AN EXECUTION IN PARIS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1901, 29 March 1880, Page 3

AN EXECUTION IN PARIS.

The long-expected execution of Provost, the murderer of the travelling jeweller Lenoble and the girl Adelo Blondin, took place in the Place La Roquetto. The enormity of the double crime was such as to remove all hope of a reprieve. It became known in the Quartier late the previous evening that the guillotine would bo required in the morning, and by midnight a large crowd had already collected. The cold proved, however, very trying to the patience of the would-be spectators of the morning’s tragedy, and many gave up the attempt of witnessing it. At four o’clock Deibler, the executioner, arrived outside the prison with his cart containing the materials for erecting the scaffold. The hammers quickly wont to work, and the uncouth structure was soon completed. A strong body of police kept order, and a company of the Q-arde Republican were also present to represent authority. At half-past five a cab bearing the fatal number “143” that has become legendary in connection with such scenes, drove up in the darkness to the prison door, and the chaplain of the Roquette, Abbe Crozes, alighting, passed into the building. The arrival of the gendarmerie of the Seine at half-past 6 announced that the hour for the execution hud come. At the sumo moment the door of the condemned cell opened, and Provost saw that he was in the presence of Deibler and the Commissioner of Police for the Quartier. He rose from his seat and murmured, “Ah, then, it is this morning.” He was recommended to bo courageous. “I shall bo so,” he replied. Being asked if ho had any further revelation to make, ho said, “It is quite enough to have committed two great crimes. I acknowledge them, and have nothing more to say.” Ho then listened to the exhortations of tho venerable abbe, and proceeded to dress. Seven o’clock struck, and the great

door of the prison opened, the gendarmes raised their swords, and all eyes were turned towards the tall form of the culprit which could be detected advancing through the obscurity. Although perfectly livid, Prevost walked firmly to the scaffold. There the chaplain gave him the customary kiss, the signal for Deibler to seize him and place him under the knife. A few seconds afterwards the triangular steel descended with a dull thud and the head of the murderer rolled into the basket prepared for it. The remains were hastily put together in the cart, which drove off rapidly to the cemetery of Ivry. No sooner was the form of consigning the body to the grave gone through than it was lifted out again, replaced in the cart, and driven to the Clinical School of Medicine, where it was subjected to various galvanic experiments.