Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1879 — The Execution of Solovieff. [ARTICLE]

The Execution of Solovieff.

The Paris Figaro contains an account of the execution of Soloviefl, the would-be assassin of the Czar of Russia. The prisoner (says the writer) was pale, but collected, and his exEression was that of defiance. Round is neck was hung a small, black placard bearing in white letters the inscription “State criminal.” He got down unaided-from the cart in which he had been conveyed to the scene of execution, and looked fixedly at the scaffold,. Which he immediately afterward ascended. The authorities took their places in front of him, aud the troops presented arms while the sentence of death was being read, the hangman holding tha prisoner’s right hand the while. Ivan Frollof, the exetioner, is a murderer, who was condemned to hard labor for sixteen years, but whose sentence was commuted upon hi* acceptance of the office of exeention. His assistants were robbers, who gladly exchanged their prison life for temporary work of a more active and exciting nature. No sooner had the sentence been read than the of thirty drums rendered all other sounds inaudible. But a pope, cross in hand, was seen to advance toward the prisoner and address a few words to him. Solovieff merely smiled, and made ar sign of the hand, showing that he did nob desire the approach of the Russian- priest. The latter retired, blessing the prisoner, who boyved, turning his head aside the while, and muttering fcW Words; hewd-by the ■ hangman alone, “1 do not want him; it would be useless.” Solovieff was then oovered with a long white dress, to which a cap was attached for tbe head, his hands wore tied behind his

back, a stool was brought, and the prisoner stepped upon it. The exeoutionpr immediately placed the rope around the neck of tne would-be regicide, and withdrew the stool. The cord tightened with a sudden Jerk, but, the drop being very short, more than seven minutes elapsed before life . was extinct During these awful moments the violent contortions of the arms and legs Of the miserable nan gave signs of the'deeth struggle that was going on, but the gigantic crowd seemed more moved by curiosity than horror at the scene enacted before them. Presently the corpse was cut down, the physician bore witness to the prisoner’s death, and his remains were placed in a coffin. A one-horse cart, surrounded by a pbwerful escort of gendarmes and dossacks, took away the body, and the crowd dispersed.