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Show T BLUE EXECUTIONERS QUICKLY AND NEATLY CUT OFF LANDRU'S HEAD; SLAYER MYSTERIOUS TO LAST I Walking Bravely But With Pale Features, Mur- ! derer Is Seized by Pair, Strapped Into Place and Knife Falls Snuffing Out Life VERSAILLES, Eeb 2 By tin- Associatecl Press. Henri Desire ' Landru, "Hnebeard of Gambais,'' convicted -d the murder of ten women and one y6iith, jravp his life this morning in exchange t for tin eleven he had taken. THe triangular knife of the guillotine J, fell at 6:05 o'ejock; twqnty-five minutes after the time originallv set for the esfculion, the delay ear.sing many to express the erron ff eons opinion that iLandru was making a confession. Myste rious until death, Landru resented Father Loiselles' query ;,l as to wbether he had any confession to make g I It is an Instil' mm like me.- BSSJBBJ I was Ins reply. "Had I any confession V to make, 1 would have made it long a H age," But never did he uiter the word H I "innocent'" as he had failed to utter it H during his thirty-four months of im- H iprisonment and the twenty-one days H j of trial. E l BAOR U1KM Ki l l BED ! j He refused the sacrament, but con- Ifl I versed a few moments with tho priest. fll 1 "I shall be brave, never fear." he told 'the clergyman fs I Although plans for the execution ssssa j had been kept in the utmost secrecy ,H j crowds began lo gather about the old j Ver.niillc8 Jail a little after midnight. Essss! 1 The clatter of the cavalry horses along &Bsa Georges Clemonceau street, in which ?gV the execution took place, was plainlv H audible in lintlru's cell, and when ho H awoke he heard the sound of hammer ( H is w.jrkmen erected "timbers of Jus- i H Itice" by the flickering light of two , Square, old fashioned candle lantern. - H The guillotine was erected only .1 ft' H few feet from the main entrance to K all. At 6 o ( lock the doors of the HI ' opened slowtyi revetUiQg in the Hj ,:ourtyard the procurator general, the 'SkVj wrarden of the prison nnd Iandru's two lawyers. M Moroh-Oiaf ferl and M. HH DutrelL j LANPKl APPEARS Then Landru appeared, clad In dark PI trousers and white shirt HU beard. he h wis (mo of his most striking ewJ characteristics and w hich had become hH familiar lo thousands through pubh- '' H cation of his portrait, during the trial. B had been trimmed, his head was i H shaved and his neck and face were Htja deathly pale. H He walked exactly five steps before H the cxecuttloner's assistants caught ijBJ him around tho waist and levelled him on the table, which was immediately t up-ended, tho heavily weighted knife Bkjl slid down, and tho whole affair was iTH over In less than twenty seconds. Tssl Landru never faltered from tho time he appeared in tho door, he gave the t guillotine one look, squared his shoul- HJ ilers and walked erect, uttering not a HJ j word. P HJ CROWD l- SULiENt The crowd, which had been kept a ' I such a distance that it saw- nothing of 'tHl the details, uttered no cry. and the si- WJ lence was only broken by the bugles HJ sounding reellle in tho nearby bar- I H racks, and tho angelus bells. The pli- H loon of cavalry with sabres bared, sa- ' I luted as the mystery man went to hi-- I HJ death. Then the hundred or more newspa- H per correspondents, and the few offi- j H clals who hnd witnessed the execution left the scene, while outside the line I H of cavalry the citizens of Versailles jHl and manv from Paris were asking, "Is 1 iHl it all over? ; IH There seemed to be rrtore pity than bitterness, and never a word of invec- II live against the mun who had Just paid sWj the penalty for a series of tho foulest sHI murders in tho criminal history of IH France. |
