“This whole process is such a spectacle to my eyes,” said the Prussian, as we surveyed the scene. “Back home, this sort of trial would be conducted by the magistrates in secret. The first anyone would know about it would be when the chief magistrate leads the condemned man in chains into the main square and announces he’s been sentenced to death. Then there’s a large public procession, headed by the guild leaders, to a spot outside the town walls, and we all watch the poor fellow get his head chopped off.”
