OCR Text |
Show t - ---- J SIORCASI AND THE GARROTE, Juan Manendi, tho socialist fanatic who shot at King Alfouso a couple of months ..go, was executed yesterday ! morning. A1 Coins was disposed to deal lees eovorely with the would-be j assassin, hi d irtlict the milder pun- j ishment of inijuisoument, but the young king's miuiatera overcame his humane feelings, and prevailed upon him to aigu, reluctantly, however, the death warrant. It is not certain ( Unit Alfonso's kiudlier plau wuuld not have bo;n the wiser course to pursue iu tho premises. By Ihe laws cf the land Moncnsi forfeited hia life, an.l nodo.ibttho Spanish nobles and titled (.1 isscs regarded the most rigid enforcement of tho law a$ the bust method of dealing with tha king- killing elemcut which now pervades T. K.ircpo to such an alarming eiti'Lt There is a ditference of opinion ou this subject, and peoplo who bavo lived under a freo government will bo inclined ta regard the ideaa of Alfouso aa tho better and more effective effec-tive way of suppressing tLo evil. Could he have lollowed freely the diclate3 of hia owu heart, he would .havo indicted mild punishment upon tho mif guided Cauatic, and then pardoned par-doned him, which couree would have made many friends among the Mon-cuii Mon-cuii c!as?. It ia a vi ry geed rule for kings to cxercu-e moderation and charity towards their subjects. The respect that comes from gratitude ia far bettor than that which is exercised through fear. There are scores of Moncasia in Spain, and his fate will not trighteu many of them, but will rather tend to make them more desperate, des-perate, at the s ime time inspiring a spirit of reveuge. The mode of his execution w.is cruel and barbarouj in the extreme. Spain ia the ouiy "country that om-ploya om-ploya the garrole, and it elands to the disgrace of the Spinish people that they hang to the inquisitorial and inhumau device. There are two met beds of applying the gar role. Ouo is to put a loose cord around the neck, then iusert a stick in the cord at the back of the head, acd twist until life is extinct literacy siraag-f siraag-f ling the victim. The modem way is to seat the criminal on a stool, force hia head back againat a peat, to which is attached an iroi. collar that ia clasped around the neck. A sharp screw in the collar at the back of the ne;-k is then turned by the executioner execu-tioner until it peneiratea the spinal marrow at the point where it unites i. with tho b.-ait). The latter mcdo is said to causo death more quickly than the former, but either way U barbarous, even more so than the brutal hangings ol America and England. Eng-land. f I. |