_The Garrote._--The West India newspapers are filled with the details of
General Lopez's second attempt on Cuba, and his subsequent capture and
execution. The latter event took place at Havannah on the 1st September,
in presence of 8000 troops, and the manner of it is said to have been
the _Garrote_, which is thus described in a Jamaica Journal:--
"The prisoner is made to sit in a kind of chair with a high back,
to which his head is fastened by means of an iron clasp, which
encloses his neck, and is attached to the back by a screw. When
the signal is given, the screw is turned several times, which
strangles the victim, and breaks his neck."
The word _Garrote_ being Spanish (derived probably from the French
"garrotter"), and the punishment having been inflicted in a Spanish
colony, it is to be presumed that we are indebted to the latter nation
for the invention of it. Can any of your readers give any information as
to the origin and use of this mode of punishment?