Today’s Mangled Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Early in the nineteenth century executions were carried out not on the wheel but by the wheel, it being used as a weapon with which the victim was struck. The Percy Anecdotes, written in 1823, quotes the account of an execution witnessed by a traveler in 1819, which took place near Berlin, his description of the scene being particularly vivid.
A triangular gibbet is raised in the centre of an extensive plain commanding a view of the city; attached to this gibbet is a stone platform, lightly railed in with iron, so as to admit of all that takes place being distinctly viewed by the spectators. A large grave was dug in front of it. The area was surrounded by a detachment of lancers, formed in hollow squares, and enfiladed around the execution site by an inner square of the infantry squad.
About half an hour before the appearance of the criminal, twelve persons, executioners, officers of the police, and two little boys as assistants, mounted the scaffold and fixed the strangling cords. At length the buzz of the surrounding multitude, the flourishing of naked sabres and the galloping of the officers, announced the slow approach of the criminal upon a hurdle drawn by six horses.
On his approach, the word of command flew through the ranks; arms were presented, drums were beaten, and the colours and lancers’ pennants raised, until he had mounted the scaffold.
Never shall I forget the one bitter look of imploring agony that he threw around him, as almost immediately his coat was rudely torn from his shoulders. He was then thrown down, the cords fixed around his neck, which were then drawn by the executioner until strangulation almost commenced, or at least until dislocation of the neck was nearly completed.
Another executioner then approached, bearing in his hands a heavy wheel bound with iron, with which he violently struck the legs, stomach, arms and chest, and lastly the head of the criminal. I was unfortunately near enough to witness his mangled and bleeding body, still convulsed.
It was then carried down from the scaffold for interment, and in less than a quarter of an hour from the beginning of his torture, the corpse was completely covered with earth. Several large stones which were thrown in on top of him hastened his last gasp — he was mangled into eternity. [“Mangled into eternity.” Doesn’t that sound romantic? – DeSpair]
Various methods of breaking with the wheel
Culled from: The Book of Execution
And Now Some Words From The Good Book!
My favorite book is Wisconsin Death Trip, a collection of 19th century newspaper articles from Black River Falls, Wisconsin accompanied by glass plate negatives taken by the town photographer in the same era. Here are some excerpts from the book, accompanied by a photo of a tragically deceased young’un.
“Mamie Weeks, a 15 year old girl at Beaver, has made complaint against her father Jacob Weeks of being the father of her unborn child. Weeks has disappeared.”
[6/9/1892, Badger State Banner]
“The golden bowl is broken, the silver cord is loosened, and the manly heart of Frank Warren Bathrick ceased to beat at 5 o’clock the afternoon of July 23, 1892. His sudden death was a fearful shock to his many friends who, in the midst of the annual harvest of the earth, were brought so swiftly into the presence of the heavenly garnering of this young life by the reaper ‘who with his sickle keen / cuts the bearded grain with his breath / and the flowers that grow between.’ What brilliant broken plans, what baffled high ambitions, what sundering of strong, warm friendships, what bitter rending of sweet household ties… Around his bedside, father, mother, brother, and sister lingered, praying for a ray of hope, dreading the inevitable shadow of the death angel’s wing. What could be more tender or a source of sweeter joy than the memory of his parting words to his beloved mother, when he spoke, as if already within the portal, this blessed assurance of affection: ‘I love you.'”
[7/28/1892, County, from Sechlerville]
“Judge Perry sentenced Mrs. Ira C. Miller of the town of Irving to the Mendota insane asylum…”
[8/11/1892, Town News]
“Died, September 20th, 1892, at his home in Sechlerville, Wisconsin, Samuel McWilliam, in the 84th year of his age. The death angel hovered over the home of Uncle Sammy for many months, threatening and retreating until gently and silently it wrapt its dark mantle around his wasted form and winged its flight to that bourn from whence no traveler returns. Born in … 1809, the deceased… was the father of 8 children, 6 of whom (2 sons and 4 daughters) remain to comfort the last days of their widowed mother… His sufferings were such as only those with cancer endure. He longed for release. His eyes, closed in the darkness of here, [have] opened (we trust) in the brilliant presence of his Redeemer.”
[9/29/1892, County, from Sechlerville]
“The body of Mrs. Ira Miller was brought here from Mendota asylum on the early train Sunday morning….”
[10/6/1892, Town News]
“Admitted May 1, 1904. Town of Manchester. Age 47. Born in Wisconsin, father was French-Indian, mother French-German. Married, 14 children, youngest 2 years. Housewife. Poor. Symptoms first noticed 12 years ago following loss of child. Deranged on religious matters… Addicted to smoking…”
[Mendota State, 1904 Record Book (Female, H), p. 366, patient #9835]
Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!
This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the archived version for all entries up until now).
Here’s today’s entry:
October 16th. I was detailed to “pack” dead out to the dead-house from the sheds. I carried out two men belonging to the 19th Massachusetts. Nights are cold and frosty, and no wood to keep warm with.
Culled from: Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost