Okla-homey
3/28/2007, 06:59 AM
March 28, 1814 Funeral for the man behind the Guillotine
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6577/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz25.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
On this day 193 years ago, the funeral of Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the inventor and namesake of the infamous execution device, takes place outside of Paris, France.
Guillotin had what he felt were the purest motives for inventing the guillotine and was deeply distressed at how his reputation had become besmirched in the aftermath. Before he died he said, "How true it is that it is difficult to benefit mankind without some unpleasantness resulting for oneself."
Guillotin initially was interested in the arts and became professor of literature at the Irisnah College at Bordeaux. Later he studied medicine at Reims where he graduated in 1768 and two years later graduated from the University of Paris.
He became one of the 10 deputies of Paris in the Assemblée Constituante on May 2, 1789, and was secretary to the assembly from June 1789 to October 1791.
Guillotin belonged to a small reform movement that sought to banish the death penalty completely. On October 10th 1789 – the second day of the debate about France's penal code – Guillotin proposed six articles to the new Legislative Assembly. In one of them he proposed that "the criminal shall be decapitated; this will be done solely by means of a simple mechanism." This was defined as a "machine that beheads painlessly".
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7540/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz21.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This uniform method of executing was intended to replace the inhumane methods such as burning, mutilation, drowning, and hanging. An easy death – so to speak – was no longer to be the prerogative of nobles. Guillotin also wanted the machine to be hidden from the view of large crowds, in accord with his view that the execution should be private and dignified.
At that time, executions in France were public events held in town squares. The poor were usually hanged, but at times the entire town would gather to watch a quartering, where the prisoner's limbs were tied to four oxen and the animals were driven in four different directions. Upper-class criminals bought their way into a less painful death, usually by sword or axe. However, such traditional methods could prove messy and difficult, especially if the executioner missed or the prisoner struggled.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6195/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz24.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The doctor's design called for two 14 foot slotted and greased uprights and a heavy steel blade further given force with a 100 pound weight attached to its upper surface. Raised into its pre-execution position at the top of the uprights by a rope and pulley system, its fall was triggered by release of a simple spring-loaded latch. It was tested on cadavers prior to its first use and was found to work flawlessly. The device was placed on a platform with 24 steps leading to the execution deck.
Its first use was on January 24, 1792, when Nicolas Pelletier was put to death for armed robbery and assault in Place de Greve. The newspapers reported that guillotine was not an immediate sensation. The crowds seemed to miss the gallows at first. However, it quickly caught on with the public and many thought it brought dignity back to the executioner.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2728/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz43.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Folks turned out in droves to hear the thunk of the blade at the end of its fall. Spectators often took on the characteristics of a fan base, with cheering and enthusiastic approval for each use.
As the French nobility was largely exterminated and heads kept on rolling at an ever increasing pace during the years of terror, science discovered a new and surprising fact, later confirmed by modern neurophysiology: a head cut off by a swift slash of axe or guillotine knows that it is a beheaded head whilst it rolls along the ground or into the basket – consciousness survives long enough for such a perception. :eek:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6913/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz44.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The guillotine was also being used in all the other French cities with great frequency at this time and many thousands of people fell victim to it.
By 1799 the Guillotine had decapitated more than 15.000 heads. Altogether about 40.000 people were killed during the Terror. Contrary to common belief, an estimated 80-85 percent of them were commoners.
However, the prestige of the guillotine fell precipitously due to its frequent use in the French Terror following the Revolution. It became the focal point of the awful political executions and was so closely identified with the terrible abuses of the time that it was perceived as partially responsible for the excesses itself. Still, it was used sporadically in France until the 1977.
The last execution by guillotine took place in Marseilles, France on September 10, 1977, when Hamida Djandoubi, a north African French immigrant was beheaded for torture and murder. France outlawed capital punishment in 1981.
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/9582/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz2.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4536/insane7zo9dc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6577/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz25.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
On this day 193 years ago, the funeral of Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the inventor and namesake of the infamous execution device, takes place outside of Paris, France.
Guillotin had what he felt were the purest motives for inventing the guillotine and was deeply distressed at how his reputation had become besmirched in the aftermath. Before he died he said, "How true it is that it is difficult to benefit mankind without some unpleasantness resulting for oneself."
Guillotin initially was interested in the arts and became professor of literature at the Irisnah College at Bordeaux. Later he studied medicine at Reims where he graduated in 1768 and two years later graduated from the University of Paris.
He became one of the 10 deputies of Paris in the Assemblée Constituante on May 2, 1789, and was secretary to the assembly from June 1789 to October 1791.
Guillotin belonged to a small reform movement that sought to banish the death penalty completely. On October 10th 1789 – the second day of the debate about France's penal code – Guillotin proposed six articles to the new Legislative Assembly. In one of them he proposed that "the criminal shall be decapitated; this will be done solely by means of a simple mechanism." This was defined as a "machine that beheads painlessly".
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/7540/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz21.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
This uniform method of executing was intended to replace the inhumane methods such as burning, mutilation, drowning, and hanging. An easy death – so to speak – was no longer to be the prerogative of nobles. Guillotin also wanted the machine to be hidden from the view of large crowds, in accord with his view that the execution should be private and dignified.
At that time, executions in France were public events held in town squares. The poor were usually hanged, but at times the entire town would gather to watch a quartering, where the prisoner's limbs were tied to four oxen and the animals were driven in four different directions. Upper-class criminals bought their way into a less painful death, usually by sword or axe. However, such traditional methods could prove messy and difficult, especially if the executioner missed or the prisoner struggled.
http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/6195/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz24.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The doctor's design called for two 14 foot slotted and greased uprights and a heavy steel blade further given force with a 100 pound weight attached to its upper surface. Raised into its pre-execution position at the top of the uprights by a rope and pulley system, its fall was triggered by release of a simple spring-loaded latch. It was tested on cadavers prior to its first use and was found to work flawlessly. The device was placed on a platform with 24 steps leading to the execution deck.
Its first use was on January 24, 1792, when Nicolas Pelletier was put to death for armed robbery and assault in Place de Greve. The newspapers reported that guillotine was not an immediate sensation. The crowds seemed to miss the gallows at first. However, it quickly caught on with the public and many thought it brought dignity back to the executioner.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2728/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz43.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Folks turned out in droves to hear the thunk of the blade at the end of its fall. Spectators often took on the characteristics of a fan base, with cheering and enthusiastic approval for each use.
As the French nobility was largely exterminated and heads kept on rolling at an ever increasing pace during the years of terror, science discovered a new and surprising fact, later confirmed by modern neurophysiology: a head cut off by a swift slash of axe or guillotine knows that it is a beheaded head whilst it rolls along the ground or into the basket – consciousness survives long enough for such a perception. :eek:
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6913/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz44.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The guillotine was also being used in all the other French cities with great frequency at this time and many thousands of people fell victim to it.
By 1799 the Guillotine had decapitated more than 15.000 heads. Altogether about 40.000 people were killed during the Terror. Contrary to common belief, an estimated 80-85 percent of them were commoners.
However, the prestige of the guillotine fell precipitously due to its frequent use in the French Terror following the Revolution. It became the focal point of the awful political executions and was so closely identified with the terrible abuses of the time that it was perceived as partially responsible for the excesses itself. Still, it was used sporadically in France until the 1977.
The last execution by guillotine took place in Marseilles, France on September 10, 1977, when Hamida Djandoubi, a north African French immigrant was beheaded for torture and murder. France outlawed capital punishment in 1981.
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/9582/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz2.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4536/insane7zo9dc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)