=Ʌ= or cone-shaped top, worked to a sharp point. The victim was
placed straddle-legged on this, and heavy weights placed on each
foot, until the sharp point of the donkey’s back cut clean
through his body, or broke him right in halves.
628 =Whipping Bench=, from Berlin. A large bench upholstered,
straps to fasten the arms, legs, head, and feet, with a movable
footboard, to be raised according to the height of the whipper.
629 =Ball and Chain= for prisoner’s leg.
630 =The Wooden Bed= on which the victim of the wheel was laid.
631 =Heavy Iron Execution Chair.=
The culprit sat or kneeled in the chair, with head leaning over
the back, and the headsman, after cutting away the hair, with
one stroke severed the head from the body.
632 =A large heavy Bell=, which was rung all the way the
condemned was being taken to the block or scaffold. Backward and
forward, forward and backward, swung the bell, until the
executioner was ready to do his grewsome work.
633 =The Mummified Head of a Beheaded Nuremberg Child
Murderess=, together with the spear on which it was shown at the
wheel.
634 =A small old German Delinquent’s Altar=, with small figure
of the crucified Saviour.
635 =A Pair of Bronze Candlesticks= which were chained to the
altar; same period.
636 =The Celebrated Original IRON MAIDEN (Eiserne Jungfrau).=
This terror-inspiring torture instrument is made of strong wood,
bound together with iron bands. Opens with two doors, to allow
the prisoner to be placed inside. The entire interior is fitted
with long, sharp iron spikes, so that, when the doors are
pressed to, the sharp prongs force their way into various
portions of the victim’s body. Two entered his eyes, others
pierced his back, his chest, and, in fact, _impaled_ him alive
in such a manner that he lingered in the most agonizing torture.
When death relieved the poor wretch from his agonies, perhaps
after days, a trap-door in the base was pulled open and the body
was allowed to fall into the moat or river below. Persons were
condemned to death by the embraces of the _Iron Maiden_ for
plots against the governing powers, parricide, religious
unbelief, and murder with attempt against puberty. The date of
this rare specimen is the fifteenth century.
It is believed that the Iron Maiden is purely and peculiarly a
relic of old Nuremberg, as at that date we do not read of it
anywhere else, whilst the annals of that town contain many
allusions to its terrors.
We find that in the next (16th) century there was an instrument of
execution in Scotland known as the “Maiden,” but it was
perfectly different to this one, and was really a beheading
block on to which a knife fell from a certain height, and
something after the style of the present guillotine—a much more
merciful and expeditious mode of execution than the slow, cruel,
lingering death above mentioned. As we said in our Preface, the
fiendish ingenuity displayed in inventing terrible torture is in
no instance more in evidence than in the construction of this
relic of ancient Nuremberg, known as “The Iron Maiden.”
637 =An Engraving= showing the “Iron Maiden.”
638 =An Old Painting= on panel, “Justice,” with the inscription:
“Gott ist grecht in sainn Gericht drum thu gutts und sündge
nicht.”
Translation:
“God’s judgment is aright; do thou good, and sin not.”
This was fixed over the judge’s seat.
639 =Small Panel Painting.= “The Sign of the Ban of Blood,”
showing an axe and a severed hand.
640 =A similar Panel.=
641 =Stone Tablet=, which hung over the entrance door to the
torture chamber, with the inscription—
“Atris patratis sunt atra theatra parata.”
Translation:
“Dark deeds make dark endings.”
642 =A Papal Bull=, dated Rome, 5th February, 1492. Written in
Latin on parchment, giving an authority to the Abbot of St.
Ægidus, in Nuremberg, to hold and constitute Courts of Justice
in that town.
643 =A Witch’s Charm=, of lead, with engraved characters and
motto.
644 =Wooden Model of the Witch’s Castle=, near Straubing, in
Lower Bavaria; here the notorious Agnes Bernauer was accused of
being a witch, and as such kept until she was drowned in the
Danube.
645 =Oil Painting of the Gilder, Erdmann of Nuremberg.= He was
the last man publicly tortured in Nuremberg. After his death he
was found to have been innocent of the crime of theft to which
he had _confessed_ under torture, and in consequence of this
lamentable miscarriage of justice, it was decided that torture
should be forever abolished in the town.
646 =Picture of the Guillotine= on wood.
647 =A Curious 15th-Century Forerunner of the Mitrailleuse or
Gatling Gun=, constructed so as to fire fifteen balls at one
time; was in those days called a _Hell Machine_, and its use was
forbidden by the International agreement as being outside the
pale of fair warfare.
648 =Thumb Instrument, or Press=, with two pressers for thumbs.
649 =A Set of Stocks with Wheels=, so that they could be wheeled
about to any part of the city or from town.
650 =A Strong Wooden Windlass= for running the victim up to the
ceiling, where he was suspended by the thumb, with weights
attached to his feet.
651 =Portrait of Maria Renata, of Wurzburg=, who was the last
woman burnt at the stake in Germany for being suspected of
witchcraft.
652 =Oil Painting of a Bavarian Court Jester= who was bricked in
alive, with his hands tied behind him, at the Castle of
Trausnitz, and so left miserably to starve to death.
[Illustration:
_See Catalogue, No. 1020._
]
The Collection of Prints and Engravings,
_Showing the Application of the Various Tortures in Different
Countries._
700 Descriptive account of the capture of the Bavarian robber,
Hiesel.
701 Tumult at Middelburg, in Holland.
702 Man on stretcher being singed to death.
703 Print showing the application of manacles, shackles, etc.
704 Portrait of Judica Widman, wife of the executioner of
Nuremberg, 1672.
705 Louis XVI. brought back from Varennes to Paris, June 25,
1791.
706 “La malheureuse famille Calas.”
707 Dick Turpin and Black Bess.
708 The execution of the two famous castle thieves at Berlin,
June 8, 1718.
709 The Debtors’ Bridge at Nuremberg, showing debtors’ towers
for males and females, and also a baker being dipped for
fraudulent weights.
710 Picture showing a person being branded on back, forehead,
and cheeks.
711 Execution at The Hague, 1619.
712 Torture and execution of women.
713 Three terrible modes of execution.
714 Portrait of a Swiss rebel, beheaded near Lucerne in 1653.
715 Prisoner chained, and with iron collar.
716 Portrait of Suess Oppenheimer, the fraudulent Finance
Minister of Würtemberg.
717 The same, executed in a cage.
718 Wife of Widman, the Nuremberg executioner.
719 Execution of Counts Struensee and Brand, Copenhagen, 1772,
and their crests being destroyed by the headsman.
720 Arrest of a notorious thief.
721 Portrait of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat.
722 Picture of a prisoner in chains.
723 A decapitated head exposed on the wheel.
724 Execution of two thieves at Hamburg.
725 Massacre in the Low Countries.
726 Scene during the French Revolution.
727 Episodes during the life of Jack Rann.
728 The robber Hiesel, his son and dog (colored).
729 Portrait of Beatrice de Cenci, after Guido Reni.
730 Sixteen portraits of notorious criminals.
731 Portrait of Lieutenant Schiedel, who captured Hiesel.
732 The fortress of Hohenstein, where Oppenheimer was
imprisoned.
733 Execution in the Low Countries, 1584.
734 Execution of Councillor Gosson, at Atrecht (Arras), for not
joining the rebels, October 20, 1578.
735 Strangulation of the grand Vizier Cara Mustapha by order of
the Sultan, February, 1684.
736 Portrait of Philip Egalité.
737 Man being publicly whipped on the stocks.
738 Madame Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI.
739 Portrait of Johann Beuckels, Provost of Münster, called Jan
Van Leyden.
740 Capture of Louis XVI. at Varennes, June 22, 1791.
741 Jan Smit, hung by his feet at Haarlem, in 1752.
742 Suess Oppenheimer in prison, and his trial.
743 Execution of Andreas Hofer, the Tyrolean patriot, outside
the walls of Mantua.
744 Portrait of Robespierre.
745 Portrait of P. Schaeffer.
746 Portrait of Anckerström, murderer of the King of Sweden.
747 Portrait of Wilhelm von Grumpach, 1567.
748 Death of Gustav the Fearless, King of Sweden, at a ball, by
the hand of an assassin, March 16, 1792.
749 Portrait of the Count Cagliostro.
750 Portrait of the Emperor Joseph II., during whose reign
torture was relinquished in Germany.
751 A prisoner suffering the bastinado.
752 The man in the iron mask.
753 Engraving of a female cheat in Strasburg.
754 Showing Algerius, student of Padua, burned at Rome in 1557.
755 Execution of Louis XVI.
756 Execution of the regicides, Counts Struensee and Brand, at
Copenhagen, April 28, 1772.
757 Massacre by the Spaniards in the Low Countries.
758 Damien being torn to pieces by four horses; his remains
burnt.
759 Terrible massacre at Haarlem after the capture of the town
by the Spaniards, July 13, 1573.
760 Portrait of Wiedman, the Nuremberg executioner.
761 Henri Masers de Latude, incarcerated during thirty-five
years in different state prisons.
762 Portrait of Carl Sand, murderer of Kotzebue.
763 A military execution.
764 Engraving, showing a man having his eyes burned out.
765 Execution of Marie Antoinette on the Place de la Revolution,
October 16, 1793. Her last words were, “Farewell, my children; I
go to rejoin your father.”
766 Massacre in the Low Countries by the Spaniards.
767 The memorable address of Louis XVI. at the Bar of the
National Convention, December 26, 1792.
768 Model of the Bastile.
769 A prisoner being led to execution.
770 A murderess in prison, in chains.
771 Thomas Muncer, preacher, executed at Alstet, Thuringia.
772 The robber Hiesel, his son and dog.
773 Calas taking leave of his family.
774 Bohemian rebel.
775 Attempted murder during a public procession.
776 Portrait of Jacob Clements, the murderer of Henry III., King
of France, August 1, 1589.
777 Execution of eighteen noblemen at Brussels, June 1, 1568, by
order of the Spaniards.
778 Four people condemned to be burnt by the Inquisition.
779 Portrait of Kaspar Hauser.
780 Execution of a general for having given his town over to the
enemy.
781 Portrait of Johann de Witt.
782 An execution in the interior of a prison.
783 Terrible torture of a woman at Maestricht.
784 Terrible torture inflicted at Veer, in Zeeland, in 1560.
785 Attempt to kill Napoleon I. with an infernal machine,
December 25, 1800.
786 The son of Louis XVI. being shown the guillotine.
787 Execution of French delinquents for having attempted the
life of Prince of Saxony at Cologne, June 13, 1704.
788 Dulcinus and his wife torn limb from limb at Novara, 1308.
789 The guillotine.
790 Arrest of the rebel, Johann David Miller.
791 Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Baron of Denbigh, Governor
of the Low Countries.
792 Portrait of the murderer of P. Forster in prison.
793 Count Cajetani tried and executed for alchemistry.
794 Portrait of the Duke of Alba.
795 Execution of Louis XVI.
796 Five views showing the deposition and imprisonment of
Charles I. of England.
797 Execution at Buchloe, Bavaria, 1777.
798 Drowning and hanging rebels at Bonn, on the Rhine.
799 Execution of Counts Egmont and Van Horn, June 5, 1568, at
Brussels.
800 Cecilie Renaud arrested at Robespierre’s house in 1794.
801 Portrait of Suess Oppenheimer.
802 Hiesel’s attempt to escape from prison.
803 Engraving showing twenty-four criminals, some handcuffed,
some with shackles, some with jougs.
804 Allegorical picture, “The Angel Delivering Man from Satan’s
Influence.”
805 A culprit being exposed in a cage.
806 Cruelties by the Spaniards in the Netherlands.
807 A female fortune-teller paraded through the streets of
Nuremberg in 1801.
808 The Duc de Nemours in prison.
809 The Duke of Orleans, Philip Egalité.
810 Drowning of French subjects in the Loire by order of
Carrier, 1793.
811 The Duke of Alba treacherously summons Counts Van Horn and
Egmont, and has them seized.
812 Rebels being led to execution.
813 Portraits of three Frankfort rebels.
814 Lucretia Grenville, who attempted Cromwell’s life.
815 The wounded Robespierre being carried into the vestry-room
of the Committee of Public Safety.
816 Execution of rebels in front of Town Hall at Leipsic.
817 A famous robber and his gang being taken to prison.
818 The Spanish auto-da-fé.
819 Hungarian preachers sent to the galleys in 1674.
820 Attempt on the life of Joseph I., King of Portugal, and
execution of the plotters, in 1759.
821 Execution in London, subject unknown.
822 Various modes of execution.
823 Showing various executions.
824 Ann Hendricks, burned at Amsterdam, 1571.
825 A public execution.
826 Scenes in the life of a noted criminal.
827 Twelve portraits of notorious criminals.
828 Prisoners at work.
829 Assassination of Prince of Orange, March 15, 1582.
830 The death of Kotzebue.
831 Portrait of Wilhelm von Grumpach.
832 Attack on the village of Jonckersdorff, near Cologne.
833 Execution at Frankfort, 1616.
834 Public execution of a woman at Ansbach.
835 Print showing Suess Oppenheimer in cage (colored).
836 Kaspar Hauser’s grave at Ansbach, with poem.
837 Execution of six persons, Vohlau, in 1661.
838 The brothers de Witt, executed and mutilated.
839 Pouring boiling oil down prisoners’ throats at Poitou, in
1685.
840 Louis XVI. and his family.
841 Arrest of the famous robber, Schinder Hannes, and his band.
842 Episodes of the murder of the Mayor of Liège by Count
Varfuse.
843 Portraits of plotters against William of Orange of England,
and history of the plot.
844 Execution of Cajetani at Custrin, in Pomerania, 1709.
845 Engraving showing the execution of the Duke of Monmouth, on
Tower Hill, July, 1685; and in the same frame the execution of
the Marchioness of Brinvilliers.
846 Scenes during the Rebellion at Mastricht, 1576.
847 Portrait of Kohler, who was executed for blasphemy.
848 Portrait of Frederick van der Trenck.
849 Colored engraving showing the landing of Murat, King of
Naples, at Pizzo, October 8, 1815.
850 Portrait of Stortzenbecher, Hamburg pirate, who was
executed.
851 Execution of the robber Hiesel.
852 The brothers Bigedini, tortured and afterwards executed at
Mantua for high treason.
853 Revolution at Vincennes, February 28, 1791.
854 Cruelties inflicted by President Massaut at Niort in 1664.
855 Portrait of the Countess Valois de la Motte.
856 Execution in Brabant, 1570.
857 Suess Oppenheimer being escorted to the place of execution.
858 A meeting of the French revolutionary party in Paris, 1793.
859 Portrait of Roesner, and his execution.
860 Burning and torture of Jews in Vienna, 1642.
861 Showing a prisoner in chains.
862 Louis XVI. being led to execution, accompanied by his
Confessor, Edgeworth.
863 Engraving showing various vices and their resulting
punishments. In this print will be seen many of the instruments
of torture as described in this Catalogue.
864 Human sacrifice in the East.
865 Execution of Louis XVI., January 21, 1793, whose last words
were, “I die innocent of the crimes of which I am accused. I
never wished anything beyond the happiness of my people, and my
dying prayer is that Heaven may forgive them my death.”
866 J. B. Ziermann, a notorious murderer, executed at
Rudolstadt, May 29, 1767.
867 Jean, a merchant at Cordova, led about with his face turned
to an ass’s tail, and then burnt in 850.
868 The drowning of Marie de Monjou, 1552.
869 Trial and execution of Roessner at Thorn, in Prussia.
870 Camille Desmoulins preaching revolution, July 12, 1789.
871 Excesses by the Spaniards in the Low Countries.
872 Execution at Prague in 1621.
873 Man confronted by a murderer.
874 Episodes in the life of Hiesel.
875 Engraving showing prisoners secured in various ways in a
prison cell.
876 Execution of Edward Digby, Thomas Winter, and others, in
London, 1606.
877 Arnoldus, reader at Brixen, burned as a heretic at Rome,
1145.
878 Bird’s-eye view of the Chateau de Vincennes, where the
Prince de Conti and others were arrested.
879 Hiesel being conducted to the court-house.
880 Interior of the State Prison in Venice.
881 Charles VI. orders the dishonorer of his wife to be sewn up
in a sack and thrown into the river.
882 Execution of the Gunpowder Plot criminals in London.
883 Suess Oppenheimer in a cage surrounded by spectators.
884 Portrait of John George Wogaz, a notorious thief, who stole,
in October, 1788, valuable pictures from the Dresden Gallery.
885 Plan of the old torture prison in Nuremberg.
886 Execution of Sand at Mannheim, 1820.
887 Execution at Berlin, June 8, 1718.
888 Massacre of the Huguenots.
889 An Englishman, John Brett, burnt at Antwerp, after having
had his tongue torn out, 1576.
890 Massacre in Ireland about 1644.
891 Terrible torture at Antwerp, 1576.
892 Robber being broken on the wheel.
893 Engraving showing a man being stoned to death.
894 George Wanger, beheaded at Brixen, 1591.
895 The whipping of a woman.
896 Portrait of Suess Oppenheimer and his mistress.
897 Portrait of Beatrice de Cenci, with inscription.
898 Murder at Stettin, scene of the murder, and culprit in
prison.
899 Portrait of Cartouche, his imprisonment and execution.
[Illustration:
_See Catalogue, No. 1017._
]
900 A letter from the Vehmgericht, dated 1509, with seal and
coat-of-arms, inviting Heyntz Kone to come before the judgment,
addressed thus:
“Ane Heyntz Kone komme diesse Brieff Dissen brieff sol
niemandt vffthun lessen odder horen lessen er sy dan eyn echt
recht freyscheffe des heimlich freyen Gerichts.”
(“This letter is for Heyntz Kone; no one must open it, hear
it, or read it, but this is a real free letter of the secret
free judgment.”)
901 Engraving showing the use of the antique blunderbuss (see
torture instruments).
902 Portrait of Widman, the headsman of Nuremberg.
903 Execution of rebels at Frankfort, 1616.
904 Execution at Prague, June, 1621.
905 Engraving showing man being roasted to death.
906 Parricide having his hands cut off and then executed.
907 Sacking of a Dutch town, and torture of the inhabitants.
908 A notorious robber and his boy being examined before the
judge.
909 Murder of General Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland, at Eger,
1634.
910 Colored print of Hiesel and his boy and dog.
911 Public exposure of a murderer outside the Town Hall at
Nuremberg.
912 Attack on the Prince of Orange at Delft, July 10, 1584.
913 Persecution of the Protestant Ministers in Hungary, 1674.
914 A woman being buried alive at Brussels, 1597.
915 Portrait of Damien, “the greatest monster on earth,”
murderer of Henri Quatre.
916 An engraving, showing man being flogged.
917 Murder of a Burgomaster.
918 Imprisonment and execution of Brothers Rennebaum.
919 Episodes in the life of Hiesel.
920 Female accused of arson, in prison.
921 Portrait of Widman, Nuremberg executioner, born 1675.
922 James Bolland, executed for forgery.
923 Murder of Marat by Charlotte Corday, July 13, 1793.
924 Portraits of Mme. de Brinvilliers and another.
925 Louis XVI. taking leave of his family.
926 View of the State Prison in Venice.
927 Portrait of the head of a gypsy band who was executed on the
wheel in 1733.
928 Execution of Gray and Baxter at Whitehall.
929 Schinder Hannes, his wife, and child.
930 Beginning of the French revolution, first emeute in Faubourg
St. Antoine.
931 A celebrated robber discovered hiding in a beer-barrel.
932 Burning of the town of Ulm by the French, with map of the
district.
933 Portrait of the French General Melac, who devastated
Germany.
934 Conspirators against the King of Portugal.
935 Tortures inflicted on the Swiss by applying red-hot irons to
their hands, in 1214.
936 Execution of a woman in London, subject unknown.
937 Execution at The Hague.
938 Heinrich Emkens being burned to death with lighted straw at
Utrecht in 1562.
939 Criminals being whipped and otherwise tortured, previous to
being burned to death, at Bruges.
940 Burning of criminals at Ghent, 1578.
941 Portrait and execution of Count of Tattenbach, executed at
Gratz, in Styria, December 1, 1671.
942 The fortress of Hohenstein prison, of Würtemberg.
943 Public exposure of a perjurer at Augsburg.
944 The son of Louis XVI. executed before the eyes of his
father.
945 Portraits of five female criminals.
946 Portrait of Karl Ludwig Sand.
947 Prisoner in chains.
948 The Bavarian robber, Toni, in prison, 1786.
949 Damien chained to his iron bed on which he was carried to
the judgment-chamber, and on which he could be tortured without
being released.
950 Portrait of Jan van Leyden.
951 Portrait of a notorious malefactor.
952 John Grosch, handcuffed in prison.
953 Geleyn Cornelius, hung by his thumb, with weights to his
feet, afterwards burnt, 1572.
954 Henry II. of England doing penance at Thomas-à-Beckett’s
grave.
955 Engraving showing an execution block in Rome.
956 Punishments in the early Middle Ages.
957 A notorious criminal being exhibited in a cage.
958 View of the dungeon where the torture instruments were
exhibited at the Royal Castle of Nuremberg.
959 Capture of a notorious criminal.
960 Scene at a public execution.
961 Capture of rebels.
962 Engraving showing Sand in prison.
963 Death of General Dillon at Lille, April 29, 1792.
964 Execution of a general at Innsbrück.
965 Hiesel at a country inn.
966 Murder at an inn at Nuremberg.
967 Execution of two thieves outside the castle at Berlin.
968 Public exposure of a perjurer previous to his being
guillotined.
969 Portrait of Mary Lafarge.
970 Engraving showing man stretched perpendicularly, and being
flayed alive.
971 Showing man being stretched on stretching bench preparatory
to flogging.
972 Interior of a prison, and various punishments.
973 A prisoner being visited by priests.
974 An execution on the wheel.
975 Three martyrs sewn in sacks and drowned at Aix-la-Chapelle,
1560.
976 The arrest of a woman by an officer of police.
977 Execution of De Previl at Arras.
978 A group of martyrs being burned at Salzburg, 1528.
979 Execution of about 350 persons near Mayence, by order of the
Crown, and various modes of death, 1529.
980 Origines tortured at Alexandria in the year 254.
981 Fearful cruelties perpetrated in the Netherlands by the Duke
of Alba, 1567.
982 Sacking of a town and massacre of the inhabitants.
983 Executions in Hungary.
984 Portrait of a murderer at Munich.
985 Runck, the dishonest keeper of the royal castle at Berlin.
986 Portrait of John Christopher Neumann, thief and son of
thievish parents.
987 Female convicted of arson, in chains.
988 Death of Robespierre.
989 Portrait of the famous robber, Schinder Hannes.
990 The prisoner of Chillon.
991 Engraving of a token of Charles I. of England.
992 Portrait of Thomas Moore.
993 Simon, guardian of the Bastille.
994 Portrait of Count Struensee, murderer of the King of
Denmark.
995 Portrait of William, Earl of Kilmarnock, beheaded in London,
August 29, 1746.
996 Peasants measuring a matrimonial yoke.
997 Titus Oates in the Pillory.
998 Portrait of Christian Müller, of Stolpe.
999 Portrait of Egmont.
1000 Portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, beheaded in London,
November 19, 1618.
1001 Print showing the application of the iron Joug. The Joug of
St. Goar on the Rhine.
1002 Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots.
1003 “Le Temple,” the celebrated prison of Louis XVI.
1004 Portrait of Kaspar Müller, called “Gallows Kaspar.”
1005 Berend Knipperdolling, Provost of Münster, in Westphalia.
1006 Prisoner chained with belt, handcuffs, etc.
1007 Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
1008 The Bridge of Sighs, at Venice.
1009 Erdmann, who was innocently tortured in Nuremberg.
1010 Portrait of Thomas, Count Amalfi, the Neapolitan rebel.
1011 Portrait of the son and successor of the Nuremberg
executioner, Widman.
1012 Portrait of Kaspar Hauser.
1013 Portrait of Eppelein von Gailingen, the famous bandit who
jumped on horseback from the walls of the Castle of Nuremberg.
1014 Scene at a public execution.
1015 Showing male and female prisoners at work, each one wearing
a neck or head iron with bell (see No. 23).