Notes & Queries Archive
REPLY1851

Culprits torn by Horses

By J. S.

In reply to Mr. Jackson's question respecting culprits torn by horses, I beg to inform him that Robert François Damiens was the last criminal thus executed in France. He suffered on the 28th March, 1757, for an attempt on the life of Louis XV. The awful penalty of the law was carried out in complete conformity with the savage precedents of former centuries. Not one of the preparatory barbarities of question, ordinary and extraordinary, or of the accompanying atrocities of red-hot pincers, melted lead, and boiling oil, was omitted. The agony of the wretched man lasted for an hour and a half, an…

Topics: Judicial Punishments, Historical Executions, Torture Methods

Locations: France, Paris