1885: George Gibson and Wayne Powers 1910: George Reynolds and John Williams

1852: Martin Merino, Jesuit assassin

February 7th, 2010 Headsman

On this date in 1852, a 63-year-old Jesuit priest was garroted outside Madrid’s Toledo Gate for attempting to assassinate Queen Isabella II.


Toledo Gate, Madrid.

Only five days before, Martin Merino y Gomez (Spanish Wikipedia link) had slipped into the palace wearing his clerical robes, and planted a dagger in the Queen’s side. (Non-fatally; her corset partly shielded the blow.)

Despite some speculation that he might have been connected to some more elaborate plot, investigation found him to be a lone nut, “crazed with Liberal doctrines, disordered vanity, and bilious disease.”

Neither a clear motive nor a real link to any other actor was ever established. Merino died as a lone nut, and then his parricidal remains were burned to ashes and scattered to the winds.

On this day..

Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Assassins,Attempted Murder,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Execution,Garrote,History,Notable for their Victims,Public Executions,Religious Figures,Spain,Strangled,Treason

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2 thoughts on “1852: Martin Merino, Jesuit assassin”

  1. fernando campese says:

    Martín Merino was not a Jesuit. He was originally a Franciscan friar, but left the order in 1821 and became a secular priest. See Spanish Wikipedia entry.

  2. I value the blog post.Much thanks again. Awesome.

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