OCR Text |
Show 11 in.iiiniT urn .i. itmm u i wtix .! n'l 'i wmi.iiior n-i WORSE THAN DEATH. fystem of Befinod Torture Tbat Kill In Three Years. Though the death penalty was practically prac-tically abolished in Belgium over 30 years ago, the pnnishmant of those convicted con-victed of capital crimes i3 so awful that none has yet been able to endure it more than three years. Another curious thing is that little Belgium until recently had two public executioners, while but one was sufficient for her vaster neighbor, France Deibler, otherwise known as "M. de Paris." The king of the Belgians recently ordered the retirement retire-ment on a pension of 1837 francs of tho "executor of high works" (as he is euphoniously termed), who was stationed sta-tioned at Liege. The executioner at Brussels still holds his place. The duties of publio executioner in Belgium are singular, but not arduous. The courts still continae to sentence malefactors to death, but tho guillotine has boen replaced by a scaffold on which is posted a copy of the sentence. Much ceremony is observed in affixing this document. A troop of gendarmes, with their imposing helmots plumed with horsehair, is drawn up about the placo of execution, which they gravely guard with sabers drawn, while the red robed executioner mounts tho steps, nails up tho decree of the court and after a moment mo-ment takes it down again. But the condemned man might more mercifully have perished by the ax or rope. Ho i3 placed in a dungeou so constructed that from the moment ho entors it he will never hear the sound of human voicos nor see a living being. His food is passed through a sliding panel in the door of his colL " Not one of those prisoners has been able to survive this confinement mora than three years. Tho authorities havo striven in vain to prolong their lives by varying their food as much as possible, but those who are moderately or lightly nourished gradually waste away, while those who aro generously fed go mad and dio raving maniacs. New York World. |