The media have compiled the top 5 most violent women in history, reports Diletant Media.
Russian noblewoman Saltychikha- this was the nickname of Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova (1730 - 1801). At the age of 26, she became a widow, after which about 600 peasant souls came into her undivided possession. The next few years became a real hell for these people. Saltychikha, who during her husband’s life was not distinguished by any unhealthy inclinations, began to torture the peasants for the slightest offense or without it. By order of the mistress, people were flogged, starved, and driven out naked into the cold. Saltychikha herself could pour boiling water over the peasant or burn his hair. She also often tore out the hair of her victims with her hands, which testifies to the remarkable strength of Daria Nikolaevna.
In seven years, she killed 139 people. These were mostly women of different ages. It was noted that Saltychikha loved to kill girls who were soon going to get married. The authorities received many complaints against the torturer, but cases were regularly resolved in favor of the defendant, who was generous with rich gifts to influential people. The case was only progressed under Catherine II, who decided to make the trial of Saltychikha a show. She was sentenced to death, but was eventually imprisoned in a monastery prison.
Norwegian-American Belle Gunness, who had nicknames "Black Widow" and "Hell Belle", became the most famous female killer in US history. She sent her boyfriends, husbands and even her own children to the next world. The motive for Gunness's crimes was the taking of insurance and money. All of her children were insured, and when they died from some kind of poisoning, Hell Belle received payments from the insurance company. However, sometimes she killed people in order to eliminate witnesses.
Black Widow is believed to have died in 1908. However, her death is shrouded in mystery. One day the woman disappeared, and some time later her headless, charred corpse was discovered. The identity of these remains as Belle Gunness remains unproven to this day.
The fate of Antonina Makarova, better known as "Tonka the Machine Gunner." In 1941, during World War II, as a nurse, she was surrounded and found herself in occupied territory. Seeing that the Russians who had sided with the Germans lived better than others, she decided to join the auxiliary police of the Lokot region, where she worked as an executioner. For executions, I asked the Germans for a Maxim machine gun.
According to official data, in total Tonka the Machine Gunner executed about 1,500 people. The woman combined her work as an executioner with prostitution - the German military used her services. At the end of the war, Makarova obtained fake documents, married front-line soldier V.S. Ginzburg, who did not know about her past, and took his last name.
Chekists arrested her only in 1978 in Belarus, convicted her as a war criminal and sentenced her to death. Soon the sentence was carried out. Makarova became one of three women in the USSR who were sentenced to death in the post-Stalin era. It is noteworthy that the classification of secrecy has not yet been removed from the case of Tonka the Machine Gunner.
Nickname Bloody Mary (or Bloody Mary) received after death by Mary I Tudor (1516−1558). The daughter of the English king Henry VIII went down in history as a ruler who actively tried to return the country to the fold of the Roman Catholic Church. This happened against the backdrop of brutal repressions against Protestants, persecution and murder of church hierarchs, and reprisals against innocent people.
Even those Protestants who agreed to convert to Catholicism before execution were burned at the stake. The queen died of a fever, and the day of her death became a national holiday in the country. Remembering the cruelty of Bloody Mary, Her Majesty’s subjects did not erect a single monument to her.
Irma Grese's victims called her " Blonde Devil", "Angel of Death" or "Beautiful Monster". She was one of the most brutal guards at the Ravensbrück, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen women's death camps in Hitler's Germany. She personally tortured prisoners, selected people to be sent to the gas chambers, beat women to death and had fun in the most sophisticated way. In particular, Grese starved dogs in order to later set them on tortured victims.
The warden had a special style - she always wore heavy black boots, carried a pistol and a wicker whip. In 1945, the "Blonde Devil" was captured by the British. She was sentenced to death by hanging. Before her execution, 22-year-old Grese had fun and sang songs. She, remaining calm until the last moment, said only one word to her executioner: “Faster.”
Saltykova 
Hannes 
Makarova 
Bloody Mary 
Grese
The death penalty, around which debates among human rights activists and the public are raging today, is a punishment that appeared in ancient times and has survived to this day. In some periods of human history, the death penalty was almost the predominant punishment in the law enforcement system of various states. To deal with criminals, executioners were required - tireless and ready to “work” from dawn to dusk. This profession is shrouded in sinister myths and mysticism. Who is the executioner really?
The executioners did not wear masks
Medieval executioners, and even executioners in later periods of history, very rarely hid their faces, so the image of an executioner in a hooded mask that has taken root in modern culture has no basis in reality. Until the end of the 18th century there were no masks at all. Everyone in his hometown knew the executioner by sight. And there was no need for the executioner to hide his identity, because in ancient times no one even thought about taking revenge on the executor of the sentence. The executioner was seen as just a tool.
The executioners had dynasties
“My grandfather was an executioner. My father was an executioner. Now here I am - the executioner. My son and his son will also be executioners,” this is probably what any medieval kat could have said, answering the question of what influenced his choice of such an “unusual” profession. Traditionally, the position of executioner was inherited. All executioners living in the same region knew each other, and were often even relatives, since executioners often chose the daughters of other executioners, flayers or gravediggers to create families. The reason for this is not at all professional solidarity, but the position of the executioner in society: according to their social status, the executioners were at the bottom of the city.
In Tsarist Russia, executioners were chosen from former criminals, who were guaranteed “clothing and food” for this.
"The Executioner's Curse" Really Existed
In medieval Europe, there was a concept of the “executioner’s curse.” It had nothing to do with magic or witchcraft, but reflected society’s view of this craft. According to medieval traditions, a person who became an executioner remained one for the rest of his life and could not change his profession of his own free will. In case of refusal to fulfill his duties, the executioner was considered a criminal.
The executioners did not pay for purchases
At all times, executioners were paid little. In Russia, for example, according to the Code of 1649, the executioners’ salaries were paid from the sovereign’s treasury - “an annual salary of 4 rubles each, from labial unsalary income.” However, this was compensated by a kind of “social package”. Since the executioner was widely known in his area, he could, when he came to the market, take everything he needed completely free of charge. Literally, the executioner could eat the same as the one he served. However, this tradition did not arise out of favor towards executioners, but quite the opposite: not a single merchant wanted to take “blood” money from the hands of a murderer, but since the state needed the executioner, everyone was obliged to feed him.
However, over time, the tradition has changed, and a rather amusing fact is known about the inglorious departure from the profession of the French Sanson dynasty of executioners, which existed for more than 150 years. In Paris, no one was executed for a long time, so the executioner Clemont-Henri Sanson sat without money and got into debt. The best thing the executioner came up with was to lay the guillotine. And as soon as he did this, ironically, an “order” immediately appeared. Sanson begged the moneylender to give him the guillotine for a while, but he was unshakable. Clemont-Henri Sanson was fired. And if not for this misunderstanding, then his descendants could have chopped off heads for another century, because the death penalty in France was abolished only in 1981.
The executioner received the executed person's belongings
There is an opinion that the executioners always removed the boots from the body of the executed person; in fact, this is only partly true. According to medieval tradition, the executioner was allowed to take from the corpse everything that was on it below the waist. Over time, the executioners were allowed to take away all the property of the criminal.
The executioners moonlighted as exorcists
In medieval Europe, executioners, like all Christians, were allowed into the church. However, they had to be the last to arrive for communion, and during the service they had to stand at the very entrance to the temple. However, despite this, they had the right to conduct wedding ceremonies and exorcism rites. The clergy of that time believed that the torment of the body made it possible to cast out demons.
The executioners sold souvenirs
Today it seems incredible, but executioners often sold souvenirs. And you shouldn’t flatter yourself with the hope that between executions they were engaged in wood carving or clay modeling. Executioners traded alchemical potions and body parts of executed people, their blood and skin. The thing is that, according to medieval alchemists, such reagents and potions had incredible alchemical properties. Others believed that the fragments of the criminal’s body were a talisman. The most harmless souvenir is the hanged man's rope, which supposedly brought good luck. It happened that corpses were secretly bought by medieval doctors to study the anatomical structure of the body.
Russia, as usual, has its own way: the severed parts of the bodies of the “dashing” people were used as a kind of “propaganda”. The royal decree of 1663 states: “ Nail the severed arms and legs on the main roads to the trees, and write guilt on those same arms and legs and stick them on them, saying that those legs and arms are thieves and robbers and were cut off from them for theft, robbery and murder... so that all ranks people knew about their crimes».
The executioner's skill is the main thing in the profession
The profession of an executioner was not as simple as it might seem at first glance. In particular, this concerned the beheading procedure. It was not easy to cut off a man's head with one blow of an ax, and those executioners who could do it on the first try were especially valued. Such a requirement for the executioner was not put forward out of humanity towards the condemned, but because of entertainment, since executions, as a rule, were of a public nature. They learned the craft from their older comrades. In Russia, the process of training executioners was carried out on a wooden mare. They placed a dummy of a human back made of birch bark on it and practiced blows. Many executioners had something like signature professional techniques. It is known that the last British executioner, Albert Pierrepoint, carried out the execution in a record time of 17 seconds.
In Rus' they preferred to chop off legs and arms
In Rus' there were many ways to take a life, and they were very cruel. Criminals were wheeled around, molten metal poured down their throats (as a rule, counterfeiters had to fear this), and hung by their ribs. If for some reason the wife decided to kill her husband, she was buried in the ground. She died long and painfully, and compassionate passers-by could leave money for church candles and for the funeral.
If in Europe executioners had to cut off heads more often and set fires on fire, then in Russia court sentences more often indicated maiming rather than killing. According to the Code of 1649, an arm, hand or fingers were cut off for theft. One could lose limbs for murder in a drunken fight, stealing fish from a fish tank, counterfeiting copper money, and illegally selling vodka.
Modern executioners do not hide from society
Modern society, which declares the principles of humanism, has not been able to abandon executioners. Moreover, politicians often hide under their guise. Thus, in the summer of 2002, Condoleezza Rice, who at that time was the US Presidential National Security Advisor, personally gave verbal approval to the use of “waterboarding,” when a person is tied up and water is poured on his face, as was done to the terrorist Abu Zubaydah. There is evidence of much harsher CIA practices.
The most famous executioner of the twentieth century is the Frenchman Fernand Meyssonnier. From 1953 to 1057, he personally executed 200 Algerian rebels. He is 77 years old, he still lives in France today, he does not hide his past and even receives a pension from the state. Meyssonnier has been in the profession since he was 16 years old, and it runs in the family. His father became an executioner because of the “benefits and benefits” provided: the right to have military weapons, high salaries, free travel and tax breaks for running a pub. He still keeps the tool of his grim work - the Model 48 guillotine - to this day.
Mohammed Saad al-Beshi is the current Chief Executioner of Saudi Arabia. He's 45 today." It doesn’t matter how many orders I have per day: two, four or ten. I am fulfilling God's mission and therefore I do not know fatigue"says the executioner, who started working in 1998. In not a single interview did he mention how many executions he had carried out or what fees he received, but he boasted that the authorities rewarded him with a sword for his high professionalism. Mohammed “keeps his sword razor sharp” and “cleans it regularly.” By the way, he is already teaching his 22-year-old son the craft.
One of the most famous executioners in the post-Soviet space is Oleg Alkaev, who in the 1990s was the head of the firing squad and headed the Minsk pre-trial detention center. He not only leads an active social life, but also published a book about his workdays, after which he was called a humanist executioner.
Maurice Hisen has nothing to do with executioners and did not write any books. But the topic of death did not leave him indifferent. He created a photo shoot dedicated to the death of a person and called it
This scary profession is necessary. After all, the existence of the death penalty implies that someone will carry it out. The image of a person who, by the will of the law, takes a life is always ominous. Cinema gives us images of a man naked to the waist with his face covered with a mask.
In life, everything is completely different. Executioners most often do not stand out from the crowd outwardly, but in the depths of their souls, real hell is unfolding. Few people can “boast” that they have killed a hundred people with impunity. To press the coveted button, you need remarkable willpower and a special mentality. Executioners are amazing and mysterious people, and the story will be about the most famous people of this profession.
Albert Pierpoint (1905-1992). In photographs this man is usually smiling, nothing suggests that this man has taken the lives of at least 400 people. The Englishman grew up in an unusual family - his father and uncle were executioners. Henry Pierpoint himself chose this profession and, after repeated requests, he was hired. During 9 years of service, Albert's father hanged 105 people. All this time, the man kept a diary where he wrote down the details of the execution. The growing Albert read this book. Already at the age of 11, the boy wrote in a school essay that he dreams of following in the footsteps of his father. Such a desire was understandable - a rare profession would allow one to stand out from the faceless crowd. I was greatly impressed by the story of my father, who told how respect his father was treated. Albert submitted several applications until, in 1931, he was hired as a staff member at a London prison. The young executioner's career developed rapidly. A special burden fell on the executioner during the war and after its end. In 6-7 years he had to hang 200 war criminals. Pierpoint achieved real mastery - the entire procedure, from the prisoner's procession from his cell to pressing the lever, took the executioner up to 12 seconds. I must say that such a position was quite profitable. The executioner was paid by the piece - first 10, and then 15 pounds per execution. Pierpoint's work during the war brought him good capital, he was even able to buy a pub in Manchester. Interestingly, in England it is believed that the identity of the executioner should be hidden, but Pierpoint was declassified by journalists. After retiring in 1956, Albert sold the story of his life to the Sunday newspaper for the princely sum of £400,000. The executioner's story served as the basis for many notes and even a documentary film. Pierpoint became a celebrity, the subject of an interview. It is interesting that he himself spoke out for the abolition of the death penalty, since he did not see the fear of death in the eyes of criminals.
Fernand Meyssonnier (1931-2008). And this French executioner had a family profession. My father was engaged in killing people for profit and benefits. After all, it allowed him to travel for free, earn good money, have military weapons and even financial benefits. Fernand first became involved in bloody work at the age of 16. He recalled that when a person was executed with a guillotine, blood splashed, as if from a glass, 2-3 meters away. Fate decreed that Meyssonnier, a fan of theater and ballets, was forced to become an executioner, unofficially helping his father. In 1958, Fernand was appointed first assistant executioner, serving in the bloody position until 1961. The peak of executions occurred between 1953 and 1957. Then the liberation movement in Algeria gave the executioners many convicts. During this time alone, Meyssonnier executed more than 200 rebels. Father and son tried to do their work as quickly as possible, so as not to prolong the torment of the doomed. The executioner scolded his American colleagues for deliberately delaying the ceremony. Fernand recalled that the guillotine was the most painless execution. The executioner also became famous for being able to catch his head without letting it fall. It happened that after the execution Fernand found himself covered in blood from head to toe, shocking the guards. After retiring, the executioner shared his memories and even demonstrated the instrument of his labor. The “48” model did not cut well; I had to help with my hands. In addition, convicts often pulled their heads into their shoulders, which prevented a quick execution. Meyssonnier says that he does not feel any remorse, since he was simply the punishing hand of Justice.
Richard Brandon. A historical fact is this man's tenure as hangman of London in 1649. Many sources say that it was he who carried out the death sentence imposed on King Charles I. Richard's father, Gregory Brandon, was also an executioner, sharing his skills with the heir. Historians have found evidence that the family descended from an illegitimate descendant of the Duke of Safflk. Father and son earned a sad reputation in London. The city even has a sad jargon - “Gregory trees”. This is what people began to call gallows. And the name Gregory itself became a household word, meaning executioner. The Brandons gave their profession another nickname - “Squire”. The fact is that through their service they achieved the right to a coat of arms and the title of Esquire, which later went to their descendants. Little is known about the execution of the king. It was believed that Richard refused to do this, but he may well have been forced to change his mind by force. After Brandon's death, a small document was released that revealed the secrets of his profession. So, for each execution the executioner received 30 pounds sterling, and in half-crowns. Brandon's first victim was the Earl of Strafford.
John Ketch. This executioner gained his infamous fame during the time of King Charles II. The Englishman had Irish roots. It is believed that he assumed his position in 1663, although the first mention of his name dates back to 1678. Then a miniature was drawn in the newspaper in which Ketch offered a kind of cure for rebellion. The fact is that the 80s of the 17th century were marked by mass unrest. Therefore, there were quite a lot of executions; the executioner was not without work for a long time. Anthony Wood's autobiography contains a passage commemorating the hanging of Stephen College. The author tells how the already dead body was removed, and then quartered and burned by an executioner named Ketch. This man stood out even among his colleagues for his excessive cruelty, and sometimes even strange clumsiness. For example, the famous rebel Lord William Russell was executed rather sloppily. The executioner was even forced to officially apologize, explaining that he was distracted just before the blow. And the suicide bomber ended up on the chopping block unsuccessfully. The story goes that Ketch often inflicted painful but not fatal blows on the victim, causing him to suffer. Either the executioner was really awkward, or he was a sophisticated sadist. The last option seemed to the common people the most truthful. As a result, on July 15, 1685, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, paid his executioner 6 guineas to execute him efficiently. After the action, Ketch was guaranteed an additional reward. However, John made a mistake - even after three blows he was unable to separate his head. The crowd went wild, to which the executioner generally responded by refusing to continue what he had started. The sheriff forced Ketch to complete the execution and two more blows finally killed the unfortunate rebel. But even after this, the head remained on the body; the executioner had to cut it off with a knife. Such cruelty and unprofessionalism outraged numerous spectators - Ketch was taken away from the chopping block under guard. The cruel executioner died in 1686, and his name became a household name for people of this profession. Ketch's name has been mentioned by many writers, including Dickens himself.
Giovanni Bugatti (1780-1865). This man devoted his entire life to such an ignoble profession. As it turned out, the Papal States also had their own executioner. Bugatti worked in this position from 1796 to 1865, even receiving the nickname “Master of Justice.” Already in old age, the executioner was retired by Pope Pius IX, assigning a monthly pension of 30 crowns. Bugatti called the executions he carried out the execution of justice, and his convicts themselves - patients. From 1796 to 1810, the executioner killed people with an axe, a wooden hammer, or using the gallows. The guillotine became popular in France in those years, and this tool also came to the Papal States. The executioner quickly mastered the new murder weapon. At the same time, the guillotine used was unusual - its blade was straight, and not beveled, as in France. Even the image of Bugatti has remained in history - he was a plump and short man, well dressed, childless, but married. In addition to his service, Giovanni and his wife sold painted umbrellas and other souvenirs for tourists. The executioner's house was located on a narrow street in the Trastevere district, on the western bank of the Tiber. Bugatti could leave this place only for work. This measure was invented solely for his protection, if suddenly the relatives of the executed wanted to take revenge on the executioner. That is why the appearance of Bugatti on the Bridge of the Holy Angel, which separated his area from the main part of the city, told Rome that the execution would soon take place and it was time to get ready to watch this spectacle. Today, the attributes of the famous executioner - his axes, guillotine and blood-spattered clothes can be seen in the Museum of Criminology in Via del Gonfalon.
Jules Henri Defourneaux (1877-1951). This man came from an old family of executioners, dating back to the Middle Ages. Like other Frenchmen of this profession, Defourneau used the guillotine for his work. The first execution for the executioner took place in 1909, he acted as an assistant to Anatole Deibler. When he died in 1939, rushing to his 401st execution, Defourneau was appointed the country's chief executioner. It was Jules Henry who carried out the last public execution in the country on June 17, 1939. Then serial killer Eugene Weidman was executed on the boulevard square in Versailles. Those events went down in history also because they were filmed from the windows of a private apartment. The executioner insisted that the execution take place during the day. At this time, a crowd was having fun near the prison, music was playing, and cafes were open. All this convinced the authorities that in the future criminals should be executed behind closed doors and away from the eyes of curious citizens. During the Second World War, the executioner worked for the Vichy regime; he was forced to carry out executions of communists and members of the Resistance movement. Defourneau agreed to this, but his assistants refused. The name of the executioner is associated with the first beheading of a woman since the 19th century. In 1943, the underground midwife Marie-Louise Giraud was executed, and she also became the last woman officially killed by the state. After the war, the executioner was so filled with fear for his actions that he fell into drunkenness. This even caused his son to commit suicide. This is how a difficult profession left its mark on a person’s personal life. Defourno worked as an executioner almost until his death, barely balancing on the brink of madness.
Clément Henri Sanson. The Sanson dynasty of Parisian executioners had served the state since 1688. Charles Henri became famous for the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, as well as Danton. It was under him that the guillotine appeared in France. And his son executed Robespierre. The last representative of the dynasty was Clément Henry. He received his position in 1840, but his career in this position lasted only 7 years. The fact is that in those years there were practically no executions in Paris. And the executioner worked piecework, so his bloody profession did not bring him money. As a result, Clement Henri incurred so much debt that he even pawned his main tool - the guillotine. And as luck would have it, the state immediately ordered the execution. However, the moneylender refused to give up the unusual collateral without money. As a result, the unlucky executioner was fired. But if not for this unfortunate incident, the professional dynasty could have existed for another hundred years - the death penalty was abolished in the country only in 1981. When the book “Notes of an Executioner” appeared in France, many attributed its creation to Henri Sanson. After all, the book told about the bloody era of the French Revolution and about Charles Henri Clement, who personally executed more than two thousand people. However, twenty years after publication it became known that the author was in fact Honore de Balzac. That deception continued. In 1863, another “Notes of an Executioner” was published, in 6 volumes. The editor was the same Clément Henri Sanson. However, 10 years later it turned out that this too was a fake. An enterprising journalist found the executioner in the early 1860s and bought the right to publish on his behalf for 30 thousand francs.
Johann Reichhart (1893-1972). This German had many executioners in his family. Only by the middle of the 18th century there were already 8 generations of people in this profession in the family. Reichhart's career began in 1924, he was an executioner both during the Weimar Republic, which tried to instill democracy in Germany, and under the Third Reich. This man kept meticulous records of all his executions; as a result, researchers counted more than three thousand people. Their largest number occurred between 1939 and 1945, when the executioner killed 2,876 people. During the latter part of the war, Reichhart's main clients were political prisoners and traitors. Anti-fascist students from the White Rose organization passed through the hands of the executioner. This execution, like others like it, took place on the Fallschwert guillotine. This low design was a reworked version of the French instrument. Reichhart had a fairly large amount of work, however, he strictly followed the rules for executing the sentence. The executioner wore the traditional attire for people of his profession - a white shirt and gloves, a black jacket and bow tie, as well as a top hat. Reichhart's duty took him to various places in German-occupied Europe, including Austria and Poland. To better do his job, the executioner even asked the government for the right to speed during his travels between execution sites. During one of these trips, Reichhart was surrounded by Allied troops and drowned his mobile guillotine in the river. After the surrender of Germany, no charges were brought against the executioner; the occupation authorities even hired Johann to help execute the main Nazi criminals. Although Reichgart is considered one of the most effective executioners, he strived to do his job conscientiously and quickly, minimizing the victim's suffering. The executioner modified the design of the guillotine, which reduced the execution time to 3-4 seconds. His profession made Johann a lonely man, and those around him avoided him. His wife left him, and his son committed suicide. In the 1960s, Reichhart called for the return of the death penalty, arguing that the guillotine was best suited for this purpose.
Franz Schmidt (1550-1635). This man went down in history as Master Franz. From 1573 to 1578 he worked as an executioner in the city of Bamberg, and then Nuremberg used his services until 1617. Only by leaving his job was Schmidt able to get rid of the stigma of being “dishonest.” That was the name of prostitutes, beggars and executioners in those days. Later, shepherds, millers and actors began to fall into this group. The trouble was that such a stigma extended to the entire family, which made it difficult to join a guild or conduct a normal funeral. Master Franz himself turned out to be a true virtuoso of his craft. In those days, a wide variety of sentences were passed. The executioner killed with a rope and a sword, a broken wheel, burning and immersing in water. The wheel was intended for the most notorious scoundrels; homosexuals and counterfeiters were burned at the stake. According to the judicial rules of the Holy Roman Empire, adopted in 1532, female child killers were executed by immersion in water. However, Schmidt himself, with the support of the clergy, succeeded in replacing this type of execution with cutting off the head with a sword. Throughout his career, the executioner kept a diary in which he indicated the punishments he had committed over the years of work. The pages contain memories of 361 executions and 345 punishments. The executioner also flogged people, and also cut off ears and fingers. The first entries contain very little information, but over the years Schmidt became more talkative, even describing the details of the convicted person’s crime. The executioner's diary turned out to be a unique document from the point of view of both legal history and social history. The original has not survived to this day, but the modern edition says there are four handwritten copies. They were made in the 17th-19th centuries; today they are kept in the libraries of Bamberg and Nuremberg. Schmidt’s diary was first published back in 1801.
William Colcraft (1800-1879). The official number of executions of this executioner is unknown. However, researchers believe there were about 450 victims, about 35 of them women. One of the most famous victims was Francois Courvoisier, who robbed and then killed his master lord. The execution took place on July 6, 1840. The executioner himself was born in the provincial town of Baddow and received the profession of a shoemaker. Colcraft worked as a night watchman. While selling meat pies outside the prison, he met the executioner John Foxton of Newgate Prison. He gave William a job, and Colcraft began flogging juvenile criminals for 10 shillings a week. When Foxton died in 1829, Colcraft was officially appointed as his successor. On April 13, 1829, just 9 days after taking office, the executioner executed his first woman, Esther Hibner. The criminal whom the press dubbed the “Malicious Monster” starved her apprentice girl to death. Those events turned out to be so resonant that after the execution of the sentence, a large crowd chanted “Hurray for Colcraft!” For the first time since 1700, a married couple was executed, Mary and Frederick Manning suffered for the murder of their wife's wealthy lover. The last public execution took place on May 26, 1868, after which, according to English law, people were killed in private. A little earlier, the executioner carried out the last public execution of a woman - 2 thousand people watched as the condemned Frances Kidder struggled in a noose for 2-3 minutes. It was Colcraft who became the first to execute privately. The executioner's career spanned 45 years. Colcraft's contemporaries recall that he was incompetent in his field. Historians suggest that by delaying the execution and torment of the victim, the executioner simply entertained the public, which sometimes attracted up to 30 thousand people. Colcraft sometimes swayed on the feet of those who had been killed, and sometimes even climbed onto the shoulders, trying to break the neck. As a result, the executioner was forced into retirement for incompetence. He was given a pension of 25 shillings. In his old age, William turned out to be a sullen man with long hair and a beard and shabby black clothes.
If today there are legal norms and laws, courts and lawyers, whose job is to fairly punish people for their atrocities, then in the past everything was completely different. The death penalty was a perfectly legal instrument of power almost everywhere. Even if this profession seems so “exotic” to us, people with their own shortcomings, peculiarities and oddities, executioners do not cease to be. In this collection, we have collected ten of the most unusual “oddities” of executors from different times.
1. Forever nostalgic
From 1948 to 1962, a certain Fernand Meyssonnier performed the duties of executioner in Algeria, who by the end of his career executed more than two hundred criminals. While working, he collected a huge number of items from his “wards”: about five hundred things related to atrocities and the punishment of convicts. After his retirement, Meyssonnier planned to open the first European “Museum of Punishment and Punishment”. It didn’t work out...
2. Most effective
Executioner Albert Pierpoint, who executed more than four hundred people, was recognized as the most effective executioner in England. Even though such a position did not exist, he was given the title of "official executioner" of the kingdom. After Pierpoint retired, he became an innkeeper and wrote a memoir. Moreover, the executioner was a racist. His statement to the English Royal Commission that foreigners behaved badly before being hanged went down in the history of capital punishment.
3. The most sudden
New York executor T. Gilbert, apparently driven to despair, decided to commit suicide in a rather unexpected way. During the execution of one of the convicts, Gilbert threw the electrodes in the death room and ran away. He was found dead in the prison basement - the executioner shot himself in the head.
4. The most resourceful
D. Lang, the official executioner of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Joseph I, went down in history for coming up with a humane and gentle method of strangulation. Innovations in the field of capital punishment at that time were equated with a feat. When the American military tried to win Lang over to their side in 1915, he refused, arguing that “the Yankees were torturing animals.”
The first assistant to the executioner Albert Pierpoint - Dernley was always on the alert. In order not to fall into the hands of enemies and to avoid all sorts of reprisals, the English executor Sid Durnley always traveled and moved around the country with fake passports issued in different names.
6. The most saddened
The Swedish executioner Shelin was very upset by his salary. In 1823, when he was tasked with beheading two criminals, the executioner was overjoyed. True, it later turned out that one of the prisoners was his son, so the minister appointed another executor. To which Shelin stated that he was being deprived of his salary, which he received on a piece-rate basis - for each severed head.
7. The most hasty
The London executioner D. Dunm, apparently, was in a hurry on business, so he hanged one of the prisoners ahead of time. However, everything turned out to be not so simple: literally a few minutes after the execution, the ex-criminal was pardoned. When the commission arrived at the place of execution, it found that he had been hanging on the rope for about fifteen minutes. Despite this, Danmu managed to bring the convict back from the other world, for which the latter received the nickname “half-hanged.”
8. Most kind
Charles Henri Sanson is a hereditary executioner. After his father died in 1754, Charles replaced him. People who knew him spoke of him as a real gentleman: he was kind, well-mannered and pleasant. Proof of this was the execution of Charlotte Corday in 1793. To protect the convict from falling, Sanson persuaded Corday to stand in the middle of the cart, and not on the edge. After the death of the woman, S. A. Sanson spoke about the deceased with the most flattering words.
9. The most manic
The Brest executioner Khantse was distinguished by his “charm”. After the execution, he admired the work done, laying out the heads of the condemned in a perfectly straight line on the edge of the scaffold. Deciding to once again admire the fruits of his labor, Hanze laid out 26 heads of victims along a specially marked line. This happened on December 11, 1794.
10. The most illogical
Over the years of work from 1884 to 1892, executioner James Barry cut off more than two hundred heads. At the same time, he continued to remain a preacher. Apparently, for Berry there was no difference between reading the psalms and carrying out a death sentence. The most paradoxical thing was that Berry's favorite sermon was the one where he called for the abolition of the death penalty.
Compiled from the book “The Death Penalty: History and Types of Capital Punishment from the Beginning of Time to the Present Day” by Martin Monestier.