-Caveat Lector-
Wed 5 Feb 2003
French executioner's notebooks uncover a ghoulish career
SUSAN BELL IN PARIS
IN MINUTE detail, they record the last moments of some of France�s most
notorious criminals as the
guillotine fell upon their necks.
Now the notebooks written by France�s last public executioner, who
chopped off the heads of almost 400 people in his career, are being put up
for auction.
The 14 hand-written books kept by the notorious Anatole Deibler
meticulously record every detail of the 399 criminals he dispatched in the
41 years up to the outbreak of the First World War.
Over 2,000 pages, the notebooks, which are in two series entitled
"Executions" and "Condemnations", detail places, dates, names and crimes.
Even the prevailing weather conditions are faithfully recorded.
"At the moment of his execution, [the condemned man] cried out in a loud
voice: �Long live anarchy, death to the cops�," he wrote of one execution
in 1925.
The auctioneers Beaussant-Lefevre expect the notebooks, along with
Deibler�s wedding photo and personal papers, to fetch up to 15,000 when
they go up for sale at Drouot auction house in Paris today .
Born on 29 November, 1863, Deibler was descended from a line of
executioners stretching back to the end of the 17th century. Deibler�s
father, Louis, had taken part in over a thousand executions and had
guillotined 154 people as chief executioner, before retiring and handing
over the post to his son in December 1898.
Historians and psychologists believe that Deibler managed to cope with the
horrors of his profession by leading a double existence in which he kept
his home life as boringly normal as possible while pouring into his
notebooks all the mixed emotions of repugnance and attraction which
capital punishment inspired in him.
"He showed himself a meticulous artisan of death, discreet to the point of
obsession," observes Drouot auction house in its notes.
When he was not busy chopping off heads, Deibler, who sported a typical
Gallic moustache, enjoyed a spot of fishing and also amused himself by
playing billiards and trying his chance on the lottery.
At home he kept canaries and two tortoises. Conservative in his habits,
Deibler was faithful to the end to the horse-driven cart in which he
transported his grim apparatus to and from the railway station.
However, he was not insensible to progress and made many improvements
to his guillotines, proudly claiming that he had beaten all records for rapid
executions. It was also his boast that he had not an enemy in the world.
("No doubt not in this world," the Times commented in the obituary it ran
about Deibler.)
"By writing these notebooks he was probably trying to justify his role,"
Alain Nicholas, a handwriting expert, explained yesterday to France-Soir.
"For him it was a sort of therapy through writing. At heart, nobody really
wanted �to marry the widow� as the guillotine was dubbed at the time."
In his diaries, Deibler, who was nicknamed "Monsieur de Paris" and "The
Executor of High Works", noted in chronological order all the details of
those he considered to be "his" condemned, whose trials he attended out
of a sense of professional conscience. The notebooks provide a fascinating
and depressing glimpse into the sociology of crime. They describe
prowlers, thieves, crimes of jealousy, parricides and fratricides, anarchists,
members of organised crime groups, pirates, rapists and the insane.
Among the criminals he dispatched was the serial killer Henri-Desir�
Landru, Jeronimo Santo Caserio, who assassinated president Carnot, the
Corsican bandit Andr� Spada and the notorious gangster known as
"Raymond la Science".
Deibler�s career came to an end on a Paris underground platform in 1939
when he died of a heart attack while on the way to carry out another
execution in Rennes, Brittany.
Six months later France banned public executions, confining them to a
prison courtyard, where they continued until 1977.
This article:
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=142822003
Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article
have to stand on their own merits.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do
not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera-
tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and
rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is
written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on
the authority of teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after
careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with
reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief,
from the Kalama Sut
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
