GlNUARY 22,'i'"09
The Commoner.
9
mds pushing against the prison gates. Cavalry
id foot soldiers pushed hack the morbid
ironsrs until ihey were able to form a hollow
iquare befojro the Walls. The curses of the sul-
an crowd as tney reluctantly gave piace were
received with indifference or coarse 'jests. A
?ew minutes later the guillotine was brought
from the railroad station, where it had been re
ceived from Paris. Deibler, the executioner, by
lantern light superintended the placing of the
uprights, the erection of the platform and the
k disposition of the death basket and the blade.
In the prison the four men were still sleeping.
No word had been given them of the fact that
they were to die. As no murderer had died in
Franco recently, they expected the usual re
prieve and later a commutation of sentence.
Abel Pollet, the leader of the band, was the first
to awaken in his cell. He heard the clamor of
the crowd and then the procureur-general's sub
stitute entered his cell and read the death war
rant. Pollet was greatly agitated. 'Courage!'
admonished the official. 'I shall have courage!'
cried the bandit, and he mastered his emotion.
Then he wrote his last note, made his last spoken
request. Both were to the same effect. Ho
admitted his guilt, but declared that his wife
was innocent of all his crimes, and begged mercy
and pity for her. He left a farewell for her and
his children."- i .
ONE ALMOST feels like offering an apology
for the publication of the details of this
awful story, but; that it occurred in the year
1909, the time when all the world is presumed to
have it face tdward the light of civilization,
makes its publication not only permissable but
advisable. This is the terrible story as told by
the World's Bethune, France, correspondent:
"Theophile Deroo T.-as the first prisoner led
forth to the guillotine. He didn't see the dread
instrument standing "by the prison door, and
' when, the crowd felled with rage at' his appear-
ance he seihied "dazed. He looked more dead
'than 'alive, "He was fastened on the plank.
With aVclick, it sprang forward and fclid under
the descending' knife. Jtfis head tumbled into
the sawdust inJhe basket. 'Bravo!', yelled the
crowd, and the clamor could not be silenced by
the soldiers. Canut Vromant was the next. In
that brief interval when his head rested on the
block and,his popping eyes gazed on the severed
" 'head in the basket beneath them there was an
inarticulate murmur and his body writhed so
that Deibler's assistants had to hold him under
the descending knife. Auguste Pollet, brother
of the leader, was greeted with wild cries by
the crowd. 'Vengeance! Vengeance! To death
with him!' shrieked the mob of blood-crazed
peasants. Pollet tried to turn his head and face
them. 'Let me alone!' he snarled. When he
was forced to gaze on the other heads in the
basket below his eyes he was so convulsed that
when his own head rolled to join them it was
with difficulty his body was released. He had
so. strained his bonds that it took some time to
push his body into the receptacle. The crowd
could not contain itself when Abel Ppllet, the
chief murderer and brigand of them' all, was
led forth. They burst out in shouts of de
lirious joy and hatred. They would have torn
him limb from limb had he been freed. Pollet
realized their lust for his blood, but he was
calm. He turned' and faced them. 'Loafers!'
he cried with unutterable scorn in his voice and
poise. 'Down with the church! Long live the
republic!' He struggled desperately with his
guards, but was forced under the knife. When
his head fell and a jet of blood spurted three
yards away the crowd yelled and laughed and
cheered for the executioner as they dispersed
to the cafes and their homes. It was still dark'
and the rain was falling steadily. The execution
of the four men took up nineteen minutes, but
every minute was like a long night of ' horror
to many of the observers."
O-
WRITING TO the Indianapolis News, John
T. Campbell of Lafayette, Ind, says:
"Since 1878 I have been an independent voter.
Today I care little what party, as a party,
is in. power. I read and hear much about con
tinuing 'Roosevelt's: policies.' Whafrare they?
To me they ace about as definite as the cry of
the mob at.'. Ephdsus, 'Great Is Dianas of : the
, Ephesians.' . He has4 been a 'bull in fc china
; shop Tiorning and. breaking everything in his
Xeach, cheered . by, ihouglitless boys who hear
t .and enjoy, the rattle. He roars like a-' goaded
t bull about insinuating charges in regard to the
purchase of the Eanama canal, and ' paws the
r ground and. scatters,, his virtuous indignation
with the dirt he slings; yet with almost the
same heartbeat ho makes insinuating - charges
against congress, quite & ill founded as those
made against him. Let the thieves investigate
themsolves and expel .thim .who has stolon the
least. As to the late election, I aBk an analy
sis of the vote and an explanation why it was
that Taft was carried high above .the wave that
drowned nearly all the republican candidates
for congress in Indiana. County option was not
an issue in their case. So far as the averago
voter, and average politician could see before
the election, there was no apparent reason why
the republican candidates for congress of the
state should not have run along with Taft. Taft
was assured of a certain vote, by an authority
able to deliver it. He knew ho would be nom
inated and elected. So did Roosevelt. Roose
velt was under as great political obligations to
eacli of all the other republican candidates for
the presidential nomination as to Taft, and he
should have given equal help to each, or kept
hands off. But he forced the nomination of
Taft. The people are getting on to the reason
why, In spite of their cowardly newspapers, who
ignore the real influence. The facts are scatter
ing among the voters like thistle seed carried
by the wind. Very few papers have the courage
to declare the truth boldly. The press of both
parties is afraid of that vote, or else It hopes
to profit by it hereafter. I am afraid of it,
therefore I refer to it and describe it without
naming it. It is a dangerous vote and bodes no
good to this country. I have no fear of that
vote which is cast from Its own conviction, or
even its own prejudice, but I dread that vote
which gets it inspiration and instruction from a
foreign source. Let Mr. Taft carefully read the
history of James II. of England if he wants to
read his own before It is written."
COMMENTING upon the assault made by Mr.
. Roosevelt upon Senator Tillman, the Rich
mond (Va.) Times-Dispatch says: "For a
United States senator, in his official capacity,
to urge the invalidation of, -certain land grants,
expecting himself to acquire a portion of the
land thijs released, is .doubtless indiscreet and
unwise. But if these jtfand grants were legal
they could not have been invalidated, and Sena
tot, Tillman could not have benefited by any suit.
If, on the other hand, the grants were illegal,
thpy should have been Invalidated in the public
interest, and the fact that the senator expected
to buy a small fraction of the lands released
does not turn an essentially moral act into an
essentially immoral one. As for the senator's
statement that he had not 'undertaken' to buy
any lands, made of his own volition on the floor
of the senate, the intent in his own mind alone
can determine If that was false. It is in no
sense a splitting of hairs to point out that the
commonest meaning of 'undertake,' as the dic
tionary gives it, Is 'to take formally or expressly
on one's self,' 'to pledge one's self to;' and that
in this use of the word the senator spoke the
precise and accurate truth. Senator Tillman's
detractors will have to explain why, if he was
conscious of being in a dishonest business, he
should have invited the attention of the senate
and the country to that business and should
have himself recommended the investigation of
the 'inspectors.' Dishonest men do not usually
court the light in this way. But-even those who
are inclined to criticise the senator most sternly
will hardly deny that his general sense of pro
priety throughout this transaction compares very
favorably with that of the. president of tho
United States."
ON THE SAME subject the Times-Dispatch
says: "The simple fact emerges from the
present episode that tho president having used
the resources of the government to possess tho
private letters of his personal enemy, has, with
out any justification, given the widest publicity
to theso letters. No suit is threatened, as ob
viously, no law has been broken. No longer ago
than last week the president himself informed
congress: "If I had proof of such corruption af
fecting any member of the house in any matter
as to which the federal government has jurisdic
tion, action would at once be brought. He had,
then, no .actionable 'proof against Senator Till
man. fcAnd he added that he dfd not conceive
It to be his duty 'to report to the house alleged
delinquencies' or 'the supposed corrupt action
of a member.' Presumably this latter theory,
also, applies equally to the senate. Yet four
days later we find 'alleged delinquencies' 'and
'supposed corrupt action' made the basis' of what
is virtually a message to the senate. There'was
no shadow of excuse for such a mossagc. Tho
senate asked for an account of the activities of
tho secret service. The men that sleuthed Till
man were postofflco inspectors. Tho Tillman
case, in fact, had nothing whatever to do with
tho senate inquiry, as it had nothing whatever
to do with auy proposed action. It is hard to
Escape the conclusion that tire president eagerly
clutched at a pretext to publish matter whoso
publication could servo no other possible pur
pose than to hurt a man whom he was very
anxious to hurt. His official position ives him
a tremendous power in carrying out a plan of
that sort, but otherwise there la no reason why
such conduct on tho part of a presldo.t should
bo judged by standards In anywise different from
thoBO obtaining among honorable prlvato
citizens."
RESULT OF GUARANTY LAW IN OKLAHOMA
FOR PJ3IUOJ) OF ONE YEAH
Individual deposits in national
banks for call December 3, . '
1907 $38,318,729.21
Individual deposits in national
banks for call November 27,
1908 30,280,340.23
Total decrease in deposits. .. .$ 2,038,382.98
Individual deposits in stato banks
for call December 11, 1907 . .$17,215,535.44
Individual deposits in state banks
under guaranty law for call
November 27, 1908 29,448,970.90
Total increase in deposits. .. .$12,233,435.52
Total amount state funds on de- '
posit In national banks on No--
vember 27, 1908 v 804,785.71
Total amount state funds on do- ,
posit in. state banks on No-. .
vomber 27, 1908 1,105,950.34
Total loss to guaranty fund dur-
. ing, :this; period NOTHING
. The above, is correct. - -
ROY C.'O'AK'ES
Secretary Stato Banking Board.
SUMMARY , .
Total deposits "in all banks. De-, ,
cember 1907: '
National banks $38,318,729.21
State banks. ... v$17,215,535.44
Total ."..."' .'.$55,534,204.05
Total deposits in all .banks De
comber 1908:
National banks , $30,280,346.23
State banks '. 29,448,970.9G
Total $05,729,317.19
Total increase $10,195,052.54
Every dollar of the above ten million dollar
Increase in deposits represents the increase in
deposits in banks under the guaranty law; in
fact, the two million dollars decrease in de
posits In national banks was also transferred
to the state banks, making the total increase in
deposits in state banks $12,233435.52.
WELCOME TO NATIONAL DEMOCRAT
The Commoner welcomes the National Demo
crat to the company of democratic journals. It
is a neatly printed paper of eight pages, and
its political complexion is indicated by the fol
lowing announcement at the top of the first
page: "We believe in the policies advocated
by William Jennings Bryan as against the pre
tension of Theodore Roosevelt."
Mr. Lorenzo C. Warfield is the business man
ager of this paper, and it is published at 511
Fourteenth street, N. W., Washington, D. C.
Issuing from the national capital, it is in posi
tion to watch what is going on and to report
the doings of congress and the departments.
The .Commoner bespeaks for the National Dem
ocrat a hearty support and a liberal patronage.
Newspaper literature is the cheapest that there
is tho readers of a paper receiving as a rule
more than they pay for, because a part of the
expense of conducting the paper is derived from
advertisements.
The democratic party has been unfortunate
in that it has lacked tho newspaper support
needed to present its principles and policies to
the voters. It, therefore, welcomes with open
arms every newspaper recruit.
The Commoner, speaking for its multitude of
readers, expresses its gratification at the estab
lishment of this new democratic weekly and bids
It Go'd speed.
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