THE GRIM "WIDOW."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 149, 25 June 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE GRIM "WIDOW."

WILL "SHE" BE PENSIONED?

GUILLOTINE IN FRANCE,

EXECUTIONS FALLING OFF,

Due to the death of AI. Doumer, President of France, a condemned man, whose case was under consideration, has escaped the guillotine, and the instrument has been dismantled. It is expected that the passage of a few months will seo the abolition of the guillotine as the instrument of execution throughout France, and the substitution of electrocution as the means of dispatching those whoso livos are claimed as forfeit by the law.

The number of these grows steadily less year by year in France —last year, in fact, only four were recorded, most of the individuals found guilty of capital offences having transportation to Devil's Island meted out to them as punishment, instead of decapitation by " the widow," as French slang terms the guillotine. The President has a prerogative of mercy, and this has been exercised freely of recent years.

It is this steady reduction in the number of executions that has really brought forward the question of whether or not the guillotine has outlived its usefulness. Diebler, who for many years past has filled the role of executioner in France —as did his father before him— recently asked to have his position reviewed, on the ground that so few and far between were the occasions on which his services were required nowadays, that the position of himself and his two assistants had become very precarious from the financial standpoint.

Invention of the Dark Ages. It was in the dark days of the revolution that the guillotine first came to life in France. Shortly before the Terror flamed out, a certain kind-hearted doctor named Joseph Guillotin advocated far and wide the construction of a beheading machine, as a more humane method of dispatching criminals than by the clumsy use of sword or axe. The idea did not catch on. When, however, a few months later it was found that more people were being doomed to the axe than the headsman could deal with, the proposal was revived.

Dr. Guillotin, now one of the elected representatives in the National Assembly, outlined his views to that body, and found them looked upon favourably as a means of getting rid of the army of the doomed, who were crowding the gaols. The quickness of the proposed method, rather than its humanity, was, of course, the main idea actuating the Assembly men.

When the Terror reached its height in Paris, half a dozen or more guillotines were 6et up in the public squares of the city. In 13 months, in one of these squares alone, no fewer than 1230 victims were claimed by " the widow," as the dread instrument quickly became known. In those days the guillotine had become an institution. Day after day chairs were set around it in tho public squares and hired out to the populace at so much a " performance." Tiny guillotines were sold as toys for the children to play with, and models of the grim machine were sold as ornaments for the ladies.

Family of Executioners. The most famous manipulator of the guillotine was its first —>the genial Sanson. He caine of a family who for generations had been public executioners, and after the guillotines had been set up his six brothers became similarly engaged. Sansou paid ungrudging tribute to the bravery with which Louis NVI. met his end, and made arrangements that Mass should be said every year for the repose of the slain King's soul. There is a legend that Sanson survived his victim by only about six months, being overcome with sorrow and remorse.

For close on 140 years the guillotine has served its grim purpose. Once Dr. Guillotin himself narrowly escaped the guillotine's keen blade. He had been sentenced to die that way, but a general gaol delivery on the part of a mob permitted him to slip away into freedom. As mentioned above, there is now very little work for "the widow." The last individual of notoriety to die in her embrace was Landru, the infamous bluebeard who was called to account for the slaying and robbing of many women.