evrens at p. M, with his corps {


assistants and apparatus. At a. II


the work of scaffOlding was begun


and at five ROch drove to the prisO
for his victim. According to thei


perhaps merciful custom the official


had allowed Louchard to believe tina


if the sentence was not carried on


within forty days it would be cOmmu
ted, and when the 9th of March cam,


the prisoner who had marked dOwI


each day upon the wall of his cell
J heaVed IL deep sigh of relief, and fan
! cied that he was out of peril to III:
life; indeed he began to cherish hope,


of a pardon. He developed trcmen
dous appetite; the ratiOns of three


men were allotted TO him, but lie de-
| voured them, and spent what money


he received from his family in the
| purchase of food.


| Unhappily the local legal functional


Ty had his idea of mercy, and the
| evening before the execution took


place told Louchard that he would be
guillOtined at daybreak. Only few


minutes before the prisoner had been


talking to n keeper about his plans
and hopes, and the delight with which
| he would return to his dogs and his
sheep-and the shock Of the disclo-
sure was frightful. The DOCTORS ut
| most skill was called into requisition,
and for long time it looked as if
Roch would have to execute furious
mailman unconscious of right or
wrong, pleasure or pain. And when
LOuchard came out of his first fright
ful paroXysm it was to fall into stu
pOr of terror no less horrible. They
offered him brandy and coffee, but he
would only from time to time wet his
lips with ellu SucTe.


At a few minutes to six the prisoner
was handed over to ROch, bound and
prepared for the scaff0ld. In old times
the parricide in France made 0H9GRClc
honorable at the church-dOOr in his
shirt and bare-headed, then was led
to the scaffold, where, after his hand
had been cut off, he was broken on
the wheel and burned, his ashes being
scattered to the winds. The Code of
1910, formally abOIishing torture, re-
tanned for the parTicide the hewing Off
of the hand at the wrist, and provided
he should he led bare-headed, bare
foot and clad only i'll his shirt to the
Scaffold, where, before he suffered
death, the Sentenbe was To be read to
the pOpulace. In 1882 the section pro-
Viding for the cutting off of the hand
was repealed, but the other provisions
remain in force. LOuchard wore
vest and trousers of black cotton vel
vet and new blue blouse, over which
was placed a shirt in accordance with
the law, a black cap was placed OH his
head and his feet were bare. Fat,
short, pOt-bellied, with an enormous
head and an almost imperceptible bull
alN- Oft Il
difficulty waddling with his piniOned
legs over the cold, slippery flags,
Louchard presented a spectacle that
under any other circumstances would
have been almost JudicrOus. Two of
NJ. ROch'S assistants held him up; the
priest backed close before him holding
the crucifiX to the murderer's lips and
striving to shut from his gaze so long
as it was possible the AK that filtered
in the gay sunlight of the new day
But il was not ut the AK that IlQuchard
looked, but coffin that Saped Bessie
him. He did not apparently hear the
sentence read over him. As the clerk
pronounced the words, "A To pieit de
mort" " ROch, with his usual deXterity,
seized the condemned man, threw him
upon the plank, which fell and was
pushed under the AK. Here there was
horrible wait. The murderer's
neck was so short that there was no
place between his head and shoulders
for the lunette to be lowered. Soon,
however, the assistants got him in po-
SitiOu and the AK fell. The head
tumbled into the basket and the body
fell backward, taking almost a sitting
position, and, horrible to relate, four
jets of blood spOuted up from
the frightful wound to the height of
fulIy a foot