Sixty-seven years ago yesterday, June 17, 1939, Eugene Weidmann, petty crook, kidnapper, and multiple murderer, was publicly guillotined outside the prison Saint Pierre on sidewalk of the rue Georges Clémenceau in Versailles, the last such public entertainment put on by the French state.

Throughout the night before his execution, Weidmann could hear the mob noisily collecting for the morning's spectacle. In the Rue Georges Clemenceau, in front of the Palais de Justice in Versailles, every room, balcony, and window overlooking the place of execution was rented out at fantastic prices. Even the constant drizzle which soaked the eager sensation-seekers could not deter them from their grisly vigil. At 3:00 A.M., Monsieur Desfourneaux, the executioner, set up the machine. A special force of gendarmes, militia, and inspectors from the Surete closed off all the streets. One cafe proprietor, who was doing an enormous trade, was furious when his clients, happily paying a fortune for a privileged view, found it obstructed by a large police truck parked directly in front of the execution site.

At 4:50 in the morning, the completely calm Weidmann was dispatched with such smooth efficiency that only those with keen eyes saw anything. But the subsequent photographs that graced the front page of every French newspaper so outraged the public that, a week later, a law was issued forbidding any more public executions.

Pictures can be found here.

France abolished the death penalty in 1981 opting for the humane death-in-life of French prison hospitality. True to the Republican ideal, such accommodation is equally available to all regardless of the crime committed.

PFFT (What is this?): Yester-edged justice 3 | Rayonnement français 0

Bonjour,

PANIQUE A BORD CHEZ BOEING !!!

C' est les Yanks qui le disent !
Dans "Newsweek" , les Yanks avouent de graves problèmes sur le fuselage en carbone du 787.

De nombreux mois de retard plomberont le projet !

Good luck to ? your country in Irak !!

[M. AB/AY,

You assure us you are a person of some intelligence, a professor of something or other, yet you come here and play the clown.

Can't you manage to rant in the appropriate thread? This post was about the last public guillotining in France. If you just read up one, you will find a nice post on airplanes were your rant might at least look like it belongs.

The Management]

LOL!

Well, Damian, at least he was a little bit close!