| Show A comer corner on heads the tuk task of nei beudel naoi tha the german exea lioner chicago herald berald the german executioner rein del is is the leader of headsmen beads men on the continent he ile is is not a mere engineer of the guillotine but strikes off with his own band and trusty sword the head of the victim after the fashion of hundreds of years ago beheading is the highest penalty for crime camo in in ger many and the headsman beadsman is 13 kept fairly busy going from one state to to another on his hideous round an execution n in in germany to day is is in in no essential particular differ ent from those that we read about in english and french history as 89 the common fate of political su sup pacts ecta the german criminal is is handled more rudely perhaps than was king r charles or lord hasting but in m all essentials the modern performance is is similar to the in incident at whitehall and those other affairs in in the tower beheading haa has generally been considered what some folks would call a high toned method of exit from mundane troubles there is is no evidence however that german criminal cn feel any better on this score they probably look to the condition rather than the theory Re idels idela most exciting experience was at Butk Buck eburg the capital of Lippe when he be da de the notorious murderer beerwart He Ile erwart the case aroused a great sensation se nation at the time fleer wart was a refined ruf ruffian flan belong ing to a good family and in in the habit of running in in debt people to whom he owned large amounts developed a dit different habit that 0 of f dying suddenly whereupon their administrators would find heer wart in in possession of a receipt recently signed for the sum sup 1 posed ased to be due at ak last list detec tion came and beerwart He fre erwart was con evicted and sentenced to death who is 13 a six footer and a veteran soldier arrived at the prison accompanied by his three sons who always act as hn his assistants the courtyard of the prison was fitted up in in the usual style everything but the block draped in in black the block being covered w with ith a bright scarlet cluth cloth never binds his victims he de depends ends upon his stalwart sons t to hold them and he had no reason reason to anticipate any resistance on t the he martof part of beerwart He Ife erwart a middle sized 1 ma nan n a abot ot apparently strong and whose conduct in in prison had been excellent at the stroke of the prisoner was led out locked armin arm in in arm with a prison officer Heer warts eyes appeared to light on the block and wandered fro from m that to a table a few feet away on which lay three broadswords broad swords sharp and unsheathed for the use of the headsman with a leap beerwart He erwart was w as at the table tabie and seizing one of the sword he backed resol resolutely U tely against the wall in in an attitude of defiance two of the sons of rushed upon him and before he be could use the weapon he was helpless in in their grasp it is i hardly necessary to say that the formality of reading g the death warrant nas was much abbreviated and that the rest of ceremony was brief the three sons bore the prisoner to the block two held him by the body the other grasped u his istead bead creindels Rein dels sword basfor was for an instant poised in the stir air then down it came and the head rolled away severed at one stroke while crime of course varies performs about thirty executions execution ot a year bavaria is is the only german st ate that has a separate headsman I 1 his lis name is is Malten heimer and his methods differ but very little from those of the prussian executioner As there is is not sufficient call for his services to occupy his time be ekes ees out a liviu living as an assistant in 10 the munich jail in austria criminals are put to death by strangling or shooting according to the sentence of the court the gibbet is at executions of the former kind and professor ster neck as he is is ailed the most noted of austrian executioners execution ers has h as been detected in in practices very much r resembling embling Is cruelty A few years ago be used to put an tin iron iron gag in in the mouths months of prisoners to prevent them from utterance trance the I 1 lice tice had for a long time pass passed unobserved until at length it was discovered by the local pros the professor excused himself on the ground of necessity but he did not do it a again ain the shooting of criminals would have been altogether substituted for strangle stran tt gli I 1 n 1 but for the objections on the part of soldiers to be detailed for any 0 such uch purpose this fact and the reluctance to use the gibbet have tended to bring about th the e virtual abolition of capital punishment in in austria except in the worst cases besides as the emperor grows older b he e grows I 1 ro w 3 more tender toward w A rd hi his a sugi subject eco it may seem incredible but is u true nevertheless that a retired executioner is 13 living in in belgrade today to day who as late as 1875 broke criminals on the wheel the name of the man is is paulo jova jovanovitch and the executions took place on the grassy elopes slopes of the ramparts of belgrade the mo roost st noted execution of the kind was in in 1872 when two men one a turk the other a hebrew were put to death 1 0 I 1 6 for murdering a whole family the hebrew wae was executed firsthand fir stand fifteen minutes elapsed before the executioner pave gave him the coup do grace T the he turk made a violent resistance and had to be stunned into subject subjection inn although the stunning waa was perhaps intentional this medieval punishment waa was abolished about 1878 when servia asserted complete independence strangle Stran strangling gli ng in in prison is the usual capital pe penalty n alty in norway an expert executioner is requisite although his services are seldom needed august claeson is now an old man and has held the office for twenty four lour years year with occasional I 1 assistance the laws of norway are still harsh in terms and were harsh wall in practice not many years ago old man claeson can remember that at Trond hiem about tw twelve elve years agoa agos preacher na named med jansen convicted of murdering his child stood in the pillory all day with bis his right hand cut off and had his head cut off at sundown 0 now however the puni punishment ashment is if decapitation without the barbarous exhibition that used to pr precede ece de it the death penalty is so sel seldom dom re virtee to in sweden and N norway arway that it is practically obsolete Ca calloha lloja the spanish executioner who attends to the garrote in every part of that kingdom where Us its use is necessary has held office only three years his predecessor robledo was much better known robledo waa was such an expert with the garrote that the sultan of morocco sent him a sp special e cial invitation to go to that c country and give evidence of his skill robledo went out of humanity as he be claimed and suggested to the despot of the moors several novel because civilized ideas as to the infliction ot of capital punishment it was the custom 0 of f the moors t to 0 hack back off beads with a knife it was a tedious process and calculated to cause paia pain to the subject of the experiment robledo succeeded succeed ed in inducing the sultan to substitute scimitars miters and dispense with the carving before the spanish executioner left eh fez the sultan invited him to witness a grand illustration of the profi proficiency cien ey achieved by his men with the scimitar miter fifteen prisoners were be headed in less than that number of minutes As to the garote public opinion even in spain has long condemned the instrument as cruel and it I 1 is is only adhered to out of a spanish reluctance for change |
