In Europe, some executioners are famous and have great status. Excellent executioners are admired by many people. The clever executioner can always separate the prisoner's head and trunk with one knife, and the audience is also very good at it.
1737 July, the executioner beheaded successfully and became a model of beheading. He cut off Bolio de Montigny's head with a knife and put it on the ground. He held his head high and showed it to the audience from all angles, paying tribute to the audience, just like a comedian. Chronicle records: "The crowd applauded for his dexterity."
Beheading is the most classic execution method in China, and it can even be used as a synonym for the death penalty. Cutting off a person's most important organ at a time can make people die on the spot, safely and quickly, and show their heads in public. The official name is chop. After Yan Yan was captured by Zhang Fei, she said, "Cut off your head, cut it off." That's what it means anyway. The ancient instruments of torture were often axes, because bronze was soft and not sharp enough, and it had to be made into an axe to cut it. After the popularization of ironware, the knife gradually became the protagonist of execution. However, although the knife is sharp, it is also easy to wear and tear, which requires more skills to use, and some professional ancestral executioners have also emerged. The so-called skill is to aim at the intervertebral space of the prisoner's neck and separate his head from his body. If it is not cut correctly, it may not be cut off at once. The hacked prisoner struggled to sign, and the scene naturally looked awkward. Sometimes onlookers laugh at the executioner. There is a legend that the Qing dynasty demanded that prisoners with higher official positions be treated with blunt knives to make them suffer more, which is inaccurate.
I'm afraid it's impossible to prove who was beheaded first in history. Countless historical celebrities have been beheaded. In Liaozhai, a prisoner who was about to be beheaded was told that an executioner's knife was particularly sharp, and he tried his best to carry it out. When he cut it off, his head flew up and he cheered in the air: "What a sharp knife!" " Then again, the head and the body are separated, and without the respiratory organs, it is impossible to speak with one head. Pu Songling's Liaozhai is originally a story about fox spirits and ghosts, and there are countless things to do. But in practice, sometimes people's nerves will react, and the flying head will bite a spectator. If this happens to you, you should consider yourself unlucky. After entering the DPRK, the man left a braid, which brought convenience to the execution. At that time, prisoners were generally required to kneel down, one person holding down the body, and the other person pulling the braid hard to make the prisoner's neck as long as possible to facilitate the executioner's execution. In addition, a Japanese soldier who invaded China recorded that after countless beheadings, they found that the original kneeling death row naturally straightened their feet and jumped forward at the moment of beheading, so they deliberately let the murdered people face the river and let them "jump by themselves".
There is only one way to behead with an axe: the prisoner puts his neck on a wooden anvil and cuts it off with a heavy axe. The purpose of beheading with a sword is the same as the former, which is to separate the head from the body, but there are several processes.
The first is beheading with an axe. The prisoner knelt with his head on the wooden anvil and his hands tied behind his back. Of course, in some cases, prisoners' hands are free. For example, when Mr. Detu and Sekmars were beheaded, their hands were empty.
Secondly, the prisoner kneels, stands or sits on his heels, with his head in the center of his body and his chin on his chest, so that the interrogator can see his neck. Prisoners' hands are often tied in front.
Third, the prisoner stood up and was punished. This is the least and the most difficult way to behead. This way is very dangerous, the executioner can't guarantee the accurate underground knife, and the prisoner may be hit on the head or shoulder.
Standing beheading requires the torturer to be extremely dexterous, which is the most commonly used method in China. This is mainly used to punish important people who have the opportunity to meet the emperor, while ordinary prisoners are punished on their knees.
Simon Granci was probably the worst executioner.
1889 A file signed by Clemens Yanan published in Dijon, Gold Coast, describes such a thing (perhaps the only one in the world): the prisoner was pardoned for death because of the clumsiness of the executioner. At that time, an aristocratic woman named Elena Geely was sentenced to the first sentence for infanticide. In front of a large group of people, the executioner named Simon Granger did not chop the victim to death because he was more used to torture than beheading.
"The shouts of the crowd made him more restless. He cut it several times in a row, but it only seriously grazed the 22-year-old young woman and failed to cut off her head. The crowd became even more angry. The executioner dropped his sword and fled into the small church built at the foot of the guillotine, trying to hide. His wife is helping him to end the death penalty. More and more angry people threw many stones at her. She tried to strangle the prisoner with a rope, but she still failed to end his life. The executioner then picked up the scissors she used to cut the prisoner's hair and tried to cut her throat. Still didn't succeed. She poked the prisoner with scissors. "The angry crowd rushed to the guillotine, seized the executioner and her husband, and killed them. The most incredible thing is that the surgeon actually saved Elena Gillette. Faced with this unique scene, Louis XIII signed a pardon, allowing the man who was shown a miracle to spend the rest of his life in Braise Abbey.
Beheading with a sword has always been regarded as an imperfect death penalty, because it requires not only the intelligence of the executioner, but also the cooperation of the prisoner.
There are also many prisoners who are struggling and struggling because of despair. Similarly, there are many prisoners who obey their fate obediently, and some prisoners are even more obedient than others hope.
Mrs. Tikai is one of them. She is twenty-eight, young and beautiful, and her husband is a member of the Paris Parliament. Because her husband cheated her again and again. Finally, she deceived him and hired Li Ke to plot to kill him, but her plot was caught.
After her arrest, she was sentenced to death. On the third day after the verdict, she was taken to Graves Square. When the motorcade arrived at the square, the sky suddenly darkened and the rain poured down. On both sides of her sat the executioner Charles Sang Song and the priest who listened to Qianhai.
Some historians believe that the executioner came from Pontoise. At first glance, the square became empty and the crowd was looking for shelter from the rain. Some of them went into the house, others hid under the rain eaves of shops or in the foyer of reception rooms. The torturers' servants and soldiers hid under the guillotine or cart.
In the carriage, prisoners, executioners and priests are waiting. Charles Sang Song said to Mrs. Tikai, "Sorry, I can't do anything now. Such heavy rain will make me miss it. " Mrs. Tikai thanked the torturers and all the people present for waiting for the rainstorm to stop.
Spent an hour under such tragic circumstances. Finally, the crowd gradually returned to the square. Aides, servants and soldiers also came out of the shelter. "It's time!" Said the executioner, and then they got out of the car and climbed up the guillotine.
Because Sang Song helped Mrs Kay climb the stairs, some people said that she kissed Sang Song's hand with a gesture of "gratitude and shame". The latter turned to his son and assistant and said, "You can take my place!" "The young man hesitated, but the prisoner interrupted his train of thought:" Gentlemen, can you tell me what posture I should take? "
"Kneel down, look up, lift your hair, show your neck and put it in front of you." The old executioner replied. As for his son, he was at a loss when the prisoner posed.
She asked, "Did I do it right?"
Just as the young executioner was encouraged by his father to raise his epee and prepare to wave it in the air, the prisoner shouted, "Don't break my face!" " "
The first knife fell on the ear, cut his face and spilled blood, and the inferior people made an insulting cry. The prisoner fell to the ground, his limbs shaking like a wounded horse. ~ a servant grabbed her leg and put it on the ground. Charles San Song grabbed her hair so that her son could be executed again. It was not until the third knife that the head was cut off.