The first sight, however, which it fell to my lot to witness at Brussels
in this second and short visit, was neither gay nor handsome, nor dear
in any sense, but the very reverse; it being that of the punishment of
the guillotine inflicted on a wretched murderer, named John Baptist
Michel.[2] Hearing, at the moment of my arrival, that this tragical
scene was on the point of being acted in the great square of the
market-place, I determined for once to make a sacrifice of my feelings
to the desire of being present at a spectacle, with the nature of which
the recollections of revolutionary horrors are so intimately associated.
Accordingly, following to the spot a guard of soldiers appointed to
assist at the execution, I disengaged myself as soon as possible from
the pressure of the immense crowd already assembled, and obtained a seat
at the window of a house immediately opposite the Hotel-de-Ville, in
front of the principal entrance to which the guillotine had been
erected. At the hour of twelve at noon precisely, the malefactor, tall,
athletic, and young, having his hands tied behind his back, and being
stripped to the waist, was brought to the square in a cart, under an
escort of gen-d'armes, attended by an elderly and respectable
ecclesiastic; who, having been previously occupied in administering the
consolations of religion to the condemned person in prison, now appeared
incessantly employed in tranquillizing him on his way to the scaffold.
Arrived near the fatal machine, the unhappy man stepped out of the
vehicle, knelt at the feet of his confessor, received the priestly
benediction, kissed some individuals who accompanied him, and was
hurried by the officers of justice up the steps of the cube-form
structure of wood, painted of a blood-red, on which stood the dreadful
apparatus of death. To reach the top of the platform, to be fast bound
to a board, to be placed horizontally under the axe, and deprived of
life by its unerring blow, was, in the case of this miserable offender,
the work literally of a moment. It was indeed an awfully sudden transit
from time to eternity. He could only cry out, "_Adieu, mes amis_," and
he was gone. The severed head, passing through a red-coloured bag fixed
under, fell to the ground--the blood spouted forth from the neck like
water from a fountain--the body, lifted up without delay, was flung down
through a trap-door in the platform. Never did capital punishment more
quickly take effect on a human being; and whilst the executioner was
coolly taking out the axe from the groove of the machine, and placing
it, covered as it was with gore, in a box, the remains of the culprit,
deposited in a shell, were hoisted into a wagon, and conveyed to the
prison. In twenty minutes all was over, and the _Grande Place_ nearly
cleared of its thousands, on whom the dreadful scene seemed to have
made, as usual, the slightest possible impression--_Stevenson's Tour in
France, Switzerland, &c._
[2] The circumstances of the case were as follows:--Jean
Baptiste Michel, aged 36, a blacksmith, accompanied by a female
named Marie Anne Debeyst, aged 22, was proceeding from Brussels
to Vilvorde, one day in the month of March, 1824. In the
Alléverte, they overtook a servant girl, who was imprudent
enough to mention to them that her master had entrusted her
with a sum of money. Near Vilvorde, Michel and his paramour,
having formed their plan of assassination and robbery, rejoined
the poor girl, whom they had momentarily left, and violently
demanded the bag containing the gold and silver. The
unfortunate young creature resisted their attacks as long as
she could, but was soon felled to the ground by Michel, who
with a thick stick fractured her skull, whilst Debeyst trod
upon the prostrate victim of their horrid crime. These wretches
were shortly afterwards arrested and committed to prison. On
the 5th of April, 1825, they were condemned to death by the
Court of Assize at Brussels, but implored of the royal clemency
a commutation of punishment. This was granted to the woman,
whose sentence was changed to perpetual imprisonment. Michel's
petition was rejected.
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