A murderer named Alexander Provan was put to death on this date in 1765, the very rare* instance of a Scottish execution enhanced with mutilation.
Provan, who was uncovered as his wife’s murderer when he carelessly poured out her blood from a bottle thinking he was serving his friends an evening tipple, was doomed to have the right hand that authored the horrid deed struck off prior to hanging at Paisley.
But the unusual sentence implied an unpracticed executioner. Visibly nervous, the man missed his aim and instead of severing the evil limb at the wrist, he split Provan right through the palm.
At this the wretched prisoner began shrieking for the halter already fastened around his neck — “the tow, the tow, the tow!” The horrified executioner obliged with all speed, dragging the wailing uxoricide off his feet and past his mortal troubles.
* Unique?
On this day..
- 1888: Pedro, the pirate Ñancúpel
- 1810: Metta Fock, embroiderer
- 1707: Bartellemy Pichon dit La Roze, the first executed in Fort Detroit
- 1873: Captain Joseph Fry and 36 crew of the Virginius
- 1941: Francisc Panet
- 1898: Sokong, Lavari, and Kruba of the Imperri
- 1918: Louis Harris and Ernest Jackson, the last British soldiers shot at dawn
- 1864: Retaliatory executions by John Mosby
- 1823: Rafael Riego, Spanish liberal
- 1817: The Pentrich Rebellion leaders
- 1550: Jon Arason, the last Catholic bishop of Iceland
- 1944: Hannah Szenes, who gambled on what mattered most
- 1944: Richard Sorge and Hotsumi Ozaki