Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1893 — A Ghastly Execution. [ARTICLE]

A Ghastly Execution.

One of the most ghastly executions of the French Revolution was that of the Marquis de Marville. Although earning his livelihood by literary work, the marquis was denounced psan aristocrat, arrested and condemned to death. While standing on the scaffold awaiting the completion of the preliminary arrangements the marquis addressed a few words to the assemblage of people. He said they had been misled by deceitful intriguers, and was proceeding to say that before he died he wished to open their eyes to the truth when he was seized by the executioner and forced under the knife. With the utmost sang froid the marquis continued: “Educated as I was among a privileged class I voluntarily abandoned my friends to live among you, to earn my daily bread side by side with you, and I have always acted like a good patriot.” At this moment the knife fell. The guillotine was, however, in such constant requisition that it was frequently out of order. Upon this occasion the knife fell but did not sever the vertebras, although the flesh was horribly mangled. The executioner and his assistants raised the knife anew. As soon as they had done so the marquis, always lying face downward, continued without emotion: “As I was saying, fellow-citizens, when I was interrupted ” And again the knife fell, this time accomplishing its ghastly work. —[New York Recorder.