1581: Peter Niers
The execution of legendary German bandit and mass-murderer Peter Niers took place in Neumarkt on this date in 1581 … or at least, it started on this date. A veritable bogeyman figure thanks to the...
View Article1610: Pierre Canal, Geneva sodomite
On this date in 1610* a Genevan official named Pierre Canal was twice capitally punished — broken on the wheel (for treason) and burned (for sodomy). A longtime city official, as well as an...
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1540: Hans Kohlhase, horse wild
On this date in 1540, the legendary outlaw Hans Kohlhase — a crime victim turned revengeful crime lord — executed* in Berlin. It’s a classic case of stubborn cusses escalating a minor property dispute....
View Article1729: Philippe Nivet, “Fanfaron”
On the last day of May in 1729, the French outlaw Philippe Nivet was put to death in Paris. Although some at the time considered that the legendary bandit Cartouche (executed in 1721) was “nothing as...
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1630: Guglielmo Piazza and Giangiacomo Mora, colonna d’infamia
On this date in 1630, a ludicrous disease panic sent two innocent men to the scaffold in Milan. Terrified as their family and neighbors dropped dead around them of a raging bubonic plague outbreak, the...
View Article1767: Elsjen Roelofs
Elsjen Roelofs was broken on the wheel at Assen on this date in 1767 — an unusual fate for a woman, inflicted for poisoning her husband. The sources about her, and the links in this post, are almost...
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1775: Huttenkloas
The notorious Dutch criminal Huttenkloas was broken on the wheel on this date in 1775. The distinctive brand Huttenkloas today attaches to a brewery with a sigil depicting the “chair of Huttenkloas”...
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