It was the early 20th century and these were the heads of two prisoners guillotined in France. The brutality and the victims were reduced to mere livestock.

　 It was the early 20th century and these were the heads of two prisoners guillotined in France. The brutality of the guillotine reduced the victims to mere livestock. Capital punishment is an atrocity that cannot always be concealed, no matter what the state regime or method of execution. In France, candidates for execution are tormented every night as they go to bed for the last night of their lives, and sleep in peace only on Saturday evenings and before national holidays.

　The executioner, who holds the official title, sets up the guillotine in a corner of the prison yard on the eve of the execution scheduled for early morning. The death penalty apparatus is the article of the executioner, not the state.Both the executioners and judicial officials avoided the name guillotine, referring to it by its official name, the “tree of justice,” or la machine for short. Each part of the guillotine was covered with rubber and quietly assembled during the night.

　At dawn, around 4:30 a.m., several men crept in their socks in front of the still-sleeping cells of the condemned prisoners. They quickly woke the terrified condemned prisoners, took off their shoes, and put them back on in front of their cells. The group included the warden, two judges, the condemned man's lawyer, a clergyman, a doctor, and two guards. The cell door was breached and the guards rushed toward the prisoners. They rushed toward the disoriented condemned prisoner, pulled him up, and tied his hands behind his back. The warden told the condemned prisoner, “Your plea for mercy has been denied. Take courage. You are about to be executed."

　The condemned man was dragged into the yard and pushed into a bascule (swing). The lunette, the neck plate, closes and the axe falls. Decapitation by guillotine was conceived by Dr. Guillotin. In beheading by sword, the face of the decapitated head moved for a while; in the 19th century, French doctors experimented on heads, and in 1879 a female murderer was guillotined and two doctors examined her head.