TWO MEN GUILLOTINED.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 242, 12 October 1891, Page 4

TWO MEN GUILLOTINED.

VIOLENT SCENE ON A SCAFFOLD, The death sentence was carried out at Paris on a recent Monday on Dore" and Berland, passed upon them for the murder, in a most brutal manner, of Madame Meusnier Dessaigne, an old lady who lived alone in the prettily-surrounded village of Courbevoie, on the left bank of the Seine, come six miles to the north-weßt of the capital. There were five persona implicated in the ghastly tragedy, which was perpetrated in January last. The acoused were not finally put upon trial until the 12th of last month. The de« tails were of a revolting character, and public indignation was intensified by the fact that the two victims now guillotined were mere youths and instruments in the hands of Borland's mother, who kept an infamous den and was held by the court to have taken a sufficiently active part in the ghastly business to call for sentence of death. The years of this abandoned woman almost equalled the aggregate ages of the four youths, and, apart from her fiendish physiognomy, her behaviour during the three days trial was at times disgusting. The motive for the murder was robbery, it being Bupposed, as Bhown at the trial, that Madame Dessaigne was possessed of considerable money. The youth Berland was sent by his mother to the the victim's house with a letter. The unsuspecting lady asked him inside, and while she was in the act of reading the address he butted her with his head, and then thrust his hand into her mouth to tear out her tongue. At that moment Dore rushed in and plunged a strong awl into the unfortunate woman's head. She sank to the floor unconscious, and then. Berland began to kick aad jump on his victim's head and faoe. Deville entering at this point, saw what was taking place, and leaving Berland to finish his foul work, he and Dor 6 went upstairs to search for tbe .unfortunate woman's money. Remaining a considerable time upstairs, Berland became suspicious of them , and proceeded to the upper chambers. He, however, heard the woman groaning below, and thereupon returned and administered more kicks about her head, and so ended her life. Chotin had up to that point remained outBide keeping watch, but he was then called into the house, and the four youths having taken a parting look at the disfigured corpse, they shut the door,' and proceeded to the den of the woman Berland, where they divided the plunder, which, however, amounted to less than 19f. They were received by the woman with an encouragingremark. In due course the police got on their track. During the trial Dors pleaded that ho had been led astray by the woman Berland. Her son coolly told the court that he had been drinking. " The sight of blood intoxicated me." Deville averred that had he not known Borland and Dore he Bbould ' have been an honest workman ; and Chotin 'set up that he was influenced by Deville and Dor&. The glimpses given of the life of the woman Berland were horrible in the depravity which they indicated. However, at the end of the three days' trial extenuating circumstances were accorded to Chotin and Deville, and they were respectively sentenced to 20 years penal servitude. The Parisians are strongly averse to the execution of •women, and principally on this ground '■ steps were taken to obtain a reprieve for the woman Berland . It was even rumoured that Madame Carnot exercised ■ her good offices on the side of clemency, bat thiß has been contradicted. None •' the lesß the culprit was reprieved late at sight and this appears to have been aoocepjed .." as a signal that her eon and Dore would paes - through the hands of " Monsieur de Paris " within a vsry few bouis. Jub4 belore mid--1 night it became generally known that the executions would be carried out shortly after ; daybreak. Ihe work of building the guillo- -:.?-:: line into the four sookets, whose positions are £• l 7' t?e 1 defined by white stone, waa expeditiously 'performed, aDd the executioner having tested :" - J -'the motion of the knife and the certainty of v^ 'the trigger which releases it, and its impetus ££inapar ting a leaden weighs of nearly 1001 b, ? ! fcbe and W attendants withdrew inside the p?&9Q gaU» t« 9onQP?9 that so fits ft* they

Were oonoetnea everything waa In reaaiaoa* The Prison Governor, theDiitrioi Gommiflsatj o! Polioe, Judge d'luatruofcion Grefaer, and the Abbe Fame were likewise in readiness to perform their several parts in the grim ftmofcion. At a quarter past four these representatives of law and religion entered Dore's cell. The culprit was still asleep, ard upon being roused he received the brief notice of his doom with a meaningless stare. Not a word was uttered in responae to the Judge, and upon being handed^over to tha exeoutioner and conducted to the pinioning department known as the toiletteroom, he preserved the same atolid demeanour, and submitted to the strapping proceas with apparent indifference, Before Betting out in the procession to the guillotine, however, he looked around the room, and seeing the ohief waxier, thanked him for bis kindnets towards bim. As the cortege, with the boyish-looking culprit aa the central figure, passed through the great gates and on towards the fatal platform, the Abbe Faure recited prayers for the dying, but there was no response from the object of this ministerial solicitation, and there is a general impression gathered from the halting steps of the doomed young man that he arrived at the foot of the scaffold in a haU-oonEOious condition. Diebler does not waste any time over ceremony, and, taking in the situation at a glance, he gave a signal to his attendants, and Dor 6 was j instantly thrown under the knife, which was immediately liberated, and the oulprit's head fell with a thud into the bavket underneath. The now vast crowd was kept well back by the soldiers and the police, and they gave vent to their disappointment in frightful howls of execration. The knife having been readjusted, the officials' procession reformed and returned to the prison, where Berland, who had been awakened in readiness, was already partially dressed, and maintaining an sir of bravado. When apprised of the cause of his being called so early, ha jooularly re* marked to the warders, " Then there's no more card playing for me." Upon being informed of his mothers reprive he uttered an ejaculation of astonishment, and by no means seemed pleased. The completion of his toilet was hastily aecomp'isheci, and, taking his place in the procession, he jauntily walked aoroßss the prison yard and down the open road to the guillotine. Ih short, he maintained his brave demeanour until within a few paoes of the guillotine. Turning upon those who were aoting as guards, be tried to force his way baok. A desperate struggle ensued, but it was not of long duration as the stalwart and experienced attendants easily overpowered him, and, thrusting him down on to the platform, held him until the exeoutioner had ended the writhing by liberating the knife, his head fulling into the basket at 4 30. The conduct of the Abbe in retiring several seconds before Berland was executed was severely critioisee.