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Guillotine

The Timbers of Justice

The History Press

Death upon the Guillotine

For Claude Buffet and Roger Bontemps the last seconds of 27 November 1972 ebbed all too quickly into the new day. Condemned to death and held in the prison of La Santé in Paris, they were the main protagonists in a macabre drama that was yet to play its final act. At daybreak on 28 November justice required them both to meet the Grand High Executioner of the Republic of France – and the guillotine. Theirs would be the last executions by guillotine in Paris.

During a prison riot, Buffet and Bontemps attempted to escape from the Clairvaux prison. Buffet, already a convicted murderer, and his accomplice Roger Bontemps secured for themselves two hostages. Their bid for freedom was discovered but before they could be recaptured Buffet murdered both hostages, one of them a woman. Bontemps, now an accessory, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and with the wrong person. Though he had taken no part in the actual slayings, as Claude Buffet's accomplice he too was found guilty of the capital crime and would face the same fate.

* * *

'Peine de Mort' – 'Sentenced to Death'. The Tribunal's judgment on Buffet and Bontemps is spoken without emotion, remorse or regret; nor is it classed as some great judicial triumph of the Establishment. It simply marks the end of a trial where the punishment must be seen to fit the crime. This is how things are, or at least how they should be! It is a simple fact of life – and of death – that all judicial systems have minor flaws and all are flexible. Every crack can be explored and the system manipulated and twisted in any direction to save the lives of those condemned by it, but the lawyers must act expeditiously for there is no time for recriminations. An appeal against the sentence must be quickly formulated to defer their clients' fate and their early morning meeting with the executioner and the Timbers of Justice.

Perhaps some new fact may be discovered. Perhaps the conviction can be quashed on a technicality or because of irregularities. But no, not this time. The sentence is supported by public opinion and still stands. Time is fast running out for Buffet and Bontemps. All the evidence and the various controversies of the legal war waged within the courtroom have been pursued with vigour and commitment. The legal hierarchy's obligations to the statutes of France and its people have been fulfilled, and the guilty men, potential victims of state vengeance, have been removed from court and subsequently lodged within the sombre confines of the Santé prison. The final decision either to grant a reprieve or to send the men to their deaths upon the guillotine will be in the hands of the President of the Republic of France, after which there is no appeal.

The incumbent in 1972 was President Pompidou, a man of compassion, understanding and logic. He is painfully aware that he is the last hope for the condemned men. He understands well that technology in the form of the guillotine has outlived the humane philosophy of its revolutionary inventor. His own wish is to commute the dreadful fate that now awaits the living dead. The law is the law, however, and even the President must bow before the traditions, expectations and will of the French people.

Politics now interferes with his humanitarian and individual choices. Three times previously he has used his quasi-autocratic power to waive the death sentence. In this case, however, public opinion demands justice – and the heads of the two transgressors. The prisoners must prepare to meet their fate as determined by the unilateral voice and will of society. This is the will of the people. Individual instincts and moral compulsion may compel the President to reprieve the condemned, but the powerful cry for vengeance presses him to uphold the will of the people and their judgment upon the criminals. He upholds the sentence of death for Buffet and the unfortunate Bontemps.

The small time now remaining to the condemned men can be truly likened to a hell on earth. Given no indication of the specific time for their forthcoming execution, they can only wish for time to be suspended or confined to the bright daylight hours. Condemned prisoners can only relax on a few days: no executions are carried out on Sunday and Monday mornings or on national public holidays. The executioner does no 'work' on these days.

* * *

The imminence of death seems to draw the violent Claude Buffet into its tight grasp. Resigned to his fate, he even begins to welcome it. Ignoring the frantic efforts made by the defence lawyers to prevent his execution, he remarks, 'Tell everyone that Claude Buffet, the man that I am, wants to die on the guillotine. Let it be known that Claude Buffet commits suicide by the guillotine!' In contrast, Bontemps remains silent and impassive. Still hoping for reprieve, he is painfully aware of the nearness of his own death and can only wait out the little time that remains for him.

The prison director at La Santé will receive a communication from the office of the President confirming the sentence of death. At the same time the Executioner of the Fifth Republic also receives a notification of procedure. His reads:

Dear Sir,

In the Name of the Law,

Monsieur the Executioner of the High Works is hereby ordered to take possession of the individual named Claude Buffet, condemned to the punishment of death by the Assizes Court of Paris and to proceed with the execution within the confines of the prison of La Santé on 23 November 1972 at the legally established hour of daybreak.

An identical warrant is issued for Roger Bontemps. It is to be a double execution. The President has made up his mind, and the wheels of bureaucracy are trundling along to their inevitable conclusion.

The Chief Executioner must now make his own preparations. Without formality he sends a note to his valets (assistants). They will rendezvous at the Santé prior to the execution and quietly make their nocturnal preparations. Unknown to them all, they are passing an important milestone in the history of France: the denouement of the guillotine.

The semi-assembled guillotine is stored in an airy hangar within the Santé prison. The final assembly and adjustments will be silently carried out in the prison courtyard at the place of the Cour d'Honneur. Before the final assembly, a large black awning is erected over the courtyard to prevent any unauthorised watching of the 'National Razor' at work. The morbid machine seems to have become a taboo subject, shunned by authority. Is the guillotine an implement of justice that justice is ashamed of?

Inside the Santé the officers and wardens of the Quartier de Haute Surveillance continuously observe the condemned prisoners. Some offer succour and the encouragement of hope – always hope, but it is hope to the hopeless. Buffet and Bontemps each has a private cell and each is allowed certain liberties within the confines of the Quartier. They may smoke all they wish, send out personal correspondence, and receive visits from the prison chaplain and their legal representatives. They are no longer compulsorily restrained with leg irons or straitjackets, as was the case quite recently. Yes of course, there is still the chance of a reprieve. The President may yet commute the death sentence. The guards remain optimistic, until with a faltering voice the officer of the watch whispers to his company, 'It is for tomorrow – for certain.'

* * *

Just one week after the public execution of the mass murderer Eugène Weidmann at Versailles on 18 June 1939, the French government, disgusted at the behaviour of the rowdy crowds who flocked to witness such executions, passed a decree that all future executions within the city limits would take place privately in the confines of La Santé prison. This was intended to remove forever the public bloodlust aroused by the sight of the guillotine at work. Previously guillotinings had been carried out in public behind a police cordon, but it had become apparent that far from serving as a deterrent and having a salutary effect upon the crowds witnessing the feast of blood, this promoted the baser instincts of human nature and encouraged general rowdiness and bad behaviour. It was the taciturn victim of the blade who typically displayed the human dignity so lacking in the spectators.

The guillotine, robbed of its bloodthirsty and voyeuristic audience, was henceforth to be hidden from the public gaze, itself caged within the prison walls. It would become no more than a simple but efficient mechanical tool to carry out the wishes of the state on behalf of society. Nevertheless, whenever the guillotine was put to work, the execution still had to be witnessed by sane men. How strange that this act of judicial violence should have to be observed by normal peaceful men; one cannot help wondering whether they remained normal, untouched by the act.

The witnesses to the execution were designated by Article 26 of the Penal Code. This select audience comprised the following officials:

A judge of the Tribunal from the district where the execution was to take place and a clerk of the court

The presiding judge and a clerk of the trial assizes or a magistrate nominated by the first president

An officer of the public prosecutor's office

The chief of police and gendarme escort

The prison director of La Santé

The prison doctor or medical nominee

A minister of religion

The defence counsel

* * *

It was almost 3am when a call summoned the defence counsel to La Santé. Robert Badinter, abruptly woken from sleep and troubled dreams, now entered the living nightmare. Dressing hastily, he was brought along the quiet Parisian roads towards the prison. The rest of France would eventually awake to hear the news of the execution. Robert Badinter arrived at the prison and was taken towards the Quartier de Haute Surveillance. Entering the prison courtyard, he was confronted by his first sight of the guillotine, sometimes called 'the Widow' since all who lay with her were damned. It was fully prepared and waiting. The servants of the machine had expertly and silently completed their preparations and were nowhere to be seen; they had withdrawn to a room within the prison to await the arrival of the condemned.

An eerie silence prevails before the final ritual begins. In the dim light the machine seems almost alive, poised and waiting impatiently to embrace its fresh victims. Covered from prying eyes by the large black awning erected over the courtyard, it stands so very tall and slender, the distance between the uprights being no more than 18 inches. Its symmetrical bearing, although sinister and fearful, exerted an almost hypnotic influence over all who dared to study and observe it. Like a Medusa, it seemed to stare back with a narcotic power capable of turning the living observer to stone. Standing near the guillotine, one is in absolute awe of it.

It transfixed Robert Badinter's gaze and would not release him from its grasp. The compact base of the apparatus, though small to the eye, complemented the scale of the machine's malevolent and sadistic beauty. The bascule stood vertically and parallel with the uprights and seemed to point to the high nest where the gleaming blade, sharper than a sabre, lay in waiting. The heavy blade's weight was supported by a pincer-like device anchored to the crossbar holding tightly a spike that protruded from the mouton.

The condemned men endure their uneasy sleep, troubled by hideous dreams, and unaware that the guillotine has been assembled and that the witnesses have already congregated within the Santé. The ever-vigilant prison officers suddenly stand to attention as the prison director appears; in response he simply gestures to his staff. There is no need for words; all those present anticipate the director's instructions. The strain lends a waxy pallor to their complexions, a pallor that is accentuated by the artificial lighting. The executioner and his assistants await the appearance of the condemned in a room close to the courtyard for the final 'toilette du condamné'. It is then only a short walk to the guillotine. Without knowing why, Roger Bontemps is to be the first.

The wardens approaching the cell have slipped off their shoes. Even in the last few seconds they must not alert the prisoners, who are left undisturbed in their cells until the very last moment. Bontemps will be pounced upon before he realises what is happening. The door opens. The wardens enter rapidly, well drilled in the required manoeuvres. They firmly seize hold of Roger Bontemps. Sleepy and unaware, he is not sure whether what is happening is still a part of his dreams. His pulse quickens as he anxiously searches for a sympathetic face among the men around him, but there is nothing to comfort him or allay his worst fears; it is not a dream. The tension in his muscles gives way to a strange and strained acceptance of what is now inevitable. The final moment has come. The prison director stands before him and offers the traditional words: 'The President has rejected your appeal; be brave!'

Then Bontemps and his escort, preceded by the director, leave the dim cell; the ritual of the guillotine has now begun. Claude Buffet will follow shortly – the executions will be carried out consecutively. Strangely, there is no great hurry now. The bureaucratic wheels turn slowly, even before an execution; there are still formalities which have to be observed. The condemned move from room to room in turn. Each will be given back the clothes he wore on arrival at the prison and if they so desire they can take time to write a letter, perhaps to a loved one or a friend. For each there will be Mass and Confession; finally they will stand before the director of the prison for the very last time. The director produces each man's prison record and signs it; the condemned man also signs it. Everything has now been officially and correctly carried out. The final statement on the record reads: 'Handed over to the Executioner of the High Works for carrying out of sentence.'

Like Pontius Pilate, the state has washed its hands of the condemned person. He has been given to the executioner, and is now his sole property. The toilette du condamné now follows. The hair is cut from the nape of the neck and the shirt collar removed with a large pair of scissors so that the shirt is left lying loose about the shoulders. The feel of the cold scissors on the back of the neck sends a shudder through the body, anticipating the feel of the guillotine's blade.

Robert Badinter has been very attentive, observing the hideous ritual as it slowly progresses through the prison precincts. They are now very close to the exit leading to the courtyard and death. It seems as if the victims of the state are taking part in a theatrical farce. They are offered large mugs of Cognac to help steady their nerves – the last human act before they enter the arena of death. Cords have already been cut to the appropriate lengths and are used to bind the arms and the feet. Badinter embraces Bontemps for the last time. Neither can speak. Emotion has overwhelmed them both, for what is there now to say but farewell? Is this ritual deliberately symbolic? A representation seemingly reminiscent of Christ's last moments before the cross as He was taken from staging post to staging post before the long climb to Golgotha? The symbolism is imprinted in Robert Badinter's mind.

Everything now seems to be ready. The prisoner, hampered by his leg cords, is assisted and supported by the executioner's assistants. They take him under the arms and speedily usher him into the courtyard towards the waiting guillotine. The witnesses, discreetly distant, follow at such a rapid pace that they seem to be almost running. Robert Badinter finds it hard to tell who is now the criminal and who the victim of this appalling night. The new killers, ashamed of their duties, wear a fixed expression, appearing to be masked as in a Greek tragedy.

As if in a trance Robert Badinter watches Bontemps's last moments. On reaching the guillotine, the valets directly behind him forcefully thrust him against the bascule. The weight of this living corpse falling on to the plank tips the mechanism down horizontally. The two assistants speedily push the bascule forward on its roller into the jaws of the guillotine. Bontemps's head now lies on the lower block of the lunette, his neck between the uprights. Another assistant on the head side of the apparatus swiftly lowers the top section of the 'little moon' on to the victim's nape. His ears are grasped and, like an animal in a slaughterhouse, his head is pulled forward in the lunette. A click is heard as the executioner releases a lever. The pincer device attached to the crossbar releases the blade assembly. In less than the blink of an eye it is down. The Widow has devoured her prey.

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Excerpted from Guillotine by Robert Frederick Opie. Copyright © 2013 Robert Frederick Opie. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
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