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Show Mercy Cut No Figure in Old-Time Justice I these places. Sometimes he finished his work by striking the criminal two or three blows on the chest or stomach, stom-ach, which usually put an end to the sufferer's life, and therefore were called blows of mercy. The punishment punish-ment of the wheel was abolished In France at the revolution. In Germany It was occasionally Inflicted early In the last century for the crimes of treason trea-son and parricide. The torturing of criminals on "the wheel" Is a very ancient form of punishment. pun-ishment. In an "Improved" form it was revived in Germany In the Fourteenth Four-teenth century. The unfortunate victim vic-tim was laid upon a very large cart wheel, bis legs and arms extended and fastened to the spokes, and in that position, po-sition, as the wheel was turned around, his limbs were broken by successive suc-cessive blows with an iron bar. In France, where the wheel was used only to punish criminals of the most atrocious sort, the victim was first bound to a frame of wood In tbe form of a St. Andrew's cross that is, two bars of equal length laid crosswise, like an X. Grooves were cut transversely trans-versely In these bars, above and below the knees and elbows, and the executioner execu-tioner struck the limbs of the victim eight blows so as to break them In |
