The Torture of the Schupfe in Strasbourg.

The ancient statute of Strasbourg states: "Whoever measures wine with false measures shall be punished with the punishment of the schupte, and the owner of the wine shall pay one pound." This is what this punishment consisted of.
A kind of gallows with a pulley was erected over a sewer or pit filled with mud and filth. A rope was passed through this pulley, to which an iron cage was attached. The executioner placed the culprit in this cage, which was then hoisted up and allowed to fall back into the mud. Then it was raised again and allowed to fall again, and so on, until the magistrates present stopped the torture.

The Breton Mayor and the Joke

An old Breton mayor, decorated with a red ribbon for his good and loyal service, was traveling with a joker on the Paris-Nantes line:
"Sir," the good peasant suddenly said to his counterpart, "could you tell me why there are employees on the track who occasionally wave little flags?"
"Perfectly, sir," replied the other in the most convincing tone in the world, "it's to salute the travelers decorated with the Legion of Honor."
"And I didn't know that," the mayor marveled. With that, he went to the door and remained there until Nantes, waving a thousand salutes to all the flag bearers.