A TRIPLE EXECUTION.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVI, Issue 48, 26 November 1909, Page 1

A TRIPLE EXECUTION.

I'OliCH OU HUMAN SKIN. Three of the most callous murderers if whom any record exists in French tmiaJs Wiiiii guillotined on September si, at Valence, in the Dc>].artnit'iit of .no Drome, the execution taking place . u a wild thunderstorm. Their names were Liotturd, David, lid IJerruyer, ;uid they were known as ' The. Chauffeurs of the Drome,'' owing .0 their habit of extorting confessions i the hiding places of money by toast:ig the soles of their victims' feet. One Id woman of HO, who was thus treated, lied, and others were rendi red cripples or life. Altogether, 1U murders were brought .ome to them, all perpetrated With horible cruelty, and tnere is no doubt they ■ ere guilty of many more. Jn iact, .uo of them confessed as much. As for esser crimes, tliey wei'e almost innumerable, and there was jjreat joy in ,ne district when at last they were'laid <y tho heois.

.Speci;.. u.n'us took down the 7ith .ieg.mont „i Infantry and the lan ..iiassoui;, i.i .veop order, as enormous rowds f10e.;.',. inu> tho Uiwu from tlio vholo cou ,u v round, and for several jvcnings previous all the streets in the neighborhood oi' the prison were idled vitn a turbulent mob, consisting largely of tieket-oi'-leavo men, together with vomen and lads, \yho -spent tlio nights ai drinking and singing ribald songs in praise of tlio prisoners. Early as was the hour at which tho execution took place, an enormous Towd surged against the barriers eroctd round the guillotine, and the win.ows looking on the scene of execution nut the roofs of the surrounding houses •vere Idled with spectators. Tlio magistrates proceeded to the orison at dawn to announce to the condemned mon that they must prepare lor death. 'J'hoy lirst entered the cell of Bemiyer, who was sleeping soundly. The convict received tho announcement Jiat the President had rejected his ippeal for clemency with anger, and, .uriously cursed the magistrates. Ho then calmed down, and conversed ■oolly with the persons present, and iccepfed the ministrations of a priest. Liottard learned his fate without tttermg a word, and also accepted tho jervices of a priest. David was then awakened. On being told that his last hour had come, ie began to sing the song, "Hail! my .ast morning." He asked to be allowed m write to his wife, and afterwards ■onfessed to having committed eight ither crimes, besides those with which •|o was charged, but refused to give details of them.

KISSES ON IVY LEAVES. He spent the rest of tlio timo in drinking cognac and smoking. He relusod tho olfor of religious consolation. Within the prison walls is a courtyard with a lountain and a tree, and here tho men awaited their calls to the "widow."

At six o clock lioiruyer was led out to the guillotine. Ho was extremely pale, fio began to utter a protest against .vis execution, but was interrupted by tho executioner's assistants and thrown upon the plank. In a moment all was aver. IJsivitl was next led mit. Ho was quite calm. His last words were, "Al.011s; cay est" (Come on; there'it is). Alter the head was severed the body itdl athwart the basket, and the assistants wen* obliged to push it into tho receptacle. j Mottard then appeared, accompanied <v the chaplain. H, s |, L , anjt . Wjl! . Tim and Imld. H, was liurricdlv placed in position and the knife fell." 'I he three executions occupied si* '"unites Cheers broke from the crowd as the hist head fell. The basket containing the bodies was removed under an escort ot gendarme to tho cemetery, where the remains weie buried. Ihe convicts' relatives objected to a post mortem examination ol the .bodies. Whilst awaiting execution David disLmguished himself by writing several ••rude boastful letters to his wife, tor : whom ho protcssivl a proud ad>n ; .ation IHo would have starved hituseii to death he said, rather than have submitted to his trial in an assize court it she had not commanded him to ap-Ip-ir. "I have oaten nothing for two days, ho added, "and do not find it so bad as people imagine." In another letter ho thanked her for two ivy leaves that she sent him, and said that he kissed them and would dio with them on his lips. The letter went on: "I am glad tint you look upon me still as a man. An eve for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We have had our day and life is a farco anyway. Do not. let them havo anything of ours, and gtt my eorpso as soon as you can. I am not afraid of death. They would not pardon me, and it is so much the lifter. My only regret is not to Ik: able to kiss you before the grand voyage." David also left a ribald will, tho tenor of which may be inferred from ono clause, in which he bequeathed a jKirtion of his skin to be made into a tobacco pouch, so that a detective should always have the scent of a. notorious criminal under his nostrils. in the final clause he suggested that a little guillotine .should bo set up i.t every cross road in France, adding: "It would undoubtedly bring alwut a diminution of crime in our beautiful country of France, for it is hardly to bo believed how the 'widow' frightens tho